GERMANS - Cape Fear Review

If indie trends continue the way they've been so far this decade-- that is, entire blocs of bands emerging at a time from the woodwork to "revive" the tropes and styles pioneered approximately 20 years before them-- we could be in for a lot of groups like Toronto's Germans in the near future. That's not to say the era of bands ripping musical ideas and fashion sense from the Cure, Smiths, and Duran Duran is anywhere near a close, but the Germans' bear-hug embrace of early 90s lo-fi and classic indie on debut Cape Fear sounds ahead of the hand-me-down curve....full text When the fuzzed-out bass and drums come in over the gossamer guitar line opening for "Tiger Vacuum Bottle" one feels almost instantaneously transported back to the early to mid-’90s. In particular, one is reminded of the sounds emanating from labels like Matador, Merge, and Homestead, those rumblings that came to define "indie rock" as a genre. Germans may be a young group of guys putting out a debut album, but their relationship to their cultural forebears is so distinct it almost feels like Cape Fear may have been left in a time capsule circa-1992, only to be opened 15 years later as a can of dweeby whoop-ass meant to rekindle a flame that was bound to burn out....full text By now I guess everyone knows that there is obviously some sort of indie protoplasm in Canada’s water supply. But Broken Social Scene they are not: after all, a band of Canadians calling themselves “Germans” can only sound like… a bearded and sweatband-sporting pop version of Sonic Youth? Amazon may tell you that customers who bought this album also purchased Neon Bible, but if they’re into what Germans are offering, then I suspect that consumers of Cape Fear may be more interested in owning a copy of a happier, sloppier album—something like In a Priest Driven Ambulance or other such ‘90s nostalgia....full text