Steine - Was Ist Gut? [Crocodile Tears Records Promo]

Coming in via mail from the offices of the Berlin-based IndiePop imprint Crocodile Tears Records is "Was Ist Gut?", the forthcoming album release crafted by the duo Steine with contributions of several guest musicians which is scheduled for release on October 8th, 2k21. Employing the musical nom de guerre Steine we see the groups core members Harald Wissler and Mario Schulte exploring a lo-fi iteration of Leftfield-leaning IndiePop with songs like "Schau Mir Nicht Zu" evoking echoes of memories of the elusive, yet legendary HGich T. demo tape "Melodien Ohne Zweifel" released back in 2001 whilst the subsequent "Walter" brings forth a well twangy Country sleaze, the demo'esque "Weiss Ich Schon" could've found its way onto some Dhyana Records compilation tape back in the days and, to name another example, "Was Du Willst" mixes Hamburger Schule vibes with somewhat of a crude Disco attitude with the first of the aforementioned genres seemingly being a major influence for the duo in general, probably due to the intellectual theatre circles and environment both Wissler and Schulte seem to be related to. This said "Was Ist Gut?" and its overall sense for the little things in life as well as its innate feel for the slightly absurd could've defo been a nice, friendly, well comforting and surely interesting longplay piece, a companion for melancholia-infused autumn afternoons within an ocean of dull and meaningless Pop-oriented music hadn't Steine decided to opt in for the repetition of the stupidest, most petty and wrong-proven of all leftwing anti-capitalist slogans in the less than one minute interlude "Keine Floskel" which not only seems to be totally out of place as non of the other 14 songs on here seem to be dealing with social criticism or other political issues but also speaks volumes about how little economy and the general ways of accumulation of capital is understood by those who try to critique exactly that from a self-perceived perspective of socio-economic inferiority and x or suppression. We're not in for that.

tl;dr: A perfect example of how one song can ruin and discredit an otherwise perfectly legit album.