Montanablue | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Cologne, Germany |
| Genres | Alternative rock, new wave |
| Years active | 1985–1991 |
| Labels | WEA, Pinpoint Records, BMG |
| Past members | William Lee Self Leon Kieven Jiri Douda Jürgen Dahmen Stephan Rath |
| Website | www |
Montanablue was a rock band formed in 1985 in Cologne, Germany by Leon Kieven (Bass), Jiri Douda (Drums) and William Lee Self (guitar, vocals). [1] [2]
Montanablue recorded an EP of material with Rainer Assman meant for release on Normal records until the German television producer and music publisher Harold Goldbach heard the recordings and promised the band he could secure them a major label contract. After an appearance on the German Musik Convoy television show (a first for an unsigned act) and an opening slot on John Cale's 1985 German tour the band were signed to WEA and almost immediately began recording their debut album with renowned German producer Conny Plank. [3] The resulting "Compliments and Roses" album was released in Europe and received fantastic reviews making Montanablue a critic's favorite in Germany and Benelux. The album includes contributions from Blaine L. Reininger and from Jürgen Dahmen who would become the bands permanent keyboardist. David Hudson produced a video for the "What She Needs" EP/single. Unfortunately being the critic's darlings did not translate into the kind of sales WEA had imagined and after releasing 2 more EP's on WEA and most importantly after the death of Conny Plank in 1987 the band lost any leverage it may have had and were dropped by WEA and Harold Goldbach. The band felt relieved, after having been burdened with such expectations from the outset and began work on a new album with German producer and musician Arno Steffen. After entering into a licensing agreement with Pinpoint Records and signing with the publisher Kick the band released their second full studio album "Chained To An Elephant". Once again the album and its singles (including "Zeb And LuLu" (a song Reininger penned especially for the band) received great reviews and airplay, but sales remained sluggish. Pinpoint released a live album titled "A Showcase Of Manly Delights" recorded by Thomas Stern (Einstürzende Neubauten, Nick Cave) from the band's 1989 tour with Blaine Reininger. Montanablue and Reininger toured together during this period, incorporating Reiningers material into their own set. [4] These shows were very successful and the 500-1000 seat venues were inevitably sold out. The band parted ways with Pinpoint and were picked up by Choldwig Musik/BMG for what was to be their final LP "We Always Are Where We Go" recorded at the Conny Plank studio by Thomas Stern and Ingo Kraus, released in 1991. The band dissolved shortly thereafter.
Tone Float is the only album by the German band Organisation zur Verwirklichung gemeinsamer Musikkonzepte (Organisation). Organisation is best remembered for having the two founders of Kraftwerk as members, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, which they did after the album's release and band's disbandment.
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was involved in releases by Neu!, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Harmonia, Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru, Kraan, and other German groups of the era. He later produced for new wave acts such as D.A.F., Eurythmics and Ultravox. As a billed performer, Plank also formed the group Moebius & Plank, releasing 5 albums between 1979 and 1986.
Neu! were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, who has been regarded as the group's "hidden member". They released three albums in their initial incarnation—Neu! (1972), Neu! 2 (1973), and Neu! 75 (1975)—before disbanding in 1975. They briefly reunited in the mid-1980s.
Neu! is the debut studio album by German krautrock band Neu!, released in 1972 by Brain Records. It was the first album recorded by the duo of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger after leaving Kraftwerk in 1971. They continued to work with producer Konrad "Conny" Plank, who had also worked on the Kraftwerk recording sessions.
Neu! 75 is the third studio album by German krautrock band Neu!, released in February 1975 on Brain Records. It was recorded and mixed at Conny Plank's studio between December 1974 and January 1975. The album was officially reissued on CD on 29 May 2001 by Astralwerks in the US and Grönland in the UK.
Tuxedomoon is an experimental, post-punk, new wave band from San Francisco, California, United States. The band formed in the late 1970s at the beginning of the punk rock movement. Pulling influence from punk and electronic music, the group, originally consisting of Steven Brown and Blaine L. Reininger, used electronic violins, guitars, screaming vocals and synthesizers to develop a unique "cabaret no-wave" sound. Bassist Peter Principle joined the band and in 1979 they released the single "No Tears", which remains a post-punk cult classic. That year they also signed to Ralph Records and released their debut album, Half-Mute, in 1980. Eventually, Reininger left the group, and Tuxedomoon relocated to Europe, signing to Crammed Discs and releasing Holy Wars in 1985. The band separated in the early 1990s, only to reunite later that decade. They all have remained together since releasing the album Cabin in the Sky in 2004.
Lonesome Crow is the debut studio album by the German rock band Scorpions. It was recorded soon after Scorpions became a fully professional band under the production of Conny Plank, apparently in only six or seven days, and released on 29 February 1972 in West Germany as the soundtrack to the German anti-drug movie Das Kalte Paradies, and May 1973 in the United States. The album's style is darkly melodic, typical for early Scorpions but unlike their later work.
Cluster were a German musical duo consisting of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, formed in 1971 and associated with West Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scenes. Born from the earlier Berlin-based group Kluster, they relocated in 1971 into the countryside village of Forst, Lower Saxony, where they built a studio and collaborated with musicians such as Conny Plank, Brian Eno, and Michael Rother; with the latter, they formed the influential side-project Harmonia. After first disbanding in 1981, Cluster reunited several times: from 1989 to 1997, and from 2007 to 2010.
Anna Domino is an American indie rock artist based in New York and Los Angeles who released several albums for Les Disques du Crepuscule and Factory Records in the 1980s and 1990s. Domino has collaborated with musicians such as Matt Johnson of The The, Stephin Merritt in The Sixths, Blaine L. Reininger and Steven Brown of Tuxedomoon, Virginia Astley, Luc van Acker and Ultramarine. She is also one half of the duo Snakefarm.
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Dieter Moebius was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia.
Klaus Dinger was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock band Neu!. He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.
Helen Schneider is an American singer and actress working mainly in Germany.
Deluxe is the second album from the West German krautrock group Harmonia, consisting of Neu! guitarist Michael Rother and the Cluster duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius. It was recorded in June 1975 in Harmonia's studio in Forst, Germany. It was first released on the Brain Records label in 1975.
Moebius & Plank was a German electronic music duo consisting of musicians Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank. They recorded three albums between 1979 and 1986 as well as two additional albums, one a collaboration with Mani Neumeier and the other with Mayo Thompson. Plank died of cancer in 1987. Their final two albums were released posthumously in 1995 and 1998 respectively
Katzenmusik is the third studio album by the German solo artist Michael Rother. It was released in 1979 and includes the single "Katzenmusik 9" b/w "Katzenmusik 2".
William Lee Self is an American musician and composer, who emigrated to north Germany in 1982 and who has been living in Hamburg since 1995.
Blaine Leslie Reininger is an American post-punk, new-wave and alternative pop singer, songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, writer and performer. He is known for being a member of the group Tuxedomoon since 1977 after co-founding it with Steven Brown and, latterly, for a notable music and theatre career, both as a soloist and contributor to other artists' recordings, including the Durutti Column, Snakefinger, Anna Domino, Savage Republic, Paul Haig, William Lee Self's Montanablue project, Devine & Statton and Brown himself.
AnnenMayKantereit is a German rock band founded in Cologne in 2011. Their songs are predominantly performed in German, but the band also publishes cover songs in English occasionally. A notable feature of the band's music is the distinct and rough voice of singer Henning May.
Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub is a German avant-garde pop and independent music band, led by the songwriter, singer and guitarist Phillip Boa.
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