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Die Idee
Von "Die Ärzte" über "Stereo Total" bis "Wir sind Helden" – 14 deutsche Bands singen auf Japanisch.
Die Doppel-CD „Poptastic Conversation“ soll auf eine völlig neue Art auf eine andere Kultur zugehen. Über den „Türöffner“ Musik sollen verschiedene Zielgruppen angesprochen werden. Alle beteiligten Bands singen hier ihre eigenen Songs in japanischer Sprache.
Poptastic Conversation- Unter diesem Stichwort hat Fly Fast Records (bekannt durch den Kino-Film BEIJING BUBBLES) und Lieblingslied Records befreundete deutsche Bands ins Studio geholt und darum gebeten, ihre Songs auf Japanisch zu singen und mit anderen Aufnahmen ergänzt. Poptastic Conversation soll deutsche Bands in Japan bekannt machen, eine charmante Variante der Verständigung sein und interkulturelle Dialoge auslösen.
Doch hat sich dieses Projekt nicht nur den Austausch zwischen deutschen und japanischen Musikbegeisterten zum Ziel gemacht, auch will es Jugendliche für die japanische Sprache interessieren. Aus diesem Grund wird der CD als Bonus-CD ein Japanischsprachkurs des PONS Verlages beiliegen.
Das CD-Cover wurde exklusiv für diese CD von einer namhaften japanischen Comiczeichner Radical Suzuki gestaltet. Der Text im Booklet der CD ist in deutscher, englischer und japanischer Sprache abgedruckt. Die CD enthält auch extra Video-Clips.
Die Bands
Die Ärzte, Wir sind Helden, Stereo Total, Einstürzende Neubauten, Bernd Begemann, Quarks, Neoangin, SchneiderTM, Recorder, Coming Back To You, Humpe & Humpe, La Floa Maldita, Wagner & Pohl, Lonski & Classen
Die Deluxe-Ausstattung
Doppel-CD mit 32 seitigen vollfarbiges Booklet in Deutsch, Japanisch und Englisch
CD 1: ca. 14 Songs und zusätzlich 3 Videoclips
CD 2: PONS Power-Crash-Kurs
inkl. Booklet in Deutsch, Japanisch und Englisch
English:
Poptastic Conversation
"German bands singing their songs in Japanese"
Poptastic Conversation – German bands singing their songs in Japanese. That was the motto for Lieblingslied Record’s cultural initiative: we asked bands of our acquaintance to come to the studio and record their songs in Japanese. We rounded off these recordings with some additional material. Poptastic Conversation wants to promote German pop culture in Japan and to initiate intercultural exchange.
But the dialogue between Japanese and German pop aficionados isn’t this project’s only objective. We also want to get young people in Germany interested in the Japanese language. This is why each copy also contains a bonus CD with a Japanese course, courtesy of PONS publishers.
The cover was designed exclusively by the renowned Japanese comic artist Radical Suzuki. The booklet is trilingual in German, English, and Japanese. The CD also contains additional video material.
The Berlin-based label Lieblingslied Records has close ties with the Asian market, and we feel deeply committed to intercultural exchange. Our documentary Beijing Bubbles - Punk and Rock in China's Capital was shown successfully at prestigious international festivals, and we are currently establishing our new sub label Fly Fast Records, a platform for Punk, Rock and electronic music from Asia. Fly Fast will also initiate cooperations between German and Asian bands, and will present the results at concerts both in Germany and Asia.
The bands
The long, eventful history of the German pop band Die Ärzte began in Berlin in 1980. With their first hits, including "Zum Bäcker" and "Vollmilch" distinguished Die Ärzte as the most serious fun punk bands in Germany. Following a creative break from 1988 until 1993, Die Ärzte have been surpassing their previous successes with each new publication. Their albums contain increasingly serious and political songs. As a contribution to Poptastic Conversation, Die Ärzte chose a Japanese version of their sarcastic song "Rettet die Wale" ("Save the Whales").
Wir sind Helden are one of the most popular German pop-rock bands today. According to the German news network N24, they are among "the main representatives of the new, young Germany craze". In 2004 they received Echo awards in four different categories, including Best National Newcomer. Their first album Die Reklamation won double platinum, their current publication Von hier an blind, platinum. Poptastic Conversation contains the album"s title song in Japanese.
Shortly after the Berlin band Einstürzende Neubauten was founded in the early eighties, they were considered Germany’s most important musical ambassadors. Their “sound music” is made with sledge hammers, electric drills, steel springs, and other instruments. The Einstürzende Neubauten were the first band to go on a tour organized by the German Goethe-Institute. Today, the band’s singer, Blixa Bargeld, lives in Beijing. For the album, he recorded the Einstürzende Neubauten song “Blume” in Japanese.
Francoise Cactus on drums and vocals and Brezel Göring at the keyboard are Stereo Total, a Berlin-based duo producing German-French electro-pop based on chansons. Their recording of “Monokini” gives an idea of what this mixture sounds like in Japanese. Ever since the song was recorded, singer Francoise Cactus at feels positive that Stereo Total are actually supposed to be a Japanese band.
Quarks are a Berlin-based pop duo that now presents its hit single “Wiederkomm” in Japanese – the new title: "Kikyo". Quarks already have some pertinent experience with the Asian music market. In November, 2005, they followed an invitation of the music export agency German Sounds and appeared in a Vietnamese TV show before an audience of 40 million.
Neoangin is the one-man electronic band of the artist and musician Jim Avignon. As a real cosmopolitan, “the world’s fastest artist” is at home in both Berlin and New York. Some of his albums are already sold out. On Poptastic Conversation, he presents "Nankinmame" ("Peanuts").
Recorder are to Berlin what the British band Portishead were to their hometown Bristol: an inspiration for melancholics, fans of 1960’s spy thrillers, electronic-chanson and jazz aficionados alike. The Berlin-based band sings the Japanese version of their hit “High Tide”.
Humpe & Humpe are the sisters Anette and Inga Humpe from Berlin. In the 1980s, playing with their bands Ideal and Neonbabies, they were the icons of the New German Wave. Today, Inga is singer and producer of the successful duo 2Raumwohnung, and Anette produces bands such as the duo Ich + Ich. On Poptastic Conversation, they sing "Yama-Ha".
La Floa Maldita is one of the most popular German dark-wave underground bands of the 1980s and 90s. On Poptastic Conversation, they present their song “Madjo” with a Manga version of the video.
Wagner und Pohl are Barbara Wagner, guitarist of the Berlin-based women’s band Britta, and the singer, bassist, and producer Katharina Hein. Their album “Celandine” was praised by the critics and the media. For Poptastic Conversation, Wagner und Pohl recorded “Zetai Shinjtakunai”, which means something like “I do not trust your words at all”.
Lonski and Classen published their first single “It’s Grown Cold” only recently and recorded the Japanese version for Popstatic Conversation almost simultaneously. The two young Berliners design electronic-minimalist sound installations and compose soundtracks. They hope to contribute the music for the next James Bond movie, which, as they have learned from inside sources, will be set in Japan.
Coming Back to You met accidentally at a record-store checkout in the small German town Gießen. They noticed that they were all about to buy the same CD – the latest album of one of the world’s most popular bands, which coincidentally hails from the British province. They immediately decided to record a much better album – with cover versions of songs that the British province band had already discarded.
Tim Desselhaus a.k.a. Schneider TM started his musical career as guitarist for the legendary East Westphalian indie band Hip Young Things in Bielefeld. But according to him, his 1998 debut album “Moist” already got him got stuck in the middle between dance/clubhouse and electronica/home listening. After following his girlfriend, the Japanese artist Hanayo, to Berlin, he published two widely noticed albums: Reconfigures (2004) and Skoda Mluvit (2006). Schneider TM is considered the master of electronically scintillating indie pop.
Nova Huta is Günter Reznicek, a fast programmer on the Casio keyboard and poet of the new Hamburg avant-garde. He describes his music as gum-robot-disco-electro-dad. According to him, his hometown Hamburg is a place inhabited by freaks and charming neurotics.
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