ARTIST INFO

 

Mediengruppe Telekommander are sick of all that standardized promo jibe. And who wouldn’t be?

I’ve known Flo and Gerald for over three years now, almost since the beginning of their career. They’re always so lovably sick of it all. Pure coquetry?

NO! I’ve seen all their most cunning tricks, have performed shows with them, and together (with my own group, Die Türen) we’ve spearheaded the “new agit-pop” movement. So in a way I’m close enough to Mediengruppe to know everything about them first-hand, and to bring this highly powered duo, their concept and music a little closer to our valued media-world representatives. Closer to the people, so to speak.

I recommend caution: critics of MTK accuse them of a certain superficiality, despite their amazing, powerfully eloquent lyrics and sound. In a way, they’re stuck with the label of sprinkling the “Scooter gaga factor” on the serious pop music discourse, just for simple party purposes. This is true and false at the same time: it’s true that Mediengruppe couldn’t give a damn about that “politically correct” respect of rock and pop history, caring even less about the rave ban.

It’s false that Mediengruppe do this not against but rather for the discourse.

The party after the extravagance. Party seminars.

MTK materialize when history happens NOT to be made, but repeats itself faster and faster. When you’ve grown up with Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys, when “Trainspotting” or “Fight Club” take the place of “La Boum” or “Titanic,” when the speed and amounts of data transfer continue to multiply and when the tax office is about to introduce PC licenses. When young fans, never having listened to S.Y.P.H (“Zurück zum Beton!”) or read Guy Debord (“Society of the Spectacle”) perceive the world just the way they see it: all wrong. And Mediengruppe Telekommander happen to be bloody close to this crazy, ignorant and hypocritical world.

Maurice Summen.

 

PS: Tracks such as “Bild Dir deine Meinung” or “Sprengkörper” have great hit potential; but you’re bound to discover that for yourselves.

PPS: Unfortunately MTK were unable to enlist Giorgio Moroder for this production – lack of time!

 

(Maurice Summen is the vocalist of the band, Die Türen)

 

Mediengruppe - a summary:

After Gerald Mandl and Florian Zwietnig got together as partners in crime under the moniker of Mediengruppe Telekommander in early 2002, Hamburg’s indie label Enduro soon pricked up their ears, bringing out a debut EP featuring five tracks in December 2002. The release caused a stir in well-informed underground circles and beyond. Things began to happen fast and furiously: initial live gigs, initial tour, initial press reactions, succeeded by the second EP in September 2003, out on Enduro again. More concerts followed, plus various features in MP3 magazines, more MP3 downloads, a no-budget video to promote “Telekommanda,” on heavy rotation on “Fast Forward” on the German music channel, VIVA ZWEI. Then came the move to Berlin. Even more MP3 downloads, interest from a number of labels, endless discussions and finally the decision to release their first album on Mute.

Their debut album “Die ganze Kraft einer Kultur” (out on Mute (CD) and Enduro (vinyl)) was recorded in December 2003 at the Transporterraum studios by Moses Schneider and produced by Christian Harder in Hamburg. It arrived at the stores in May 2004.

The interest in Mediengruppe Telekommander was overwhelming, the media were delighted and the clubs packed out during the subsequent mammoth tour. Parties, mosh pits and discourse – these three suddenly seemed to go together really well! “The band Mediengruppe Telekommander from Berlin make social criticism one big party,” commented the national daily, FAZ, and even the self-appointed insider magazine MAX cottoned on: “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to bawl along to German lyrics without coming across as complete idiots.”

Mediengruppe Telekommander rejoiced and discovered over the radio, on their way to a gig in Austria, that they’d made the top of the FM4 charts.

Following over 100 concerts, countless festival shows in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands, gigs with Sportfreunde Stiller, Beatsteaks and as a “supergroup” with Von Spar, among others, a boisterous video shoot in Las Vegas, and a brilliant final show at the Palast der Republik in Berlin, Flo and Gerald took a sabbatical in 2005 to work on their new album “Näher am Menschen” (due out on 2006-05-05 on Mute/EMI) with Moses Schneider and Ben Lauber.

Mediengruppe Telekommander’s new album takes up seamlessly where their debut, “Die ganze Kraft einer Kultur”, left off: hip-hop, broken beats, retro-synths, e-guitars, fast bass runs and chants, mixed together in a unique melange the way these two Telekommanders have specialized in. Still sloganizing with a wink is the “new loud,” even if the lyrics are a little more personal this time around. Heated discussions in Internet forums and euphoric clusters of fans in front of the stage leave nobody cold. Mediengruppe Telekommander have listened carefully to what those sweat-pouring faces scream at them. “Bild Dir deine Meinung” is one of the tracks that were conceived this way. Naturally, nobody needs a bunch of German Beastie Boys, but that’s not what this group is about. “Where you come from, I’ve been coming from for ages,” somebody once wrote. In this sense: enjoy!