26-06-2010 Etropolis

Location: Berlin (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Etropolis festival in Berlin, a one day festival with some of the best electro acts the world has to offer. Etropolis is an indoor festival with two stages, a shopping mile and signing sessions. Because of the world cup there was also a tent with public viewing.

We arrived shortly before the second band on the main stage began. It was quite crowded already. The audience was wearing all black, only a few people were wearing colorful clothes. Many people wore band shirts, but there was hardly any ravers. I had expected more to be there. But still 3500 visitors from Germany and the European countries gathered last Saturday at the Columbia compound in Berlin, to celebrate this unprecedented electronic event with 13 international acts.

The second band – our first band for today – was KMFDM. KMFDM is an industrial metal band led by founding member Sascha Konietzko, who started the group as a performance art project. With 16 studio albums and a big fan base it was weird to see them play that early. But nobody seemed to care. The audience was going wild to the music, dancing and shouting along. Even a little pit was started in the middle of the audience room. The band performed tracks off all albums squished into their show time of not even 50 minutes. That was probably also the reason why they didn’t talk too much to their audience. Energetic and thriving KMFDM performed as if there was no morning, giving a lot of energy to the audience which appreciated it big time. Many long time fans were in the audience that could sing along to each and every single song. It was a wonderful beginning of the festival. It was hard to believe that it could get any better. KMFDM is an amazing live band that spreads a lot of energy and power with their performance. Lucia danced and sang in her extremely energetic way that blew away everybody. Simply amazing, this band!

Up next after a short change over was Leæther Strip. Leæther Strip is a Danish musical project founded on January 13, 1988 by Claus Larsen. Its influence has been most felt in the electronic body music and electro-industrial genres. Perhaps to a certain extent, it may have influenced various film score productions. Leæther Strip was one of the earliest and most prominent acts on Germany’s now defunct Zoth Ommog record label. For distribution outside of Europe, the music has been licensed to the U.S. labels Cleopatra Records and Metropolis Records. After the demise of Zoth Ommog in 1999, Larsen signed to its unofficial successor Bloodline Records, which only released a single before also going out of business. Since 2005, Leæther Strip is signed with the Belgian Alfa Matrix label. A one man project with fast EBM that is very danceable. There was a huge video screen as backdrop that showed images that fitted to the music. Leæther Strip had a huge fan base. Many people sang and danced along, cheered out extremely loud after each song and had a blast. Even though I did not expect the mood and atmosphere to get any better, it had gotten a lot better and still getting better by the second.

Next band on the main stage was DAF. Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft is an influential German electropunk/NDW band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel “Gabi” Delgado-López (vocals), Robert Görl (drums, percussion, electronic instruments), Kurt “Pyrolator” Dahlke (electronic instruments), Michael Kemner (bass-guitar) and Wolfgang Spelmans (guitar). Kurt Dahlke was replaced by Chrislo Haas (electronic instruments, bass-guitar, saxophone) in 1979. The name Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft – literally, German-American Friendship – might be a satirical reference to the DSF, the East German Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft (German-Soviet Friendship Organization). The name might also ironically allude to the Deutsche Arbeitsfront, which was the National Socialist trade union organisation which replaced the free and diverse Weimar Republic trade unions when Adolf Hitler outlawed those on 2 May 1933 (DAF). D.A.F.’s most famous songs are “Kebabträume” and the grimly sarcastic “Der Mussolini” from the album “Alles ist gut”. Tonight there were only two people on stage. The singer was pouring water all over himself all the time or threw it towards the audience. The songs were very catchy as well as the lyrics. Some songs reminded of the sound of the Atari consoles back in the day. Some other songs they played were from the early 80s. Basically the DAF show was like a time travel back to the early 80s, very nostalgic yet somehow great. Especially as DAF performed “Der Mussolini” everybody danced along to the song. The lyrics of the song tell you what to do, for example clapping or turning around. It looked really funny as almost everybody in the audience room did as the song told them to do. Amazing to watch and nice to hear it all again.

The following change over was getting interesting. not only did they have to mop the stage because of all the water DAF spilled, but also because of all the army stuff the crew began to set up on stage. Feindflug was the following band, and they have a very military looking stage set. Feindflug is a controversial German aggrotech band founded in 1995. Feindflug’s music is entirely instrumental, a rarity in the modern industrial/electronica scene. The only vocals that can be heard are in samples, mostly taken from movies dubbed in German or excerpts of Adolf Hitler or Klaus Kinski. The music tends to be on the harsh side, verging on power noise at times. They had many instruments on stage, many drums, as well as keys and guitar. Everyone was playing their part and moved around as much as their instrument let them. They hardly talked to the audience and there were no vocals. But still everybody was dancing and going along. The music was very thriving.

Now the festival was getting closer to an end but it was far from being over. The atmosphere was still getting better, but I think it was at it’s peak right now. Perfectly in time for Combichrist to play. Combichrist was formed in 2003 by Norwegian Andy LaPlegua (founder of the band Icon of Coil) as an aggrotech project. Since they are currently working on a new album, they also presented some new pieces tonight. Their energy on stage was amazing, more intense than I have ever seen it before with them. The songs blasted out into the audience room where everyone went wild. There was a huge mosphit starting in the middle of the audience room. The cheering was intense and nobody stood still. The band did not even have to say anything to get the audience go along. Combichrist played all their hits including “Electrohead”, “Blut Royal” and “What The Fuck Is Wrong With You” as well as a few new songs. It took a few seconds till the audiencde got into the new pieces, but as they did they went off and wild. Tonight’s performance was one of the best shows I had ever seen of Combichrist. I can’t wait for the new album to be released in August. Combichrist even came back on stage for an encore before they trashed the drums. It is always scary to see how they throw the drums all across the stage and it is a wonder that nobody got hurt. Non stop action on stage is what you get at a Combichrist show. No time to be bored, and no matter who of the four guys you watch, there is always a lot to watch. Such an amazing live band, and definitely one of the best, ever!

After all the fast beats it was getting a bit slower and more synthie pop like: Covenant. Covenant is a band from Sweden whose music comprises a mixture between electropop and electronic dance music. They have been releasing their music since the early 1990s. Their music was very melodic and a lot slower. Of course did they also have fast and very danceable songs, but all in all their music was very dreamy. Many people could sing along. Covenant was a great break between Combichrist and what was yet to come.

Last band of the night was Hocico. Hocico is a Mexican aggrotech band. The duo was officially formed in 1993 by Erik Garcia a.k.a Erk Aicrag (lyrics and vocals) and Oscar Mayorga a.k.a. Racso Agroyam (Programming), but both cousins had been experimenting with electronic music, mixing industrial and EBM, since they were fifteen years old. Their music can be described as electro-industrial. Their lyrics are mostly Spanish although some songs are in English. Hocico, just like Combichrist, have a whole lot of energy. Hocico had two people carrying screens first and hitting the ground with sticks before the band came on stage. The singer was not standing still for a second. Running back and forth, shouting, singing, jumping. He seemed to never get tired. Energy loaded he got everybody to dance, jump and mosh along. The show was intense. They played for more than 90 minutes. What an amazing show and what an amazing festival!