‘Ruinenkampf’ is Das Kinn’s first full-length album, and it comes with a strong pitch as ‘a musical tour de force through the ruins of our time. An electronic armada and kickbox phonetics lead us through haunting soundscapes somewhere between DAF, Kosmische Kuriere and Frankfurt Bahnhofsviertel. Beats on full blast. Bones rattle. Warm synthlines played by cold hands. A saxophone ponders the after. Hymns for the demolition. Sonic meditations on decay. Music for the solemn decline.’
The title track is also the lead single. My German being weak, I’ve had to rely on Google Translate to tell me that ‘Ruinenkampf’ is supposedly ‘Ruin battle’: I daresay a better translation would be more eloquent, but it sets the framework.
Thumping and clattering, a quirky, jerky assault of drum machine and synths, all with a keen vintage vibe. The stark, minimal, industrial Euro-disco mines a motorik seem, while the vocals – half-sung, half-spoken, and with a kind of whipping, yelping delivery – are big on echo. It’s very, very much got that ‘Der Mussolini’ feel to it, as it pumps away for an intense two-and-three-quarter minutes. It’s one of the most authentic retro cuts I’ve heard in a long time, and it’s a corker.
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