!distain — The Archive Collection 1992 – 2016 (SA075)

CD1 “1992 – 2001”

1.World Of Stone (taken from the first demo tape) 4:12
2.Dance In Heaven (taken from the first demo tape) 5:05
3.Confession (taken from the first demo tape) 3:06
4.Cry For love (taken from the first demo tape) 3:44
5.You Mean Everything (demo) 3:23
6.Confession (revisited demo) 3:00
7.Whispering Love (demo) 3:50
8.Strange Affection (demo) 4:19
9.Soldiers (demo) 3:42
10.Dance In Heaven (disco demo) 4:58
11.Boring Monday (demo) 4:13
12.Better Life (demo) 3:50
13.Piano Song (demo) 4:06
14.Yet So Far Away (demo) 4:35
15.Don’t Run Away (demo) 6:44
16.Like The Tides (demo) 4:08
17.Lost Track (instrumental demo) 3:44
18.Sandra’s Song(instrumental demo) 4:52

CD2 “2002 – 2016”

1.America (!distain single mix) 3:51
2.Nights In White Satin (demo) 3:44
3.Are You Independent? (demo) 3:13
4.Sex’n’Cross (!distain single mix) 4:01
5.Autumn Leaves (demo) 4:22
6.Love Song (vocal demo) 3:19
7.Black Mountain Love Affair (demo) 4:51

8.Space09 (demo) 3:24
9.No One Is To Lead (demo) 4:00
10.Mandragore (demo) 3:46
11.Mein Weg (demo) 4:29
12.100% (demo) 5:18
13.Monokultur (demo) 4:18
14.Second Coming (demo) 4:52
15.She’s Lost Control (demo) 3:53
16.Too Many Walls (demo) 3:41
17.Variation In Light (demo) 4:02
18.Blackberry Morning (demo) 5:22

The well known Russian label ScentAir Records will release !distain’s archive collection on CD for the very first time. The project is based on the “special edition digital download series” released in 2013 & 2014 via echozone. But as time has moved on the new co-operation goes beyond this.
The double CD compilation “The Archive Collection 1992 – 2016” contains a “best of demo recordings” set of 36 songs which starts with the band’s first demo tape recorded in the early 1990s. Those were the days when tracks like “World Of Stone” and “Confession” caught the interest of Chrom Records which became the band’s first label. Today both songs and many others like “Yet So Far Away”, “Sex’n’Cross”, “Mandragore”, “Mein Weg” and “Monokultur” belong to the classic synthpop and electro songs made in Germany.

Besides this the 2cd contains songs like “Boring Monday” and “Space09” which were unknown to the public until the release of the “special edition series”. “The Archive Collection 1992 – 2016” ends with previously unreleased demo material recorded for !distain’s seventh studio album “Rainbow Skies At Night” which was published in 2015.

The 2CD will be available in Russia, the UK and Germany via Poponaut and other Mailorder-Shops.

The cd-booklet contains the following liner notes written by Torsten Pape:
“Started as a trio (Alexander Braun, Oliver Faig and Sebastian von Wyschetzki) in 1992, the Bavarian synth-pop band distain! later went through some changes. After eleven years two-thirds of the line-up waved good-bye but singer Alexander refounded distain! as a duo with Manfred Thomaser; and in this period of time the exclamation mark made its way to the beginning of the band’s name. In 2011, !distain became a trio again with the official entry of Rick Prokein, who had already been a live-member since 2005. After Rick’s departure at the beginning of 2016 !distain is now a duo again.

Through all these transformations, the sense for great pop tunes was a steady feature and the band constantly improved their mixture of fine and catchy melodies with meaningful or even trenchant lyrics. Their most prominent and unique trademark: Behind the bright and cheerful facade frequently lies a darker approach, a disturbing meaning or unexpected contrast. If you take a deeper look at the songs you can often find wolves in sheep’s clothing, because sweet sounds and voices deliver lyrics which are definitely worth reading and thinking about.

Until now !distain have released seven albums, two compilations and sixteen singles. And with each of them the number of fans has increased. The growing success is also shown by various high chart positions (GEWC or DAC).

Recently (in 2013 and 2014) the band gave a special gift to their loyal followers. After spending months of rifling through the archives (over 500 cds, dat-tapes etc. were listened to), the boys came up with a very comprehensive package. Their complete back catalogue was remastered and released including an enormous amount of rare or even unreleased material. This was a real goldmine full of B-sides, collaborations, demos, unknown variations and instrumental versions. But at the same time there’s also a little fly in the ointment: The whole package was available as a download only. Therefore some tears found their way in the handkerchiefs but now there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

In cooperation with the Russian label ScentAir Records, this compilation of the best tracks of the archive is finally available as a double-CD. And the band couldn’t resist to put another cherry on the cake and found even more unreleased tracks such as the demos of “No One Is To Lead”, “Too Many Walls”, “Variation In Light” and “Blackberry Morning” (originally released on the latest album “Rainbow Skies At Night”). Once more you can detect that these early versions already have an amazing quality and went through some changes as well.

But before I digress once more with swooning over the musical performance of these German synth-pop crackerjacks it’s time to enjoy this present at hand. 36 (!) tracks full of finest danceable tunes, decent balladic moments and razor-sharp lyrics are waiting to be discovered. So, take your time and dive into this deep and colourful ocean!”

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