Anajo
| Anajo | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Augsburg, Germany |
| Genres | Indie pop |
| Years active | 1999–2014 |
| Labels | Tapete |
| Website |
www |
| Past members | Oliver Gottwald Michael Schmidt Ingolf Nössner |
Anajo (German pronunciation: [aˈnaːjo]) was an indie pop band from Augsburg, Germany that was active between 1999 and 2014. Consisting of Oliver Gottwald (vocals, guitar), Michael Schmidt (bass, keyboards) and Ingolf Nössner (drums), the band produced guitar pop with electronic sounds, these being more prominent in earlier recordings. Anajo's debut album was released in 2004 and the band went on to record three further albums, the most commercially successful reaching No. 51 in the German charts.
Anajo was formed in Augsburg in 1999 after school friends Oliver Gottwald and Michael Schmidt, who had both already had experience of playing in other bands, got in contact with drummer Ingolf Nössner via a local ad. The name of the band came about by accident while the band members were watching Italian-German film Banana Joe on a defective television, where the only part of the title that was visible was "ana Jo".
During the early years of Anajo, the band recorded various demo CDs, selling them at concerts and on the band's website. One of the band's early songs was "Ich hol dich hier raus" (I'm getting you out of here), which was based on the theme tune of German television series Ein Fall für zwei. The song entered the top 5 of the listeners' chart of Austrian youth radio station FM4 and was later released in May 2004 as a single after the band had signed with Hamburg indie label Tapete Records.
Anajo's debut album, Nah bei mir (Close to me), was released in October 2004. Consisting of songs from the band's demo CDs, the album was positively received by Rainer Henze of music magazine laut.de, who described the band's sound as fresh, breezy, absolutely contemporary guitar pop with subtly playful electronic elements. Linus Volkmann, writing in music magazine Intro, found good songs throughout the whole album, the highlights for him being "Monika Tanzband" (Monika dance band) and "Honigmelone" (Honeydew).
New songs were written for Anajo's second album, Hallo, wer kennt hier eigentlich wen? (Hello, who here actually knows whom?), which came out in February 2007. Three of the new songs were introduced beforehand in the EP Spätsommersonne (Late summer sun), which was released in 2006 and also contained two live recordings. The new album saw a development in Anajo's sound, with the band making greater use of guitars and less use of programmed sounds. The album entered the German albums chart, where it peaked at No. 51.
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