‘The Last Goodbye’ is about the moment when one realises that a relationship is on the brink of failure, but doesn’t want to admit it and instead trying everything to turn things around.

But saving this love requires the will and strength of both parties – and above all, honesty and sincerity.

But if one of the two has already left the this relationship behind and is just looking for a convenient opportunity to sneak out of the back door, while the other is still fighting for this love, failing to realise that he or she is only clinging to memories of the past and doesn't see how much the person they once loved has changed, then this fight no longer makes any sense at all and it is therefore much better to face the pain, say a last goodbye and leave the playground of emotions where there was nothing to be gained anyway.

Our next song is going to be released around Spring Equinox.

The world around us is a terrible und dangerous place – that is to say, it could be a wonderful and peaceful place, but we humans are making it increasingly unbearable and unjust. Current global political developments are not exactly helping to feel better about things either, and sometimes all one wants to do is scream and run away.

But despite all the darkness that surrounds us these days, there is a bright light – and that is the love between two people, helping them to overcome all of life's challenges and walk side by side and hand in hand on their path.

I am infinitely fortunate to have found such a love in Ayuma – and so ‘Forever Free’ is dedicated especially to her and all those who have been blessed with the same good fortune, of course.

Our next song is going to be released around Imbolc 2026.

As 2025 is slowly coming to an end, I have once again compiled a list of my favourite songs from this year in no particular order:

Eldamar: Akt III; I Must Be Dead...
Suede: Disintegrate
Yasmine Hamdan: Shadia
Perfume Genius: Me & Angel
IDER: Attachment Theory
Die Heiterkeit: Im kalten Februar Regen
Big Thief: Incomprehensible
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry: Driving Black
Tami Neilson: Foolish Heart
Mavis Staples: Beautiful Strangers

Ayuma and I wish you a happy, healthy and, above all, peaceful New Year.

Fireworks harm animals through extreme noise, sudden flashes, and toxic residues, which cause intense fear, physical injury, and long‑term health problems.

Up to about half of dogs and cats show fear of fireworks, with behaviors such as shaking, hiding, pacing, drooling, and attempts to escape. This intense stress can mimic post‑traumatic reactions, and repeated exposure can create or worsen noise phobias that persist long after the event. Panic drives many pets, livestock, and wild animals to flee; some become lost, are hit by cars, or injure themselves on fences and other obstacles.

Wild birds and other wildlife may take frantic flight during firework events, abandoning roosts and nesting sites and showing erratic flight patterns that increase collision and mortality risk. Radar and field studies have documented huge spikes in birds taking off on nights with big firework displays, with some species leaving their habitat or losing critical rest and feeding time, which can affect survival, especially during breeding or migration. Similar disturbance has been reported in marine and coastal animals such as seals and shorebirds near coastal firework shows.​

Startled animals can suffer injuries from running into obstacles, trying to jump barriers, or getting tangled in enclosures, and some farm animals and horses die as a result. Firework debris can be ingested by wildlife or grazing animals, leading to poisoning or digestive blockage, and sharp fragments can cause direct physical harm. In extreme cases, the acute stress response itself (for example, heart rate spikes in birds) can lead to collapse or death by fright.​

Exploding fireworks release fine particulate matter and gases, plus metals such as lead, strontium, and copper, which can contaminate air, soil, and water and harm respiratory and overall health in humans and animals. Perchlorates and other chemicals from fireworks have been detected in waterways, and plastic components and residues contribute to litter and microplastics that enter food chains and affect wildlife over time.​

No creature deserves to be traumatized by fireworks for even one night. By switching to silent fireworks, drone shows, or laser light shows, you can still offer a fun celebration that is safe and respectful of all animals and humans.

Organised crime and organised religion have two things in common: both use blackmail and false promises. And every monotheistic or abrahamic religion has traits of fascism and totalitarianism, because there is only one God— of course, a male entity—who offers the only path to salvation and who justifies the persecution of those of other faiths as well as the devaluation and oppression of women, as we can easily see at present in Afghanistan.

The suppression of female spirituality, identity, and autonomy is the primary doctrine of every monotheistic religion, be it Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. In all these religions, the absolute privilege and unrestricted dominance of men is disguised as piety and orthodoxy; heterosexuality is declared the godly norm, and all other human beings who reject this belief are discredited and devalued as kāfir, goyim, infidels, or sodomites.

The spoken passages in this song are not fictitious, but are literally the current “rules” of the Taliban, which women in Afghanistan must obey if they want to stay alive. “Why?” is our contribution to drawing attention to the intolerable and inhumane situation of women in Afghanistan, because what is being done to the women there on a daily basis is nothing less than slavery and therefore a violation of human rights.

Our next song will be released around Winter Solstice 2025.

Ayuma inspired me to this song, because of her love and admiration for all birds, which is why we always go out from fall to spring to feed the wild birds at our feeding station in the forest, which Ayuma set up especially for this purpose.

I’ve been sensing Ayuma’s deep connection with the birds - and that's how this song came about, because to me Ayuma is the lady of the rowan tree, who in tdecides to leave a world where only humans count and nature and animals are being pushed back more and more. Hence the lady asks death to turn her into a rowan tree so that she can still offer food and shelter for the birds after she has passed away…

From a musical point of view, this song picks up the thread of “Cantara Anachoreta” without simply repeating itself; instead it is a consistent evolution of Antichrisis' style of that era.

Antichrisis' next song is going to be released around Samhain 2025.

"Lupus est homo homini"

This quote from Plautus could not be more wrong, because wolves are extremely social creatures that are not prone to cruelty, nor do they kill purely for pleasure or because they enjoy the pain and suffering of other living beings.

No, humans are the source of the suffering of all other living beings on this planet, because we rob them of their habitat, enslave and kill them out of greed and intoxicate ourselves with the apparent power we have over our fellow creatures...

Therefore, the above quote should correctly read as follows:

"Homo origo est doloris omnium viventium“

That's why Ayuma and me support PETA -- and that's why we wrote ‘My Beautiful Creatures’.

Our next song will be released around Autumn Equinox 2025.

When I wrote ‘The Farewell’ many years ago, it contained the line ‘but now I'm going home to a place where love is more than just a four-letter word’.

I wrote the lyrics to this song under the impression that I would never find what I was longing for: two long-termend relationships had failed under painful circumstandes, and I couldn't explain for the life of me why my desire for a deep and everlasting love always "got shipwrecked on the shores of broken dreams".

On that account I thought that I would never find what I was looking for although I had always believed that this love had to be out there somewhere. But it seemed that it would never come true for me in this world and that I would therefore have to leave...

But a few years later on New Years Eve I accidentally met Ayuma, and with her I had finally found the soulmate I was meant to be with and the place by her side where I belonged -- and where love is so much more than just a four-letter word.

Ayuma felt just the same way about me, because she too had been searching so many years without finding what she was longing for from the bottom of her heart.

But now we have been together for over 20 years, and with every year our love becomes more intense and deeper -- hence ‘Luna’ was written against this background: in this song, Ayuma and me are expressing our gratitude for having found each other at last after so many years... and just like Kool & The Gang once sang we will cherish the love we have.

Our next song will be released around the time of Lugnasadh 2025.

As I have mentioned several times before, I have given up on humanity: neither are we capable of stopping the ever-accelerating climate catastrophe, nor are we taking any action against overpopulation, the extinction of species and the destruction of the livelihoods of all living beings on this planet.

Instead, we insist on constant economic and population growth, which is bordering on insanity given the fact that we are living on a planet with finite resources.

We are doing everything we can to erase ourselves as humanity from the face of the Earth: of course we cannot destroy our planet, for it existed long before us and will continue to exist long after us — but we will cease to exist.

This song is written from the point of view of the last man on Earth, who looks back with sadness and realises that this will be his last night on this once so beautiful planet — yet he resigns himself to his fate because he knows that the Earth will be a better place without an unconvincable, ignorant and cruel human race.

Our next song is going to be released around Summer Solstice 2025.

The world is changing rapidly: the effects of the climate catastrophe are becoming more drastic from year to year, and with them comes the severe decrease of number of habitats for humans and animals. And Europe seems to believe that it could protect itself from the consequences of this development by voting for right-wing parties.

But right-wing populists capitalise on people's muffled fears to make them believe that isolationism, closed borders and walls could protect our first world prosperity and privileges. They spread lies with the sole purpose of securing their power, weakening democracies and, above all, oppressing and exploiting the poor.

These junkmen are dangerous because their proposed solutions to all problems sound so seductively simple, but in fact they are just smokescreens promising people a future that can never exist and never will, because we have long since passed the tipping point and will not be able to turn back the hands of the clock -- certainly not with these junkmen in power.

Do not fall for their traps and lies: anyone who gives just simple answers to complex questions and only ever looks for scapegoats instead of solutions is undoubtedly an enemy of mankind, democracy and humanity.

Our next song is going to be released around Beltane 2025.

We actually wanted to release this song for Winter Solstice in 2024, but as there wasn't any snow and the sun was also shining at the time, too, the right atmosphere for this track didn't really come to pass.

That's why Imbolc seemed much more suitable for this song, which describes a love that transcends time and even overcomes death -- and which returns to its wellspring every winter with the snowflakes that are falling from the sky.

Our next song is going to be released at Spring Equinox 2025.

And once again, the time of year has come when the usual Top Five, Top Ten or even Top Twenty lists get published, and so I also wanted to choose my favourite songs of 2024, although not all of them are necessarily from 2024, but some tracks were only discovered by me ithis year: It's probably due to my advanced age that I'm no longer completely up to date. 😉

And so, without much ado, here's Antichrisis' Top 20 of 2024:

Süddeutsches Ton-Bild-Studio - Beirut
Floating on a Moment - Beth Gibbons
BLACK DOG / WHITE HORSE - Big Special
This Can't Go On - Bill Ryder-Jones
My Forgotten Dream - Cock Sparrer
Bunker Song - Death in Rome
The Mourning Star - Domhain
Mahashmashana - Father John Misty
Krip - Go_A
Liebesformular - International Music
The Architect - Kacey Musgraves
When The Light Of Morning Comes - Lisa Gerrard & Marcello De Francisci
The Curse of the Blackened Eye - Orville Peck
So Much Wine - Phoebe Bridgers
The Longest Winter - Sáasil
A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey
Home To You (This Christmas) - Sigrid
The Eternal - Silver Moth
Alley Light - Squirrel Flower
La symphonie des éclairs - Zaho de Sagazan

People seeing you on stage think that you are an absolutely tough guy that can't be shaken by anything: you're the powerhouse, the showman, the centre of the party - but they cannot see how miserable, weak and abandoned you feel inside.

And so, after the performance and all the cheering and applause, you go back to your empty flat, lonely and alone, wondering how much longer you can endure this.

Fortunately, that time of my life is far in the past, but I still remember only too well how shitty it felt back then - and that's exactly why I wrote this song that is dedicated to all those people who might feel lonely and forsaken this Xmas.

Out next song should be ready around Imbolc 2025.

It's All Hallow's Eve and therefore the time when the veil is lifted between the world of the living and the world of the dead -- and at this time of year I think of my uncle and aunt, who both passed away a few years ago and who really were the coolest couple I knew when I was a child.

My uncle had an electric guitar on which he taught me my first chords, and I admired him immensely for being able to play all these fantastic songs by the Beatles, Buddy Holly and Duane Eddy on this Hopf Jupiter 63. I was so proud when he lent me this guitar one day so that I was able to record my first songs at home on a cheap tape deck.

My aunt was a dashing young woman who loved Esther & Abi Ofarim and Simon & Garfunkel: each time I visited her, she put on their records and I loved looking through her home-made kaleidoscope, where I could see the beautiful colour patterns while listening to the beautiful and mellow folk songs.

They were a totally adventurous and merry couple, but at some point, ordinary life caught up with them: they built a house, they had children -- and with the passage of time the perfect couple turned into two people who no longer had anything in common: No longer were they happy together, and they became more and more miserable and disaffected over the years. First my uncle died, and a few years later my aunt… and all that's left of them are many fond childhood memories and a sad feeling because I would have wished that they could have been happy together for the rest of their lives.

Our next song is going to be released around Winter Solstice 2024.

I always had an inkling that what I had been searching for all my life had to be out there somewhere: I just didn't have the faintest idea where and how to find it.

And so I searched everywhere, scaling the highest heights and experiencing the deepest falls, because what I thought of being lasting and true each time turned out to be just an illusion...

But I was dreaming of a pair of brown eyes that would one day look at me with warmth and love and in which I would find everything I had always been looking for - and then it finally happened: my dream came true, and Ayuma and I have now been together for more than 18 years.

Our next song is going to be released around Samhain 2024.

To be honest, I have long since given up on humanity: when I look at our continent of Europe, I am sad to say that we are not prepared to take the long-needed steps to prevent the ongoing climate catastrophe, even though parts of the planet are already becoming uninhabitable due to increasing drought, while other parts are being devastated by floods, torrential rain and tempests.

Our oceans are choking on plastic waste and global warming continues unabated, while we continue to fantasise like drug addicts about eternal economic growth, when it should have long been clear to everyone that there is no such thing as unlimited growth on a planet with finite resources — especially not if there continues to be uncontrolled population growth.

Nature and animals are suffering at the hands of the world's most dangerous predator, man, who not only devours its prey but also tortures it just for fun.

And while dozens of animal species are becoming extinct almost every day, drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce and there is more and more hatred, violence and war, we in Europe actually believe that we can seal ourselves off from all the refugees who have to flee because of these aforementioned circumstances. We do build walls to maintain our illusion of prosperity, without realising that we are doomed to perish with the rest of mankind because the prosperity of the industrialised nations is endangering all living creatures on this wonderful blue planet.

And so we are trying to erect more and more walls for safeguarding our oh so precious prosperity — but as Ayuma's mother once said to her in a dream: "Even these walls will fall one day" - and I guess that day won't be far away.

But there is also something positive to report, because today is Ayuma’s and my 16th wedding anniversary — and even after all these years, every day at Ayuma's side is like a wonderful gift for me that I will always cherish and revere.

And our next track is going to be released around Autumn Equinox 2024.

Hundreds of the world's leading climate researchers predict that global temperatures will rise by at least 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels this century. This would far exceed the internationally agreed target of 1.5 degrees Celsius and could have catastrophic consequences for all living creatures on this planet.

77 per cent of the 380 experts expect warming of at least 2.5 degrees Celsius. Almost half even forecast an increase of at least 3 degrees Celsius.

Many scientists are painting a bleak picture of the future, characterised by famine, conflict and mass migration, specifically citing heatwaves, forest fires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond anything experienced to date.

Most experts are exasperated at the inaction of governments despite the clear scientific evidence. They predict that the world is heading for major societal upheaval within the next five years and that governments will be overwhelmed by the extreme events this will bring.

These experts are calling for massive preparations to protect people and our environment from the worst effects of the coming climate disasters.

A lack of political will and the influence of interest groups such as the fossil fuel industry were cited by the overwhelming majority of experts as the main reasons for the failure to tackle the climate crisis. Inequality and the failure of rich countries to help poorer ones, who suffer the most from climate impacts, were also frequently addressed.

One South African scientist sharply criticised the global response to the crisis: "I expect a semi-dystopian future with significant pain and suffering for people in the global South." He said that we are sailing on a "ship of fools".

And for this very reason we are heading for the cliffs of the final breakdown with our eyes wide open, because we refuse to listen warning call of the sirens.

Our next track is going to be released around Lughnasadh 2024.

Just like "The King of Emptiness" this song is also based on a dream I once had: in this dream, Ayuma and I got into an argument over mere inanities: I got angry, stormed out of the house and ran along a lonely road.

As I ran, I realised how senseless our argument was and that it was completely unnecessary because I loved Ayuma with all of my heart and therefore there was nothing worth arguing or getting angry about.

At the end of the road, a flower shop was still open, so I went in and bought a bouquet of roses for Ayuma.

I ran back to apologise for my stubbornness - but when I came back to our house, it seemed to have been abandoned for decades: it was just a dilapidated ruin where no one seemed to be living anymore. Horrified, I stood in front of the forsaken house and called out for Ayuma, but she was no longer there -- and when I woke up from that terrible dream, drenched in sweat and with a pounding heart, I reached out gently for Ayuma lying next to me and the nightmare came to an end.

Our next track is going to be released around Summer Solstice 2024.

"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
(Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures")

Although my mind continues to tell me that I am at most 35 years old, my body is making me realise more and more clearly that I have passed the age of 60: I am in the autumn of my life and the salad days of youth are long behind me.

After a stay in hospital, I am now even dependent on crutches for some time, and I am increasingly realising that my lifetime ain't infinite. I've become like the weathered tree in the song -- but no matter what marks age has left on me: my wonderful wife is still standing by me and will never leave me, because we are inseperable and together we are swaying gently in the autumn wind...

Our next track is going to be released around Beltane 2024.

Back in the 90s I have been living in Bonn where I met Näx, the excellent piper who also player the uilleann pipes on "A Legacy of Love" and "Perfume". We formed an Irish Folk-duo as some kind of side project and played in clubs and venues around town, which was rather unusual in a city whose music scene was very much dominated by blues and jazz at the time.

Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and, above all, we had put together a really great set of traditional Irish ballads and original compositions - and one of these original compositions included "Down By The Salley Gardens", which is based on the poem of the same name by the renowned Irish poet, dramatist and writer William Butler Yeats.

This poem has always meant a lot to me - and although it has been taken up by quite a few musicians already, I wrote my own melody to it, which I have never forgotten despite all the years that have passed since then.

And so I recorded this song as a tribute to the good times of my collaboration with Näx, because the musical roots of Antichrisis also lie to a rather significant extent in Irish Folk, as can be quite easily heard on this recording.

Our next track will be released around Spring Equinox 2024.

I have always been a great admirer of bands and artists such as Neu!, La Düsseldorf, Wolfgang Riechmann, Michael Rother and Harmonia. To be honest, I was never particularly into Kraftwerk whereas OMD was much more my cup of tea.

Of course I looked up to Conny Plank, who in my opinion was the most innovative and forward-thinking German producer of all time. If I had ever been allowed to choose a favourite producer, it would have been Conny Plank — but unfortunately he passed away in 1987.

The influence of the aforementioned bands and artists can be clearly detected on our latest track "Nysnø" — and that is intentional, because "Nysnø" is our tribute to these innovative artists, who received only little recognition in Germany in their heyday, whereas abroad they are still held in high esteem and quite a few far better-known artists cite them as a significant influence.

And while we're at it and because it's that time of the year: here are our top ten songs of 2023:

Finbar Furey: I'll Take A Glass
Lisa Gerrard & Marcello De Francisci: When The Light Of The Morning Comes
The Düsseldorf Düsterboys: Sommer
Domhain: The Mourning Star
Sáasil: The Longest Winter
Kodaline: All I Want
Public Image Ltd. - Hawaii
The Last Dinner Party: Nothing Matters
Patrick Wolf: Enter The Day
Squirrel Flower: Alley Light

By the way: our next track is going to be released around Imbolc 2024.

On Samhain, the veils separating the world of the living from the other world are so thin that it becomes possible to make a connection between these two worlds - even if only in dreams.

And just as H. P. Lovecraft returned again and again to the same places in his dreams and met familiar figures there, we too can return on this hallows' eve to the place where our souls are at home, to meet other souls there to live our life in another world.

My special thanks at this point goes to our friend Harald Stürmer, who contributed his stirring lead guitar to "Another World".

Our next song will be released around Winter Solstice in 2023.

Humankind is sealing its own doom: economic growth seems to be more important than preventing climate change; our greed for wealth continues to exploit our planet until all resources are used up; and instead of taking measures against overpopulation, child wealth continues to be promoted although it is more than questionable whether these children will have a future at all.

Add to this increasing brutalisation, misogyny, homophobia, racism, religious fundamentalism, warmonger, lack of empathy, ruthlessness, selfishness, nationalism, recklessness, intolerance and stupidity -- and because of all this those two remaining lovers decide to go down to the sea, where a caravel lies waiting to carry them to the land beyond the rainbow: she will set course for their last refuge up North, where there will only be them with all the love that they share for each other.

Antichrisis' next song is going to be released around Samhain 2023.

There had been quite a few times in his life when I felt completely lost and forsaken: like a ship that no longer knew which stars to follow. Though I was searching for his way, I was unable to find it - until I went to the sea to find inner peace and tranquility again.

The waves of the sea sang of how I carried everything I was looking for inside of me, and that I should no longer let myself be distracted by people and their erratic behaviour, their fickleness and capricious emotions, but follow the compass of my dreams instead -- and that compass finally led me to Ayuma.

Ayuma and I have been married for 15 years by now, and each and every day we get to spend together is like a precious gift to us.

"Nehalennia" is both an ode to the sea, which always gave me comfort and strength when I felt lost, as well as a declaration of love to my wonderful wife.

"Just like a trail of scarlet
Your scent still lingers on
Echoes of your laughter
Never fading
Never ending

Words you've said
Tears you cried
Like precious diamonds
Your hands full of grace
Caressed my skin

All I ever wished for
All I ever dreamed of I found that night
In your warm embrace

Oh, my love
As I was lying by your side
You revealed paradise to me"

The feeling I’m describing in these lines has only become more intense in all these years we have been together - and it still feels like a dream come true to both of us.

Antichrisis' next song is going to be released around Autumn Equinox 2023.

The end of a relationship is never easy: something that you initially believed in wholeheartedly suddenly slips away and there seems to be nothing you can do about it.

In such a situation, it is of course the easiest and most convenient solution to put the blame for the whole mess on the partner, but apart from toxic relationships where physical or psychological violence is involved, both protagonists usually bear their share for this failure.

In these cases, it is important to acknowledge your own responsibility, as one-sided blame only leads to distortion of reality.

But if you realise that while you yourself are willing to admit your own failings and mistakes, your partner, on the other hand, insists that everything was merely your fault or, at best, a simple twist of fate that no one could have influenced, it is time to end this show and pull down the curtain of self-deception.

Antichrisis' next single is going to be released around Lughnasadh 2023.

Some songs come to me in my dreams: in that case it is important to wake up just in that very moment when I still can remember the song, getting out of bed immediately, picking up my guitar and playing and recording that song from the the realm of dreams.

Though this mode of operation leads to an interrupted night’s sleep, the interruption is usually worth it, because songs from the dream world always have a special quality to them.

This is how “The King of Emptiness” came to me -- not only with chords and melody, but also with its chorus lyrics, hence I kept them unchanged.

For this reason, this song tells the fairy-tale story of once fortunate king whose lands flourished because he had found his queen of hearts - until one day he lost her and had since become the lonesome king of a forsaken kingdom.

Our next song will appear around the time of the Summer Solstice.

Our time on this planet is running out: we are destroying the foundations for life, and although we have the means to tackle pollution, global warming, poverty, and overpopulation, we refuse to do anything that could possibly jeopardise our oh so sacred economic growth.

But on a planet with finite resources, there can be no infinite growth - yet instead of drawing the right conclusions from these developments, we point fingers at those who warn of the consequences of our actions.

We will inevitably be wiped off the face of the earth because we have proven ourselves to be too selfish, too brutal, and too ignorant - and when finally our last time comes, we will be no more than a speck of dust in the wind, and the last light of love will fade away into eternity.

"One Last Time" is dedicated to Greta Thunberg & Fridays for Future and is also available on all major streaming platforms from now on.

Antichrisis' next single is going to be released around Beltane 2023.

By the way, in case you're wondering why there have been so few vocal contributions from Ayuma on recent Antichrisis tracks and also no new releases of her solo project AYUMA, it's because she is unfortunately still suffering from Long Covid and therefore isn't yet able to do vocal recordings.

As a result, Antichrisis' latest releases often feature only Sid on vocals, but we very much hope that Ayuma's physical condition will soon be getting better so she'll be able to dive back into her musical work with full force.

Imbolc, the festival of the returning light, marks the beginning of spring, which for so many people is a celebration of joy, whereas for me it is associated with melancholy and sadness, because it means saying goodbye to the much loved dark and quiet season of winter.

Now spring is upon us again, which will be filled with the deafening screaming of mindless brats, the never ending and noisy activities of the do-it-yourselfers in our neighbourhood and the completely stupid changeover to daylight saving time, which means that it doesn't get dark for hours in the evening and there is no end to the hullaballoo of peasants outside.

That was one of the positive aspects during the pandemic, when people's mobility got restricted: all of a sudden it got wonderfully quiet out there and nature as well as wildlife could recover from humans.

Unfortunately, all that has now come to an end, and with the return of light there's also the restlessness and the hubbub of people returning - and the quiet time of contemplation and creativity, which gave rise to songs like "Light Up the Stars", is over until fall.

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
(Oscar Wilde, 1854 - 1900)

"Light Up The Stars" is dedicated to the one who walks among the stars and is also available on all major streaming platforms from now on.

Antichrisis' next single is going to be released around Spring Equinox 2023.

The end of 2022 is nigh -- and so it's time to think for Antichrisis' annual Top 10-list in indeterminate order:

Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers - Trenulețul
TALK - Run Away To Mars
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Spitting Off The Edge Of The World
Betterov - Dussmann
Endark the Brightness - Descent
Heilung - Anoana
Stella Sommer - Silence Wore A Silver Coat
Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano
Dry Cleaning - Gary Ashby
Beth Orton - Friday Night

Ayuma and I wish all of you -- and especially the people in Ukraine and Iran -- peace, freedom, justice and solidarity... and don't forget our fellow creatures, the animals.

Life doesn't always turn out the way you want it to be -- and if you want to make God laugh, just try making plans.

Sometimes, out of the blue and without notice, life slams on the brakes and before you know it, you will find yourself in an utter kerfuffle that you never wanted nor asked for.

When the person you loved leaves you just like that, it feels like your world would be coming to an end. And of course it will take some time for the pain and numb feeling in your heart to finally subside. But eventually it will... and that's what "Out of the Blue" is all about.

"Out of the Blue" is also available on all major streaming platforms, and our next single is going to be released around Imbolc 2023.

Once we were lovers, but the river of time had separated us: we had taken different directions and could no longer walk down the same road together.

But when we met again after many years, you were still as familiar to me as if we had parted only yesterday.

And so I thought, "Why not forget all the quarrels and wrangles and enter the subways of time instead, laughing and dancing together for one last time as we did so long ago. And then let's say goodbye forever and keep the echoes of the past in our hearts."

"Subways of Time" is a tribute to past relationships: though they ended for good reasons, they nevertheless contain good and beautiful memories which ought to be remembered from time to time with a fond and thankful smile.

Ayuma and me can't tell yet when the next Antichrisis song is going to be released, as this depends on how well we are doing with forthcoming vocal recordings. But as soon as we have finished our next song, it is going to be released immediately.

"Arrival" is all about having finally found the love that you always dreamed of, even if you sometimes thought that this love would always remain just a beautiful dream and would never come true or would last forever.

But once you have found the one you have been searching for all your life, you instinctively feel with absolute certainty that you have finally arrived. And Ayuma & Me belong to those fortunate ones that have found all we ever dreamed of in each other, even if it took us such a long, long time.

"Arrival" will be available on all major streaming platforms from 02/09/2022, and our next single is going to be released around Autumn Equinox 2022.

This song is almost some kind of prayer: when night is at its lowest, the light of day is closest.

But there is no darkness so deep that the light of true love couldn’t illuminate it. Ayuma has lit up my life for sure, and we will walk our path together until the end.

"Stay" will be available on all major streaming platforms from 22 July 2022, and our next single is going to be released around Lughnasadh.

When love dies out, one wonders how it happened: was it carelessness or too much closeness? Was it just everyday life and routine that goes with it?

After an initial phase of falling in love, daily routine knocks on the door of almost every relationship at some point. This does not necessarily have to be a negative thing, because with everyday life comes familiarity, the true recognition of each other that goes far beyond the first days of acquaintance.

But there are also relationships that fall apart once the illusion of eternal romance can no longer be maintained i. e. when a couple's romantic stage play eventually has to stand the test of real life -- and that test sometimes requires both responsibility and renunciation. This is what „Wasted Time“ is all about.

Real love is not all about looking into each other's eyes, but also looking together in the same direction, as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once put it.

Our next single is going to be released around Summer Solstice.

Once you have found the one you have been searching for all your life, there is nothing and no one that could ever separate you from your one and only love.

And even if one day both of you will be gone, you will meet again in another life, because it is a bonding of souls that is made for eternity.

This song is dedicated to and written for my closest friend, my beguiling querida and my wonderful wife Ayuma.

Our next track will be released around Beltane.

When we got our tomcat Whisky from the animal shelter in 2010, we did not have an easy start: he had probably experienced a lot of bad things and was therefore extremely fearful and mistrustful. But with time and a lot of patience we managed to find access to him - and finally he became our most loyal companion who trusted us unconditionally and was always on our side.

The day he passed away, he took our love with him to his new home behind the rainbow - but somehow his spirit is still with us.

It’s that time of the year again when everyone’s looking back at their favourite songs and albums -- and so without further ado here’s our Top Ten list of 2021 in alphabetical order:

Adana Twins: Alone
Autumn Nostalgie: Alámerülés
Betterov: Dussmann
Courtney Barnett: Rae Street
Go_A: SHUM
Greta Van Fleet: Heat Above
International Music: Insel der Verlassenheit
Mdou Moctar: Tala Tannam
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Quattro (World Drifts In)
Tocotronic: Jugend ohne Gott gegen Faschismus

We’re wishing all of you out there a marvellous new year and hope it’ll get better than that darn 2021.

By the way: Antichrisis' next single will be released around Imbolc 2022.

"And The Snow Falls" might sound somehow familiar to some of you, as this song once was the middle section of "Dancing In The Midnight Sun", a track that appeared on our "A Legacy of Love" album in 1998, which again proves that we are getting older, als this album was released more than 23 years ago.

However, we felt that it was time to turn this former middle section into a song on its own and thus tell a story on its own - and winter is just the right time to tell such a story while the snow is falling outside and the protagonist lets his thoughts wander through a peacefully quiet midwinter night.

In addition we would like to take the opportunity to thank Näx, the Prince of Pipes, for his wonderful collaboration, as he once contributed the dreamlike melody line to this song.

With "And The Snow Falls", Ayuma and me are wishing all our friends and fans out there a Merry Yuletide and a hopefully Happy New Year full of happiness, love and joy.

Our original plan was to release one last Antichrisis album, but due to recent developments (pandemic, climate crisis, overpopulation, water scarcity, droughts, unequal distribution of wealth and resources - you name it), making plans for the future is becoming more and more unmanageable because plans might easily fail within just a few days.

We don't want to sound like prophets of doom by any means (and maybe in a few years we will laugh about our assessment of the current situation) but basically it seems that making plans for the future is somehow redundant since this pandemic started, because we don't know what the world or our state of health will be like in, say, half a year.

For that reason Ayuma and me have decided to abandon our plan for a final Antichrisis album and to release the already finished songs one by one as single tracks instead -- and of course every other song that was planned for this album, too, as soon as it will be finished.

Since we had planned to release single tracks only after our last album anyway, we are coming up with this release strategy just a little earlier than expected -- but should we actually manage to finish and release all the songs that were originally planned for the forthcoming album, we could still compile them into an album afterwards.

Therefore, within the next few weeks we will be releasing all the songs we’ve already completed and that were planned for the last Antichrisis-album that might never come. Nevertheless we do hope that you will find inspiration and beauty in these songs and that they will light a spark of hope in these ominous times for you as they have done for us.

The first track that was originally planned for an album release is "Ghosts": you can find further information on that song here.

Every break-up leaves its own traces - and in some cases even scars. "The Lineman's Call" describes the story of a break-up in which one wonders what actually became of all the love, trust and affection both partners once felt for each other. How and when could it happen that the person you once loved so sincerely turned into an evil spirit haunting you like a dark shadow from which you are desperately trying to escape?

This song is the second in a series of single releases that will follow in the next few months as we will be releasing one last Antichrisis-album and only singles beyond that: you can read more about this decision in our blog post from June 2021.

"The Lineman's Call" can be purchased and listened to on Bandcamp; it will be available on all major streaming platforms by the end of November 2021.

Recently Kurt Mitzkakis of German Rock e. V. did another interview with me for RockRadio (not in English, though, but in German): we were talking about the future of Antichrisis and new ways of music publishing, and you can listen to this interview here or download it from there. So many thanks to Kurt for this really interesting and pleasant conversation.

In August 2021 Charlie Watts died at the age of 80, and although I seem to have a split relationship with the Rolling Stones (I really loved the early Stones from 1963 to 1967 and I could still get something out of them from 1968 to 1978, but from the 80s onwards they had lost me completely as they started to sound more and more like a third-class imitation of themselves to my ears), I always considered Charlie Watts - much like Ringo Starr - as one of the most underrated and yet best drummers in rock history.

He was not a berserker like Keith Moon or John Bonham; he refused to play - and there is the parallel to Ringo Starr again - any kind of drum solo. He was a minimalist in the best sense, according to the motto that the best notes are the ones you don't play. This gave not only his drumming but the whole sound of the Rolling Stones that laid-back feeling that characterises many of their best tracks.

Charlie Watts' style sometimes seemed a little behind the pace, but actually it never was. In fact it was the ideal match for Keith Richards' guitar riffs, which always seemed a bit sloppy.

There are probably hundreds of drummers who are technically superior to Charlie Watts, but only few play in such a song-oriented way that he did. And above all, there are only a few who manage to create such unique drum intros that let one immediately recognise the respective song: Charlie Watts succeeded in this with his opening drum groove to "Get Off Of My Cloud" as well as Ringo Starr with "Tomorrow Never Knows" or John Bonham with his intro to "Rock and Roll".

Charlie Watts was one of those drummers who never played himself to the fore, but nevertheless kept everything together and with whom every musician on this planet would have liked to jam at any given time. The big band up there in heaven has recruited another excellent drummer who will be sadly missed down here.

"How Can I Live On Top Of A Mountain?" was a question I couldn't find an answer to for so many years and for all sorts of reasons: sometimes I couldn't reach the mountaintop at all because it was shrouded in mist and thus all the way out of sight; whereas sometimes I could only linger for a short while on the top before being pushed back down again by a simple twist of Fate.

But with Ayuma, I set out for a last conquest and although the ascent was sometimes steep and arduous, in the end we’ve reached the summit on which we’ve been living ever since and where love is so much more than just a four-letter word.

"Living With You On Top Of The Mountain“ is dedicated to my wonderful querida Ayuma who is sharing life with me in true love, liberty, affection, passion, affinity and above all with lots of fun and laughter.

At the same time, this instrumental is also a tribute to Näx, who contributed the gorgeous track "How Can I Live On Top Of A Mountain?“ to Antichrisis’ second album and whose wonderful uilleann pipes playing marked both "A Legacy of Love“ as well as "Perfume“.

This song is the first in a series of single releases that will follow in the next few months as we will be releasing one last Antichrisis-album and only singles beyond that: you can read more about this decision in our blog post from June 2021.

"Living With You On Top Of The Mountain“ can be purchased and listened to on Bandcamp; besides it is also available on all major streaming platforms.

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 time of the year has come again when almost everyone publishes their list of their favourite albums of 2020 - so let's do it just the same way.

Only 5 albums made it on our list, because we actually spend much more time making music than listening to it, but nevertheless the following albums have caught our attention and impressed us a lot:

Bruce Springsteen: "Letter to you":
Certainly not one Springsteen’s strongest albums, but songs like "Ghosts", "Burnin' Train" or the awesome ballad "I'll See You In My Dreams" will quite rightly join the reign of Springsteen classics.

Myrkur: "Folkesange":
Myrkur is definitely one of those artists who are difficult to classify and who are overcoming and transcending the boundaries of their respective genre - in Myrkur's case Black Metal - in most fascinating and creative ways.

Autumn Nostalgie: "Esse Est Percipi":
The Slovakian one-man-project Autumn Nostalgie combines Black Metal with a kind of pop sensibility that is hard to find amongst the Black Metal genre. You could almost think of something like The Cure joining forces with Darkthrone.

Fenne Lily: "Breach":
Definitely the best indie rock album of this year. Period. Also, the Bristol-based songwriter writes some of the most intelligent lyrics I've heard this year. If The Mekons and Throwing Muses ever had given birth to a child, it’d be Fenne Lily.

Raat: "Raison D'être":
This band from Delhi plays the most emotional Atmospheric Black Metal ever. The most amazing thing about it is that -- apart from buzz-saw vocals -- they really do avoid all the clichés that are common to the genre. As if the Swans and Anathema got together for a rather wicked session.

These are our favourite albums in this most peculiar year, the effects of which have unfortunately not yet come to an end. So continue to take good care of yourselves as well as your fellow citizens, stay at home as best you can and above all — stay healthy.

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 is really strange: 3 months ago our world was very different from the world today: COVID-19 has changed almost everything within no time at all, and I very much hope that all those reading these lines are on the baker’s list and won’t have to mourn any losses in their families and/or amongst friends.

Ayuma and me are still in good health and therefore continue to work on new songs for Antichrisis as well as for Ayuma’s solo project. And fortunately we’ve almost reached the finishing line for Antichrisis’ forthcoming album „Foxfire“: there are just three songs left to be completed: their backing tracks are already recorded, so all that’s left to do are the vocal tracks. Then everything has to be put up for final mixing and mastering — and so I dare to prognosticate the release of „Foxfire“ by autumn 2020 at the lastest.

The only drawback concerning vocal recordings is this year’s hay fever season which struck me quite hard — hence I’ll have to wait a few weeks until my throat has recovered because there’s no way to do any decent vocal recordings at the moment unless a song would be in desperate need of rhythmic coughing and sneezing. But as soon as that bloody pollen allergy has cleared out (which it usually does as soon as springtime is over), I’ll be back in our vocal booth to complete these pending recordings.

A few years ago I was bold enough to suggest that Antichrisis might refrain from releasing albums as such and to publish single tracks instead as soon as they are recorded. This train of thought, however, led to an outcry of many Antichrisis-Fans, for album releases seem to be of great importance to many of you out there even if these albums are only available via digital distribution. And though I don’t fully understand that urge we’ll be at your service because our songs will see the light of day, anyway — but of course with some delay due to the fact that it takes some time to collect and curate enough songs for an entire album.

Having said that we do hope that you will come through these strange and somehow scary times in good health and that you will further on enjoy the music we create. Meanwhile, take good care and protect yourselves and your fellow human beings as best as you can.

… when everybody’s publishing their „Best of 2019“-lists — so why shouldn’t we?

According to the 12 days of Xmas, here are my 12 favourite and most listened to songs of 2019:

Orville Peck : "Dead of Night"
Bruce Springsteen: "Tucson Train"
VNV Nation: "All Our Sins"
J. S. Ondara: "Days of Insanity"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse: "Olden Days"
The Specials: "10 Commandments"
Ride: "Clouds of Saint Marie"
The Murder Capital: "Green & Blue"
Ghost: "Mary on a Cross"
Marianne Faithfull: "No Moon in Paris"
Sleaford Mods: "Kebab Spider"
Leonard Cohen: "Thanks for the Dance"

You see — lots of old heroes to be found in this list: maybe it’s because I’m getting a bit vintage, too (I’m writing these lines on my 57th. birthday). But as for cheese and whisky: the older, the better (until it goes mouldy or vanishes completely).

Ayuma & I wish you a very merry festive season as well as a hopefully splendid new year — and we’re pretty sure this time that the long awaited Antichrisis album „Foxfire“ will finally see its release in 2020.

It has been a bit quiet in the last few months due to me having to be very busy in my daytime job. That’s exactly why it sometimes takes us longer than usual to complete an album, hence I get asked quite often if it wouldn’t make life easier for me if I didn’t have to go about my daily work but make my living just out of music instead.

Well, being able to make one's living solely out of music is anything but easy because there is simply an oversupply of music these days: the market is more than saturated and those musicians and artists being lucky enough to find their niche are forced to engage themselves in time-consuming social media-activities while also having to tour their asses off. It simply boils down to the fact that you have to put a lot more effort in marketing and PR as well as constantly reproducing the music you’re already familiar with on stage than on creating new music or exploring new musical territories.

Of course it would be nice if I could concentrate completely on creating and producing music 7 days a week. But this would also mean that I would have to think about marketability and marketing strategies, expectations of target groups, public relations a.s.o for 7 days a week, too. And this road can quite easily lead to point where you do to care much more about what your audience might be expecting from you (because you are dependent on record and ticket sales) than what you would like to do.

That's why I'm glad to support myself with the monthly income of my daytime job. It goes without saying that office work is not always exciting and that basically the time from Monday to Friday from 7 am to 3 pm is reserved for my ‚normal“ chores, so that musical activities are restricted either to evening hours, weekends or holidays. But that modus operandi also allows me not having to give a tinker’s cuss whether or how our music can be promoted or exploited commercially, which expectations Antichisis should come up to or when our next album has to be released -- and this means absolute freedom in artistic terms, because we can write and create the music we want to do, whenever we want to do it and, best of all, without the pressure of release dates, press schedules and photo calls (been there, done that, threw away the T-shirt).

However, this also means that depending on circumstances delays may occur in the completion of an album; either because of Ayuma & me having to be busy in our daytime jobs or because of unexpected health issues requiring longer breaks (yes, we are definitely not getting younger, folks).

Nevertheless we’re still working on the release of Antichrisis’ forthcoming album „Foxfire“ and hope that there will be no more incident occurrences in coming months that could cause further delay.

In order to shorten the waiting time for „Foxfire“ I went down the basement (despite the immortal Ramones suspecting that there might be something down there) to search the archives: of course my musical activities didn’t start with Antichrisis but with a project called „Assorted State of Decay“ (yes, it’s „decay“ and not „delay“, you ribald persons -- and no, the acronym „A SOD“ was not intended!) in the Eighties.

I was a pretty miserable batcave-goth at that time with a fatal fondness for the colour black, an attitude that is also reflected in the songs that I wrote back then. A perfect example is „Black Letter Day“, recorded on a 4-track tape deck by using a Mattel Synconics 5281 as drum computer, so this is definitely a real Lo-Fi-experience, but maybe it’ll give you an insight in the very early beginnings of my musical origins, anyway.



By the way: I was very sad to hear about the passing away of Scott Walker in March 2019 and Roky Erickson in Mai 2019: Scott Walker simply had one of the most beautiful voices that I’ve ever heard, and beyond that he was an artist always in search for new forms of musical expressions while being far ahead of his time and the audience’s listening habits.

And when it comes to Roky Erickson, all I have to say is that „I walked with a Zombie“ is one of the greatest songs of all times. Both Scott and Roky have been one of a kind and will be sadly missed.

Good news for all CD hunters and collectors out there: GSP just released a CD-version of „Baduhenna“ containing all separate tracks of the Digital Download-version except for the over 46 minutes long title track.

This CD is limited to 100 copies and is available via GSP’s website for 12.- €.

2018 is coming to an end and so it's time for Antichrisis' musical review of the year — and these are the 20 albums that have thrilled us the most in the last twelve months (in alphabetical order):

The Beths - Future Me Hates Me
Brandi Carlile - By The Way, I Forgive You
Bruce Springsteen - Springsteen on Broadway
Cock Sparrer - Forever
Idles – Joy As An Act of Resistance
Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer
Let’s Eat Grandma – I’m All Ears
Lord Huron - Vide Noir
Low – Double Negative
Manic Street Preachers - Resistance Is Futile
Marianne Faithful - Negative Capability
Muse – Simulation Theory
Richard Thompson - 13 Rivers
Shame – Songs of Praise
She Drew The Gun - Revolution Of The Mind
Snail Mail – Lush
Spiritualized – And Nothing Hurt
Suede - The Blue Hour
Tracey Thorn – Record
U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited



We wish you all the best — and stay tuned for the new Antichrisis album "Foxfire" in 2019.

To be honest, the Buzzcocks initially puzzled me: My favourite bands at that time were the likes of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam or the Ramones - and despite the Buzzcocks also playing fast and awesome songs, they were completely lacking the anger and the fury of many of these 1st Generation Punk bands.

Pete Shelley did not shout in rage but sang in a clear and somehow innocent voice of relationship issues and the problems with the opposite sex occurring for adolescent male teens while struggling with insecurity, anxiety and inexperience — and he also wrote some great instrumentals!

But that was exactly what set the Buzzcocks apart from all other Punk bands — and over time I discovered that behind all the speed and impetuosity, Pete Shelley's compositions were in fact dead catchy, intriguing and alluring pop anthems.

When I started as your typical DIY-producer back in 1995 I usually mixed by trial and error and therefore made lots of mistakes — and I really mean LOTS!

It was only when we started recording Antichrisis’ 2nd album „A Legacy of Love“ at former Blue House Studios in Meerane in 1998 that I learned proper recording and mixing techniques from Jens Bachmann and Tilo Rockstroh, and from this time on I put a lot of attention to production when I listend to records of my favourite bands and artists: why did some records sound interesting, whereas others sounded dull and boring although the songs itself where not that bad? Soon I found out that not a small share of that certain something that made an outstanding song or album was due to the fact that a certain producer or engineer was in charge of the mixing console.

I realised that there quite a few producers with a very unique trademark sound that I really loved. Their work really inspired me and gave me ideas on how to produce Antichrisis — and here’s a list of those producers that became somehow musical godfathers to me:

Adrian Sherwood
Brian Eno
Chris Thomas
Conny Plank
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Miller
Gareth Jones
George Martin
Giorgio Moroder
Jerry Wexler
Joe Meek
Martin Hannett
Michael Gira
Paul Epworth
Phil Spector
Sam Phillips
Steve Lillywhite
Todd Rundgren
Tony Visconti
Trevor Horn

I would never dare to say that I’ve even come close to the abilities and skills of these legendary mixing wizards, but they are nevertheless artists that still guide me on my way as an ambitious DIY-producer.

...with Facebook and Twitter!

First of all, I’ve never been much of a fan of Facebook: confusing settings, ugly interface, dodgy terms of conditions etc. That’s why I never used Facebook regularly except for a few postings when a new Antichrisis-album got released.

But now with Facebook’s most recent enmeshment with Cambridge Analytica, I think it’s finally time to leave — and for that reason I have deleted Antichrisis’ Facebook-page, as I don’t want to participate in such devious games (see for example this article for more information).

And then there’s also Twitter, a social media platform that I quite like and which I’m using on a daily basis - but not through their website or Twitter’s official ugly-as-hell-client, but with third-party apps like Tweetbot and Twitterific, as they are much clearer and more comfortable to use providing well-arranged and accurate timelines as well as offering very pleasant user interfaces. To cut a long story short: Twitter without third-party clients simply is unusable to me.

Lately Twitter announced that after June 19th, 2018, Twitter’s streaming services will be removed This means two things for third-party apps that push notifications will no longer arrive and that their timelines won’t refresh automatically. For anyone using third-party apps like Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings, or Twitterrific, there is no way for its developer to fix these issues. (see here for more information).

I’m definitely not a freeloader, hence I would gladly pay for Twitter if they’d enable third-party app-usage and make it ad-free for paying customers — but as Twitter doesn’t offer any payment model like this, it seems that I have to say "Sayonara“ to Twitter, too; at least from June 19th on.

So goodbye to Twitter and Facebook: it was fun while it lasted (although Facebook was in fact more misery than fun ton me), but as you won’t let me pay for proper services, I’ll have to say "Tempting, but no thanks“.

Blimey, that year seems to have whooshed past in the blink of an eye. So what has been the crack with Antichrisis in 2017?

First of all we’re still working busily on the forthcoming Antichrisis-album „Foxfire“. Our plan was to spend our annual vacation in October completely on finishing that album... but on the very first day of our vacation diggers and bulldozers turned up in front of our house to dig up our street.

And as it doesn’t make any sense to have recording sessions while there’s construction work hullaballoo right in front of one’s house, we had to change plans and fled down south for a completely relaxing and hubbub-free (but also completely non-productive) holiday instead. That’s why it will still take some time until „Foxfire“ will be released.

Nevertheless we’re also working on Ayuma’s first solo album which is going to be released next year — and besides I'm currently doing some soundtrack-work for an animated short film called „Relicts“ which I’m really looking forward to, as creating soundtracks really has become my main interest in the last few years.

Relicts Teaser #1 - Totem (Breakdown) from Relicts on Vimeo.

But what about the music I have been listening to in 2017? To be honest, I’m that much occupied with creating and producing my own stuff that I don’t spend that much time on listening to music of other artists. It’s a shame, I know — but there’s only a limited amount of listening time left between working in a full-time job and running Antichrisis in your spare time. Anyway, there have been 5 albums in 2017 that caught my attention:

• „Every Valley“ by Public Service Broadcasting: this is an album of such emotional intensity that it really made me cry. When following the story of this concept album that depicts the history of the mining industry in Wales while focusing on the rise and decline of the country's coal industry, one has to have a heart of stone if not being close to tears when listening to the album’s last track „Take Me Home“. An absolutely fantastic and inspiring album.

• „Selections from 50 Song Memoir“ by The Magnetic Fields: It's as simple as that — Stephin Merritt never ever failed me (you hear that, Morrissey?)! Each and every album of his band The Magnetic Fields contains pearls and jewels in form of wonderful, out of the ordinary and enchanting Pop songs. To me, he's one of the finest, wittiest and most astute songwriters in contemporary Pop Music. "Selections from 50 Song Memoir" is nothing more than an adorable, stirring but also deeply entertaining album. One can't do much better — but I guess Stephin Merritt will.

• Almost the same goes for „Goths“ by The Mountain Goats: A band being bold enough to call one of their songs "Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds" is just my cup of tea, especially when that song is performed with the disarming charm of singer John Darnielle. The Mountain Goats started as some kind of LoFi-Folk-project but developed swiftly in broader musical directions. On "Goths" they sound like an anti-gloomy version of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — or like Paul Simon's Californian kinfolk.

• Although I'm not a fan of digital distortion, I have to admit that I was deeply impressed by "The Underside of Power" by Algiers: they're raw energy and fury reminds me of the early recordings by the Bad Brains — only that Algiers are not rooted in Hardcore or Reggae. Instead they deliver a hot boiling mixture of Gospel, Soul, Industrial, Metal and HipHop, and that Franklin James Fisher is a really fantastic and powerful singer! The only fly in the ointment is the production of "The Underside of Power": less distortion and compression would have done a much better job in my opinion.

• „Is This The Life We Really Want?“ by Roger Waters: agreed that Roger Waters’ voice has lost much of its tonal capabilities in recent years, but nevertheless this album radiates so much anger and rage that it left a real impact on me. But please, Mr. Waters: get off of that annoying BDS-involvement of yours: of course one can quite justifiably criticise Israel’s home policy (and I would opt for a two-state solution, too!), but according to that scale you would have to stand up against China, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the USA just as well! When I last looked, Israel was still a functioning democracy — something that is hard to find in the Middle East. To me that BDS-movement is just another disguise for yer plain old and nasty antisemitism!

So all that’s left for Ayuma and me to do is to wish you all the best for 2018 — and don't forget: many people await New Year’s Day just to make a new start to their old habits. We wish you otherwise.

Happy New Year and see you again in 2018!

Holger Czukay died last night at the age of 79 — and although I have to admit that a lot of his music always sounded a bit too weird to me, I do acknowledge and honour his wonderful open-mindedness to all new musical ideas & influences as well as his phenomenal creative achievement both with Can and as solo-artist.

Holger Czukay was beyond doubt one of just a few German musicians exerting influence on countless musicians across the board, and I do hope that his seed of ingenuity and the spirit of a boundless musicianship will linger on.

Kurt Mitzkatis of German Rock e. V. did an Interview (in German) with Sid on the subject of the pros and cons of physical sound carriers and why Antichrisis does release their albums as digital download only these days.

Thanks a lot to Kurt for a very pleasant talk and also for providing the interview online on the German Rock-website, where one can also find another interview (again in German) with Sid from 2012.

"Atmosphere" is definitely one of Joy Division's masterpieces — and I always wondered what that song would have sounded like if Ian Curtis wouldn't have felt sad and gloomy about the person he was singing about, but if he felt angry and irate instead: not begging for not walking away, but with wide shoulders demanding to stay and face the facts!

Hence we did our version of "Atmosphere" in a more "pulling your punches"-way without compromising the beauty of its melody and its excellent arrangement .

When Axel of At Sea Compilations asked us if Antichrisis would be interested to provide a track for his Paul Roland tribute sampler "Alice's Curiosities" Ayuma and me were baffled at first, because both of us knew neither Paul Roland nor his music despite that sedulous soul being around the music scene since 1979 and having worked with the likes of Robyn Hitchcock and Nick Saloman (which we knew).

Anyway, as we started checking out Paul Roland's musical works we soon got stuck with one of his earlier tracks called "Blades of Battenburg" and decided to do a cover version of that song for Axel's sampler — but in a very different style from Paul Roland's original psychedelia goth version.

And here is how we did it:

"Alice's Curiosities" is available via At Sea Compilations' website - and don't forget to donate!

It's almost the end of the year (and believe me: 2016 was a real bastard what with taking David Bowie and Leonard Cohen from us and leaving us with The Donald instead) and so it's time to come up with my favourite albums of 2016. Here we go:

David Bowie: Blackstar
Leonard Cohen: You Want It Darker
Kate Tempest: Let Them Eat Chaos
Isolation Berlin: Und aus den Wolken tropft die Zeit
Wire: Nocturnal Koreans
The Hidden Cameras: Home On Native Land
Swans: The Glowing Man
PJ Harvey: The Hope Six Demolition Project
The Divine Comedy: Foreverland
The Thermals: We Disappear

Merry Yuletide and a very Happy New Year to all of you out there!

Found some really sad news after I woke up this morning: "It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away. We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries."

Leonard Cohen was one of my very first musical heroes: he was the one to introduce me to the beauty of melancholy, and he was also the one that I habitually came back to whenever life put on his boots and did some serious ass-kicking on me.

Whenever I think of Leonard Cohen I think of a real gentleman with an amazing warm and solacing voice and a wonderful sense of humour.

To be reminiscent of the great poet and songwriter that he was, here are my favourite songs by Leonard Cohen:

Anthem
Closing Time
Democracy
Diamonds In The Mine
Did I Ever Love You?
Everybody Knows
First We Take Manhattan
The Faith
The Future
Going Home
Hallelujah
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
If It Be Your Will
Lady Midnight
Lover Lover Lover
Master Song
The Partisan
Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
Sisters of Mercy
So Long, Marianne
Stranger Song
Suzanne
Take This Longing
Tonight Will Be Fine
Tower of Song
The Traitor
Treaty
The Window
You Got Me Singing
You Want It Darker

Alan Vega died in his sleep on July 16, 2016 at the age of 78. He wasn’t exactly a great singer — but he was always cool as fuck and simply didn’t give a damn what anybody else was thinking of him.

When Punk and New Wave jumped into the spotlight in 1976, almost everybody was fiddling around with power chords on E-guitars — but he and Martin Rev came up with some keyboard sounds and rhythms that were so far ahead of their time that 40 years later they still sound modern or at least up-to-date.

Martiv Rev took care that all hell broke lose when he switched on his keyboard & rhythm box, and Alan Vega turned into the scary revelator of some of the most frightening American nightmares I ever heard. He groaned, moaned and screamed through these songs — but always with style and attitude.

Being pretty wet behind our ears, me and my brave young Punk comrades were trying hard to enter the dark streets at that time, whereas Alan Vega had actually seen these dark streets that we were dreaming of; and these dark streets weren’t moody and romantic as we saplings though; instead they were bloody cold, wet und violent. Alan Vega knew this — and that’s why he sounded like he did.

These are my all time favourites from this great artist:

Suicide: Ghost Rider
Suicide: Dream Baby Dream
Suicide: Rocket USA
Suicide: Frankie Teardrop
Alan Vega: Jukebox Baby
Alan Vega: Rebel Rocker
Alan Vega: Je t’adore
Alan Vega & Pan Sonic: American Dreamer

By the way: you should also listen to the brilliant cover version of "Ghost Rider" by The Sods from their awesome 1979 debut album “Minutes to go”

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.

...with Facebook and Twitter!

First of all, I’ve never been much of a fan of Facebook: confusing settings, ugly interface, dodgy terms of conditions etc. That’s why I never used Facebook regularly except for a few postings when a new Antichrisis-album got released.

But now with Facebook’s most recent enmeshment with Cambridge Analytica, I think it’s finally time to leave — and for that reason I have deleted Antichrisis’ Facebook-page, as I don’t want to participate in such devious games (see for example this article for more information).

And then there’s also Twitter, a social media platform that I quite like and which I’m using on a daily basis - but not through their website or Twitter’s official ugly-as-hell-client, but with third-party apps like Tweetbot and Twitterific, as they are much clearer and more comfortable to use providing well-arranged and accurate timelines as well as offering very pleasant user interfaces. To cut a long story short: Twitter without third-party clients simply is unusable to me.

Lately Twitter announced that after June 19th, 2018, Twitter’s David Bowie's music guided me through so many years of my life — his work was the inspiration for all I ever wanted to achieve as a musician and songwriter: He opened doors that would have blocked my way. But now the Starman returned to the sky , and these are his songs I will never forget:

Five Years
Starman
Ziggy Stardust
Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
Space Oddity
Cygnet Committee
Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud
The Bewlay Brothers
The Man Who Sold the World
Station to Station
Fantastic Voyage
Wild is the Wind
Sound and Vision
Warszawa
Heroes
Sons of the Silent Age
Ashes to Ashes
China Girl
Thursday's Child
Absolute Beginners
Where Are We Now?
Blackstar
Lazarus
Baal's Hymn
Port of Amsterdam
The Loneliest Guy
Life on Mars
Look Back in Anger
Speed of Life
Sorrow

David Bowie (08.01.1947 - 10.01.2016)

"And the mountain moved its eyes to the world of realize
Where the snow had saved a place for the Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud"

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.

At Sea Compilations just released a comprehensive anthology named “German Gothic isn’t Dead” which contains — as the compilation’s title implies — a profound overview of today’s Gothic Music in Germany, curated by Axel Meßinger. There are 30 bands of different kinds of style like Gothic Rock, Gothic Metal, Dark Punk, Wave or Electronic to be found on this really impressive anthology — and Antichrisis is part of them (although I doubt that Antichrisis can be labelled as “Gothic” nowadays): we contributed a previously unreleased track from our forthcoming album “Baduhenna” called “Overture” in order to give you a first impression of what our next album will sound like.

“German Gothic Isn’t Dead” can be downloaded for free via Bandcamp, but as Axel has did put a lot of work in this compilation, donations are always welcome.

By the way: We are temporarily working on the very last track for “Baduhenna”, hence the album is going to be released at the latest in October 2015. Hope you’re looking just as forward to it as we do!

His books never ceased to make my life somehow bearable in times of distress: they always provided comfort, wisdom, deep understanding and an all-embracing benevolence. Thank you so much for your wonderful writing, Mr. Pratchett - or as the Librarian would have put it: “Ook!”

Terry Pratchett (28.04.1948 - 12.03.2015)

“There’s a light that never goes out” — The Smiths
“There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do-“ — Terry Pratchett, “A Hat full of Sky”

It’s Xmas again and therefore time for Antichrisis’ consuetudinary “End of the Year”-Rankings. Actually 2014 saw some very fine album releases — and these are my favourites hitherto:

Die Nerven - Fun
Alvvays - Alvvays
Warpaint - Warpaint
The Raveonettes - Pe'ahi
Sleaford Mods - Divide & Exit
Kate Tempest - Everybody Down
Scott Walker & Sunn O))) - Soused
Adrian Crowley - Some Blue Morning
Marianne Faithfull - Give my Love to London
Robert Plant: Lullaby and… the Ceaseless Roar

Peace for all Creatures on Earth & A Happy New Year to You!

We’ve just returned from a wonderful vacation in Rugia: 3 weeks just me & Ayuma, the wind & the sea along with gulls, crows, cranes and cormorants. We’ve been out and about each and every day, exploring the island from north to south and getting as much fresh air as we possibly could. It was my first time at the Baltic Sea and I was really amazed by the sheer beauty of Rugia’s ravishing landscape which provided lots of inspiration for new songs.

When we returned home there was a parcel deposited for me at our local post office: it came from Russia and contained a beautiful art book as well as an impressive painting of two cranes, which was a strange coincidence as we loved watching those cranes on Rugia preparing for their migration to Spain and North Africa, and their grace and beauty left us simply gobsmacked. Those flocks of cranes with their typical crane calls became somehow very special to us, hence this beautiful painting of two cranes by A. Zhuravleva sent to me by Alexandra and Simon (2 Russian Antichrisis-fans, I guess?) got a very special place in our flat, too. Thanks a lot for that gorgeous present, guys!

So now after 3 weeks of total abstinence from the Internet, emails and telephone calls we’re back to our daily routine again — and unfortunately there’s a big construction site right in front of our house as they’re doing some serious channel digging there, which means that we have to live with a soundscape that reminds slightly of World War II at the moment: absolutely no way of mixing tracks or getting any recordings done under these circumstances. But construction works (hopefully) don’t last forever, and as soon as those guys have finished their job we will proceed with our musical activities.

From time to time we’re receiving requests by various people asking for a song that has been taken down from our website a few years ago and isn’t available for download any longer, and ever so often we’re trying to answer these requests by sending those people the desired track itself or its download link via email.

It’s a free service by Antichrisis for our fans -- and one would expect a few lines in reply like “Thank you for sending me that song” or something like that. But strangely enough this never ever happens: seems like those acts of courtesy have gone lost in the endless width of the Internet. So maybe we won’t bother with those kind of requests in the future any more -- mind you, we’re just a little bit old-fashioned when it comes to exchanging pleasantries.

But there’s also something very pleasant to report about -- and this is about those fans that have purchased our latest album “Not Fade Away” at Bandcamp: they’re sending us nice comments almost every time, and not just a few of them have actually paid much more for the album than we’ve been charging. This is really kind and generous, hence a very warm-hearted “Thank You” from Antichrisis to all those of you who bought “Not Fade Away” so far.

But while talking about albums: As already mentioned we’ve been planning to release Antichrisis’ new album “Foxfire” this year -- but due to some unexpected incidents we probably won’t be able to stick to this schedule. But no need to worry: forbearance is not acquittance. Only the vocal recording sessions have to be postponed for the time being; everything else is just fine.

So instead of having a whinge we’ve already started working on the next but one Antichrisis album which will contain the soundtrack to an imaginary film that Ayuma and me have been kibbling in the windmills of our minds, in a manner of speaking. There will be no more pop songs on that album, instead it’ll be a very dark and disturbing electronic symphony much in the vein of “Cantara Anachoreta” but by other means. The first few tracks that we’ve created do sound just gorgeous and we hope you’re going to like it even it’ll be something that Antichrisis has never done before.

But as soon as these aforementioned incidents are sorted out and we’re able to proceed with our vocal recordings, we’ll be finishing and releasing “Foxfire” as soon as possible.

Due to public demand we’ve made Antichrisis’ renowned demo “Missa Depositum Custodi” available for free in our download area. The .zip-file contains all tracks of the original demo as well as some unreleased songs of that era, but please keep in mind that all that stuff was recorded back in 1996 on an 8 track cassette deck -- hence its sound quality is what modern hipsters would call “genuine Lo-Fi”.

Get “Missa Depositum Custodi” for free here.

Upsadaisy - 2013 is almost over and looking back it was quite a strenuous year what with our enforced removal in July and all that — and it really took us some time until everything went back to normal, especially as we had to deal with a completely new recording situation in our new flat (see previous blog entry).

But now we’re back on track again, enjoying the holidays and working on new songs as we’re still planning to release a new Antichrisis album in 2014. At the moment the following tracks are in the pipeline:

1. A Swan in the Rain
2. After the War
3. Goodbye to Jane Revisited
4. Gravity on Mars
5. Is Anybody There?
6. Last Night
7. Let You Go
8. No Going Back
9. St. Materiana
10. Stay
11. Subways of Time
12. The Night’s Still Young
13. There Were Crows
14. Understanding Everything

There are also 2 other nameless tracks ready to get recorded but I haven’t finished their lyrics yet.

Switching from Logic Pro 9 to Logic Pro X turned out to be a real bliss: so many once complicated workflows became extremely simplified (especially if it comes to MIDI FX), the new drummer feature is just awesome and Flex Pitch is an absolute timesaver. Logic Pro X is an amazing DAW and those guys at Apple really seem to be focused on developing it even further as one can tell by its latest updates.

I also got myself Zebra 2 and Diva by U-He for Christmas: these are 2 remarkable softsynths and together with Alchemy and Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere & Trilian they are definitely the most expandable, configurable and best sounding softsynths on the market. One really doesn’t need much more than these virtual instruments for great and versatile synth sounds.

But enough of that before I’m at risk of sounding like one of those nags from marketing department, but these chorus of praise is actually just based on my own experiences with the aforementioned products.

By the way: here’s my infamous Top Five list of 2013:

1. “If” — Glasvegas
2. “No Man’s Land” — OMD
3. “The Valley” — Christian Kjellvander
4. “Timeless” — The Airborne Toxic Event
5. “Das Schiff der grossen Illusionen” — Christian Anders (oldie but goodie)

As we’ve got really nice neighbours in our new flat we didn’t want to annoy them with the hubbub caused by Antichrisis’ and Ayuma’s recording sessions, hence we got ourselves a pre-owned vocal booth that we had to pick up with a rental van in Hildesheim at Christoph’s place.

It was quite a trip, but it was worth it as that little vocal booth provides excellent sound insulation so that we won’t tick off our neighbours even if we’d do some vocal recordings in the middle of the night -- and even Whisky, our tomcat, seems to like that nifty little cabin.

After two really stressful weeks we’re eventually getting back to normal: our relocation went surprisingly well, and though our new home is definitely smaller than our old dwelling we’re already feeling cosy and comfortable here in Zirndorf. Even Whisky, our tomcat, seems to be satisfied with his new habitat.

So I could be just as well working on new Antichrisis tracks again -- but thanks to Apple Logic Pro X was released a few weeks ago, and as we’re finally having a proper broadband connection here again, I was able to download those 42 GB of Logic Pro X and its contents in the wink of an eye. Of course this means that I’ll have to get familiar with all the new functions and elements of Logic Pro X, but as far as I can tell Logic Pro X seems to be a very promising and significant step forward: can’t wait to put my hands on the first production with Logic Pro X, but I’ll have to learn a few new tricks first (and thanks to those magnificent Logic-tutorials by MacProVideo I should be learning these aforementioned new tricks and functions within a reasonable time).

By the way: Ayuma and me had our 5th wedding anniversary on the 1st of August -- and we’re still enjoying every single day with each other as lovers, best friends, companions and soul mates. It feels exactly like in Bruce Springsteen’s “If I Should Fall Behind”:

“We swore we’d travel side by side
We’d help each other stay in stride
But each lover’s steps fall so differently
But I'll wait for you
And if I should fall behind
Wait for me

Now everyone dreams of a love lasting and true
But you and I know what this world can do
So let’s make our steps clear that the other may see
And I'll wait for you
If I should fall behind
Wait for me”

Thanks to bastard landlord we’ll have to change our residence again: we’ll be moving to our new tenement by the end of July, that’s way there’s gonna be some kind of radio silence during the next weeks.

I guess it’ll take us until September before our new studio is hooked up and we’ll be connected to the Internet again -- but fortunately we’ll be having a proper broadband connection then.

We’re busy preparing our removal at the moment, so there’s no time for working on new tracks right now. But as soon as everything’s set up, organised and arranged at our new dwelling and we’ve had a bit of a breather, we’ll be back to record and produce new tracks for Antichrisis as well as Ayuma.

In the meantime German-speaking readers might enjoy a very in-depth Antichrisis-interview with brand new German Webzine Sakona.

Nevertheless Ayuma and me are wishing you all a beautiful Summer Solstice celebration -- and Merry Meet again in September!

It’s been a bit quiet lately -- but don’t worry: Ayuma and me are busily working on new tracks and you can be pretty sure that there will be quite a few surprises in the bag when we’ll have finished the recording sessions for the new Antichrisis album “Foxfire”.

Unfortunately we have to grapple with our bastard landlord at the moment: that nasty piece of work is trying to kick us out hence we had to contact the tenant association already to take legal measure. But as we’re preferring to live in peace we’ll have to spend our Saturdays with house hunting from now on.

Nonetheless our creative powers are still flowing and we’re both coming consistently up with new and exciting musical ideas, therefore “Foxfire” is taking more and more shape -- so stay tuned for more news as soon as we’ve found ourselves our new residence.

When we released “Not Fade Away” last year, quite a few of you mentioned that they would have preferred not all album’s tracks being published on Bandcamp before as it spoiled the surprise of listening to a new album. And although I think that something like keeping an album or its tracks secret in the age of the Internet, your request shall be our command, as from now on only one or two songs of an album will be published before the album itself sees its release.

To be honest I’d still prefer to release any song as soon as its ready -- but in that case the majority of votes seems to be against me.

Nevertheless we’ve been diligently working on new tracks (thanks to my new Mac Mini which is really an awesome and powerful yet underestimated little machine): we’ve been finishing “Understanding Everything” two weeks ago, and a new song called “Be Gone” is already in the works.

At the same time I’ve put the finishing touches on Ayuma’s brand new track “Wenn Ich Dich heute seh’”-- and there really are lots of other new songs in the pipeline, hence Antichrisis’ new album is developing pretty well even if you won’t be hearing any new songs until “Foxfire” (the new album’s title) is released.

It’s been a bit quiet lately, but that doesn’t mean that nothing happened: first of all, I had to get myself a new computer because my old and steady iMac had reached the point where it just wasn’t powerful enough any more to deal with all those Logic-projects for Antichrisis and Ayuma. So I switched to the new Mac Mini (the fastest Mac Mini of course, with Intel Core i7, 2,6 GHz, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB Fusion Drive - that’ll do!) and it took quite some time until everything was configured the way I needed it.

Then there was also my 50th birthday on Winter Solstice: fortunately armageddon got cancelled hence nothing could spoil my little birthday party with Ayuma, however I guess I still need some time to realise that I’m really 50 now -- but as long as the Rolling Stones still hit the stage (or in Keith’s case fall from palm trees), I guess I’m still allowed to perform and record songs, too.

And while we’re looking back: here are my favourite songs of 2012:

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: “Walk Like a Giant”
Of Monsters and Men: “Your Bones”
Santigold: “The Riot’s Gone”
Lana Del Rey: “Born to Die”
Bruce Springsteen: “We Are Alive”
First Aid Kit: “Emmylou”
The XX: “Angels”
Exclusive: “Nachtmensch”
The Dead Lovers: “The Storm”
The Raveonettes: “Young and Cold”

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.

Doing a bit of in-depth-research on the Internet is always an interesting thing, especially when it comes to checking how your band’s doing ; even more when one receives lots of emails from fans that go like this: “It is great that there’s a new album by Antichrisis, but I don’t like downloads that much so can you please release “Not Fade Away” on CD?”

What puzzled me most is the fact that though we’ve been receiving loads of these aforementioned emails we only had almost insignificant sales figures as well on Bandcamp as on the iTunesStore -- as if nobody would be interested in our new album at all (but nevertheless a very big “Thank You” to all those fans who actually purchased “Not Fade Away” online: though you’re just a few, your support is highly appreciated and most welcome!).

Anyway, because of our really modest sales figures in comparison to the email feedback we’ve received I’ve been starting Antichrisis’ research engines and here’s what I’ve found out:

We’ve made “Not Fade Away” available for download on Bandcamp and many other popular online stores and sold less than 200 copies of the album so far (again: thanks to our honest and in some cases even generous customers!); but after an hour or serious investigation I found out that “Not Fade Away” is also available on several BitTorrents where it had been downloaded (at least as far as I could find out about corresponding download figures) over 25.000 times in only 4 months after its release.

So let’s do some arithmetics now according to the rule of three:
25.293 illegally downloaded copies = 100%
182 legally purchased copies = ?%

The answer is: obviously only 0,72% of those interested in Antichrisis (at least I presume that only those interested in our music would bother to download our album via BitTorrents) are paying for our music, hence it’s hardly surprising that Reartone Records and Tunguska Records, the last two labels that Antichrisis has been working with, had to call it a day because one simply can’t stay in business with that kind of payment behaviour — and as a result due to these facts we simply can’t afford a CD release on our own because according to these figures that would mean a foreseeable financial disaster for us.

But just for the sake of it let’s start dreaming a little bit: if only 50 % of those who downloaded the album illegally would have paid for “Not Fade Away” for example on Bandcamp (where the album is on sale for 7 Euros), we would have earned 88.522 Euros. We could have re-invested that money in better equipment for our home studio; we could have afforded to release a really extravagant collector’s edition on CD and vinyl with proper booklet, artwork and all that stuff and we could have also afforded to pay for a PA and for musicians to go on tour and play live — but that’s just daydreaming…

Fact is: the vast majority of our listeners are stealing our music — and yes, we know your line of reasoning: “It would only be stealing if the goods that have been stolen from you would no longer be in your possession which is definitely not the case with digital goods, so stop your sobbing!”. But that would mean that all kind of digital goods are left to villainy, be it literature, photography, cinematography, music or any other kind of art that can be distributed via the Internet — and that’s undeniably far beyond fairness! If you don’t want to pay for our music for whatever reasons you have, that’s absolutely o.k.; you’re welcome to listen to our music for free via streaming audio on Soundcloud or on this website -- but for fuck’s sake don’t fucking steal our music which is unquestionably our intellectual property (pardon my French, but it really makes me blow my fuse!).

Another fact is: Ayuma & me are working really hard on our music and we won’t stop making this music because music is our heartbeat and we fortunately don’t have to earn our living with the money we’re making from Antichrisis (which is approximately about zilch) but from going to work each bloody morning to make ends meet. Nevertheless we know lots of really good bands and artists who simply had to give up their musical career and their projects because they simply couldn’t afford it any longer — and it wasn’t because no one would have been interested in what they were doing but because no one wanted to pay for their work and preferred to download it illegally from the Internet instead!

But that’s enough ranting for now: most of all Ayuma and me would like to thank those loyal Antichrisis fans who purchased “Not Fade Away” so far once more; and here’s our blessing for our “illegal downloaders” (you know who you are): hopefully one day you’ll get ripped off quite neatly, too!

We’ve finally managed to get our new album “Not Fade Away” into the iTunes Store and to Amazon’s MP3 Store which means that from now on you can choose between 3 different download facilities:

iTunes Store (or search for “Antichrisis” and “Not Fade Away” in your county’s iTunes Store)
Amazon MP3 Store (or search for “Antichrisis” and “Not Fade Away” in your county’s Amazon MP3 Store)
Bandcamp (international availability but you need to have a Paypal-account)

Just use the shop that suits you best -- the main thing is that worldwide availability should no longer be a problem.

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!

The last few months have been fairly busy for Ayuma and me, as we have been working on the last tracks to complete the forthcoming Antichrisis album (which will be distributed via Bandcamp, as you might already know). The last song that we’ve been working on called “An Endless Flow” is now finished and does sound magnificent: a wonderful ballad with a slight touch of Electronica and Irish Folk!

Another song that we were working on is “Understanding Everything”, but we had to face a little drawback there equipment-wise: my stout and tenacious little iMac (Intel Core2 Duo, built 2007, with 2.40 GHz and 4 GB RAM, if that’s of interest for you MacHeads out there) simply isn’t powerful enough to handle a project that consists of almost 80 audio and MIDI tracks -- and as I didn’t want to come up with a half-baked version of that song I’ll have to wait until I’ll get myself a new iMac later that year to get “Understanding Everything” done.

But that won’t stop Ayuma and me from releasing the new Antichrisis album within the next few weeks, as we’re already having enough songs in stock. So we’ll now have to decide which of these songs will make it on the album, then getting the final mastering done, getting to the bottom of the album’s artwork -- and as soon as everything’s worked out we’ll let you know about further issues.

We're currently very busy with finishing the last few songs for the soon-to-be-released Antichrisis-album which we will be distributing by ourselves as a download only-version via Bandcamp. There is no official release date yet, but as we're getting on really well with all the stuff like mixing, mastering, cover-layout and so on, I guess everything's going to be ready by February 2012 -- but as always we'll keep you informed on this website and via Twitter about further developments (and due to some requests there will also be a solution for those of you living in areas with no proper Internet connection).

This forthcoming album is also the reason why we haven't released any new song on SoundCloud recently, as we'd like to have some exclusive tracks for those of you who are willing to spend a few bucks on the album -- but of course there will be a preview of those exclusive tracks as soon as they're
finished.

So until then Ayuma and me (as well as our cats Sheela & Whisky) are wishing all of you -- with a quotation of John Lennon -- “A very happy Xmas and a happy New Year, let's hope it's a good one without any fear".

Sid & Ayuma

Ayuma and me are back from our holidays in Cornwall: unfortunately we had to return much earlier than planned due to the fact that yours truly had managed to get hold of an awful inflammation on his foot which made further walkings on the Coast Path definitely impossible: such calamities surely never happened to me when I was younger — bugger!

Nevertheless we would like to thank all the kind people that we’ve met on our short but nevertheless wonderful journey — especially Rob Lloyd & his wife Teresa from Boscastle as well as Mrs. Watson who runs the lovely St. Christopher’s B&B (next to the Napoleon Inn, which is a highly recommendable pub in this little village with its outstanding coastline and the amazing Museum of Witchcraft).

Nevertheless we’re using our remaining days of vacation to work sedulously on new tracks -- and so Ayuma and me managed to finish “Walking With Angels” which you’ll hopefully be enjoying: it’s another lighthearted piece of pop music by your heretofore rather sepulchral gloomsters!

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!

I often receive mails asking me about the equipment I’m using for creating Antichrisis’ tracks, so I thought I’d better answer that question here and now for anyone who might need some recommendation concerning musical equipment.

Me and Ayuma are both working on iMacs, and while Ayuma’s recording her vocals in Garageband I’m completely addicted to Logic Studio as my favourite digital audio workstation instead.

When creating a track I usually start with the drums - and for me there’s no better software for creating awesome sounding drums than Toontrack’s Superior Drummer: easy to use, great sounding kits and lots of expansion packs and producer presets for all kind of purposes. If more “non-natural” sounding drum sounds are required I’m always turning to Spectrasonics’ Stylus RMX which offers an almost insane flexibility and gazillions of stirring drums and percussions.

There are two different ways for creating bass tracks for Antichrisis: Either I’m playing my good old balky Vantage Avenger 4-string bass through IK Multimedia’s Ampeg SVX amp simulation or I’m using Spectrasonics’ magnificent bass module Trilian via MIDI-keyboard instead.

When it comes to guitars, I’m usually using our Takamines for acoustic sounds and my Epiphone Tom Delonge model for that certain electric twang. Again I’m playing those guitars through another amp simulation by IK Multimedia called Amplitube 3 which I prefer over Native Instrument’s Guitar Rig 4 Pro especially when it comes to crunchy and distorted guitar sounds.

But let’s move on to the keyboards: I’m using a plain simple MIDI-keyboard by M-Audio as my master-keyboard and I’m preferring the following plug-ins for creating great and outstanding arpeggios, leads, pads and all other kinds of strange noises:

Omnisphere by Spectrasonics and Alchemy by Camel Audio are definitely my favourite workhorses as they provide lots of inspiration, clean user interfaces and mind-blowing sound quality - but M-Tron Pro and Virtual String Machine by GForce as well as Miroslav Philharmonik by IK Multimedia are also providing great additional sounds.

So all that’s left is sound processing itself: For these purposes I’m always coming back to IK Multimedia’s T-Racks for engineering and mastering, and if it comes to FX I’m quite often making use of Uhbik and Toontrack’s EZmix, but Logic’s own implemented FX-section is also highly recommendable.

But always keep in mind that it’s not the equipment that counts but your own creativity and skills instead!

Dear Devotees,

A new year is lurking curiously round the corner and so I’m jumping at the opportunity to introduce a new design for Antichrisis’ website which I hope you’ll going to like. And please don’t worry: New Antichrisis songs are already on the way, too, but it’ll take some time until I get around producing and mastering them.

In the meantime -- and because now is just the right time for this -- here are my TFCOATs (Top Five Christmas Songs of all times):

“Christmas Day” - Dido
“Stop The Cavalry” - Jona Lewie
“Harlem Country” - Kirk Brandon
“The Christmas Song” - The Raveonettes
“Fairytale of New York” - The Pogues

Best Wishes and a Happy New Year to all of you - and let me know what you think of the new website design.

I sometimes receive emails asking me for an autograph -- and I have to say that I haven’t got the faintest idea why some people are so set on getting something so ordinary like my signature; in fact there’s nothing special about my signature (the only thing that distinguishes a signature from an autograph is simply the fact that a signature is written on an ordinary piece of paper whereas an autograph usually comes on a glossy photograph).

If truth be told there are myriads of people possessing a signature of me: my employer, the guy at the cashier’s desk, my health insurance company, the communist party, the credit card company -- my signature is so bloody widespread amongst all those authorities, companies and institutions that it cannot possibly be considered as something special.

But what all these aforementioned institutions and authorities assumedly don’t have is one of my songs: unlike my signature these songs are part of my personality, they contain a great deal of my spirit and soul, my creativity and my feelings. They are so much more personal than any autograph; actually they are something really special.

Just two things to think about: in the past painters didn’t sign their artworks. Why the heck should they? A signature out of the blue would have spoiled the whole painting, and besides it was more important that the painting spoke for itself than its creatorship. Try to spot an autograph on one of Rembrandt’s portraits and you’ll see what I mean -- in fact that’s the reason why it’s sometimes so difficult for art historians to allocate certain pictures to certain artists.

And here’s another one: I once had the chance to attend one of Terry Pratchett’s excellent readings, and I’ll have to admit that even I was tempted to get a signature of my favourite author at the end of the event -- but then I saw the mind-bogglingly long queue of fans waiting for him to sign their books, and a considerable amount of them was not only handing over just one paperback to sign but their complete collection of discworld novels instead.

I really admired Terry for his braveness and friendliness, although one could easily see that he had severe pains in his right hand (mind you, the poor chap was doing lots of readings in these days). So I thought it would suit him better if he would not have to sign my book, too, and went off without an autograph -- because his spirit and his genius is in his novels, not in his signature.

Just finished mixing and mastering “Adrenalin” which can be downloaded for free here. It’s the very last song that I’ve produced in our old tenancy in Zirndorf, because we’ll be moving to Renzenhof next week. This means also that I don’t know yet when we’re going to be connected to the internet again (dealing with german Telekom in such cases is never exactly what one would call a pleasant user experience), so there possibly won’t be any news from Antichrisis for quite some time. But as soon as we’ve sorted everything out we’ll be working on new tracks again.

In the meantime we hope you’re going to enjoy “Adrenalin” as much as we did when we were working on that song - and we also hope to be back on the track real soon!

By the way: New Antichrisis Interviews at www.hardharderheavy.de (in German only, also includes a very profound review of A Legacy of Love Mark II) and at www.lagrosseradio.com (in French only).

A few months ago Holger Warschkow of Dark Feather asked me for a contribution to his zine’s 10th anniversary edition, and I was more than glad to agree to provide a remix of “Crossing The Line” that I was working on at that time.

Maybe a lot of you might think something like “Duh - does the world really need another dispensable remix? Aren’t remixes just a bad case of flogging a dead horse with making some extra money from an already released song?” - and of course I can’t completely deny that attitude.

But there’s something else about remixes: In the older days (yes, I was born in the sixties, so I should know all about those good ol’ times!) a band recorded a song on tape and once it had been mixed and produced that song could not been altered any more - it was on tape, it was done, and the only thing you could do was a bit of remastering when you felt the need for it.

But these days are gone: Nowadays with all those hard disc recording-prospects there is no such thing like a “finished” track any more. Thanks to your software sequencer’s total recall-capabilities one can work on a project, finish it - and re-open it again 12 months later with all the proper settings just for adding an idea for a new guitar line. And me, I surely love that kind operation method.

Besides, since I’ve released the first version of “Crossing The Line” I couldn’t help but notice that this track needed a more powerful Techno beat to make it work — maybe there are some things that you’ll only find out after having “lived” with a song for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, that’s the reason why I picked up “Crossing The Line” again and revised it for Dark Feather No. 10: the groove’s emphasis is now focused completely on danceability and there’s also a more aggressive midsection as well as additional vocals by Ayuma.

Just uploaded a new song called “No Going Back”: Some of you may remember this track because its demo version appeared on this website long time ago. “No Going Back” was written during the time I wrote lots of other stuff for “The Legacy Remains” (i. e. the album that never was), but I wasn’t really satisfied with the original version.

But when Ayuma started singing that song I instantly knew that we were working on the real thing. I also noticed that my primal scintillation of recording “No Going Back” as a plain vanilla ballad without any drums and bass was a flop, as the song seemed to lack the sparkling brilliance that is now added by the rhythm section (thanks to Toontrack’s Superior Drummer and Spectrasonic’s Trilian).

I’m really proud of this version because Ayuma’s vocals bear that special kind of melancholy airiness that emphasizes the overall feeling of that song: the battle is over and you have lost - and there’s absolutely no way of ever going back. But at the same time this means that there’s no more burden on your shoulder: though you’ve been bereaved of something that once was so precious to you, you are now free from a situation that was only causing pain in the end. Let your tears flow for the past, but the future’s promise lies already ahead and it’s sounding like a sparkling waterfall from afar.

Maybe this is one of Antichrisis’ most catchy tracks so far - but don’t get fooled by the song’s overall easiness: still a deep sense of valediction is lurking under its surface.

Although I’m pretty occupied with watching the Football World Cup in South Africa these days, I’ve anyway found the time to upload a new Antichrisis track called “The Point of No Return”.

This song has seen quite a few transformations since I’ve written it sometime in 2002; at first it was called “The Way”, but I could never get my head around finishing it — until I played the demo version of that song to Ayuma last January: As soon as she heard the track she was instantly hooked to it, and after rehearsing a couple of times she came up with those great vocal lines you now hear on that recording. Besides, “The Point Of No Return” contains also great performances by Frank J. Hennig and Näx, so thanks a lot for your contribution, guys!

But after I had finished mixing the 78 tracks that “The Point of No Return” consists of I swore to myself that I would never be recording as many tracks for just one song again — possibly!

Dear Devotees,

A new year has arrived, and we still have to put up with the likes of Angela Merkel and Guido Westerwelle over here in Germany - but fortunately from now on Antichrisis isn't bound any longer to GEMA (German performing rights society), which means that all new tracks by Antichrisis can now be used for internet broadcasting and non-commercial purposes of all kind (under Creative Commons License). That's good news, I guess (especially for all those internet radio stations who couldn't play Antichrisis songs in the past due to these issues)- and as legal matters are sorted out now, some exciting new tracks will see their release in 2010.

By the way: I won't be doing any blog-entries in German any more. I can see by the emails I receive that the vast majority of Antichrisis-fans seem to come from abroad, and I'm sure that our German fans will be able to understand entries in English as well. It's simply a time-saver for me if I only have to write entries once, so I hope you'll understand this decision (and it's also a good way of annoying gladsome Guido, our linguistically challenged foreign minister).

A few weeks ago I've met Jens, our former producer, again: He's now working for Laboga Amps and VIG Guitars, and we spent a very cool evening in Nuremberg with him and his endorser Tommi Denander, who turned out to be a really nice and folksy bloke - and one can really learn a lot by having a good time with such professional musicians.

My wife Ayuma also came up with some great new songs last year which I'm having the honour to produce. If you'd be interested in German music with a very special touch, check out her songs at MySpace or at Ayuma's own website. By the way: Ayuma also did the female vocals on "Here Comes The Night" and "Ocean's Too Wide" - and "The Point Of No Return” is already on its way.

And here's another piece of news: Julia Dobberstein is working on a re-release of "Cantara Anachoreta" with all tracks remastered by Harris Johns, new stunning artwork by Ben and "Beautiful Wolves" as bonus track. There's no release date yet, but as soon as this collector's item will be revealed, I'll let you know.

And if anyone out there would like to follow Antichrisis on Twitter, just look for http://twitter.com/Boscastle (Yep, it's "Boscastle" and not "Antichrisis", as everybody would have assumed. Those who know me will get the reference, anyway).

Bob Dylan was definitely right when he sang "The times, they are a-changin'" in 1964... and if it comes to music business, times have changed pretty much within the last few years. Having grown-up in the heydays of Punk, I totally and wholeheartedly agree that this change was indeed necessary, that it's about time that greedy record companies have to worry about their prospective revenues and realise that they cannot treat their customers like cash cows.

Being a musician myself, I'm torn between the two sides: on the one hand the internet and its possibilities of sharing and distributing music (but if we want to call a spade a spade we should include a term like "illegal downloading", too!) has turned out to be nothing less than a big "Up Yours!" towards the record companies' pricing policy, but on the other hand it has also caused a lot of severe problems for the kind of really devoted musicians and labels trying to make a living from what they're doing.

Experts affirm that today there's only 1 % of legal purchasing of songs and albums, which means that there is only 1 in a 100 songs that the artist or his record company actually gets paid for - and you can't run a business on that terms. That's why our label Reartone Records simply can't afford to release the long awaited Antichrisis album "The Legacy Remains": there's absolutely no chance of breaking even with new independent releases of that kind, hence I totally agree and understand Reartone's decision although I certainly regret that "The Legacy Remains" will now become some kind of "lost album", and that all the work we've put into its production so far was in vain.

Reartone cannot release any new albums as long as the aforementioned situation stays like this - and that doesn't affect Reartone Records only: Even a successful independent company like Chicago's Touch & Go Records with bands like TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Coco Rosie has to reduce its output because they just can't cover the costs any longer. Mac McCaughan of Merge Records commented this with the words: "If a company that did everything the right way can't survive in this environment ... then who can?"

But what does all that mean for Antichrisis? Well, there won't be any CD or album releases in the near future at all (unless another label would be interested in signing Antichrisis). As aforesaid, I can understand Reartone's decision and I totally agree with them, hence there's no bad blood between Reartone and Antichrisis. If the economical situation should change, there's no obstacle for resuming our collaboration.

In the meantime (or for the future - who knows) , Antichrisis will be stripped down to being a 1-man-project again like it used to be in the early days of "Cantara Anachoreta". I'll be doing everything on my own again including mixing and production, and as soon as new songs are finished I'll make them available on this website via streaming audio. I don't have any idea at the moment if there'll be a way making these new tracks available for purchase, because I don't like any of the current online distribution possibilities for independent artists: there are too many different internet platforms with too many different terms and conditions, which makes it difficult to work time- and cost-saving. But as soon as there's a proper solution on the horizon, I'll be trying to provide a good and easy way for acquiring Antichrisis' songs by purchase.

Anyway, I doubt that there will ever be an album by Antichrisis again, as I really don't believe in albums any more: they are a thing of the past, and the future's definitley in releasing separate songs as soon as they are ready and leave it to the customer which individual song he or she wants to have - it should be up to them if they want to burn it on CD or not. Online distribution is the future of any multimedia content, whether we like it or not - but it's all still in its infancy!

So "The Legacy Remains" will possibly never be released and Antichrisis will be reduced to being a 1-man-project again. I definitely won't stop making music, because it's simply such a vital and important part of my life. Of course I could now finish the songs of "The Legacy Remains" on my own, but to tell you the truth it just wouldn't feel right, because these songs were the collective achievement of a band that unfortunately doesn't exist any longer, and it would be quite unfair towards my former band members if I'd release those songs single-handedly now.

The reason that the band has now ceased to exist is due to the fact that we've never been a live group but a studio band. And as all band members are living far away from each other in different parts of Germany, the only occasion we got together was when we met in Reartone's Bluehouse studio for rehearsing and recording. So the end of the collaboration with Reartone Records implies the end of the studio band Antichrisis, too. But I'm glad that both Näx (uilleann pipes) and Frank (vocals) have assured that they would love to contribute their input to Antichrisis in the future, too, so there'll be still some guest musicians around!

Nevertheless my deepest gratitude goes to Jens Bachmann (former guitarist and producer), Tilo Rockstroh (former keyboarder and sound engineer) and Jens-Nils Kuge (former Drummer): these guys did such a great job for Antichrisis on "Perfume" and "A Legacy of Love Mark II", and I'm sure that "The Legacy Remains" would have confirmed what outstanding and unique musicians they are. It was an honour and great pleasure to work with them, and I sincerely appreciate the time we've been recording together.

A new chapter of Antichrisis is aborning - back to the basics, in a manner of speaking, and these basics will sound a lot like "Ocean's Too Wide" or "Crossing The Line" (already available on this website's Music section). And as I don't have to focus on album productions and studio sessions any more, there'll probably be some new tracks here quite soon... so stay tuned!

Last year was definitely a good year for softsynth-aficionados like me: first we had G-Force's significant update to their famous M-Tron called M-Tron Pro, which offers much more sounds and tweaking possibilities than one could have ever expected from a Mellotron-replica, then came Spectrasonics with their groundbreaking Omnisphere (which will receive another important update on January 26th with more than 2000 new patches - and don't ask me when I'll ever find the time to check them all out!), and finally in December Camel Audio released their long awaited sample manipulation synthesizer Alchemy, which I had the chance to work with during the last two weeks.

First I should confess that building sounds from scratch isn't exactly my cup of tea: I love to have a proper library of inspiring sounds that I can tweak and work with, and in these terms Alchemy is simply gorgeous even if not as packed and well-assorted as Omnisphere, but then Alchemy doesn't require 40 GB of free space on your hard drive like Omnisphere does, instead it just asks for reasonable 2 GB.

Alchemy is equiped with over 300 presets sorted in categories like Arpeggiated, Bass, Brass, Drums, Guitars, Keys, Leads, Loops, Mallets, Organs, Pads, Sound Effects, Soundscapes, Strings, Synth, Vocals and Woodwinds, but don't expect any "traditional" sounds: that's definitely not what Alchemy is all about, moreover it aims to create new and outstanding sounds - no wonder, because it allows you to tweak and manipulate every aspect of any given sound, and best of all it also allows you to import your own audio files and put them through its additive, spectral or granular grinder... only the sky is the limit of what you can do to any sound snippet loitering on your hard drive! To find out more about Alchemy's numerous possibilities take a look at Camel Audio's tutorial videos here.

I was most impressed by Alchemy's arpeggiated sounds, its drums, pads, loops and strings: these sounds are so unique and inspiring that I could hardly stop myself from fiddling about with them for hours and hours - really great stuff! I only wished the guys at Camel Audio would have equiped Alchemy with more than just 10 drum sets, because each of them is a case of sui generis and high musical quality.

Alchemy's sound effects and soundscapes on the other hand are the categories that I won't have much use for, but then it's a bit unfair to judge strange sounds like these after I've worked my way through Omnisphere's sound library just a few weeks ago: Sure Alchemy's soundscapes and sound effects do sound interesting and vivid, and there's also a lot of morphing going on, but I think Omnisphere remains simply unexcelled concerning weird and eerie atmospheres and sounds - but keep in mind that someone else might see (or hear) things different, because these categories are of much more use for composers & producers of movie scores and computer game tracks than for your average and humble musician.

All in all Alchemy is an extraordinary and wonderful softsynth offering myriads of editing possibilities that even Omnisphere can't provide. It works like a charm, contains hundreds of unique and inspiring sounds, is expandable (CamelAudio are currently offering 2 expansion sets on their website and there will be more to come) and put up for sale at more than reasonable price. It only took me just one hour until I had to realise that Alchemy will become one of my favourite softsynths!

And as this is the end of the year, here are my favourite songs of 2008:

Bruce Springsteen - Dream Baby Dream
Duffy - Rockferry
Tindersticks - Boobar Come Back To Me
Kings of Leon: Sex On Fire
Silver Jews - Suffering Jukebox
Santogold - You'll Find A Way
The Ting Tings - That’s Not My Name
The Raveonettes - Yound And Beautiful
Vampire Weekend - M79
Glasvegas - Geraldine
Moby - Disco Lies
Bloc Party - Mercury
Dido - Grafton Street
Anne Clark - Full Moon
Amy MacDonald - This Is The Life
The Walkmen - In The New Year
Portishead - The Rip
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Home
Soko - I'll Kill Her

Spectrasonics, one of my favourite software companies, has recently released their new virtual instrument Omnisphere, which is really some kind of monster in a very positive way: It is the most inspiring and genuine software instrument I’ve ever come across, and within only a few days it has become almost indispensable for my musical work with Antichrisis.

Omnisphere comes with a vast core library of over 40 GB with thousands of sounds that can be tweaked, combined and manipulated in any way you want. The sounds are not just your average workstation core library sounds, instead some of them are entering spectacular new territories like f. e. the burning piano, which is - as you might have guessed - the sound of a piano being set on fire (which is exactly what those weirdos at Spectrasonics did to achive that special sound). Also the integrated arpeggiator is just brilliant and very easy to handle, the FX-Rack contains everyt bloody effect section you ever wanted and Omnisphere’s sound browser is simply one of a kind because it allows you to actually tag, sort and find the sounds that you’re looking for, which is something that no other virtual instrument has come up with so far.

You see, I’m really excited about Omnisphere and so I can only recommend it to every songwriter, producer or musician around. Check out Spectrasonics’ website for more information here.

By the way: G-Force have released a new version of their famous M-Tron, which is a very great and useful virtual instrument, too. It is my favourite “secret weapon“ for those moments, when most digital sounds are sounding a bit too clean: those old Mellotron soundbanks add exactly the kind of vintage dirt that will make your songs breathe!

Next thing I’m looking forward too is Camel Audio’s new synthesizer Alchemy: it’s not released yet, but the teasers on their website do sound amazing.

Ayuma and me had a really wonderful wedding in Nuremberg (strange enough it took place on Lammas with a New Moon and a Solar Eclipse - that’s what I call Good Omens!) with an amazing party the day after (thanks to all our friends and acquaintances for making our wedding party such a great and beautiful event) as well as a more than brilliant Honeymoon in the Swabian Highlands (special thanks to Franky’s in Tuebingen for providing a splendid and hillarious evening).

As soon as we’ve returned from our honeymoon I’ve started working on some new tracks: one of them is called ˮCrossing the Line“ and can be found on this website’s Music-section — hope you’ll like it (even if its lyrics don’t deal with the subject of marriage at all).

I've been pretty busy during the last weeks working on lots of new songs and preparing things for our wedding day. Yes, Ayuma and me are getting married on Lammas, and I'm really looking forward to the ceremony as well as to our wedding festivity the next day... and of course to making this noble woman, entrancing inamorata and faithful friend my wife!

I’ve also started digitalizing all my old tapes, which means that heaps of previously unreleased material still has to make its transition from ye good ole analogue tape to the digital shelves of my Mac. As soon as everything’s indexed, transformed into mp3 (Sorry for that, Harry: I know you would have preferred Ogg Vorbis for some strange reasons, although I think you just love to have audio data with a file extension that bears resemblance to the name of a mad Klingon high priest!) and thoroughly inspected in terms of aural tolerance, I’ll be putting a reasonable amount of Antichrisis’ early stuff on this website.

In the meantime I’ve received some very nice and interesting emails from Arseny from Moscow and Robert Negut from Bucharest which I haven’t replied to yet: Just a little more patience, guys — as soon as Ayuma and me have returned from our honeymoon, I’ll be returning to you, too.

I’ve also had a few requests for my current top ten which accidently turned into a bloated top sixteen - but that’s personal charting for you:

Soko - I’ll Kill Her
The Killers - When You Were Young
Royksopp: What Else Is there?
Silver Jews: Suffering Jukebox
Flooging Molly - Punch Drunk Grinning Soul
Attila the Stockbroker - And I Wont’ Run Away
The Raveonettes: The Christmas Song
Franz Ferdinand - Walk Away
Jens Lekman - Black Cab
Santogold: Say Aha
Midnight Choir - The Train
Bruce Springsteen - Long Walk Home
The Pack: King Of Kings
The Monks: He Went Down To The Sea
The Thermals: An Ear For Baby
The Mountain Goats: Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod

Year after year people think it's big fun to be cruel to animals — just like in Pamplona, where bulls are being driven through the streets to end up as sacrifice on the altar of machismo in the arena afterwards.

And year after year, something like this happens:

"Several men have been badly hurt in the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona, northern Spain. The men are in hospital suffering from concussion and bruising after being trampled on Friday. Doctors said all casualties were in a serious condition in hospital; festival officials said they were injured when they fell under the hooves of stampeding bulls while running with the herd during a nine-minute dash through city streets to the Pamplona bullring.Each year thousands of people flee bulls and steers in the nine-day festival."

In my opinion: Well done, bulls!

If sunlight was floating like streams of honey
it still could not match your smile

If seaweed was made of gossamer lace
it still could not amount to your sweet caress

If clouds were as gentle as a butterfly's kiss
they could not compete with your tender lips

And even if I would lay in a bed of flowers
in the cottonwood's shade
this could not keep up
with that single moment
when I hold you in my arms

Together we walk through this garden of love
We dance on its funeral pyre
And I swear by the stars up above
that you are my only desire

Love was like a pastel
in those days of yore
So delicate and flimsy
Feathery colours
like summer clouds in a Devon sky

But the first rain of autumn
made its colours run
and the tempests tore
our slender sketches apart

Thereafter I travelled
so far and long
in search of what was lost
until I realised
that pastels cannot withstand
the storms of life

These days
we are carving our love
into a statue of wood
More strenuous
than working just with brush and easel
Addlepated by its timberish tenaciousness
and irritated by splinters
few and far between

Though unfinished yet
this solid sculpture of ours
is rooted deep in fertile soil
thus we won't have
to shield it timidly
from gale and hail
because we can rely
on its artistry and firmness instead

Dear Antichrisis-Devotees!

Bad news first: The release of "The Legacy Remains" will be delayed due to business matters! As the promo campaign for "A Legacy Of Love Mark II" has just started recently (which means that those being unfamiliar with Antichrisis up to now will perceive "A Legacy Of Love Mark II" as a brand new album release of May 2006) , it would be rather imprudent to present "The Legacy Remains" within the next few months. I'm afraid you will have to wait for X-mas or January/February 2007 for Antichrisis' new output...

Nevertheless this gives us the chance to release an album full of great material, as so many new songs have been written and recorded hence only the finest tracks will make it on "The Legacy Remains" — it will definitely be worth listening to!

Besides, everything else is working out fine. After a rather long and cold german winter, spring has finally sprung and I'm looking forward to some more recording sessions with Antichrisis as well as Blindflug, a german speaking project of Bernd and me.

As I do enjoy performing live, I've also put up another side project with Bernd, Flo and Katja, Antichrisis' new female vocalist, called Folkstone Gang. We're doing both cover versions as well as our own stuff, and if you should happen to live in the Nuremberg area, you might want to see us live at

4th July 2006, Irish Castle, Nuremberg
16th December 2006, Pegnitzbühne e. V., Nuremberg

Keep in mind that the aforementioned gigs are Folkstone Gang- and not Antichrisis-gigs, which means that only a few Antichrisis songs will be performed. Nevertheless I'm sure you'll enjoy a very special evening with good songs and a very "folky" atmosphere!

Those of you just interested in Antichrisis will have the chance to see Antichrisis Unplugged (i. e. Katja and Sid only) live on stage at the Balladentag on 24th September 2006 at the Kofferfabrik Fuerth. This event is organised by Florian Baessler, a highly appreciated singer/guitarist, and it'll give you an overview of the singer/songwrighter-scene of my home area. As it is some kind of festival, the playing time of each artist/band is restricted to 15 minutes, notwithstanding Katja and me will play a fine selection of old and new Antichrisis-material (By the way: Blindflug Unplugged will also appear on stage). Please note that Antichrisis Unplugged will already start at 3:20 pm; admission is free!

I guess that's all for today: A very merry Beltane to all of you and many thanks for your loyal support! And maybe I'll be seeing you at some of the aforementioned gigs.

Winter's last stand
adamantly defending his claim
but nevertheless
preparing to abdicate
as the first rays of sunlight
herald spring's advent

What a long dark winter it was:
Its petrifying coldness
stalling my heart

Germinating like early snowdrops
breaking the glacial deadlock
and memories fade like morning dew
leaving tracery on a frosted window

But with the light of a new day
only runlets remain
and the reminiscence of an afterglow
is all that is left
as I set out for higher grounds

Of course I've made mistakes
insignificant ones
as well as fatal ones

but then
I'm only human:

I believed when I should have doubted
I dared when I should have been cautious
I've been chasing dreams when I should have come down to earth
I got weak when I should have shown strength
I did surrender when I should have fought on

But there were also
a few things I did right:

I believed though I had my doubts
I dared where no one else had the heart
I tried to live up to my dreams even if it meant to overcome sanity and reason
I could be weak where everybody else expected me to wear a disguise
I did let go when hanging on would have caused nothing but pain and devastation

and even if I should fail again
it'll be with dignity

but then
who gives a damn?

Staying awake all night
telling jokes and anecdotes
talking about
faith and music
love and death

I wish I could deal with all this
the way you do:
Waiting for a new day dawning
while relying on your friends
to help you make it through the night

And as much as I
enjoy your company
and our hopes and dreams and visions
I'm afraid it won't suffice
to accompany me through this darkness
and dry these cold and bitter tears

Milton was right
there is such thing as paradise lost
and once you've lost it
there is no going back
no more!

Snow-padded meadows
lie cold, clear and untouched;
An ultimate emptiness
like a world created anew

Out of this scantiness
arises new life
once springtime has come again

But how can I think of spring
when I don't even know
how to survive another winter?

What remains
of a heart
that has been torn and shattered for too long?

What remains
and what for shall we endure
when pain is everything we've gained?

What remains
when everything we ever wanted
turns out to be just an illusion of love?

What remains
of hope and confidence
when our last resort has been carried?

What remains
and who will stand
when there's nothing left to fight for?

What remains
when we have to realize
that some wounds never heal?

What remains
when the memory of you withers
and my last song fades away?

What remains
when the last ray of sunlight disappears
and we're left in the darkness?

All that remains
like a whisper in the wind
is the legacy

Back on the stage again
Mister Tough Guy,
Mister Sid,
all dressed in black

With a body language saying
"Don't mess with me
or it'll be
five knuckle shuffle time!"

With a gaze
like a warning sign:
"Keep out!"
in capital letters!

Roaring like a beast
a red hot pumping power-pack
pale with fright inside
that someone out there
might detect
how fragile I am

But I have to protect
this heart of mine
so painstakingly
because you almost killed it!

Getting divorced today
almost 3 years after we parted
was a piece of cake

Getting you banned
from my mind and dreams
was the hardest part
and took so much longer
than it took the judge
to declare our marriage
as being dissolved

Quite a few things in my life
have turned out fine
since you were gone;
Some went even better
than I would have wanted them
without you

But I still haven't found
the peace of heart
and bliss that I felt
when you lay in my arms

All of a sudden
my life has turned
into one of Bruce's sad songs:

"I had a job, I had a girl
I had something going, mister, in this world"

"Our love has fallen around us like we said it never could
We saw it happen to all the others but to us it never would
Well how could something so bad, darling,
come from something that was so good?"

"Now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse?"

He also wrote some wonderful love songs like:

"Should we lose each other in the shadow of the evening trees
I'll wait for you
And should I fall behind
Wait for me"

But I suppose he didn't write these lines about the both of us

Fireworks paint the sky
with sparkling flowers of light
while I stand alone
amongst the cheering crowd

Someone's tapping on my shoulder
"Happy new year, mate!" he bawls
Another one shakes my hand,
and there's bear hugs and kisses

Of course they wish me well
"May all your wishes come true!"

Funny - but how could they know
that there's just one wish left
in the fathomless abyss
of my heart?

Dear Antichrisis-Devotees!

A new year has arrived and we are getting on fine with the production of our new album "The Legacy remains", which will see its release in the first half of 2006 on our very favourite label Reartone Records. We have recorded 23 songs until now, but only 12 or 13 will finally make it on the album; yet a definite selection will be made not until all songs have been mixed.

Over the last year Bianca, our former singer, has left Antichrisis, but meanwhile we have found a more than equal successor in Katja, who has just received her baptism of fire at Bluehouse Studio and who really fits perfectly into the band.

Of course these line-up changes did cause some extra work, as all those tracks already recorded with Bianca have to be re-recorded by Katja, but nevertheless this won't affect our time schedule for the release of "The legacy remains" that much.

I am glad to introduce a new webmaster as well: Bernd has just taken over Jens' job (by the way: A big "Thank you" to Jens for his great work - he really deserved to be relieved). Besides, Bernd is also a very gifted singer and songwriter, and we recently brought a german-speaking side project named Blindflug into being, that already sounds very exciting.

Thanks for your feedback, your unfailing support and your loyalty!

Best wishes and a happy new year to all of you!

Dear Antichrisis-Devotees!

Life is a peculiar thing: somehow it always seems to turn out different than one thinks. Everything that appeared so consistent and inextinguishable yesterday will easily vanish like morning dew in tomorrow's sunlight. Stupidly pain has the vice of firing artistic creativity (at least as long as it doesn't exceed a certain level where it turns into plain agony — been there, done that, threw away the T-shirt), so that Antichrisis' musical inspiration will be provided for much more than just the next few albums (beware of sarcasm here).

But apart from your mastermind's emotional life Antichrisis is developing magnificently: The reason for the delay of this website update was primarily due to the fact that I moved from A to B and that it took me a while to get everything sorted out and reconnect to the wondrous world of the wide web again. But now I'm back on the track working vigorously on the production of our forthcoming album "The Legacy remains".

In this regard there'll be a quite a few surprises and exciting news within the next few weeks, but I'll hold that back until the next update for reasons of anticipation.

Due to your requests comes my current Top 10-list that accidentally turned into a Top 30-list because of my musical indecisiveness:

"Teignmouth" - Patrick Wolf
"I'm waking up to us" - Belle & Sebastian
"Turning of the Tide" - Midnight Choir
"Love hurts" - Emmylou Harris & Gram Parsons
"We oh we" - The Hidden Cameras
"Smile at Everyone" - Minor Majority
"Understanding Jane" - Icicle Works
"Balkon gegenüber" - Kettcar
"I lost it" - Lucinda Williams
"One thing" - Runrig
"So called Friend" - Texas
"When you were my Baby" - The Magnetic Fields
"Head on" - Pixies
"Uncertain Times" - The Raveonettes
"Serenade" - Dover
"Goodbye Horses" - Q Lazzarus
"If I told you you were beautiful" - Minor Majority
"I will not forget you" - Sarah McLachlan
"To win just once" - Saw Doctors
"The last Beat of my Heart" - Siouxsie & The Banshees
"Live before you die" - Social Distortion
"Reconsider me" - Moneybrother
"Buried Bones" - Tindersticks
"Neon Moon" - Midnight Choir
"Common People" - William Shatner
"Please don't leave" - The Ramones
"Like a Cannibal" - Mila Mar
"Ode to L.A." - The Raveonettes
"Landungsbrücken raus" - Kettcar
"Come back from San Francisco" - The Magnetic Fields

And don't forget: The limited digipack edition of "A Legacy of Love Mark II" is still available at Playbaker at a bargain price!

In the end there's a quotation of victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson that crossed my mind while I was going through recent occurrences:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)
"In Memoriam" (1850)

Dear Antichrisis-Devotees!

Finally the time of waiting is over!

“A Legacy of Love Mark II” has been released recently on Reartone Records.

All songs have seen a vast musical enhancement, they've been re-recorded and re-arranged from the ground. Both cover and booklet have been re-designed to match the songs and their contents in a much better way. The new editing of the entire album allowed us to add the formerly unavailable “End of December” as bonus track.

Overall the album sounds much more consolidated now: The new interpretation of its songs has succeeded in taking the exhausted predecessor “A Legacy of Love” to a new level of musical and emotional experience.

In order to avoid the the price policy of the greedy music biz, we have chosen a different kind of distribution channel, hence for the time being “A Legacy of Love Mark II” will be available through Playbaker only. This allows us to offer the album much cheaper than your average digipack edition.

That’s all for today — we’ll keep you informed about further developments!

Dear Antichrisis-Devotees!

Mission accomplished: We've just finished re-recording and remixing “A Legacy of Love”! The album will see its release within the next few weeks (digipack with bonus-track); we'll let you know in due time about its definite release date.

The album will be called “A Legacy of Love Mark II”, because it's actually meant to be an update to the original “A Legacy of Love” album of 1998. We just left the vocal parts and a few instrumental solos untouched, whereas everything else got completely rearranged and re-recorded by the new Antichrisis line-up.

I was never completely satisfied with the original "A Legacy of Love"-album because Antichrisis didn't sound like a proper band at that time (of course it couldn't because I had to play most instruments on my own). But as the songs on this album deserved a second chance, I thought that it might be a good idea to let the recent Antichrisis line-up re-record the entire album so that you'll get an idea of what Antichrisis sounds like today. And as our fans demanded a re-issue because "A Legacy of Love" got out of stock a long time ago, we'll be killing two birds with one stone.

My gratitude goes to Jens, Tilo, Kugator and Näx: “A Legacy of Love Mark II” wouldn't have become what it is without your artistic skills and creative input!

We’ve been working busily on the final completion of the pre-production to our new album as well as on the re-release of “A Legacy of Love” during the last weeks, although I have to say that “re-release” doesn’t quite take the bisquit as we’re not just doing your average remixing and remastering-job, moreover we’re re-recording guitars, drums and keyboards completely: The E-Drums we used in 1998 got already thrown out and were replaced by Kugator’s excellent drumming.

All in all “A Legacy of Love” will be completely revised, edited, restored, remixed and remastered before it’ll see its re-release by the end of the year. Those who already liked the original album will presumably go haywire with this new edition!

Many of you have written emails in which they were complaining about the missing “My favourite Top Ten”-section that was part of our old website, hence a selection of my current favourites right here:

Life fades away - Roy Orbison
Don’t play that Song (You lied) - Ben E. King
Levi Stubb’s Tears - Billy Bragg
Warning Sign - Coldplay
Brand New Start - Paul Weller
Love is Only a Feeling - The Darkness
Mary’s in India - Dido
With Whom to dance - The Divine Comedy
Duke of Earl - Gene Chandler
Boys of Melody - The Hidden Cameras
Sleep Well Tonight - Inspiral Carpets
Ascension - Kirlian Camera
Du sälde vära hjärtan - Lisa Ekdahl
Pillar of Davidson - Live
The Gift - Midge Ure
Dark Island - Mike Oldfield
Whale - Rescue Mission
Hear My Song - Vernon Midgely
Ring on the Sill - Cowboy Junkies
Until the Morning Comes - Tindersticks
Ciega Sordomuda - Shakira
All My Little Words - The Magnetic Fields
These Arms of Mine - Otis Redding
Shakin’ all over - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
Say Hello Wave Goodbye - David Gray

That’s all for today — we’ll keep you informed about further developments!