Jeans team

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Jeans team
Jeans team at the Immergut Festival 2013
Jeans team at the Immergut Festival 2013
General information
origin Berlin , Germany
Genre (s) Electronic pop music
founding 1995
Website www.jeansteam.de
Founding members
Franz Schütte
Reimo Herfort
Current occupation
Franz Schütte
Reimo Herfort
former members
Gunther Kreis
Henning Watkinson

Jeans Team is a band that has existed in Berlin since 1995 and has been working on the further development of the electronic pop music genre ever since . The band became known for, on the one hand, musically more strongly (and style-influencing for other bands in the following years) to fall back on the Neue Deutsche Welle and there bands such as Trio or DAF , on the other hand to make electronic dance music .

history

Around the same time, Franz Schütte and Reimo Herfort founded the visual-auditory project Jeans Team and took part in building the “legendary” Berlintokyo gallery on Hackescher Markt in Berlin-Mitte . For the multi-purpose gallery run with other friends, in which not only exhibitions but also concerts took place and which advanced to a scene meeting point, 1996 is given as the year of foundation and 1995 for the Duo Jeans Team. The duo is named after a blue and white curved neon sign that hung on a street in the Wedding district above a shoe store that had previously sold jeans . The musicians liked the anachronistic neon lettering; it fitted in with their concept of re-functionalizing what was already there. After a few years, they bought the fluorescent tube and transported it from performance location to performance location. Schütte and Herfort's first official shows in 1996 consisted of showing a pre-produced 45-minute video called Baby , to which they contributed electronic sounds. The performance, drawn on VHS cassettes , was sold in the gallery, with each video cassette being placed in a pocket sewn from denim.

In 1997 Gunther Kreis and Henning Watkinson joined them and turned the experimental two-man act into a real electronic band. After various compilation posts on the gallery's own labels Spielkreis and Bungalow, the first tour through Germany followed. Finally, in 1998, the jeans team members founded the Nadel Eins label for the purpose of releasing the two singles Hi Fans and Ein Atom . The singles also include three instrumental punk versions . The fact that the single premiered in September 1998 with a breakdown because the edition was made with a hole that was too small for the platter pin didn't bother them - they simply brought it out again in playable condition. The band then went on another tour and also went to neighboring countries, where they gave concerts in Paris and Amsterdam.

In 1999 the Jeans team recorded their debut album Ding Dong in their own Nadel Eins Studio and after it was released in June 2000 on Kitty-Yo , they toured Germany. In addition to new pieces, the album also contains versions of their two singles from 1998. Positive reviews in foreign music magazines brought the band lasting international success - despite the German lyrics. Several bands responded to the request to remix their songs . Some of these interpretations formed the core of the various editions of the maxi single Kein Melodien in 2000 and 2001 . A music video was created for the remix of MJ Lan ( low-spirit artist) , which made it into the rotation on VIVA and MTV . Peaches , who had also adopted the song and is represented on the maxi single, played this version at her own concerts. The processing of MJ-Lan is represented on many compilations and was everywhere in the international DJ - Playlists . Around 15,000 copies of the single were sold worldwide. In the course of this success the band toured in Germany, Austria and (with Peaches) in Scandinavia . There were also festival appearances in Germany, Spain (here at the Benicàssim Festival ) and Denmark (here at the famous Roskilde Festival ).

In the winter of 2001/2002 the musicians took a break in order to complete their courses - art , film editing and architecture . In September 2002 Kitty-Yo released the EP Gold and Silver with three new and revised old songs by Ding Dong . Following on from the “ Keine Melodien” success, the sound here is fatter, the production more dance-oriented. Gold and Silver was licensed by the Pluxemburg label, making it the first jeans team release in Scandinavia. The band then went on tour in Germany, Spain, England and Scotland.

In the meantime, the Kitty-Yo promoter and close confidante Patrick Wagner (who was also singer and guitarist with Surrogat ) , who was responsible for Jeans' team, left the company in an argument. With that, the time at Kitty-Yo came to an end for Jean's team and a phase of contractlessness followed, because Wagner initially worked for a while as a product manager at the universal sub-label Motor Music , until he started the label together with his universal colleague Yvonne Franken in 2003 Louisville Records founded. Jeans team took their time for the recordings for the second album and so it lasted in their own studio from the end of 2002 to the end of 2003. The studio work was interrupted by an invitation from the BBC to London for a John Peel session . In May 2003 she was then sent on a tour of Russia by the Goethe Institute , with performances in Nizhny Novgorod , Samara , Saratov , Rostov-on-Don and Moscow . Concerts in Portugal, Sweden and Norway followed. The Motorola group used Hi Fans in one of their mobile phone commercials broadcast in Asia , in which the band also made an appearance. With part of the fee, the musicians fulfilled a dream and bought a copy of the synthesizer legend Synclavier II . A six-hour improvisational live performance in the premises of the Neue Documents gallery in Schönhauser Allee , which was previously used as a pharmacy , was recorded and published under the project name Elektroservice in February 2004 under the revived own label.

A few months later, Jeans' team found accommodation at Louisville and when the contract started in October 2004, there was the preliminary single Berlin am Meer , a dreamy homage to the capital. On January 10, 2005, the CD Music from Above followed . Structurally, it is reminiscent of its predecessor, but is more electronic overall. The electronic basic arrangements were loosened up with newly added instruments such as brass , autoharp , harmonium , omnichord and steal drums as well as the singing of guest singers. Only two pieces were recorded instrumentally. As usual after album releases, it went on tour, whereby in addition to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Scandinavia and Canada were considered. At most of the concerts, however, only three of the four members were on stage because Gunther Kreis concentrated more on his work as a film editor . In May, the band took part in the Congress of European Culture in Paris and remixed Beatbox , a song by the Irish hip-hop band Butternut, which appeared on their maxi single Uncle B-Boy .

At the end of the year the band went into the studio and started the album Kopf auf as a trio . This time the "classic" band instruments such as acoustic guitar , electric bass and drums were given more prominence. The three musicians took turns operating the instruments and singing . In the late summer of 2006 they sent the demo version of Das Zelt as a download offer in advance; The complete physical sound carrier followed in October.

In 2009 Jeans team had shrunk back to the founding duo. Guitarist Henning Watkinson had overexerted himself and dropped out. He preferred a stress-free musical life and first helped out at Blumfeld in 2006 , then, in 2009, also in the band around the Blumfeld soloist Jochen Distelmeyer . Louisville Records was also in liquidation , so Jeans Team was looking for partners for future releases. In the meantime, the exploitation rights to compositions from the pre-Louisville era were brought back. So you could produce a best-of album for the Chinese market, provide no melodies for a VW commercial in the UK and record the title Waffenladen again and as a 12 "vinyl single (with house and techno remixes from the Berlin scene) on the Berlin label KarateMusik. In September and October 2009 the duo toured Asia and played in Seoul , Shanghai , Beijing and Tokyo , among others .

In the following year tours took place in Russia and the USA. In order to be able to publish new creations such as Totes Kino and cocktail stands , Schütte and Herford set up a label with the pun named "Alkomerz". In 2011 a video clip was submitted for the first-mentioned song, which was filmed in 2010 in the culturally reused Stadtbad Wedding (hence: “Stattbad Wedding”). A complete album was only released in 2013. With the title Das ist Alkomerz , it takes up the last label name used, but was released on the Staatsakt label , which had recently released the vinyl single Menschen (are there for dreams) . The album contains neither guitars nor drums, and even beats that sound like drums have been omitted. The Synclavier II plays the main role. The reasons given by the musicians were the reproducibility on stage and the homogeneity of the pieces. In April 2013, the city magazine QIEZ thanked Jeans Team for their “ local patriotism ” with the title “ Scheiss drauf ” for “Video of the Week”. The album Scheiss drauf was made in Wedding and the Gesundbrunnencenter , which is also on the album, refers to the shopping center of the same name at the Gesundbrunnen transfer station , which was also included in the Wedding district before the 2001 district reform .

Schütte and Herford, who also appear as the DJ team Tracht & Prügel , began to re-publish their back catalog in 2017, along with previously unpublished recordings, all post-processed in the Nadel-Eins studio. It all started with the original VHS video Baby from 1996, followed by the single Kings of Dings (originally from 1998). In addition, all of the band's releases will be made available bit by bit via Bandcamp and Spotify, in some cases enhanced by previously unreleased recordings.

style

The band biography on the internet music platform laut.de says about the early days that the performances of the artists were "carried by the confusion of their thoughts and the corresponding handling of the instruments". The capital newspaper Der Tagesspiegel described it similarly : “The band always sounded a bit claustrophobic , somehow like a close student flat share . Elevator music by claustrophobic people, sound for the end of techno: slightly aggressive, nervous, irradiated. "

At Ding Dong , the author of the Tagesspiegel article recognized references to DAF and Trio. The Welt-am-Sonntag editor decided on the same role models . He declared the result of the mélange to be " electropop ". This sounds “wonderfully annoying, crooked and self-made”, as if it had been played in with inexpensive instruments. The to Universal belonging label Motor Music analyzed the style as follows: "The sound corresponds to a new form of electronic pop music with hypnotic melodies and rhythms dusty, set in skeletal arrangements. The lyrics seem very reduced, mostly contain only a few keywords and emotional requests to dance. ”In a nutshell, a laut.de employee explained the band as“ a disrespectful trash combo ”at the time.

Album number two, Music from Above , was described in the Tagesspiegel as complicated, without affecting the sound; it would be stylistically distant from techno and electroclash . For Welt am Sonntag it was “finely crafted”, yet “clearly more structured” and ultimately “considerably more mature” than the debut. The laut.de critic could not ignore the "jittery playfulness", but noticed the careful elaboration and was amazed at the "romantic-technoid sounds" that tended towards " soundscapes ". In any case, it is a question of "soft house", he said, also new! -References can be made out.

According to the Tagesspiegel , head is more melodious, more straightforward, less crazy. In some places , the Kraftwerk style breaks through like in silicon , but there are also disco-like pieces, which TYTTS stands for. His colleague at Welt am Sonntag also pointed out the power plant bonds. Overall, the album is a "soundtrack of digital bohemian " and "almost serious art pop". The music and pop culture magazine Spex called this "Style Pop" . In the laut.de - review pophistorische Quotes are Steve Miller led up power plant that would presented with "wit and class, coupled with experienced playfulness". The band biography there also goes into the text: "In addition to the predominant, cleverly cultivated text nonsense , thoughtful thoughts find their way into various titles."

The work Das ist Alkomerz , published seven years later, met with criticism. On laut.de the strange understanding of humor, which leads to "stupid lyrics", is criticized in combination with "naive sounds". The Musikexpress fell in the same direction with its (here summarized) characterization “Scheißdraufpop and Polkatechno trivial and poor design”. The website of the Internet radio station BLN.FM is This is Alkomerz called "Trash album" that leave the listener alone, "somewhere in the balance between enthusiasm and disbelief". The background noise is reminiscent of a " jump-and-run" game from the early days of video games instead of the "virtuosity of earlier works". The reviewer does not dismiss the texts, rather he finds that "apparently contextless everyday phrases [...] are iconized into razor-sharp punchlines ".

Discography

Albums

  • 2000: Ding Dong (LP / CD, Kitty-Yo )
  • 2004: as electrical service: Elektroservice Live at New Documents (CD, Nadel Eins)
  • 2005: Music from Above (LP / CD, Louisville Records )
  • 2006: Head on (LP / CD, Louisville Records)
  • 2013: This is Alkomerz (LP / CD, State Act )

Singles and EPs

  • 1998: Hi fans! (7 "single, needle one)
  • 1998: An Atom (7 "single, Nadel Eins)
  • 1999: Kings of Dings (7 "single, Nadel Eins)
  • 2000: No melodies (12 "single / CDM, Kitty-Yo)
  • 2001: No melodies (12 "single / CDM, Kitty-Yo / V2)
  • 2002: Gold and Silver (12 "single / CDM, Kitty-Yo)
  • 2004: Berlin am Meer (12 "single / CDM, Louisville Records)
  • 2005: Oh Bauer (12 "single / CDM, Louisville Records)
  • 2005: Wunderbar (CD-R, Louisville Records)
  • 2006: The Tent (12 "single / CDM, Louisville Records)
  • 2006: Nonstop Nonstop Nonstop (7 "-Single / MP3, defDrive)
  • 2009: Gun Shop (12 "single, Karate Music)
  • 2010: Totes Kino / Cocktail stand (12 "single / CDM, Alkomerz)
  • 2011: Bomberjäeckchen (7 "-single / MP3, Alkomerz)
  • 2012: People (are there to dream) (vinyl single, state act)

On samplers (selection)

  • 1997: Henning Rock 'N' Roll - Spielkreis 01 - Sampler (Galerie BerlinTokyo)
  • 1997: Hi fans! - Ro 3003 - Sampler (bungalow)
  • 1998: Fetzfakor 1: 1000 - Jimmy Gimme More - Sampler (house music)
  • 2001: No Melodies - Berlin Macht Schule ( V2 Records )
  • 2001: No Melodies - Viva2 Fast Forward (V2 Records)
  • 2003: No Melodies - Solo Album - (Soundtrack, Universal)
  • 2006: The Tent - Rolling Stone New Noises Vol. 80

Compilations

  • 2009: Allbums! (CD, Shanshui) [for the Chinese market]

Video albums

  • 1996: Baby (VHS, re-release in 2017 as a "digital album" in various streaming and download formats)

Additional information

  • Local anthems Berlin. Eleven new hymns from, about and for Berlin . Edel, Hamburg 2013 (media combination: CD, DVD, booklet; here: interview video with Jeans Team).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Jeans Team. Biography. (PDF; 1.7 MB) In: Web archive: powerline-agency.com. January 23, 2005, pp. 1-6 , archived from the original on January 23, 2005 ; accessed on November 17, 2018 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Admin: Jeans Team. In: motor.de. Motor Entertainment GmbH, September 11, 2008, accessed on November 17, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Daniel Völzke: Grimaces of everyday life. They rode swans and killed techno: How Jeans Team abolish the state on their third album . In: Der Tagesspiegel . No. 19388 , December 1, 2006, Berlin Culture.
  4. ↑ a b Tina Gersting: Video of the week. Music from Wedding. In: Webarchive: qiez.de. April 15, 2013, archived from the original on April 22, 2013 ; accessed on November 17, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Jeans Team. Portrait. Laut.de biography. In: laut.de. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b c Chrissie: Interview with Jeans Team. (No longer available online.) In: mainstage.de. Anna Stumpe, Mainstage Musikmagazin, Leipzig, June 3, 2009, archived from the original on October 8, 2014 ; accessed on November 17, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mainstage.de
  7. ↑ a b Baby VHS soundtracks. In: jeansteam.bandcamp.com. 2017, accessed on November 17, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Jeans Team - Hi fans. In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Jeans Team - Hi fans. In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b c d Markus Schneider: You can learn from the stars. In the country: the band Jeans Team discovers nature. On their beautiful album “Kopf auf” their music seems almost serious . In: Welt am Sonntag . No. 49/2006 , December 3, 2006, Culture, p. 77 .
  11. ↑ Butternut - Uncle B-Boy. In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b c d e Walter W. Wacht: Jeans Team. In: spex.de. September 4, 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  13. ↑ a b Bernd Skischally: Interview with Jeans Team. The Berlin duo in an interview about the upcoming new album, electronic folk music and how they discovered the naked flick for themselves. In: Webcache: popmonitor.de. March 21, 2012, accessed November 17, 2018 .
  14. ↑ a b Michael Schuh: Jeans Team. Music from above. Laut.de criticism. Who is there where is up? In: laut.de. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Christoph Braun: Naked Lunch on a lap of honor. In: spex.de. September 27, 2007, accessed November 17, 2018 .
  16. ^ Artur Schulz: Jeans Team. Head up. Laut.de criticism. Fantastic quote cinema under the disco ball. In: laut.de. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  17. ^ Daniel Straub: Jeans Team. This is alkomer ore. Laut.de criticism. Beer tent beats and clumsy lyrics: Berliners are finished. In: laut.de. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  18. ^ Frank Sawatzki: Jeans Team. This is alkomer ore. Fucking pop and polkatechno from the socialist heating party - the Berliners fail miserably with cryptic beer tent bangs. In: musikexpress.de. March 21, 2013, accessed November 17, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Jeans Team - This is Alkomer ore. In: bln.fm. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .