What do you get when you combine electro, dramatic pop, sailor imagery and a handsome, distantly androgyne frontman with a fascinating voice and spice the whole thing up with Joachim Witt’s artistic guidance? The correct answer is Leichtmatrose, who are all about “melodramatic sailorpop” as they themselves call it. In the end, Leichtmatrose actually sounds a whole lot like a poppier, softer Wolfsheim, down to the Heppner-esque vocal work of the singer. Luckily, they still don’t sound like is a cheap ripoff of Wolfsheim, but indeed have a very distinctive, own sound. You can sample just that on Leichtmatrose’s MySpace where they have six lengthy clips, showcasing the band’s range quite well. You can also check out the brand-new video for Herztransplantation, or the earlier Sexi ist tot.

Leichtmatrose’s debut album Gestrandet will be out on April 22nd and doesn’t really seem to be available yet anywhere, but in the meantime you might want to support the band by getting their already available digital singles Sexi ist tot (which actually managed to reach #7 in the Deutsch Alternative Charts at the time of its release!) and Leichtmatrosen haben’s schwer / Herztransplantation. They’re both available at various digital stores, like Musicload.de and iTunes.

Leichtmatrose - Gestrandet
1. Herztransplantation
2. In Wahrheit gelogen
3. Gestrandet
4. Sexi ist tot
5. Der einsame Astronaut
6. Der Mond trägt ein trauriges Gesicht
7. Studentenfutter
8. Junge von nebenan
9. Nom Esel im Hallopp verloren
10. Himmelfahrt
11. Leichtmatrosen haben’s schwer
12. Der letzte Zug

Angelas Park – Generation Monoton

Talk about a newcomer! Angelas Park from Sachsen-Anhalt was formed just three years ago in 2006, and their career has definitely started with a bang: amidst touring all over Germany with Virginia jetzt! and EL*KE, the band has won both the YOU-festival’s MySpace band award and the respected Udo-Lindenberg-Stiftung’s Panikpreis and also released an EP, Essen für die Seele. For 2009 they’re already planning some great things, like inevitable first album and of course winning the Bundesvision Song Contest. Angelas Park’s cheerily anarchistic poprock is sure to win many a heart to their favor.

Generation Monoton doesn’t unfortunately have a music video, but thanks to Raab’s show, you can check out the energetic band perform the song live here. I’m afraid the self-released EP doesn’t seem to be available anymore, but you can purchase the download-only single Generation Monoton on Musicload.de and iTunes. The band’s MySpace has a total of six full-length tracks, including Generation Monoton for you to check out. You can also download two free tracks on the official site’s Ohrwürmer section.

Rage – Gib dich nie auf

By contrast to the many young bands in the contest, by far the most long-running and well-known band outside Germany taking part in the Bundesvision is Rage, representing Nordrhein-Westfalen. Their debut was released a mighty 24 years ago under the name Avenger, and the current studio album Carved in Stone is their eighteenth studio album. Rage was there when the heavy metal scene in Germany was just emerging, and they’re still here, blasting their thrash-influenced power metal with no less ferocity than over twenty years ago. It seems to be a sort of a tradition to have at least one metal band of some sort at BuViSoCo (they also often finish with pretty high points), and this year Rage is here to fill the slot.

Gib dich nie auf is Rage’s entry piece and also the title of their latest EP. They don’t have a music video, but as always, you can see the band perform Gib dich nie auf live on Raab’s TV show here. You can also find the track on both the band’s MySpace as well as a free download (and either in English or German!) in the media section of their site. There’s also a whole load of other completely free songs for you to download, if the MySpace samples aren’t enough. The EP is exclusively available on Nuclear Blast’s webshop, and they also have the latest album and a bundle of both.

Ruben Cossani – Bis auf letzte Nacht

Although the band Ruben Cossani was formed in 2006, the forces behind it are hardcore professionals. Michael van Dyke, the frontman of the band, is a successful solo artist, producer and composer and has been working with music since the 80s, and it shows: Ruben Cossani’s debut album Tägliche Landschaft was released in February 2008 to wild critical acclaim. The band calls itself a retro-pop band, and that means they’re all about bringing the classic sounds of sixties’ pop bands back to life. The next album is already in the works and supposedly out early this year, but before that, we’ll see whether or not their interesting retro style has what it takes to win a contest full of modern German music.

In keeping with their retro principles, Ruben Cossani’s Bis auf letzte Nacht’s music video is an entertainingly archaic-looking piece, viewable here. You can also hear it on Cossani’s MySpace, or check out the player on their official site (right-hand bottom corner) where you’ll get to hear every song from the debut album. Bis auf letzte Nacht was only released as a digital download, available for example at Musicload.de, but Tägliche Landschaft can be found at least on Amazon.de.

Fotos – Du fehlst mir

Now, Niedersachsen’s representative Fotos (founded in 2005) is embracing the possibilities of the internet and Web 2.0 in a refreshingly different sort of way. Of course, they have a strong MySpace presence, but who doesn’t these days? For example, their official site is actually a photo blog, and most updates on whatever the band’s been doing are posted on their Twitter page, and the band even has a Facebook profile where updates and live dates are posted as well. Unfortunately, despite their firm grasp of internet’s different applications, they don’t practice what I would’ve liked the most – giving away at least some of their very british-sounding indie rock for free.

Fotos is coming to Bundesvision with a song from their second album, Nach dem Goldrausch, released in 2008. Du fehlst mir’s music video can be viewed here, or about a half of it can be heard on the band’s MySpace. The song was released as a digital download –only single, available for example at Musicload.de. You can also buy the full-length from Amazon.de.

P:lot – Mein Name ist

P:lot (Pilot) from Saarland is an indie rock band that was initially a studio-only project founded in 1997. Their first album titled Debut was released in 2004 on the Goldene Zeiten label, but they soon grew uncomfortable with the constraints set by the label and decided to work independently from there on with no outside management or PR help whatsoever. It took four years, but P:lot’s second album Mein Name ist was finally released last autumn, preceded by the single Zeit zu leben. It’s just awesome to see such a young band that hasn’t really had the time to properly establish itself in the music industry fare so well doing precisely what they want to be doing, and completely on their own terms!

P:lot’s BuViSoCo 2009 entry song is the title track from their current album, Mein Name ist. It’s an emotional and gently rocking indie rock piece, much in the vein of bands like Coldplay or Kent. To promote their song for the contest, the band’s wicked DIY spirit has produced a single (available on Amazon.de) and a beautiful music video, viewable here. Don’t forget to check out some more of their songs on P:lot’s MySpace, you can find the full album on Amazon.de as well.

Marteria – Zum König geboren

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s pride Marteria started his rapping career at the age of 18 after a successful stint in modeling business. He immediately signed a record deal in 2000 with the label Punchline, but the release of his debut album failed as the firm went bankrupt. After that, he created his mysterious high-pitched alter ego Marsimoto, under which name the first album Halloziehnation was released in 2006. Next followed the first actual Marteria-album Base Ventura, and last year saw the release of Marsimoto’s second and latest album, Zu zweit allein. I for one am thankful that Marteria decided to enter this year’s Bundesvision as the more serious rapper Marteria and not as the annoying, Alvin and the Chipmunks-resembling Marsimoto.

Marteria’s entry song Zum König geboren is Deutschrap to the core: plenty of tough guy attitude, albeit just slightly tongue in cheek. You can catch the stylishly executed video here, or listen to some snippets of the work Marteria has done with other rappers on his MySpace. Marsimoto’s MySpace has amply samples of the other side of the rapper’s work. You can find the Zum König geboren single, Marsimoto’s Zu zweit allein and Marteria’s Base Ventura all on Amazon.de.

Cassandra Steen - Darum leben wir

Baden-Württemberg’s representative Cassandra Steen made her a name as part of the pop, soul and R&B trio Glashaus, which scored a number of critically and commercially successful albums and singles. Alongside Glashaus, she has started a solo career and sung backgrounds for numerous big names in the R&B and rap scene. Her debut solo album was released as far back as in 2003, but this year, she’s gearing up for a second round with the brand new album Darum leben wir. For me, the best part about Steen’s music is definitely the fact that she sings entirely in German. It takes special guts to do your own thing in a widely popular genre that is absolutely dominated by American, English-singing artists.

The artist’s BuViSoCo song is the title track from her upcoming second solo record. Darum leben wir is a melancholy and well-produced R&B ballad – I’m sure if she happened to be from the USA and sang in English, Steen would probably be known all around the world by now. You can see her music video here and catch some more snippets from the Darum leben wir album on her MySpace. Amazon.de has the single up for sale and the full-length (released on February 20th) up for preorders.

Claudia Koreck - I wui dass du woasst

Claudia Koreck, singing in her native Bavarian dialect, is a young singer who started playing music when she was just twelve years old. Nine years pass, and suddenly in 2007 her song Fliang gains huge popularity when played in the Bavarian radio station Bayern 3, enabling her debut release Fliang to easily achieve #1 in the Bavarian overall sales charts. A second album, titled Barfuaß um die Welt, full of her trademark bluesy pop-folk will be released on the same day as the Bundesvision Song Contest is held, February 13th. Singing in a dialect of any kind is definitely a rarity, so it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of Germany is going to take Claudia!

One way Claudia Koreck’s entry song I wui dass du woasst stands out from the other BuViSoCo songs in that there’s neither an official music video nor has a single been published to promote it. However, you can see Claudia and her band perform the whole song live on Stefan Raab’s TV show where he introduces the artists. The artist’s MySpace has snippets of five tracks from both her upcoming full-length as well as from the first one. You can find the album on Amazon.de for preorder.

Eisblume released their first EP titled Unter dem Eis last year, and personally I was just blown away. Definitely one of my favourite releases last year. Now the incredibly beautiful goth pop band has come out with a brand new single titled Eisblumen, now meaning tomorrow on the 16th of January. And guess what? Eisblumen is actually a cover of Subway to Sally’s song released on the Nord Nord Ost record in 2005, and it also pretty much kicks the original version in the balls. Except breath-takingly gracefully and beautifully, if a beatdown can be performed with such qualities.

This single is available in two versions, a basic one with a radio mix and a remix, and a pricier version with… something. There are various kinds of tracklists available on the net, and some places even claim there would be a poster included. But what at least seems to be sure is that this edition has a music video included, which is also viewable for example here.

Oh hey, you can also get Derek van Krogh’s remix of Unter dem Eis for free if you sign up for Eisblume’s newsletter on the official site. Don’t miss out on the samples on Eisblume’s MySpace, either, if you haven’t heard the band before! Seriously, I recommend you to check this one out.

Eisblume - Eisblumen 2-track tracklist
1. Eisblumen (Radio Mix)
2. Eisblumen (Eisblumen Remix)

Available from Amazon.de, EMP.de

Eisblume - Eisblumen other edition (?)
1. Eisblumen Radio Mix
X extra tracks, ranging from none at all to three, two of which are remixes/instrumentals of Eisblumen and one of which is older track Louise or Zeit zu gehen. Thanks, Eisblume and the record label for not giving any sort of clear indication of what this version of the single contains.
Eisblumen Video

Available from Amazon.de, EMP.de

Chances are, you could have heard of Melotron before, but you might not even know it - it seems that their 2003 song Der Kosmonaut just happens to be the theme song for the Saturday Night Live sketch Deep House Dish that has recurred several times. The fantastic synthpop trio, however, has done plenty besides having a piece featured on one of the most popular sketch comedy shows in the USA.

Already formed in 1995, their first single Dein Meister gained a lot of fans for them, and they’ve been going strong ever since. Last year Melotron released their sixth full-length album Propaganda and the accompanying single Das Herz and even participated in the Bundesvision Song Contest 2007 with the aforementioned single cut. They didn’t didn’t fare that well in the contest though, and were left at the third last position with just 13 points whereas the winner Oomph! featuring Marta Jandová of Die Happy harvested nearly 150 points with Träumst du?. The band was also supposed to tour North America this year with a total of nine dates in the States and one in Mexico, but the plan fell apart due to not getting the needed visas in time. But don’t worry, 2009 will definitely see Melotron on the other side of the Atlantic, and they’ll likely have some new tricks up their sleeves as well, because the band has been cooking up a new album for the better part of the year since last spring. We’ll get back to Melotron as soon as we get some more information on the album or the tour.

In the meantime, why not get to know the band and their music? You can catch pretty lengthy samples off of every single one of Melotron’s songs from all of their releases on the Hören-section of their site. Just click on the album you want to check out, and then either the mp3 or the Real Audio link. You can also visit Melotron’s MySpace where they have a couple of samples up for listening. Alternatively, you might want to check out the video for the aforementioned single Das Herz, viewable for example here. Surprisingly many of Melotron’s releases are available from Amazon.com for you stateside, Europeans on the other hand might want to shop at Amazon.de where for example Propaganda is priced at a measly 12€.

Indeed, Germany really is home to the greatest electronic music scene in the world, and it doesn’t seem stuff like industrial and gothic music are none worse off. It seems there’s a constant stream of more or less fresh bands in the aforementioned genres popping up, just like death metal bands where I come from (you should see it, there are more metal bands in Finland than trees in the forest… quite ridiculous actually). It’s by no means an utterly bad thing, especially since German electronic, industrial and gothic music is usually of insanely high quality, but it can lead to a somewhat single-sided view on German music. As Your guide to discovering German music we seriously can’t have material on just those bands all the time, right?

Ich + Ich, comprised of the duo Annette Humpe and Adel Tawil, is a pop music project that hit some major success with their very first self-titled album released in 2005, and since then they have continued to do the very same thing. That is to say, they have been dominating the sales charts with both their albums and singles, with the latest full-length Vom selben Stern (2007) getting spot #1 and four of their singles managing a top 5 position in Germany. They’ve also had a lot of success in, amongst others, Switzerland, Austria and Lithuania. Now they’re about to try again with a new single and a live CD.

The live CD Vom selben Stern Live and the single Wenn ich tot bin, already the fifth cut from the main album, are going to be released on November 21st and 28th, respectively (according to Amazon.de that is, Ich + Ich’s site claims they would be released on the same day). Amazon also tells us that the single will be available as a basic 2-track single and “another slightly more expensive version”, most likely a premium edition of sorts. Amazon doesn’t, however, doesn’t help us at all with the matter of the live CD. According to Ich + Ich’s website, there should be a grand total of three different configurations: just the CD, a CD + DVD version where the bonus disc has some live material, interviews and stuff like that, and also a limited special limited edition where you’ll get all that and also the album Vom selben Stern. However, Amazon only has a “double CD” version listed. Think of that what you will.

As previously mentioned, there’s barely any information on the releases anywhere else but a brief statement on the band’s own website and Amazon.de, the only place selling the records I was able to find, so I’m afraid I can’t provide you with any tracklisting. Amazon.de has the live CD for 20,99 € and the singles for 4,99 € and 7,99 €. Anyways, you can have a listen and a look at Ich + Ich’s music at their MySpace and the media section of the official site, where they have a couple of their videos and links to the rest.

Mina Harker goes Tiefer on debut album

Do you remember the awesome remix version of Rammstein’s Ohne Dich by Laibach and Mina Harker? Well, now Mina Harker has finally, just about a week ago on October 31st, released her very first album titled Tiefer. Tiefer seems to be a very promising blend of gothic, industrial, rock and poppy things with Harker’s great voice on top of it all. On top of ten other rock-pop-goth songs, there’s also a duet with Dero from Oomph!, who Harker will be supporting on their German tour for the successful album Monster.

You can check several samples from the album, including the aforementioned duet with Dero, on Mina Harker’s MySpace site. Tiefer is obtainable from most stores, like EMP.de for 15,99 €, Infrarot.de for 14,99 €, Out of Line Shop for 12,99 € or Isotank for $19,99.

You’ll find the track listing for the album after the break.

Blutengel presses onwards with new single Dancing in the Light

Just a couple of months have passed since Blutengel released their huge live DVD set Moments of our LIVEs. Now the band is back at it again: a new single, titled Dancing in the Light, will be dancing in the light of day in nine days on 14th November! The single will be a teaser for the next album, which is scheduled to be released sometime early next year, and there’s going to be two different variations of the single. Both Dancing in the Light (”Forsaken”) and Dancing in the Light (”Solitary”) will feature the title track, a music video, an exclusive remix and two extra songs. The remixes and the bonus tracks are, of course, all different on both versions.

You can catch a trailer for the single here. The single seems to be orderable from just about everywhere, for example EMP.de has both versions (Solitary, Forsaken) for 6,99 €, Isotank has them (Solitary, Forsaken) for $9,99 each and Out of Line Shop has a bundle with both versions for 11,98 €.

And now for the piece of news countless people have been waiting for…

Rammstein begins recording of the new album

Yeah, that’s right, the NDH band that made the genre popular around the world has finally started recording their next album. The newly updated official website has been stripped of the Völkerball-look that’s been annoying eager fans for a couple of years by not displaying any updates at all with a simple black-and-gray style. Also, just about everything on the site has also been cleaned up and replaced with a newspost stating that recording will commence on November 9th in a studio in San Fransisco, while the drum tracks are being worked on in Los Angeles. Not much yet, but darned if I’m not excited. Rammstein’s definitely not my favourite German band anymore, but they bloody well do deserve the praise and the success they’ve had for their efforts in making German music (and German altogether) more popular all around the globe.

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Fragile as a flower of ice and equally beautiful. That’s how one could summarize Unter dem Eis, Eisblume’s very first release, which hit the stores on 16th May. And boy, what a first release! With just four tracks, one of which is actually a remix of the title song, and clocking in at just under 17 minutes it can only barely be considered an EP, but then again, not a single minute of those is wasted.

This is achieved by alternating between grandiose, orchestral walls of sound and distant, fragile pianoes and utilizing some carefully picked pop elements and most importantly, Ria’s incredible voice. Although the aforementioned elements aren’t the most innovative things you can imagine, with the help of Ria it holds Eisblume’s music together and makes it stand out. Excellent production values all over just accentuate the amount of thought and work has been put into this project.

The title track begins by treating the listener to some tender, distant sounds before the angel-like voice of the real iceflower herself, the singer Ria, takes over. Then the song crescendoes into the chorus… It’s frail, it’s emotional and it’s melancholic but at the same time it’s surprisingly massive and epic. Almost the same goes for the rest of the EP. Track number three, Zeit zu gehen, is as powerful as Unter dem Eis, whereas in the last track Louise Ria is accompanied by just a piano for a large part of the song. Even the remix of Unter dem Eis doesn’t feel like filler. It sounds more like the alternative direction Eisblume could’ve taken by bringing in a lot more guitars and being a lot heavier overall.

All in all, Unter dem Eis is absolutely fantastic, probably one of the very best debut releases ever and one of the best releases this year. Is it groundbreaking? Well, no, but damned if it doesn’t sound great and leave you wanting more. All the songs stand out on their own, and are just as single-class material as the title song, and even the remix of the latter earns its place with its substantially differnet take on it. I’m eager to find out if the forces behind this project are able to conjure up a whole album that’s as complete and thorough as Unter dem Eis. For all you who don’t mind a touch of pop in your gothic rock and enjoy an expertly produced piece of music, Eisblume is something you should not miss.

Check out our previous coverage on Eisblume and Unter dem Eis for tracklisting, a video and more.

Straftanz’s EP released today

Straftanz released their EP Tanzt Kaputt, Was Euch Kaputt Macht! today (16th May). This is Straftanz’s second release since their self-titled debut EP. Straftanz’s music is straightforward industrial dance music with some clear EBM influences. You can get an idea of this sonic assault on their MySpace, where they have a couple of generous samples from the current EP and also some older material for you to listen.

You can order the fresh EP with a pretty atrocious cover from at least Alphamusic.de for 5,49 €, or if you’re in the States, you can find it at Isotank for $11,99.

I’ve hidden the tracklisting for Tanzt Kaputt, Was Euch Kaputt Macht! and also a video for the title song behind the link at the end of the post.

Unheilig’s next EP to be Spiegelbild

Following the smashingly successful album Puppenspiel and the accompanying single An Deiner Seite, Unheilig will be releasing a new EP in July. Spiegelbild, track #2 on Puppenspiel was chosen by the fans in an extensive voting to be the next EP, just like the previous Unheilig EPs Freiheit and Astronaut. And, just like those ones, Spiegelbild will boast numerous versions of the title song and other tracks from Puppenspiel and also some all-new material recorded specifically for the EP. Unfortunately, no tracklisting has been published as of yet. Spiegelbild will be released on 19th July, and it will be limited to just 3333 copies worldwide. The most certain way of obtaining this release seems to be through emso.de, but you’ll have to wait till June 1st to preorder it.

If you somehow still aren’t familiar with Unheilig’s magnificent, electronically enhanced rock antics, you can check out a few samples on Unheilig’s MySpace site. Additionally, you can watch the video for the latest single cut An deiner Seite hidden behind the link.

Eisblume’s Unter Dem Eis

And finally, just a reminder: the lovely gothic pop band Eisblume just released their debut EP Unter dem Eis today! See the previous post on the subject for track listing, a video for the title song and more.

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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

Unter dem Eis video