Now that I have fully recovered from last night’s And One concert, I’ll write up a little review of the show here for anyone who may be interested in seeing them on the rest of their first ever US tour. I arrived at The Madison in New York with my friend Nadja and we met Jen in the line waiting to get in. After going through what seemed to be a rather intense security search, we entered the building and checked the place out. It was kind of small but the setup was pretty decent.

Cervello Elettronico was the first opening band. They were okay, but honestly some people (myself included) didn’t even realize that these 2 guys were a band. It sounded more like they were just double DJs entertaining the crowd before the show began. Obviously it was nothing noteworthy. Life Cried was the second opening band and was much better. It was actually a real band and they put on a pretty good show. Their music was pretty dark, kind of like Wumpscut or bands like that. The only thing that was a bit annoying was the screaming vocals combined with an echo effect on the microphone. It fits the music pretty well, but it was a bit much.

A short time after they went off stage, the two synth players for And One stepped up and began to play (wearing their suits, of course). Then, Steve Naghavi burst onto the stage out of nowhere and started singing a few minutes into the intro to officially begin their show. He is easily one of the best frontmen I have ever seen live. He’s extremely enthusiastic and crowd-oriented. His charisma, dancing and spinning around, and still poses definitely made him the center of attention, too. Now I understand exactly why they dropped out as a support band for VNV Nation’s tour last year. And One is a band that absolutely needs to be the headliner, there’s no question about it.

During And One’s set, they played lots of their biggest hits, as you might imagine. My favorites have always been older songs like “Deutschmaschine” and “Panzermensch” and they played both. They also played plenty of newer songs like “Traumfrau” and “Military Fashion Show”. There was also a fantastic cover of Project Pitchfork’s song “Timekiller” since Naghavi performed vocals with the band. And One later performed another cover of “The Walk” by The Cure, as well as a mini-cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” in the middle of one song. Every other song was performed really well also, making And One’s entire show just wonderful. This was just a great experience overall and I would really recommend everyone to go to one of their concerts if they are coming anywhere near where you live.

The best news of the night: At the end of their set, Naghavi announced that this was just the first American tour And One is playing. They are planning on returning to the States for a second tour in the Autumn! I am really looking forward to a second tour. I’ll definitely be seeing them again (but hopefully they will find a different venue in New York next time).

Technically, I should have posted this yesterday, but I got a bit carried away with other things. In any event, there are 3 new releases that just came out yesterday (Friday, January 25th) that I think are worth mentioning…

1 - Sara Noxx and Project Pitchfork - Earth Song
First of all, Project Pitchfork has teamed up with the singer Sara Noxx for a special single called Earth Song. Both acts are already well known in the German electronic scene, so the two of them working together should only make fans more excited. Sounds good so far. As you may have guessed from the title, “Earth Song” is a message about the environment and states the musicians’ position about what is (or what is not) being done to help it. A strong message behind the song, another plus. From the looks of things, Earth Song should be really great. But unfortunately, I think they have over-promised and under-delivered with this one. Of course this is my own personal opinion, but I just don’t think the music cuts it. For a song that is so meaningful, it should really leave an impact. That just doesn’t happen though. The music is boring, it didn’t even get me to move my head or tap my foot, and you can’t hear the lyrics which are supposed to have such significance. I’m sorry to say it, but I am terribly disappointed.

Head over to Sara Noxx’s MySpace page to have a 2-minute listen. Maybe you can convince me that it’s better than I think.

Sara Noxx and Project Pitchfork - Earth Song single tracklisting
1. Earth Song - Radio Edit
2. Earth Song - Original Version
3. Earth Song - Joachim Witt’s London Mix
4. Earth Song - Tanzwut’s Teufel Remix
5. Earth Song - Cat Rapes Dog’s All Hail Ishtar Mix
6. Earth Song - Subway to Sally’s Ready to Kill Mix

2 - 4lyn - Hello
It is now a few months after 4lyn’s single “Hello (For You I’m Dying)” introduced us to some of the music, and now their new full length album Hello has been released. This album is nothing like the band’s previous hardcore metal-influenced music. Instead, Hello is pretty much your typical modern day “alternative” rock aimed at teenage boys who wear their pants too tight. They have gone totally soft and I don’t like it at all. But who am I to judge? I’m not part of their audience. If you are, you would probably like listening to their new music.

4lyn - Hello tracklisting
01. The grind
02. Shadow valley
03. Hello (for you I’m dying)
04. World’s gone crazy
05. Too munch of everything
06. Nostalgia
07. Lovemaker/Soulshaker
08. The jumpoff
09. This heart
10. Cowboys

3 - Hämatom - Wut
I saved the best for last. Hämatom is a relatively new metal band hailing from the heart of Germany. After releasing their debut album Nein! in 2005, they are back for a second round. Their new album Wut is packed to the brim with thrashingly heavy guitar riffs and intensely pounding drums, all backed by good old German lyrics. It’s nothing revolutionary, but if you are a true fan of German metal, you have to hear this album. Go to Hämatom’s MySpace page and appease your inner headbanger with the 6 full length songs they have available, all from their new album Wut. You can also listen to some more MP3 samples from all the songs (and buy it for a pretty good price) on AlphaMusic.de.

Hämatom - Wut tracklist
01. Los Gehts
02. Leck Mich!
03. Fremd
04. Das Schwarze Schaf
05. Schmerz
06. Ihr Kotzt Mich An
07. Mit Dem Kopf Durch Die Wand
08. Freier Fall
09. Bow
10. Homo Sapiens
11. Solange Ich Noch Kann
12. Vorspiel
13. Sechs
14. Willkommen Im Nichts

Here’s one I only found out about last night… Kash has teamed up with Nik Page to record a single song together called “Kommunion”. Then, they asked a whole bunch of other musicians like Project Ptichfork and Songs of Lemuria to do remixes, resulting in 6 different versions. In addition, there are also a few remixes of Kash’s song “Körpertriebe” which originally appeared on their first EP of the same name. This “single” also includes a song called “Ey du Stinkst” which I have never heard of from either Kash or Nik Page, plus the “Kommunion” music video.

The “Kommunion” single comes out tomorrow, Friday the 28th of September.

Kommunion tracklist
01. Kommunion - flipmox single mix
02. Kommunion - f.o.d. mix
03. Körpertriebe - infinite beat remix
04. Kommunion - project pitchfork remix
05. Kommunion - knabenpo noize mix by razorblade
06. Körpertriebe - style clash remix
07. Kommunion - kranke welt schranzmix by razorblade
08. Körpertriebe - flipmox feuer mix
09. Ey du Stinkst - alex löser remix
10. Körpertriebe - triebtäter remix by razorblade
11. Kommunion - songs of lemuria version
+ Kommunion music video

Project Pitchfork is an incredible industrial-influenced electronic group from Hamburg. They typically don’t use guitars in their music, but from time to time they do show up in a song and make for a really great combination with the synths. “Timekiller” and “Existence” are two of my favorites, so please take a few minutes to watch these videos. I think you’ll enjoy them. If you look closely, you will see a little clip from the “Existence” video played on a TV in “Timekiller” (just after the 3 minute mark).

Project Pitchfork - “Existence” video

Source: youtube.com/watch?v=C7TBgJ1m5vg

Project Pitchfork - “Timekiller” video

Source: youtube.com/watch?v=jOYHEFPxJ7M