Album reviews and interviews

Reviews and interviews for our new album “Witchy Activities And The Maple Death” are coming in!

➜ A wonderful English review written by Terry Craven for Velvet Thunder. He has this to say: “Haunting, fragile, powerful and all-encompassing this truly is a work of sheer genius.”

➜ Another UK album review courtesy of Freq Magazin. Mr. Olivetti describes our music like this: “It feels a little like being poked in the chest as someone makes a strenuous point while travelling on a roller coaster.” We couldn’t agree more!

➜ German broadcasting station BR-Klassik made us their album of the month! “Gripping, exquisitely played and idiosyncratic in a modern way.”

➜ We sat down with Fifteen Questions for an in-depth interview.

➜ Independent magazine OUTSIDELEFT did an interview, too!

➜ German prog and art rock magazine “eclipsed” made us their album of the month! For them, we already are a contender for album of the year, calling it a “frenetic fusion of the cosmic kind”

➜ German review hub “Plattentests.de” made us their album of the week and awarded 9 out of 10 stars. In their wonderful review they say: “Sounds like a circus troupe that took just the right drugs before the show. This is a masterpiece.”

➜ Public broadcaster podcast BR-Klassik said: “An immensely powerful, urgent and wildly satisfying album”

➜ Berlin broadcaster “Radioeins” did an in-depth talk about the record on the “Soundcheck” podcast – the four participating journalists unanimously awarded a “hit” verdict and celebrated the “unbelievable vigor and freedom” on the record

➜ SWR2, another public broadcaster, had this to say about the music: “deeply sincere, exciting and enchanting”

➜ Süddeutsche Zeitung says that big band music like this is unprecedented, calling it a “Gesamtkunstwerk”

➜ German jazz magazine “Jazzthetik” describes the albums as “a trip through a thousand musical worlds, zappesque in the best sense of the term”

New Single: Firebird 🦋

Our album release is only two weeks away and we have one final single for you! “Firebird” is pure ecstatic energy, a flight through a warm summer’s night, exploding colors and beams of light all around you!
We are so happy that the artist Sascha Banck created the music video for us!
Here you can stream the new song.
Enjoy!:)
All the best,
Monika and Bigband

New single is here! 🌋

“A Taste Of The Apocalypse” is our latest single and it dropped today, we hope you enjoy the video! The album will be released on May 5!
The apocalypse alluded to in the song’s title is not one of mayhem and destruction, but rather one of change beyond recognition. A song about urgent questions asked by technological breakthrough developments that make it necessary to rethink and maybe to redefine what makes us human. Musically, the song embraces the optimistic take on our digital-looking future, wide-eyed, full of pathos and with heroic trumpets leading the way!

Album artwork

Here is the cover artwork of our upcoming album “Witchy Activities And The Maple Death”! The painting used is by Sascha Banck from Fürth, Germany – I’m a big fan of hers! Tobias Koark-Haberl created the witchy font from scratch and merged all elements into the artwork you see! You can pre-order the album here on our homepage (CD/Vinyl).
You can check out Sascha’s other works here, but the painting “rosa Wasserfall” / “pink waterfall” is already mine and I won’t give it away no more! 😍
Best wishes, Monika + Bigband

New Single: Unbewegte Sternenmeere

The story of someone staring into the stars and their reflections in the middle of the ocean. Losing all fear but also some of his mind. A journey that is expressed musically by letting mysterious and eerie sounds having a ghostly conversation – narrow intervals in the low frequencies, a strange and stumbling electronic beat and a peculiar trombone solo. When a breezy, laid-back guitar solo erupts mid-song, I feel like I have woken from a dream, just to find myself still in another dream, in a dimly-lit bar in some David Lynch movie. The song’s title “Unbewegte Sternenmeere” means: “unmoving seas of stars.”

Pre-order new album

You can now pre-order our new (physical) album here in our Band shop.
All the best, Monika and Bigband

Bigband LIVE: Tour 2023

München, Ampere 05.05.23 here
Langenzenn, Kulturhof 12.05.23 here (sold-out)
Mainz, Frankfurter Hof 13.05.23 here
Dortmund, Domicil 19.05.23 here
Stuttgart, Theaterhaus 20.05.23 here
Karlsruhe, Tollhaus 21.05.23 here
Idar-Oberstein, Jazztage 28.05.23 here
Hannover, Pavillon 29.05.23 here
Berlin, Kesselhaus 14.06.23 here
Nürnberg, Z-Bau 15.06.23 here
Ravensburg, Zehntscheuer 17.06.23 (soon)
Singen, GEMS 21.09.23 here
Würzburg, Jazzfestival 28.10.23 (Mail an: [email protected])

Music video out now: Queen Of Spades ♠️

Here you can check out our new music video, enjoy!:)

New Single: Queen Of Spades ♠️

Our new single “Queen Of Spades” arrives tomorrow! You can find it here from midnight on, and there also will be a music video on YouTube. For a change, this one ain’t a 9-minute-mammoth but three and a half straightforward minutes of fierce and fun big band rock! 😉 It’s about the eponymous Queen Of Spades having her sweet revenge! Enjoy!
Cheers, Monika and Bigband

📸 Emanuel Klempa

Back from Brelingen! 💜

Brelingen, we had a wonderful time playing in the St. Martini church! 🎺
Thanks to the organ building society and the amazing team, we had so much fun!
We never played in the area before, but now we will make a quick return! On May 29 we are playing at the Pavillon, Hannover! This will be a different set, with shorter reverb tails… always special to play in churches! Free epic reverb!:)
Thanks to hjweiss and Helmut Dobratz for the beautiful photos!
See you soon,
Monika and Bigband

New single “Starlight Nightcrash” is here!

✨We are so happy to show you our new single, its video and a 3D-mix! ✨

It’s going to get orchestral, dark, atmospheric and quite a little bit dramatic. Maybe the most intense piece on the new album. I’m so glad that animation artist Patrick Buhr created the music video for this song! There also is a 3D-mix available on Apple Music, created by Peter Brümmer.
➜ You can find all streaming links here: Linktree
“Starlight Nightcrash” is about the beauty of the natural world as well as its frighteningly destructive power. It was written like a constant breaking of waves with an ebb and flow capable of crushing everything in the blink of an eye. Coincidence holds the reins too: the mangled sounds of a circuit-hacked Casio keyboard flicker through the song. The brutal, the tender, the loving, the destructive, everything is inextricably connected.
Enjoy!:)
Cheers, Monika and Bigband

First Single

Our first single and its music video are finally released!
Thanks to all who were a part of it, this was a wild ride! 💜
Best,
Monika

New Album coming up 🤩

We’re so happy to announce our new album “Witchy Activities And The Maple Death”! The single “8 Prinzessinnen” will be released on February 3rd. It will be wild! We will post news and updates, I am very excited! 🤩 Here is a pre-save link. And we have more tour dates coming up as well,

all the best,
Monika and the Bigband

Live dates incoming! 🤩

Save the date, on November 19 it’s time for us to hit the stage again! We’re playing at Hubertussaal in Nuremberg, ticket pre-sale has already started, you can get yours 👉here. Also, on December 26 we’re playing at Jazzclub Regensburg.
We are looking forward to seeing you again and can’t wait to play some new tunes for you!
See you soon!
Monika and Bigband

We’re still at it!🤪

In case you’ve wondered why it has gotten a little quiet recently, this has everything to do with us working full time and with all the energy we have on the new album! 🎧 It’s still going to take a little while until it will be released, but from now on we will take you along the ride a little more, dropping some sweet nuggets and info in the near future! Here’s Mats Leichtle and me during one of our recent mixing sessions! We’re excited and hope you are too! ✌️