And now, something completely different.
Today, no punk rock, ska, or related genres.
Today, we have folk music. Yes, you heard that right.
According to GANKINO CIRCUS, folk music is music from the people for the people, or more politically correct, music from people for people. Old songs are played alongside new influences and original compositions.
The band from Dietenhofen has been around for 10 years now. In these 10 years, the band has released four albums, “The Last of Their Kind“ is the fourth album. They have played as support for Eläkeläiset, they have been to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where they toured with the support of the Goethe Institute. In recent years, they have increasingly been performing on small art stages and play almost every weekend.
I personally got to know the band when they were supporting Eläkeläiset. I was so impressed that I have been following the band's activities ever since. The last three albums were also reviewed for ramtatta.de. Here are the links for further reading:
THE POTPOURRI OF LORD BARON VON GUNZENHAUSEN
http://www.ramtatta.de/s/reviews/f/details/id/3969/
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR CITY
http://www.ramtatta.de/s/reviews/f/details/id/3996/
FRANKONIAN BOOGALOO
http://www.ramtatta.de/s/reviews/f/details/id/6985/
The new album shares its title with the animal shows by and with Andreas Kieling. Is there a connection? Well, at least in terms of the band's style. This can certainly be described as unique. No schlager, no borderline idiotic folk music, no folk music... but something in between.
The lyrics tell of the small and big stories of people, set in the countryside. They speak of small and great happiness, of longings, of sad moments. This may be laughable for city dwellers, but it is also a kind of longing or rather a melancholy of an almost surreal yet real existing rural life. A longing for happiness, love, contentment, and inner peace... and we are all the same in that regard, no matter where we come from. We define our goals differently, but the deep feelings are the same.
Especially in this atmosphere where happiness and misfortune are so close together that you can hardly tell them apart, humor comes into play, which is at home somewhere between art, nonsense, and rebellion. I think of the second song on the record. It’s called “Tauben” and is about all the things you have to (or should) do better. And then you just sit on a park bench and watch the pigeons poop. That’s so great, almost dadaistic, and also so different that it is, on a very own basis, punk rock again. I stay here, I do my thing, and what you others say doesn’t matter to me.
“So oder So” is a song whose lyrics everyone can surely relate to. When a slight buzz (Seidla, in the dialect) turns into a drunken stupor and you just crash.
Then there’s the “Marie” whom I always believe, but she never believes me. Why is that?
Because she “Horch(t), was kommt von draußen rein”? This well-known folk song exists as a short folk-punk number that keeps no one with a sense of rhythm still. Yes, maybe it’s also about “Scheiss grosse Eier,” because rock 'n' roll is like medicine.
I don’t think anyone has ever charmingly rhymed eggs with threes before. Yes, that’s about the gentlemen musicians. You lay down.
At the end of the record, “So lang ich hier bin” concludes with a truly sad song, whose narrative has probably occurred in reality just like that many times.
GANKINO CIRCUS has adopted a different style since their third album “Frankonian Boogaloo,” which clearly differs from the first two albums. This stylistic change was not a bad one. You can hear it on “The Last of Their Kind.” However, it is also an album that wants to be listened to and discovered, at least if you are not familiar with the Franconian dialect and need to read the lyrics to understand everything.
But it is also an album that sounds quite pleasant musically, which might tempt one to see the record as shallow and the lyrics as trivial.
That would be a mistake!
Musically, the band still plays at a high level, and lyrically they show that they are both good observers, analyzers, and good writers.
Thus, the album “The Last of Their Kind” has become a gem, perhaps more mature than the previous albums, perhaps more life-experienced, but definitely something special.
The record is packaged in a very appealing digipack with a nice booklet.
It’s just a shame that the band is more active in the field of small arts, but maybe they will find their way back to the stages of street festivals and small clubs, where they also fit wonderfully. The concert at Badehaus in Berlin is still unforgettable.
P.S.: For the song "Marie Marie" there is the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwS_h5Cdjio
Have fun.
