In January, Neuroticfish announced they would split up after the Wave Gotik Treffen festival this year. If you’ve been following the European festivals, you know WGT was just held this past weekend which means the band is officially no longer together. Despite this, though, they still have yet to issue their final farewell. It’s in the form of a best-of compilation called A Greater Good and it will be released this Friday, May 16th.

A Greater Good has a total of 16 songs. The majority of them highlight the band’s career over the past 10 years, but they have also included 2 completely new songs and a remix of “M.F.A.P.L.” at the beginning of the tracklist. Neuroticfish fans will no doubt know most of the songs on the CD, but those who don’t can listen to the band either on their MySpace page or on the music player at the bottom of their official site.

You can find the American version of A Greater Good at Isotank.com for just $13.99 because Neuroticfish is released here on Dancing Ferret. In Europe, Infrarot.de and AlphaMusic.de seem to be tied for the best list price, 15.99 Euros.

Neuroticfish - A Greater Good compilation tracklist
01. Can’t stop a riot (new song)
02. A greater good (new song)
03. M.F.A.P.L. 2008 (new remix)
04. Prostitute
05. Skin
06. The bomb
07. Velocity
08. Need
09. Close
10. I don’t need the city
11. It’s not me
12. Care
13. Suffocating right
14. Wake me up
15. Black again
16. Waste

Endanger’s 4th studio album Revolt was supposed to be released today, but it looks like it has been delayed a week making the new release date May 16th. The album, which appears on Infacted Records, has 11 new songs including “Times Are Changing” which features Chandeen’s new singer Julia Beyer. (Check out Chandeen’s latest album here, if you don’t remember them.) There is also an additional remix of this song at the end of the album.

Head on over to Endanger’s MySpace page to hear a few of the songs from Revolt (in full length) and a pair of older ones. Then, if you like what you hear, you can order the album online at either Infrarot.de or AlphaMusic.de, both of which have it for 15.99 Euros. A bit closer to home for my American friends, Isotank.com has the album available to pre-order for $16.99.

If you’re the gambling type, you can try your chances and enter to win one of 5 copies of Revolt that the band is giving away on their website. Just visit Endanger.de to find out how to enter the drawing.

And finally on a related note, Nilaihah Records released an American version of Endanger’s last album Addicted To The Masses and Dancing Ferret released their album Motion from 2000, so we may possibly see an American version of Revolt emerging sometime in the future. I’m not sure yet, but I will investigate.

Endanger - Revolt tracklisting
01. Grüße nach Frankfurt
02. Mittendrin
03. We all fall down
04. In the West
05. Atemlos
06. Fool
07. Equal Ways
08. Purpose of the Creators
09. Revolt
10. Times are changing
11. Auf nimmer wiedersehen
12. Times are changing (Alphaluna Mix)

It’s been a while since Welle: Erdball’s last album Chaos Total came out in 2006. But now after 2 years, the originators of bitpop are back with their new single Ich Bin Aus Plastik. This 3-track 7″ vinyl will be released tomorrow, April 25th, and features a special cover of Kraftwerk’s famous “Die Roboter” which is sure to please fans of both bands considering their similar sounds.

Unfortunately for most people, no CD version is offered, just the pink colored 7″ vinyl which is limited to 1000 units. Also unfortunate, the only actual store I could find Ich Bin Aus Plastik at is Infrarot.de and they are already sold out just from pre-orders. Luckily, there are 3 currently available in the Amazon.de Marketplace if you really want it.

On the bright side, you can listen to the title track here, along with 14 other Welle: Erdball songs. The “Die Roboter” cover is not one of them, but it’s a really great place to listen to the band’s music.

For more info (in German only) about the new single, visit Welle-Erdball.de/Plastik.

Welle: Erdball - Ich Bin Aus Plastik single tracklisting
01. Ich Bin Aus Plastik
02. 0173-1923954
03. Die Roboter

We have been experiencing a major influx of German bands touring over here in North America in recent months. So far in 2008, we have seen The Jeans Team, De/Vision, and And One all successfully complete their tours, but the fun has just begun! 4 more German bands have recently confirmed that they will also be touring America. They are: Seabound, Doro, Accessory, and Destroid. In addition to these confirmed bands, Unheilig fans also know that there have been rumors of an American tour later in the year for that band. And as an extra boost to all of this excitement, the Finnish cello rock band Apocalyptica (which has a lot of connections with German bands) will also be going on an extensive 30-concert tour across the continent. 2008 has just gotten a lot better!

I will certainly post the full tourdates for all of the bands listed above in the coming weeks, but the next band to arrive is Seabound so I need to tell you about them first…

Seabound is the next German band to tour America
Seabound is a synthpop duo which has produced 4 studio albums to date. With a rapidly expanding fanbase worldwide thanks to the support of Metropolis Records, they are now preparing to embark on their first tour overseas. The “Alliance Tour 2008″ will take Seabound across the United States for 14 concerts. Shortly after the tour concludes, the band will release their first live album Come Forward - Live In Berlin on April 8th. The electro group Iris will be opening for Seabound throughout the entire tour, except the Connecticut show because that’s a larger festival with lots of bands.

You can listen to some of Seabound’s music on their MySpace page. Seabound.de also has lots of info about the band, from photos and lyrics to album reviews and additional MP3 samples. Take some time to check this band out, and head to one of their concerts if you like their music. I’ve heard they put on really great shows.

Seabound “Alliance Tour 2008″ dates:
Click the link on the venue for ticket info

Mar 12 - Shampoo - Philadelphia, PA
Mar 13 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington D.C.
Mar 14 - Blacksun Festival - New Haven, CT
Mar 15 - The Madison - New York City, NY
Mar 16 - Water Street - Rochester, NY
Mar 18 - Pegasus - Pittsburgh, PA
Mar 19 - Luna - Detroit, MI
Mar 20 - Darkroom - Chicago, IL
Mar 22 - Elysium - Austin, TX
Mar 24 - Club Dada - Dallas, TX
Mar 26 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
Mar 27 - Mt. Tabor - Portland, OR
Mar 29 - DNA Lounge - San Francisco, CA
Mar 30 - Safari Sam’s - Los Angeles, CA

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).

Once upon a time, 4 guys met in Germany. There were two Stefans and the other two were named Markus and Thomas. They decided to start a synthpop band called De/Vision. The four released a single on their own and soon managed to get signed with a label. Over the next two decades, the lineup of their little band evolved and they became more and more popular within their home country, and soon in far away lands around the world. Now, the time has come for De/Vision to visit their fans in some of those foreign countries, namely the United States, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. They’ll be sure to bring their music along for a good show, too.

Listen to some of De/Vision’s songs on their MySpace page. If you like it their music, I’m sure you would love to see them live in concert. This is your chance!

De/Vision on tour in the USA
Feb 6 2008 - Shampoo in Philadelphia, PA
Feb 7 2008 - The Loop Lounge in Passiac, NJ
Feb 9 2008 - Elysium in Austin, TX
Feb 10 2008 - Asylum in Tucson, AZ
Feb 13 2008 - Safari Sam’s in Los Angeles/Hollywood, CA
Feb 14 2008 - DNA Lounge in San Francisco, CA
Feb 16 2008 - El Corazon in Seattle, WA
Feb 17 2008 - Sabala’s at Mt. Tabor in Portland, OR
Feb 19 2008 - Club Vegas in Salt Lake City, UT
Feb 21 2008 - Ground Zero in Minneapolis, MN

De/Vision on tour in South America
Feb 27 2008 - La Trastienda Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Feb 29 2008 - Blondie Discoteque in Santiago, Chile
Mar 2 2008 - Discoteca Voce in Lima, Peru

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.

You may have noticed that it has been nearly five years since Wolfsheim’s most recent album, Casting Shadows, released in 2003. During that time, Wolfsheim’s founder Markus Reinhardt has been trying to move the band ahead with new work, but the band’s singer Peter Heppner has since announced his ambitions for an extensive solo career. In late 2005, he signed a multi-album contract with Warner Music for his own music. Upon hearing this, Markus considered it a breach of contract and a disregard for the basic interests of Wolfsheim because Peter’s new plans did not allow the production of a new Wolfsheim album until 2010. He filed a lawsuit against Peter at the Regional Court of Hamburg to have him excluded from the Wolfsheim partnership so that the band could continue without him. The court tried to negotiate a more peaceful arrangement, but it was just not possible. Their final decision for the lawsuit will be announced sometime this Spring.

It is always very unfortunate when such talented musicians who worked so well together in the past suddenly cannot resolve their differences without a court battle. Every musician’s career develops and changes over time, and all good things must come to an end eventually. Sometimes, you just have to quit what you’re doing and move on to a different project, but Peter Heppner seems not to understand this. His desire to stay with Wolfsheim during all of this was just unreasonable, he cannot expect his bandmate Markus to wait several more years before he makes some time for Wolfsheim again. Peter should have just accepted that his time with Wolfsheim was over and left peacefully when he signed such a major deal for his solo work. Markus may not have been happy about it, but at least Peter would have been more polite and considerate of someone he has worked closely with for so many years. That’s the way I see it.

There is a full press release (PDF file) that was released yesterday on Wolfsheim’s website that explains the entire situation in detail. I’ll keep you updated about the final court decision and the future of both bands in the coming months.

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