Krefeld, Kulturfabrik, Germany 6th April 2006
ORKUS FESTIVAL - CLUB TOUR: Division Kent, Zeraphine, Funker Vogt, And One
The most popular German Synthie-Pop act ‘And One’ wanted to present a new album. Also ‘Funker Vogt’ started meanwhile new directions with the use of guitars. ‘Zeraphine’ found their way to Krefeld too and had new material to offer. Newcomer ‘Division Kent’ wanted to prove how good Switzerland and New York harmonize. All these bands came together to play new and older songs. Unfortunately not as many people as expected came along – not really a wonder on a Thursday night. Nevertheless it was a great and successful evening.
Division Kent
‘Division Kent’ – that’s half Switzerland with half New York. Songs solid as the “Matterhorn” are drawn against arrangements which correspond to the ease and weirdness of a summer-afternoon in downtown NY. The songs of the Debut album ‘Monsterproof’ have been written at a windy corner - Division Street / Kent Avenue where the Swiss duo Andrea B. and Sky Antinori lived in Brooklyn for some time. The long-player is available since 24th March 2006.
Official homepage: http://www.division-kent.com
Music
Electro, Dub, New Wave? It’s pop music in various facets. Dance beats, fat basses, driving guitars, nice melodies and playful electronics. The lyrics are in English and the last song was in German - a cover version of the wave classic ‘Tango 2000’. Sometimes Andrea is singing and sometimes she is just speaking. Somehow they remind me of ‘Garbage’ with their sound and Andrea’s voice.
Performance
As a stage decoration there’s a video screen with different projections - pictures some funny and in black /white, scences from old horror movies and and some things from the 70ies. Very interesting pictures. There wasn’t much movement on stage. Guitarist and keyboarder had their places and Andrea also stood next to the screen, usually she was hiding her face behind her hair which falls most of the time into her face. During the fourth song she also played keyboard. Sometimes she went slowly over the stage, too.
Rating
Music 7
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 7
Total 7 (6.6)
Zeraphine
After the sad news of the split of the ‘Dreadful Shadows’ in 2000, there was new hope when singer Sven Friedrich and guitarist Norman Selbig returned to the scene with their new band ‘Zeraphine’. Sometimes they still remind of the ‘Dreadful Shadows’, but they are a new and independent band. And they have a strong fan base which you could also see in Krefeld once again. With their last album ‘Blind Camera’ they were touring a lot in 2005, but their new album ‘Still’ is ready to be released on 30th June 2006.
Official homepage: http://www.zeraphine.de/
Fan community: http://www.zeraphine.net/
Music
They played a good choice of songs of all their albums, which everyone seemed to enjoy. Songs like ‘Sterne sehen’, ‘Die Wirklichkeit’ or the great ‘Be My Rain’. But this time they had two little surprises. They had two new songs to present to the fans. First a German song called ‘Still’ which will be the first single out of the upcoming album and it’s also the name of the album. The second one was ‘Inside Your Arms’ which was much more powerful.
Performance
‘Zeraphine’s’ music spoke for it-self - they didn’t have a real performance. The music and the charismatic voice of Sven is what counts when there are on stage. Also the setlist was much too short to create a little show for this evening. It was also not necessary, because you could hear and see by the reaction of the audience that they have enjoyed what they got of ‘Zeraphine’ that evening. But even though there was not such a big show they created a good mood with their light show. Some smoke reflected the spots very nicely.
‘Division Kent’ – that’s half Switzerland with half New York. Songs solid as the “Matterhorn” are drawn against arrangements which correspond to the ease and weirdness of a summer-afternoon in downtown NY. The songs of the Debut album ‘Monsterproof’ have been written at a windy corner - Division Street / Kent Avenue where the Swiss duo Andrea B. and Sky Antinori lived in Brooklyn for some time. The long-player is available since 24th March 2006.
Official homepage: http://www.division-kent.com
Music
Electro, Dub, New Wave? It’s pop music in various facets. Dance beats, fat basses, driving guitars, nice melodies and playful electronics. The lyrics are in English and the last song was in German - a cover version of the wave classic ‘Tango 2000’. Sometimes Andrea is singing and sometimes she is just speaking. Somehow they remind me of ‘Garbage’ with their sound and Andrea’s voice.
Performance
As a stage decoration there’s a video screen with different projections - pictures some funny and in black /white, scences from old horror movies and and some things from the 70ies. Very interesting pictures. There wasn’t much movement on stage. Guitarist and keyboarder had their places and Andrea also stood next to the screen, usually she was hiding her face behind her hair which falls most of the time into her face. During the fourth song she also played keyboard. Sometimes she went slowly over the stage, too.
Rating
Music 7
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 7
Total 7 (6.6)
Zeraphine
After the sad news of the split of the ‘Dreadful Shadows’ in 2000, there was new hope when singer Sven Friedrich and guitarist Norman Selbig returned to the scene with their new band ‘Zeraphine’. Sometimes they still remind of the ‘Dreadful Shadows’, but they are a new and independent band. And they have a strong fan base which you could also see in Krefeld once again. With their last album ‘Blind Camera’ they were touring a lot in 2005, but their new album ‘Still’ is ready to be released on 30th June 2006.
Official homepage: http://www.zeraphine.de/
Fan community: http://www.zeraphine.net/
Music
They played a good choice of songs of all their albums, which everyone seemed to enjoy. Songs like ‘Sterne sehen’, ‘Die Wirklichkeit’ or the great ‘Be My Rain’. But this time they had two little surprises. They had two new songs to present to the fans. First a German song called ‘Still’ which will be the first single out of the upcoming album and it’s also the name of the album. The second one was ‘Inside Your Arms’ which was much more powerful.
Performance
‘Zeraphine’s’ music spoke for it-self - they didn’t have a real performance. The music and the charismatic voice of Sven is what counts when there are on stage. Also the setlist was much too short to create a little show for this evening. It was also not necessary, because you could hear and see by the reaction of the audience that they have enjoyed what they got of ‘Zeraphine’ that evening. But even though there was not such a big show they created a good mood with their light show. Some smoke reflected the spots very nicely.
Setlist
01. Flieh Mit Mir
02. Die Macht In Dir
03. Ohne Dich
04. Be My Rain
05. Still (upcoming single)
06. No More Tears
07. Sterne Sehen
08. Kaltes Herz
09. Die Wirklichkeit
10. Inside Your Arms (new song)
11. I’m Numb
Rating
Music 8
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 7
Total 7 (6.95)
01. Flieh Mit Mir
02. Die Macht In Dir
03. Ohne Dich
04. Be My Rain
05. Still (upcoming single)
06. No More Tears
07. Sterne Sehen
08. Kaltes Herz
09. Die Wirklichkeit
10. Inside Your Arms (new song)
11. I’m Numb
Rating
Music 8
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 7
Total 7 (6.95)
Funker Vogt
‘Funker Vogt’ was founded in 1995 by Gerrit Thomas and Jens Kästel. It wasn’t foreseeable at this time yet that ‘Funker Vogt’ would develop into one of the leading Electro-acts in only one year. Originally the band was planned by Gerrit Thomas only as another project. The real “Funker Vogt” is a friend of the band who was actually serving as a radio operator in the Federal Armed Forces. This name was pointing the way of the concept of the band: Federal Armed Forces, military, war. You will find Vol.2 of ‘Always And Forever’ on April, 28th in stores.
Official homepage: http://www.funkervogt.de
Music
‘Funker Vogt’ confronted us with the ubiquitous topic of the war. War and “last days” fantasies dominate the lyrics of their music which is marked with hard beats and a voice with many effects. The lyrics are in German and English. It took a while, but with their set they reached the party highlight of that evening. They played a good mix of songs and people were jumping up and down and dancing everywhere in the hall. The audience wanted more and they got more. ‘Funker Vogt’ played two extra songs.
Performance
The guys seemed to be in a very good mood and singer Jens tried right from the start to get the audience to celebrate with them. A large band-logo was hanging in the background. On stage there stood their typical orange and black keyboards and Björn Böttcher was wearing some kind of war painting. Jens stamped over the stage, jumped and he always wanted to see the audience in movement. It was really a powerful performance.
Setlist
01. Into + Navigator
02. Fallen Hero
03. Date Of Expiration
04. History
05. Final Thrill
06. Killing Ground
07. Maschine Zeit
08. Starfighters
09. Gunman
10. Tragic Hero
-----------------------
11. Funker Vogt 2nd
12. Killing Fields
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 7
Total: 7 (7.3)
And One
The year of the foundation of ‘And One’ can be dated back to 1989, when two kids in the age of 16 - Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz - decided to form a band. ‘Depeche Mode’, ‘Front 242’ and ‘Nitzer Ebb’ were their musical heroes and a club called ‘Linientreu’ in Berlin was the right place for meeting friends and celebrate EBM music. Over the years the band went through lots of ups and downs, many albums have been released and tonight ‘And One’ wanted to promote their new material. The new album will be titled ‘Bodypop’ and will be released on their new record label “Out of line”. Furthermore ‘And One’ have been able to strike a deal with U.S.-American record label “Metropolis”. So ‘Bodypop’ will be the first ever ‘And One’ album to be released directly in the USA too.
Official homepage: http://www.andone.de/
Community: http://andonefanforum.parlaris.com/ and http://www.andone-forum.de/
Music
Unfortunately many people left the venue after ‘Funker Vogt’ were finished and it seemed ‘And One’ will have to fight for party mood. The opener of the show was ‘Traumfrau’ which was a bit too slow for a start. It was followed directly by the new song and first single out of the upcoming album ‘Military Fashion Show’. The audience finally woke up at the wonderful ‘Für’ and Steve was shaking hands aross the first row. During the song ‘Sternradio’ they made every ‘Depeche Mode’ fan quite happy with including a part of ‘Photographic’ into the song. One fan was holding his jacket high in the air on which was written “Depeche Mode Touring The Angel 2005/2006”. Steve asked him to give him the jacket and showed it to the audience, everyone rejoiced and Steve threw it back to the guy. With the first extra song they let the audience sang along another classic with playing Eurythmics’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ mixed into their ‘Krieger’.
Performance
Just two keyboards with red neon lights were on stage; no band name and nothing else in the background. Steve came out as always dressed like a buisness man with a red tie to his suit. During the faster songs like ‘Metalhammer’, ‘Panzermensch’ or ‘Get You Closer’ Steve was - as we know him - a whirlwind on stage. Gio and Chris weren’t totally motionless behind their keyboards but Steve is the performer of the band. During ‘Fernsehapparat’ Chris showed that he had qualities for this job too. The guys tried everything, but nevertheless the audience has been louder at other ‘And One’ gigs. But anyway the strong fans base was shouting for extra songs especially for a certain one and they reached that the band came out and gave them what they wanted – ‘Technoman’.
Setlist
01. Traumfrau
02. Military Fashion Show
03. Für
04. Metalhammer
05. Bodynerv
06. Speicherbar
07. Body Company
08. Enjoy The Unknown
09. Panzermensch
10. Get You Closer
11. Deutschmaschine
12. Fernsehapparat
13. Strafbomber
14. Sternradio (with DMs ‘Photographic’)
--------------------------
15. Krieger (with ‘Sweet Dreams’ by ‘The Eurythmics’)
16. The Walk (Cure-Cover)
--------------------------
17. Technoman
Rating
Music 8
Performance 7
Sound 6
Light 7
Total 7 (7.3)
More pics on Black-Cat-Net
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