Casting Shadows
| Casting Shadows | ||||
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| Studio album from Wolfsheim | ||||
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Publication |
April 7, 2003 |
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Format (s) |
CD, digital |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
46:50 |
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Studio (s) |
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Casting Shadows ( English for, shadow ') is the fifth and so far last studio album of the German synth pop - duo Wolfsheim .
Creation and artwork
All the pieces on the album were written by the two Wolfsheim members Peter Heppner and Markus Reinhardt, three pieces were written in collaboration with Axel Ermes . The tracks were produced by Jose Alvarez-Brill in the Pleasure-Park Studios in Berlin (2 tracks), Axel Bendung with his assistant Kay Nickold in the Bishop Studios in Hamburg (1 track) and Andreas Herbig with his assistant Oliver Pinelli in the Tonofen Studio in Hamburg and the Trixx Studios in Berlin (8 titles). When looking for the producers for this album, Wolfsheim asked around in their circle of friends and so a small list was created on which the producers were gathered, Herbig was among other things through his success with the comeback album Minor Earth, Major Sky by a-ha from the year 2000. The album was mastered in the Master & Servant in Hamburg, under the direction of Tom Meyer. The album was mixed and recorded by Heiko Albrecht (1 track), Jose Alvarez-Brill (2 tracks), Axel Bendung (1 track) and Andreas Herbig (8 tracks). The album was released under the music labels Metropolis Records and Strange Ways Records and distributed by Indigo .
On the blue-red-black cover of the regular album - next to the artist name and song title - a greatly enlarged part of a bark can be seen. The same cover principle with similar artwork can be found on the single releases for Kein Zurück and Find You're Here / Find You're Gone . The album also contains a 16-page booklet . The following quotes can be found on the back of the booklet: “In grateful memory of G. Delfs (Markus)” and “Everyone Who Casts a Shadow Seems to Stand in the Sun…” ( English for “Everyone who casts a shadow, seems stand in the sun ... "). An alternative album cover shows a band photo of Wolfsheim. The photos on the cover and in the booklet were shot by Stefano Boragno, the artwork comes from Graphische Werken Ottensen.
Publication and promotion
Casting Shadows was first published on April 7, 2003 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland . In the same year a Europe-wide release followed, as well as a release in the United States on April 8, 2003 (under the music label Metropolis Records). The album consists of eleven new studio recordings. In addition to the regular edition, a “Magix Edition” of Casting Shadows was published at the same time . Before the official release, a promo CD was issued, consisting of nine songs in the same order. The tracks Find You're Gone and This Is for Love were not included on the promo CD . In order to promote the album, Wolfsheim went on the Casting Shadows Tour in all German-speaking countries shortly before the album was released . In March and April 2004 an independent US tour followed under the name Wolfsheim US Tour 2004 . There was also a live appearance on the RTL music show Top of the Pops with No Back .
- Magix Edition
In the German-speaking countries, Casting Shadows is available on the one hand in the regular standard edition and on the other hand in the “Magix Edition”. The regular album edition contains eleven songs and the “Magix Edition” has been expanded to include the Magix Music Maker software . The program contains the following functionalities: 16 stereo tracks for audio and video, mixer with panorama and effects path, effects ( distortion , echo , reverb and reverse) and original sounds of no return and leave no deed undone . The software allows you to create your own songs, remixes and music clips. You can arrange your own remixes for the titles Kein Zurück and Leave No Deed Undone, including video clips , from a variety of sounds .
background information
The last studio album, Spectators , was made four years before Casting Shadows was released . When asked why it took so long to release a new album, Heppner said that initially they didn't know what exactly they wanted. Wolfsheim went back to the studio immediately after the publication of Spectators , where they found that the gap was not big enough, everything that was created sounded like the previous one. If they had continued working on a new album at the time, only a second part of the previous album would have been created. Neither of the two wanted that, so all titles that were created directly after Spectators ended up in the trash. It wasn't until two years later (2001), when the song Kein zurück was composed, that it was clear to both of them that this was something new.
When asked if there was a common thread in the album, Heppner replied that it was just him and Reinhardt. It's just Wolfsheim and what happens when the two meet. For the quality as well as for the content, only their taste is decisive.
Initially, the album had the working title Close Enough ( English for 'near enough'). Many were amazed at the change in Casting Shadows . In an interview, Heppner later stated that Close Enough was just a working title, it had made itself the official title because he and Reinhardt had no better idea for an album title. Due to the increased appearance of casting shows for new musicians in the years 2000 to 2003 (including Deutschland sucht den Superstar , Fame Academy , Popstars , Star Search , etc.), many musicologists and editors interpreted the album title in connection with it. The album title originated from the first track Everyone Who Casts a Shadow . This work embodies the whole LP for both of them. It might come across subjectively, but Heppner stated that it was just their feeling after the song was finished in the studio.
content
The album consists of eleven newly recorded tracks. Eight of the eleven lyrics are in English and two lyrics in German. Musically, the songs move in the realm of dark waves and synth pop . In In Time is a purely instrumental piece . Wolfsheim was supported on guitar by Klaus Knapp on the song Kein zurück . In And I… they were accompanied by Gereon Basso on drums and Martin Ziaja on bass .
| # | title | Author (s) | Producer (s) | length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everyone Who Casts a Shadow | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 4:47 |
| 2 | Care for you | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 5:07 |
| 3 | I won't believe | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 3:30 |
| 4th | No turning back | Axel Ermes, Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 3:50 |
| 5 | And I … | Axel Ermes, Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Jose Alvarez-Brill | 4:03 |
| 6th | Underneath the Veil | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 4:10 |
| 7th | Find You're Gone | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 4:23 |
| 8th | This is for love | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Jose Alvarez-Brill | 3:16 |
| 9 | Wonderful | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 4:54 |
| 10 | Approaching Lightspeed | Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Axel Bendung, Kay Nickold (Ko) | 3:16 |
| 11 | In time | Axel Ermes, Peter Heppner, Markus Reinhardt | Andreas Herbig, Oliver Pinelli (Ko) | 5:34 |
| Magix Edition | ||||
| 12 | Magix Music Maker | |||
Single releases
Two months before the release of Casting Shadows , the single No Back was released on February 17, 2003 . About half a year after the album was released, the double A single Find You're Here / Find You're Gone followed in September 2003 . Both single releases made it into the German single charts. The latter even entered the chart in Austria. No return was the only single ever to be awarded a gold record for over 150,000 units sold in Germany and was the most successful German-language song in the German single charts for a period of eleven weeks .
Chart successes in the single charts
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, , Placements, weeks, awards, comments) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
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 AT
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 CH
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| 2003 | No turning back |
DE4th  (23 weeks)DE |
- | - |
First published: February 17, 2003
Sales: + 150,000 |
| Find You're Here / Find You're Gone |
DE23 (11 weeks) DE |
AT73 (2 weeks) AT |
- |
First published: September 2003
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Tours
Casting Shadows Tour
| Presentation album | Casting Shadows |
|---|---|
| Beginning of the tour | March 6, 2003 |
| End of the tour | March 22, 2003 |
| Total concerts (by country) |
* Germany (11)
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| Concerts in total | 13 |
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Spectators Tour 1998/99 (1998) |
Casting Shadows Tour 2003 |
Wolfsheim US Tour 2004 (2004) |
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The following list is an overview of the concerts Wolfsheim played on the Casting Shadows Tour . The tour lasted from March 6 to 22, 2003 and took you through eleven cities in Germany and once each to Austria and Switzerland. The tour was supposed to take place in autumn 2002, but because the work on Casting Shadows was delayed, the tour was postponed and completed in March 2003.
| date | city | Venue | country |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 6, 2003 | Hamburg-St. Pauli | Great freedom 36 |
Germany
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| March 7, 2003 | Bremen | Pier 2 | |
| March 8, 2003 | Dresden | Old slaughterhouse | |
| March 10, 2003 | Mainz | Eltzer Hof | |
| March 11, 2003 | Hanover | Capitol | |
| March 12, 2003 | Cologne | E-Werk | |
| March 14, 2003 | Erfurt | Thuringia Hall | |
| March 15, 2003 | Magdeburg | AMO culture and congress center | |
| March 16, 2003 | Berlin-Tempelhof | Columbiahalle | |
| March 18, 2003 | Fuerth | City Hall | |
| March 20, 2003 | Munich | Georg Elser Hall | |
| March 21, 2003 | Zurich | X-Tra Limmathaus |
Switzerland
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| March 22, 2003 | Vienna | Planet Music |
Austria
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Wolfsheim US Tour
| Presentation album | Casting Shadows |
|---|---|
| Beginning of the tour | March 21, 2004 |
| End of the tour | April 5, 2004 |
| Total concerts (by country) |
 United States (10)
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Casting Shadows Tour 2003 (2003) |
Wolfsheim US Tour 2004 | - |
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The following list is an overview of the concerts Wolfsheim played on the Wolfsheim US Tour . The tour ran from March 21 to April 5, 2004 and took them through ten US cities. Due to the success of the previous album Spectators , the tour through the United States should actually take place in 2001, but due to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , the tour was postponed and finally completed in March / April 2004. It was the only tour that Wolfsheim took exclusively abroad.
| date | city | Venue | country |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 21, 2004 | Tampa | Masquerade |
United States
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| March 22, 2004 | Atlanta | Masquerade | |
| March 24, 2004 | New York City | Webster Hall | |
| March 26, 2004 | Boston | Manray (TBC) | |
| March 27, 2004 | Detroit | St. Andrews Hall | |
| March 28, 2004 | Chicago | metro | |
| March 31, 2004 | Denver | Gothic theater | |
| April 2, 2004 | San Antonio | Sin 13 | |
| April 4, 2004 | los Angeles | Henry Fonda Music Box Theater | |
| April 5, 2004 | San Francisco | Death Guild |
Contributors
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Album production
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Artwork (cover)
Companies
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reception
Reviews
The German-language music portal Plattentests.de rated the album with 6/10 points. Oliver Ding from the editorial team said the following about the album: You would find almost the same "flattery units" as on Spectators . Everything is there: the sweet pop, the prancing harmlessness, the gentle indulgence, the melancholy sighs. And above all, as always, Heppner's organ: gossamer to the stop, alternating between melancholy and consolation and always on the verge of languishing. This is not only pleasing to the target group, because while No Back is developing into the most successful single in label history, the album is now also looking to the top of the chart. And not without good reason, because Wolfsheim still show their knack for uncomplicated melodies. Thanks to the help of Andreas Herbig, they are once again in such a flattering ear that the duo can even be forgiven for shallow moments like wonderful . Subtle “mid-tempo tracks” like Care for you would be tickled out of satisfied synthesizers. In the slightly darkened Underneath the veil, a worn piano dabs clouds in the sky until a fat bass is close and the song is given an electrical sturdy sound. Even better, I Won't Believe , that it first spreads over soft sounds and finally culminates in an unexpected guitar clatter. The fact that you couldn't find any particular depth on the fifth album by the Hamburgers doesn't really matter. Harmless make you happy.
Theo Kavadias from the American music portal Allmusic rated the album with 3/5 stars and the reason: “The acoustic guitar in No Back should be the first indication that Wolfsheim is maturing. It's a tad unusual for this synth pop notable, but this unexpected element fits in acceptably after the initial jolt. Another chance the German duo takes is slowing things down a notch. The first half of Casting Shadows hovers around 100 bpm . After the success of the dance tracks from Spectators , that may or may not be a good idea. Wolfsheim's fifth album shows signs of a band mellowing out but slightly losing its passion. Among the slower tracks is Care for You , a leisurely excursion that accents Peter Heppner's distinguished vocals. Find You're Gone and Wundervoll (one of a couple tracks sung in German) are appropriate for the clubs and are memorable just not quite as strong or emotional. There isn't another Once in a Lifetime , but there is plenty of romantic synth pop here nonetheless. "
The German-language online magazine laut.de awarded 3/5 stars. Daniel Straub from the editorial team judged the album with the following words: In summary, it was “sympathetic” synth pop with heavenly melodies. Wolfsheim would manage the balancing act between airy pop heights and “sectarian underground depths” with “playful ease”. Heppner's nasal, emphatically sustained vocal performance would be accompanied by Reinhardt's dragging synth grooves. A well-rehearsed duo who, with Casting Shadows, have probably said goodbye to the bouncing "Goth Pop" of earlier days. If you are looking for something like The Sparrows and the Nightingales , you will not find it. Care for You flatter the listener with “tricky, light trip-hop beats”, which Heppner's vocals and soft synth pads transform into heavenly melodies. Wolfsheim stages himself on casting shadows with a great feeling for moods , relying entirely on the emotional depth of the pieces. It even seems as if Wolfsheim had acquired a certain age wisdom, Casting Shadows sounded so serene . A number like Wundervoll seems almost a little out of place with its “housy beats”, the “hissing hi-hat” and the “dripping chorus” in front of the “corny melody”. Maybe Wundervoll sticks so easily in the ear because it imposes a sympathetic "smilie" on the seriousness of Casting Shadows .
Charts and chart placements
Casting Shadows reached number one on the album charts in Germany and stayed at the top for a week, in the top 10 for six weeks and in the charts for 38 weeks. In Austria the album reached position 38 in ten chart weeks and in Switzerland position 56 in four chart weeks. It is the only album by Wolfsheim that was able to place itself in the charts in all German-speaking countries at the same time . For a period of five weeks, the album was the most successful German-language album in the German album charts . In 2003, Casting Shadows placed 21st in the annual album charts in Germany, making them the highest ranking in the annual album charts of their career.
For Wolfsheim this is the fourth chart success in the German album charts as well as the second in Switzerland and the first in Austria. It is their second top 10 success and at the same time their first number one success in the German album charts. In Germany and Austria, no album by the duo has been able to place higher or longer in the album charts. In Switzerland no album could hold its own in the charts any longer.
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Awards for music sales
In 2004, Casting Shadows in Germany was awarded a platinum record by the BVMI ( Bundesverband Musikindustrie ) for over 200,000 units sold. Although the previous album Spectators was only awarded gold, Casting Shadows is only Wolfsheim's second-best-selling sound carrier to this day due to the devaluation of the rules for awarding records.
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
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Germany (BVMI)
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 platinum
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200,000 |
| All in all |
1 × platinum |
200,000 |
Individual evidence
- ^ Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows. discogs.com, accessed August 18, 2015 .
- ↑ Online database - musical works. online.gema.de, accessed on August 18, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Wolfsheim - Shadow Thrower in the Spotlight ( Memento from May 31, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) kleinertod.de, 2003, accessed on April 23, 2019.
- ^ Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows. allmusic.com, accessed August 18, 2015 .
- ↑ Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows (Promo CD). musik-sammler.de, accessed on April 23, 2017 .
- ↑ isntitironicTOTP5: 2003 - Wolfsheim - No Back (Live @ TOTP-DE). youtube.com, April 8, 2007, accessed September 8, 2019 .
- ^ Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows. musik-sammler.de, accessed on April 23, 2017 .
- ↑ From scene tip to chart act. pagandance.de, accessed on August 18, 2015 .
- ↑ Chart sources singles: DE AT CH
- ↑ Wolfsheim tour and album postponed. ( Memento from April 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) forum.vnvnation.de, accessed on April 6, 2018.
- ↑ Dirk Horst: Synthiepop - The soulful cold: Stories of Synthiepop .
- ↑ Wolfsheim - 2004 US Tour Dates. goth.net, accessed August 18, 2015 .
- ↑ Shady. plattentests.de, accessed on April 23, 2017 .
- ^ Wolfsheim - Spectators / AllMusic Review by Theo Kavadias. allmusic.com, accessed August 13, 2015 .
- ↑ Sympathetic synth pop with heavenly melodies. laut.de, accessed on April 26, 2017 .
- ^ Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows. officialcharts.de, accessed on August 18, 2015 .
- ^ Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows. austriancharts.at, accessed on August 18, 2015 .
- ^ Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows. hitparade.ch, accessed on August 18, 2015 .
- ↑ Annual album charts 2003. officialcharts.de, accessed on August 18, 2015 .
- ↑ Gold / platinum database. musikindustrie.de, accessed on August 18, 2015 .