Ernte 77
Das Rote Album
The fourth album by the three guys from Cologne offers the opposite of very typical punk rock: In a time when many bands tend to find their inspiration in the seventies and eighties, ERNTE 77 celebrate the nineties and unearth a new bunch of melodic and straightforward earworms. They use an often neglected means of dealing with the omnipresent madness, namely humour. The ambiguous reflections on everyday and bizarre things have become the trio's trademark, and the creative use of language moves the lyrics closer to satire than to "fun punk". The targets of DAS ROTE ALBUM's dry, sarcastic attacks include the capitalist work ethic ("If you can party, you can sleep in"), spirituality among punks ("Meditate drunk"), the ascetic life as a musician ("Live from music"), silly sayings in online dating ("I never say no to beer"), and of course their own cultural aspirations ("Harvest 77 are preparing the second punk revival"). At the same time, clear political statements are more important to the band than ever before. In times when fascists can conquer the discourse almost undisturbed, nationalism and new-right talking points like the unspeakable horseshoe theory ("Die goldene Mitte") also deserve biting ridicule. ERNTE 77 have not only developed lyrically, but also musically. In addition to the usual punk anthems, there are also genre excursions in the direction of indie, alternative, garage punk and even electro; what they all have in common, however, is the melodic songwriting that digs into the auditory canal and the enigmatic wit. DAS ROTE ALBUM has thus become a varied mixture, and the generously interspersed cultural allusions also show that the band has done its musical homework. In good DIY tradition, everything was produced and recorded by the band themselves.