Klaus Johann Grobe (CH)

Klaus Johann Grobe are a Swiss duo who often sing in German and have their roots in a vintage Krautrock style, using bass, synths, and drums to craft a sound both familiar and modern. After the release of their first LP, Im Sinne der Zeit, in 2014, they expanded their vintage-leaning sound to incorporate disco and chillwave (on 2016's Spagat der Liebe) then R&B and soft rock (on 2018's Du Bist So Symmetrisch) before moving into even more relaxed, cinematic songwriting with hints of jazz fusion on their melancholic fourth album, 2024's Io Tu il loro.

«Io tu il loro» is a record that cannot be done by endlessly fiddling around with hundreds of ideas and sounds. All it needed was a real break (Dani and Sevi didn’t work on any Grobe related stuff until they met up in the mountains in 2022).

It’s an album with a blurry vision and soft limitations. You can somehow feel them looking back on all their work forgivingly and then moving on to what felt right.

So here we are with nine tracks full of embracing warmth, so melancholicly welcoming you don’t know if you want to smile or cry. Some might call it timeless, some might call it dad-rock... well, it certainly isn’t disco for the masses, it’s more like, «If I can’t make myself dance after four beers, I can as well go home.»

So, no disco? No syncopated synths? No German? No reverb? Where’s The Grobe?

Take your time, you’ll notice Klaus Johann Grobe aren’t gone, they just took a turn before driving yet into another unknown