When I started Antichrisis in 1995, the world was a different place: back then demo tapes were still sent to labels, music was preferably released on records or CDs, and if you were one of the chosen few to get a record deal, you went into a studio to record a complete album within a given (and usually far too tight) time frame.

Times have changed a lot since then: sales figures for CDs and vinyls have declined drastically, home recording has taken off whereas the number of studios declined just as much as the number of major labels, and instead of sales figures for CDs and vinyls, streaming figures and YouTube-clicks are much more important nowadays.

Some may regret this trend, but one of its positive side effects is the democratisation of music production and distribution. Today basically anyone with a computer and appropriate software (although musical talent is definitely not a disadvantage at this point) can publish proper songs - and you don’t have to get involved with producers or labels to achieve that goal.

But what does all this have to do with Antichrisis? Well, for some years now we’ve become also one of those bands/projects that record and produce their songs in their own home studio and release them completely on their own. Since "Not Fade Away" all our albums have been released exclusively as digital downloads, but over time we realised that the demand for these albums was decreasing more and more, whereas some our songs were literally skyrocketing on several streaming portals.

So we came to the conclusion that releasing an album could be no longer appropriate - and to be honest: we are neither sad nor miserable about this, because we too have often been wondering whether album releases would still be making sense for us at all.

From a commercial point of view this might bring some disadvantages, because in the music press and other relevant media only albums are taken seriously and therefore are getting featured and promoted accordingly.

However, this only applies to albums released on CD or vinyl; digital downloads by independent artists are largely ignored by editors because these artists can neither place expensive ads in magazines nor afford inordinate PR-appointments for journalists. That is why the perception of Antichrisis in the media has subsided since we went down the Do-it-Yourself-road, although we’ve been still releasing albums.

Our decision not to publish CDs or vinyls any more but to rely exclusively on digital downloads instead has mainly to do with the fact that in times of climate change we all should be re-considering how we want to deal with environmental pollution. And producing CDs and/or vinyls is raw material wastage that is no longer necessary in this day and age, as in the majority of cases digital distribution works pretty well.

But apart from the whole environmental issue, our decision not to release albums furthermore also has to do with our mode of operation: In the past we went into a studio to record a complete album within a few weeks, but nowadays home recording allows us a completely different approach. We are often working on many songs simultaneously, but only a few of them are suitable for an album release, because an album always requires a certain coherence or homogeneity of the material it contains. But what do you do if you are working on an EDM track, a piano ballad and an ambient piece at the same time? What happens when you have finished these tracks and would like to release them, but you don't know whether you will write other pieces of music in a similar vein in the future, so that a coherent album emerges?

Antichrisis has simply evolved artistically in such a way that neither me nor Ayuma want to limit ourselves to any restrictions of musical style of fashion: if we feel like writing and producing a moody synth track, then that's what we'll do, whereas the next song could turn out to be an utterly noisy piece of guitar rock - but it's almost impossible to achieve a coherent album sequencing with that approach.

However, if we put aside the thought of an album release, we can release a single track as soon as it's finished, and you wouldn't have to wait several years until another Antichrisis album is ready to be released.

From a musician’s perspective it is definitely much more satisfying to be able to release a song as soon as it is mixed and mastered, instead of having to put it on hold because another 8 tracks have to be finished first in order to finally have enough material for an entire album.

Hence our next album for which we have already written all songs will also be the last and final Antichrisis album, because we will be releasing only single tracks prospectively as soon as they are finished.

And don't get us wrong: albums like "Cantara Anachoreta", "A Legacy of Love" or "Not Fade Away" were just the right thing for us to do at the time of their release - but as aforementioned, times have changed and our music is written and produced in a different context nowadays. But that won’t affect the musical quality of our songs in any way; it’ll just give us the chance to expand our ways of musical expression even further than before - and that is something every ambitious musician is trying to achieve.

The completion of "Foxfire“ took much more time than we had expected. This was mainly due to the fact that we both were buggered by some troublesome health issues since the release of "Not Fade Away“: whether it was pneumonia, tinnitus, blood poisoning or depression — you name it, we had it!

But much to my surprise, "Foxfire“ almost formed itself on its own: many songs were written, recorded and some of them got discarded — but when the core of the album finally began to emerge, I realised that this album turned into some kind of review of my life so far, with all its ups and downs. Given my advanced age, such a review is not at all surprising, indeed. That said it isn’t a look back in anger, but a rather forgiving and sometimes astonished look at all the years that lie behind me which made me the person I am today.

That is also the reason why I am going back to my musical roots with songs like "Romeo“, "Last Night“, "St. Materiana“ or "The Night is Still Young“, as I felt that I should pay some kind of tribute to the heydays of the Punk scene that I grew up in. And there is also a new version of "Goodbye to Jane" to be found on this album, because that song, which goes back to the first Antichrisis demo "Missa Depositum Custodi“, has always been very close to my heart.

On the occasion of the release of "Foxfire“, Kurt Mitzkatis of German Rock e.V. did a very profound interview with me on Rockradio (in German only), which you can listen to here.

And the legendary Fatal Unterground-zine wrote a pretty comprehensive review of "Foxfire“ which can be found in the reviews-section of their website (German only, too).

With "Foxfire“ an important chapter of Antichrisis comes to an end, because with our next album Ayuma and me will take a completely different route in terms of songwriting and sound. And we do keep our fingers crossed that this forthcoming album won’t take us another 8 years to finish.

It’s been a long time since the last blog entry — but don’t worry: there’s still a lot going on under Antichrisis’ hood. We’re still working on our upcoming album “Foxfire”, and I’m really excited about those new tracks that we’ve recorded so far. In order to give you an idea what “Foxfire” will be all about, here’s a few production notes on some of the songs that’ll appear on the album:

After the War: A rousing dystopian Electronica track, much in the vein of old classics like “Crossing the Line” or “The Point of No Return”. It deals with the subject of what will become of mankind if we stick with warfare, pollution and nationalism.

Close-Hauled: Melancholic Folk Rock inspired by North Cornwall’s rugged coastline. The story of a ghostly crew coming back for the soul of a lighthouse keeper whose delinquency lead to their death one stormy night.

Goodbye to Jane: One of Ayuma’s all-time favourites: she always wanted to do her own version of that song and so we re-arranged and re-recorded it in a way that sounds a bit like Nine Inch Nails would encounter The Jesus & Mary Chain.

Gravity on Mars: What happens if promises and hearts are broken and love fails? This gloomy acoustic guitar ballad will tell you. Sad & sweet but also with the silver lining of hope at the end that has become some kind of trademark for Antichrisis.

Is Anybody There?: As you might already know, I’m a sucker for those 80’s Synth Pop-acts like Soft Cell, Yazoo, or OMD. And as I’m also a big fan of Stuart A. Staples and Stephin Merritt, I thought it could be a great idea to merge these two preferences and create a catchy Synth Pop-ballad dealing with a guy who walks the streets alone at night.

Last Night: I’ve grown up with the first wave of British Punk — and the older I get, the more I’m fond of these musical roots. And though I do love to fiddle around with keyboards and synthesizers, it still feels great to plug in the electric guitar, turn up the volume and bang around on high speed — not the hardcore, but the melodic way. “Last Night” is all about the anger and the desperation - and its music sounds exactly like it.

Lost & Found: From Punk Rock to orchestral music: A love song written for my wonderful wife Ayuma; done in a rather unorthodox way just with harp, English horn and clarinet. No drums and guitars to be found here.

Loving You So Long: Oh, I just love guitar-driven disco songs: Blondie, Gang of Four, New Order, Gossip — they’ve all done really great stuff when it comes to that kind of music. Hence I came up with this “Four to the Floor”-track that also provides a very snappy bass line.

Like a Snow Walk: Not really sure it that’s going to be the definite title of that song as we’re still working on the lyrics momentarily, but it’s nevertheless a great track with tribal drumming, uplifting keyboards and a hymnal piano line, which could be because of some indeterminate Ultavox-Midge Ure-inflluences.

The Night’s Still Young: Getting back to these old punk roots: a song about what it felt like when we were young, it was Saturday night and there was something in the air that promised adventures and brill fantastic incidents. The night was ours, and it usually kicked off Friday evening and finished in the early hours of Monday morning.

She Lay Waiting: This is exactly what you’ll get when you put Pink Floyd, Anathema, Lee Hazlewood and Oasis in the blender and operate the damn thing on full speed: walls of guitars crushing down in that song that came to me during our journey to the Baltic Sea two years ago.

St. Materiana: Yet another song inspired by and about the sea. This time it takes place in Tintagel, Cornwall, and it deals with the subject of star-crossed lovers. If that topic was good enough for William Shakespeare, it’s definitely still good enough for Antichrisis. Except for the fact what Mr. Shakespeare didn’t use Metal-drenched Punk Rock for background music.

Subways of Time: Things get a bit unusual here: A country waltz played by piano and strings? But don’t worry: It just works! A sparse but doleful ballad about the passing of time and remembering the ones we once shared parts of our lives with.

You Could Not Follow Me: Now comes the marching band. Honestly… Like young Leonard Cohen would have a little get-together with Procol Harum at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Rather odd but catchy!

These are just some of the tracks of our preselection for “Foxfire”: Could be that there will be some additional tracks, too; but it could also be that one or two of the aforementioned songs will be discarded in favour of some other tracks — let’s just wait and see. We haven’t set a release date for “Foxfire” yet as some of its songs are still in the making, but as soon as we’re reaching the mastering stage we’ll let you know.

There once was a most beautiful planet called Eorthe
But mankind really fucked it up
Only a few survived Dōmes Dæg
Two tribes emerged: Enoe and Mandoag
Mandoag tried to hunt us down with their spiral wings
They built bastilles that we absconded from
Beware of Mandoag searchlights
Her boat was waiting for us on the shore
We cried when we saw what we had done
How could we be so ignorant?
Even the crows had disappeared
We built Baduhenna with our last resources
We gotta get away although we could have had it all
The last rite before the take off
Our spaceship on a preset course to Alpha Canis Majoris
We're desperate and scared: there is no home anymore
It's so dark and cold out there
There's no return
Au revoir, Terre

We just released our movie score to A. Forster's SciFi filmlet "Baduhenna". This score was quite a challenging task as "Baduhenna" turned out to be a movie without any dialogue: like in the silent film era the music had to underscore the entire movie reflecting the emotions of all characters of the pursued Enoe tribe.

The soundtrack album contains the original motion picture edit as well as all its tracks separately (for those of you who prefer to listen to single tracks or wish to download individual tracks). We've also included bonus tracks "Understanding Everything" and "There Were Crows (Snowflakes Mix)" as they fitted just perfectly to the album's over-all atmosphere.

"Baduhenna" is completely different from previous works of Antichrisis as we had never done a score before. Just like our previous album "Not Fade Away" it comes as digital download only and is available at Bandcamp, on iTunes, Amazon and lots of other digital market places.

Although this movie score is entirely based on synths and keyboards, it doesn’t mean that we won’t be doing our more “traditional” stuff any more. On the contrary: Antichrisis' next album “Foxfire” will definitely pick up the threads of “Not Fade Away” again.

Good news for all Antichrisis-fans in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus: renowned Russian label Irond has released a licensed version of “Not Fade Away” on CD, including a beautifully designed booklet. The collaboration with Irond was a really pleasant experience, and they did a great job -- so check it out on their website.

Here we go: Antichrisis’ new album “Not Fade Away” is finally available as download-only edition via Bandcamp as of now for a minimum price of €7.00 and a minimum price of €0.50 for individual songs (if you feel like paying more you’re welcome; if not enjoy the decent price tag, anyway) .

I’ve also taken the chance for overhauling Antichrisis’ website because I’ve had it up to here with black — and also because Holger Warschkow of Dark Feather suggested that it’d be time for a new Antichrisis logo. At first I hesitated because I really love the original monicker (no wonder as I’ve been doodling it by myself), but after giving it a second thought I came to the conclusion that Holger was right: Antichrisis has gone through so many changes since I’ve started the project in 1998 and the new logo somehow represents the new musical horizons that we’ve set sails to perfectly.

“Not Fade Away” seems to be just the right title for that album because many of you might have got the impression over the last years that Antichrisis may have possibly ceased to exist. But Antichrisis is still up and running though no longer as the sextet that we’ve used to be, but as a duo consisting of yours truly and Ayuma instead. And not only have Ayuma & me gotten this album together but we’re already working on a lot of new tracks; so Antichrisis definitely hasn’t faded away but is rather bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as it were.

This new album is also the first album in Antichrisis’ history that is released as a digital download only, without an external record company (Blue Yonder Records is our very own label) or an external producer: everything was done by ourselves, from cover artwork to the recording sessions in our home studio, as well as from production to mastering. Hence we may not have reached the perfection of previous releases like “A Legacy of Love Mark II” but Ayuma and me are nevertheless very satisfied and proud of what we’ve achieved with that kind of DIY-work ethic.

“Not Fade Away” is the perfect epitome of what Antichrisis 2012 is all about. We’re not longer the Doom/Metal/Goth-outfit that we’ve started with “Cantara Anachoreta” because we’ve been embracing a lot of musical styles and influences on our way to this day and age. Of course you’ll still find Post Punk and Gothic elements in tracks like “Here Comes The Night” and “Adrenalin” but we’ve also developed further into the direction of Electronica and Dancefloor with songs like “Ocean’s Too Wide”, “The Point of No Return” and “Crossing The Line”.

Apart from that there’s still Antichrisis’ search for the perfect pop song that we’re keeping up with “The Fire Went Out”, “Creatures of a Jade Lagoon” or “Walking With Angels”, our love for Indie & Alternative guitar sounds that’s shimmering through “Who You Are” and “Shine”; our passion for Irish music that’s reflected by songs like “Restless Years”, “Endless Flow” or “Lament for Kira” — and finally there are these in-betweeners like “Night Train” or “Have You Been Loved?” that simply don’t fit into any of the aforementioned categories.

To Ayuma and me “Not Fade Away” feels like a Greatest Hits Album because it really is a selection of our favourite songs, and we hope you’re going to love this album as much as we do!

Last but not least we’d like to express our gratitude to Alexander “Näx” May, Tilo Rockstroh and Frank J. Hennig for their wonderful input and contribution: it’s always a pleasure and a privilege to work with these guys! And also a big “Thank You” to all our fans out there: your feedback and support means a lot to us!

As all you keen readers of Antichrisis’ blog might have already noticed, releasing a new album is a very unsteady operation these days: plans for releasing “The Legacy remains” went down the drain when Reartone Records called it a day a few years ago, and now that Tunguska Records also kicked the bucket it seems that Antichrisis’ scheduled album releases do stand just the same chance as a mayfly in a thunderstorm.

But as so many of you out there have requested an album, Ayuma and me were asking ourselves how we could accomplish an album release on sensible terms.

One good thing is that we wouldn’t need a studio as we’re able to record and produce all our songs at home -- and even if our technical standards might not come close to those of let’s say Bob Rock or Rick Rubin, we’re still achieving something that doesn’t sound too bad for an autodidactic independent production.

Now getting these self-produced tracks on CD is a different story: compact disc manufacturing and printing of booklets ain’t something that I’d call dirt cheap, but thanks to the blessings of the Internet it is nowadays within the bounds of possibility to distribute a downloadable version of an album on decent conditions.

So we decided to release a download-only version of the new Antichrisis album by the beginning of next year: you’ll get all tracks in highest possible quality (i. e. without any bit-rate reduction just as you’d expect it from any standard CD) as well as specially designed artwork (front cover and back cover) - and it goes without saying that all this will be reasonably priced.

All that’s left for you to do then is buying the album, download its tracks and artwork, burn the songs on CD (if desired), print the cover and off you go: a brand new Antichrisis album, directly acquired from the artists without being charged for any kind of intermediate trade or stock-keeping: of course we’ll keep you informed about further details concerning track list, release date, pricing and source of supply on this blog.

This also means that availability for free downloads of Antichrisis’ songs from SoundCloud will be stopped by 23 October 2011. Of course you will still be able to listen to all tracks in full length via streaming audio, but with the forthcoming release of the new album we’ll have to draw the line somewhere eventually.

But enough of that for now: we’re hoping that you’ll like the idea of a self-distributed downloadable Antichrisis-album, and in the meantime Ayuma and me hope that you’re going to enjoy our new track “Creatures of a Jade Lagoon” that we’ve just uploaded to the music section of this website.

By the way: thanks to Rüdiger Abend there is now some live footage from Antichrisis’ performance at the Markthalle Hamburg in 1999. Of course not the best audio quality, but nevertheless a nice remembrance of Antichrisis’ first stage appearance ever (although with a completely different line-up than today): Watch it on YouTube.

A few days ago we received a sad email by our label Tunguska Records: unfortunately Tunguska had to close down due to the fact that it’s almost impossible these days for a small ambitious independent record company with low budget but much better taste in music to make ends meet.

This means that there won’t be any new Antichrisis album for now, which is a shame as our collaboration with Tunguska Records was a really pleasant experience -- hence we’re wishing Julia Dobberstein all the best for her future plans!

Good news is that this drawback won’t stop Antichrisis in any way: we’re going to release all the songs that were planned for the aforementioned album on our website within the next few months and we will also carry on with continuously writing and producing new songs, because in the end Ayuma and me are in it for the music and not for business purposes.

As long as we’re still loving, dancing and dreaming, there will also be new songs!