Das Ich is a German

dark wave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

band formed in 1989. The group, fronted by Stefan Ackermann and

Bruno Kramm Bruno Kramm (born 13 October 1967, in Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the thi ...

, were one of the prominent founders of and contributors to "

Neue Deutsche Todeskunst Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (NDT, "New German Death Art") is a musical genre that developed in Germany in the late 1980s. It is credited with establishing the German language in the dark wave movement, although there were already such German bands ...

" (''New German Death Art'') a musical movement in the early 1990s. The band is known for having a classically-inspired gothic-industrial style, for their on-stage theatrics, and their almost exclusive use of German-language lyrics. The German term ''Das Ich'' makes reference to the

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

concept

James Strachey James Beaumont Strachey (; 26 September 1887, London25 April 1967, High Wycombe) was a British psychoanalyst, and, with his wife Alix, a translator of Sigmund Freud into English. He is perhaps best known as the general editor of ''The Standar ...

translated as " ego" ( "The I").

History

Bruno Kramm and Stefan Ackermann met in Bayreuth, Germany in 1989 at a nightclub called the "Crazy Elephant". Bruno had already been involved in several band projects, and after some hours of socializing the two decided to begin a project together. In 1989, the members of Das Ich founded the

Danse Macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

record label which released their first EP, ''Satanische Verse'', and their first album, ''Die Propheten''. ''Die Propheten'' was released in Germany in 1991 and was reissued in the US in 1997, selling over 30,000 copies. Their second album, ''Staub'', was released in 1994 and charted in Germany for 11 weeks. The band played many live shows in Europe but made its first US tour in June 1995 and a second, longer US tour of 13 shows, in 1997. In 1998, the album ''Egodram'', saw the group moving towards a more rhythmic, industrial dance-oriented sound, resulting in the club singles "Kindgott" and "Destillat". The album was followed by a tour in 1998 in the US and Mexico. Later in 1998, the band released their next album, ''Morgue'', a concept album with lyrics based on the poems of expressionist writer

Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn (2 May 1886 – 7 July 1956) was a German poet, essayist, and physician. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1951. Biography and work Family and beginnings Go ...

. In 1999, they released a remix album, ''Re-Laborat'', that included Das Ich songs remixed by popular

electro-industrial Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound ...

bands including

And One And One is a German new wave, synthpop and EBM band founded by Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz in 1989. History The band formed after Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz met in 1989 at a Berlin club. Being fans of early EBM music, Naghavi and Ruiz dec ...

Funker Vogt Funker Vogt () is a German electronic-industrial music project with an aggressive style, formed by vocalist Jens Kästel and programmer Gerrit Thomas in 1995. Other members of the band are keyboardist/manager Björn Böttcher, live guitarist Fr ...

Wumpscut Wumpscut (stylised as :wumpscut:) is a gothic influenced electro-industrial music project from Germany. It was founded in May 1991 by Bavarian disc jockey Rudolf "Rudy" Ratzinger (born 3 June 1966). History Rudy Ratzinger is the creative force ...

, and

VNV Nation VNV Nation is an Irish alternative electronic project led by Ronan Harris in the roles of singer, songwriter, and producer. VNV Nation's sound combines lyrics with sounds that ranges from melodic industrial dance anthems, to haunting ballads ...

. The album ranked #31 on the German Alternative Chart's Top 50 Albums chart for 1999, while the U.S. re-issue peaked at #7 on the

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

RPM Charts in 2001.

released his solo spin-off ''Coeur'' in 2000. In 2002, Das Ich released the album ''Antichrist'', which is a critical reflection on world politics post-

9-11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. In 2003, the best-of album ''Relikt'' was released. In 2004, they released the double album ''Lava'', made of:
''Lava:Glut'': Disc with more instrumental than industrial tracks.
''Lava:Asche'': Disc with dance versions of songs from ''Lava:Glut''.
''Lava:Addendum'': Bonus DVD packaged with some versions of the release. In 2006, they released an additional dual album:
''Cabaret'': Disc with circus style songs, like the name implies, and more instrumental.
''Varieté'': Disc with versions of songs from ''Cabaret'' remixed by bands including Stillste Stund, Metallspürunde, FabrikC, etc. In the same year, they released a new DVD, ''Panopticum''. After 2010, the band underwent a short hiatus due to the health problems suffered by lead singer Stefan Ackermann, but the band had a revival with their performance at the

Wave-Gotik-Treffen The Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT; ) is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds ( gothic rock, gothic metal, EBM, industrial, noise, darkwave, neo-folk, ne ...

in 2013. In 2017, the band remastered and re-released their first EP, ''Satanische Verse'', as a limited-edition (500 copies) vinyl with additional tracks. In 2018, an announcement about creating new album appeared on official website, originally scheduled for release in 2017 or 2018, that has yet to be released.

Band members

* Stefan Ackermann – lead vocals *

– keyboards, synthesizers, programming, backing vocals

Live band members

*Stefan Siegl (Sissy) (2006) *Kain Gabriel Simon (2000–2006, 2016) *Daniel Galda (1994–1999) *Chad Blinman (1994–1996) *Jakob Lang (1998–1999) *Michael Schmid (1999–2000) *Ringo Müller (2006) *Damian "Plague" Hrunka (2000–present) *Martin Söffker - keyboards, backing vocals (2008–present)

In film

Music by Das Ich made up the soundtrack of the movie ''Das Ewige Licht'' ("The Eternal Light"), directed and produced by Hans Helmut Häßler. The soundtrack was released as ''Das innere Ich'' in 1996.

Discography

Studio albums

*1990: ''Satanische Verse'' ("''Satanic Verses''") *1991: ''Die Propheten'' (''"The Prophets"'') (re-released in 2009) *1994: ''Staub'' (''"Dust''") *1998: ''Egodram'' *1998: ''Morgue'' *2002: ''Anti'christ'' *2004: ''LAVA:Glut'' ("''LAVA:Ember"'') *2006: ''Cabaret'' (limited box set issued featuring remix album ''Varieté'' and DVD ''Panopticum'')

Extended plays

*2008: ''Kannibale''

Remix albums

*2000: ''Re-Laborat'' *2004: ''LAVA:Asche'' (remixes of ''Lava:Glut''; ''"LAVA:Ash''")

Singles

*1994: "Stigma" *1998: "Kindgott" (''"Child God"'') *1998: "Destillat"

Soundtracks

*1996: ''Das innere Ich'' (''"The Inner Self''")

Compilations

*1999: ''Re-Kapitulation'' (compilation, US only) *2003: ''Relikt'' (compilation; ''"Relic"'') *2007: ''Alter Ego'' (best-of compilation) *2007: ''Addendum'' (compilation of remixes, rare tracks and alternate versions)

Live albums

*1995: ''Feuer'' (''"Fire"'')

Video

*2002: ''Momentum'' (VCD/DVD)

Side projects

*1995: ''Die Liebe'' (feat.

Atrocity Atrocity or ''Atrocities'' or ''Atrocious'' may refer to: * Atrocity (band), a German metal band * ''Atrocities'' (album), the fourth album by Christian Death * Mass atrocity crimes, international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes agains ...

, LP; ''"The Love"'') *2000: ''Coeur'' (CD) (solo project released as "Kramm")

References

External links

Official site since 2017Official siteOfficial MySpace Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ich, Das German dark wave musical groups German musical duos German electronic musicians German gothic rock groups Neue Deutsche Todeskunst groups Metropolis Records artists Massacre Records artists