What if there were a single sound that worked like a time capsule – spanning several decades while never sacrificing its potential as a sound of the now? You would inevitably arrive at a tipping point called L.F.T.. Because with Hell Was Boring, the Berlin-based DJ and musician Johannes Haas delivers something like an afterparty of the 1980s that inscribes itself, remarkably timelessly, into the soundscape of 2026. Across twelve tracks, the album brings the machine obsession of Kraftwerk devotees to a rolling boil and holds it there with unwavering focus.
Somewhere between drum machines that sound like characters from Star Wars, a minimalist post-punk/cold-wave hybrid unfolds – jagged, angular, and self-assured enough to rise above its lineage, yet still willing to tug at the heartstrings, albeit in unfamiliar ways. These are in-between states that overflow thematically without tipping into pathos. Between shadow and light, L.F.T. spreads emotions that feel less like narratives than primal figures – fragments of a myth circling the untouchable. This is music equally suited to the dancefloor and to introverted deep thinkers. With force and feeling, it leads toward a form of insight all its own.
Hell Was Boring
