Once again the best possible hip hop for children (and those who cause them).
As a mission statement, Germany’s greatest band for children takes up the doubts of the past few years in the first song of their eighth album as to whether one can expect anything new musically from the three people from Hamburg. Most recently, your friends have concentrated on radio plays and associated books; the most recent shows were extensions of the tour for the 2023 album ORDENTLICH MASSEIANDER. As if to confirm the worries, it says in the opener “Encore” First of all, “Even though we actually thought the show was over.”
But what comes next is anything but an encore – at least if you see it as well-intentioned but artistically dispensable bonus material. With their new record, Flo, Lukas and Pauli certainly fall into the definition of encores in which artists fire off their greatest hits. Because THE CHILDREN PLAY CRAZY is either the group’s best album or shares this title with numerous predecessors.
How brilliant the trio is “Somewhere on the way home” his individual biographies are mixed with “melodies that no one knows about the song that doesn’t exist with the text that doesn’t rhyme” that arise spontaneously in children’s minds. How perfect the balance of silly skits like “The long-awaited song of the chickens” or “You have something there” (Loriot’s “Die Nudel” for absolute beginners) with thoughtful pieces like “So young” holds. There are again numerous references to parental entertainment (Westernhagen!) and songs like “Blame it on the kids.”. The current single clarifies the domestic balance of power “determiner” and with it the status of the band – Your friends: Best. Always!
