This review could be summed up as lost in translation. The music being examined can best be described as German “dad” rock. Dad rock is the kind of music that maybe has a bit of an edge to it but nothing that would annoy your boss if he was in your car while it was playing or if he was over for a bbq. The kind of music you can buy at whole foods or star bucks. That isn’t to say the music is bad – it just fits a certain niche.

But I digress ---- we are discussing German dad (papi in Deutsch?) rock. The first thing I want to say is I enjoy German music --- I have spent some time in Germany and I have quite enjoyed German artists such as Seed (amazing hip hop/dub in German) and the German pop sensation Xavier Naidoo. So my less than enthusiastic reaction to this CD isn’t because I don’t like German singing and/or German pop.

There isn’t anything particularly wrong with this CD. Everything is played well and the mix is solid. There just isn’t anything compelling either --- everything feels expected (even when I am sure it wasn’t supposed to feel that way).

My best guess is that this music excels when you actually know what they are saying (Seed and Xavier Naidoo work regardless of you understanding them or not). The label that put out this CD also seems to be with it – as their shop is distributing some fine releases.

Either way, I am completely lost and not entirely sure why this was sent for review. Five stars for production etc and for the fact that the key might be in the translation. 5/10 -- Daniel De Los Santos (2 June, 2010)