Nothing like a piece of breaking news to start off the year, eh? Many people were already afraid of this when it seemed that Florian Schneider wasn’t going to play at any of Kraftwerk’s shows in 2008, but according to the fansite Technopop now it’s finally official: Florian Schneider, the other one of Kraftwerk’s founding members, has left the pioneering band after 40 years for reasons unspecified.

To get an idea of how important Florian and Ralf Hütter’s collaboration has been to modern music (although you should’ve already known all about it), I’d like to direct you to Greg’s excellent essay on Kraftwerk and their influence he wrote about a year back. But indeed, Florian Schneider has been an instrumental figure in developing and utilizing techniques that have been essential to not just electronic but all kinds of music, he was for example one of the first musicians to use computer-generated speech synthesis in music. He really is one of the most influential musicians the world has ever seen, and it is a shame to see that his long, long career in Kraftwerk has come to an end. Hopefully leaving Kraftwerk doesn’t mean he has also lost his will to make music, and he’ll continue his adventures in sound design despite this. We wish him luck in all his future projects.

Kraftwerk’s already-announced South American tour and other dates for 2009 will not be affected by Florian’s departure. Stephan Pfaffe, who replaced Florian last year, will presumably continue as the fourth member of Kraftwerk. I for one am still waiting eagerly for any sort of indication of a new Kraftwerk album…

The electro-industrial band Wynardtage released their fourth studio album last month on November 21st. It’s called The Grey Line, and it comes just over a year after their last studio album Praise the Fallen. Once again, the band delivers a solid club-compatible album, with 11 songs including a special appearance by Melanie G from davaNtage on the title track. The album also has 3 bonus remixes, but you have to pay attention because the European version (released on E-Noxe) has different remixes than the North American version (released on COP International).

You can find a few songs from The Grey Line on the Wynardtage MySpace page along with some older ones. For additional samples from the new album, you can listen on AlphaMusic.de, which also has the Euro version of the album for sale for EUR 13.99. COP International’s webshop and Isotank are tied for the best price on the North American version at $9.99.

Wynardtage - The Grey Line (European version)
1. Mask
2. Tragic Hero
3. The Frozen Point
4. Leaving
5. Cutting Down
6. The Grey Line
7. In Death A Tale
8. If There Is No Tomorrow
9. My Life
10. Crash Of A Star
11. Now We Are Alive
12. Now We Are Alive (Remixed By Painbastard)
13. Mask (Remixed By ESC)
14. Tragic Hero (Remixed By X-Fusion)

Wynardtage - The Grey Line (North American version)
1. Mask
2. Tragic Hero
3. The Frozen Point
4. Leaving
5. Cutting Down
6. The Grey Line
7. In Death A Tale
8. If There Is No Tomorrow
9. My Life
10. Crash Of A Star
11. Now We Are Alive
12. The Grey Line (Remixed By Yendri)
13. If There Is No Tomorrow (Remixed By Cygnosic)
14. The Frozen Point (Remixed By Echorausch)

One of the best songs by the Jeans Team is “Keine Melodien”. Despite it’s name, there actually is a really catchy melody in the song, and it’s likely to get stuck in your head. It’s such a catchy song, in fact, that Volkswagen (or rather, their advertising agency DDB London) has decided to use it in an advertisement for their new 6th generation Golf.

It’s not just any commercial, though. It’s a 1.5 minute fight scene that takes place inside a VW facility. The basic plot of the scene, which is influenced by various action movies, is that a car designer fights himself, suggesting that the only real thing the new Golf has to compete with is the current model Golf. I guess it makes sense, considering all the praise the current Mk. V Golf has received and the fact that the Golf series is the 3rd highest selling vehicle in the world.

Sadly, we don’t get such entertaining commercials in America. I mean, if they have to exist, they might as well be worth watching, right? Anyway, if you’re in the mood for a little action, watch the ad below and be sure to pay attention to the song that starts playing. If you just want to hear “Keine Melodien” by the Jeans Team by itself, check out their music video which is posted underneath the ad.

Volkswagen’s Golf ad with “Keine Melodien”

Music video for “Keine Melodien” by the Jeans Team

Greifenkeil, who released their album Blood Mystery last May, have changed their name to GriffonVox. Along with the new name comes a boatload of new stuff:

Annual Christmas gift
It seems Greifenkeil/GriffonVox have made it their tradition to release a free Christmas song every year. Following last year’s NoChristmasSong, this year’s track is called White Christmas (Law of the Land), and it’s the very first release under the new band name. You can download the mp3 here, or if you fancy, a 45 MB .wav file here.

New style, new releases
Sometimes when a band changes their name, nothing else is different. This time, however, GriffonVox seems to be seeking to distance themselves from Greifenkeil’s “psycho-acoustic performance art”, as now GriffonVox’s sites tell us they’re an “electronic wave performance” act. Last time I checked, Greifenkeil’s music was a very interesting kind of ambient and psychedelic industrial, so it’ll be interesting to see just what this new direction means for the band. If the new Christmas song White Christmas is of any indication, the sound is a bit less crushing and industrial than before, and seems to have a touch of trance or something like that to it. Nevertheless, it’s really good.

To really drive home the fact that the band has changed, GriffonVox is releasing the album Blood Mystery again done entirely anew in the new style. According to their MySpace site, Blood Mystery - Electronic Wave Mix will be available for free for everyone who bought the original version of the album, or as Blood Mystery Kultbox which will have both the original Blood Mystery as well as the new version. Alongside the transformed original songs, the Electronic Wave Mix also boasts some older songs they performed during their shows, presumably played in the new style. Blood Mystery - Electronic Wave Mix will see the light of day at the Wave Gothik Treffen 2009 festival in early summer.

In WGT 2009 will also be released a brand new EP, She’s Lost Control. She’s Lost Control is a cover of Joy Division’s 1979 hit song, but the EP will have at least two other tracks as well. Whether these are remixes, other cover versions or completely new GriffonVox songs remains a secret. Also, not content with releasing this much stuff already, early spring 2009 something known only as Law of the Land will be available as a free download. I’m afraid there’s currently no information on this one. Keep your eyes peeled.

Originally founded as Sven West in 1997, the gothic electro and EBM outfit Cephalgy quickly gained fame in Germany’s electronic music scene. So much, in fact, that when they were performing live at Chemnitz, the city’s resident industrial EBM heavyweight Accessory’s people were so impressed with the band that they quickly got them into contact with Out of Line Records. In 2004, Cephalgy released their first album Engel sterben nie on Out of Line, and from there on they’ve gone on to release one EP and two more albums. Despite the super tight working pace, they’ve also had the time to make quite an amount of remixes for some of the most prominent artists in the genre, like Blutengel, Das Ich and Hocico.

The third album by Cephalgy from Dresden saw light of the day two months ago on October 10th. Initially released as a limited 2CD edition, Herzschlag is packed to the brim with cold, massive electronic beats and plenty of commanding vocals. The second disc features even more new songs and also some remixes including one by Accessory. Personally, I don’t really know if what I should think of this band, because to me they sound just a wee bit too generic and it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to do anything at all new, but hey, if you’re looking for some quality electro to add to your collection, you should definitely give them a try. I’m not saying they’re bad per se, but maybe you’ll get some more mileage out of them than me.

Cephalgy’s MySpace has a total of six full-length songs from their latest up for listening. You can get Herzschlag at most stores, for example Amazon.de for 15,95 €, EMP.de for 15,99 €, or for you people in the States, Isotank for $20.99.

Cephalgy - Herzschlag tracklist
CD1
1 Erlöse mich
2 Dunkelseele
3 Hass mich
4 Königin
5 Du
6 Electroholic
7 Müde
8 Tiefer
9 Schutzengel
10 I`ll survive
11 Lebe
12 Tränen zu Staub
13 Herzschlag

CD2:
1 Schwarze Göttin
2 Unsterblich
3 Hilfeschrei
4 Rache
5 Tiefer (Battlescream remix)
6 Erlöse mich (Accessory remix)
7 Königin (Shizophobia remix)
8 Hass mich (Deadtronic remix)

Can you guess what song it is? If you said “Oh Yeah” by Yello, you’re right!

Yello is an early Swiss electronic band started by Carlos Perón, Boris Blank, and Dieter Meier. “Oh Yeah” first appeared on their 1985 album Stella, and was later released as a single in 1986. Although it only reached #51 in the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the US, it became an instant classic after being featured in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Since then, the song has been featured in everything from The Simpsons as Duffman’s theme song to a recent AT&T cell phone commercial.

“Oh Yeah” is a pretty unique song, and you will probably recognize it, even if you didn’t know where it came from originally. Whether you think it’s a little bit freaky or just plain awesome, there isn’t anything quite like it. (For some reason, it reminds of the yip-yip aliens from Sesame Street.)

If you’re up for some cheap thrills, Amazon.de has Yello’s 1992 compilation Essential. 16 of the best early Yello songs (including “Oh Yeah”) for under 7 Euros. There’s a remastered version of Stella for 12.95, too.

Chicka Chicka!

The electro-rock band Northern Lite released their fifth album Super Black back in March and now they are on tour across Europe. But if you aren’t in the region, you can still watch a Northern Lite concert without leaving home. Their performance tomorrow, December 11th, at Amsterdam’s Paradiso venue will be streamed live online for everyone to see, thanks to FabChannel.com. The live stream starts at 10:30 PM Central European Time, which is 9:30 PM in the UK, 4:30 PM for the East Coast of the U.S. and 1:30 PM for the West Coast. Here’s the link to the stream.

If you aren’t able to watch Northern Lite’s concert at the time it’s taking place, you can always watch it later at any time once it is added to FabChannel’s archives. And if you have some time to kill, you can always browse the archives which contains over 1000 concerts, many of them from German bands like Polarkreis 18, Jeans Team, Digitalism, and others.

First conceived in 2006, AD:keY is the side project of the keyboardist from Armageddon Dildos, who calls himself Agro, and his musical partner Andrea. The band may be new, but the sound is pure old school EBM. Take the synths and beats of DAF and the vocal style and slight spaciness of Welle Erdball, put them in a blender for a few seconds, and you’ve just successfully completed the recipe to make AD:keY. It tastes, or rather sounds, delicious. This is definitely one you’ll want to listen to.

Thema Nummer Eins is AD:keY’s debut album and was just released yesterday, December 5th, according to Infrarot.de, which seems to be the only Europe-based shop I can find the album in. (You’ll find some other news sources listing a November 25th release date, though.) Despite the lack of broad distribution, however, Isotank has managed to get the album for American fans.

AD:keY - Thema Nummer Eins track listing:
01. Lass Mich Los
02. Körper Um Körper
03. Modern Angel
04. Hoch Die Hämmer
05. Elitär
06. Küss Mich
07. Pour Toi
08. Sex Ist Macht
09. Shout
10. Seelenstrip
11. Frostengel
12. Grüne Augen Lügen
13. Tanzflächenhooligan
14. Modern Angel (Konstruktionsfehler-Mix)
15. Pour Toi (Pfützenspringer-Mix)
16. Sex Ist Macht (Remix By Final Selection)

Only half a year has passed since their last album, Demokratischer Sektor, and now the EBM and electronic act Patenbrigade: Wolff is ready to release a new EP titled Stalinallee on November 28th. Alongside a remix of the track Stalinallee from the album, the EP will feature five other new tracks (one being a hidden track), all of them done in Patenbrigade: Wolff’s familiar style of slightly tongue-in-cheek and deadly sleek electronics. The EP is available in a whole plethora of different editions ranging from a crazy bag packed with all kinds of swag to a bare-bones, three-track DJ promo version and anything in between. All the versions are available on Patenbrigade: Wolff’s own shop. Alternatively, you can get the basic version with all the tracks at most of your regular stores, for example Amazon.de or the Out of Line shop.

You can get a taster of Patenbrigade: Wolff’s music on their MySpace site, which has a load of full-length tracks for you to listen. Also, the P:W boys were kind enough to let everyone download the leading track Stalinallee (Jugendklubmix) for free!

Tracklisting for Stalinallee by Patenbrigade: Wolff
01 Stalinallee (Jugendklubmix)
02 Der Generalmajor fährt zur Arbeit
03 Feind hört mit! (B. Honeckers MfS Edit)
04 Datenfernübertragung
05 Signal
06 Untitled Track

Peter Heppner is on his own now, following a lawsuit from his former band-mate Markus Reinhardt and their subsequent separation, but the man with the enigmatic voice is doing just fine post-Wolfsheim. His latest album called Solo was released about two months ago on September 12th, with the single “Alleinesein” being released a week earlier.

There was some initial concern about Heppner’s music composition skills because that was Reinhardt’s job in Wolfsheim, but once you start listening to Solo, you quickly realize that any worries are unfounded. Solo delivers that familiar dark synthpop sound that you loved about Wolfsheim, and it is just as exquisitely executed as you would have expected from Heppner’s former band as well. It’s nearly impossible to tell that Solo really isn’t just a continuation of Wolfsheim, as if they had never split. It’s an excellent album from beginning to end.

Listen to Peter Heppner’s “Alleinesein” right here and be the judge for yourself.

What do you think? Not bad, eh? If you like what you hear, you can buy the “Alleinesein” single or the whole Solo album on Amazon.de. That link for Solo is actually for the limited edition digipack that has a bonus “making of” DVD included, by the way. It’s a pretty good deal at 14.40 Euros. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the song samples on Amazon, too.

Peter Heppner - Solo album track listing
01. Easy
02. Alleinesein
03. Suddenly
04. Vorbei
05. Being Me
06. I Hate You
07. No Matter What It Takes
08. Walter [London or Manchester]
09. Wherever
10. Das geht vorbei…
11. Vorbei (feat. Moonrise)

Bonus DVD
Making of Solo