T.Raumschmiere: Blitzkrieg Pop
Novamute

Shitkatapult head T.Raumschmiere (Berliner Marco Haas) eases up on the 6/8 shuffle beats of 2003's Radio Blackout for arena-ready punk-rock stylings in Blitzkrieg Pop. Though the album's hardly “the loudest pop record in history” (as he intended it to be) it's got more than its share of raucous moments. The album supposedly reveals two sides of T.Raumschmiere—high-octane tracks and ambient pieces—but two of the four latter instances are fleeting interludes of little consequence; of the other two, “Der Grottenholm” is of substantial enough length but little distinction while “Patridiot” makes a stronger impression, opening quietly and building anticipation with processed tones dispersing melodic hints while circled by escalating noise and chords. Still, one can't help but feel Haas's interests lay elsewhere, perhaps in the raunchy songs that bookend the album.

If that's true, it's also a shame ‘cos these too-calculated tracks are the least distinguished. “Sick Like Me” opens with a buzzing, Motown pulse that turns into a Foo Fighters-like punk-metal roar—passable enough, until, that is, T.Raumschmiere's stadium-metal vocals appear which are no better than average for the genre and, furthermore, the song's dumb-ass lyrics don't help (“I got my shit down and I'm ready tonight /10,000,000 watts they keep me going all right”). With its plodding beats and equally ugly vocals, the raunchy title song is worse, and brings the album to a sad end with Metallica riffing.

Thankfully, there's a good batch of songs in between, including two punchy instrumentals, the electro-shuffler “All Systems Go!” and the grinding techno pounder “An Army of Watt.” Though Quasimodo Jones's distorted vocals aren't much better than Haas's, the piledriver grinding beats in “A Mess” are effective enough. What ultimately saves the album, however, are three songs featuring female vocalists. “3 Minutes Happiness,” is a nice techno-pop-house hybrid with soft vocals by French chanteuse Judith Juillerat while the metal-lite “A Very Loud Lullaby,” sounding like some Pat Benatar-Garbage hybrid, is saved by its pop hooks and a strong showing by ex-Guano Apes singer Sandra Nasic. Best of all, Ellen Allien adds disaffected vocals to the bleeding electronics and percolating techno-funk rhythms of “Diving in Whiskey,” making for three minutes of dark techno-pop perfection. Blitzkrieg Pop's obviously a mixed bag, not only stylistically but in terms of quality. But “Diving in Whiskey” makes one salivate at the prospect of an album-length Ellen Allien-T.Raumschmiere collaboration. Maybe next time…?

September 2005