THE SCREENSHOTS will release a new album titled “2 Million Revenue with a Simple Idea” on October 16, 2020. It is their second (or strictly speaking, their 1 1/2) album in their two-year existence. Yes, you read that right. I did not mistype, and if the internet is not lying to me, then that is indeed the case. With this amount of output, the band should be quite high up in the league of bands that release as much material as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Quantity is not the same as quality. Let's listen to the fun of the trio, who supposedly met via Twitter. I wonder how that is supposed to work, but people have reportedly fallen in love via SMS. Anyone can use Tinder and Bumble, so why not Twitter? Twitter creates emotional storms.
The sound that reaches my ears is very pleasing. It reminds me of Sportfreunde Stiller, The Wohlstandskinder in their poppy times, as well as Die Sterne, Kettcar, and similar calibers. With good will, I can also recognize the sound of Love A (as the only positive reference).
So, music that doesn't hurt and yet smells a bit like subculture (Love A may forgive me). It is the sound that the average middle-class person plays when they want to impress their middle-class friends, but bands like Broilers are already too hard for them. It is the subculture (of the children) of FDP voters.
There is singing in the music. Who would have thought? Sometimes you wonder if what comes out of the speakers is actually supposed to be singing. Here it is supposed to be singing, I hope. The singing is often screechy, annoying, and quickly gets on my nerves (which are even greeted in one song. The band seems to know each other. Is it self-irony or insight? Maybe it’s just the band with that very name). It is a sound that does not excite me. Quite the opposite.
Here, a band is trying to become known through the media channels they are familiar with. They know these paths, and they utilize them. There are videos, there is an original homepage, there is endless output. What there is little of, is substance.
There are textually witty, ironic approaches that sound quite funny on the first listen, but sound worn out on the second or third listen.
This album is a bit like the afternoon program of public broadcasters. There is occasionally something interesting, but mostly it is trivial.
