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

Joachim Witt’s acclaimed Werkreihe Bayreuth phase of musical career and set of albums didn’t, in fact, come to a close with the 2007 best-of Auf Ewig. Instead, there was room for one final Bayreuth-release: Dorian Hunter Theme, the main theme for the successful German horror audio drama Dorian Hunter, which is based on the Dämonenkiller series of books by Ernst Vlcek. Currently five parts of Dorian Hunter have been released, with another five coming and the series ending sometime in 2010. Witt not only composed the main theme song, but he’s also responsible for all of the soundscapes present in the play. The theme song is pretty awesome - a haunting, dark and very electronic song that has more in common with Bayreuth I and Eisenherz than Witt’s latest works.

The Dorian Hunter Theme was released last month as a digital download and also as a CD single, and it contains the original version of the track, three remixes and as a bonus five short clips from the radio play. You can listen to samples and buy the single on at least Amazon.de, where you can also order the Dorian Hunter audio play CDs themselves. Alternatively, you can order everything from the publisher Zaubermond instead.

According to Witt himself, Dorian Hunter now finally wraps up the Bayreuth-era and next productions are looming in the horizon. I personally can’t wait to see what he has in store for the future. In the next few days we’ll at least be talking about Leichtmatrose, a new band Witt was recently completely enthralled by and which he gave a big hand by mentoring and providing artistic guidance, so look forward to seeing a post about that project soon!

Joachim Witt - Dorian Hunter Theme
1. Dorian Hunter Theme (Single version)
2. Dorian Hunter Theme (Moorland remix)
3. Dorian Hunter Theme (Forma tadre remix by Moorland Music)
4. Dorian Hunter Theme (Orchestral remix by Moorland Music)
5. “Mein lieber … Rest!” (snippet from part 1)
6. “Lilians Irrsinn” (snippet from part 1)
7. “Finde Dorian” (snippet from part 1)
8. “Sagen Sie mir die Wahrheit!” (snippet from the epilogue of part 2)
9. “Jeff Parker sagt Tschüss” (snippet from part 5)

I’m terribly sorry for the lack of updates recently! For me there’s been so much to do lately, and I presume it’s the same deal with Greg as well. But on to business! Again!

The ex-KMFDM, currently of Slick Idiot crazy bastard En Esch recently teamed up with Mona Mur, a respected and long-time sound engineer and vocalist. Both musicians are well-respected figures in the industrial scene but still of very different styles, so it’s interesting to see these artists perform together. Last month they finally released the fruits of their collaboration, a full-length album titled 120 Tage - The Fine Art of Beauty and Violence. The record contains eleven tracks of which seven are remade versions of Mona Mur’s 80s and 90s hits, and four are completely new songs (tracks 1, 4, 5 and 11). The project was extremely positively received by the press, and it indeed is a mystifying, oftentimes just plain weird but still extremely captivating meld of industrial elements, orchestral strings, gothic vocals and dark electro. Really a unique, extremely dynamic duo of artists. In any case, it’s damned difficult to describe but a lot more fun to listen to, so the best would be if you checked it out yourself by visiting Mona Mur & En Esch’s MySpace, where they have two full songs and two short clips.

You can find the album for sale on at least Amazon.de and Pale Music.

Thanks to teekey for the info on the all-new songs!

Mona Mur & En Esch - 120 Tage - The Fine Art of Beauty and Violence
1. Candy Cane
2. Die Ballade vom ertrunkenen Mädchen
3. 120 Tage
4. The Thin Red Line
5. Visions & Lies
6. Eintagsfliegen
7. Snake
8. Mon Amour
9. Surabaya Johnny
10. Der Song von Mandelay
11. The Wound

[POST UPDATED]

After a four-year break, Megaherz established their status as one of the best German metal bands out there again with a renewed band lineup and the great comeback album Heuchler last year. Currently touring extensively in Germany, the band is now going to release a brand new best-of disc titled Totgesagte leben länger. This is the band’s second best-of, the first being the early collection Querschnitt which contained material from Megaherz’s first three albums, so this new one concentrates more on the later albums. According to the singer Lex himself on the Megaherz forums, they had to leave out all the material released on Megaherz’s fifth album titled 5 fronted by Mathias Elsholz (currently of Die!), because that album was released on a different label and they just couldn’t get the license for them. Too bad. In any case, Totgesagte leben länger seems to be quite a good introduction to the band for new fans and a probable collector’s piece for others, because in addition to the main bulk of the collection, there’s going to be at least two bonus tracks in the form of remixes by Heimataerde and Staubkind. The album also comes with a code for free online downloads.

According to Megaherz’s newsletter and official site, the collection will be released on March 13th. However, several online stores that already have the album up for preorders call it Kaltes Grab: Best of (and even have a preliminary cover with that title) and say it’s supposed to be released on March 6th, but this is likely a mix-up courtesy of a premature announcement by either the record label ZYX or the band itself. You can preorder the album at least on Amazon.de and EMP.de. The Heimataerde remix of Heuchler is already listenable on Megaherz’s MySpace.

Below is the real tracklisting, as provided by Lex on the band’s forums.

Megaherz - Totgesagte leben länger
1. 5. März
2. Miststück
3. Blender
4. Heuchler
5. An deinem Grab
6. Zu den Sternen
7. Ebenbild
8. Menschmaschine
9. Falsche Götter
10. Morgenrot
11. Glas und Tränen
12. Windkind
13. Mann von Welt
14. Schlag zurück
15. Heuchler (RMIX by Steinkind)
16. Heuchler (RMIX by Heimataerde)

Free downloads

17. Heute schon gelebt?
18. Beiss mich
19. Herzblut
20. Schizophren
21. Perfekte Droge
22. Das Tier (Orchester Version)

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.

Here we are with the second installation of the Bundesvision Song Contest 2009 series, presenting the next four bands that are competing for the win…

Chapeau Claque - Pandora (Kiss Miss Tragedy)

Chapeau Claque is the band representing Thüringen in the 2009 Bundesvision Song Contest and is a little-known pop band created by the singer of Zweiekkenkreis, Maria Antonia Schmidt, and is essentially a solo project with the only one “real” member of the band. Various musical elements were contributed by Northern Lite, from the 1st Decade indie record label that they share. To return the favor, she was a guest vocalist on Northern Lite’s single “Enemy”. Since Chapeau Claque’s founding in 2006, the band has released 2 albums: the 2007 debut Hand Aufs Herz, and the followup Fabelweiss released just a few months ago in October of 2008.

The band’s entry in the contest is the first track from Fabelweiss, “Pandora (Kiss Miss Tragedy)”. It will be released as a single this week on Friday, February 13th, just before the contest which is on the 16th. The single will have 2 versions of the song, plus an unreleased bonus track called “Fluss Amur”. The song itself is pretty generic soft pop-rock with some electronic elements sprinkled in. The vocals seem to be the highlight. There’s a pretty interesting music video for the song that you can watch on Youtube. The Chapeau Claque Myspace page also has additional songs to listen to.

Olli Schulz - Mach den Bibo!

The indie rock band Olli Schulz is representing the city-state of Hamburg in this year’s Bundesvision contest with their song “Mach den Bibo!” They started several years ago on the terrific indie label Grand Hotel van Cleef, but have since experienced some bigger success and moved up to Columbia. In total, they have released 3 albums and 7 singles and EPs, including “Mach den Bibo!” which will be appearing in stores this Friday the 13th. You can listen to the song in the video on the front page of Olli Schulz’s website, you just have to skip ahead past the intro/talking. There are other songs available on the band’s Myspace page. Naturally, you can pre-order the “Mach den Bibo!” single on Amazon.de.

Peter Fox - Schwarz zu Blau

Peter Fox is a musician from Berlin and is perhaps best known as one of the singers of the famous German reggae band Seeed. However, the song he currently has competing in the Bundesvision Song Contest is his own solo work and is in more of a hip-hop or rap style, a genre that has become increasingly popular in Germany in recent years. Due to his past success, Peter Fox is quite well known and should do pretty well in the contest.

His song “Schwarz zu Blau” is meant to be somewhat of a representation of Berlin’s nightlife. The music video for the song kind of goes along with this theme, but the most impressive thing about it is all of the animations that have been added in to look like moving graffiti on the walls and sidewalks and so forth. It’s definitely worth it to watch it, even if you’re not a big fan of rap. If you are, then you should definitely stop by his Myspace page and listen to some of his other songs, especially “Alles Neu” which possibly the coolest rap song ever. A “Schwarz zu Blau” 2-track single is available on Amazon.de

Flowin Immo et les Freaqz - Urlaub am Attersee

Flowin Immo et les Freaqz is described as a rap group, which may be somewhat true, but that description is simply too simplistic to capture their true sound. I would say they are more like electrofunk… like some kind of a combination of old school Afrika Bambaataa and modern day electroclash. It’s definitely an interesting entry for Bremen.

Unfortunately, their website is pretty much useless (and very strange), and they seem to be pretty unknown to most people, so we’ll have to leave it at that. But you can watch the music video for “Urlaub am Attersee” and find the single on Amazon.de here if you’re into it.

Polarkreis 18 was one of the first bands ever covered on Germaniac.com, and Greg was seriously impressed with their debut self-titled album that came out in early 2007. The young band didn’t waste any time, and released a second full-length, The Colour of Snow, last October. It was preceded by the single Allein allein which turned out to be a suprise hit - serves the band right, as Allein allein is a really good song. It’s beautiful and adequately chilly, and has a great, catchy singalong chorus to boot. The album itself is also one of my personal favourites from last year. Polarkreis 18 has been rightfully compared to Sigur Rós from Iceland, but on The Colour of Snow the band moves beyond being just a German version of that band to actually being even better, especially when compared to Sigur Rós’s lackluster latest offering, also released last year. Polarkreis are also coming out with another single cut, the title song from the current album, soon on 13th February, but details of the release are scarce at the moment. It will at least be their entry for the Bundesvision Song Contest 2009 which will be held mid-February.

If you’re up for some fantastic, chillingly beautiful electronic indie rock soundscapes and/or are seeking for more of something like Sigur Rós, you’d do well to get to know Polarkreis 18. Their MySpace has four lengthy samples from The Colour of Snow and also two older ones, they’re a good way to get you started. There’s also a brand new video for the upcoming single track, viewable here. The album is pretty widely available, for example both Amazon.de and Amazon.com have it.

Polarkreis 18 - The Colour of Snow tracklist
1. Tourist
2. Allein Allein
3. Prisoner
4. Untitled Picture
5. The Colour Of Snow
6. 130/70
7. Rainhouse
8. River Loves The Ocean
9. Name On My ID
10. Happy Go Lucky

The 19-year-old pop rocker LaFee has already achieved what many musicians twice her age are still just dreaming of: at the age of sixteen, she released her debut album which just happened to immediately blast its way right into the position #1 on the official sales charts in both Germany and Austria. She’s definitely been working on a tight schedule, as her fourth full-length Ring frei saw the light of day hot on the heels of the new year on January 2nd. She has also somehow squeezed in two live DVDs and a documentation, and of course a load of singles and music videos. Talk about prolific. However, LaFee has been accused of being just another case of EMI’s thoroughly planned-out products, even though the musician herself contributes a lot to both the compositions and the lyrics. I think I’ll have to side with the critics on this one, as the pop-polish and mainstream appeal is quite apparent, especially in LaFee’s earlier output. The newest album, however, seems considerably more interesting with a notably more distinctive, heavier and darker style. In any case, it’s not like it’s illegal to enjoy well-crafted pop music, so more information follows.

Because samples of the whole new album are nowhere to be found for some reason, the best way to get an idea of LaFee’s current style would not be to check out LaFee’s official MySpace, as it hasn’t been updated since last year and only has older tracks there. On the other hand, the (fansite?) LaFee-Holland MySpace hosts two complete songs from Ring frei and some older songs as well. You can also catch the music video for Ring frei.

Ring frei is available on at least Amazon.de and Alphamusic for 13,99 €. The title song was also released as a single last November in two versions, a basic one and a fan edition with a lot of video material. Both versions come with a poster. Amazon.de has both versions, and so does Alphamusic.

Tracklisting behind the jump.

(more…)

It hasn’t been much longer than a year since October 2007 when Subway To Sally released their previous album Bastard, but they are already preparing for their next longplayer, Kreuzfeuer. The band’s site doesn’t seem to have a confirmed release date, but EMP.de has both a standard and a digipack version of Kreuzfeuer available for pre-order with a release date of March 27th listed, so we’ll go with that for now.

Judging by the few clips of music that can be heard in the video of the band in the studio (which can be seen down below the tracklisting) there will be plenty of heavy guitars, more traditional instruments like the flute which can be seen in one clip, something else that sounds like a new wave song, and of course Eric Fish’s distinctive voice… all things we’re expecting, except for that new wave thing. If we hear about any new samples from Kreuzfeuer, we’ll post an update.

Subway To Sally - Kreuzfeuer tracklisting
01. Aufstieg
02. Judaskuss
03. Besser, Du rennst
04. So fern, so nah
05. Die Jagd
06. Einsam
07. Komm in meinen Schlaf
08. Angelus
09. Krähenkönig
10. Niemals
11. Versteckt
12. Vater

Callejon is a crazy hardcore metal (or as they themselves put it, zombiecore) band from western Germany, who released their second full-length album Zombieactionhauptquartier a couple of months ago on 28th November. Before this one, the band has released two EPs and another album, and although horror has been thematic throughout the band’s work, on Zombieactionhauptquartier Callejon goes full-on with zombies and draws much of its imagery and lyrical content from classic horror movies such as Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later.

You can check out Callejon’s intensive punk-influenced metal on their MySpace, where they have three complete tracks from the new album, as well as two other tracks from earlier releases. They’ve also just released a video (viewable here) for the song Phantomschmerz, which actually happens to be a mellow, touching ballad. Not exactly what you’d exactly expect from a band like Callejon, but it’s great to see the band is more than capable of doing something completely different than just in-your-face metal.

Zombieactionhauptquartier came out in two editions, a basic one and a special version where you’ll get a DVD with a making of the album feature. The album is widely available: for example Amazon.de has both versions, and so does Alphamusic.de. EMP.de too has both, but they also have a third option - the special edition and a poster for the same price as just the special edition.

Callejon - Zombieactionhauptquartier tracklist
1. ZAHQ (Intro)
2. Zombiefied
3. Spiel Mir Das Lied Vom Sterben
4. Und wenn der Schnee…
5. Mein Puls = 0
6. Tanz Der Teufel
7. Phantomschmerz
8. Quarantäne
9. Infiziert
10. Der Tag an dem die Schwärze blieb
11. Fremdkörper
12. Das Ende von John Wayne
13. Porn From Spain