A hypothesis on which to start this week.
The Hamburger Schule - a pivotal movement in German music, developing a new intellectual and cultural aesthetic, and exclusively Germanophone (at least initially).
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That's one take, at any rate.
Another would be that the Hamburger Schule ultimately coalesced around too many places outside Hamburg to be as geographically definable a movement as, say, Madchester; that those at its original Hamburg epicentre had their tongues firmly in cheek throughout (Tocotronic's sarcastic Ich bin neu an der Hamburger Schule; in L'Age D'Or a Germanophone "scene" label with a French name); and that the musical influences of the movement's notional roster far, far exceeded the commonly cited touchstones such as Pavement and The Fall.
Whatever. What's not in dispute is that Tocotronic proved among the Schule's penny number of breakout acts and commercial winners. Twenty years on, the withering analysis of civil disquiet at home shared in this week's List feels no less relevant.
Active for broadly as long as Tocotronic, but operating in a different musical orbit, A Loved Album this week shines a light on Fjorden, the third album (second full-length) by Hagen-born electronica artist and latter day contemporary classical composer Barbara Morgenstern.
A definite developmental step on from previous outings, Barbara's then beloved 1970s issue East German Vermona ET 6-1 (which gave her second album its name) still features prominently on Fjorden, but there are sumptuous, wide-screen instrumentals, agitated beats, record player needle crackles and woozy sound manipulations to enjoy alongside the organ-driven pop. It's the sound of an artist increasing her repertoire, gradually and comfortably.
We touched briefly last week on the seemingly inextricable relationship between an artist and a label, and for the thick end of seventeen years Morgenstern was as much synonymous with (if not solely a recording artist for) Monika Enterprise of Berlin as List #265 guests Wolfsheim were with Strange Ways Records.
An outlet for former Malaria! and Einstürzende Neubauten alumnus Gudrun Gut's releases of music by and for people tired of mainstream club-driven sounds (be they dance or indie), Monika numbers among that small handful of labels whose output I have been able to trust implicitly for at least part of their existence - pretty much all of the first decade of this century in this instance. See also Pickled Egg Records, Wurlitzter Jukebox and - inevitably - Sarah Records thence Shinkansen.
There is a German element to the inclusion from excellent Irish shoegaze/dreampopper Keeley, too, in as much as Seeing Things, like much of her past few year's output, concerns the disappearance and murder in 1988 of teenage German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser.
It remains one of Northern Ireland's highest profile cold cases; and whilst some may wonder whether a forensic examination of Inga the person, Inga the tourist and ultimately Inga the blameless victim is appropriate material for an album (let alone multiple albums), nothing about Keeley Moss's interviews in such as the Irish World over the years would have you worrying that the interest is anything other than utterly sincere and respectful.
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- New or recent additions from La Sécurité, Alewya, Flora Hibberd (as part of the latest A Tangle of Jangle), Leenalchi and Leao, the last-named's gorgeous lilt - locally dubbed "niu wave" or Pacific neo-psychedelia - surely the first Samoan track ever to have featured on a List.
- A firm favourite of my much-loved artist friend Samantha Vineyard-Jones, it's 1980s German Eurodance mainstay Fancy, replete with his characteristically preposterous lyrics. "A lady of ice / in a desert zone". Wouldn't she melt?
- Bradford, one of a number of 1980s acts on whom an endorsement from Morrissey weighed heavily.
- McFly, with the then record holder for the biggest drop from the official UK number one position in a single week (#1 to #20), though that record has been smashed to pieces more than once since (usually immediately after Xmas). You may wish to argue the toss with me over this, but to my mind Transylvania, lovingly in thrall to Jellyfish and with a video laden with high camp and black and white movie pastiches, represents the high water mark of modern day UK boy band achievements both musically and conceptually. I love it madly and unapologetically, and as the name of the accompanying feature says, I will fight you...
J xx
Click on the video or link to play each tune (links last checked as all working 12/07/2026).
KEELEY – Seeing Everything (2023)
A LOVED ALBUM: Barbara Morgenstern - Fjorden (2000)
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Tag und Nacht
ALEWYA - Maktoub (2026)
VASHTI BUNYAN – Come Wind Come Rain (1970)
DEEP LUST – Mass Teens on the Run (1998)
CORNELIUS - 『夢の中で』 "In a Dream" (2017)
COMPILED BY CHET & BEE (AND SOMETIMES TIM)
BLUE AEROPLANES - Tolerance (1986)
DOCH DER COUNTDOWN LÄUFT
TOCOTRONIC – Aber hier leben, nein danke (2005)
LEAO - Lalalei (2026)
BRADFORD – Tattered, Tangled and Torn (1988)
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - New Body Rhumba (2022)
A LOVED ALBUM: Barbara Morgenstern - Fjorden (2000)
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Fjorden
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Teil Für Teil
EUROTASTIC
FANCY - Lady of Ice (1986)
LA SÉCURITÉ - Deny (2026)
LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION – Madame van Damme (2010)
ORANGE CAKE MIX - Remember the Summer (1997)
PARTY DOZEN - Special Unit (2026)
I LOVE POP MUSIC AND I WILL FIGHT YOU
McFLY - Transylvania (2007)
A TANGLE OF JANGLE
THE HIT PARADE - I Get So Sentimental (1987)
FLORA HIBBERD - Mammoth (2026)
THE FAIRWAYS - Darling, Don’t You Think? (2000)
이날치 = LEENALCHI - 떴다 저 가마귀 = Here Comes That Crow (2026)
CALEXICO – Ballad of Cable Hogue (2000)
EUX AUTRES – Tilt the Crown (2012)
A LOVED ALBUM: Barbara Morgenstern - Fjorden (2000)
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Eine Verabredung
THE LONG GOODBYE
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND KURT COBAIN - The “Priest” They Called Him (1993)
A LOVED ALBUM: Barbara Morgenstern - Fjorden (2000)
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Tag und Nacht
ALEWYA - Maktoub (2026)
VASHTI BUNYAN – Come Wind Come Rain (1970)
DEEP LUST – Mass Teens on the Run (1998)
CORNELIUS - 『夢の中で』 "In a Dream" (2017)
COMPILED BY CHET & BEE (AND SOMETIMES TIM)
BLUE AEROPLANES - Tolerance (1986)
DOCH DER COUNTDOWN LÄUFT
TOCOTRONIC – Aber hier leben, nein danke (2005)
LEAO - Lalalei (2026)
BRADFORD – Tattered, Tangled and Torn (1988)
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - New Body Rhumba (2022)
A LOVED ALBUM: Barbara Morgenstern - Fjorden (2000)
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Fjorden
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Teil Für Teil
FANCY - Lady of Ice (1986)
LA SÉCURITÉ - Deny (2026)
LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION – Madame van Damme (2010)
ORANGE CAKE MIX - Remember the Summer (1997)
PARTY DOZEN - Special Unit (2026)
I LOVE POP MUSIC AND I WILL FIGHT YOU
McFLY - Transylvania (2007)
A TANGLE OF JANGLE
THE HIT PARADE - I Get So Sentimental (1987)
FLORA HIBBERD - Mammoth (2026)
THE FAIRWAYS - Darling, Don’t You Think? (2000)
CALEXICO – Ballad of Cable Hogue (2000)
EUX AUTRES – Tilt the Crown (2012)
A LOVED ALBUM: Barbara Morgenstern - Fjorden (2000)
BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Eine Verabredung
THE LONG GOODBYE
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND KURT COBAIN - The “Priest” They Called Him (1993)


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