JOHNNY NOTEBOOK - & THE 21ST CENTURY MATES

Having emerged from the remnants of the bands Dean Dirg, Toyotas, Metric Eyes and Tetallica, the synth-punk duo Johnny Notebook, with roots in Düsseldorf, Wuppertal and Madrid, releases all their pent-up energy at once after almost three years of practicing personal responsibility in the kitchen, hallway and bathroom society free. The result is the energetic, driving sound of the new long player Johnny Notebook and the 28th Century Mates. This is characterized by the Johnny Notebook mix of the danceable beats of the Roland TR505 drum composer, the catchy cadences of the PolyKorg800 synthesizer, recurring hooklines and a ruthlessly nasal but no less melodic head voice. Influences from genre gods like Devo, Screamers and Aviador Dro are still the unmistakable foundation of Johnny Notebook. 28th Century Mates is also enriched by repeated Italo-Disco elements, for example in the form of overlaying synthesizer melodies through to shorter keyboard solos, which makes the sound a bit more positive and light-lived than on previous Johnny Notebook releases. Lyrically, many of the songs address the sometimes absurd interactions between digital and analog reality and oscillate between nostalgia, sarcasm and fatalism, without sounding even remotely melancholy.