De/Vision and Seabound are currently touring North America together. So far, the tour has been a real success, with everyone who has been to one of the concerts so far saying how much they enjoyed it. There are only a few dates left, so don’t miss your chance to see these two great synthpop bands performing live.

If you didn’t get the opportunity to go to one of their recent concerts, don’t worry. You can still watch one live right from your computer. Tonight’s dual-headliner concert at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, California, will be streamed live on the venue’s website. Be sure to check it out at DNALounge.com/webcast.

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€.

Back in February during And One’s US tour, Steve Naghavi said the band would return to the North America for a second tour in the Fall, but it’s already nearly Winter. Bodypop 1½ was supposed to have been released a half dozen times already, but it keeps getting delayed more and more. And One sure does like to get us all excited and then turn us away in despair when they don’t deliver, but we always come crawling back when there’s more news.

New single “Paddy Is My DJ”
And One is set to release a new single called “Paddy Is My DJ” on December 16th. It’s a limited edition single. Only 500 units will be produced, and it’s only being released on an appropriately orange-colored 7″ vinyl record. The all new song will be paired with a live favorite, And One’s cover of Project Pitchfork’s “Timekiller” which was recorded in Hamburg, as a B-side.

“Paddy Is My DJ” will not appear on Bodypop 1½, and it’s not likely there will be a CD version produced, so head on over to the Out Of Line webshop to pre-order your copy of the single today. The top hat on the cover and the orange color of the vinyl makes it cool enough to own even if you don’t have a turntable… but you should probably get one if you don’t.

What happened to Bodypop 1½?
According to the latest And One email newsletter, this new single is only an appetizer for what’s about to come. It says the release of Bodypop 1½ “may be right around the corner.” As much as I would love to believe that, I’ve heard it too many times already so I will just wait for further confirmation on that. Actually, it sounds like they’re not even sure, using the word “may”…

And One - “Paddy Is My DJ” tracklisting:
A: Paddy Is My DJ
B: Timekiller (Live in Hamburg)

Seabound and De/Vision, two of the greatest and most popular synthpop bands in Germany, or anywhere for that matter, will be teaming up to tour the United States this January. Both bands toured America individually in early 2008, but now they have joined forces to create the Alliance Tour II for 2009.

The tourdates are scattered throughout the country and include a few cities where neither Seabound nor De/Vision have played before, like Denver, Colorado, or West Palm Beach in Florida. That’s a great opportunity for fans living in these regions that bands sometimes don’t visit. In addition to that, Iris, the American band that Seabound toured the U.S. with in 2008, will also be joining the bands for the two Texas dates.

Seabound and De/Vision - Alliance II North American Tour Dates
Jan 09 - Minneapolis, Minnesota - Ground Zero
Jan 10 - Chicago, Illinois - The Abbey (Tickets)
Jan 11 - Detroit, Michigan - Smalls (Tickets)
Jan 13 - Toronto, Ontario - The Opera House (Tickets)
Jan 14 - Boston, Massachusetts - Machine Night Club (Tickets)
Jan 15 - NYC, New York - Don Hill’s (Tickets)
Jan 16 - Austin, Texas - Elysium (Tickets, albeit a little sketchy)
Jan 17 - Dallas, Texas - Lakewood Theater (Tickets)
Jan 21 - San Francisco, California - DNA Lounge (Tickets)
Jan 22 - Denver, Colorado - Cervantes (Tickets)
Jan 23 - West Palm Beach, Florida - Respectable Street (Tickets)

If you want to start off the new year right, be sure to see Seabound and De/Vision live in concert.

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

Obscenity Trial is a German synth-pop band that was already formed in the mid-90’s, but only managed to release their first album Here And Now on a record label a couple of years back. Since then they’ve made an EP and another album, which was released just this year. They have also toured with big names like Clan of Xymox and And One, and even succeeded in getting the prize for the best pop album for their debut in 2006 at the Deutscher Rock & Pop Preis event. Currently Obscenity Trial just happens to be touring the USA until December, so if you fancy yourself some great melancholic synth-pop with slight EBM and darkwave influences, you have plenty of opportunities to catch them live. The tour started on November 7th, so if you’re reading about the tour here for the first time and live in Florida, I’m afraid they already finished their business there yesterday.

You can catch lengthy samples of every single track from Obscenity Trial’s latest album That Night on the official site’s releases section, the player is to the right. Also, their MySpace offers some other material from previous releases. Alternatively, you can check out the band’s music videos in the media section of the site.

Obscenity Trial’s 2008 US tour dates

Nov 10 Dallas, TX - Reno’s
Nov 11 Austin, TX - Elysium
Nov 12 El Paso, TX - Uncle Paulie’s
Nov 13 Scottsdale, AZ - Mardi Gras
Nov 14 Los Angeles, CA - Das Bunker
Nov 15 Las Vegas, NV - Vector Industrial Night
Nov 23 San Francisco, CA - DNA Lounge
Nov 25 US - Portland, OR - The Fez Ballroom
Nov 26 Seattle, WA - El Corazon
Nov 27 Logan, UT - TBA
Nov 28 Salt Lake City, UT - Club Vegas
Nov 29 Denver, CO - Hi Dive
Dec 1 Kansas City,MO - TBA
Dec 2 Tulsa, OK - TBA
Dec 3 St. Louis, MO - TBA
Dec 4 Detroid, MI - Small’s Bar
Dec 6 Chicago, IL - Underground Lounge
Dec 7 Champaign, IL - TBA
Dec 9 Pittsburgh, PA - Pegasus
Dec 11 Washington D.C. - Club Liv
Dec 12 North Hampton - TBA
Dec 13 New York City, NY - Don Hill’s

Thanks to Dejan-X for the hint, and pardon us for not noticing it any earlier!

Eisschock’s new EP is web-only (also awesome)

Eisschock, a one-woman EBM outfit released its debut titled Therapie two years ago. It was a solid album with some rough edges like the rather undeveloped sound, but it was really promising anyway and left me wanting more. Well, now there’s a chance to get some more: last month a new EP, Play the Game, was released - although only on the web. And boy, the five new tracks do sound pretty good. Almost everything sounds better than the last time: the sounds have more punch to them, there’s more meat to the compositions and the singer sings better than ever before. Better check it out if you can spare a measly couple of bucks for some quality EBM/electro (I’m sure you can).

You can listen to lengthy samples of all five tracks on Eisschock’s MySpace site, or catch a music video for the pretty fantastic title track of the EP here. Eisschock also released a free instrumental track titled Secret World in July, you can download it here. You can buy the EP at several web shops, for example Amazon.com for $0,89 a track, Junodownload.com for something like 1£ for each song or MP3.de for 1,29 € a piece.

Tracklisting for Play the Game by Eisschock
1. Hass mich
2. Play the Game
3. Pictures of the Past
4. Platitudes
5. Far Far Away

Unheilig to re-release Puppenspiel and An deiner Seite

Yeah, we know that Unheilig’s newest album Puppenspiel, released early this year, was a massive success and probably also one of the very best releases this year, but is it really necessary to rub it in our faces? Now that the album has been more or less completely sold out, they’re going to release it again on November 28th, but this time in a total of three different versions. In addition to another pressing of the very basic CD with all the tracks, booklets and what have you, there’s going to be a stripped-down, so-called PUR version where you’ll get the album in a minimalistic cardboard sleeve. Finally you’ll be able to get a new “Limited Deluxe Edition” with the 14 main tracks and a bonus DVD. So, sorry, it seems that if you missed the two extra songs (Glaub an mich, Spielzeugmann) on the original digipak limited edition, you still won’t get your hands on them…

Also, Unheilig’s single An deiner Seite was pretty much sold out, and so even more rubbing-in-face is available. An deiner Seite will be re-released November 14th in two configurations: a normal single with the original radio mix and a whole new radio mix produced by the producer Oliver Pinelli and re-recorded specifically for the single, and a premium single with a new orchestral mix of the song and a video feature thingy. Yeah, one orchestral version was already included on the Spiegelbild EP, but this is a new one. At least EMP.de already has both editions of the single.

Tracklisting for An deiner Seite by Unheilig
1. An deiner Seite (Pinelli Radio Mix)
2. An deiner Seite (Original Radio Mix)

Tracklisting for An deiner Seite premium edition by Unheilig
1. An Deiner Seite (Pinelli Orchester Mix)
2. Videospezial (Impressionen, Making Of, Live, Video)

Peter Spilles sure is a prolific fellow. Alongside his successful and long-running industrial electronic ensemble Project Pitchfork, he has worked with tons of different artists on various releases and also runs a couple of side projects of his own, including Santa Hates You and Imatem. The latter side project’s second album, titled Journey, was released just yesterday / will be released soon. As always, there seems to be quite a bit of confusion surrounding the exact release date of the album: some sites tell it was released on August 1st, other sites that it’s yet to be released later this month. Make of it what you wish.

Just like on the debut album Home, on Journey Spilles has teamed up with a number of the foremost names in the EBM and gothic scene. Guests like Sara Noxx, Ronan Harris (VNV Nation) and Sven Friedrich (Zeraphine) are sure to bring their own touch to Imatem’s slightly synth-poppy electronic soundscapes. You can (pre?)order Journey at least on Poponaut.de (also ships to the States) for 17,95 € or Out of Line Shop for 14,99 €. Samples of Journey are available on Imatem’s MySpace site.

Tracklisting for Journey by Imatem
1. Fiat Lux
2. Haven
3. The Influence
4. Conquer
5. Blind Alley
6. Journey
7. Escape To Follow
8. All Ends
9. Down To The Sea
10. No One

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)