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Stereotype or not, the one thing we know about the Germans is that they love their house music almost as much as they love David Hasselhoff. Jeans Team, a techno duo from Berlin comprised of Franz Schutte and Reimo Herfort, seems equally inspired by the pacifier-and-glowstick scene as they are by Germany’s most influential musical import of the 20th century, Kraftwerk. The sounds are always looping while building steam—a piece of the synth-new wave heyday of the early 80s—and the vocals are usually tonally mechanical, washed over with scrapes of neon and circuitry. It’s not much of a surprise to discover that their roots feasted of the punk mentality. There’s no room here for the expectations of prejudice.

Allbums is a limited edition disc available at their live shows, events that have gained some volume of underground infamy. In that sense, Allbums is meant for fans only. Even if you show up at a Jeans Team show by accident, the duo expects that their performance will influence a purchase. So Allbums is not intended to garner the trade of press persuasion nor is it meant to appeal to the record store zombies that wander the racks looking for something to catch their fancy. And since my Jeans Team knowledge was nil before pressing play, it’s not really meant for me.

Information about the band and release are not easy to find. I can only assume that this is a compilation of sorts, amassing some of their popular tracks and some previously unreleased cuts. Some or all of the unreleased songs seem to be alternates or sequels (I cannot say for sure which). This makes it an extraneous purchase for the fans who have collected their previous LPs and singles, though their interest might be piqued by the promise of potential remix material. For Jeans Team virgins, though, it might represent an opportunity to sample them—though, again, Allbums was not made or marketed for newbies. So impressions are all I have to go on, which I suppose is what they want.

Does Allbums make me eager to seek out more of their records (or, really, any other European techno album)? Not particularly. Which is not to say that this is a poor package, just not one that inspires passion. The third run through elicited the same response as the first. There’s nothing substantially excellent about these tracks, nor did I ever feel an overbearing desire to skip past a certain song or flip on something else entirely. It’s fine—few other adjectives spring to mind that don’t reinforce that sort of mildly blasé, mildly satisfying description. And since those unaware won’t have an opportunity to pick this one up completely in the black, there’s not a whole lot else to say.

The best selling point is still Kraftwerk, since everyone knows what they think of them. This is not, repeat not, in the same range of quality and style as Kraftwerk, but they are both cut from the same cloth. Jeans Team is less motorik and more electro, sort of an Electric Six/Peaches type weaned on, well, Kraftwerk. The songs are shorter and more to the point, but the sparse, cyclical beats ring of The Man-Machine. The rhythms are almost always founded on incessant pulsating and oblique and unexpected tempo shifts and sample additions. The songs begin minimal and eventually intercept new musical collages, but never swell with sound that overwhelms the individual instruments/machines.

“Oh Bauer” (a single from 2005) is the most overtly Kraft-ian, particularly during their more calculating robotic pop phase. “Keine Melodien,” another single from earlier in the decade, is the most sonically dense and hook-friendly, with churning synthesizer waves and the vivid images of strutting key-tarists. “Konigin 2” is fixated on a 4/6 loop even as the textures build and peel away any semblance of consistency, and according to the English-speaking intro, is a love song—like I would have known that. “Lattialla Taas version” is probably the warmest of the lot, a richly vibrant piece influenced by the more soothing sounds of new age—call it “Neu! Age,” if you like.

Techno-philes can add at least a point or two to my score. Of the best house/techno bands around, I can swallow most of their singles without too much problem, but full-lengths are almost always inevitably obnoxious to my senses. So if I made it all the way through Allbums multiple times without complaint, it’s probably a winner to those better attuned. Not like the uninitiated would get a chance with it; all the same, if I ever cross paths with another Jeans Team record, I might listen to it. That’s about the best compliment I can give them.

Note: I don’t speak German, so I gave the lyrics a 5 with a shrug.