We're Here To File A Complaint.

I can't remember when I first discovered Tocotronic. I started my Last.fm account in 2006 so possibly around that time. Four years later (if indeed it was 2006) they are my most listened to band; who would have thought that the band to take this accolade would sing in German? Stranger things have happened I suppose. It is well recorded that I am a bit of a Germanophile and I have become increasingly interested in the country's music scene and more and more British bands are citing German bands as influences; the recent resurgence of Krautrock styling and synthesized instrumentation as two examples.

Tocotronic are also important in the shaping of contemporary German youth-culture, youngsters from the fatherland copying the bands clothing and haircuts. Tocotronic have been active since 1993 and were recognisable due to their anti-fashion stance preferring to wear clothes found in charity bins, unlabeled, skin-tight and generic, today this has become the norm for anybody remotely 'indie' (though I hate the word) but when Tocotronic first did such it was completely unusual. As for the haircuts, short back and sides with a heavy one-sided fringe became the desired style and if you walk around any European large town or city today it is still the case. Ask the average alternative Brit who Tocotronic are however and they'd draw a blank. It all started with them.

The album cover above is for the album 'Wir Kommen Um Uns Zu Beschweren' (We're Here To File A Complaint) and was released in 1996. I bought this album as I was intrigued by a track that named checked front man of The Fall Mark E. Smith (Ich Habe Geträumt, Ich Wäre Pizza Essen Mit Mark E. Smith) and for someone who spoke very little German I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. Fast-paced guitar music with raspy and direct German vocals, scratchy and refreshingly homemade (some say similar to Pavement); the music behind the lyrics (the large majority of which I couldn't understand) made me want to know what was being said and four years later I have a better grasp. If you talk to any German about Tocotronic they will tell you that they like them due to their clever, intelligent and political lyrics (poking fun and getting angry about Germany's conservative, middle-class ways.) For me however the lyrics came as secondary of course and my love of Tocotronic came initially from their music and music alone.

I now have most of their releases, 10 studio albums, a plethora of EPs and Maxi-CDs and they have released a new album this week Schall & Wahn (The Sound & The Fury) which is practically unattainable in Britian, thank god for the internet. Today Tocotronic are one of the biggest alternative bands in Germany the fact they are singing in German giving them notable credibility (the only English language release was a version of the 1999 album K.O.O.K.)

The latest album adds further gravitas to Tocotronic's versatility and has a completely different feel from 'Kapitulation' (Surrender - their last studio album released in 2007) as a band they have noticeably moved with the times and maybe we sense a slightly more positive Germany? Although their sound has changed considerably since their conception Tocotronic are always Tocotronic and unmistakably so, the mark of a great band surely? Since I have spoke of Kapitulation here is a video for the title track of the album:



Tocotronic are:

Dirk Von Lowtzow - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Jan Müller - Bass
Arne Zank - Drums
Rick McPhail - Lead Guitar, Keyboards