Kulturfabrik, Krefeld, Germany6th December 2007
Onetwo & Psyche
On the rainy evening of 6th December we went to Krefeld into the Kulturfabrik to enjoy some heroes of electronic music. ONETWO (Claudia Brücken of PROPAGANDA and Paul Humphreys of OMD) & PSYCHE graced us in Krefeld. The concert took place in the small club of the Kulturfabrik what promised a very intimate concert experience.
Psyche
PSYCHE is an enduring legend of independent electronic pop music. From cold harsh industrial, through warm synth pop, dance floor minimal, dark wave, and beyond. From ‘The Brain Collapses’, and ‘Unveiling The Secret’ through to ‘Goodbye Horses’, ‘Sanctuary’ and ‘15 Minutes’. It all started at the end of 1982 as brothers Darrin and Stephen Huss together with Dwayne Goettel performed for the first time in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada under the name PSYCHE. A combination of horror and electronics that in the area of Western Canada was completely unheard of and would continue to be quite shocking for some time. 1985 saw their debut album ‘Insomnia Theatre’ unleashed worldwide through their own label and licensed to New Rose Records out of Paris, France. After underground success with ‘The Brain Collapses’, the big Euro-hit ‘Unveiling The Secret’ followed in 1986.
PSYCHE has since then continued to release a variety of songs and albums enveloping every facet of the electronic pop music genre. Various members have collaborated with Darrin and continued the cult following right up to ‘The 11th Hour’ and now they are ‘Unveiling The Secret’ once again. The DVD ‘Imaginary Life’ documents just over 20 years of their existence in visual performance. PSYCHE is centred on Darrin C. Huss. At this show he was supported on stage by Niels Hesse (acoustic guitar) and Stefan Rabura (keyboard). http://www.psyche-hq.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/psyche
Music & Performance
PSYCHE ran a special smoothly acoustic set, wonderful acoustic staged ballads and a more danceable song (‘Monsters’) in the middle of the set which began with ‘Salvation Stranger’, followed by ‘Defenceless’ taken from the latest album and well-known songs like ‘Unveiling The Secret’ or the already mentioned ‘Monsters’. The setlist included all in all nine songs and ran about 40 minutes finishing with the well-known ‘Goodbye Horses’. The stage performance itself was dominated by Darrin and his charismatic voice; quickly he fascinated the audience and got a lot of applause between the songs. The performance impressed with charisma and was done without big show elements; fitting to the smooth songs the light was gentle too. Into the song ‘Snow Garden’, Darrin built in a part of the PROPAGANDA - song ‘Dr. Mabuse’ to prepare the audience for the headliner of the evening. Altogether it was a wonderful opening and a musical pleasure to enjoy PSYCHE once again.
Setlist
01 Salvation Stranger
02 Defenseless
03 Unveiling The Secret
04 Heaven In Pain
05 Gods and Monsters
06 Destiny
07 Snow Garden
08 Eternal
09 Goodbye Horses
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 8.6
Onetwo
After a short change over the stage was ready for the headliner ONETWO, a great collaboration of two well-known musicians; one half of ONETWO is Paul Humphreys, who was one half of acclaimed electro-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), the other half of ONETWO is Claudia Brücken, who was one quarter of the cult glam-Goth electro-group PROPAGANDA, formed in Düsseldorf, Germany (some of the former members were spotted in the audience during the show), the home city of KRAFTWERK, from whom they inherited many of their ideas about form, content and image. ONETWO fuse, blast and combine the epic Teutonic intentions of PROPAGANDA with the charged, atmospheric power of OMD to produce something new, sleek and adventurous. Formed in 2004, they released a 5 track EP ‘Item’ on there own There(there) label, amongst other outlets.
’Item’ is an introduction to the sound of ONETWO which features the song ‘Cloud Nine’, a rare writing collaboration between Claudia and DEPECHE MODE’s Martin Gore whose unique guitar style also features on the track. ONETWO released ‘Cloud Nine’ as a single on 19th February 07 followed by their debut album entitled ‘Instead’ on 26th February 07. Currently, ONETWO are supporting the legendary HUMAN LEAGUE at their tour. http://www.myspace.com/weareonetwo / http://www.theremusic.com/
Music
The wonderful atmospheric electronic music as already known by OMD joined the striking voice of Claudia, a really great collaboration. On stage ONETWO were supported by two musicians who were playing keyboard and guitar. The set started with ‘The Theory of Everything’ - the opener of their album ‘Instead’ - and ran about 85 minutes. The setlist included a great mixture of current ONETWO - songs like ‘Home’, ‘Signals’ or ‘Cloud nine’ completed by well-known hits from their source bands OMD and PROPAGANDA like ‘Messages’, ‘Electricity’, ‘Dr. Mabuse’ or ‘Duel’. In memory for BILLY MACKENZIE they played the BILLY MACKENZIE-song ‘Club Country’.
Performance
Claudia behind her microphone and Paul behind his keyboard dominated the stage with their emotional and rousing performance, but the both musicians in the background of the stage did a good job too. Right from the start the crowd was infected and was clapping, dancing and singing along. Between the songs the band got resounding applause and the temper in the location was very good. The PROPAGANDA song ‘Dr. Mabuse’ was announced by Claudia and dedicated for the two present members of PROPAGANDA with the words: “This is for you Ralf and Michael”. After 15 songs and about 70 minutes the main set finished with ‘Duel’, but of course the crowd requested an encore which was given with ‘Electricity’ and ‘A Vision In The Sky’ before ONETWO finally left the stage. Altogether a great concert which made the audience surely remember the good old 80s as well!
Setlist
01 The Theory Of Everything
02 Signals
03 Sequential
04 Messages (OMD)
05 Dr. Mabuse (Propaganda)
06 Cloud Nine
07 Kein Anschluss
08 The Weakness In Me
09 Souvenir (OMD)
10 P Machinery (Propaganda)
11 Club Country (Billy Mackenzie)
12 Have A Cigar (Pink Floyd)
13 Home
14 So In Love (OMD
15 Duel (Propaganda)
---
16 Electricity (OMD)
17 A Vision In The Sky
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 8.6
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
{jos_sb_discuss:17}
Comments powered by CComment