12 posts tagged “germany”
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05/22/09
D HEIDELBERG KARLSTORBAHNHOF
Discography
05/23/09 D DINGOLFING Redbox Festival 05/30/09 DE Neustrelitz IMMERGUT FEST 06/12/09 DE LÜNEBURG UNI (Gebäude 9) 06/20/09 CH ZÜRICH STALL 6 Eröffnung
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I admit I had not heard of Jeans Team, although "Keine Melodien" from Ding Dong (2000) was a worldwide hit. Peaches covered the song on the US release of "Teaches of Peaches" MJ Lan made a remix of the song as well, which is featured on this self-titled EP. Describing their sound is easier for me to do in the context of where they started and continue to create their music; Wedding is one of the most impoverished areas of Berlin, and low rents in the district have encouraged a vibrant community of artists. The Nadel Eins Studio Berlin is located there and has more or less become home and headquarters for the band when they are not touring. Nadel Eins is also the name of their label, which they also created. Quoting Montreal Mirror, which described their sound as "minimal electro-pop and synth rock anthems" also gives perspective:
I thought this was pretty amusing since I was reading a lot of comparisons of Kraftwerk to the duo. To be honest, I'd say a comparison to the early synthpop scene of the early '80s in the UK and Europe is a little more fair, but with a retrospective twist-- not nostalgic, but a new take on an older genre. Think Depeche Mode when Vince Clarke was still a member, with their early performances at Croc's (now the Pink Toothbrush). Add a heavy dose of DJ house party energy in the Europop style with some old discotheque flair, and I'd say that's a much closer approximation. While Depeche Mode at that time was categorized as part of the Futurist scene, and Jeans Team seems to be more retro in flavor, I'd say the working-class roots of both DM in Basildon and Jeans Team in Wedding have some parallels, if only to describe a connection from past and present."If you are picturing plastic coated machine men with disc drives for mouths, keyboards for backs and knobs for, um, knobs, I hate to shatter your Kraftwerkian illusions, but Germany's Jeans Team are made of flesh and blood."
At any rate, this EP was received pretty favorably in my home. Soon after I popped the disc into the player, the other day, my son started dancing and smiling in his high chair, and Cimmorene walked through the door and said "Ooo, what is that? I like that." When I played it again moments ago to start writing this review, she later suggested that everyone should get up and dance. While none of us speak nor understand a lick of German (and hence none of us understand any of the German lyrics in some of the songs), we all enjoyed it very much.
The EP contains five unreleased tracks, as well as material from previous albums. To my pleasant surprise, there are music videos to some of the songs. Here's the one for "Oh Bauer":
05/10/2009 22:16:18 ♥ jaklumen (
/ jaklumen.vox.com)
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jeansteam.de
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myspace.com/jeansteam
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Wax on Wool, which will be released February 27 on Nonine Recordings, appears to be the artist's second work. Both this album and the one released before it, Live Long And Prosper, are digital-only releases. This music is different from most ambient material I've listened to in that not all of it is purely instrumental; some selections have spoken lyrics, such as "Into Butter" and "On Carpets". Many of the tracks, including "Punch Indigo", reminded me of post-industrial music I had studied in college and university. I was fairly certain it was something familiar, ideas that were avant-garde yet explored before. This is what Joshua Farrier of DMA had to say of the album:
a definite sense of style.
As I had very little to go on as far as Slowcream's biography or background, I would imagine this is another instrumental artist that prefers to remain somewhat anonymous, or a bit of an enigma. I went to the artist's MySpace under this name, and even the blog entries were very short, reading like little thoughts when one is musing quietly during some time alone. So it is much easier to suggest that the music speaks for itself, rather than try to determine how Raabenstein was inspired. The album is available for preview (90 seconds preview per track) here.
02/27/2009 00:03:36 ♥ jaklumen ( / jaklumen.vox.com)
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myspace.com/slowcream
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nonine.com
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02/06/09
Übel und Gefährlich Hamburg
02/07/09 Möbel Olfe Party Cobra Killer DJ-Team, Berlin 02/13/09 Cobra Killer Casablanca 02/14/09 Cobra Killer Marrakesh 02/18/09 Shamballa Zagreb See Also |
One of the theme that I keep hearing on her album - and it's perhaps the guitar or bass loops - of a garagey sixties music. This is evident on songs like "In Diesem Raum", featuring an infectious bassline and Trost's best 60s girl voice. Although a wonderful song, I felt the ending to this song was kind of repetitive.
My favorite song on the album is "Cowboy", it has the best quality of "In Diesem Raum", but minus the tiresome ending. It's a perfect radio song too, ending just slightly at the three minute mark.
You can find Trust Me for sale if the record store have them in stock - otherwise head over to eMusic or iTunes
Incidentally, I don't know what is wrong with Firefox, but it simply will not load up Minty Fresh's website. It's probably just my security settings and it's probably all for the best because I hate all-flash websites anyway.
01/29/2009 21:02:14 ♥ vu (
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♥ cobra-killer.org ♥ myspace.com/cobrakiller1 ♥ myspace.com/trostcity
Soup wrote this:
Since I just posted a review of a Velvet
Cacoon album, I figured I should review something on the exact opposite
end of the black metal spectrum. Unlike the drugged-out droning of
Velvet Cacoon, this band plays fast, melodic black metal with a strong
folk-ish slant.
Darkestrah, proud owners of one of the
most hilariously awful band names ever (sorry, but I simply can't
let that one slide), are a black metal band hailing from, of all
places, Kyrgyzstan, and currently based out of Germany.
Despite the really weak band name, this band plays some of the best pagan black metal I've heard in a long time. The band combines a black metal sound with the use of a number of highly uncommon folk instruments and techniques (especially for black metal) including the kyl-kyjak (a type of fiddle), the temir komuz (also known as a Jew's harp), and the use of sygyt (a style of throat singing), among others.
And speaking of things that are unusual in black metal bands, this is one of the rare female-fronted black metal bands. The singer, going by the name of Kriegtalith holds her own with the best metal vocalists out there. There is nothing for people who like fake metal bands with whiny mallgoth girls fronting them (you know who I'm talking about) here, and for that, I am incredibly thankful. Honestly, she sounds more or less androgynous to me. I wouldn't have even known if I hadn't been told. The point is, she makes Dani Filth sound like a eunuch.
Of course, all of that wouldn't mean much of anything if the music was bad, and the unusual elements sounded cheesy and tacked on, but the standard guitars, drums, bass, and vocals are all here, and there is lots of suitably brutal drumming and awesome enough riffs and melodies to silence all doubters, and the folk instruments are not only well-integrated into the band's arrangements (along with a number of other instruments that unfortunately were unnamed in the press kit), but they're also an essential melodic part of them. This is a well-composed black metal album that will not only satisfy the hordes that are already out there, but might even be tolerable to people who've never listened to a black metal album in their life.
More information can be found at their official website.
The theme to this post is creepy duos.
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myspace.com/patronandpatron ♥ nonine.com The first thing you'll notice about Patron & Patron's Gen is that it's the type of music you'll find on a horror movie or some science fiction movie. A little bit dark and a little bit creepy. Like many of these electronic artist, the music is usually composed by one man or a duo, in this case, the later is true: Sakuran (Frederik Van de Moortel) and Me Raabenstein makes up Patron & Patron. There's a lot of usage of bass in these songs, which is kind of unusual for electronic artists. But you'll quickly find yourself at home when you run into random noises and quirks throughout the album. There are no lyrics (although there are random movie lines or something, like "We Are Not Alone"), so you're left to interpret each song. This actually makes it really hard for me to describe to you what each song is about. There seems to be an industrial influence on this album, songs like "Magenta Verve" uses natural sounds like doors opening or chains (?), mixed with artificial energy... but warped somehow. Of all the songs, I thought "Either Or" is perhaps the best one. There's a skeleton structure to it, and there's also a funky jazz feel to it. I'm calling it space jazz. I suggest you really experience this album with headphones to catch all the quirkiness and sound effects. The full album can be purchased on nonine.com, but via paypal and digitally. |
myspace.com/meraabenstein ♥ nonine.com Nonine is also releasing Bedtime Stories from Taub. Between Patron & Patron and Taub, I thought Taub had a more cohesive feel to it. Think of it as a soundtrack to a children book. Once again, Me Raabenstein is co-writing. This time with David Hillary (aka Harold Nono). If Nono sounds familiar to you, that's because we've previously mentioned him twice over. What makes this collaboration interesting is that Nono is Scottish, and with the internet, this teamup is possible. I liked the piano and weird noises on "Chamber Pot" (there's definitely a lot of pianos and keys throughout the album, I'll have to add). Towards the end of this song, you'll notice some sort of singing that sounds like children dying (!) As soon as I heard lyric-type singing (it's not actually someone singing, it's more like distorted vocal samplings) they made the songs more memorable. At least to me. Like "Rouge Absolu" feels like a French film, especially with the dialogue at the beginning. I'm not even sure it was French, come to think about it. Speaking of French, my favorite song on here is "Backyard Maud the Fraudian Fairy", it sounds like scary circus music. The "La Ronde at the Top" song seems to be two songs in one. The first part has a Middle Eastern feel to it, but the second half sounds chaotic. Again, this is available digitally. The cost is 10,90 Euros, which is about $15 at current exchange (keep in mind that a portion of this amount actually goes to paypal), but like Gen they do come with a full size 800x800 cover artwork and PDF file (I am assuming that's the lyric book) and each song is encoded at 320kbps. |
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antenne.suite.dk ♥ nonine.com Speaking of creepy, check out this #3 album by Antenne. As the name suggest, this is the third full length album from a duo (Kim G. Hansen and Marie-Louise Munck) based out of Denmark. The majority of the album features the vocals of Marie-Louise Munck, and despite being Danish, she actually sings in English. Sometime her voice, although sweet and clear, it makes me sad for some reason.... kind of like a haunting ghost. I do actually enjoy feeling sad and depress and songs like "Long to Kiss" and "Blue Light" takes me to an isolated place, surrounded by empty space ("Days into Nights") or unnatural electric field ("Ttreaa#7"). Let me be clear on some things, these are not pop songs... but easily the poppiest, and the most accessible, song on this album is the beautiful "Gloves On". If you like experimental music with haunting vocals, definitely check out Antenne. Don't let the eight tracks fool you, this is by no means an EP. The album clocks in about 50 minutes, perfect for an LP. The album was released earlier in July 2008, and you can purchase it on the record label Helmet Room Records. |
myspace.com/battleoflandandsea In keeping with the creepy duos theme, here's The Battle of Land and Sea. I actually don't know much about this Portland-based band, but they seem to be good friends with a Mr Jacob Golden (if you remember, Ryan went to see him in Newcastle, UK). Their music, based on this (debut?) self-titled EP from Mis Ojos Discos (My Eyes Disc), they seem very acoustically folky. As a cover lover, my favorite song on here is "Harden My Heart". It totally made me dig out my Quarterflash single. Battle's version is so stripped down and haunting that they can be considered two different songs. Special notes: I used to think this song goes, "I'm going to pardon my heart". |
Birds, what is up with that? It seems lately that we're getting album artwork that features birds on the cover artwork (especially owls). Can someone explain this to me? Seriously.
Below are a ton of bird-album artwork.
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AVIARY GHOST
aviaryghost.com ♥ myspace.com
Fom Illinois is Aviary Ghost, a band that seems to be headed by Charlie Crimando and Stephen Kemsley. Reading their biography, it would seem that they spent a lot of time recording music in a one-room apartment in Michigan. One of my favorite song on their album, Memory Is A Hallway (featuring cut-out birds over a scenic location), is the most fast-moving song is "Windowlight", which seems to be about the light through the window - sung in an old-fashion cabaret-style song, which I will say works very well for the song. I thought "Somewhere Else" was also pretty good. The song is described as "catchy Swedish pop", which I'll have to agree with. The lyrics are pretty detailed too, I especially liked the chorus: "we're laughing, 'cause laughing is much better than a scream". You can get their album, Memory Is A Hallway (recently released July 15th), on iTunes or CD Baby.
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MORE TEETH
more-teeth.com ♥ myspace.com
I think someone in the W♥M group have this album, One Bird a Day, for review, so I won't go into too much details about it. Surfice to say that it's a compilation of three or four bands in the electro-genre. Based on what I've heard, I really dig Sparkydog (sounds like new wave) and More Teeth (which sounds like very experimental noise art). I've decided to go with More Teeth because of their snazzy drums and electroclashesque vocals of Mindy Abovitz. JESSICA LEA MAYFIELDjessicaleamayfield.com ♥ myspace.com
We're not really promoting Jessica Lea Mayfield (I don't think her PR company knows my address, which I will confess is fine as I have too much music to handle), but I couldn't resist the owl-art on her soon-to-be release album With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt out on September 16th on Polymer Sounds on her press release. What's there to say based on this one song, "Kiss Me Again"? She has a very nice voice, and sounds like Thao Nguyen. |
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PUTOIS
citizensofcontraryknowledge.com ♥ myspace.com
Yet another Chicago, Illinois band - man, they really love their animals! I believe "putois" is actually a ferret or something. Anyway, on their second album, Problem Is Not a Problem Anymore, we see a crane with some ducks (while their debut album, The Thinking Fireplace features a cartoon bird dressed as a gentleman). It would seem that these introspective songs are written and sung by its creator, one Bob Mason since 1995. Most of this album is acoustic, mostly folky and the song "No More Dancing" would best represent what currently Putois sounds like. There are a few highlights on the record. For instance, I liked what he was trying to do with "Cta". This had a weird bass and quirky noises and beeps. Even his singing style is different here (although I think this might be a guest-vocalist? It just sounds very different). The other song that isn't so acoustic is "The Lonely Traveler" with its arrangement of piano and harmonica. If you like bands like Minnesota's Low, Putois might be right up your alley. Problem Is Not a Problem Anymore is out now, you can get it from CD Baby. |
PLUSHGUN
plushgun.com ♥ myspace.com
I love Tommy Boy Records. One of my first CD was a Tommy Boy and I just remember how big they were in the early 90s, especially with the b-boys and girls. Well, I guess the record label is still around and I have one of their latest release by one-man-band, Plushgun. Daniel Ingala's vocals sounds like he has a British accent, reminiscent of early 80s new wave pop bands. His latest self-titled EP has a cute drawing of a bird with an old SNES controller in a cassette-tape-style mess in the sky. All the songs were available for download on August 19th (iTunes). The four songs on the EP is a very easy listen. I love all the songs actually, with the exception of the semi-sappy "14 Candles". Although it was nice to hear a woman singing backup on this song, but I didn't think this song belong on the EP. Maybe I just don't like love songs. His other songs are more upbeat and sounds more like obsessive/stalker feel to them. There are some great lyrics on "Just Impolite" ("I walk the line, like Johnny Cash" and "I'm not upset, just impolite"). A physical copy of Plushgun will be available on September 9th via Amazon and other retailers for $9.99, but if you can't wait the download is sold now for 60% cheaper ($3.98) |
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BRICE WOODALL AND THE POSITRONS
bricewoodall.com ♥ myspace.com
Check out Brice Woodall and the Positrons with their album, Sine Wave Sea. The artwork on the cover is a flying bird block with a hole in its stomach. I know it's a bird because if you visit the artist's website (trevorbittinger.com), his all-flash website features these same block birds flying around. Brice Woodall is currently based out of Chicago, Illinois, according to his myspace. Woodall's vocals has a woman quality to them, but not in a falsetto way (and not as a put down). His voice is very interesting, it definitely pulls you in. I think my favorite songs off this album is easily "This, There, Where", a pop song with some interesting mix. I also dug the experiment on "Winter/Break/Down/Away". Well, it looks like they are currently on tour, be sure to check them out.
09/12/08 Double Door- Kittypalooza Chicago, IL 09/24/08 Rapture Charlottesville, Virginia 09/25/08 Lucky Buddha Richmond, Virginia 09/26/08 Trash Bar Brooklyn, New York 09/27/08 Murky (upstairs) Arlington/DC area, VA 11/08/08 Art*Bar Riverwest Milwaukee, Wisconsin 11/19/08 Madison, Wisconsin 11/20/08 Chicago, Illinois 11/21/08 Detroit, Michigan 11/22/08 Indianapolis, Indiana You can pick up Sine Wave Sea from InSound. |
CITIZENS OF CONTRARY KNOWLEDGE
citizensofcontraryknowledge.com ♥ myspace.com
Featuring a drawing of a chicken on the cover of Citizens of Contrary Knowledge's You're What You Wish You Are. Upon closer inspection, is that a cock? They do sound a bit southern cock rock... Reading their biography, it would seem most of the band members are residing in Harlem, New York. Their singer/frontsman, Chris Barczynski, sounds like he doesn't take his biography too seriously (he writes that he was in the Witness Protection Program, etc). This is also a problem when he lists that he's appeared on stage with Green Day, Sugar Ray and Hootie - should you believe him? I'm leaning to 'no'. I was drawn to the faster/rock song and my favorite is "Complicated" and "Lonely Hearts Society", which is driven by a muscular guitar playing (with some neat tricks). Despite as I have said about their music being rock, they do lean to the sensitive/slow side with "House of Cards", "Unless You Do", "Real Love", and "Wrong Side of the World". I think listening to them that they might fare better as a live act, perhaps jamming their songs at a longer length at a dive bar. You're What You Wish You Are is out now, available on CD Baby. They just finished playing Arlene's Grocery, which is apparently a bar? |
Here is the bonus segment, some bird-bands we've previously covered: Tinkture, Birdflu, Story of the Year, The Alarmists, The Notwist, Loquat, El Perro Del Mar, Ben Sollee, Peter Bradley Adams (Owl), Death Valley Sleepers, Death Cab For Cutie, Patrick Wolf, Deadbird, Jeff Hanson (Owl), They Might be Giants (Owl), Eels, Biography Of Ferns, Computer Vs. Banjo (Owl), Ash, Susan Krebs
Bands we haven't covered, but I'm sure we'll get around to them. These features birds on the cover: The Great Northwest (Experimental Folk), Nebraska (Folk), Foals (British Rock), The Black Keys (Southern Rock), KYTE (Ambient Pop), and the talented Graeme K (Experimental/Old-time/Dance). Honorable worth mention is Abigail Washburn with her tiny birds on the cover.
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The 1990s--particularly the mid-'90s--were the Golden Age of Industrial Music. Nine Inch Nails was registering industrial on the pop-music charts with Pretty Hate Machine and its more metallic, but still amazingly accessible, follow-up Broken. Skinny Puppy offered up their monumental "swang song" The Process. Ministry was riding high on the popular success of their breakthrough album Psalm 69. Bill Leeb & Rhys Fulber released tons of new music every year, either under their primary moniker, Front Line Assembly, or as Delerium or any one of a hundred other names. Even as legendary Wax Trax! Records were being bought out by TVT, acts like My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult were still touring and putting out tremendous albums like Sexplosion. Klaus Larsen's Leaether Strip helped launch the West Coast Gothic/Industrial label Cleopatra Records, who eventually became one of the decade's primary purveyors of scene releases. On the East Coast, Mentallo & The Fixer helped establish Philadelphia's Metropolis Records as a major player as well. And, of course, there were hundreds of indie acts--like Fektion Fekler, Alien Faktor, Pounce International, and Terminal Sect--cranking out harsh little masterpieces on hundreds of small labels throughout the United States and Europe.
One of the forerunners firmly entrenched in the industrial assault's frontline were KMFDM (MySpace). Formed by Sascha Konietzko in 1984 in Germany, KMFDM eventually moved to Chicago, where they became one of Wax Trax!'s pre-eminent industrial bands by combining fist-pumping, system-ripping metal guitar grind with sparkly synths and nuclear dance beats. Now centered in Hamburg, again, after a brief period in Seattle, KMFDM are celebrating their 24th anniversary this year with a whole slew of new releases: twenty-four 7" vinyl single featuring classic cuts and new material, remastered editions of all their classic albums (now available through their new indie label KMFDM Records, distributed domestically here in the states by Metropolis Records), as well as an album of brand-new material, Tohuvabohu (which actually came out last year, in 2007, though somehow I missed out on it until now--my bad!), and a related remix album, Brimborium. Since Tohuvabohu is their newest collection of never-before-heard material, I'm going to focus on that album alone, and hopefully explain to readers how it has single-handedly revived my hope in the industrial genre.
Simply put, the industrial music genre completely and utterly collapsed in the late-'90s/early-2000s thanks to the overwhelming influx of "EBM" and "futurepop" artists like Apoptygma Berzerk, VNV Nation, and a horde of indistinguishable others. This crap was not industrial music: it was bad trance, at best, and completely untalented, repetitive nonsense at worst. It seemed like any jackass who could combine a steady 120bpm thurd-thud-thud beat with some crunchy or bleepy synth loops and some inane lyrics about humping machines or losing faith in humanity could get an industrial club hit. What had happened to industrial music that stood for something? That dared to challenge "the system" while smacking you upside the head with join-in-the-chant choruses and stomping beats? When it became apparent that the genre's leading lights were abysmal groups like Icon of Coil and Funker Vogt, I was finally forced to admit that industrial music--oldskool industrial full of rage and machinery and creativity--was dead. When KMFDM released the thoroughly boring WWIII in 2003, I heaved a sigh of depression and shed a single tear of rust and mercury, for even one of the most consistent industrial acts of all time--one of the very founders of the genre itself--had succumbed to the plague of mediocrity, as well.
But then, only a year later, Skinny Puppy returned with their comeback album, The Greater Wrong of The Right, which proved that real industrial music was still being made...at least by the biomechanical gods who had created the sound. Front Line Assembly, too, proved that they were still going strong with 2004's Civilization and 2006's Artificial Soldier, both of which his listeners with wicked rhythms and corroded synth melodies from the wastelands of post-nuclear Canada. Hell, even Insekt returned in 2006 with Teenmachine, an album so packed with meateating industrial mayhem that listening to it literally left you with the taste of burning metal in your mouth. Could it be? Was industrial not dead? At least the old soldiers of the genre still seemed to be capable of busting out the jams as always!
Well, KMFDM was still carrying the torch as well, even though I'd lost track of them. Which is why I'm damn grateful to have stumbled upon Sascha K and Friends' newest album, Tohuvabohu, just the other day. Industrial is not dead. And KMFDM have released an album that embodies all the sonic and lyrical ideals that made such titanic albums like Naive and Adios rock so goddamned hard.
"Tohuvabohu" in Hebrew means "waste and void," which--at least in terms of album names--is about as industrial as you can possibly get. No, it's not a particularly original concept. And neither is any of the music on Tohuvabohu. But so friggin' what? KMFDM have maintained a loyal fanbase for 24 years by being an incredibly consistent band with a very personalized, trademark sound. Now, that whole disco-beats-meets-metal sound could become tedious and repetitive in the wrong hands, but Kap'n K and Krew have always realized that there are many ways to remain tonally consistent without becoming bogged down in recycled sounds and motives. One of the easiest ways to do this is to explore melody and arrangements, and though you usually don't find the terms "melody" and "industrial" mentioned in the same context, you simply have to admit: one of KMFDM's greatest strengths are their melodies. Classic tracks like "Virus" and "Juke Joint Jezebel" have irresistible choruses that will always get dancefloor crowds singing along. They also have the capability of writing ultrafast speed-metal assaults just as well as they write ominous dirges and straightforward dance jams. Another of KMFDM's tricks is self-referential: songs like "Light," "Sucks," "A Drug Against War," and "Superpower," the opening track of Tohuvabohu, all mention KMFDM. It takes balls, but also a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek humor, to write lyrics like "Stronger than ever, ever before! / KMFDM is a drug against war!" But you've got to admit, those lyrics will implant themselves in your head and live there forever!
In all these aspects, the band are back at the top of their game with Tohuvabohu. "Superpower" is a self-referential celebration of KMFDM's quarter-century of experience, mixing a straight-up funkay bassline with a perfect sing-along chorus--"Superpower! / A force in its own! / Superpower! / We're going it alone!"--headbangin' guitars, and samples of phone messages left by fans explaining what they really like about KMFDM's music. Egotistical? Yeah...but its inspiring. In this one song, KMFDM is not only acknowledging its faithful fans, but explaining why they've told the record industry to kiss their asses and go 100% independent at last. In an age when so many bands are blowing off record deals in favor of going totally D.I.Y., KMFDM in this one single song have justified themselves and their longtime fans adoration. Oh, and it's got a killer sax solo, to boot! This one track is a text-book study in one of KMFDM's favorite subjects: ripping the system--bucking the majority trend for doing your own damn thing and loving the freedom of it.
The rest of the album, even when dealing with much darker subjects like political chaos and violence (subjects that KMFDM have loved to write about since Day One), is still full of jubilant, high-energy synthlines, disco diva vocals, and scalding-hot guitar licks. "Tohuvabohu" will have you screaming along with its chorus as you clean up your M-16 to get it ready for the battle against world imperialism. Not only is the music clearly packed full of love for its art, but Sascha Konietzko's lyrics exhibit a keen awareness of sociopolitical problems around the world. Whether denouncing any and all holy wars in the blistering "Not In My Name" or damning the slack-jawed, sheeplike masses who blindly follow leaders (political, social, artistic, and so forth) in title-track "Tohuvabohu," Konietzko is writing lyrics--in English, German, French, Spanish, Latin, and even Hebrew (I think)!--that aim to inspire listeners to educate themselves in what is happening around them and take action. Here in the United States, with a presidential election coming up in a scant two-and-a-half months, KMFDM's message to get off your ass and take fixing the system into your own hands is extremely timely and necessary.
So, OK...KMFDM kinda suffered a bit of a slowdown earlier in the decade. But they are back, folks. Whereas young punks may be wiping their butts with the dregs of industrial music, the Good Ol' Boys--Skinny Puppy, FLA, Insekt, even Ministry--are still Out There keeping the battleflags flying and providing anthems for the culture wars. KMFDM, we salute you for again doing what you do so damned well!
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Germany's ambient/indie rock band, The Notwist, are back with their latest album, The Devil, You + Me out in the States this Tuesday, June 17th.
The band formed in 1989 near Munich, and released a metal-esque self-titled debut in 1991, then changed their sound to indie rock for their sophomore album. It looks like they're constantly exploring new sounds, with the introduction to electronics in 1995, then jazz-rock for Shrink, but it seems like they've settled for, currently more ambient, introspective indie rock.
I think their latest release, The Devil, You + Me, is already out in Europe last May, but obviously importing CDs is costly so I recommend buying it domestically when it's released. Plus, if you buy the US version, that usually encourage domestic labels to release more things in the future (and promote it via tour schedules). There is an announcement that they are going to tour North America this October, but I do not have additional details.
In the meantime, it looks like Notwist are going to be busy with several side projects, including 13 & God (their debut released in 2005) and they're also working with Lali Puna (a well established band that I saw live a few years ago).
The strongest track on their album is "Hands on Us", a very pleasant song combining a steady melody with great vocals. Also excellent usage of the violas.
"Good Lies", which is available as a free download if you sign up for their mailing list on thedevilyouandme.com, is also a great starting song for the album.
Current Radiohead fans might enjoy "Where in this World" and "Gloomy Planets" with its beeps and artificial sound and vocal distortion.
I wasn't that keen on the slow-paced song "The Devil, You + Me" (which the album was named after), but this song was almost design to take a break from the louder sounding "Alphabet" and experimental "Gravity" (almost instrumental).
By the time "Gone Gone Gone" shows up, it seems like such a short album. The title and song is very fitting in its placement.
I only have the promo copy, but there will be a nice Limited Edition Deluxe CD version in addition to the standard CD release (with MP3 included on the disc). I saw photographs of the limited UK version and it looks like it's book-like, very cool. The Devil, You + Me is out next Tuesday on Domino Records.
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Sounds Like
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KMFDM are an industrial band from Germany, who's been around since 1984. I'm not even going to attempt to go through all their controversial history in details, this entry is just for their 16th studio album Tohuvabohu (Aug 2007).
The man behind KMFDM is named Sascha Konietzko, who created the band as an art/performance work in France. KMFDM stands for "Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid" which translate to "no majority for the pity".
"Looking For Strange" is my favorite track off the new album, Tohuvabohu. Suprisingly their sound hasn't changed much since the first time I heard of them with "A Drug Against War" from 1993. This particular song sounds more like a mix of industrial dance and darkwave and you can clearly hear the vocals from Lucia Cifarelli. Incidentally she officially married Konietzko a few years ago, having been with the band since 1999 when the band was known as MDFMK.
As with all the KMFDM's artwork, this is another pop-art from Aidan "BRUTE!" Hughes. The original artwork's background was replaced with a different background, and the artist was apparently less than thrilled about it:
New KMFDM cover
Thursday, June 7, 2007, written by Rakem 'Rak' RakemI recently submitted my final draft for the recently-released KMFDM album 'Tohuvabohu'. However, when I saw the print version, the background was entirely different to my version. When I asked why it had been changed, I was informed by KMFDM that it had been 'remixed'. I'm not a big fan of music and know even less of its workings but don't artists usually have a say in how their music is remixed? It's like discovering the babysitter has tattooed a rude name on your kid's head.
In February, KMFDM is planning on releasing Brimborium, which is basically Tohuvabohu remixed by different DJs and mixers. Perhaps if you ever got tired of Tohuvabohu's original songs, you might enjoy the remixes.
Reading their announcement it's targetted toward dance fanatics: "offering dancefloor freaks and ultra heavy beat fans a disc that is packed with remixes and never before released material."
01/05/2008 19:14:55
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OK... last post for the week...
The Bartlebees was a trio from Munich, Germany, who formed in 1991 and lasted until 1998. They were Patrik (lead vocals, guitar), Andy (bass, vocals), and Armin (drums, percussion). They took their name from the short work "Bartleby, The Scrivener" by Moby Dick author Herman Melville. Their lo-fi indie-pop/twee sound was often compared to the British post-punk band Television Personalities. I don't know much else about this German band except that they made some pretty catchy tunes, and recorded five albums and released countless songs on 7" singles and various compilations.
Here is "She Loves Monsters" from their album "Urban Folk Legends". You've gotta love the German accents, organ, duelling vocals, catchy baseline, and even the lyrics! Squee!
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