U96 is a German musical project formed by DJ and producer

Alex Christensen Alex Christensen (born 7 April 1967), also known by his stage names Jasper Forks or Alex C., is a German dance music producer, songwriter, and DJ generally known as the face and one of the founding members of U96. Since 2002, he has been coll ...

, and a team of producers named Matiz ( Ingo Hauss, Helmut Hoinkis, and Hayo Lewerentz). After a decade-long hiatus, the band returned in 2018 without Christensen and Hoinkis.

History

''Das Boot'': 1991–1992

The name of the project comes from the film ''

Das Boot (; ) is a 1981 West Germany, West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. An Film adaptation, adaptation of Lothar-Günthe ...

'' about German submarine '' U-96'' from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The project's first hit, "

" (1991), is a

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

adaptation of the film's title melody, which had been originally composed by

Klaus Doldinger Klaus Doldinger (; born 12 May 1936) is a German saxophonist known for his work in jazz and as a film music composer. He was the recipient of the 1997's Bavarian Film Awards. He is also a frequent collaborator of German filmmaker Wolfgang Pet ...

. An album of the same name was also released.

''Replugged'': 1993

The band's next album, ''Replugged'' (1993), was inspired by the electro sounds of the 1980s and by

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

music themes. It was less commercially successful than its predecessor, but achieved three top-10 hits: " Love Sees No Colour", " Night in Motion", and " Inside Your Dreams", which peaked at number 1 in Finland. Although uncredited, Ingo Hauss provided most male vocals for this album.

''Club Bizarre'': 1994–1995

The follow-up album, ''Club Bizarre'' (1995), radically changed the group's sound. It was dominated by a fast-paced

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

sound with a significant

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

influence. The hit single releases from this album were " Love Religion" (with Daisy Dee) as well as the title track " Club Bizarre", with

harmonies In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

that were reused later by

Brooklyn Bounce Brooklyn Bounce is one of several pseudonyms used by German producers Matthias Menck (Double M) and Dennis Bohn (Bonebreaker). They have also produced music under the names Mental Madness Productions and Beatbox feat. Rael. Menck and Bohn have c ...

. Motor Music also released the ''Club Bizarre Interactive CD-ROM''. The audio part of this CD included several music tracks and the multimedia part featured a discography, interviews with Alex Christensen, and a game for

Mac OS Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. in a succession of two major series. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system ...

and Windows PC.

''Heaven'': 1996

In 1996, U96's fourth album, ''Heaven'', was released. It was highly commercial in sound, with greater emphasis on

, despite retaining some electro and rave influences. On this album, a new singer, Dea-Li (Dorothy Lapi), was featured, who participated in the production of four titles. The chorus in the song "Heaven"—although with a faster pace and different text—closely resembles

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

's 1984 hit " Time After Time". The second single, " A Night to Remember", was a top-20 hit in Austria and Finland. The final single, " Venus in Chains", peaked at number 7 in the Czech Republic.

Hiatus, ''Reboot'': 1997–present

After their fourth album, the group released the singles "Seven Wonders" (1997), "Energie" (1998), "Beweg Dich, Baby" (1998), and "Das Boot 2001" (2000), before issuing the compilation ''Best of 1991–2001'', which included a few songs from the unreleased album ''Rhythm of Life''. They returned to the German Top 30 in 2006 with "Vorbei", which featured vocals by

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...

. Another album, ''Out of Wilhelmsburg'', was released in 2007, albeit with a different group lineup, before the band went on an indefinite hiatus. In June 2018, U96 came out with the double album ''Reboot''. Two years later, in collaboration with

Wolfgang Flür Wolfgang Flür (born 17 July 1947) is a German musician, best known for playing percussion in the electronic group Kraftwerk from 1973 to 1987. Flür claims that he invented the electric drums the group used throughout the 1970s. However, pat ...

, they released another double album, titled ''Transhuman''. Helmut Hoinkis died on 19 February 2021.

Band members

Current * Ingo Hauss (aka Bela Lagonda) * Hayo Lewerentz (aka Harry Castioni / Hayo Panarinfo) Past * Helmut Hoinkis (aka Jeff Wycombe) *

(aka AC 16, AC Beat, Alex C.) * Stefan Hafelinger * Skadi Lange * Dorothy Lapi

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* * AllMusicGuide profile {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1991 German electronic music groups German Eurodance groups Musical groups from Hamburg Polydor Records artists