Matthias Reim’s new album comes out in April. The closer it gets the more excited I am for it. The songs are available to sample on the website. I don’t know how he manages to blend so many styles together so seamlessly, but he does and it is amazing. I am told that this album is more autobiographical than the others. I’ve always thought they were anyway. But we won’t get into the music theory and creative process in this post. I will say that it is purposefully autobiographical and call it good.
One of the things that excites me about the new album is the iconography. The text and symbols are beautiful and reflect the nature of the album… Phoenix. Of course I am the weird font geek and you all could have figured that out on your own. But when you go to the website to listen to the music look at the album’s design. It is just gorgeous. The font and flourishes totally convey the strength in this new album.
So far, my favorites are Erlöse mich (release me),Träume (dream), and das Lied (the song). I have a few weeks before the album comes out so we will see if those choices hold up upon hearing the entire song. We will also see if this is going to be an album that helps heal some hurt. The impetus that started me listening to Matthias left some scars that simple “muscling through” won’t heal. “Move on” does’t seem to be the answer. The further I get from the source of both my greatest joy and greatest sorrow the less platitudes help. And the more I realize that Time does not heal on its own. Time has to fix a lot of things and we have to help it along when we can. So I am hoping that as awesome as the samples are, and that my choices of favorites which speaks more intimately to the situation than I can go into here, mean that Time has chosen an optimist like Matthias for a helper.
I know I have. And I have not yet been disappointed by his unintentional assistance or his company along the road. When I get to the end of my sorrows I hope that some of Matthias’ good nature will have been passed along to me. I kinda miss the old me.
Like any good fan, I follow the music websites, blogs and fan sites of the artists I particularly like. As we have established, it is Mostly Matthias. There are a good many German artists whose work I admire, politics and personal beliefs aside. My German isn’t good enough to pick up on subtle messages of allegiance or proselytizing. The music is what matters. It is where my soul goes and how my spirit heals when I listen that matters. 2015 is a great personal year for German music… in my opinion.
2015 is starting to sound like 1986 and 87. Currently on Spotify you can hear Nena’s new album. She has been absent from the music world while she has been fulfilling her other passions… mostly raising a family and enjoying her time as Oma. That is not to say that there have not been albums during the last few years. They have been mostly remixed versions of the songs that proved to be most popular. This is the first album in a long time that is all new titles and not reinventions of the old.
Oldschool is very much an album from the 80s. It is pure Nena. This is the Nena that I have been missing. The Nena of 99 Luftballons, Dreh Dich, Du bist mein Geheimnis, and Irgendwie Irgendwo Irgendwann. It feels a little Siouxsie and the Banshees sometimes. Sometimes you can feel the spirit of the New Wave movement in every music phrase. The first song I listened to from the album was Magie. Pure 80s magic. If you don’t have time to listen to the whole album, I suggest also, Jeden Tag and genau jetzt.
Herbert Grönemeyer has a new album out this year as well. Dauernd Jetzt. It reminds me of Bochum in that his voice takes center stage with this album. In recent releases sometimes I felt that he was being drowned by instrumentation. Dauernd jetzt brings him back front and center. Now, the funny thing about this album is that the first track, Morgen, sounds like it could be from the Sherlock soundtrack. I’d like to leave you with a video, but they have not made it available in the USA. For Copyright reasons. Bah!
Both of these albums, and the New one from Matthias, take me to a place where I was very centered. I was grounded in the full knowledge of who I was and had set a course to be true to that self. I wore all of my flags proudly and at full mast. During the last couple of decades, I slowly slid into the character of myself that made others happy. It wasn’t even a pale shade of who I was. And as I am scrambling to climb back into myself and own who I am, these albums come at a time when I really need the support. Elements of everyday life attack the flags of my personal territory, the parts of me that if distilled would be the essence of who I am, as do hurricane gales attack schooner sails. Jsut as when I was 17, I find the best support in music.
In this instance, the music is a bridge between the two times. The confident and self directed 17 year old me can step over the pain of the last 20 some years into the rest of my life which will be free from the struggle to conform. For I will not. I will not bring people into my life because others think I should. I will not marry someone to prove that I am normal and not gay. I will not allow other people to tell me how I can and can not make a living to suit their opinion of who I am. Any one who can not see me for who I am is not going to be in my life.
As I write I wonder if this belongs in a German culture album. It seems too personal for what I have been posting. Then again, I am German (mostly). Somehow, I think that everything that I am and the struggles that I have are tied up in being German. The more I think of it, the more I see how the struggle to be who I am mirrors my Grandparents’ experience in Detroit during the Great War. They were praised on one hand for being German. On the other, no one could tell the difference between them and the Nazis. And for my Jewish Grandmother the difficulties had to be astronomic. Be American but be German and Jewish because that is all you know how to be… how do you do that?
How do you ignore the formative parts of yourself to please others and not go stark raving mad? I couldn’t do it. I tired to be something else, something acceptable. Then I met the exchange students and realized I was fine how I was. Slipped in an effort to please people who should never have been in my inner circle to start with. And now I have be reclaim that. It is a common enough struggle that it can not be labeled as strictly German. Though I share the struggle with my Grandparents, albeit without the threat of artillery or Joseph McCarthy’s prying eyes, it seems silly to label it a German struggle. In the grand scheme though… Germany has only been a unified country for a few decades of its unstable history.
Loosely unified tribes, loosely governed factions always trying to keep true to themselves and fighting off “foreign” influence amidst fluid borders… yeah, that seems to be the German struggle. Always invaded, never certain of peace long enough to be truly comfortable… no wonder we are a stubborn people. It seems as if history says it is okay to be French and English, Spanish and Italian but Germany always has to be divided up and spread out among the rest of the world. That it stands fast and will not yield, sometimes going overboard in its own defense (Nazis) and still tries to be helpful… I am SOOOOOOO GERMAN!!!!!!!
Twenty years late to the Schlagerparty! I became a fan in 2010. My pen pal said I was pretty late to the party. My very first song was Lebenslänglich. It didn’t take me very long to catch up to everyone else in the fanclub. His first hit, the song that endeared Matthias to the throngs of adoring fans, is a catchy tune about a man needing a girl in his life, Verdammt ich lieb dich! And people just don’t let him forget that song!
Matthias is more than that first hit. But I think one of the reasons that it never goes away, and his other work is sometimes overshadowed by this first hit single, is that in 1990 few Germans were listening to German music. Schalgerplanet credits 6 artists, Matthias among them, as having revived interest and passion for German made music.
I’ve loved it since Nena gave us 99 Luftballons. I’ve just been limited in my ability to participate in the fandom from across the pond. I’ve tried to catch up on everything that I have missed in the last 25 years. Of everything that I have heard, Matthias is still the best of the best for me.
He celebrates 25 years of music with a fantastic Jubilee album gift set. The more important part of the celebrations for me is the 25 Jahr concert tour. I’m not sure how I will make it happen. But I am hoping to get to Germany this year for one of the concerts in the anniversary rotation.
When you have exhausted Ich Will dich Immernoch and feel brave about getting out in the world again there is this song, Ich bin nicht verliebt from the album Unverwundbar.
Unverwundbar is one of those “gird your loins” songs. I remind myself of lessons learned from the past relationships and that those failures don’t predict future success. I know, sounds like the crap that you get from self help gurus. And, strictly speaking, that isn’t exactly what this song is saying. He is just saying that what once hurt, hurts no more. I’ve been there. And when I get close to that place I remind myself that I am invincible, immune to the shades of the past.
Been here many times. No matter how he treated me I wanted the guy back. Always during the first few months when I was uncertain that I had made the right choice. Only with one person did I ever feel that way after even a year. It is torture to feel that way about someone who clearly was not right for you. And when I have forgotten what it was like to lie next to someone and cry myself to sleep, feeling like I was alone in the world there is this song from Matthias.
It is natural to feel that way. I guess it is a question of the devil you know. It isn’t healthy. I could get wrapped up in a warped sense of should and should not and feel guilty towards myself that I would be dumb enough to want to live in that hell again. But here is Matthias to say it is normal. Everyone feels that way. Ich will dich Immernoch is not a move on song. It is about those moments where once you felt blessed to be free then desire to be trapped again.
In the body of his work there are move on songs. So when you are done rocking this one there is another to walk you along a path to the future. He might not be the wisest person to walk that with, but as far as kindred spirits go he feels the safest. And if not safe at least he is the most fun to have in the CD player.
A new album from Matthias Reim comes in a few days to Europe. My copy will be in the post a few days after that. So for many weeks my friends in Germany will have a head start. So far on facebook I have heard bits and pieces of all of the songs. Already I have a few favorites.
The screaming guitars are back! I’ve been told that the record label almost would not let Männer sind Krieger be released because it was to heavy with guitar and “no one listens to that anymore.” But Matthias got his way and our reward was a great album in Männer sind Krieger. And this one, die Leichtigkeit des Seins is going to be just as awesome.
I am not the most unbiased reviewer of his work; that is certain. The last 3 albums were wonderful for a variety of reasons. With each album my collection grows as does my respect for him as an artist. If you aren’t a fan yet, I hope you will check out some of his work. Youtube doesn’t have much still available in the States. (Copyright lawyers spoil all the fun). And if you are a fan already and have not seen this invitation to order the new album, I hope you do so.
Suzani linen (pier1), Vintage hand-painted Ornaments (Germany, Poland) CDs: Bare Naked Ladies, Matthias Reim, traditional German Carols (from a friend).
As a child I was always torn between the conflicting messages; and conflicting cultural directions. Life was pretty simple back then. Our parents kept it that way for as long as they could. That meant we thought we were pretty evenly split between the Welsh on dad’s side and German on mom’s. Split heritage. Split traditions. And for myself, that meant a decided split in musical preference: somber English traditional carols of introspection and the cacophonous clamoring of German bells in a full out riot of notes to go with the flurry of activity and high energy of celebratory joy.
My favorites were the songs that told another part of the story than the one we heard in church: I Saw 3 Ships, The Holly & the Ivy, Good King Wenceslas, We 3 Kings, God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman & In the Bleak Midwinter. I suspect that this love for these tunes is what inevitably lead me to love Sting when he sang his way into my heart; a truth bore out by the release of his album If on A Winter’s Night. Our Catholic church, replete with sobriety in music, rather made one crave something joyfully frivolous. And while my ultimate favorite carol is the German Stille Nacht, too much introspection callouses the soul. The giddy glöckschen are a perfect foil to English sobriety.
And maybe a little dance music.
I have a huge collection of Christmas music, almost 30 CDs (huge for me). My Spotify list is quite extensive. But these are the top 3 CDs that I prefer to listen to. And you can see that the selection is mostly German. So many of our traditions come from the German culture and we do not even realize it. Christmas is the perfect time, in my mind, to embrace and extoll this place which holds such a fascination for me.
You can see that of my three favorites, the German music is in the lead. There have been far too many years of bleak winters and solitary holidays observed since my father’s passing. Last year when Matthias Reim’s Die Große Weihnachts Party came out with its upbeat rhythms and clearly tinkling bells all of me got really happy, really quickly. Lasst uns froh und munter sein, oh du fröliche, Kling, glöckschen, klingelingeling and the original Wo bleibt der Schnee?
Bare Naked for Christmas is a comfortable mix of tradition and current favorites. Most all of it is stripped down of the pomp, highlighting the songs themselves and the boys’ voices. The Hanukkah song and God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen being my faves.
And then there is the non descript, plain looking little CD. 25 of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard song by a children’s choir will rip the Scrooge right out of you if he’s still lurking in faint shadows. The CD is from a vinyl record called Musik für Weihnachten, produced by the Bielfelder Kinderchor. About 13 years ago I met someone who shared my love of the German heritage, his Grandmother spoke only German in the house. He made this Cd for me, the best gift I’d gotten in a long time. Finally, feeling like I wasn’t a weirdo for caring about these things and missing the traditions that we were only just starting to understand when my grandfather passed, the fires for learning and exploring were rekindled.
This is the first year that I have been able to hear the CD since dad passed. And it is quickly becoming the soundtrack for the 2013 season with In dulci jubilo, Josef Lieber, Josef Mein, Süßer die Glocken nie klingen, and the theme for this year: Vom Himmel hoch, ihr Englein kommt…. in other words