Sometimes you crave something a little more than just the music; like a total spectacle, for instance, or a kitchy put-on for maximal entertainment value.
German techno band Porsches on the Autobahn hit the stage at Guero’s in south Austin Friday night, and from the get-go everyone in the audience knew something really odd was up. It started with Sprockets-like calisthenics, which had me preparing for the worst, but then progressed into something akin to Borat meets the Beastie Boys guided by a Kraftwerk backbeat laced with electroclash.
The heaviest influence here being Borat, as more than one member of the audience wondered out loud if the trio really is German or if they’re perhaps Americans pretending to be. Maybe it’s the highly exaggerated German accents. Or the off-kilter insight in songs like “Dance Americans.” Here’s a sample: “Dance Americans! Americans have funny cars and funny children. Dance Americans! Americans have funny hair and funny shoes and funny screams. Dance Americans! Americans like cheeseburgers and watching Oprah. Dance Americans!” Hmm, suspicious, but it sure did make me laugh. Lead singer Dezeiter delivered these lines while play humping one of his bandmates from behind.
On stage, Dezeiter jumped and kicked about as if he were Crispin Glover on ecstasy. Before I knew it, he had climbed a tree and was doing what looked like a painful balancing act with full leg splits, all the time smiling, shining a purple flashlight on his ass and singing, “We are Porsches on the Autobahn, I say hey, hey girl.”
While unsigned, they’ve recently toured with bands like the Dresden Dolls and Broken Social Scene. Check out the videos on their web site. While “Dance Americans” unfortunately ain’t there, you will find seven others (“Asphyxiation, the Best Kind of Masturbation” and “Video for Song War in Europe”). All the videos are very well produced and equally strange. Their show left me with no doubts that these guys are solidly committed to developing their personas and taking this charade to the heart of America.
