Rolltreppe

Reviews

Rolltreppe Es Geht Bergab 12″

It’s possible that Es Geht Bergab sounds so completely original because it sounds so instantly familiar, and now I’m stuck wondering which it actually is (and knowing it’s both). You’re going to see terms like “post-punk” and “goth punk” thrown around a lot when people talk about this record (and this band), but that’s just folks not listening past the flanged bass and the spacial guitars—in reality, ROLLTREPPE is a damn punk band that takes advantage of those elements instead of leaning on them. From the opening track, I’m dragged back a decade. “Kranke Welt” feels like a mid-2010s RAKTA and WHITE LUNG collaboration (with the bass lick borrowed accidentally and/or blatantly from the former), while the general energy ROLLTREPPE projects is the stark, cold, dance frenzy that dominates ’80s Eastern Bloc punk with all of the energy and intensity that comparison conjures and more. Rhythm-section-driven, high-energy punk with guitars taking their own trip and vocals that command full attention. I went back and checked out their 2020 release because I’m curious (and thorough), and seeing the progression makes me really anxious to hear whatever comes next—I can talk about how many elements remind me of other bands, songs, and records, but really I just keep coming back to how I’ve never really heard a record that sounds like this. Excellent.

Rolltreppe Rolltreppe LP

Vinyl version of a nine-song cassette that this Austrian group released last year, with the sort of lo-fi immediacy that can only be captured by playing together live in a room with a four-track running. There’s a definite NOTS vibe on this one, specifically NOTS as they existed in that transitional period between the stripped-down punky garage bash of their first two singles and the dark, driving electro-post-punk on their most recent LP, from the spaced-out delay on Rebecca’s shouted vocals (largely in German, with a few detours into English), to the squeals of synth on “Mischmachine,” to that wiry, post-WIPERS guitar strangling that comes through on the more urgent tracks like “Forgotten Keys” or “Glasfaser.” Despite some borderline post-punk flourishes (like the see-sawing rhythms and quick cuts of sax skronk on “Lebenslauf” and “100 Grad”), ROLLTREPPE is decidedly a punk band, with a raw, shambolic energy in step with any number of German-language, femme-centered DIY classics from a time well before now—GLUEAMS, HANS-A-PLAST, A-GEN 53 if you want to go really deep, etc. A solid debut, no doubt.