Mike Litt in conversation with Love Machine

How's it going, Düsseldorf?

OurAll Rhinepodcast for culture in times of Corona. What Mike Litt wants to know: How did the talk guests perceive the surreal times? What has changed for you? What projects are they working on now?
In episode 22, Mike talks to singer Marcel and guitarist Felix of the band Love Machine.

From Düsseldorf come some great bands that have written or continue to write pop history: Kraftwerk, Die Toten Hosen..., to name just a few. The band of the hour? Love Machine!

It's a grubby and a crazy Düsseldorf that Love Machine tell about on their new album "Düsseldorf - Tokyo". The hometown becomes the setting for stories about addiction and crash and those about sobering up and friendship. "Everything experienced firsthand in the local tension between mundanity and trash," says the record info. The band around singer Marcel Rösche delivers a personal inventory and bows deeply to the "wondrous city on the Rhine".

Love Machine combine the feeling of "now" with all possible and most different sounds of the past. That never sounds "retro"! Always surprising and fresh. On the cover of "Düsseldorf - Tokyo" you can see quite a few Japanese characters, but the lyrics are mostly in German. It could be summarized as "oddball rock music with German lyrics". The honest photos of Düsseldorf that characterize the album artwork were taken by Düsseldorf photographer Markus Luigs.

One image sticks: At night on Worringer Platz, Düsseldorf glows in neon light! Why this is so, why Düsseldorf's old town is a mythical place and became the birthplace of the band, tell singer Marcel and guitarist Felix in conversation with Mike Litt.

Our host

Mike Litt was born in the US state of Virginia and lived in Bochum for many years. The globetrotter usually works in Cologne but lives with his family in the beautiful Düsseltal district of Düsseldorf. He is a radio presenter (1Live, WDR 2, DLF Nova), a DJ with Mayday festival experience and an author (‘The loneliest DJ in the world’). For our podcast, he holds fascinating conversations with other people from Düsseldorf’s cultural scene.

Photos
Cover: © Photo: Markus Luigs
Mike Litt: © [email protected]
Music / Sound: Christian Moster / Mike Litt