Amongst the smoke-filled basements of the Berlin underground lurks the dark punk quartet Totenwald (German for “forest of the dead”) who are as old-school as it gets. Existing as an anomaly in their scene since 2014; they are more inspired by the early 80s roots of Berlin’s anarcho punk and Neue Deutsche Welle sound rather than more typical punk or hardcore bands. With a sound strongly inspired by the city’s burgeoning underground scene of the 1980s their look and feel conjures up the images of backcombed hair, beer and cigarettes that were found nearly 40 years ago at the legendary West-Berlin S036 club. Their unique signature style is as eclectic as the band members themselves; a hurricane of new wave glitz and glam, chorus-drenched post-punk melodies, and piercing saxophone solos, all under the sway and allure of vocalist Trish’s frenetic, echoing tales of resistance to an impending dystopian future. The Part Time Punks Session contains five songs, one song from each of their previous releases, as well as “Closed Circuits”, a previously unreleased track recorded live in-studio during their 2019 West Coast US tour.
