Kirlian Camera (band)

Last updated
Kirlian Camera
Kirlian Camera Nocturnal Culture Night 13 2018 10.jpg
Kirlian Camera live at Nocturnal Culture Night 2018 in Germany
Background information
Origin Parma, Italy
Genres Electro Wave, dark wave, electronic rock, art rock
Years active1980present
Labels
Members Elena Alice Fossi
Angelo Bergamini
Alessandro "Algol" Comerio
Irene Shapes
Past members Simona Buja
Emilia Lo Jacono
Fabrizio Chiara
Giorgio Vecchi
Barbara Boffelli
Kyoo Nam Rossi
Falk Pitschk
Website http://www.kirliancamera.com
Singer Elena Fossi at NCN 2018 Kirlian Camera Nocturnal Culture Night 13 2018 06.jpg
Singer Elena Fossi at NCN 2018

Kirlian Camera is an Italian rock band mainly playing electro wave, dark wave, Electronic Rock and Art Rock with pop influences.

Contents

History

The project was founded in Parma in 1979 by Angelo Bergamini and was a pioneering act of the Italian synthpop scene. By 1980, Bergamini had recruited singer Simona Buja, keyboardist Fabrizio Chiari and bassist Mauro Montacchini to form Kirlian Camera. Their demo cassette Dawn attracted the attention of Italian Records, a popular independent label. Christmas 1981 saw the release of their debut vinyl which despite being low-budget immediately sold-out and was then re-issued, with it finally selling more than 6,000 copies.

Not long after, the band had constant lineup changes. Simona left but rejoined the following year; Montacchini left and was replaced by Giorgio Vecchi. Eventually, they became the first Italian group to be signed to Virgin Records. [1]

Between 1982 and 1984, Bergamini also took part in the Italian Italo disco group Hipnosis, which won a platinum award for sales in Germany, and had a top 10 hit in several European countries and South America with their single "Pulstar". Angelo unexpectedly decided to leave Hipnosis to concentrate on Kirlian Camera.

During the second half of the eighties, the sound of Kirlian Camera became gradually darker, moving away from the synth pop sound that marked some of their early releases. In 1988, Buja left and the band had temporary singers Bianca Hoffmann-Santos and Suzanne Reddington-Gardner, who were replaced for a while by Emilia Lo Jacono. Despite this the band released a 2-CD collection called The Ice Curtain with new singer Barbara Boffelli.

In 1993, they signed to German label Discordia, which licensed the self-produced album Todesengel, The Fall of Life. In 1995, they collaborated with label mates Dive on the Obsession EP.

During 2000 the lineup was stabilized when singer/composer/writer Elena Alice Fossi joined the band. She is also the leader of side-projects Alice Neve Fox, Spectra*paris and Siderartica, and co-leader in the Stalingrad project (nowadays renamed as Stalingrad Valkyrie) with Bergamini himself.

During 2013, Kirlian Camera released Black Summer Choirs.

In late 2017, the band of Elena Alice Fossi and Angelo Bergamini released the single "Sky Collapse" (featuring Eskil Simonsson of Covenant) via Dependent Records, and it immediately gained success in Central Europe, reaching No. 1 in the German Alternative Charts. In 2018, the new album Hologram Moon (released in standard and special editions including the bonus album Ghost Novas) quickly became the best-seller of the band ever as far as a full-length studio work is concerned, even entering the official German music charts and staying at No. 1 on the German Alternative charts for several weeks.

Controversy

On 26 April 1999, Kirlian Camera were drawn into the then-current sensationalism over Goth culture when they were off-handedly mentioned by social scientist Alfred Schobert in Der Spiegel , in an interview printed as a sidebar to a 4-page newspaper feature on the Columbine High School shootings. Schobert contended that the group (along with Death in June and Boyd Rice) was an example of a "neo-fascist element" in contemporary goth and EBM music, and accused them of performing a Roman salute onstage.

In their next CD, the group issued a communique, stating that they were offended by the witchhunt against them, but that they wanted to keep their political opinions to themselves, refusing to place the band within one specific political orientation. They denied that they were "right-wing extremists", pointing out that past member Nancy Appiah was Ghanaian, and that they sing lyrics by the Jewish-German poet August Stramm. However, they were not allowed to respond in Der Spiegel, and as a result cancellations of shows and protests by Anti-Fascist Action continued to dog them through 2002.

Discography

Albums

Singles, EPs and mini-albums

Trivia

Their frontwoman Elena Alice Fossi is LGBT. She once said: "I also like that a girl was in love with a girl. It happens, whether some people like it or not! Then, it's part of my own story..." [2]

Related Research Articles

Die Form is a French post-industrial and electronic band formed in 1977-78. The name 'Die Form' means '(the) form/shape' in German, like the Bauhaus diary, and is a play on the English homonym 'deform' and on the French homonym 'difforme' (deformed).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leæther Strip</span> Danish musical project

Leæther Strip is a Danish musical project founded on 13 January 1988 by Claus Larsen. Its influence has been most felt in the electronic body music and electro-industrial genres. 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 Bloodline Records, which only released a single before also going out of business. In 2005, Leæther Strip signed with the Belgian-based label Alfa Matrix. On 3 June 2011 Larsen announced his split from Alfa Matrix in order to self-release future material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dive (Belgian band)</span> Belgian electronic body music project

Dive is a Belgian electronic body music project formed in 1990 by Dirk Ivens. Dive's "audio trademark" is the experimental sound of abused drum machines, pulsating through crackling distortion on almost every song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Pitchfork</span> German dark wave / industrial music group

Project Pitchfork are a German dark wave and electronic music group from Hamburg, Germany.

<i>Best of the Beast</i> 1996 compilation album by Iron Maiden

Best of the Beast was Iron Maiden's first "best of" album, released in 1996 in three formats: a 34 track vinyl, a 27 track CD, a 16 track CD and MiniDisc. The vinyl edition is, to date, the band's longest record release, running for over three hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D'espairsRay</span> Japanese band

D'espairsRay was a Japanese visual kei rock band active from 1999 to 2011. The lineup of Hizumi on vocals, Karyu on guitar, Zero on bass and Tsukasa on drums remained the same, with the group having released four full-length records, three EPs and thirteen singles. Outside Japan, D'espairsRay have toured Europe and North America and had domestic releases in those territories.

Shootyz Groove is an American rap rock band formed in Bronx, New York City, New York in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keri Kelli</span> American guitarist

Keri Kelli is an American guitarist who has played with artists and groups including Alice Cooper, Slash, Jani Lane, Vince Neil and John Waite. In March 2013 he formed Project Rock together with James Kottak from the Scorpions. Project Rock consisted of Keri Kelli, James Kottak, Tim 'Ripper' Owens, Rudy Sarzo & Teddy Zig-Zag. Kelli is currently in the band Night Ranger.

Rachel Stamp are an English rock band formed in London in 1994. Their debut album, Hymns For Strange Children, was released in 2000, followed by Oceans of Venus two years later.

Crammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released around 400 albums and 300 singles, working with artists from all over the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eyeless in Gaza (band)</span> English musical duo

Eyeless In Gaza is an English musical duo of Martyn Bates and Peter Becker, based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. They have described their music as "veer[ing] crazily from filmic ambiance to rock and pop, industrial funk to avant-folk styles." Formed in 1980, the group went into hiatus in 1987, re-emerging in 1993.

<i>Lotus</i> (Santana album) 1974 live album by Santana

Lotus is a 1974 live album by the Latin rock band Santana, recorded at the Osaka Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan, Osaka, Japan in July 1973, during their Caravanserai Tour. The Welcome album recording sessions were completed shortly before this concert, and that album was later released in November 1973. Lotus was originally released as a triple vinyl LP in Japan only. This version of the album was later released internationally.

<i>Scorn Defeat</i> 1993 studio album by Sigh

Scorn Defeat is the first full-length album by the Japanese black metal band Sigh, released in 1993 by Deathlike Silence Productions. It is the band's most traditional black metal album, taking on a formula lyrically compared to their Scandinavian peers. The album takes its title from a line in the title track from Venom's 1981 album Welcome to Hell. On Scorn Defeat, the line itself is said on "At My Funeral".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verdena</span> Italian rock band

Verdena are an Italian rock band originating in Albino, Bergamo. As of February 2015, they have released six full-length albums under Universal Music Group.

BOB were an indie pop band from North London, England, formed in 1986.

Jesse Rae is a Scottish singer, songwriter and composer from St Boswells in Scotland.

Il Castello di Atlante is an Italian progressive rock band based in Vercelli. Although the band was founded in 1974, it released its debut album in the early 1990s. It has since released 9 albums.

<i>Progressed</i> (EP) 2011 studio album (reissue) / EP by Take That

Progressed is the first extended play by English band Take That. The collection was released on 10 June 2011 and features eight previously unreleased tracks packaged alongside Take That's sixth studio album, Progress. It was preceded by the lead single "Love Love" on 11 May. One more single, "When We Were Young", was released from the EP.

<i>Blur 21</i> 2012 box set by Blur

Blur 21 is a CD, DVD and vinyl box set encompassing the vast majority of music by Blur. It was released on 30 July 2012, commemorating the 21st anniversary of the release of Leisure, the band's first album. The release took place before the band's performance at Hyde Park as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. One version of the box-set consists of eighteen CDs, three DVDs, one vinyl 7" record and a hardcover book acting as a complete biography of the band. The CDs contain all seven Blur albums, with the first five remastered, with each album receiving a new second disc of B-side material; as well as four 'rarities' discs containing mostly previously unreleased material. The DVDs contain Showtime, The Singles Night and an all-new rarities disc. It is the band's most complete retrospective release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I-M-R</span>

I-M-R is a German darkwave/neofolk music project, founded 2011 by ex-In My Rosary mastermind Ralf Jesek. After the disbandment of In My Rosary in November 2011, Ralf and his former live guest musicians Martin von Arndt, Holger Diener and Hansi Huenig decided to continue the artistic idea as a band.

References