Had one of this year’s greatest Music experiences thus far on the last day of May, a great Jan Delay concert in Schleyer-halle in Stuttgart. What energy! Music to dance to, sweat, sing, enjoy. Wonderful end of Spring and beginning of the Summer months!
Here are some of the great music finds this spring, new and old, that will enrich coming Summer Playlists, and the soon upcoming Midsummer Weekend!
Best box set this far 2025 is without a doubt Eine Stadt wird Bunt - Hamburg Hip-Hop History 1989-1999. It contains a multitude of rare and cool cuts and Skits, presented on 3 LP:s and the scene is also greatly presented in text and cool pics in the 90-page LP-format booklet. Absolutely spectacular.
Die Fantastischen Vier: Long Player on tour - Live in Stuttgart 2024, is also freshly out for this summer. Legendary hip-hop crew Fanta4 show here, on 2 CD and Blue-ray, that they still can bring the roof down, with a superb show from Stuttgart, filmed last December. Especially Enten Was Wir Säen is sensational and spectacular, but Fanta4 keep energy levels very high throughout.
And talking about Fanta4, their Deluxe Edition vinyl version of Captain Fantastic includes, on a very cool usb-stick, a fine live set from around Germany, documenting the Captain Fantastic tour 2019. Also included is an original piece of the tour Buehnenvorhang, quite unique idea.There is also an earlier, nice exclusive CD-box of Captain Fantastic (Hitisn Hit Edition) where, except the album, a DVD with videos, documentary plus an extra CD with fine remixes are included. Great is also an included Hitisn scarf. Nice sets, both, commemorating one of Fanta4:s best albums.
And if you happen to visit a used records shop, don’t hesitate if you see Fanta4:s double-12”maxi Populär. There are some great remixes on that maxi-ep.
Back to new records, then. Dire Straits were global mega-sellers with 80’s blockbuster-album Brothers in Arms. And we heard it so much and often back then that many simply got tired of it. For a while it also felt too outdated. But with unfortunately changed times to the worse, anti-war songs like Brothers in arms has gained new actuality again. The remastered album sounds nice, but the real deal here, with the 40th anniversary version, is a double-CD live from San Antonio at the height of Dire Straits popularity. A great live set, and well worth including in a record collection.
Another new arrival is Thomas D:s latest solo, mini-album Mega D, ending strongly with all too current Nie Wieder Krieg, but also including other good stuff for summer playlists.
If you missed unbelievably cool album Am Käfig Ruetteln by Waving The Guns first-hand, there is all reason to go for the double-CD version with original album and instrumental versions. Great album also for this Summer. Wavings new album Zwischen Wand und Tape was out this spring and continue building Wavings reputation. The CD version also includes the fine Schwerter zu Schusswaffen EP (8 titles) as bonus. Another great album by a cool and still too underground artist. One of the best hip-hop bands in Germany and still way to unknown for the masses. There is a lot of German sounds this summer, not least because I have spent months in Germany this year, mainly in Fanta4:s hometown.
A kick of nostalgia is provided by the jubilee verson of Nenas debut album, also called Nena. This time in double-LP (or CD) version, that, except the remastered fine original album, includes a nice bonus-record with single B-sides, international versions, as well as a few really strong live cuts from 1984-85.
Another freshly remastered album, Free Jazz Goes Underground by Free Orbit, is also out now, and update the sounds of this legendary outfit’s album, mostly known for a young Udo Lindenberg, who plays the drums and wrote music and/or texts to most of the songs.
Antilopen Gangs wonderful double-album Alles Muss Repariert Werden is a must for this Summer and their combination of a hip-hop and a punk LP awoke reactions, mostly positive. A great album.
A bargain retro buy was the old four-cd Black Sabbath box set Under wheels of confusion 1970-1987, with most of their greatest songs and also including the Dio years. If you settle for one Sabbath compilation, this is a good price/quality deal. Another nice film + concert package is Bunch of Kunst, a film about Sleaford Mods by Christine Franz, with a bonus cd including a great complete and unedited recording live at Berlin’s SO36 club.
Tocotronic, whose Nie Wieder Krieg was one of the best songs last years and unfortunately is still all too current this year, has a new album out, Golden Years. In the Summer season fresh songs like Bleib Am Leben and Denn Sie Wissen, Was Sie Tun will be in playlists.
The Roaring Forty 1983-2023 gives a fine oversight of wonderful English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg. Songs like A New England, Which Side Are You On? and There Is Power In A Union are still totally current while song titles like The World Turned Upside Down and Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards now sadly give us new, sad associations today.
There will of course also be some Depeche Mode songs on Summer playlists, not least inspired by a new German translation of Brian J. Cobbs book, now titled Depeche Mode - Alle Alben, Alle Songs.
Lastly, I bought on Fleamarket a cool c-cassette boombox for 25 euro and this made me buy a few c-cassettes too. Real retro! Of the cassettes, the way, way coolest is a Hamburg hip-hop tape from Eimsbush Tapes in the 1990’s, La Boom. All tracks are by Eissfeldt and Tropf. The former is no other than Jan Delay. Supercool. And that means I end like I started, with Jan Delay,
the circle is round.
Playlists will follow.
Midsommarmusiken 2025 tar småningom form på det som blir årets spellistor denna sommarens och årets ljusaste helg. Återkommer till listorna. Men det finns många nya och nygamla fynd som jag gjort hittills i år som kommer att vara representerade. Årets box hittills är utan tvivel Eine Stadt wird Bunt - Hamburg Hip-Hop History 1989-1999. Suveräna 3 LP och en 90-sidig booklet i storformat. Die Fantastischen Vier har gett ut en fantastisk live-pärla inspelad strax före jul 2024 i hemstaden Stuttgart. Long Player On Tour är en strålande konsert i ljud och bild på två CD och en blueray. Framhåller också gärna specialversionerna av klassiska albumet Captain Fantastic, Hitisn Hit Edition (CD-box) och Deluxe Edition (Vinylversion med fin konsert från turnen 2019 på en cool usb-sticka). Ett gammalt Fanta4 tips är 12”-maxin Populär, med flera fina versioner. Fanta-medlemmen Thomas D är i vår aktuell med fina solo-minialbumet Mega D. Och för sommaren rekommenderar jag Waving The Guns, särskilt CD-versionerna av de två senaste albumen: strålande Am Käfig Ruetteln innehåller förutom albumet också alla instrumental-spår på bonus-CD medan färska Zwischen Wand und Tapete även inkluderar EP:n Schwerter zu Schusswaffen som bonus. Superba album.
Antilopen Gangs härliga dubbelalbum Alles Muss Repariert Werden, som kombinerar en del hip-hop och en del punk, håller också i sommar.
Remastrade album med bra bonusmaterial är bland andra 40-årsupplagorna av Dire Straits klassiker Brothers In Arms och Nenas debutalbum. Den förra har en fin konsert från San Antonio på 2 CD medan den senare har en bonus-platta med b-sidor, internationella versioner och tunga liveversioner. Jazziga Free Orbits album Free Jazz Goes Underground är mest känt för att Udo Lindenberg är trummis och har skrivit text eller musik till flera spår, och albumet håller hög klass. En remastrad version är färskt utgiven.
Tocotronic har nyligen i sin tur gett ut albumet Golden Years, som också innehåller flera starka spår. Deras Nie Wieder Krieg var ju en av 2020-talets bästa låtar och Golden Years inkluderar några fina uppföljare.
Den sista maj såg jag Jan Delay live i Stuttgart, en superb konsert. Han finns med på Hamburg-boxen under sitt efternamn Eissfeldt, och han gav även ut c-kassetter med hip-hop på Eimsbush Tapes på 1990-talet. Köpte i fredags i Hamburg c-kassetten La Boom, med spår av just Eissfeldt (aka Jan Delay) och Tropf från 1997. Retro!
Spellistor följer.
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