Tocotronic are among the most successful and influential German-language rock bands of recent decades. Their debut album "Digital ist besser" released in 1995, combining powerful yet straightforward guitar rock with lyrics full of slogans that quickly became catchphrases, such as "Ich möchte Teil einer Jugendbewegung sein". Over the years, their music has become increasingly opulent. Likewise, they blend autofiction with Tocotronic's characteristic art of elevating everyday life to the transcendental. An art further refined on their fourteenth album "Golden Years" from 2025. It tells of journeys already travelled and journeys yet to come, while the songs speak of longing for home and security, the passage of time, and trust in the future that only love can inspire. "Golden Years" is both intimate and political; those familiar with Tocotronic will find it reassuringly familiar yet entirely new. For like no other German band, they have created a body of work over decades—a work in the truest sense of the word: a work shaped by artistic development and a lived life, a work of music and songs that emerge from one another, respond to each other, and challenge each other; a work in which leitmotifs remain recognizable, constantly varied and renewed, repeatedly questioned against our changing present. "Golden Years" deals with aging, the happiness of maturity and the fear of death, but above all with constant renewal born from self-reflection, with utopias of resurrection and endless becoming. It reveals a band that understood how to constantly reinvent itself while remaining true to itself: recognizable in transformation. Perhaps this explains why Tocotronic's music, even after all this time and especially in our troubled present, continues to bring such joy and comfort. Current album: "Golden Years" (2025), Epic
