"And One":

February 24th, 2008

Crash Mansion, Los Angeles

"And One" have become an iconic foundation of the EBM scene in Germany and the world over. Their songs comprise moving and infectious electronic rhythms with clean vocals that skirt the edge of dark-wave industrial lyrical content.

I have seen them once before at Doomsday 2000 in Dresden,DE and having been there mostly for Skinny Puppy (but falling in love with In Extremo and other great European bands), I was unfamiliar with "And One".

I know a few of their songs are tremendous club hits both in Europe and here in Los Angeles and could recognize all of these popular ones and there weren't any they missed as far as I know.

I didn't know if I would like them or not and they really won me over. I like so many genres these days and have seen alot of bands with metal influences lately so it was nice to get back to pure EBM and just listen to awesome eletronics. There is just something about keyboards that move me. Combine that with slamming synthetic drum beats made for dance floors and like I said it can be quite infectious.

"And One" have a distinct, almost trade-mark look which involves three-piece suits and fancy ties. They look well-manicured and along with "Covenant" hold court as the "distinguished gentlemen of EBM".

The lead singer also sports his trade-mark hair-cut which is shaved sides and a wedge buzz cut on top with little angular peices on each side.

The singer was extremely charismatic, dancing around the stage and smiling as he whirled around, kicked and moved to the music.

For certain songs one of the two keyboardists would come out and either sing lead vocals or lend support. He had a much more angst-filled voice compared to the other singer and his songs were a bit angrier for example "Drink Some More and You'll be Ok" was the chorus to one of them.

My favorite song is what I refer to as cyber-electronic with a chorus of "Komputer - Machina - Panzer Mench!". This was really cool to see live and made me like them quite a bit.

Another highlight for me was a cover of "Project Pitchfork's" "Time Killer" song. It was really cool to hear it with just solid electronics and his voice instead of Peter Spilles (I love them, dont get me wrong but something about the "And One" singer's voice was really cool on this one).

The audience knew every song and danced and jumped around so much you could feel the floor heaving under foot (slightly disconcerting having walked up stairs to the second level of the venue upon entering). Everyone sang along to all the songs and cheered for the band as they danced and sang.

The crowd cheered so loudly when they first said "ciao" that they were only off the stage for a minute before coming back. They played at least five more songs for their encore including a "Depeche Mode" cover and some other interesting stuff.

I honestly dont know the names of any of their songs or have any of their albums, usually just listening to them when they come on at clubs. I really felt this performance elevated their standing in my mind as far as great entertaining artists who know how to put on a good show and do some pretty fun music as well.

I will have to start listening to them more often as they got a few of those songs stuck in my head. I think that is their strength, super infectious music that catches in your mind and wont let go. I especially like that "Panzer Mench" song... Tank People?