Platiruma!!!
Buy: Bandcamp
Gotta look for stable things to grab onto these days. I already see myself leaning harder into Christmas traditions, both as a source of familiar comfort and frankly, to have some sense of control in a world of uncertainty. Just ordered a new fake Christmas tree… yes, we are a fake tree family. This one is supposed to feel real… I bet I could find something there to write about. Feeling real…
Some bands have begun to establish themselves within my Christmas traditions – bands I look to every year with anticipation of something new and wonderful. Herr Wade and the whole crew at Platiruma!!! are most certainly in that exclusive club. This year’s offering is Herr Wade’s excellent 4-song EP, We Still Remember Funky Christmas. Herr Wade is a collaboration between Jørn Åleskjær (The Loch Ness Mouse, Monobird, Sapphire & Steel) and Sebastian Voss (Nah…, The Fisherman and his Soul, Cinema Engines), and this duo have now dropped mixworthy tracks for three years in a row. The standout of this EP is (IMHO) the German disco track “Schulbus auf dem Eis” (Schoolbus on the Ice). I speak a liiittttllle German, but I’m certainly not quick, so I was most appreciative when Sebastian gave me a bit more context for the song: “The story is about the slippery situation on the street after snow was heavily falling, the last day before x-mas season and being at least able to hold hands with your crush who‘s sitting next to you….”
Well, isn’t that just great? Christmas! Young love! Danger! An earworm of a chorus and a Nile Rodgers groove that satisfies German and non-German speakers alike!
Stone-cold mixworthy.
Bottom Line: In a world spinning out of control, Herr Wade are here for you and will make you move dein Hintern.
LISTEN
Here is a Google translation of the paragraph at the beginning of the video:
With my most heartfelt thanks to my bus driver at the time, Herbert, in whose accordion bus I boarded twice a day between 1985 and 1994 as a “Reckenfeld bus child”, and who knew how to stoically maneuver the white Büssing vehicle with his equally white clogs through wind and weather. To this day, he has made many friends on his travels throughout Europe and Asia, but also on the scheduled services between Greven and Reckenfeld, and has covered thousands and thousands of “completely accident-free kilometers”. I take my hat off to this committed man, who has been so versatile right up to the ripe old age of almost 87, i.e. right up to the present day, and who has hardly changed in appearance in the past 30 years.
Christmas Underground 