Hamburg-based singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tan LeRacoon (aka Tanju Boerue) returns with a clear message: We Didn’t Come Here Just To Be Nice. The plural form reveals that we are dealing with a band effort here (namely &Racoonery), also featuring punk veterans Rudi Raschberger (guitar), Malte Mertz (bass), and Michael “Meng” Staats (drums). The nine songs they present are fueled by teenage angst, nihilistic anger, and activism, while gleefully refusing to stay inside any genre-shaped box.

Expect wonderfully unruly music that just as easily expands guitars and drums with horns, as it unites psychedelic punk rock with jazz or rhythm & blues influences, always energetic and imaginative. Closing track Needle Time Run needs just 28 seconds to cause trouble, while the almost 18-minute See Us All Rise (UP!) wanders towards the artist’s utopian Anarkopia, a self-proclaimed state of mind. In between, he hisses, growls, croons, and rants his way through stories of anger, loss, alienation, and societal decay, while searching for something better.

Glam, gloom, and glorious trouble, everything but just being nice. Quite right.

&Racoonery’s We Didn’t Come Here Just To Be Nice is out digitally and on vinyl LP through Tan U Sound / La Pochette Surprise.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || La Pochette Surprise