Paul and a few others recently asked me when I was going to write about the upcoming Festival Kinetik, and I am happy to oblige. For those of you who haven’t heard about Festival Kinetik, it’s a new electro/industrial/noise festival that is replacing the C.O.M.A. Festival which ran from 2004 until 2007. It will take place in Montreal, Canada from May 15th to the 17th and will feature dozens of bands and DJs from North America and across Europe, including 5 from Germany. They are Funker Vogt, Kiew, Noisuf-X, Feindflug, and Xotox. Also worth noting, this will be the first North American appearance by the latter 2 bands.

Tickets and other info for attendees
Tickets to the festival are available in the Kinetik Store at various prices depending on what the package includes. The festival website also has lots of information for anyone who might be travelling from a distance about hotels, places to eat, and lots of other stuff about the city of Montreal.

Listen to the bands of Festival Kinetik
ArtOfFact has a 2CD compilation that has music by most of the bands that will be performing at the festival (plus a few extras) called Festival Kinetik Volume 1. While this is a great mix for fans to pick up, it’s also a terrific sampler for anyone who wants to learn more about the festival’s bands before making the decision whether to go or not. You can actually listen to every song from the compilation right there on the website. Just click on a track name and then look to the left side of the screen and click the play button. If you like it, the 2CD compilation is just 12.99 CAD to purchase.

Are you going?
Is anyone planning to go to Festival Kinetik? Leave a comment if you plan on attending, or if you just have something to say about one of the bands.

Every once in a while, there is a certain non-German band that’s just too good not to mention, so I always try to find some obscure reason that makes them eligible for this blog. Luckily for me, that’s not too hard to do in the case of Apocalyptica. They are from Finland, but they do have links to several German bands like Rammstein, The Farmer Boys, Die Happy and Guano Apes, all of whom have provided guest vocals at one time or another to Apocalyptica. So now that we have established that much, let’s get on with the whole purpose of this post.

News about the tour
Apocalyptica will be touring the United States and Canada very soon. Their tour begins next Friday, April 11th, and continues on until mid-May for a grand total of 30 concerts. This is a really big tour for a foreign band and they are visiting lots of regions that most bands don’t go to, so let’s help make it worth it for them. Go to one of their concerts, you won’t be disappointed!

Ticket info
Tickets for most of the venues are for sale here on Ticketmaster.com. Also, please note that Ticketmaster lists a few of the venues as being in different towns than the official tour list which is listed below. The venues are all the same, but the actual city it’s in may be a neighboring town to the major city in the list below, so just do a little homework ahead of time to find out exactly where you’re going.

Worlds Collide will be released in North America
One last thing. Apocalyptica’s current album Worlds Collide, which was originally released in Europe on September 14th, will be released in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, April 15th. Chances are, you can probably buy it at their concerts as well. Check out my original post about Worlds Collide for all the info and tracklisting.

Apocalyptica’s 2008 North American Tour dates:
April 12 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
April 13 - The Boardwalk - Orangevale, CA
April 14 - Roxy - Los Angeles, CA
April 16 - Slim’s - San Francisco, CA
April 17 - Roseland - Portland, OR
April 18 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
April 19 - Commodore - Vancouver, BC
April 21 - In the Venue - Salt Lake City, UT
April 22 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO
April 23 - Beaumont Club - Kansas City, MO
April 24 - Pop’s - St. Louis, IL
April 26 - Fine Line - Minneapolis, MN
April 27 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
April 28 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
April 29 - Crofoot - Detroit, MI
April 30 - Phoenix Theater - Toronto, ON
May 1 - Metropolis - Montreal, QC
May 2 - Paradise Club - Boston, MA
May 4 - Trocadero Theatre - Philadelphia, PA
May 5 - Fillmore / Irving Plaza - New York, NY
May 7 - Club - Washington, DC
May 8 - Amos - Charlotte, NC
May 9 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
May 10 - Parish at House of Blues - New Orleans, LA
May 11 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX
May 12 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
May 14 - Sunshine Theatre - Albuquerque, NM
May 15 - Marquee - Phoenix, AZ
May 16 - Pima County Fairgrounds (KFMA Radio Day) - Tucson, AZ
May 19 - House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV

Sorry for posting this one at the last minute, but Accessory has just arrived in the United States to begin a short tour in support of their new album More Than Machinery. This is something I haven’t talked about yet, so bear with me and we will get both done here…

Accessory’s new album More Than Machinery
The album was released a few weeks ago on March 14th on Out Of Line in Germany. It has 2 discs, the first of which is the actual 11-track album of new electro club-oriented music. The second disc contains 3 more new songs, 2 remixes, and 4 bonus tracks that were created back when the band was still very young. But don’t be fooled by the marketers and shops who tell you this is a limited edition, I have yet to see a version of this album with only 1 disc. It looks to me like the 2 CD version is the normal version.

Infrarot.de has 45-second samples of all 20 songs on More Than Machinery for you to listen to, and they also have it for the best price I’ve seen in Europe, at €15.99. In North America, Isotank.com has it for $26.99, and while this is slightly higher than Infrarot after the exchange, you’ll surely pay far less for shipping from Isotank so it still makes sense for Americans to get it there.

Accessory - More Than Machinery tracklisting:
CD 1:
01. Humanity
02. If this isn’t a dream
03. Acsy Girl
04. The Hole
05. Numbers and Bits
06. Heartattack
07. Take the Chance
08. Tanzflaechenmann
09. Big and Easy
10. Under Control
11. Gegen den Strom

CD 2:
01. The Shape
02. Fuck the Terrorism
03. At the End
04. Tanzflaechenmann (remixed by Ashbury Heights)
05. Gegen den Strom (remixed by Acylum)
06. Die Rebellion (1998)
07. Revolution (1998)
08. Notice from Addict (1998)
09. Despair (1998)

Accessory’s US Tour
OK, now for the more urgent part: Accessory’s US tour begins tonight! It was just a few weeks ago that the band was still planning this tour and changing dates around. It seems like everything was finalized in a hurry and the short length of the tour shows this. The band will only be playing 7 concerts spread out across the country. Nonetheless, they are a great electro-industrial band and I recommend that you check out one of their shows if you can.

Accessory US tourdates:
March 26 - Philadelphia, PA - Shampoo
March 27 - Washington DC - Chief Ikes
March 29 - Newark, NJ - QXTs
March 30 - Tampa, FL - The Orpheum
April 02 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
April 03 - Chicago, IL - The Kinetic Playground
April 04 - Phoenix, AZ - Jug Heads

If you don’t know who Doro Pesch is, you’re probably not a big metal fan. She is one of the most well known female singers in metal, both in Germany and around the world. Her band Doro is the next German band to tour the United States and Canada starting this coming Friday. Their first show is in Virginia and then they will travel across the continent for the next month playing a total of 22 concerts. If you’re interested, check out one of Doro’s concerts when they come near you. In the meantime, head on over to Doro’s MySpace page to hear some of their music.

Doro’s North American tourdates
March 20 - Philadelphia, PA - Jokers
March 21 - West Springfield, VA - Jaxx
March 22 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance
March 23 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
March 25 - Toronto, ON, Canada - The Funhaus
March 26 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody’s
March 28 - Detroit, MI - I-Rock
March 29 - Mokena, IL - The Pearl Room
March 30 - St. Paul, MN - Station 4
April 01 - Milwaukee, WI - Vnuk’s Lounge
April 04 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
April 05 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
April 07 - San Marcos, CA - Jumping Turtle
April 08 - West Hollywood, CA - Whisky a Go-Go
April 09 - Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
April 11 - Houston, TX - Scout Bar
April 12 - Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater
April 13 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
April 15 - St. Petersburg, FL - The State Theater
April 16 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
April 17 - Atlanta, GA - The Masqerade
April 18 - Nashville, TN - The Muse

Be sure to check out the Tour Dates section for more German bands on tour in the USA and Canada.

Back in January Greg reported that a certain, hitherto completely unknown electronics-based band called Kraftwerk was going to perform at the Coachella Festival in California in April. Well, those crazy old Germans are at it again, and now they’ve gone and confirmed three more live dates in the US.

Apr 19 2008 - Myth - Minneapolis, MN
Apr 20 2008 - The Eagles Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI
Apr 23 2008 - Fillmore Auditorium - Denver, CO

If you’re anywhere near the venues in April, any excuses for not being there WILL NOT be accepted.

Source: Kraftwerk Myspace

Remember to check out all the other German goodness touring the States this year.

Dependent Records announced it would be shutting down operations back in August 2007 after owner Stefan Herwig said MP3 file sharing was eating away his business. Now he is acting as the tour manager for Seabound’s upcoming U.S. tour and has posted an open invitation for anyone across the country to sit down with him and have a debate about file sharing during the off-hours of the tour. If you are interested in voicing your opinion in person to Stefan and perhaps having a bit of an argument, send him an email at stefan@dependent.de and let him know.

Personally, I think this is just the wrong discussion to be having. Arguing for or against file sharing is pointless. Illegal music downloading is not going to go away, so you have to adapt to it. You can’t fight it. It’s like a new rule in the game called the music industry. You can’t play a new game by the old rules, so record labels and bands have to change how they play the game in order to remain successful. Stefan really should be asking people what changes should be made so that downloading is no longer considered a problem. That would be worth talking about.

News via the Side-Line blog

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

German music fans have been awaiting the release of Unheilig’s new album for a long time now, but finally Puppenspiel is almost here! Tomorrow, February 22nd, the album will be released in Europe via Four Rock Entertainment. A week later on February 29th, Unheilig will have their first North American album release ever when Nilaihah Records distributes Puppenspiel for the band’s overseas fans.

As is typical with most new album releases, there will be 2 versions of Puppenspiel. The standard version will have 14 new songs including an instrumental at the end. There is also a limited edition digipack with 2 bonus tracks, but the evidence I have seen suggests that this version will only be released in Europe. If you really want it outside of Europe, you can head to your favorite foreign music importer like Isotank.com.

Listen to Puppenspiel
Puppenspiel keeps Unheilig’s fantastic combination of electronic and rock music intact. The band has uploaded samples to 3 of the new songs a few weeks ago on their MySpace page. Full versions of those 3 songs are also available to buy as MP3s here. More recently, Nilaihah’s website has also added more samples of every song on the album so you can get a better idea of how it sounds.

Unheilig on tour
Unheilig will be busy running all over Europe for a while with the tour they already have planned. Most of the dates run from March through May and span all the way from Spain to Russia. You can see all the tourdates by visiting Unheilig.com and clicking on “Concerts” in the menu. Rumor has it that the band will be touring the United States sometime in the Fall, too! Stay tuned for that, you won’t want to miss it.

Unheilig - Puppenspiel tracklist
01. Vorhang auf
02. Puppenspieler
03. Spiegelbild
04. Dein Clown
05. Sei mein Licht
06. Fang mich auf
07. Feuerengel
08. Kleine Puppe
09. An deiner Seite
10. Die Bestie
11. Lampenfieber
12. Wie viele Jahre
13. Der Vorhang fällt
14. Memoria (instrumental)
15. Glaub an mich (bonus track on limited edition only)
16. Spielzeugmann (bonus track on limited edition only)

Where to get Puppenspiel
In the USA/Canada direct from Nilaihah Records
In the UK at MusicNonStop.co.uk
In Germany/Europe at AlphaMusic.de

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