!Bang Elektronika - Techniques Berlin - Datafreq

Canadian techno-industrial band.

!Bang Elektronika started in 1986 as a solo project of Dave Rout to develop his electronic music wanderings. He recorded material off an on but most of his time was spent working on Techniques Berlin, a band which he started with Andreas Gregor in 1985. The first !BE release was the “Audio Beat Warfare” cassette on Bombshelter in 1989. For the second !BE tape, “The Rhythm Screams Electronic”, also released in 1989, Andreas contributed with some vocals. After these releases Dave was moving into more EBM / industrial sounds and wanted some harsh German vocals for the new tracks so he asked Andreas to sing on some of them and join permanently the project. Their first release as a duo was the cassette entitled “Aktivierung!” on Shadow Records in 1991. Next year two tracks from this tape were included on the “Metro Tekno” compilation CD by Silent Records and in 1993 the first full length CD was released on Germany’s Hyperium label. Time after, the project was put on hiatus with just some sporadic releases and a few shows, until 2011 when they did their first and only show in Berlin and release a compilation CD.

The band is celebrating their 35th anniversary releasing their dance floor stomper “Aktivierung” for the very first time on vinyl. This release includes, along the original version from 1991 and the b-side “Ich Bin So Ätzend!”, two new killer remixes crafted by Randolph & Mortimer and The Horrorist.

Former members: Kristian Helstrom, Rich Leboudec, Steve Blezy, Monique Albert, Paul Jaworski

Members: Andreas Gregor (Datafreq, Digital Poodle, NeuroRythm, Techniques Berlin), Dave Rout (Datafreq, Digital Poodle, Rational Youth, Techniques Berlin)
Location: Toronto, Ontario

TECHNIQUES BERLIN

NADANNA proudly presents its new project, the Canadian synthpop act TECHNIQUES BERLIN! Formed in 1984 by high school buddies Andreas Gregor and David Rout, the band started experimenting with synthesizers, drum machines and guitars. In the early stages, TECHNIQUES BERLIN was heavily influenced by UK new romantic acts like Japan, Spandau Ballet, Visage, The Human League, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Yazoo and Depeche Mode as well as rising Canadian synthpop bands Rational Youth (Dave become a member in 1998/99), Men Without Hats and Trans-X. It took them a few years to master their electronic toys and create a unique blend of addictive electropop melodies and beautifully crafted alternative beats.

In the late 80s, TECHNIQUES BERLIN played live on a regular basis and their 3 cassettes, released on their own Bombshelter label, received frequent local airplay in Canada. Despite their moderate success, the band failed to secure a record deal. A&R reps would comment that their songs were either too alternative to be classified as pop, or too pop to be alternative, which became rather discouraging in the long run. By late 1991, the band members had developed a strong interest in the burgeoning electro-industrial scene. Dave and Andreas had founded Bang Elektronika and were working with Digital Poodle as live drummers. Both of these projects were soon picked up by record labels. TECHNIQUES BERLIN played their last show at the University of Toronto in November of 1991, debuting the last track they had recorded, fittingly called "Time Fades to Nothing".

Now over two decades later, TECHNIQUES BERLIN is staging a remarkable comeback! Encouraged by the growing interest in the long out-of-print “Back Issue Volume 1 and 2” (now available on iTunes) and the highly sought-after compilation “Suburban Playgrounds and Concrete Beaches” (released by Fabrika Records on vinyl), Dave and Andreas have decided to bring TECHNIQUES BERLIN back to life. A series of shows in Toronto and Montreal saw the addition of keyboardist and backing vocalist Dina Naskos to the line-up. To celebrate the anniversary of the label that they founded, they included an unreleased track on the 7” EP, Future Past, on the Bombshelter Productions label.

Andreas, Dave and Dina have completed an album of brand new material, titled "Breathing". The set consist of the new album, as well as a previously unreleased material and alternate versions of tracks from the Bombshelter vaults.

Techniques Berlin is a new wave / synthpop / minimal synth band formed in 1985 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada by Andreas Gregor and Dave Rout.
The band celebrated their 35th anniversary in 2020, and performed only once that year due to the Covid 19 Pandemic.

Dave Rout - Synthesizers, Drum Machines, Lyrics [1985 - Present]
Andreas Gregor - Vocals, Synthesizers, Drum Machines Lyrics [1985 - Present]
Dina Naskos - Vocals and Synthesizers [Live performances from 2013 - Present]

Previous members :
Dan Bell (1985-1986),
Desta Williams (1985)
Dale Hanlin (1990-1992)
Kris Helstrom (1989 & 1991)

DATAFREQ

Datafreq is Dave Rout, who lives and records in Toronto, Canada in his studio full of vintage videogames and electronics. After his big success with “Just like 1981”, released on the anniversary compilation of Berlin based recordstore DAS DREHMOMENT (VA. 5th anniversary Vol 1), Datafreq marks his return to his original passions of early 80’ies New Wave melodies and vintage electronic rhythms with a complete CD Album.
He has been involved in the Canadian Electronic Music Scene since the mid 80’ies with notable releases including “Aktivierung” by !bang elektronika on Hypnobeat Records (Ger), which was licensed on famous ZWISCHENFALL Sampler Vol2, “mind drone” by Infor/mental on Ninja Tune (U.K.) or his side project JETLAG with Darrin Huss of PSYCHE.
Especially emphasized for all the minimal electronic fans out there should be his appearance as third band member in the 90íes of RATIONAL YOUTH, which have released after 14 years with “to the goddess electricity” their first full length album on October Records (Swe). Also mentionable are his minimal electronic projects METHODS OF DANSE or TECHNIQUE BERLIN, originally released on tapes in the mid 80´ies.
He has released material in England, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark & North America. Dave has toured Sweden, Denmark, Germany and has also performed in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal (CAN).

NEURORYTHM

NeuroRythm is an EBM / Industrial band from Canada, created by Andreas Gregor and Laurie Sydorowicz. The idea of the band actually stemmed from an elaborate April Fools prank they played on one of the weekly radio shows they hosted.

They created a fictitious band with a long and colorful history. Andreas and Laurie also created the music for this faux band which culminating into a killer cover of Kiss’ s “I Was Made for Loving You”, Trent Reznor style. After the show aired, they received numerous email requests from listeners asking where they could purchase the music by this band and thus, the seeds for NeuroRythm was born.

At that particular time, Andreas had been away from the music scene for a couple years and the enormous success of that show made him realize his love of making music was stronger than ever.Andreas had always been involved in the electro / EBM scene starting from his teenage years. His past projects include: Techniques Berlin, Digital Poodle and !Bang Elektronika. Due to !Bang Elektronika’s popularity in Germany, Andreas was invited to play numerous shows in Berlin, Germany in September 2011 to great success.

Andreas is currently back in the studio writing and recording with the assistance of Laurie on vocals and/or keyboards. His passion is creating electro / EBM music with an old school edge. To date there is a three song demo: Body Machine, The Voice of Dissent and 1900 Feet which has already caught the attention of EK Product. So if you like raw old school stuff you will enjoy NeuroRythm!

Website: https://techniquesberlin.wixsite.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bang-Elektronika-197419750312276/
https://www.facebook.com/techniques.berlin/
https://www.facebook.com/NeuroRythm/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bang_elektronika/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrm3uG8mBtP5LcAx9JuO8iA
Techniques Berlin https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGwGPnwBA5dJiaZ3DSftNrQ
Datafreq https://www.youtube.com/@freqdata
NeuroRythm https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Xk8fcCmbO_lBIko514h7g
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bangelektronika-music
Bandcamp: https://mecanica.bandcamp.com/
https://infactedrecordings.bandcamp.com/
http://datafreq.bandcamp.com/
https://digitalpoodle.bandcamp.com/
https://ekproduct.bandcamp.com/
https://nadanna.bandcamp.com/

!Bang Elektronika - Aktivierung!