The combination of Greg going MIA and me slacking off because of the holidays is not a good thing for Germaniac. Here’s the catch-up news post for some of the most important stuff that’s been happening in these couple of weeks. I hope we’ll be able to resume normal operations as soon as possible! All the tracklistings and ordering information relevant to this post can be found behind the link at the end, because with them this already horribly lengthy post would be, simply put, INSANE.

Oomph!’s album #10 to be Monster

Oomph!, one of the pioneering bands of the industrial metal and NDH genres, will be releasing their tenth album in August according to Oomph!’s official site. The record, of which we got a little taster with the single Wach auf! which was released earlier this year, will be titled Monster. Not much else is known of the upcoming record, except for some tidbits revealed in a German interview. Amongst others, we’re going to get an “electro metal tango” piece and a blues song as well.

No doubt in celebration of their tenth album and as a sign of gratitude to their fans, Dero, Crap and Flux are also offering fans a unique chance to permanently cement themselves in the Oomph! legacy by running a contest for the cover design of the new album. Anyone can send in their visions of what the cover should be until June 27th, and the boys themselves will then choose the final design that will adorn the album. A number of the submissions can already be checked out here, and they range from quite horrible to insanely cool. I for one am eager to find out what the final product will look (and sound!) like!

Megaherz single soon

Before the hotly anticipated new album Heuchler, Megaherz will release the single Mann von Welt on June 20th. There will be two versions of the single: a basic one with Mann von Welt and Es Brennt, a bonus track from the sold out limited edition of Herzwerk II, and an EP-length limited fan edition version with three additional songs from older albums. As far as I can see, the fan edition is not very necessary unless you’re new to Megaherz and need to sample the older stuff, but the single is a great opportunity to hear Es Brennt, which is an excellent song you might very well have missed the first time around. You can hear a preview of Mann von Welt on Megaherz’s Myspace and official site.

Eisbrecher’s single detailed

The first single from Eisbrecher’s upcoming album Sünde will be titled “Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein?”, and it will be released on July 11th. This is, however, a Germany-only release, so completionists will have to pay an extra buck or two (or more like ten) if they want to get their hands on this release. No cover or tracklisting has been made public as of yet, but if the previous singles by Eisbrecher are of any indication, this one should too sport a couple of remixes and possibly a bonus song or other small feature alongside the main track itself.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter single

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, a well-respected German trash metal outfit will release a single titled Der Weg on 27th June. The single features two songs from the upcoming full-lenght release Licht, which doesn’t have a release date yet, and two bonus tracks. The physical CD version of the single published by Nuclear Blast is limited to only 1000 copies, as it was originally planned to only be available via iTunes. Die Apokalyptischen Reiter also released a live DVD earlier this year.

Unheilig’s Spiegelbild EP revealed

The tracklisting and cover design for Unheilig’s Spiegelbild EP have been finally revealed. True to the style of the EPs before, this release is limited to just 3333 pieces and has a total of three different versions of the title song, a new version of the earlier single An deiner Seite and also a trio of completely new Unheilig tracks. Spiegelbild will be released on 26th July.

Laibach’s Dead in Trbovlje in July

Laibach have pushed back the release of their new DVD, which was originally slated for release on 16th June, to 26th July. Titled Dead in Trbovlje, the DVD will feature a full live concert from their widely acclaimed Volk tour, four music videos and on top of that, six of the background screens/videos Laibach used in their Volk shows. There’s also a short commentary on the tour.

Thanks to Nadja for all the tips!

That’s it for now. I know there’s a ton I missed, but at least we have something to cover up the massive time gap we’ve been experiencing. Here’s hoping that Greg will be back in full force soon!

Check out the tracklistings for these items after the jump…
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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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Download the new Donots single for free

It’s becoming increasingly popular among bands to give away some of their music for free in exchange for a list of your friends’ email addresses. By doing this, a band amplifies the reach of their music so more people get to listen to it and it also helps them get in contact with more potential fans, so it seems like a win-win situation. We discovered Daloco’s incredible blues-rock album Mama Ist Entzückt this way and it proved to be pretty popular among readers. Now you can get the new Donots single “Stop The Clocks” this way, too. Will it prove to be just as popular?

Just head over to their e-card, type in some of your friends’ emails, and listen away. Sure, this is just a single, not an entire album, but by filling in the Donots e-card, you’ll also be entered to win tickets to one of 2 festivals the band will be playing at later in the year, a meet-and-greet with the band, and a voucher for the Donots Shop worth 100 Euros. Good luck, and as usual, let us know what you think in the comments.

Scooter ousts Madonna from the top of the UK album chart

The latest Scooter album Jumping All Over The World, which was originally released in Germany and several other countries in 2007, was just released on May 5th in the UK. It was the act’s first album release in the UK since 2003’s The Stadium Techno Experience, but they probably would have released more there if they had known how popular they would be with the Brits. Jumping All Over The World soared to the #1 spot on the UK album chart, surpassing even the “queen of pop” Madonna and her album Hard Candy. You can read the complete BBC article here. Thanks to Nadja for the tip.

Tour calendar finally created

I finally made a tour calendar for German bands that are coming to North America. It includes all bands that have already toured here so far in 2008 (including Ellen Allien which I just found out about, a few days too late) and plenty more that have yet to arrive. Check it out now, and check back often for updates. I hope you’ll find this helpful.

Destroid on tour in the US

Destroid is a project created by Daniel Myer of Haujobb, along with Sebastian Ullman, in 2004. Their latest album Loudspeaker was released in October of 2007, before which they supported [:SITD:] in a tour acrossed Europe. Now, they are flying over the Atlantic for a tour of the United States.

The venue locations seem somewhat evenly spread out acrossed the country, so if you’re within a reasonable distance from any of them, I recommend going. If you’re on the West Coast, you may also have the opportunity to attend one of Daniel Myer’s DJ sets which are scheduled towards the end of the tour. Of course, if you’re not familiar with Myer or Destroid, check out their music on MySpace.

Destroid 2008 U.S. Tourdates
May 22 - Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory
May 23 - Austin, TX - Elysium
May 25 - Columbus, OH - Hi-5
May 28 - New York, NY - Sapony
May 29 - Washington, DC - Liv
May 30 - West Palm Beach, FL - Respectable Street
May 31 - Orlando, FL - AKA Lounge
June 03 - San Francisco, CA - Fat City
June 05 - Portland, OR - Mt. Tabor Legacy
June 06 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
June 07 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon - Daniel Myer DJ set only
June 08 - Portland, OR - The Fez Ballroom - Daniel Myer DJ set only
June 09 - Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
June 13 - Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory - Daniel Myer DJ set only
June 14 - Phonix, AZ - Sadisco

King’s Tonic will do a quick tour, too

King’s Tonic might be a new name to some of you. I know they were to me when I first heard them on Radio Goethe last week. They’re a punk rock band who just released their second album Fuck Your Neighbour earlier this year and they’re doing a really short 5-show tour in the Southwestern United States at the end of May. Unless you’re near LA or Vegas, there’s not much of a chance you’ll be able to see them perform, but you should definitely visit their MySpace page and give them a listen.

King’s Tonic U.S. Mini-Tour
May 23 - Los Angeles, CA - Doll Hut
May 24 - Anaheim, CA - Ceros
May 28 - Los Angeles, CA - Di Piazzas
May 30 - Los Angeles, CA - Fullerton Back Alley
June 06 - Las Vegas, NV - Double Down Saloon

Also… Festival Kinetik starts tomorrow

Just a reminder, the Festival Kinetik in Montreal starts tomorrow and goes on until Saturday. If you’re lucky enough to be going, enjoy the performances by the 5 German industrial and noise bands that will be there: Feindflug, Funker Vogt, Kiew, Noisuf-X, and Xotox.

For the past half hour or so, I’ve been listening to a new album called Mama Ist Entzückt by the German blues-rock musician Daloco. Normally, this kind of music isn’t something I would be listening to, but something about the band intrigued me so I decided to listen to some of the music on their MySpace page. Then I noticed that the whole album is available to download as MP3s for free if you just share it with a few of your friends by email. So I did.

I’m glad I did because the musicianship is excellent. Regardless of your personal taste in music, there’s no denying it. Daloco and his fellow musician Bina are both very talented and you can just tell they are totally invested in their music. This is something I can really appreciate, it’s fantastic. So go and give the album a listen. You have nothing to lose.

Daloco - Mama Ist Entzückt tracklisting
01. Euch glaubt doch keiner mehr
02. Teufel in dir
03. Mama ist entzückt
04. Sag den Frauen (dass wir gehen)
05. Zeit für Frieden
06. Es wär einmal
07. Hotelzimmerfenster
08. High noon
09. Sowas wie ne Band
10. Danke, dass sie mich nicht erschossen haben

Stigma is an alt-rock band from the town of Hilden, just outside Düsseldorf, and they are currently busy promoting their new album Komawunderland which was just released yesterday, April 25th. After listening to the album a few times through, I have to say it seems pretty typical of the alternative rock that’s being produced lately. While that’s not quite my style, I know some other people who really love it. I think it’s something you need to hear for yourself.

Go ahead and listen to a few of Stigma’s songs on their MySpace page or their Virb page. AlphaMusic.de brings us additional samples from every song on the album, plus the lowest price I’ve found for the CD if you want to buy it, €13.99. Stigma’s own webshop also has it for a hair more.

Stigma - Komawunderland tracklisting
01. Bauchfrei
02. Komawunderland
03. Lautlos
04. Freier Fall
05. Tränen
06. Zwei Sonnen
07. Rekordversuch (feat. Mike Berndt)
08. Warum
09. Ruhe Selig
10. Zwei Zurück
11. Zu Laut
12. Die Ewigen Zweiten

The rockers of Dementi are the latest German band to embrace the Creative Commons license and offer their music as free downloads online. Both of the band’s albums, their 2003 debut Zweigefühl and 2005’s Für Heute Reichts, are now available to anyone as long as you don’t use them for any commercial purposes. So go ahead and download Dementi’s music, just visit the download page of their website where you will receive the songs bundled together in a zip file. If you like the music, please don’t forget to support the band for their work by making a donation at the bottom of the same page.

I recommend their second album Für Heute Reichts. It’s the harder one of their two albums and also mixes in some nice electronic elements, it’s really great. I would compare it to Treibhaus, maybe Eisenherz or Megaherz… Check it out.

Don’t forget, Dementi is also working on a new album which is supposed to be released sometime later this year. Not much about it has been announced and I don’t know if they plan to release it for free the same way, but I’ll be sure to bring you the details later on when more information has been announced.

Many fans of the now defunct band Böhse Onkelz knew their singer Stephan Weidner as “Der W” and now he is using that name for his latest solo project. The first Der W single “Geschichtenhasser” will be released this coming Friday, April 18th, and will be followed by the full length album Schneller, Höher, Weidner a week later on April 25th. There seems to be just 1 version of the album which makes my job of reporting the news much easier. It comes in a digipack and contains 14 tracks in a style that’s pretty similar to the Onkelz.

If you want to preview that Der W sounds like, you can listen to the single “Geschichtenhasser” on Der-W.de, or sift through the posts on Stephan’s blog for more song clips. EMP.de has the album and the single ready to pre-order if you’re ready to buy it.

Der W - Schneller, Höher, Weidner tracklisting:
01. Der W Zwo Drei
02. Geschichtenhasser
03. Waffen & Neurosen
04. Asche zu Asche
05. Tränenmeer
06. Mein bester Feind
07. Angst
08. Stille Tage im Klischee
09. Schatten
10. Bitte töte mich
11. Zwischen Traum und Paralyse
12. Liebesbrief
13. Ein Lied für meinen Sohn
14. Pass gut auf dich auf

Die Ärzte is getting ready to release their next maxi single in support of their latest album Jazz Ist Anders. It will be the song “Lasse Redn” and will be out on Friday, April 11th. This will already be their 3rd single for this album, following “Junge” and “Lied vom Scheitern“, but don’t expect it to be their last. Die Ärzte has typically been releasing 4 or 5 singles per album lately, so I would bet there will be at least one more. I have no idea what song it will be, though. Any guesses?

The “Lasse Redn” single will be released as both a CD in a digipack and as a 7″ vinyl record. As far as I can tell, they both have the same basic tracklisting which includes the B-side “Komm zu Papa” and 2 alternate “economy version” tracks , along with the title track. The “Lasse Redn” music video is also on the CD version so you can play it on your computer, but sadly they haven’t come up with the technology to put videos on records yet.

You can hear “Lasse Redn” along with several other recent Die Ärtze songs on the band’s Myspace page.

Die Ärzte - Lasse Redn maxi single tracklisting:
01. Lasse redn
02. Komm zu Papa
03. Nichts gesehen (Economy Version)
04. Wir waren die Besten (Economy Version)
05. Lasse redn (Video)

Schandmaul is a six-piece medieval rock band from the Munich area that was formed in the late ’90s. They have release 5 increasingly successful albums to date, and will be releasing their 6th album Anderswelt this Friday on April 4th. Anderswelt, which translates into “Parallel Universe” according to the band, has 14 new songs and comes in 2 varieties. There is a regular version that comes in a digipack and a limited edition which just has an extra video feature, as far as I can tell.

Listen to it, Get it…
As of now, Schandmaul’s MySpace page doesn’t have any music from Anderswelt, but you can still get a good idea of the band’s sound from the 4 clips from their previous album Mit Leib Und Seele. Luckily AlphaMusic.de saves the day, though, with brief samples from all 14 tracks. You can also buy the album there for 14.99 Euros (or the limited edition for 16.99). Lots of other online retailers have the album in both versions too, like EMP.de and Amazon.de. No luck finding it in the USA yet.

Schandmaul - Anderswelt tracklisting:
01. Frei
02. Krieger
03. Anderswelt
04. Königin
05. Zweite Seele
06. Die Braut
07. Missgeschick
08. Sirenen
09. Stunden des Lichts
10. Fiddlefolkpop
11. Augen auf!
12. Wolfsmensch
13. Drei Lieder
14. Prinzessin
(plus a bonus video feature on the limited edition)