Review by: Bob Alderdice
Translating as ‘Turnip Winter’, these two slabs of angry, synth-infused punk from Germany’s Pisse are
named after a period of significant hardship and social unrest in Germany during the First World War.
As you might expect from such a title, both 7″s in this series are filled with social commentary, focusing in particular on capitalism, work and wealth inequality. Thankfully, I know all of this despite my long-forgotten GCSE German because the liner notes offer a handy English translation from the German lyrics! This also means I can appreciate such gems of lines as:
“TODAY YOU PET DOGS WHILE EATING GUMMY BEARS/TOMORROW YOU’RE BOSS OF HARIBO
AND YOU COOK GELATINE FROM DOGS” (‘Hundegelatine’)
And
“YOU CALL THE COPS/BUT THEY CAN’T HEAR YOU ANYMORE/HERE YOU’VE BEEN CONCEIVED,
HERE YOU’RE GONNA DIE/IN AN IKEA BED” (‘Drehtür’)
Musically, Pisse are great and the variation in sound across the records makes for an intriguing listen.
‘Vernissage’ is quite an uptempo, punk piece, built around an ace synth loop. It kind of reminds me of
Teledrome. Songs such as ‘Armes Schwein’ and ‘Hundegelatine’ are a more like straight-forward punk
tunes, a bit like the sort of thing you would hear on a Spits record or even a KBD collection. Thrown in to
the mix are the odd bits of avant garde flair and expression (the final track, ‘Dienstleistungsgesellschaft’, forbexample). However, regardless of all of these attempts by me to try and find a point of reference for Pisse, they always strike me as a band doing their own thing. They don’t seem to be constrained by any particular genre. I mean, it’s punk, but it’s all sorts of bonkers. I love it.