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July 27, 2012

Amphi Festival 2012: Viva Music Review, Jul-21&22, Cologne

Amphi Festival took over Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen for the 8th time! With a very clever choice of acts, and overall perfect organization, Amphi stated once more its position as one of the central events for the electro and industrial scenes. As it often happens, a sold-out event weeks before its start, Amphi Festival provided quality entertainment, very good facilities and considerable fuel for a crowd of almost two score of thousands. With early starts on both festival days, both on Saturday Jul-21 and Sunday Jul-22, the festival comforted the audience with a solid palette of both on the outdoor main stage and in the nearby Staatenhaus, as well as alternative entertainment in the Theater building. If you add to the set of concerts the wide array of stands, facilities, areas (including the famed beach zone), you could have practically spent a whole festival day just digging through bargains and taking your time in front of quite varied meals and still call it a full day. Or day and night! Because after countless concerts in the various venues of the area, DJ sets went on until the early hours of morn. But as a yearly convention of already sufficient stance, Amphi Festival meant, of course, a probe of temperature and color in today’s scene, and if audience reactions stand for anything, we’re all good, the entertainment is still varied, the ethos of the scene is still valid and vivid, people still feel the urge to dress up and make a stand, and the music sounds as good as ever.

 

Viva Music would like to take a minute to thank for the opportunity to be there and enjoy Amphi Festival 2012 to: the flawless clockwork organizing team, to the numberless artists and tech personnel who made concerts happen, and to the beating heart of the audience, which keeps our scene alive and kicking. And if you missed Amphi Festival this year, put these two things down on your to-do list: (1) read our act-by-act review and browse the individual photo galleries; (2) book in time your Amphi Festival 2013 experience: with tickets already on sale this coming week on Aug-01, and the first acts to be confirmed on Aug-13. Amphi Festival 2013 will take place on Jul-20 and Jul-21 in Tanzbrunnen Cologne. (more…)

June 13, 2012

E-tropolis Festival: Date Postponed, But New Acts Announced

As festival authorities just confirmed, the third E-tropolis Festival at the Columbia compound in Berlin has been postponed. Already bought tickets remain valid for the new date!

Initially scheduled for September 2012, the alternate date has been set to 23.03.2013. The postponement of the entire festival became necessary, after the original date collided with the agendas of various high-profile artists. In order to provide you with the strong musical line-up, the festival is acclaimed for, featuring the best of EBM, industrial, electro- and synthpop, we decided to pull the plug and to reconfigure the control board again, in order to gather up a diversified billing for the system re-boot in March. Finally we don´t need to hold back any longer, what will offer a total blast of electronic dance music!

Before we get to the new announcements, all fans of NACHTMAHR, DIORAMA, GRENDEL and [X]-RX shall feel relieved. All four of these previously announced bands agreed to the postponement and will perform at the E-tropolis Festival in March 2013.

Accompanied by a large bite of “now more than ever!”-attitude we meanwhile managed to add 7 striking reasons for your festival-trip to the German capital of Berlin:

COVENANT * DAF * WELLE: ERDBALL * LEÆTHER STRIP * MELOTRON * SOLAR FAKE * AUTODAFEH

In addition to that we have even more artists in the pipeline, soon to be announced! So anticipate the electro-event of the year with us and salute spring 2013 in Berlin with a threefold thundering: “Darker:Harder:Louder!” – no holds barred!

Tickets: As usual, original tickets and our highly-requested 5+1 group tickets are exclusively available from our festival ticket shop www.etropolis-festival.de/tickets. Additionally standard festival tickets are available nationwide on all CTS/EVENTIM, ADTICKET and TICKETMASTER outlets! Tickets are priced 38,00 € plus charges and shipping. Tickets bought for the festival date in 2012 stay valid for the new date! (source: press release)

For further information visit the festival’s official page and their Facebook page.

April 19, 2012

Amphi Festival News: Second Theater Headliner, Conjure One, Ticket Info

Amphi Festival organizers are happy to announce the second headliner for the theater stage. Reading performance and concert ‘Henke Plays Goethes Erben’: on Saturday, Jul-21, Oswald Henke takes over Theater am Tanzbrunnen. First hitting the stage with his current reading performance “Die Zeit Formt“, he will make a second appearance later that day, playing one of the most definite concert highlights of the Amphi Festival 2012.

Amphi The Orkus Open Air 2012 Festival will take place between Jul-21-22 at Tanzbrunnen, Cologne.

 Amphi Festival 2012 program to date includes:

The Sisters of Mercy, And One, Eisbrecher, Blutengel, Project Pitchfork, Apoptygma Berzerk, Combichrist, Camouflage, Mono Inc., Corvux Corax, The Cruxshadows, DAF, Conjure One, Nachtmahr, 18 Summers, Coppelius, [:SITD:], Haujobb, Stahlzeit (Rammstein Tribute), Spetsnaz, Assemblage 23, Solar Fake, Henke, mind.in.a.box, Love Is Colder than Death, Spiritual Front, Seabound, Aesthetic Perfection, A Live Divided, [X]-RX, Tyske Ludder, Whispers in the Shadow, The Other, Eisenfunk, Lord of the Lost, Schoengeist, The Wars, Eklipse, Dr. Mark Benecke

Front Line Assembly cancels all shows this summer, therefore there will be no FLA show at Amphi. Here is the official band statement: “After much thought and considering we regret to inform our fans that we will be unable to perform at any summer shows we are currently booked for. After an extensive tranche of shows supporting our last record we have to decided to spend next year focusing on writing and delivering new albums; an instrumental of tracks that will be featured in the videogame AirMech from Carbon Games, a new full length LP, and possibly a new Noise Unit record. Our apologies to any promoters/fans this may affect in a negative manner, we look forward to releasing new material and playing shows further down the road. All the best, FLA

Conjure One/Rhys Fulber will perform a special live set at Amphi Festival. Rhys Fulber, known as long-time member and producer of many classic FLA tunes will perform a unique set, including Conjure One and Delirium tracks, as well as a selection of Front Line Assembly classics that have not been played live in recent years.

Original festival tickets can be booked in advance exclusively on the Amphi Ticketshop at www.amphi-festival.de/tickets. Festival tickets are further available online at www.protain-ticket.de and at all nationwide CTS/EVENTIM box offices. For further information please visit the festival site: www.amphi-festival.de and the official festival Facebook page: www.facebook.com/amphifestival.

 

March 21, 2012

In terms of musical variety, Amphi Festival 2012 stands out a mile

Amphi Festival 2012 news keep on coming, and we are very happy, since it’s one of the events we are really looking forward to this summer. Musical diversity gives the extra finishing touches to the superb lineup of the festival. Already announced, The Sisters of Mercy, And One, Eisbrecher, Blutengel, Apoptygma Berzerk, Project Pitchfork, Combichrist, Camouflage, Front Line Assembly, DAF, Mono Inc., Corvus Corax, Nachtmahr, Assemblage 23, Solar Fake, 18 Summers, Coppelius, [:SITD:], Haujobb, Stahlzeit, Seabound, Aesthetic Perfection, A Life Divided, [X]-RX, Tyske Ludder, Whispers in the Shadow, The Other, Eisenfunk, Schoengeist, Lord of the Lost – and many others. Today’s news? Three more acts, and what acts, if we may say so: mind.in.a.box, Love Is Colder than Death and Eklipse – the latter being the name of the seductive quartet, which loves to clothe contemporary pop music and soundtrack elements into a fascinating dress of compelling classic string sounds on our Theater-stage. Without vocals, yet even more emotional and spiced up with an extra portion of sex-appeal, the four ladies interpret songs by Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Hurts, Depeche Mode and many more, cunningly flavored with a magic note of dark-lascivious romanticism, wit and dreamy melancholy.

Also in the news today:  Amphi Festival warmup parties – they are numberless! and great occasions to meet other Amphi enthusiasts, plan your trips and get in the mood for the festival, if need be. Apr-07: Paris, Apr-08: Amstelveen, Apr-14: Brighton, Apr-28: Stuttgart, Apr-28: Thessaloniki, Apr-28: Antwerpen; Apr-28: Karlsruche, May-04: Manchester, May-05:  Northampton, May-09: Wuppertal, May-12: London, May-16: Heidelberg, May-19: Krefeld, May-19: Zuerich, May-19: Vienna, May-24: Duisburg, May-25: Bonn, May-25: Bielefeld, Jun-02: Frankfurt, Jun-02: Essen, Jun-02: Augsburg, Jun-03: Dresden, Jun-09: Bonn, Jun-09: Bremen, Jun-16: Siegen, Jun-21: Oberhausen, Jun-22: Athens, Jun-29: London, Jun-30: Ingolstadt, Jul-20: Cologne.

Tickets are available via the Amphi ticket shop under http://amphi-festival.de/tickets and also from http://protain-ticket.de, as well in all German CTS/Eventim box offices. For further information please visit http://amphi-festival.de and http://Facebook.com/amphifestival.

February 29, 2012

More Great News about Amphi Festival 2012!

Great news from the organizers of Amphi Festival 2012 – the Orkus Open Air festival – the list of confirmed acts is getting an irresistible contour. Band suggestions were volunteered by festival fans as well, and in the end the new and replacement bands that make Amphi Festival the event to be at on July 21&22 at Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen.

Apoptygma Berzerk, The Cruxshadows, Spiritual Front, The Wars, and Spetnaz are some of the new names that are added to the already gorgeous list of acts that will keep you beaming for two days: The Sisters of Mercy, And One, Eisbrecher, Blutengel, Project Pitchfork, Combichrist, Camouflage, Front Line Assembly, DAF, Mono Inc., Corvus Corax, Nachtmahr, Assemblage 23, Solar Fake, 18 Summers, Coppelius, [:SITD:], Haujobb, Stahlzeit, Seabound, Aesthetic Perfection, A Life Divided, [X]-RX, Tyske Ludder, Whispers in the Shadow, The Other, Eisenfunk, Schoengeist, Lord of the Lost – and many others.

Tickets are available via the Amphi ticket shop under http://amphi-festival.de/tickets and also from http://protain-ticket.de, as well in all German CTS/Eventim box offices. For further information please visit http://amphi-festival.de and http://Facebook.com/amphifestival.

September 8, 2011

Nocturnal Culture Night #6 in Deutzen bei Leipzig – 02-04-September – Viva Music Review and Photos

Day One | Day Two | Day Three

About NCN Festival

Nocturnal Culture Night celebrated in the truest sense of the meaning its sixth edition in Deutzen bei Leipzig between Sep-02 and Sep-04 with a killer lineup and a very appealing atmosphere. With ups and downs due to the times of the shows (some of them took place kind of early for the party fatigue building up especially on the second and third days), the audience topped 2k participants who were in their entirety a big family. Everywhere you went, you found people smiling, ready to help and to enjoy together the shows or the side entertainment that were carefully and laid out smoothly by the organizers. With the exception of the unpredictable, to which the same organizers were able to save face wonderfully (the power cut on the second day), the festival could not have been thought up in a fancier and friendlier manner.

To begin with, the shows – they all started on time making the festival a big Japanese train station. The bands were introduced on stage coherently and with great enthusiasm, but only in German. Even after the power cut had been mended, the shows quickened their pace, so that the expected end time would be the same, and bands and audience alike showed understanding faced with the mishap. The sound was overall good and that’s one thing to credit the venues for: both the mainstage (Grosse Buehne) and the smaller one (Kleine Buehne), which were located within reach, had a great surrounding and accommodated easily the hundreds of participants without impeding access and/or blocking the view of participants.

Participants at NCN Festival 2011 – photo gallery

The participants themselves were friendly, peaceful and really at ease with the festival setup. The family feeling was not given only by the fact that participants greeted one another, were courteous and their merry-making was probably the best example of community, but also by the numerous families with kids as young as 9 months (and who knows, even younger) who participated in the festival. Their spare time was divided between the cleverly arranged stands, food courts, playgrounds, quiet areas, shops and the medieval market that took place in the proximity of the main festival venue. The shopping choice was classy and the food was really good, while the refuse collection showed that having fun and being responsible can go hand in hand.

Medieval Market at NCN Festival 2011 – photo gallery 

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July 26, 2011

Nocturnal Culture Night – Lineup, Details, and More! September 02-04, Deutzen bei Leipzig

Ever since 2005, Nocturnal Culture Night festival enchanted with its cozy atmosphere, intriguingly clever lineup and enchanting surroundings of the venue of Deutzen bei Leipzig, a small municipality south of Leipzig, where the project of the Kulturpark Deutzen, a recreational and cultural venue was brought up.

Destroid, Mesh, Rotersand, Frozen Plasma, Solitary Experiments, Zeraphine, Colony 5, Santa Hates You, Das Ich, Diary of Dreams, In Strict Confidence, Girls Under Glass, In the Nursery are highlights of the 100+ bands who went on stage for the editions of 2005 and onward – and now, for the sixth edition already, Nocturnal Culture Night (in short, NCN) comes with just as impressive a lineup for the days – or better said, nights, of September 02 thru 04. A Friday-to-Sunday outdoor event, the NCN venue will include two stages for concerts, a cultural stage, a medieval market, an after-show area as well as a children’s area.

The schedule for NCN in Kulturpark Deutzen (Deutzen bei Leipzig) needs the finishing touches, but the main layout of the event looks enticing just as it is!

Friday, September-02: Golden Apes * Gothminister * Kirlian Camera * No More * Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio * SITD * Tyske Ludder * Whispers In The Shadows

Saturday, September-03: 32 Crash * Absolute Body Control * Atrocity * Elane * F.O.D. * In My Rosary * Klangstabil * Merciful Nuns * Sensory Gate

Sunday, September-04: Blind Passenger * DAF * Eyes Shut Tight * Future Trail * Fixmer / McCarthy * Krypteria * Nova-spes * Persephone * Schoengeist * Staubkind * VNV Nation (more…)

July 20, 2011

New single “Freiheit” from Pakt on August-12!

Update on Aug-05: The official video for Pakt‘s single “Freiheit” is online starting today! Enjoy!


Update on July-29: As of today,  Pakt‘s website is online! Standing testimony to the seriousness of their newborn project, the site is ‘packed’ with all the traditional tools of a band website: bio, discography, media, gallery, and a plethora of sharing tools for social services! We really like the website and are going to bookmark: http://www.paktprodukt.de/.  With a teasing tag line “two guys who just wanna play with you” the website also gives snippet preview of tracks from the forthcoming Pakt productions.

Out of Line announces the release of Pakt‘s first single on August-12! Pakt are Chris Ruiz and Gio von Oli, who have recently left And One. Their new act is not wasting any time, with a first single out next month (packed with remixes from DAF, Formalin and Funker Vogt), and a M’era Luna date! If you add to this the fact that the name of Pakt was on everyone’s lips at our recent visit to Amphi Festival, and many participants showed their support of the new act by buying and wearing Pakt merch, we know we need to keep our eyes and ears open for them!

Tracklist:  “Freiheit” * “Angriff” * “Freiheit (Robert Goerl Remix by Robert Goerl of DAF)” * “Freiheit (Gummi-Drum-Remix by G.Thomas of Funker Vogt)” * “Freiheit (Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit Rework by Formalin)”

Order now Pakt‘s first single from Out of Line‘s shop here. | Watch the making of video for “Freiheit” after the jump. (more…)

March 9, 2011

7th electro music show on Bucuresti radio (98.3 fm) on Sunday, Mar 6, 2011

Vivi and Adara were guests of the extremely pop­u­lar A la chart de week-end, with Bog­dan Crutescu show on Radio Bucuresti (98.3 FM) last Sunday. We are grate­ful to Bog­dan Crutescu for his invi­ta­tion, and we appre­ci­ate his support.

Man, we had a blast! Adara wore her neon light cyberlox in the studio! We turned off the light, so we had Adara’s hair as sole source of light. We danced, we laughed, we sang along, we spoke about the great industrial scene and we promised to carry on with this show even when the odds are against us ;)!

We played 11 great electro/industrial tracks between 7:30 and 8:00 pm and 8:30 and 9:00 pm (GMT+2). We talked to our friends from all over the world on facebook, while they were watching us on http://www.bucurestifm.ro/. The livestream works very well! This is vv’s Facebook page that she’s on  during the show.

All Royalties on playing the tracks go to the record companies of each band.

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Mergel Kratzer at E-tropolis Festival, Berlin, 2010 – Photogallery

This was the amazing playlist, weep if you missed this!

7th show playlist, March 06, 2011:

Grendel  – Hate this
Absolute Body Control  – I wasn’t there
Feedback Machinery Feat. Mortiis – Tainted
D.A.F. – Der Mussolini
Mergel Kratzer – Prisoner
Absurd Minds  – Countdown
Alien Vampires (feat. Suicide Commando)  – Far from humans
Silica Gel – Ayudame
Oomph!Feiert das Kreuz
Echo and the BunnymenBurn for me

See you in 2 weeks, on March 20, at 19:30 (GMT+2)! Don’t miss any of our shows or you’ll miss a great thing in the making! Love from Bucharest >:D<

July 1, 2010

E-tropolis 2010, Berlin: Viva Music review

My review of the first edition of E-tropolis festival (Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany, June 26, 2010) is a festival log and a source of information for people who have not attended an electro festival before (consequently need to know what they are missing), or some other electro fans who did not make it to Berlin, and would like to have a rough idea of what happened there. This review (photos included) reflects my enthusiasm of both participating as an accredited reporter (thanks to the organizer) and seeing some bands for the first time. I strongly encourage every person who likes electro music to take a weekend off from other activities and go to festivals in Germany. The next one I am going to is Amphi Festival in Cologne, July 24-25, 2010.

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