It’s probably just a coincidence that the new album by post-punk icons Fehlfarben is being released almost at the same time as a masterpiece by rock trio Dienerve, who is 30 years their junior (and that both sing a somber song on “Europa”).
But it is fitting at this time that two fabulous bands – one founded in 1979, the other in 2010 – are currently clearly expressing left-wing uneasiness and pain about Germany, Europe and the world. And their resistance.
The Düsseldorf/Wuppertaler Fehlfarben around singer Peter Hein (65) already achieved legendary status with their debut “Monarchy and Everyday Life” (1980). The record with punk rock songs like “Grauschleier”, “Ein Jahr (Es geht vor)” or “Paul ist tot” is considered by many music critics to be one of the best German-language albums today.
A strong late work
After separations and new formations, the band has been regularly active on concert stages and in the recording studio since the comeback “Knietief im Dispo” (2002). The current album “?0???” (the enigmatic title stands for the uncertainty in 2022 that evokes many question marks) seamlessly ties into the strong late work releases of Fehlfarben on the Hamburg indie pop label tapete.
“Set off on the path/the path that no one else goes/don’t go it alone/you won’t come home alone” – the very first lines of the album’s opener “Into the World Set” are typically false colors: a call to action and at the same time an appeal to join hands. In addition, the familiar mix of punk, rock, new German wave, funk and dub-reggae sounds, to which Hein chants his slogans and complains.
It doesn’t get any more comfortable afterwards – the wrong colors were and are a bulky bunch. There is scolding and cursing (“Go shit with your pride…”), a lot can be interpreted in several directions. “There is nothing more embarrassing than the obvious,” quotes Wallpaper Peter Hein, who announces “new poems in old sound tubes.”
The Corona pandemic was also a challenge for the false colors, but eventually “?0???” but done. Singer Hein again in the usual ironic tone: “They created pieces without end, which despite all the “measures” and pestilence in physical use developed on site and during a last gasp despite 70% case numbers could, yes had to, be finished.” Thanks for that.
False Colors website Label information False Colors wallpaper False Colors video “Europe” on Youtube
