Merry christmas and a happy new year 2011!

My dear friends,
christmas time is there and it is time for gifts!

2010 was again a year with successful events and new releases.
 Inspiration cannot be planned or prepared and when I had started to read Frank Schaetzing's science-fiction novel "The swarm" one year ago, I didn't know how deep it would touch and inspire me. So the music of "Beyond The Deep" happened in fact from itself.

First "tests" during the "Music Fair in Frankfurt" in march showed, that there was a real chance that you would like this music. The response of you confirmed this.

This brings me to the very positive cooperation with "Roland Germany", which had been intensified over the past 12 months. From "Frankfurt Music Fair" to "Ricochet Gathering" in Berlin and finally to Cologne and Berlin with a series of synthesizer-workshops (with my personal premiere as "lecturer" on synthesizer topics). This cooperation will continue and at the moment we work on new activitites in 2011.

Back to "Beyond The Deep". Short before the release of the CD, I was invited by "Schallwende e.V." to inaugurate the renovated "Planetarium Bochum" in past june. This was my first concert in Germany since many years. The Planetarium was sold out and what can I say: there are considerations and plans to do more in 2011 - of course.
The invitation to participate on the famous "Ricochet Gathering" festival (for the first time in Berlin) reached me in august. For a certain time, I was involved into the organisation. This was another chance again to meet interesting and nice people. Future cooperations could be a result of this. But I was also asked to perform and did this with a longer, new track which was conceived as a musical bridge between my recent symphonic style and past "berlin school" textures. This track - "Let It Out!" - will be my christmas-gift to all of you. Together with "MellowJet Records", we decided to release this music for the first time only as download - available only via the website of "MellowJet Records". Date of release is "01.01.2011"

So we start with a brandnew release into the next year. More will follow.

Finally I will not leave this year without saying thank you to all people, who have helped me to go forward again. Thank you to Bernd Scholl and his family (MellowJet Records), Sylvia and Klaus-Ulrich Sommerfeld (Schallwende e.V.) Mrs Huettemeister (Planetarium Bochum), Andreas Michel (Synthesizer Magazin), Ute (Rathaus Schoeneberg), Cord Brandis and Michael Menze (Roland Germany), Olivier, Christian, Yann, James and all other guys of Cosmiccagibi and last but not least the best friend of the world: Michel Le Stum.

You, you and you! I wish all of you a merry christmas, a peaceful time and a happy new year!

All the best

Bernd Kistenmacher

Synthesizer-Magazin and Musikmesse Frankfurt

As I already had posted some weeks ago, "Synthesizer-Magazin" will be presented with an own stand at the "Musikmesse Frankfurt", which starts next week. This year they will organize some workshops and some short performances with several e.m. artists. If you like, you can meet me there at Hall "5.0 Stand C48" (nearby Roland) on friday 26th and saturday 27th of march (afternoon).
The whole thing is called "Synthesizer-Welt". Find more infos on this "page" of Musikmesse

At the moment I am working on new tracks for my next solo-album. The release is planned for june 2010, right before my concert in Bochum. So my performance at "Musikmesse" will contain some tracks from "Celestial Movements" and something new...

Btw. "Synthesizer-Magazin" has just released issue no. 19. Beside a very interesting article about the beloved "Roland 100M Modular-Synthesizer", you can find part 2 of my experience-report about the "VP 770 Vocoder" from Roland (part 1 was published in no. 18).

Musikmesse 2010

So it is time again to speak about the upcoming "Musikmesse" in Frankfurt (Germany).

This year german "Synthesizer Magazin" presents a lot of activities around the big world of synthesizers and electronic music production. For example they will do workshops for production of techno music as well as for new, modern synthesizers.

In addition, "Synthesizer Magazin" will present musicians on a little stage that can report on their activities and their working practices in the studio, but also will perform their current music. This is the place where you can find me - if you like - on friday 26th and saturday 27th of march. I will play some tunes from "Celestial Movements" and some new tracks from my next album too.

Also my colleague Stefan Erbe will perform there.

Details can be found here (click for a bigger size):

The "Musikmesse" will be held from march 24th to 27th in? yes Frankfurt.

So I am happy to meet you there..

Musikmesse 2009

It was time again to visit the annual "Musikmesse" (music fair) in Frankfurt; Germany. All the years before I went there only for testing new equipment or for "breathing" the athmosphere of this important fair.
Yesterday I had a more concrete reason. I had an appointment with Gabriel Seher and Marcel Achim of GenoQs, the company who has created the famous "Octopus Sequencer". I mentioned this machine earlier in this blog. And the Octopus was indeed the reason for our meeting. Based on my experiences with my Octopus during the past months in my studio, I made earlier this year some proposals about optimization of the usability of this machine on stage. As users surely know, the Octopus is housed in a very stylish wooden case which is very sensitive against damages. In my opinion this makes it impossible to use the sequencer on stage. Gabriel and Marcel seemed to have the same opinion because they prepared the prototype of a "roadversion" of the Octopus. This prototype was now ready for presentation at the musicfair. We discussed some details and we will meet us again in early summer of this year to get more grip on open questions but it is definetly fact that the Octopus roadversion - the official name is "Octopus - The Shell" - will be ready for sale on the beginning of
july 2009. First pictures of the prototype can be seen now on the "GenoQs" website. It is great to see how my ideas become reality and I am sure that this cooperation will be intensified.

...with Marcel Achim and Gabriel Seher

...the Octopus - The Shell prototype

After this important meeting of course I visited the guys of the "Synthesizer-Magazin" and I had some nice talk with Mic "Moogulator" Irmer. We also talked about some new contributions from me for the magazin. An experience report about the Roland Fantom G8 could be one.

...with Mic "Moogulator Irmer

...with Klaus-Hoffmann Hook in front of the Memotron

After this nice day I found my personal highlight of the day. The "Club Of The Knobs". "COTK" is a little but fine company from Portugal founded by the german Gerd Peun aka Kazike. COTK is specialised in analogue modular synthesizers. It is a little bit difficult to me to use the term "Moog clone" but after listening and testing the system which was presented on the fair, I would describe it as the "perfect Moog clone". The sound is unbelievable true and original and I will definetly have one and I will use it on stage. This is clear after this day.
UPDATE: please check this little Video on Youtube. You can discover some nice people in it.

...with the Club Of The Knobs Team Rajele Jain, Gerd Peun and Georg Mahr

Now I am back in Berlin full of nice impressions.
It is spring again folks...!