I’ve just created a Last.fmgroup for Germaniac.com. If you aren’t familiar with Last.fm, it’s a site and application that tracks what you play on your media player such as Winamp, and then creates weekly, monthly, yearly and overall charts of your listening habits. It can then recommend you similar artists you might like, and also point you in the direction of other people with tastes similar to yours. Last.fm also has some swell community tools, such as groups and forums for them. Now Germaniac.com also has its very own group for all you germaniacs!
So, come and join! You’ll be able to chat with your fellow germaniacs, see what sorts of music they listen to, recommend your own favourites to people, find new bands to listen to… All the good stuff. I hope we’ll be able to have some great fun with this! I go by the nick ruumisauto, by the way, and Greg is flammenstrahl.
If you don’t have a Last.fm account, you can sign up and download the application here. Don’t worry, the program isn’t very large and it doesn’t take much resources to keep it running.
There’s a lot of buzz online surrounding Shnarph!’s debut full-length album Lautlos, especially because it’s now almost 4 years since their introductory EP, but some of the news is kind of confusing to be honest. For example, I’ve seen about a half dozen different release dates listed all over the internet. The majority of them are pointing us towards May 9th, however.
You may also notice that they’re calling this release of Lautlos a “limited edition” even in the absence of a normal version of the album. That doesn’t make any sense at first, but some sources seem to hint at a lesser version of the album (probably without the 3 bonus remixes) being released at a later time. When that is exactly is not yet known.
So, amidst all the buzz, some useful information does emerge. The first pressing of Lautlos will be released on May 9th. You can find it at online retailers like Infrarot.de in Europe and Isotank.com in North America.
You can listen to a few samples of Shnraph!’s music on their MySpace page, however just one is from Lautlos.
Shnarph! - Lautlos tracklisting
01. Von der Einsamkeit
02. Der Eiertanz
03. Virus
04. Die letzte Pussy
05. Albtraum
06. Reden und Atmen (Album Version)
07. Lebensangst
08. Ausgebrannt
09. Schnelle Kugel
10. Eine tolle Predigt
11. Donnern im Tal (Das Berghaus 2)
Bonus Tracks:
12. Virus (Gegenmittelmix von Schallfaktor)
13. Virus (U.N.K. Retractor Mix)
14. Virus (Krankheit Mensch Mix von Splitterpuppe)
The Radio Goethe podcast playlist is getting posted a little late this week due to a very busy weekend away from home, but it’s online now for your listening pleasure. This is one of the more dynamic shows with a very wide range of musical styles being represented. You’ll hear industrial, rock, electro, indie, gothic, plus a few songs that you just can’t explain. Check it out on iTunes or RadioGoethe.org.
Eisblume is a new melancholic pop project fronted by Ria, the singer and creative force of the band. Eisblume’s career in the music world will be started with the EP Unter dem Eis, which will be released on the 16th of May, and it will later be followed by a full-length album as stated in an interview with Ria in the latest German Orkus magazine. Unfortunately, there’s hardly any extensive information on the band anywhere, just check out Eisblume’s own website for proof. I guess it’s still under construction, as the band is really very new.
Eisblume’s music seems to be a lovely combination of almost excessive melancholy, fragile vocals, chilly winter themes, atmospheric, soft pianoes and just a slight touch of heavier elements thrown into the mix. If you are interested, you should head to Eisblume’s MySpace site, where you can find generous samples of four songs from the upcoming EP and album. You can also watch the video for Unter dem Eis embedded below. Unter Dem Eis can be ordered at Alphamusic.de for 5,49 €, but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to find it anywhere else
Important note from Greg: Don’t confuse this new band with the other existing band called Eisblume (this one is at Eisblume.net) which is led by singer Christine Westphal and released an album in 2006.
Tracklisting for Unter dem Eis
01. Unter dem Eis
02. Unter dem Eis (Derek van Krogh Remix)
03. Zeit zu gehen
04. Louise
Anyone who has been part of the online German music community for many years may remember GermanMetal.com which started in 2002. The original goal was to create complete fansites for German metal bands, but only the Oomph! and Herzer sections were ever finished before that first version of the site went offline.
Now, after a number of years in hibernation and lots of hard work more recently, site founder Joki has brought life back to GermanMetal.com in the form of a wiki. Just like any other wiki, anyone can add new pages and edit the information contained on the site, creating a knowledge base of German music that represents the areas of expertise of all its contributors. You can help add to the wiki, too. Just create an account to begin.
One thing to keep in mind: GermanMetal.com does not cover all styles of German music. As the name indicates, the site focuses specifically on some of the many various forms of metal that have become popular in Germany. Whether you call it industrial-metal, electro-metal, Neue Deutsche Härte, tanzmetall, or something completely different, it can be tricky figuring out if a band qualifies or not, especially when there are so many names for what seems to be basically the same thing. So if you want to write about a band, you should definitely read exactly what their definition of “German metal” is first. There’s also a priority artists list which can give you some suggestions for what bands to write about.
The GermanMetal.com wiki has lots of information about ASP, Samsas Traum and Unheilig already, and you can be sure that list will grow significantly over time. Check it out.
On April 30th, Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows (or just Sopor Aeternus) released its eleventh album titled Sanatorium Altrosa (Musical Therapy for Spiritual Dysfunction). Sopor Aeternus is a German oddity of a darkwave, folk and gothic project comprised of just one person, the mysterious Anna-Varney Cantodea. Not much is known about Anna-Varney, “not much” meaning not a bloody thing including his/her actual gender, real name or age.
The new album Sanatorium Altrosa comes in two different setups, a deluxe hardcover book edition and an even more deluxe boxed set. Both of them are limited to just 999 copies, so the CD is highly difficult to get anywhere. Actually, the only place I managed to find it at is Isotank where you can get the book edition for $59.99. The record is already completely sold out in other retailers I checked, so good luck getting your hands on this one.
To get a taster for Sopor Aeternus’s interesting mix of folkish and gothic aesthetics and musical elements, check out their MySpace site.
Track Listing for Sanatorium Altrosa:
01. Consider this: the true Meaning of Love (instr.)
02. Architecture II
03. Shave, if you love me (remix)
04. La Mort d’Arthur (instr.)
05. Consider this (orig. version)
06. The Conqueror Worm II (instr.)
07. In der Palästra (instr.)
08. Collision
09. Les Fleurs du Mal (instr.)
10. Bitter Sweet (instr.)
11. Consider this: the true Meaning of Love
Hi everyone, I’m just letting you know there won’t be any news posted today or tomorrow. I am headed down to Washington DC for the weekend to attend the German embassy’s open house, where Arndt Peltner from Radio Goethe will be DJing.
If you’re in the area, come join us from 10 to 3 this Saturday and take in some German culture. Full details are listed here.
Soman is becoming well known for their industrial-EBM style that is geared specifically for clubs. Their latest album Mask proved that this strategy is quite effective… and also great listen to. Now, the crew is back with a new EP, albeit a very long one, called Re:Up which has lots of remixes of their songs done by a range of other industrial, noise, and EBM acts. Just take a look at the tracklisting below for names like Noisuf-X, Xotox, XP8, and others.
Re:Up is being released tomorrow, May 2nd, on Infacted Recordings. We will also see an American release on COP International. They don’t seem to specify an exact release date for the American version, but it doesn’t really matter since you can already get it from them now for $9.99 (and they use PayPal so payment should be very easy). If you’re in Europe, I would recommend AlphaMusic.de which has Re:Up for €9.99.
If you’re not sure you want it, check out Soman’s MySpace page and see if it convinces you. It did for me.
As many of you know, I am the webmaster of the official Stahlhammer website and I also operate their online store. I’m very glad to be helping them out as much as I can (plus, having my name printed in CD booklets is pretty cool too!). But the band has been quiet lately, so I’ve decided to liven things up a bit with a special CD sale. Of course, this also coincides nicely with the 6th anniversary of when the Stahlhammer website was first created on April 30, 2002.
There are currently just 2 Stahlhammer albums in stock, but they have both been greatly reduced in price and I have plenty of each. Gary’s solo album is also still available, though in a limited supply.
Feind Hört Mit is now just $7.50 Listen to MP3 samples here - Buy it here
Considered by many to be Stahlhammer’s best and most famous album, this essential Neue Deutsche Härte style longplayer was originally released on Nuclear Blast in 1999. It also has covers of Falco’s classics “Mutter, Der Mann Mit Dem Koks Ist Da” and “Jeanny”. Feind Hört Mit is one of the reasons I got into German music so much and it still remains one of my top 5 albums of all time.
Opera Noir has been reduced to $10 Listen to MP3 samples here - Buy it here
This is Stahlhammer’s current album and offers 13 songs of their latest blend of metal, industrial, and other more unconventional influences. Among the tracklist is a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes/Helden” and “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins.
Gary’s solo album Trivial Slushy Vintage is $10 also
Gary Wheeler was the original voice of Stahlhammer for their debut album Killer Instinkt. After his departure and eventual return, he now leads the band once again. This is his first solo album under his own name and presents a very different style than Stahlhammer, it’s much more mellow. I just have a few copies of this album left.
Be sure to download the samples and give them a listen. If you like Stahlhammer’s music, be sure to buy an album or two. We greatly appreciate your support, thanks!
For the past half hour or so, I’ve been listening to a new album called Mama Ist Entzückt by the German blues-rock musician Daloco. Normally, this kind of music isn’t something I would be listening to, but something about the band intrigued me so I decided to listen to some of the music on their MySpace page. Then I noticed that the whole album is available to download as MP3s for free if you just share it with a few of your friends by email. So I did.
I’m glad I did because the musicianship is excellent. Regardless of your personal taste in music, there’s no denying it. Daloco and his fellow musician Bina are both very talented and you can just tell they are totally invested in their music. This is something I can really appreciate, it’s fantastic. So go and give the album a listen. You have nothing to lose.
Daloco - Mama Ist Entzückt tracklisting
01. Euch glaubt doch keiner mehr
02. Teufel in dir
03. Mama ist entzückt
04. Sag den Frauen (dass wir gehen)
05. Zeit für Frieden
06. Es wär einmal
07. Hotelzimmerfenster
08. High noon
09. Sowas wie ne Band
10. Danke, dass sie mich nicht erschossen haben
