Sturm Café
Europa!
SCR
The trad body music scene has seen a lot of changes in the 10 years since Sturm Café’s debut album So Seelisch, So Schön! was released. Where the novelty of new acts doing their best to capture the raw sound of genre progenitors DAF has been worn away by a decade of half-assed facsimiles, there’s been no shortage of bands who have run with the template into new and fascinating territory. While the duo of Jonatan Löfstedt and Gustav Jansson have kept their hand in with the occasional single or compilation appearance (and 2011’s compilation Rarities), their new record Europa! is only the second full length released by the project.
Those wondering whether the band has evolved beyond the rough-hewn sound of their debut can rest easy, as the classic synthpop influence that has made itself apparent in a few of Sturm Café’s interstitial releases is readily apparent throughout the LP. Those familiar with their excellent 2010 7 inch “Koka-Kola Freiheit” (which makes another appearance here, deservedly) should be pleased, as that track’s EBM-by-way-of-Men-Without-Hats style informs numerous tracks, from “Sicherheit” with it’s stuttering vocal sample and to the elegantly straightforward bass and drum arrangement of the title song. The band’s instrumental minimalism has moved them towards an emphasis on melody, with vocalist Löfstedt adding just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek charm to uncomplicated arrangements like “Stark, Schön und Elegant”.
Classic body music meets primitive synthpop might not sound like the most original pitch for a record, but there’s a special confidence and self-conscious bravado to Europa! to make the simple conceit work. Oftentimes it’s successful because of flaunted expectations, like when the band goes into a full 242 style bass riff on but pairs it with a vocal line more fitting for a wistful ballad on “Meistermann”. Similarly rather than going uptempo on the aggressive “Doof” the band slows the tempo, allowing a groove to build up around its kick-snare foundation. The tempo trick is even more pronounced on “Die Ende” where judicious use of double time on a lead synth presages the chorus’ shift in beats per minute.
Sturm Café are a clever band no doubt, and never moreso than when they’re finding new ways to twist their admittedly elementary formula to produce new results. While not groundbreaking, Europa! is the work of a band that perfectly understands their genre, and better yet, knows clever ways to bend it without breaking. As solid as you could expect any album in this style to be in 2015, Sturm Café find new relevance in their own take on old sounds.
Whoa! Wicked! I’ve always enjoyed their svensk-accented deutsch. Glad to hear that they’re still producing. I’m enjoying what I hear so far. EBM UNITED!
It’s really strange to read a Sturm Café-review which just focuses on the music. Their lyrics are often so bizarre that I (as a native german speaker) have a hard time even registering the music. “Alphamenschen” always confuses the hell out of me, no matter how often I hear it… and from the trailer it seems that Europa! is equally dadaistic.
Hah! I actually don’t speak a word of german, so the only thing I can talk about is the music. I’d welcome your thoughts on it though, I understand their Swedish accent is kind of unusual.
Their accent makes it obvious that they are from somewhere in scandinavia, but it is actually not that extreme. A bit unusual indeed and somewhat amplified by the EBM-style vocals, but very easy to understand.
Their grammar, on the other hand, is so bad and fucked up that I sometimes suspect they are doing it on purpose. And for the content of the lyrics… wait, let me do a little translating…
Their lyrics are never serious (I think), but some of the time I get what they are making fun of and sometimes it’s just WTF.
For example, “Koka Kola Freiheit” is about fighting for socialism to get rid of ‘Koka Kola’, because it brings along McDonalds and capitalism and everything that is evil. And “Stiefelfabrik” is about working in a factory for boots and being proud when seeing the troops marching along in the beautiful boots they made. In both cases, it is obvious that they aren’t that serious about it.
Alphamenschen, on the other hand… I tried to translate it, along with all the bad grammar:
“Somewhere in the world their lives a people which are very bend.
The think the future, pain does not exist and if you accuse them something, they only laugh.
Two time a week they play game, some witchshit. It is strange anyway, don’t get it, if you can explain me, is it good?
Alphahumans of flesh and blood, they love life, they play so well.”
No idea what this is supposed to be about, but “irgendeine Hexenscheiße” (“Some witchshit”) is such a weird thing to say, that never stops amusing me.
Martin: We made alphamenschen for a roleplaying and tabletop game society club in our hometown during highschool called “SF Alpha”. I think we got 50€ as payment for it. The grammar and content is confusing to say the least but they just wanted a cool song with word alpha in it. Its never been a “real” sturm café song but we have put it as a bonus song on a couple of releases.
Hey Gustav and fellows,
I am not a native speaker and am studying German. I would very much appreciate getting all the lyrics from Sturm Café as an exercise. Haven’t found it anywhere on the web, so could you post them somewhere or send it to my email? g_wendling@hotmail.com
Thanks a lot
Wow, that’s awesome! Being a RPG and tabletop gamer myself I now have the strong urge to give a local band 50€ and get a weird themesong for our own gaming group.