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The Robocop Kraus: They Think They Are the Robocop Kraus

When thinking about German rock, I admittedly fall prey to standard prejudices, and I first listened to the new record from German outfit The Robocop Kraus with visions of Scorpions, synthesizers and David Hasselhoff dancing in my head. Here’s the lowdown, fellow Germanophobes, on They Think They Are The Robocop Kraus: you’ll find no sign of the Scorps and zero ‘hoff but will hear a boatload of synths and a dozen frantically beautiful rock and roll tunes. From the opening “After Laughter Comes Tears,” it’s clear that the Kraus are an energetic bunch with a huge affinity for Reagan-era new wave. Industrial blips meld with jittery, angular guitars and the completely depressing sentiments of lead singer Thomas Lang: “After laughter comes tears/All good things come to an end/No need for medication/It feels like losing a friend.” Filled with abrupt dynamic shifts and skillfully layered electronic collages, the track is quite a feat of musicianship and production, and an immediate nod to the band’s synth-rock slant. It’s like taking the hooks of modern-day new-wave princes Franz Ferdinand and injecting them with a heavy dose of Kraftwerk, a dash of Devo and a pallid worldview. Speaking of which, while Lang is fronting a powerhouse of a band, you wouldn’t know it by his lyrics. The fatalistic perspectives of “After Laughter Comes Tears” continue throughout, especially on the songs “Life Amazes Us Despite Our Miserable Future” and “Concerned, Your Secular Friends” (the latter will appeal to anybody who has lost a friend to the evil clutches of born-again Christians). Like recent success stories Franz Ferdinand and The Killers, The Robocop Kraus are loads of fun to listen to. But unlike those bands, whose “sad” songs still manage to be cute as pie, these Germans are thought provoking at the same time. Their music is like a rainstorm in summer, like the sting of a scorpion hidden in an ice cream cone, like a leather-clad hunkasaurus who fights crime and talks to his car. This, my friends, is German rock.