Palais Schaumburg came
to my attention thanks to the excellent Verschwende deine Jugend
oral history and compilation. Their
two songs on the album, "Telephon" and "Wir bauen eine
neue Stadt", are both unconventional, lyrically confusing,
melodically simple, rhythmically creative, and full of weird sound
effects and synthesizers. I bought their second album, Lupa
(1982), while living in Frankfurt almost ten years ago, and I love
its playful, funky,
exploratory variety. Once I
finally found a copy of their self-titled debut (1981), I was
actually quite disappointed. The two tracks I already
knew were as good as ever,
but the rest felt like it was just second-rate material that was
weird for the sake of being weird. Their third and final album,
Parlez-Vous Schaumburg?
(1984), is a third-rate excuse for dated synthpop. Despite the mixed
track record, I thought it would be worth giving their show a chance.
Artist: Palais
Schaumburg
Venue: Volksbühne
Location: Berlin,
Germany
Date: 05 April 2019
The current incarnation
of Palais Schaumburg is the same as the quartet that recorded their
debut album: vocalist/guitarist/synthesist Holger Hiller (who left
shortly after the first album), synthesist/trumpeter Thomas Fehlmann
(the only constant member), bassist/vocalist Timo Blunck, and drummer
Ralf Hertwig. Despite their marketing language, this is not actually
the original lineup; that would include drummer FM Einheit (who
ultimately spent more time with Abwärts and Einstürzende
Neubauten in particular).
For whatever reason,
the band only played songs from the first album, the preceding
singles, and a few new compositions that sounded a lot like the old
ones. This restricted their palette substantially, and other than the
two aforementioned "hits", few of the songs lived up to
that standard. Most were in the same vein of dada bizarreness, but
lacked any compelling elements of substance. Some were played with an
aggressive rhythm that worked up the energy of the crowd, but the
primary musical content was just repetitive bass and drum parts. The
only other highlights were some sparser, spookier elements and of
course the delightful array of synthesizer noises. Oddly, for the
second encore, they just repeated "Wir bauen eine neue Stadt"
in the same arrangement.
I suppose I should've
known that if I didn't like half of the band's recorded material, I
might not like the live show. I'd hoped for something more in the
style of their second album, but they steered completely clear of
that. The charm of their obtuseness has a limit and they reached it
quickly. It might've helped if I could've understood the vocals
better, but the mix was subpar. It also didn't help that a
photographer spent half the show wandering around the stage taking
pictures with a bright flash. All that said, I'm curious to see what
comes of their new material. If they do release a new album, I'd
still give it a chance!
Score: C
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