I admit I had not heard of Jeans Team, although "Keine Melodien" from Ding Dong (2000) was a worldwide hit. Peaches covered the song on the US release of "Teaches of Peaches" MJ Lan made a remix of the song as well, which is featured on this self-titled EP. Describing their sound is easier for me to do in the context of where they started and continue to create their music; Wedding is one of the most impoverished areas of Berlin, and low rents in the district have encouraged a vibrant community of artists. The Nadel Eins Studio Berlin is located there and has more or less become home and headquarters for the band when they are not touring. Nadel Eins is also the name of their label, which they also created. Quoting Montreal Mirror, which described their sound as "minimal electro-pop and synth rock anthems" also gives perspective:
I thought this was pretty amusing since I was reading a lot of comparisons of Kraftwerk to the duo. To be honest, I'd say a comparison to the early synthpop scene of the early '80s in the UK and Europe is a little more fair, but with a retrospective twist-- not nostalgic, but a new take on an older genre. Think Depeche Mode when Vince Clarke was still a member, with their early performances at Croc's (now the Pink Toothbrush). Add a heavy dose of DJ house party energy in the Europop style with some old discotheque flair, and I'd say that's a much closer approximation. While Depeche Mode at that time was categorized as part of the Futurist scene, and Jeans Team seems to be more retro in flavor, I'd say the working-class roots of both DM in Basildon and Jeans Team in Wedding have some parallels, if only to describe a connection from past and present."If you are picturing plastic coated machine men with disc drives for mouths, keyboards for backs and knobs for, um, knobs, I hate to shatter your Kraftwerkian illusions, but Germany's Jeans Team are made of flesh and blood."
At any rate, this EP was received pretty favorably in my home. Soon after I popped the disc into the player, the other day, my son started dancing and smiling in his high chair, and Cimmorene walked through the door and said "Ooo, what is that? I like that." When I played it again moments ago to start writing this review, she later suggested that everyone should get up and dance. While none of us speak nor understand a lick of German (and hence none of us understand any of the German lyrics in some of the songs), we all enjoyed it very much.
The EP contains five unreleased tracks, as well as material from previous albums. To my pleasant surprise, there are music videos to some of the songs. Here's the one for "Oh Bauer":
05/10/2009 22:16:18 ♥ jaklumen ( / jaklumen.vox.com) ♥ jeansteam.de ♥ myspace.com/jeansteam
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