Stromkern

Infobox musical artist
Name = Stromkern


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Origin = Madison%2C Wisconsin, United States
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Genre = Electronic music
Industrial rock
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Years_active = 1994 – present
Label = Kodex/Sushia Light
Dependent Records
WTII Records
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URL = [http://www.stromkern.com/ Official Site]
Current_members = Ned Kirby, Matt Berger, Dan Clark, Andrew Sega
Past_members = Kelly Shaffer, Rob Wentz, Tyler Newman, Chuck Spencer, Vince Grech

An electronic music act that blends industrial and hip-hop, Stromkern was formed in 1994 by James "Ned" Kirby.

Kirby was originally a DJ in Madison, Wisconsin as a teenager, experimenting under the moniker "Flowers for Ravers" before founding Stromkern. Disenchanted with the music he was receiving as a DJ, he decided to start his own industrial act. His early compositions included the German-language "Konzentrationslagen" and "Aussicht vom Rande der Nacht" as well as a cover of Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat", all of which found favor on compilations. He was soon signed to German label Kodex/Sushia Light, and the resulting CD "Flicker Like a Candle" announced Stromkern to the club music scene. Stromkern now records for Dependent Records in Europe and WTII Records in North America.

After two successful albums and several singles as essentially a solo artist, Kirby recruited musician/producer and friend Kelly Shaffer to join the lineup for "Armageddon." Additional live members Matt Berger, Rob Wentz and later Tyler Newman (of Battery Cage and Informatik) joined the band for the recording of "Light it Up."

Discography

ingles/EPs

*"Flicker Like a Candle" EP (Kodex/Sushia Light, 1997)
*"Night Riders" EP (Scanner, 2000)
*"Re-align" EP (WTII Records (U.S.) / Scanner (EU), 2002)
*"Stand Up" single (EU) (Dependent Records, 2005)
*"Stand Up" single (U.S.) (WTII Records, 2005 - Different tracklisting)
*"Reminders" single (U.S.) (WTII Records, 2006)
*"Reminders" single (EU) (Dependent Records, 2006 - Different tracklisting)
*"Hindsight" single (EU) (Dependent Records, 2006 - digital-only release)

Albums

*"Dammerung Im Traum" (Scanner (EU) / WTII Records (U.S.), 1999)
*"Flicker Like a Candle" (Millennium Edition) (Scanner (EU) / WTII Records (U.S.), 2001)
*"Armageddon" (Scanner (EU) / WTII Records (U.S.), 2001)
*"Armageddon/Perfect Remix" (Limited 2CD) (Scanner (EU) / WTII Records (U.S.), 2001)
*"Light It Up" (WTII Records (U.S.) / Dependent Records (EU), 2005)

Other Releases

* "Project Gotham Racer 3" Soundtrack (November 2005):Other notable acts on the soundtrack are mind.in.a.box, Covenant, Auto Aggression, Mindless Faith, and DeathBoy.
* J Ned Kirby provides vocals on the track "Accelerating" on the 2004 album "Aura" by "The Alpha Conspiracy", and also lends his talents on two albums by the band "Cycloon" (titled "Head|Over|Now" (2000) and "Zeitseize" (2002) ). The tracks from the Cycloon albums are: "Inheritance","New Patterns", "Nemesis" and "Scars of Obedience"; for some time lyrics to these were provided on the stromkern homepage.( [http://web.archive.org/web/20030413030613/www.stromkern.com/lyrics.php archive.org cache, circa 2003] )

External links

* [http://www.stromkern.com Official Site]