The
Katzenjammer Kabarett used to refer themselves as Death rock Cabaret, but it would be more correct to qualify their music as
multireferential post-punk, for their influences can be found in too many styles, from glamrock to electroclash, from baroque music to new-wave, merely to limit this band to death rock or more widely to Gothic music.
The name Katzenjammer Kabarett is just a name, there is
no point in looking further even though we must admit that the Katzenjammer Kabarett members do not mind using the
diletante and frivolous aesthetic of several past movements, their compositions, nonetheless, by the means of varied and various collages, is an attempt to reveal in a
coherent or almost way, by the use of electronic, pop, jazz, deathrock, or classical music sounds as well as traditional cabaret songs, the peculiar atmosphere one could have probably found in
old fashioned Lieder.
To sum up, a considerable part of their work comes from
second-hand elements, borrowed from several preceding movements and styles,
but whose signs have been systematically changed. Thus, the
music composed by Klischee, supported by
Herr Katz’s lyrics and
Mr Guillotine’s how so necessary pragmatism, creates an alchemy with the carefree
Mary Komplikated’s voice and theatrical singing which embodies all
the magic, the cynism and the absurdity of that hangover cabaret.