It’s been a bit quiet lately, but that doesn’t mean that nothing happened: first of all, I had to get myself a new computer because my old and steady iMac had reached the point where it just wasn’t powerful enough any more to deal with all those Logic-projects for Antichrisis and Ayuma. So I switched to the new Mac Mini (the fastest Mac Mini of course, with Intel Core i7, 2,6 GHz, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB Fusion Drive - that’ll do!) and it took quite some time until everything was configured the way I needed it.

Then there was also my 50th birthday on Winter Solstice: fortunately armageddon got cancelled hence nothing could spoil my little birthday party with Ayuma, however I guess I still need some time to realise that I’m really 50 now -- but as long as the Rolling Stones still hit the stage (or in Keith’s case fall from palm trees), I guess I’m still allowed to perform and record songs, too.

And while we’re looking back: here are my favourite songs of 2012:

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: “Walk Like a Giant”
Of Monsters and Men: “Your Bones”
Santigold: “The Riot’s Gone”
Lana Del Rey: “Born to Die”
Bruce Springsteen: “We Are Alive”
First Aid Kit: “Emmylou”
The XX: “Angels”
Exclusive: “Nachtmensch”
The Dead Lovers: “The Storm”
The Raveonettes: “Young and Cold”

Good news for all Antichrisis-fans in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus: renowned Russian label Irond has released a licensed version of “Not Fade Away” on CD, including a beautifully designed booklet. The collaboration with Irond was a really pleasant experience, and they did a great job -- so check it out on their website.

Doing a bit of in-depth-research on the Internet is always an interesting thing, especially when it comes to checking how your band’s doing ; even more when one receives lots of emails from fans that go like this: “It is great that there’s a new album by Antichrisis, but I don’t like downloads that much so can you please release “Not Fade Away” on CD?”

What puzzled me most is the fact that though we’ve been receiving loads of these aforementioned emails we only had almost insignificant sales figures as well on Bandcamp as on the iTunesStore -- as if nobody would be interested in our new album at all (but nevertheless a very big “Thank You” to all those fans who actually purchased “Not Fade Away” online: though you’re just a few, your support is highly appreciated and most welcome!).

Anyway, because of our really modest sales figures in comparison to the email feedback we’ve received I’ve been starting Antichrisis’ research engines and here’s what I’ve found out:

We’ve made “Not Fade Away” available for download on Bandcamp and many other popular online stores and sold less than 200 copies of the album so far (again: thanks to our honest and in some cases even generous customers!); but after an hour or serious investigation I found out that “Not Fade Away” is also available on several BitTorrents where it had been downloaded (at least as far as I could find out about corresponding download figures) over 25.000 times in only 4 months after its release.

So let’s do some arithmetics now according to the rule of three:
25.293 illegally downloaded copies = 100%
182 legally purchased copies = ?%

The answer is: obviously only 0,72% of those interested in Antichrisis (at least I presume that only those interested in our music would bother to download our album via BitTorrents) are paying for our music, hence it’s hardly surprising that Reartone Records and Tunguska Records, the last two labels that Antichrisis has been working with, had to call it a day because one simply can’t stay in business with that kind of payment behaviour — and as a result due to these facts we simply can’t afford a CD release on our own because according to these figures that would mean a foreseeable financial disaster for us.

But just for the sake of it let’s start dreaming a little bit: if only 50 % of those who downloaded the album illegally would have paid for “Not Fade Away” for example on Bandcamp (where the album is on sale for 7 Euros), we would have earned 88.522 Euros. We could have re-invested that money in better equipment for our home studio; we could have afforded to release a really extravagant collector’s edition on CD and vinyl with proper booklet, artwork and all that stuff and we could have also afforded to pay for a PA and for musicians to go on tour and play live — but that’s just daydreaming…

Fact is: the vast majority of our listeners are stealing our music — and yes, we know your line of reasoning: “It would only be stealing if the goods that have been stolen from you would no longer be in your possession which is definitely not the case with digital goods, so stop your sobbing!”. But that would mean that all kind of digital goods are left to villainy, be it literature, photography, cinematography, music or any other kind of art that can be distributed via the Internet — and that’s undeniably far beyond fairness! If you don’t want to pay for our music for whatever reasons you have, that’s absolutely o.k.; you’re welcome to listen to our music for free via streaming audio on Soundcloud or on this website -- but for fuck’s sake don’t fucking steal our music which is unquestionably our intellectual property (pardon my French, but it really makes me blow my fuse!).

Another fact is: Ayuma & me are working really hard on our music and we won’t stop making this music because music is our heartbeat and we fortunately don’t have to earn our living with the money we’re making from Antichrisis (which is approximately about zilch) but from going to work each bloody morning to make ends meet. Nevertheless we know lots of really good bands and artists who simply had to give up their musical career and their projects because they simply couldn’t afford it any longer — and it wasn’t because no one would have been interested in what they were doing but because no one wanted to pay for their work and preferred to download it illegally from the Internet instead!

But that’s enough ranting for now: most of all Ayuma and me would like to thank those loyal Antichrisis fans who purchased “Not Fade Away” so far once more; and here’s our blessing for our “illegal downloaders” (you know who you are): hopefully one day you’ll get ripped off quite neatly, too!

We’ve finally managed to get our new album “Not Fade Away” into the iTunes Store and to Amazon’s MP3 Store which means that from now on you can choose between 3 different download facilities:

iTunes Store (or search for “Antichrisis” and “Not Fade Away” in your county’s iTunes Store)
Amazon MP3 Store (or search for “Antichrisis” and “Not Fade Away” in your county’s Amazon MP3 Store)
Bandcamp (international availability but you need to have a Paypal-account)

Just use the shop that suits you best -- the main thing is that worldwide availability should no longer be a problem.

Here we go: Antichrisis’ new album “Not Fade Away” is finally available as download-only edition via Bandcamp as of now for a minimum price of €7.00 and a minimum price of €0.50 for individual songs (if you feel like paying more you’re welcome; if not enjoy the decent price tag, anyway) .

I’ve also taken the chance for overhauling Antichrisis’ website because I’ve had it up to here with black — and also because Holger Warschkow of Dark Feather suggested that it’d be time for a new Antichrisis logo. At first I hesitated because I really love the original monicker (no wonder as I’ve been doodling it by myself), but after giving it a second thought I came to the conclusion that Holger was right: Antichrisis has gone through so many changes since I’ve started the project in 1998 and the new logo somehow represents the new musical horizons that we’ve set sails to perfectly.

“Not Fade Away” seems to be just the right title for that album because many of you might have got the impression over the last years that Antichrisis may have possibly ceased to exist. But Antichrisis is still up and running though no longer as the sextet that we’ve used to be, but as a duo consisting of yours truly and Ayuma instead. And not only have Ayuma & me gotten this album together but we’re already working on a lot of new tracks; so Antichrisis definitely hasn’t faded away but is rather bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as it were.

This new album is also the first album in Antichrisis’ history that is released as a digital download only, without an external record company (Blue Yonder Records is our very own label) or an external producer: everything was done by ourselves, from cover artwork to the recording sessions in our home studio, as well as from production to mastering. Hence we may not have reached the perfection of previous releases like “A Legacy of Love Mark II” but Ayuma and me are nevertheless very satisfied and proud of what we’ve achieved with that kind of DIY-work ethic.

“Not Fade Away” is the perfect epitome of what Antichrisis 2012 is all about. We’re not longer the Doom/Metal/Goth-outfit that we’ve started with “Cantara Anachoreta” because we’ve been embracing a lot of musical styles and influences on our way to this day and age. Of course you’ll still find Post Punk and Gothic elements in tracks like “Here Comes The Night” and “Adrenalin” but we’ve also developed further into the direction of Electronica and Dancefloor with songs like “Ocean’s Too Wide”, “The Point of No Return” and “Crossing The Line”.

Apart from that there’s still Antichrisis’ search for the perfect pop song that we’re keeping up with “The Fire Went Out”, “Creatures of a Jade Lagoon” or “Walking With Angels”, our love for Indie & Alternative guitar sounds that’s shimmering through “Who You Are” and “Shine”; our passion for Irish music that’s reflected by songs like “Restless Years”, “Endless Flow” or “Lament for Kira” — and finally there are these in-betweeners like “Night Train” or “Have You Been Loved?” that simply don’t fit into any of the aforementioned categories.

To Ayuma and me “Not Fade Away” feels like a Greatest Hits Album because it really is a selection of our favourite songs, and we hope you’re going to love this album as much as we do!

Last but not least we’d like to express our gratitude to Alexander “Näx” May, Tilo Rockstroh and Frank J. Hennig for their wonderful input and contribution: it’s always a pleasure and a privilege to work with these guys! And also a big “Thank You” to all our fans out there: your feedback and support means a lot to us!

The last few months have been fairly busy for Ayuma and me, as we have been working on the last tracks to complete the forthcoming Antichrisis album (which will be distributed via Bandcamp, as you might already know). The last song that we’ve been working on called “An Endless Flow” is now finished and does sound magnificent: a wonderful ballad with a slight touch of Electronica and Irish Folk!

Another song that we were working on is “Understanding Everything”, but we had to face a little drawback there equipment-wise: my stout and tenacious little iMac (Intel Core2 Duo, built 2007, with 2.40 GHz and 4 GB RAM, if that’s of interest for you MacHeads out there) simply isn’t powerful enough to handle a project that consists of almost 80 audio and MIDI tracks -- and as I didn’t want to come up with a half-baked version of that song I’ll have to wait until I’ll get myself a new iMac later that year to get “Understanding Everything” done.

But that won’t stop Ayuma and me from releasing the new Antichrisis album within the next few weeks, as we’re already having enough songs in stock. So we’ll now have to decide which of these songs will make it on the album, then getting the final mastering done, getting to the bottom of the album’s artwork -- and as soon as everything’s worked out we’ll let you know about further issues.