This past Friday, August 22nd, we saw the re-release of 2 Die Krupps albums, Volle Kraft Voraus and I (One). Both albums are significant releases for this historically important band, but display very different styles because an entire decade passed between their original release dates. And both re-releases have lots of previously unreleased bonus material.

Volle Kraft Voraus was the second album by Die Krupps and was originally released all the way back in 1982 when the band was at the forefront of industrial sound experimentation. This re-release contains 2 discs, the first of which is a completely remastered version of the album plus the original version of “Goldfinger”. The second disc contains the original album as it sounded in 1982 plus a few other 12″ mixes.

Skip ahead 10 years to when Die Krupps released I, their 4th full length album, in 1992. This album marked the beginning of their use of electric guitars in combination with industrial beats, once again showing how far ahead of their time Die Krupps really was, and laying down the roots of the Neue Deutsche Härte genre. This re-release also has 2 discs. The first one has the “Atom H” remixed version of the album (Atom H was the first record label founded by Die Krupps frontman Jürgen Engler in the 1980s) and 3 bonus electro versions of some of the album’s tracks. The second disc contains the original album from 1992 plus 5 demo songs that were previously not released.

If you consider yourself to be a Die Krupps fan, you have to get these re-releases. You can find both of them on Amazon.de for 15.97 Euros (Volle Kraft Voraus here and I here), or take advantage of their combo deal and get both for 31.94 Euros. In America, you can find both at Isotank for $25.99 each (Volle Kraft Voraus here and I here).

Continue reading for the complete tracklisting of both re-releases.
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If you’re a big Rammstein fan, you probably know that the band’s name was inspired by a tragic airshow accident that occured at the Ramstein airbase. It happened 20 years ago on this day, August 28th, 1988, in what was West Germany at the time. The Italian Air Force’s show team Frecce Tricolori was performing a maneuver known as the “pierced heart” when 3 planes suddenly collided in mid-air and plunged into the crowd below. Sadly, 70 people were killed including the 3 pilots, and an additional 346 spectators were seriously injured.

Let’s take a moment to remember this event and the people who died on that day. Then, get our your Herzeleid CD and listen to the song “Rammstein” which was created in memory of this disaster. Music always sounds better when you know what emotions inspired it.

Today is the birthday of the compact disc, the first of which was released in Germany on August 17th, 1982. The first CD ever for sale was a recording of Richard Strauss’s symphony “Eine Alpensinfonie” as conducted by the famed Herbert von Karajan, and was released on Deutsche Grammophon, the company established by Emile Berliner who invented the disc record gramophone 93 years prior. The history of music sure does have a lot of ties to Germany.

A generation after the CD was first introduced, its future is questioned on an almost daily basis. CD sales are dropping worldwide and MP3 players have all but wiped out portable CD players. Fortunately, there are still some people who really only feel good if they own a CD. They like holding a physical CD from their favorite band or looking at the artwork and reading the lyrics on the pages of the insert booklet. But will this idea last, or will everything eventually just turn into digital files? What do you think? Which type of person are you?

This week’s Radio Goethe podcast has a special focus on Megaherz’s new album Heuchler. The second half of the broadcast has 6 songs from the album for you to listen to, and the first half is filled with other German metal and hard rock bands to maintain the same sound for the entire hour.

If you like the hard side of German music, you definitely need to listen to this podcast. Start listening anytime in the next week by clicking “Listen to the latest show” at the top of the Radio Goethe website or by subscribing to it on iTunes.

Be sure not to miss the audio tour of the German city of Cologne with the members of Geist, the first band on the podcast. This is a separate MP3 file, as it is part of the Radio Goethe Magazine show, which you can download here. The guys have very good English and are pretty entertaining, plus their music isn’t bad, either. Check it out on the main RG podcast and their MySpace page if you want more.

This week’s Radio Goethe podcast
Geist: Leider
Tonkraft: Diener und Herrscher
KMFDM: WWII (live)
Rammstein: Amerika (live)
Inchtabokatables: Die Taube (live)
Crematory: Left the ground
Megaherz: Heuchler
Megaherz: Fauler Zauber
Megaherz: L’Aventure
Megaherz: Alles nur Lüge
Megaherz: Das Tier
Megaherz: Schau in mein Herz

What were you doing in 1991? If you were old enough to know what was going on in the music scene in Germany, you probably heard U96 and their single “Das Boot”. The song is a techno version of the theme song from the 1982 movie Das Boot, which was also the inspiration for the group’s name, and soon became a big hit in Germany. If you haven’t heard “Das Boot” before, check out the video below.

U96 - “Das Boot” video

U96 was joined in the early 90s by other European groups in creating what became known as the Eurodance genre. This is the time period where electronic music really became less experimental and more danceable and mainstream. Among U96’s famous German counterparts in this movement were La Bouche and Culture Beat, which you can relive once again below.

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Alexander Veljanov, the voice of Deine Lakaien, is currently working on a new album of his own called Porta Macedonia. While the tracklisting and release date are not yet known, we do know that this album will come in 3 variations. 1: a standard CD with the basic tracklisting. 2: a limited edition with bonus tracks and a more elaborately designed CD booklet. and 3: a double LP version for collectors and music enthusiasts.

The album has not been listed at any online stores yet, so it’s probably safe to say that we still have to wait a few more months for Porta Macedonia to be released. But if you can’t wait, or if you are somehow unfamiliar with the seductive vocals of Mr. Veljanov, you can always listen to his current music or his past work with Deine Lakaien on Myspace.

Many of you know Markus Winter as the creative force behind the band Hertzton, but that’s not the only project he is involved with. Recently, Winter announced a new single called “Life Ain’t Worth Living” that will be released under his own name on September 12th as a download only. You should be able to find it on all the major music download sites like iTunes and MusicLoad.de on that date.

The single has 2 versions of the blues-influenced ballad “Life Ain’t Worth Living” (the normal version and an acoustic version), and 2 instrumentals, “The Chase” and “Schattentänzer”. The songs are said to be quite different from the typical style of Hertzton, perhaps a sign of change for his upcoming album Life in Uncertain Times as well. We’ll have more news on that as the January 23, 2009, album release date comes closer.

Markus Winter - “Life Ain’t Worth Living” single tracklisting
01. Life Ain’t Worth Living (single version)
02. The Chase
03. Schattentänzer (jahrhundertstein instrumental)
04. Life Ain’t Worth Living (acoustic version)

Oomph! is back in the news. Their new album Monster will be released in just 10 days on August 22nd, and has 13 tracks including the single “Wach Auf!” which was featured in the German version of the movie Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. A second single “Beim ersten Mal tut’s immer weh” has already been released as well, with the third single “Labyrinth” still to come.

To some of their (former) fans’ dismay, Oomph! has continued with the more mainstream sound introduced on their hit album Wahrheit Oder Pflicht, causing mixed reactions to previews of Monster. The band’s image has also come under scrutiny, the most amusing example of which was a comparison of Oomph as an older version of the pop-rock boy band Tokio Hotel.

Take a listen to some of Oomph’s new songs from Monster. Take a look at their image. What do you think? Is the band headed in the wrong direction?

If you ask me, well, let’s just say I’m not listening to Oomph as I write this. At least their album cover is decent this time, but then again it was the result of a fan contest. Maybe they should let the fans make their music, too.

Oomph! - Monster tracklisting
01. Beim ersten Mal tut’s immer weh
02. Labyrinth
03. 6 Fuß tiefer
04. Wer schön sein will muss leiden
05. Die Leiter
06. Lass mich raus
07. Revolution
08. Auf Kurs
09. Bis zum Schluss
10. In deinen Hüften
11. Wach Auf!
12. Geborn zu sterben
13. Brich aus

Fans of EBM and electronic music in North America rejoice - the German [:SITD:] has confirmed a bevy of tour dates for the New Continent! [:SITD:] and the American/Austrian Aesthetic Perfection will support the Californian industrial electronic outfit Imperative Reaction on its Minus All tour in autumn and early winter. The tour seems to be quite an extensive one and it’s implied that not all dates have yet been announced, so you’ll have plenty of chances to catch some of the most crushing electronic beats on the planet.

Check out [:SITD:]’s MySpace site for a taster of what you can expect, six full tracks are there for your listening pleasure. Samples of the other support group Aesthetic Perfection here, and the main attraction Imperative Reaction here.

Click below for a complete list of the tour dates, or here for the official announcement on [:SITD:]’s site

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Unheilig recorded a show in Berlin during their recent Puppenspieler Tour, with the promise of an upcoming DVD release. Vorhang auf! is set to be released in October as a double-CD and DVD set, with a strictly limited (1500 copies) Deluxe Edition which will also include a photo book and an extra DVD of the 2006 Goldene Zeiten tour. The book will include fan photos, so if you have photos from an Unheilig signing session or concert, you can submit them to unheilig@orkus.de (with a statement giving permission for publication) until August 24th.

A full tracklisting and exact publication date for the DVD has not yet been announced, but when it comes out, it should be available through the usual places: emso.de, emp.de and amazon.de, and of course isotank.com. No word yet on when or if the DVD will be released in the US, but the Deluxe Edition is certainly going to be Germany-only, and it will definitely sell out quickly. If you really want it, my advice would be to order it from EMSO as soon as it is available for pre-order.

On a related note, Unheilig also recently announced that a full two weeks before its actual publication date, the limited edition EP Spiegelbild has already sold out. A very few copies may still be available for pre-order through EMSO, but those probably won’t last through this weekend’s M’era Luna festival.