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Few artists have left their mark on german music culture like KitschKrieg. Since connecting in a shared apartment in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 2014, the trio of producers Fiji Kris, Fizzle and the elusive photographer/art director °awhodat°, essentially re-shaped how Germany sounds, looks and feels. Whether it’s their stripped-back sonics drawing from soundsystem culture, Grime’s DIY approach and their hometown’s vibrant electronic music scene; the contrast-heavy, black/white imagery or their instantly iconic streetwear creations – a true KitschKrieg piece can be told from afar.
Initially, KitschKrieg first started drawing attention through their work with Trettmann. The Leipzig singer’s 2017 debut album #DIY, entirely produced and co-written by KitschKrieg, was an unlikely success. It achieved gold status with no major label backing and won the country’s most prestigious awards.
Following their tested multidisciplinary approach – „laptop, laptop, lens“, as they like to refer to their band’s unusual setup – KitschKrieg released their own eponymous debut album in 2020. The album spawned two chart-topping singles and has racked up over 400m streams to date. Bringing together influences from Dancehall to avant-garde Electronica to unapologetic Pop, Afrobeats to afterhours melancholy, King Tubby’s mixing board wizardry to the Bauhaus school of minimalism, the album featured a diverse range of artists including german Pop legend Nena, global techno stalwarts Modeselektor, and Jamaican dancehall icon Vybz Kartel.
Previous KitschKrieg and Trettmann album campaigns have included a nationwide out-of-home campaign with Spotify, the first use of the platform’s “Storylines” feature in Germany, a custom Spotify IG lens, giant Apple Music billboards in Germany’s infamous redlight district Reeperbahn, as well as a KitschKrieg exhibition in Berlin’s world-acclaimed König Galerie.
In addition, they have collaborated with Nike for the launch of their Air Max 720 shoe with a customi zed KitschKrieg tracksuit, created their own Monopoly game edition as well as an entire collection of garments and gadgets with Carharrt WIP and shot two documentaries with Beats by Dre. With six gold singles, a gold album and three platinum singles to their name, KitschKrieg are widely regarded as Germany’s most extraordinary pop phenomenon in recent times, but the trio is set to make an even bigger splash in 2022.
With their own sound and their own, independent infrastructure in place, the first slew of international collaborations lined up, and their eyes firmly on the future, expect KitschKrieg to take their unique brand of booming Berlin minimalism to the world in unexpected ways.
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