This week’s Radio Goethe podcast dives right into some of the electronic music from Germany, mostly the more specific subgenres of EBM, synthpop and futurepop. There are even several remixes this week, which is something we rarely hear on the Radio Goethe broadcast. Arndt must have been feeling a little frisky when he was producing this show. It’s great this week! Stream it on RadioGoethe.org or download it from iTunes.

Rotersand: Lost
Funker Vogt: City of darkness
Neuroticfish: Why don’t you hate me?
Diorama: Synthesize me
Massiv in Mensch feat. Mind.in.a.box: Supermassive Gravity
Retrosic: Unleash Hell (Deeper into hell 2008)
Patenbrigade Wolff: Demokratischer Sektor (Club Mix)
Mind.in.a.box: What used to be (Short Storm)
Umbra et Imago: Glaubst Du (Remix)
E Nomine: Vater unser
E Nomine: E Nomine
Diary of Dreams: The Plague (Version N4-4)
Noisuf-X: Hit me hard (as hard as you can-mix)

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).

As you know, And One is coming to the USA to tour in February, but there has been a lot of confusion about the New York show on February 17th. It was originally supposed to be at Avalon but was later moved to the famous Webster Hall. That would have been a fantastic setting for And One to play, but apparently the concert has been moved yet again, this time to The Madison. I think (read: I hope) this is indeed the real location now because Synth-Tec.com has tickets now for the show available. They are $26 a piece, which is a bit high compared to tickets for bands of similar caliber, but And One is well worth it. Plus you get to see 2 openers: Life Cried, which is a great electro-industrial band, and Cervello Elettronico. I’ve never heard of the second one, but the samples on their site sound pretty good.

I’ll keep you up to date if there are any future changes. Be sure to check out the rest of the tourdates around the country for a concert near you.

After some rumors about the band splitting up a few months ago, L’Ame Immortelle (new website under construction) is back with a new album called Namenlos. It will be released later this week on January 25th on Trisol. Once again, the band offers a mixture of sounds blending together quite nicely. Angry male vocals contrast with a softer female voice. Electronic influenced industrial is up against harder guitars in some songs. The closing track “Namenlos” even ventures into the realm of neofolk. There’s bound to be something here for everyone… Well, as long as you’re not looking for R&B…

Namenlos comes in 2 different versions. The standard version has 2 discs. The first is the album itself with 13 new songs, and the second has lots of bonus material, mostly covers of L’Ame Immortelle songs done by other musicians. The limited edition contains these same 2 discs but it comes in a fancy linen-covered box set. Inside each of these 2000 limited edition sets, you will also find an extensive 28-page booklet with artwork by Oliver Schlemmer and a unique original photograph taken during the production of the album.

L’Ame Immortelle’s MySpace page currently has 3 new songs from Namenlos on the playlist along with 3 older songs for you ti listen to. Our trusty mailorder friends at Isotank.com have both versions of the album, regular and limited editions, already up to preorder here in the States. If you’re in Europe, Infrarot.de has a special sale on Namenlos. It’s just 16.99 Euros, but only until January 31st.

L’Ame Immortelle - Namenlos tracklisting

CD 1:
01. Vergessen
02. 1000 Voices
03. Behind The Light
04. Bleib
05. Requiem
06. Lost
07. Blutrot
08. Reborn
09. Es tut mir leid
10. Niemals
11. Jenseits der Schatten
12. The Cleansing
13. Namenlos

CD 2:
01. Erneuerung
02. When the sun has ceased to shine
03. Love is lost (cover version by Anthoni Jones)
04. When the sun has ceased to shine (cover version by Spiritual Front)
05. Es tut mir leid (cover version by Steinkind)
06. Niemals (cover version by Sieben)
07. Requiem (cover version by Whispers in the Shadow)
08. Erinnerung (an essay by Thomas Sabottka)

The German Invasion has begun. One of the next German bands that will be coming to tour across the USA is And One. They had actually started out on tour last year with VNV Nation, but pulled out of the tour part-way through. Luckily for us, the band didn’t give up on the idea of playing some concerts over here. We’ll get to see them after all.

And One was created in 1989 by Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz in Berlin. Another famous early member of the band was Joke Jay. The band’s current lineup includes the 2 founding members plus Gio van Oli. Over the years, And One has become very well known both in Germany and around the world for their catchy EBM (early) and synthpop (later) styles of music. They have released 9 studio albums so far, with their most recent being Bodypop from 2006. Personally, I like their older songs a bit better because of the classic old school EBM sound you hear in songs like “Metalhammer” or “Deutschmaschine” but their newer more synth-oriented music is great as well.

A few other bits of interesting information: Steve Naghavi is known for remixing songs for other bands including remixes of “Fieber” and “Gekreuzigt” for Oomph! Atrocity covered And One’s song “Deutschmaschine” in 1997 on their first Werk 80 album (only as a bonus track on the limited edition, probably because “Deutschmaschine” was originally released in 1994, not in the ’80s). And One also released a special online-only single called “Amerika Brennt” for free in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks as a sign of their support for the country. Currently, And One distributed in North America on Metropolis Records.

You can watch the video for And One’s 2006 single “So Klingt Liebe” on this post.

And One’s 2008 tour dates in North America
Feb 14 - Washington D.C. at Club Five
Feb 16 - Philadelphia, PA at Shampoo (Dracula’s Ball #40)
Feb 17 - New York, NY at Avalon (see updates below!)
Feb 19 - San Francisco, CA at DNA Lounge
Feb 21 - Seattle, WA at El Corazon
Feb 24 - Los Angeles, CA at Crash Mansion
Feb 26 - Denver, CO at Oriental Theatre
Feb 28 - San Antonio, TX at White Rabbit

Let me know if you will be going to the New York show. I’ll be there along with several others I know.

Update 1 - The New York show has been moved to Webster Hall.

Update 2 - The NYC show has been moved again, this time to The Madison. Life Cried will be one of the opening bands, and you can now order tickets here.

Remember the British Invasion of the mid-60s when (metric) tons of British bands gained huge popularity in the United States? Me neither because I wasn’t around back then, but I have definitely heard plenty about it. This year, it looks like the next platoon of bands to invade America will be from Germany. And the first wave has already landed, straight out of Berlin.

The electronic group Jeans Team has already started their sonic assault a few days ago in San Francisco and will be advancing towards the East coast over the next few weeks. Next to reach America will be De/Vision, one of the most famous synthpop bands around, which will start their first ever tour this side of the Atlantic on February 6th starting in Philadelphia. Shortly after, in an aggressive move, And One will infiltrate Washington D.C. and begin their tour from the nation’s capital. Finally, Canada will be the target of several German industrial and EBM acts in May during the Festival Kinetik in Montreal.

In all seriousness, the sudden influx of German bands playing concerts in the USA and Canada is purely coincidental. While there does seem to be a lot of interest in German music as the internet introduces people to obscure bands from around the world, I really don’t think this “invasion” is going to be nearly as popular as the famed British Invasion. We probably aren’t going to see a German band become as popular as The Beatles in the next few years, but it’s still definitely worth paying attention to.

These first few months of 2008 present American fans of German music with a unique opportunity to see some of our favorite bands. Take advantage of this opportunity. Even if you don’t know who these bands are, I would still urge you to support them for taking the (very expensive) risk of coming over here to America. If they are received with large, enthusiastic crowds, it will send the message to other bands and their labels that touring in America could be a good idea for them, too.

First up, tour dates for Jeans Team. I will post the dates for De/Vision and And One in the next few days.

Jan 04 - San Francisco, California at Loaded
Jan 05 - Los Angeles, California at The COG
Jan 10 - New York, New York at The Grasslands Gallery
Jan 11 - Montreal, Canada at Zoo Bizarre
Jan 13 - Toronto, Canada at Drake Hotel
Jan 15 - Detroit, Michigan at Scrummage
Jan 16 - Chicago, Illinois at Empty Bottle
Jan 18 - New York, New York at Ruff Club

Listen to Jeans Team
You can visit the Jeans Team MySpace page to listen to some of their older, more experimental music, but I would recommend downloading the special interview that Radio Goethe just did with the band a few days ago. Not only will you learn a lot about the band and their history, but this interview is also filled with lots of their more current electronica music. You can download this interview here.

The German Invasion has begun. Prepare yourselves.

Updates
And One tourdates have been updated here

The German EBM act Agonoize has a new album called Sieben coming out soon. It’s a double disc album with a total of 19 songs, and there will be 2 versions of it available. As you can guess, the standard version just contains the album’s 2 discs, while the limited “Maximum Permissible Dose” version comes in a box set with a bonus shape-CD containing 3 remixes of their club-friendly track “Femme Fatale” and a few other goodies like a sticker and a photo card.

Although Sieben isn’t hitting stores (or shipping from them, if you’re ordering online) until November 9th, you can listen to the songs “Femme Fatale” and “I Against Me” on the Agonoize MySpace page. My first impression of the tracks were pretty good. I like them, they have a nice, hard EBM style. It’s just what the doctor ordered… if you happen to be a patient of Dr. Thodt.

Agonoize - Sieben tracklist

CD 1
01. C.O.A.
02. I Against Me
03. New World Disorder
04. Femme Fatale
05. Last Days On Earth
06. Gottlos
07. Deleted
08. Breakfast With Bundy
09. Unchained
10. Suizid
11. Knick Knäck/Slashed Open
12. Koprolalie

CD 2
01. Viva La Muerte
02. A Crippled Mind
03. Intoxication
04. Opus Dei
05. Zero, Zero, Eight, One
06. Drowning In Isolation
07. Paranoid2007

CD 3 (limited edition only)
01. Femme Fatale (Mix 1)
02. Femme Fatale (Mix 2)
03. Femme Fatale (Mix 3)

For those of you who don’t know who Peter Spilles is, he’s the singer of Project Pitchfork. Once again, his twisted humor has emerged in another side project called Santa Hates You, which is conveniently releasing their first album on Halloween, not too far ahead of Christmas. It’s called You’re On The Naughty List and takes you for a ride through some kind of dystopian holiday scene. I can’t help but think of the Futurama episode where Santabot’s “naughty or nice” standards are set too high and everyone in the world is terrified of Christmas.

Santa Hates You actually sounds a lot like Project Pitchfork in many ways, like their use of similar-sounding synthesizers and deep rhythmic beats. Some of the lyrics can get funny at times, but overall they have a darker tone than you might be used to hearing from PP. The images in the booklet (and on their MySpace page) are kind of disturbing, too, but I have to admit I do like the necklace made out of Barbie doll body parts. Check out the 5 full-length songs on the band’s MySpace page. If you prefer to download rather than stream, MusicNonStop has some MP3 samples, but they are shorter and of lower quality.

Santa Hates You - You’re On The Naughty List tracklist
01. U R Fucking It Up
02. Sugar And Spice
03. Karoshi
04. Love Song
05. Ego Inc.
06. Feuerball
07. Machine Sex Symphony
08. Sonne
09. Profumo Di Luce
10. Pantheon

[X]-Rx is a new group that calls their style “industrial rave” which combines the best aspects of both genres. Imagine Feindflug playing their music at a rave and it being more danceable, instead of the harsher, noisier sound they typically produce. That’s kind of what it’s like. Very dancefloor-worthy, as [X]-Rx’s song “Disco Distortion” has already proven. I’m really getting into it.

Despite the near total lack of information on the net about [X]-Rx (online shops provide more useful info than their site… oh yeah, they don’t have one) I managed to find out about their first album that’s coming out soon. Unmöglich Erregend will hit stores this Friday, on October 26th. It’s packed full with 18 songs, although personally, in this genre I would prefer fewer, longer songs. There are some downloadable MP3s and streamable samples scattered across the web, here and here and here. And, of course, there are a number of places to order the CD, as well, including Isotank in the U.S.

X-Rx - Unmöglich Erregend tracklisting
01. Feel The Fucking Bass
02. Fuck This Shit
03. Drugs And Violence
04. Disco Distortion
05. Die Sexualkiste Der Hölle
06. Pure Industrial Rave Injection
07. No More Room In Hell
08. Rotes Licht
09. I Haven’t Got Time
10. Unmöglich Erregend
11. Nervenheilanstalt
12. Party Stuff
13. Control
14. Crime
15. Geh Ficken
16. Reactor Kids
17. Temperature
18. Red Alert

davaNtage will be releasing a new album on November 23rd. Over The Pass will commemorate the band’s 10th anniversary with 2 discs filled with some of the best EBM you will hear. The first disc is the album itself, while the second is a collection of remixes of songs from past albums like.

You can already listen to some samples from Over The Pass on davaNtage’s Myspace page. If you want to download MP3 samples of these and some from their past albums, visit the band’s website and click on “Downloads” in the menu.

davaNtage - Over The Pass tracklist:

CD 1:
01. Playgrounds Of Nature
02. VF 07
03. Over The Pass
04. The End Of Raging Ecstasy
05. Trash Handling
06. The Club
07. Mars Is Waiting
08. Surface
09. Retaliate
10. Final Flare/ Influx

CD 2:
01. Global Badlands (Eternal Rivers)
02. The Warming (Necro Facility Remix)
03. Virus:Hate (Acylum Remix)
04. Beyond The Hills (Dave Foreman Remix)
05. Decadence (Wynardtage Remix)
06. Unholy (Siva Six Remix)
07. Texas Dealer (Auto-Auto Remix)
08. Unbelehrbar (Sebastian R. Komor Remix)
09. Split & Shatter (Hazy Clouds)
10. Far From Summer (BAK XIII Remix)
11. Coldest Place (BeyonD Remix)
12. And Occident Is History (Acylum Remix)
13. Last Kick Off (This Fish Needs A Bike Remix)
14. Outer Limits (Invisible Stars)
15. Icy Slave (Blank Remix)
16. Unholy (Reprise)