One of the better recent German rock groups is the Chemnitz-based Kraftklub, who delightfully insist upon referring to their home city as "Karl-Marx-Stadt" (which the Reuters piece linked to by the NPR blog correctly mentions used to be its name in the GDR).
They have a nice trebly, Telecaster guitar sound. I like this song about how the younger generation is incapable of cultural rebellion, because their 60s generation parents have done it all before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV37CClYr-U