The Formative Years
Tocotronic
Founded in 1993 and signed by the genre pushing avantgarde label L’Age D’Or a year later, there are few bands that embodied what was labelled “Hamburger Schule” than Tocotronic, not just musically but also visually with their much copied idiosyncratic band uniform comprised of corduroy pants, thrift store shirts with advertising slogans and track suit jackets from the 1980s.
Tocotronic’s observations of everyday situations and frustrations with Teutonic middle-class conservatism resonated with coming off age youth looking for German music that strayed away from the mainstream.
First starting out with an easily accessible melange of low-fi grungy punk sound paired with disillusioned, personal, headstrong diary-like ironic lyrics, which became integral to their trademark style that dominated the first three albums, the band started to evolve with their fourth release, adding more complex facets to their sonic emissions complemented by lyrics entering more metaphorically subtle territory.
Having recently revisited Tocotronic’s oeuvre, I was particularly taken by their recent albums, which showcase the evolution of a band that has carved its own lane and has refined its sound to incorporate complex and atmospherics arrangements, which are meticulously produced and incorporate a raft of new instruments, e.g. synchs and chamber music, thereby refraining from delving into the chaotically raw and noisy approach they first became popular for.
Lyrically, the recent releases have become much more abstract, aphorism laden and seem to be centred around themes like dissolution and the fantastical to the extent where some might dismiss them as being merely a convoluted array of seemingly unrelated ramblings.
Tocotronic is a band that has successfully reinvented itself and while they have grown in every aspect, at the inner core there is still Tocotronic’s very recognizable DNA, which is informed by an inherent unwillingness to unite with what they despise.
