I had the opportunity to visit Germany for about 9 days as part of Music Initiative (Initiative Musik) , a program by the German government that brought about 15 representatives from all over the world to learn about Germany popular music. The trip was amazing, exceeding any expectations, I visited Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin and the Melt Festival.

Some photos from the trip HERE

Here is a mix I put together of some of the music I discovered during the trip:

Ale – On Tour With the Germans (05.02.13)

PLAYLIST
Dann Fragen – Erst Schiessen – — – Kompakt

B. Fleischmann – Don’t Follow – I’m Not Ready For the Grave Yet – Morr Music

Tfgcooy – Hochheide Session – Wolf Muller Lager Fever Tanz – Themes For Great Cities

Anders Ilar – Ineptitude – Wavefunction Formula – Level Rec

Mieux! – — – — – Up My Alley

Saroos – Lobster Claw – See Me Not – Alien Transistor

Mohn – Schwarzer Schwan – — – Kompakt

Mum – Bak Bitt er Sem Rennibraut – Early Birds – Morr Music

Fax – Sin Aire – Colorante EP – Level Rec

The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble – Pretend – Wunderbar, German Music at SXSW 2012 – Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology

Mo0 – Daywalk – — – Up My Alley

Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra – Saturn Hoola Hoop – Bum Bum – Alien Transistor

Wish – Elekfantz – — —

Kolsch feat. Trols Abrahamsen – All That Matters – — – Kompakt

Can – Midnight Men – CD No 1 – Electronic Beats

Roedelius Schneider – Stunden I – Stunden – Bureau b

Harmonious Thelonious – Argwohnische Muziek – Listen – Italic Recordings

Stabil Elite – Rave Maria – Douze Pouze – Themes For Great Cities

Glitterbug – Dragged Along – Cancerboy – c.sides

Saschienne – November – Unknown – Kompakt

Minor Sick & Abbey Lee Tee – Techno Hearts – Stray Cats – Shash Records

E.A.R.L. – Rosa Del Inca – Mogul 2 – Themes For Great Cities

Apparat – Song of Los Michael Mayer Remix – — – —

==============================

List of the places I visited and artists I met:
COLOGNE:
Cc 4711
The former office building of the cologne-manufacturer 4711in the district Ehrenfeld is a widely visible sign of the changing structure. This is where all activities of Sound of Cologne are coordinated and overseen. The organization of the annual c/o pop festival is centralized in their office here, including cooperations and special events as well as workshops and coaching-programs. In addition, about 70 companies have moved into the three stories since May 2009. The video-channel Putpat and the magazine Intro add established media to the cc4711-output, and among the other companies are online service providers, labels, designers, cinema and television professionals, and booking agencies. Currently, this center with 3 300 square meters is fully rented out. This centralization of different companies enables exchange across industries in the creative sector.
www.c-o-pop.de
www.cnb-convention.com
www.facebook.com/copopbooking

Network “Sound of Cologne”
Sound of Cologne is the name that umbrellas the multilayered Cologne-based scene since the mid-nineties, when it began to make furor worldwide. In the beginning it referred to a certain style of electronic music, but over the years its spectrum became wider. Sound of Cologne soon stood for a broad network of DJs, producers, labels, and agencies, beyond the limits of a musical genre. A casual outfit based on communication and collaboration that kept independent goals apart from that. This exact structure laid the foundation for today’s version. The “cluster music and event sector“ got to working in mid- December 2008, supported by the CREATE-program of the European Union and by the state of Northrine-Westphalia. Sound of Cologne now acts as a focal point for several activities intended to enable the naturally grown local scene to further evolve. The strengths of the location will be concentrated and developed.
www.sound-of-cologne.com

INTRO magazine
Intro is a free music magazine from cologne, financed through advertising. It focuses on current popular music, including that beyond the mainstream. Emphases of the magazine apart from music are fashion, movies, art, literature and gaming. It has become the largest German-language magazine of its kind in the independent-sector.
www.intro.de

Electronic Beats
Electronic Beats (EB) is the international music program by Deutsche Telekom centered around live music and club events throughout Europe’s major cities. All activities share a virtual home at electronicbeats.net with the latest news on artists and events. Committed to the cause of contemporary music, the site features its own EB Radio and EB TV. Completing the media portfolio is the very collectable EB print magazine and the Slices DVD, both appear quarterly through selected distribution channels.
www.electronicbeats.net

Klubkomm Cologne
Klubkomm is the first association to attend to the interests of the party- and music scene in Cologne. It was founded in 2010. Among its members are big nightclubs and smaller-scale, full-time nightlife organizers as well as those who host parties in their spare time, one- man shows and companies with dozens of employees. In addition, DJs, music journalists, and managers are members. The association is just as versatile as the scene itself – and the issues it is concerned with: GEMA, the smoking ban, taxes, pasting of advertisements and distribution of flyers, development and permission of new sites, and the list goes on. Klubkomm is a registered association.
www.klubkomm.de

Traum Schallplatten
Traum Schallplatten is a cluster of Cologne-based record labels for electronic dance music, consisting of the labels Traum, Trapez, Trapez LTD, Paintwork and MBF and its sub-label MBF LTD. The group has released more than 500 publications all together, 100 of those through Traum Schallplatten.
www.traumschallplatten.de

Stadtgarten/Studio 672 (Homebase of “Total Confusion”)
Total Confusion is one of the oldest and most renowned electronic dance music nights in Cologne. Launched in July 1998 in Studio 672 by the DJs Tobias Thomas and Michael Mayer and the former programme director at Studio 672 Ralph Christoph, the event has been running without a significant break for now 14 years. Since December 2006 until 2010, Total Confusion had taken place every first Friday in the month in Bogen 2, a venue that is part of the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne and located directly below the cathedral and the main station.
Over the past 13 years, many exceptionally talented guests, from unknown local newcomers to world famous stars, have visited Total Confusion and enriched it with their music: Sascha Funke, Theo Parrish, DJ Hell, DJ Koze, Westbam, Lawrence, COMA, Gui Boratto, Paul Kalkbrenner, MIT, Matias Aguayo, Wighnomy Brothers, The Whitest Boy Alive, dOP, Rebolledo, Ellen Alien, Matthias Kaden, Jennifer Cardini, Khan, Geiger, Nathan Fake, Zander VT, Ferenc, Jake Fairley, Jonas Bering, T.Raumschmiere, Tobias Schmid, Junior Boys, These New Puritans, Alter Ego, Christian S, Schaeben & Voss ft. Schad Privat, Chloé, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Tato Cado, Pawel, Kaito, Pantha Du Prince, Isolée, Axel Boman, Ada, Petter, Dave, James Holden, Justus Köhncke, Electric Indigo, Eliott Litrowski, The Modernist, International Pony, Roman Flügel, Miss Kittin, Hufschlag & Braun, Aroma Pitch, Closer Musik, Ata, Losoul, Acid Pauli, Heiko MSO, Shumi, The Rice Twins, André Kraml, Roosevelt, Hans Nieswandt, Peaches, Erobique, Lena Willikens, Glitterbug and many more. Total Confusion should not be confused with the “Total” nights hosted by the lovely record label Kompakt. Total Confusion is not organised by Kompakt. Nevertheless in Cologne everybody ́s kissing everyone. TC is an electronic dance music night and explicitly was never and still isn’t a minimal techno party. Total Confusion is also a co- organiser of the traditional “Alaaf …” open air party on the Thursday of Carnival week, and sometimes organises small-scale indie concerts in Cologne. Total Confusion’s resident DJs are Tobias Thomas, Superpitcher, Roosevelt and Michael Mayer. Until 2006 they also included Jan-Eric Kaiser and Jo Saurbier.

Kompakt
Kompakt is an internationally successful record label specializing in electronic music from Cologne. Affiliated with the label is a record store located at Werderstraße in Cologne, a sales department and an artists agency. Kompakt has been and still is internationally associated with a certain variety of minimal techno, labeled by many media outlets as the sound of Cologne. Despite the fact that Kompakt now releases diverse styles of electronic music – ranging from abstract-experimental to vocal tracks with folk-elements (Justus Köhnke) – the label continues to regard itself as a techno-label.
www.kompakt.fm

Peter Boettcher
Photographer Peter Boettcher from Cologne began his career with the famous independent-music magazine Spex: he shot covers featuring LL Cool J, Morrissey, Sonic Youth, Salt’n’Pepper and R.E.M. He additionally worked for popular magazines such as ZeitMagazin, Rolling Stone, Vogue and Stern. In 1991 he shot Kraftwerk for EMI and became friends with Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Since then he has been shooting all of the band’s press and marketing photos.
www.peterboettcher.de

Richter-Window
The Richter-window is the south transept window of the Cologne Cathedral, which was designed by the artist Gerhard Richter from Cologne. It was inaugurated on 25. August 2007 during a ceremonious mass. The abstract concept was received partly enthusiastically, partly is was heavily criticized.
www.gerhard-richter.com

DUSSELDORF:
Kling-Klang
Kling Klang (also spelled as Klingklang) is the private music studio of the band Kraftwerk. The name is taken from the first song on the Kraftwerk 2 album. The studio was originally located at Mintropstrasse 16 in Düsseldorf, Germany, but in mid-2009 was relocated to a new location in Meerbusch-Osterath, around 10 kilometers west of Düsseldorf.
www.klingklang.com

Stabil Elite
The debut album „Douze Pouze“ by the trio STABIL ELITE combines glamor and emotion and cosmic transcendence, which is well aware of its musical heritage, yet does not seem overly reflective for even a second. One can immediately hear where this stylish band comes from. Just think of that city on the Rhine, which has become a work of art in itself, and its electronic musical history, which has significantly influenced many styles, from hip-hop to techno.
www.facebook.com/pages/stabil-elite/85429395769

Harmonious Thelonious
The new electronic project by Stefan Schwander (aka Antonelli), combines the reduced serial structures of American minimalist music with African rhythms and European sequencing. Without any ideological agenda, the Dü sseldorf-based musician blends gripping harmonic and rhythmic patterns to create an entirely new kind of club music. He conjures up hypnotic voodoo atmospheres – danceable, challenging, and melodically playful.
www.harmoniousthelonious.com

Tolouse Low Trax
For ages nighttime was said to be the time of ghosts and spirits. Creatures of the night were believed to gain special powers between midnight and dawn. In latin this shrouded in mystery lapse of time was called “intempesta” – time without time.
Detlef Weinrich, alias Toulouse Low Trax, too, seems to have lingered in the irrational universe of frozen continuity quite frequently within the last two years. Everyone who drifts to the sound of his first solo album “Mask Talk” will soon sense the musical intensity boding a different dancefloor.
Cool, atmospheric new-wave-sharpness, and a cushioned beat rate between 107 and 116 bpm call out a mechanical functionality that doesn’t bow to any contemporary doctrine. “Mask Talk”: urban music, club album. Big city lights in Africa. Chilly neon-sounds made in Dusseldorf.
www.facebook.com/pages/TOLOUSE-LOW-TRAX/252370514818268

HAMBURG:
Übel & Gefährlich
Uebel & Gefährlich is a music club in Hamburg, known beyond the city as a concert location. The club showcases everything from techno to jazz to singer-songwriter shows.
www.uebelundgefaehrlich.com

ByteFM
ByteFM is an online radio station: a music channel featuring hosts and journalistic standards along with a handpicked selection of tunes. The staff consists of around 80 music journalists, musicians and scene insiders. There is no computer-programmed rotation, no „hit-hits“ – rather, it is a mix of old and new music, interviews and background reports covering different scenes, bands, and developments – all free of advertisement.
www.byte.fm

Christoph Twickel
Christoph Twickel, b. 1966 is a journalist and author living in Hamburg. He published a biography of Hugo Chàvez through Edition Nautilus, and, through the same publisher, “Läden, Schuppen, Kaschemmen. Eine Hamburger Popkulturgeschichte” (A history of pop culture in Hamburg) in 2003. In 2007 he published a volume of interviews titled “Das Projektil sind wir”, co-written with Karl-Heinz Dellwo and Tina Petersen. From 1999 through 2003 he served as Editor-in-chief for the urban magazine “Szene Hamburg“. His book “Gentrifidingsbums oder Eine Stadt für Alle” came out in September 2010 (Edition Nautilus).

Digitalism
Digitalism is a German electro duo, founded in 2004 in Hamburg, consisting of Jens “Jence” Moelle and Ismail “Isi” Tüfekçi. Jens likens Digitalism’s songs to simple chapters in a complex novel about social interaction and attraction, with distorted baselines and thumping rhythms comprising the punctuation. Digitalism is pioneering the electro-punk and indie dance movements, making appearances at festivals such as Coachella and various clubs worldwide.
www.facebook.com/digitalism

Golden Pudel Club
The Golden Pudel Club is and always has been safe harbor for the rebellious, the raunchy, and nightlife-aficionados. It is a youth center with an agenda based on music, drama and education: a room for art that has been an excellent place to express individuality for over 20 years. Situated right by the river Elbe, it is a Hamburg legend.
www.pudel.com

BERLIN:
Sven von Thülen
Sven von Thülen, born in Bremen in 1976, has been living in Berlin since the mid-90s. He works as a music journalist and a DJ, taking his inspiration from the ever changing club and music landscape. His most recent publication was the book “Der Klang der Familie. Berlin, Techno, und die Wende.” („The sound of family. Berlin, techno, and the fall of the wall“), co-written with Felix Denk (Suhrkamp).

Me and My Drummer
Charlotte Brandi and Matze Pröllochs met each other in theaters. They made music for plays, they liked each other’s ideas and sounds, they found ways to create the time and space for their own works. They travelled; they recorded and freed themselves from the basics that brought them together, mile by mile by mile. As Me And My Drummer they found a unique sound and style and language – a special language as it only exists between two truly like-minded and different people.
www.meandmydrummer.com

I Heart Sharks
A perfect collaboration: I heart sharks hail from Berlin, but are a German-British union. They blend the typical indie-appeal from the island with German electronica – and the result is music to dance and sing along to. It’s zeitgeisty, it’s nonchalant and thoroughly likeable – and on stage, the trio captivates its audience in mere seconds.
www.iheartsharks.net

Douglas Greed
Douglas Greed started his path under this moniker in 2005 with the desire for a straight bass drum and the attitude of a music lover. Before he was on the hip-hop and drum and bass tip with the pseudonym Real (Bionic Crew). Most recently he is an organizer and recording artist still; despite his many outgrowths. Meanwhile the enthusiastic music lover and indiemusic connoisseur has managed a considerable number of releases on straightforward labels like Combination, Lebensfreude, Kindisch, InXiné, Dekadent, Ostwind, Acker and of course Freude am Tanzen, as well as diverse remixes. In 2011 he opens his soul and presents with his debut album ‘KRL’ from the home team Freude am Tanzen, the status quo Douglas Greed. Floating freely from the dance floor dictation he crafts gallant hymns for the „Rave“ under the sheets. As a Bauhaus alumnus he has mutated into a multidiscipline Dougaholic: audio play, graphics, techno, live act, drum & bass, DJ, promoter – Mr. Greed is delightfully passionate about artistic manifestation.
www.douglas-greed.com

Kater Holzig
After the closing of the legendary Bar 25 a part of the former crew opened “Kater Holzig”. The remains of a brick building now serve as a new cultural hotspot, with a cinema, stage, and lounge, right by the Spree. The most important thing, however, remain the electronic- music-fueled parties in typical Berlin-fashion. The restaurant “Katerschmaus” on the top floor serves a fresh, light style of German cuisine. www.katerholzig.de

Native Instruments
Native Instruments is a leading manufacturer of software and hardware for computer-based audio production and DJing. The company’s mission is to develop innovative, fully-integrated solutions for all musical styles and professions. The resulting products regularly push technological boundaries and open up new creative horizons for professionals and amateurs alike.
www.native-instruments.com

Ableton
Ableton develops music software for creative people. Ableton Live, our figurehead, paves new roads – some say revolutionary ones – for digital music production and performance. Ableton Live has received praise from both the international trade media and musicians from
the start. At the moment, there are hundreds of thousands users, and this is by no means the final tally.
www.ableton.com

Bauhaus Dessau
Bauhaus Dessau, also called Bauhausgebäude Dessau, is a block of buildings in Dessau-Roßlau. The building was erected in 1925 and 1926 according to plans by Walter Gropius and was intended to serve as a school building for the art, design and architecture school “Bauhaus”. Parts that had been altered or destroyed in the war were rebuilt closely resembling the original starting in 1965. The building was restored and partly modernized in 1976, and again from 1996 to 2006, this time in accordance with the principles of the preservation of monuments.
www.bauhaus-dessau.de

Melt Festival
Melt! Festival is the ultimate “Electronic Meets Rock” festival that takes place in Germany. It’s original run was from 1997-2002, but since it’s return in 2004 it has gone from strength to strength. Held in the giant industrial museum Ferropolis, the event spreads over 6 floors, and has a line-up of over 80 live acts over the weekend.
www.meltfestival.de
====================================

Here are some photos that are people that were part of my group took:
Photos by John Doran
Photos by Alec Luhn