eclipsed: How did the Manikin label come into being? What role did you play?
Mario Schönwälder: That was at the end of 1991, when I decided after two CDs on the label MI to go my own way. I was, so to speak, the leading actor who wanted to do something new.
eclipsed: And how did you yourself come to electronic music as a musician?
eclipsed: Just now the soundcheck with RPWL, now the interview for Blind Ego, afterwards the RPWL concert. How do you switch back and forth?
Kalle Wallner: I'm actually used to having all the different construction sites at the same time now. At the latest, since our label Gentle Art Of Music exists, there is always a lot to do. You get used to it, too. RPWL and Blind Ego side by side is actually easy, because I'm heavily involved in both. So that's a pretty good fit.
Something tribal drum, a few plucked instruments, in addition this clear female voice, traditional singing, somewhere in the North African area to locate, perhaps also some Arabic harmonies. And then, after 52 seconds, the electric bass comes along, playing a driving urban dance groove. What a contrast! But at the same moment: what a symbiosis! "Salam Nubia", the opener of "Manara", the second album of Alsarah And The Nubatones, is a prime example of the music of the New York quintet. "Salam Nubia", one may translate that with "Peace for Nubia" or also "Greetings to Nubia".
Where is the beginning of German rock music? When can you really talk about Deutschrock? In the 60s, German beat bands like the Rattles or the Lords still sang in the language of their Anglo-American idols as if they were a matter of course. This is how Wolfgang Niedecken (65) tells eclipsed: "Rock music in my generation has only become interesting in the first place because of the big English bands. If you wanted to do it yourself, you would be strongly connected to the English language. That was hard to separate."
Five musicians sitting on a worn leather set. They know more about each other than they care to. They've experienced things together that ordinary people wouldn't even dream of, and they've enjoyed the highest feelings of happiness and looked into the deepest abysses. They have played in front of hundreds of thousands of cheering fans, by others they have been mercilessly booed. They have spent the nights in gloomy juke-joints in front of a handful of boozers and have stolen their food together in shopping malls.
The makers of "The RCA & Arista Album Collection" have shown an exemplary approach to the re-release of the Lou Reeds work: So the CDs offer a clearly improved sound as well as sound elements, which one did not hear on early vinyl and CD Pressungen. For example in groundbreaking works such as "Transformer", "Berlin", "Metal Machine Music" or "Street Hassle", with which Lewis Allan Reed earned himself a reputation as an unconventional thinker and total denier, and in some cases created sound art so far ahead of its time that nobody understood it at first.
![BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - In a press briefing with "The Boss](https://www.eclipsed.de/sites/default/files/field/image/bruce-springsteen-167070%20web.jpg "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - In a press briefing with "The Boss")
Eighteen studio albums, numerous live recordings, compilations and box sets - 67-year-old US superstar Bruce Springsteen looks back on an extensive oeuvre and an eventful career. How does such a man tick, who grew up in New Jersey in simple circumstances? In "Born To Run" (review on the book page of this issue) Springsteen gives sincere and profound insights.
![JEAN-MICHEL JARRE - "Oxygène" for the third time](https://www.eclipsed.de/sites/default/files/field/image/Jean_Michel_Jarre_2016_10_Frankfurt_Portrait_20_v1_24cm%20web.jpg "JEAN-MICHEL JARRE - "Oxygène" for the third time")
Floating synthesizer sounds, a Moog purrs and squeaks, and slowly a melody emerges. After about eight minutes, a bass begins and interrupts the atmosphere slightly stepping away. Meanwhile, the synthi fires nervously in the background like rockets. And above all hovers a soothing, constantly repeating melody. An ethereal melodic intermezzo finally leads to what is today one of the most popular electronic pieces of all time: "Oxygène 4". This simple melody in combination with bubbling synths could even be played in a disco - that was new.
The name "The Neal Morse Band" implies it: With drummer Mike Portnoy, bassist Randy George, keyboarder Bill Hubauer and guitarist Eric Gillette the namesake has meanwhile established a fixed line-up and allows other influences. We talked to Neal Morse and his eternal companion Mike Portnoy.
eclipsed: Neal, let's first look back at your performance with Spockʼs Beard at this year's "Night Of The Prog" festival. How did you experience the gig?
In 2005 singer and guitarist Jack Sharp had the idea for Wolf People. Together with the second guitarist Jon Hollick, drummer Tom Watt and bassist Dan Davies they went on their musical journey, where they were compared with all kinds of rock and folk heroes - from Jethro Tull to Fairport Convention to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Sharp explains why the band is in such a good mood right now.
eclipsed: First, a question of understanding. Even though I haven't discovered any stringent concepts: Is "Ruins" a concept album?
