Music
As their much-acclaimed debut “Lunacy” was more some kind of electro-wave/pop, their second album “The other side of your Mind” reveals a much more mature, up-tempo and club orientated sound. It is musically rich with lush modern EBM synths. A very good production and Sandrine's soaring vocal talent is the other plus of Seize and with this, the band is probably one of the most promising new discoveries from the UK. Sandrine’s vocals even brought comparisons to Massive Attack and Kosheen. But nevertheless Seize has a style all their own. They reach a very varied audience with their carrying melodies, impressive female vocals and modern arrangements: from the Synth-pop lovers to the melodic EBM fans and even to the dark break/beat followers through the techno/dance club-goers. For this Plusweltfestival, Seize was a perfect opener to reach all the different kind of music lovers within the audience. Sandrine’s voice was very clear and strong and was supported by the excellent sound in the venue, which was lasting the whole evening. She was accompanied by Steven on the keyboard and most of the time by Rosie on the bass. For a very few songs Rosie changed her bass to another keyboard.

Performance
As the three musicians appeared on stage it was totally dark up there. A lot of smoke was blown out to the stage and certainly a very small red spot came out from the back of stage behind Sandrine. You might have thought “Are they that ugly that they don’t enlighten their faces?”. Luckily it became a bit better with decent red and green lights in combination with some smoke. Sometimes too much smoke so even Sandrine had to cough and drink a lot of water to keep her voice clear. Sandrine was standing most of the time right behind her microphone while looking from time to time to the printed setlist and whispering her lyrics into the mic with a shy smile. The show itself was quite calm, fitting very well to the mostly Soul-like and moody songs. Besides some better known songs like “Insanity” or “Unbreakable”, the band from London presented a new song: “Wishful thinking”. An appropriate start of the evening.

Setlist
01. Too good to be True (breaks)
02. The Other Side
03. Don't Let Me (Yuri vs Jus)
04. Insanity
05. Lost in Space
06. Wishful Thinking
07. Unbreakable

Rating
Music 7
Performance 5
Sound 8
Light 4
Total 6 (6.1)




Seabound
 
Psychology professor Frank Spinath and Martin Vorbrodt – the two guys behind Seabound – come from different worlds. They were very different in personality and also musically. So they were a bit unsure if a musical collaboration would work. But they decided to try it anyway – what in my opinion was a very good decision. Their differences yielded a successful and quite unique electronic sound that was driven by creative contradictions. The name Seabound came from Frank’s love for the ocean and the fact that Martin was born near the shore. The name is also a metaphor for the band itself, implying a ship leaving from a  safe harbour into the unknown seas. Seabound itself say about their songs that they are putting together music, thoughts and emotions to create something that touches the inner of the listeners. If you don’t know the band yet, take some time to discover their music. It’s worth it! http://www.seabound.de/

Music
Seabound´s music can be very rough and edgy. But there are also always kind elements to represent the emotional counterpart. Using and balancing such contradictions is an important trademark of the German band. The music can hardly be categorized within the genre of electronic music. You find elements of hard EBM, gentle Synth-pop or dance-like Future-pop. But Seabound is more than a combination of different styles. They build a bridge between different territories – from cold, synthetic and sometimes harsh sounds to catchy, from time to time very fragile melodies. It’s like merging day and night. The set started with the more up-beat “Contact” and was followed by the ballad “Souldiver”. Just like their music is full of extremes, the set consist of up-beat dance number and beautiful ballads, like the touching “Watching over you” that Frank devoted to his wife. The power of Seabound´s songs does not only lie in their music bat also in their lyrics that deal with obsession, devotion, doubts, anger and fear. Seabound combine vulnerability with anger, fantasies of power with fear. As the band says itself, a ubiquitous theme of the songs is the challenge of confronting your deepest and most personal desires. And when you listen to them the songs really touch you.



Performance
For their live performance, the duo was again supported by live drums. The drum set was built up on the left back site of the stage while Martin’s keyboard was standing on the right side. The rest of the stage was allotted to Frank, who always needs a lot of room during the fast songs when he is moving fast across the stage. As Frank appeared on stage, some of his fans might have been a bit shocked about his new hair cut (and I must say the old one looked much better – but aren’t we there because of the music? ;) ). As said before, the set was mixed between fast and slow song. I think they could have added one or two more fast songs because the set was all in all quite calm. A big plus for the show was the laser they was used during their headliner tour as well. So the light show was enhanced by its use, creating very cool effects together with the used smoke. A bit displeasing for the audience were the strong white lights from the back that blinded from time to time and you hardly could see the band on stage. The set ended with an inflaming “Hooked” – surely one of the crowd pleasers. After the main set the band came back with “Avalost” and the fast and quite harsh “Traitor”.

Setlist
01. Intro/Contact
02. Souldiver
03. Transformer
04. Poisonous Friend
05. Watching over you
06. Smoke
07. Exorcize
08. Hooked
-------------------------
09. Avalost
10. Traitor

Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 5
Total 8 (7.6)




Client

Client again. I have seen a lot of show of the British girls this year. No one was bad. And I was looking forward again. As the first signing on Andrew Fletcher’s (Depeche Mode) label Toast Hawaii they released their eponymous debut album “Client” there in 2003. It was recorded entirely at home on laptop and computer, mixed on 16-track. There was no need for expensive studio, producer and session musicians. Quite anonym at the beginning, anyone was asking who the two girls behind Client might be. They only called themselves Client A and Client B. With their strict outfit they caught the attention of many people. The band itself formed while they were supporting Depeche Mode in Eastern Europe. Andy Fletcher offered them a deal after listening to some of their demos. These two women revitalised pop in a certain way – without even showing their faces. http://www.client-online.net/



Music
Client took Electro-pop somehow to the next level. They are combining pulsing, machine-funk, analogue sounds with classic song writing. The music is really poppy but without being sanitised. It’s danceable without being identikit. It’s not simply cold machine music with sleek and robotic sounds. Client bring warmth and a human heart into their songs which are heartbreaking, euphoric, angry or confused. The lyrics deal with everything from love and sex to the abysses of human life. On stage, the two girls are again supported by Joe behind keyboards and machines, now wearing a moustache. Kate is bringing the strangest noises out of her small keyboard while Sarah is whispering, sighing or shouting her lyrics into the microphone. The set contains all of the big hits – from “Radio” to “Rock and Roll machine”, from “In it for the Money” to “Pornography”. Again the special highlight of the show was the David Bowie cover “Let’s dance” at the very end.



Performance
Even though a lot of people only came fort he headliner, Client brought together their own fan base at the evening. So the crowd was very enthusiastic from the very beginning. The girls entered the stage again in their well known air-hostess dresses, walking on High Heels. Sarah was wearing her obligatory black PVC-gloves as well. Right from the start Client had their audience under control, dealing with their sexy attitude and shaking their hips. As we know it, the girls were constantly smiling at the audience while the guy stood with a stony face behind his keyboards or doing the backing vocals. “Overdrive” – on CD collaboration with Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) – was once more announced as a song for all the Depeche Mode fans. And they appreciated it! Sadly we had nearly the same lightening like with Seabound – but without the laser. People had problems to see the band from time to time against the bright lights. The main set ended with the song “Pills”. As the band has left the stage, the fans were singing the line “give me more, more, more” over and over again, so Sarah joined in when she returned on stage. The encore “Happy” was announced by the question “So are you happy?”. Of course people were and welcomed also the David Bowie cover “Let’s Dance”.



Setlist
01. It's Rock'n Roll
02. In it for the Money
03. Radio
04. Client
05. Rock and Roll Machine
06. Overdrive
07. Underground
08. Here & Now
09. Price of love
10. Pornography
11. Tuesday Night
12. Pills
-------------------------
13. Happy
14. Let's Dance (David Bowie Cover)

Rating
Music 7
Performance 7
Sound 8
Light 6
Total 7




Clan of Xymox

The band from the Netherlands was founded back in 1984. Their music has been constantly changing, challenging and breathtaking. In a certain way, Clan of Xymox (CoX) are somehow special with their combination of electronic music and wave. Formed in Amsterdam, the band signed to an English label – 4-AD, home of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Pixies or Throwing Muses at that time. The self-titled album was released in 1985 – full of tumbling electro beats throbbing sequencers and moody vocals. With their 1987´s record “Medusa” and the 12" single “A million things” they started filling up the dance floors. During the years, the band shortened their name to Xymox but came back to the original some when again. With their fourth album “Phoenix” the band embarked on sell out tours around the world. After several records under the name Xymox the band reformed again as Clan of Xymox in the year 1997 with the album “Hidden Faces” which is an attitude towards it's own written history, convincing everyone once again of their qualities both on recordings and live performances. An extended tour through the USA, South America and most countries of Europe and a lot of headliner positions on festivals followed. 1999 finally saw the release of their darkest album “Creatures” containing the song “Jasmine & Rose” which is now a club classic. The album had rave reviews and numerous articles in prestigious music magazines around the globe with several high positions in the alternative charts, peaking at DAC number 4 for several weeks. With “Notes from the Underground” – acclaimed as their best work by critics at that time – another album was released in 2001. The latest fulltime studio album “Farewell” was released in 2003. One year later, a best of album found its way to the light of day, featuring new recordings of older 4-AD material and some new mixes of more recent material too. The tracks were chosen by their loyal fans. http://www.clanofxymox.com



Music
CoX, surely one of the most impressive Dark-Wave bands of the last decades, are presenting a great combination in styles of Gothic and Synth-pop. The stage line-up consists of Ronny Moorings (vocals, guitar), Mojca (bass), Denise (keyboard) and Mario Usai (guitar). Presenting “There’s no tomorrow” and “Cold damp Day”, the band started with two songs of the latest studio release “Farewell”, which was again a masterpiece. The songs out of that album are very synth-oriented and full of energy with melancholic dark melodies. With their whole producing, CoX subtend driving electronic beats to deep emotionality – a counterpart of darkness, despair, grief, pain and yearning. The set goes on with “Jasmine & Rose” with what CoX dabble in Sisters of Mercy-like territory. CoX have a great sensitiveness for melodies and atmospheres, always underlined by Ronny’s moody chant. Without any doubt, they stand for sensitive, melancholic melodies that meet epic, ethereal floating keyboard-layers. Together with Ronny Moorings elegiac chant and the precise machine drums, everything merges to a harmonic entity. Another classic followed with “Louise” which is until today dance floor filler in the black scene. “I want you now” catches the ear immediately with an addictive guitar line and steady drumming. Electronics are used more as appropriately placed accents in this song – lots of noises and twitching going on and off throughout like audio-candy. Ronny croons, “Love.... love me not” with that deep whispery voice shivers rush over you. The main set ended with “Farwell” out of the equally named album. Of course the band had to return for some more songs. So they presented the deeply sad “Back Door” and “This World” – which was highly welcomed by the audience – as first encore. The second encore consisted of “Stranger” from their first album, “Michelle” from the album “Medusa” and “Muscoviet Musquito”.



Performance
When the band appeared on stage, the lights were dropped down and smoke appeared to create the right mood. The keyboards were built up in the back. The front was reserved for Mojca on bass on the left, Mario on guitar on the right and for Ronny in the middle. The two attractive girls are surely the eye catchers for the guys in the audience while Ronny attracts a lot of the girls. It was obvious that the band had a lot of fun on stage. Ronny was smiling a lot. Nearly each song was announced by name to the audience and was welcomed by a lot of cheers. The audience very quickly dived into the mood CoX created, singing along or dancing to the songs. Especially the very old songs were beating the hearts of the listeners. A very solid and touching performance with mainly was built up on the songs was ending the festival.



Setlist
01. There’s no tomorrow
02. Cold damp Day
03. Jasmine & Rose
04. Into Extremes
05. A Day
06. Louise
07. I want you now
08. Innocent
09. It’s not enough
10. Farewell
-------------------------
11. Back Door
12. This World
-------------------------
13. Stranger
14. Michelle
15. Muscoviet Musquito

Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Sound 9
Light 6
Total 8 (8.3)

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