"Missa Depositum Custodi" Available For Free Download
"Crossing The Line (Dark Feather Remix)" Uploaded
Maybe a lot of you might
think something like “Duh - does the world really
need another dispensable remix? Aren’t remixes just a
bad case of flogging a dead horse with making some
extra money from an already released song?” - and of
course I can’t completely deny that attitude.
But there’s something else about remixes: In the
older days (yes, I was born in the sixties, so I
should know all about those good ol’ times!) a band
recorded a song on tape and once it had been mixed
and produced that song could not been altered any
more - it was on tape, it was done, and the only
thing you could do was a bit of remastering when you
felt the need for it.
But these days are gone: Nowadays with all those hard
disc recording-prospects there is no such thing like
a “finished” track any more. Thanks to your software
sequencer’s total recall-capabilities one can work on
a project, finish it - and re-open it again 12 months
later with all the proper settings just for adding an
idea for a new guitar line. And me, I surely love
that kind operation method.
Besides, since I’ve released the first version of
“Crossing The Line” I couldn’t help but notice that
this track needed a more powerful Techno beat to make
it work - maybe there are some things that you’ll
only find out after having “lived” with a song for a
couple of weeks.
Anyway, that’s the reason why I picked up “Crossing
The Line” again and revised it for Dark Feather No.
10 (by the way: you can still get the entire
double-album here): the groove’s emphasis is
now focused completely on danceability and there’s
also a more aggressive midsection as well as
additional vocals by Ayuma. You may download or
listen to “Crossing The Line (Dark Feather Remix)”
here. Enjoy!
"No Going Back" Uploaded
But when Ayuma started singing that song I instantly knew that we were working on the real thing. I also noticed that my primal scintillation of recording “No Going Back” as a plain vanilla ballad without any drums and bass was a flop, as the song seemed to lack the sparkling brilliance that is now added by the rhythm section (thanks to Toontrack’s Superior Drummer and Spectrasonic’s Trilian).
I’m really proud of this
version because Ayuma’s vocals bear that special kind
of melancholy airiness that emphasizes the overall
feeling of that song: the battle is over and you have
lost - and there’s absolutely no way of ever going
back. But at the same time this means that there’s no
more burden on your shoulder: though you’ve been
bereaved of something that once was so precious to
you, you are now free from a situation that was only
causing pain in the end. Let your tears flow for the
past, but the future’s promise lies already ahead and
it’s sounding like a sparkling waterfall from afar.
Maybe this is one of Antichrisis’ most catchy tracks
so far - but don’t get fooled by the song’s overall
easiness: still a deep sense of valediction is
lurking under its surface.
"The Point Of No Return" Uploaded
This song has seen quite a few transformations since I’ve written it sometime in 2002; at first it was called “The Way”, but I could never get my head around finishing it - until I played the demo version of that song to Ayuma last January: As soon as she heard the track she was instantly hooked to it - and after rehearsing a couple of times she came up with those great vocal lines you’re now hearing on that recording. Besides, “The Point Of No Return” contains also great performances by Frank J. Hennig and Näx, so thanks a lot for your contribution, guys!
But after I had finished
mixing the 78 tracks that “The Point of No Return”
consists of I swore to myself that I would never be
recording as many tracks for just one song again -
possibly!
Flattering Flattr
Working on Antichrisis’ music and on this website is a very time-consuming mission. Of course I do it simply because I love making music and fortunately many of you out there seem to like Antichrisis’ musical output. Nevertheless I’m doing all this in my spare time, and believe me: it really is a lot of work - just take a look at this screenshot of one of my latest songs in Logic Studio:
The songs you find on
this website are distributed online for
non-commercial purposes, but quite a few of you have
asked again and again in the past for an easy way of
contributing at least a little bit of money for
Antichrisis’ songs - and this is where Flattr kicks in.
Though currently still closed beta (but you can
already sign up for an invitation code), Flattr is a
micropayment project started by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson.
Users will be able to pay a small monthly amount
and then click buttons on sites to share out the
money they paid in among those sites, sort of like
an Internet tip jar. The minimum users will have
to pay is 2 euros. Sunde said, "the money you pay
each month will be spread evenly among the buttons
you click in a month. We want to encourage people
to share money as well as content.”
The following video gives you an idea of how Flattr works - and the very
first moment I heard about this project I thought
“This is the future for content payment on the
internet: a fair spreading between users and
content providers - and in the end it breaks down
the barriers between these two groups. Now isn’t
that exactly what Punk was all about in its early
days?”
So if you want to be part of this new movement, sign
up at Flattr and start the revolution
now - and don't forget to click on any of the
Flattr-badges on this website to get Antichrisis
flattred, too.
Dark Feather No. 10 Jubilee Edition released
Dark Feather No. 10 comes
as double CD and contains besides Antichrisis’
“Crossing The Line (Dark Feather Remix)”
also tracks by 7 Seals, A.Stray, Alexa, Alter Vocalis
Ego, Apo Velation, At Daggers Drawn, Avatar,
Avataria, Black Chameleon, Die Votion, Embercrow, End
Of The Road, Ferment, Frozen Memory, Mirrored In
Secrecy, My Lucina, Nion, Osiris T., Plastic Autumn,
Shade Of Shambles, Stealing The Bride, Stormgarde,
Summer’s End, Tharsys, The Exploding Boy, Via
Obscura, Wort-Ton and Your Favourite Nightmare.
As this double CD is sold for 6,50 in Germany and
8,50 € within Europe (including postage and packing),
it’s definitely a bargain - so don’t hesitate to
contact Holger at Dark Feather to get hold of
your copy of this really awesome sampler.
Find also Holger’s short interview with Antichrisis
(in German only) here: This time not only Sid is
answering Holger’s questions, but also
Antichrisis’ female vocalist Ayuma.
Cantara Anachoreta Reloaded
So Tunguska Records
proudly presents "Cantara
Anachoreta" by Antichrisis not only as a
double album (Yes, "Beautiful Wolves" is really
that long!), but also remastered by legendary
engineer and producer Harris Johns (Kreator, Voivod,
Sodom, Einstuerzende Neubauten), glamourizing the
album with delightful depth and tremendous warmth.
In addition to that the album's artwork got revised
from scratch and now contains superb and exquisite
illustrations by one of Germany's most talented and
groundbreaking cover artists, making this new edition
also interesting for those who already own the
original release of 1997.
As this album is distributed by Twilight,
international availability should be no problem. For
further information see Tunguska’s website.
Dark Feather No. 9 is out
But sometimes one runs into people who are in it for exactly the right reasons: because they love music, because they get really excited when listening to a great new track by a completely unknown artist, because they don’t care at all about the charts but are more likely to search the unchartered depths of the world wide web instead for something new that nobody else might have heard of, and they love to share their findings with the world because they are absolutely convinced that the rest of mankind should listen to good music instead of all that piddling Top Ten drivel.
Such a guy is Holger Warschkow of Dark Feather: he puts so much
effort and lifeblood into his Underground-Zine
just because he believes in what he is doing and
the bands he is supporting. And although Dark
Feather’s subject is Gothic and Metal, Holger’s
own musical taste goes far beyond these brands —
and I’m sure that Hunter S. Thompson would have
found much nicer words to characterise the music
business if more people like Holger were involved.
Because of all that I decided to submit a previously
unreleased Antichrisis song to Holger’s newest
edition of his zine/sampler Dark Feather No. 9 called
“The Point Of No Return”, featuring Ayuma on vocals as well as
guest appearances by Frank Hennig and Näx. “The
Point Of No Return” is Antichrisis’ latest track
with a playing time of more than 9 minutes — and
what else is there to say about that song as well
as Antichrisis’ future plans can be read in the
corresponding interview (which is in German
only).
If you should be
interested in purchasing that terribly recommendable
sampler (containing 12 more remarkable bands apart
from Antichrisis) just follow the instructions on
http://www.darkfeather.net if
you’re from Germany or send an email to contact@darkfeather.net if
you’re from anywhere else in the world, because
the CD-sampler itself is only 1,95 € (that’s
definitely a bargain if I ever saw one!), but
postage and packing may vary depending on what
part of the world the CD has to be sent to.
And more good news are on the way — just wait until
the 14th of May!
Happy New Year to All of You
A new year has arrived, and we still have to put up with the likes of Angela Merkel and Guido Westerwelle over here in Germany - but fortunately from now on Antichrisis isn't bound any longer to GEMA (German performing rights society), which means that all new tracks by Antichrisis can now be used for internet broadcasting and non-commercial purposes of all kind (under Creative Commons License). That's good news, I guess (especially for all those internet radio stations who couldn't play Antichrisis songs in the past due to these issues)- and as legal matters are sorted out now, some exciting new tracks will see their release in 2010.
Thus I've also added a
download section to our website: Feel free to
download those tracks there if you want to add them
to your music library - they're all good quality
mp3-files so they should sound alright on any
mp3-device.
By the way: I won't be doing any blog-entries in
German any more. I can see by the emails I receive
that the vast majority of Antichrisis-fans seem to
come from abroad, and I'm sure that our German fans
will be able to understand entries in English as
well. It's simply a time-saver for me if I only have
to write entries once, so I hope you'll understand
this decision (and it's also a good way of annoying
gladsome Guido, our linguistically challenged foreign
minister).
A few weeks ago I've met Jens, our former producer,
again: He's now working for Laboga Amps and VIG Guitars, and we spent a
very cool evening in Nuremberg with him and his
endorser Tommi Denander, who turned out
to be a really nice and folksy bloke - and one can
really learn a lot by having a good time with such
professional musicians.
My wife Ayuma also came up with some great new songs
last year which I'm having the honour to produce. If
you'd be interested in German music with a very
special touch, check out her songs at MySpace or at Ayuma's own
website. By the way: Ayuma also
did the female vocals on "Here Comes The Night"
and "Ocean's Too Wide" - and "The Point Of No
Return” is already on its way.
And here's another piece of news: Julia Dobberstein
is working on a re-release of "Cantara Anachoreta"
with all tracks remastered by Harris Johns, new
stunning artwork by Ben and "Beautiful Wolves" as
bonus track. There's no release date yet, but as soon
as this collector's item will be revealed, I'll let
you know.
And if anyone out there would like to follow
Antichrisis on Twitter, just look for http://twitter.com/Boscastle
(Yep, it's "Boscastle" and not "Antichrisis", as
everybody would have assumed. Those who know me
will get the reference, anyway).
The Future of Antichrisis & The Lost Album
Being a musician myself,
I'm torn between the two sides: on the one hand the
internet and its possibilities of sharing and
distributing music (but if we want to call a spade a
spade we should include a term like "illegal
downloading", too!) has turned out to be nothing less
than a big "Up Yours!" towards the record companies'
pricing policy, but on the other hand it has also
caused a lot of severe problems for the kind of
really devoted musicians and labels trying to make a
living from what they're doing.
Experts affirm that today there's only 1 % of legal
purchasing of songs and albums, which means that
there is only 1 in a 100 songs that the artist or his
record company actually gets paid for - and you can't
run a business on that terms. That's why our label
Reartone Records simply can't afford to release the
long awaited Antichrisis album "The Legacy Remains":
there's absolutely no chance of breaking even with
new independent releases of that kind, hence I
totally agree and understand Reartone's decision
although I certainly regret that "The Legacy Remains"
will now become some kind of "lost album", and that
all the work we've put into its production so far was
in vain.
Reartone cannot release any new albums as long as the
aformentioned situation stays like this - and that
doesn't affect Reartone Records only: Even a
successful independent company like Chikago's Touch
& Go Records with bands like TV On The Radio,
Yeah Yeah Yeahs or CocoRosie has to reduce its output
because they just can't cover the costs any longer.
Mac McCaughan of Merge Records commented this with
the words: "If a company that did everything the
right way can't survive in this environment ... then
who can?"
But what does all that mean for Antichrisis? Well,
there won't be any CD or album releases in the near
future at all (unless another label would be
interested in signing Antichrisis). As aforesaid, I
can understand Reartone's decision and I totally
agree with them, hence there's no bad blood between
Reartone and Antichrisis. If the economoical
situation should change, there's no obstacle for
resuming our collaboration.
In the meantime (or for the future - who knows) ,
Antichrisis will be stripped down to being a
1-man-project again like it used to be in the early
days of "Cantara Anachoreta". I'll be doing
everything on my own again including mixing and
production, and as soon as new songs are finished
I'll make them available on this website via
streaming audio. I don't have any idea at the moment
if there'll be a way making these new tracks
available for purchase, because I don't like any of
the current online distribution possibilities for
independent artists: there are too many different
internet platforms with too many different terms and
conditions, which makes it difficult to work time-
and cost-saving. But as soon as there's a proper
solution on the horizon, I'll be trying to provide a
good and easy way for acquiring Antichrisis' songs by
purchase.
Anyway, I doubt that there will ever be an album by
Antichrisis again, as I really don't believe in
albums any more: they are a thing of the past, and
the future's definitley in releasing separate songs
as soon as they are ready and leave it to the
customer which individual song he or she wants to
have - it should be up to them if they want to burn
it on CD or not. Online distribution is the future of
any multimedia content, whether we like it or not -
but it's all still in its infancy!
So "The Legacy Remains" will possibly never be
released and Antichrisis will be reduced to being a
1-man-project again. I definitely won't stop making
music, because it's simply such a vital and important
part of my life. Of course I could now finish the
songs of "The Legacy Remains" on my own, but to tell
you the truth it just wouldn't feel right, because
these songs were the collective achievement of a band
that unfortunately doesn't exist any longer, and it
would be quite unfair towards my former band members
if I'd release those songs single-handedly now.
The reason that the band has now ceased to exist is
due to the fact that we've never been a live group
but a studio band. And as all band members are living
far away from each other in different parts of
Germany, the only occasion we got together was when
we met in Reartone's Bluehouse studio for rehearsing
and recording. So the end of the collaboration with
Reartone Records implies the end of the studio band
Antichrisis, too. But I'm glad that both Naex
(uilleann pipes) and Frank (vocals) have assured that
they would love to contribute their input to
Antichrisis in the future, too, so there'll be still
some guest muscians around!
Nevertheless my deepest gratitude goes to Jens
Bachmann (former guitarist and producer), Tilo
Rockstroh (former keyboarder and sound engineer) and
Jens-Nils Kuge (former Drummer): these guys did such
a great job for Antichrisis on "Perfume" and "A
Legacy of Love Mark II", and I'm sure that "The
Legacy Remains" would have confirmed what outstanding
and unique musicians they are. It was an honour and
great pleasure to work with them, and I sincerely
appreciate the time we've been recording together.
A new chapter of Antichrisis is aborning - back to
the basics, in a manner of speaking, and these basics
will sound a lot like "Ocean's Too Wide" or "Crossing
The Line" (already available on this website's Music
section). And as I don't have to focus on album
productions and studio sessions any more, there'll
probably be some new tracks here quite soon... so
stay tuned!
Die Zukunft von Antichrisis & das verlorene Album
Als Musiker bin ich
jedoch zugleich zwischen zwei Positionen hin- und
hergerissen: Einerseits hat das Internet mit seinen
Möglichkeiten des Verfügbarmachens und Vertreibens
von Musik (doch sollten an dieser Stelle auch
Begriffe wie "Tauschbörsen" oder "illegale Downloads"
genannt werden) den großen Plattenfirmen eindeutig
die Grenzen ihrer verblendeten Hochpreis- und
Veröffentlichungspolitik aufgezeigt; andererseits
leiden gerade diejenigen Musiker und Labels, die
wirklich noch mit Herzblut bei der Sache sind,
besonders unter den daraus resultierenden
schwindenden Einkünften, da es wie im Rest des
Wirtschaftslebens die Geringerverdienenden eben immer
wesentlich härter trifft, sobald der Kuchen, den es
zu verteilen gibt, kleiner wird.
Experten gehen davon aus, daß auf einen einzigen
legal erworbenen Song mittlerweile 99 illegale
Downloads und Kopien kommen (und darunter fallen z.
B. auch solch vermeintlich harmlose Geschichten wie
"mal eben ein Album für einen Freund auf CD
brennen"). Das bedeutet, daß Künstler und
Plattenfirmen lediglich für 1 % ihres Outputs
überhaupt noch Geld erhalten: Auf dieser Basis lässt
sich auf Dauer leider kein Geschäft betreiben. Das
ist auch der Grund, warum unser bisheriges Label
Reartone Records es sich momentan nicht mehr leisten
kann, das lang erwartete Antichrisis-Album "The
Legacy Remains" auf den Markt zu bringen.
Für ein Label von der Größe von Reartone Records gibt
es derzeit keine Möglichkeit, in einem wirtschaftlich
vernünftigen Rahmen mit Produktionen von unbekannten
Bands noch einigermaßen kostendeckend zu arbeiten -
von Gewinnerzielung ganz zu schweigen. Daher kann ich
die Entscheidung von Reartone Records bestens
verstehen, auch wenn es mir natürlich leid tut, daß
"The Legacy Remains" somit unveröffentlicht bleiben
wird und die Arbeit, die wir uns in den letzten
Jahren mit diesem Album gemacht hatten, somit umsonst
war.
Reartone Records kann es sich - zumindest, so lange
die derzeitige Situation im Musikbusiness anhält -
nicht länger leisten, neue Alben relativ unbekannter
Bands auf den Markt zu bringen. Mit diesem Problem
steht Reartone Records allerdings keinesfalls alleine
da: Selbst ein äußerst erfolgreiches Label wie Touch
and Go Records aus Chikago, das z. B. mit TV On The
Radio, CocoRosie und den Yeah Yeah Yeahs 3 Bands
unter Vertrag hat, die bereits den kommerziellen
Durchbruch geschafft hatten, muss seine
Vertriebstätigkeiten aufgrund der eingangs
beschriebenen Situation wieder drastisch
einschränken. Mac McCaughan (Merge Records)
kommentierte dies treffenderweise mit den Worten:
"Wenn eine Firma, die alles richtig gemacht hat, in
diesem Geschäft nicht überleben kann ... wer dann?"
Doch was bedeutet dies für Antichrisis? Zunächst
einmal wird es in naher Zukunft vermutlich keinerlei
CD oder Album-Veröffentlichungen mehr geben (es sei
denn, ein anderes Label wäre daran interessiert,
Antichrisis unter Vertrag zu nehmen). Wie bereits
erwähnt, kann ich die Entscheidung von Reartone
Records voll und ganz nachvollziehen, und genau aus
diesem Grund fand die Trennung von Reartone Records
auch in gegenseitigem Einvernehmen statt. Sollten
sich die wirtschaftlichen Voraussetzungen grundlegend
ändern, gäbe es sowohl für Reartone Records als auch
für Antichrisis somit keinerlei Hinderungsgrund, die
bisherige gute Zusammenarbeit fortzusetzen.
In der Zwischenzeit (oder für die weitere Zukunft)
werde ich Antichrisis wie in den Tagen von "Cantara
Anachoreta" als 1-Mann-Projekt weiterführen, d. h.
ich werde wieder alles inklusive Mix und Produktion
im Alleingang machen und die Resultate dieser Arbeit
in Form von Streaming Audio auf www.antichrisis.net
veröffentlichen. Momentan fehlt mir noch ein
funktionierendes Konzept für den Online-Vertrieb
dieser Songs, da mir die gegenwärtig verfügbaren
Lösungen noch zu kompliziert und unübersichtlich
erscheinen, doch sobald sich eine neue, einfach
funktionierende sowie zeit- und kostensparende
Vertriebsmöglichkeit abzeichnen sollte, werde ich
mich selbstverständlich bemühen, eine entsprechende
Möglichkeit zum Erwerb der Songs zu schaffen.
Nichtsdestotrotz habe ich meine Zweifel daran, daß es
von Antichrisis jemals wieder Alben im traditionellen
Sinne geben wird, denn in Zeiten des Online-Vertriebs
ist das Album als solches eine nicht mehr zeitgemäße
Veröffentlichungsform. Meiner Ansicht nach liegt die
Zukunft in der Veröffentlichung einzelner Songs und
bei denen der Hörer dann selbst entscheiden kann, ob
sie ihm gefallen und ob er sie somit käuflich
erwerben möchte. Selbstverständlich sollte es dem
Hörer völlig freigestellt sein, aus diesen einzeln
gekauften Songs ein individuelles Album
zusammenzustellen und auf CD zu brennen, sofern er
dies möchte. Im Vertrieb digitaler Daten über das
Internet liegt nun mal die Zukunft jeglicher
Multimedia-Inhalte, ganz egal, ob man dies nun
gutheißt oder nicht - doch leider stecken diese
Vertriebsformen noch immer in ihren Kinderschuhen.
Somit wird "The Legacy Remains" wohl niemals
veröffentlicht werden, aber Antichrisis wird auf
jeden Fall als Solo-Projekt weiter bestehen. Ich
werde trotz dieser Entwicklung nicht damit aufhören,
Songs zu schreiben und aufzunehmen, denn dazu ist die
Musik viel zu sehr ein Teil meiner selbst. Natürlich
könnte ich das Songmaterial von "The Legacy Remains"
auch alleine ferigstellen, doch das würde sich für
mich nicht richtig anfühlen, denn dieses Album war
das Resultat der Zusammenarbeit einer Band, die nun
leider nicht mehr existiert, und es wäre meinen
vormaligen Bandmitgliedern gegenüber unfair, dieses
gemeinsam erarbeitete Material im Alleingang zu
veröffentlichen.
Dass die Band nicht mehr weiterbestehen kann, hat
schlicht und einfach damit zu tun, daß wir nie eine
Live-, sondern eine Studio-Band waren: Wir trafen uns
im Bluehouse Studio von Reartone Records, um dort an
den Songs zu arbeiten und aufzunehmen, doch da es
diese Option nun nicht mehr gibt und alle vormaligen
Bandmitglieder sehr weit verstreut leben, bedeutet
das Ende der Zusammenarbeit mit Reartone Records
leider auch das Ende der derzeitgen
Bandkonstellation. Nichtsdestotrotz freut es mich,
daß sich sowohl Näx (Uilleann Pipes) als auch Frank
(Vocals) sofort bereit erklärten, auch an künftigen
Songs weiter mitzuwirken; es wird also trotz des
Solo-Projekt-Charakters, den Antichrisis von nun an
hat, immer noch Gastmusiker zu hören geben.
Bei dieser Gelegenheit möchte ich allen ehemaligen
Bandmitgliedern meine tiefe Dankbarkeit aussprechen:
Jens Bachmann für seine herausragende Gitarrenarbeit
und Produzententätigkeit, Tilo Rockstroh für seine
genialen Keyboard-Arrangements und makellose
Tontechnik sowie Jens-Nils Kuge für sein überaus
präzises und fantastisches Schlagzeugspiel: Sie alle
haben Antichrisis auf "Perfume" und "A Legacy of Love
Mark II" auf unnachahmliche Weise geprägt, und ich
bin mir sicher, daß auch "The Legacy Remains" erneut
unter Beweis gestellt hätte, welche großartige und
wunderbare Musiker sie sind: Es war mir große Freude
und Ehre, mit ihnen arbeiten zu dürfen!
Darüber hinaus möchte ich natürlich auch Steffi
Breiting herzlich für ihre Bereitschaft, bei
Antichrisis mitzuwirken, danken, auch wenn
letztendlich keine Aufnahmen mehr mit ihr zustande
kamen.
Für Antichrisis hat ein neues Kapitel begonnen:
Zurück zu den Wurzeln, sozusagen; und diese Wurzeln
werden verdammt nach Songs wie "Ocean's Too Wide"
oder "Crossing The Line" klingen, die ihr schon jetzt
in der Musik-Sektion dieser Website hören könnt. Und
da ich mich in Zukunft nicht mehr um
Albumproduktionen oder Studiotermine kümmern muss,
werden schon bald weitere Taten folgen.
Airborne Toxic Event: The Airborne Toxic Event
Mikel Jollet is a
fantastic singer with the grandezza of the truly
great performer, the band’s lyrics are witty and
sophisticated and their music sounds sometimes like a
mixture between Pulp and Bruce Springsteen while
always being completey independent, unique, touching
and as teenage-anthem-like as great rock music can
get: Their album that’s simply titled “Airborne Toxic
Event” is without question as important as Nirvana’s
“Nevermind” (but vertainly much more uplifting) or
Blondie’s “Parallel Lines” (with just the same sense
for great pop-tunes). “The Airborne Toxic Event” is
by far the best rock album in 2009 (although it was
first released in 2008) and songs like “Sometime
Around Midnight”, “Wishing Well”, “Does This Mean
You’re Moving On?” or “The Winning Side” are evidence
that contemporary rock music can still be as moving,
exciting and stirring as in the good old days of
1982!