Stereoklang talks to legendary EBM act Nitzer Ebb on music, gear and today´s synth scene
Nitzer Ebb needs no further introduction, but fact remains that Bon Harris and Douglas McCarthy with albums like, “That Total Age” and “Belief”, in the late 1980s set the scene for EBM going forward, with their devotion to pounding bass rhythms. Having toured with Depeche Mode few doubt their impact on electronic music and after a break in the 1990s the band finally reunited and went on tour again in 2006. Last year the critically acclaimed album Industrial Complex came out and as of right now they are on a long European tour together with Die Krupps. As a special treat for fans both bands play jointly on stage and an exclusive mini album called Rhythm of the Machines can be obtained on site. Stereoklang met up with the band backstage and had a long chat about gear, the synth/EBM scene of today, the shift of label and how they still maintain a enthusiastic crowd everywhere they go.
How has your new material been received and how did the collaboration with Die Krupps come about?
Well it is not technically all that much new material, but it has been laid out to fit our tour and the collaboration we have with Die Krupps. But we are of course pleased with the response we have received so far and our fans seems to like it. The idea of collaboration with die Krupps happened in November last year when we met each other in San Antonio, Texas. However we do have a long joint history together, so when Ralph contacted us in the studio with the idea of doing something jointly we were all for it.
You are celebrating 30 years as a band next year, how do you work to continue excite existing and new fans?
The most important thing is honesty and be 100% true to what you do. We work hard to produce shows that match the expectations of our fans, but we are also very demanding on ourselves to deliver quality over quantity. You need to show on stage that – You mean it!
BEARS in NIPPON – Yamanote – second single
BEARS in NIPPON – Yamanote by Stereoklang Produktion
Second single we have received from this ambient electro act, enjoy
New single from ambient synth act – BEARS in NIPPON :: NARITA
Today we received this new single from a band called BEARS in NIPPON, judging from their name we might guess they are based out of Japan 
It´s a very nice ambient electronic piece with influences from Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, Kenny Larkin and more, we hope you enjoy it and have a great Easter.
Make sure to leave your comments if you like the track, “BiN” has promised to send us more music if we like this one, we sure do.
BEARS in NIPPON – Narita by Stereoklang Produktion
Fingertips Official Video (Full Length)
The official music video for our single Fingertips, released on 28th March, directed by Luca de Salvia.
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/fingertips-f-t-l-ep/id424900085
London duo Paper Crows, featuring Emma Panas (vocals) and Duncan McDougall (electronics), follows up his debut single “Stand Alight” with the double a-side “Finger Tips” / “Follow the Leader”.
New song Control Frequencies by Steelberry Clones
Saturday morning synth music with robotic voices – original tune from SBC, enjoy
Steelberry Clones – Control frequencies by Stereoklang Produktion
New video with Endless Shame “The Reaper”
The brand new video from Endless Shame, enjoy
New video from 047 – Let You Go
Let You Go by 047 and Tomas Halberstad.
Single Released by Killing Music on March 21st 2011.
Video by Joakim Oskarsson.
inGRIDible Inspired by MC Escher’s Cubic Space Division
Pretty col video
Generated with POVray 3.62 , the fantastic freeware-raytracer.
Music: MIDI Loop (Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth) and two guitars (Sqier Telecaster and Epiphone Les Paul Custom) recorded with Cubase 5 Le
and some additional free VST-plugins (Kjaerhus Classic).
2011 has started out great – sooo many synth/electro treats !!!
Well I must say that 2011 seems to be a very promising year from a synthpop and electronic music perspective, I almost feel tempted to opening my wallet
Here are a couple of must haves:
Covenant – Modern Ruin
Mirrors – Lights and Offerings
OMD – History of Modern
System – Circle of Infinite Radius
Daft Punk – Tron Legacy
And there’s more coming your way; Mr Jones Machine, Depeche Mode remix album…..so stay tuned
Intimacy
Synthesist Martin Peters‘ demonstrates his take on Berlin School space music with this live modular + keyboard synth jam, Intimacy.
Here are the details:
Hello my YouTube and Modular synth friends. It’s been some weeks since I uploaded my last video. But I was looking for a way to record the music of my video’s in multitrack. Multitrack recording allows me to develop the live recorded music later on by adding, altering, removing individual audio tracks for each instrument and mixing the tracks properly. So I was busy investigating the various possibilities to do this. I ended up upgrading my Pro Tools LE 8 software, which I did not use much anymore, to version 9 to be able to broaden the scope for audio interfaces. Then I was lusted for a Mackie Onyx 1220i because this integrates a mixer and an audio interface for each channel. But the remaining budget was to tight for that. So then I bought a second hand Alesis MultiMix 16 FireWire which is capable of more or less the same for a smaller budget. Now I can record up to 16 channels and the stereo main mix in one go. I used the stereo main mix for this YouTube video so this is still a live recording. If I develop this recording further I will upload it to the music section of my website.
This improvisation is in essence somewhat minimal. There a four sequences going on. I manually alternate between rows 1 and 2 of the Synthesizers.com Q960 which is driving the Synthesizers.com Modular. I also use 2 presets on the Doepfer MAQ16/3 to alternate the sequences for the self-built Modular with a 4- and 6-step sequence and the Ian Fritz Teezer Through-Zero VCO with the Blacet MiniWave with two 8-step sequences. The Waldorf Q Keyboard does a 2-step sequence for the bass. Chords are played on the Roland XP-80 and the Waldorf Q Keyboard. The solo is performed on the Clavia Nord Lead 1. The MIDI clock for all this comes from Pro Tools 9 to keep it in sync with the Pro Tools bars and beats. Pro Tools also transposes the sequences on the Synthesizers.com Q960 and the Doepfer MAQ16/3.
You can download/see/hear the video and music from my website. I also provided a pre-recording made on the 24th of February.
DATAMASKIN
