It has been said, in various promotional contexts, that this second Fusspils 11 album has been eagerly awaited by the fan base. I honestly did not know they had one, as their debut "Gib Ihr einen Namen" pretty much sounded like a half-finished Funker Vogt product. "Elektro-polizei", released no less than six years after its flaky predecessor, could also be deemed close in sound and attitude to Funker Vogt, but that all lies in the craftsmanship of mastermind Gerrit Thomas. Whatever comes out of him and his Lager2 studio creatively tends to lean towards three basic foundation stones: static beats, effective melody alterations and dynamic production work.
"Elektro-polizei" has engaged the forces of five men and one woman, but it is still essentially Thomas' wand that is puppeteering the action. My favourite vocalist (well, he's in the top-three) Tim Fockenbrock (Ravenous lead singer) lends his always impressive skills to the Peter Maffay cover "So bist du", giving it so much life it's blooming into electropop perfection. This one, alone, makes the album worthy of attention. Why they don't use him more is a mind boggling mystery.
A number of additional covers, like "Wo die wilden Rosen blühen" (a snappy electro attack on the classic Kylie Minogue/Nick Cave duet) and "Bodo Ballerman", actually add to the overall quality of a disc suffering from lack of variation musically. Jens Kästel, Fockenbrock, Peggy Johanson and Thomas himself make sure to broaden the spectrum vocally, but only Tim excells in that department.
With a tear in my eye, I am beginning to recognise the condition a friend pointed out to me some time ago; that Funker Vogt, Fusspils 11, Ravenous and Fictional nowadays all sound pretty much the same. I am still not convinced, but I would love for, say, Ravenous to put a halt to my growing hesitation.