This article was automatically translated by AI.
“We are bringing punk back. Middle finger up and hand in the crotch“
“The enemy is the NPD…“
Who writes lines like these? Is this the next big thing?
These lines come from SWISS & DIE ANDEREN.
SWISS is a rapper from Hamburg, raised in the Altona district and has been in the game for 10 years. He has released various albums. “Grosse Freiheit“ is a rap album that SWISS recorded with his band DIE ANDEREN, characterized by the fact that the accompanying music is played live by a band. This gives the sound an unusually raw, aggressive quality and indeed leans towards punk.
Punk rock and rap have not been combined by many musicians so far, at least not as well as SWISS.
The lyrics provoke but also make you smile a lot. The humor of the Hamburger is rough but never cheap. He knows how to address what many (in the left scene) think. SWISS calls himself a punk. At first glance, this seems a bit strange. Can something like this be punk? Completely without punk rock, leather jackets, and mohawks?
Yes, it can! Punk is not tied to clothing or a music style. Punk is in the heart. Punk may also be about appearance, but punk is primarily in the heart. Punk is an attitude. SWISS has that.
The lyrics also resonate with someone like me, who doesn't have much to do with rap and hip hop. He already achieved that with the CD EP “Schwarz Rot Braun“. The review of this record can be read here: http://www.ramtatta.de/s/reviews/f/details/id/7020/
The album “Grosse Freiheit“ with its 17 (!) songs manages to keep my enthusiasm alive. Many political, socially critical songs like “Punk zurück“, “Fick dich“ and the wonderful “Vermisse Dich“ hit the nail on the head. I can sign every line. SWISS also brings in his life experience, like what it’s like when people around you have a good job, settle down, and no longer enjoy life, but live in their cocoon of comfort, lethargy, and convenience, and still call that living. How was it back then when we urinated in front of the Deutsche Bank together?
Back then we were the biggest punks in the city…
Lines like the following speak from the heart:
Homeownership, don’t need it.
Expensive cigars, don’t need them.
Ownership makes you immobile, that’s why I feel so uncomfortable.
Insurance? Man, I don’t care about that.
What has ruined you so much? Life? No…you yourself!
But SWISS can not only shove his middle finger up the noses of the squares, yuppies, hipsters, and normals around the corner, he can also write longing love songs. These hit just as directly in the heart as the songs “Claire“, “Immer Noch“ or the song “Herz aus Gold“. Hardly anyone has written such a beautiful song about their childhood, which was truly not beautiful.
Even the cover version “Der Traum ist aus“ by Rio Reiser breathes new life into it by SWISS.
SWISS & DIE ANDEREN are a new discovery.
SWISS & DIE ANDEREN are full of energy, full of anger, full of open eyes, full of provocation.
SWISS handles the German language perfectly, which makes his lyrics 100% credible and never silly. That’s something to achieve.
“Grosse Freiheit“ is the album of the (still young) year!
Even if one can criticize the band for offering a special collector's box of this album at Amazon, Media Markt, and Saturn and not through the small record store in the Schanzenviertel, and why does he perform on “Inas Nacht“? Isn’t that absolute commercial crap? Yes, maybe. On the other hand, he manages to reach other people, exactly those squares against whom he stands, to hold up a mirror to them.
Singing about “Against Nazis“ in the Rote Flora is easy, but playing at the party congress of the CDU, AfD, CSU, and NPD to meet exactly the people against whom you are is far more punk than playing in the comfort zone.
SWISS & DIE ANDEREN are something different, something new.
