ZANG TUMMM TUMB ARTICLES “the first draft of history”

Kulturfabrik, Krefeld, Germany

Onetwo, Technoir

One half of ONETWO is Paul Humphreys whos member of famous Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) hitting the charts with their imaginative ideas about smart, hard synthesizer pop and cunning, artful image. The other half is Claudia Brücken of the Glam-Goth-Electro band PROPAGANDA. Later, Claudia produced a solo album as well. ONETWO now combines the best quality of both bands: the epic Teutonic intensions of PROPAGANDA and the charged, atmospheric power of OMD. Both people came together in 2004 for form ONEWTO and they released the EP ‘Item on their own label. Recently, the band released the debut album ‘Instead which is a little diamond in todays Pop culture. ONETWO are Claudia Brücken (PROPAGANDA) and Paul Humphreys (OMD).

Music

For the live appearance, the duo is expanded by a keyboard player and a Keyboard/guitar player to a quartet. Only real drums were missing for the full band feeling. As you could have expected and as I knew before, the band was playing not only its own songs but also songs of OMD and PROPAGANDA what especially pleased the attending fans of both bands. But first lets stick to the ONETWO album ‘Instead. This album has the know-how to become something great. It is a charming mixture of Trance, 80s Electro Pop — all presented with current technical possibilities. ‘Instead is an album to discover; odds and ends and subliminal sounds dominate the big picture.

A big bunch of the one album and one EP yet released have been played starting with The Theory of Everything (parts 1 & 2). Further titles from the album which followed were ‘Signals and the relaxed ‘Sequential with its opulent James-Bond-ish intro. The only German song ‘Kein Anschluss with its obvious parallels to KRAFTWERK and ‘Element of Truth from the ‘Item EP followed. ‘Have a Cigar — a PINK FLOYD cover version — and ‘Home (Tonight) were more songs from the ‘Instead album followed by ‘Cloud 9' which is a song writing collaboration of Claudia and DEPECHE MODEs song writer Martin L. Gore whose unique guitar style is also featured on the track. Within the encore, ‘A Vision In The Sky was the last ONETWO track being played on the evening.

But as mentioned before, ONETWO did not only play their own songs. There were several songs being played from their other/former bands PROPAGANDA and OMD.

(cont.)
After OMDs ‘Messages my first highlight of the evening was one of my PROPAGANDE favorites — ‘Dr. Mabuse — which was highly acclaimed by the audience with lots of cheering and strong applause. During the OMD song ‘Forever (Live & Die), Claudia and Paul changed places so Paul took over the microphone and even was dancing on the stage. He really seemed to enjoy the evening. ‘Souvenir by OMD was very touching. The main set ended with two PROPAGANDA songs: ‘Snobbery and Decay and ‘Duel. But that was not enough. Of course the band had to come again for two times. Besides one ONETWO song, those encored belonged to OMD. During ‘If you leave the whole hall was singing and dancing. The set finished with a great ‘Electricity version — maybe even the highlight of the whole show and definitely a great final of a perfect evening.

Performance

Claudia and Paul are some institutions in the Pop scene and quite a while in the business. But hell, they still have so much fun being on stage! They entertained about 200 visitors really well… in fact those people had quite some share in the success of the whole evening. When Claudia in her stylish costume and fancy red shoes and Paul in a black coat entered the stage, they were welcomed by loud cheers. Claudias shoes seemed to gain lots of attention… several people were shouting over and over again: “I love your shoes” until Paul some when commented that hed like to have such shoes too.

Claudia had some admirers in the audience who during the whole show screamed her name what she answered with lots of smiles. At the end of the show, those admirers were rewarded with hand shakes and autographs. Even though it was quite hot in the venue — sometime Paul asked for towels because he was totally soaked — people were dancing and moving all the show. The mood reached always its heights when OMD and PROPAGANDA songs were played but also the new ONETWO songs were welcomed with lots of applause. It was a great evening and I hope the band comes back soon for more shows. It is worth watching it!

Setlist

01. The Theory of Everything (parts 1 & 2)
02. Signals
03. Sequential
04. Messages
05. Dr. Mabuse
06. Kein Anschluss
07. Element of Truth
08. Forever (Live & Die)
09. P-Machinery
10. Have a Cigar (Pink Floyd cover)
11. Home (Tonight)
12. Club Country (ASSOCIATES cover by Claudia Brücken)
13. Souvenir
14. Cloud Nine
15. Snobbery and Decay
16. Duel
 — -
17. If you leave
18. A vision in the Sky
 — -
19. Electricity

Rating

Music 10
Performance 10
Light 8
Sound 8
Total 9.4