U96

U96 is a dance music project formed by German DJ and producer Alex Christensen and a team of producers called Matiz (Ingo Hauss, Helmut Hoinkis, and Hayo Panarinfo), known for numerous 1990s Eurodance classics.

The name of the project comes from the well-known movie "Das Boot" about the German submarine "U-96" from the Second World War. The project's first hit "Das Boot" (1991) is a techno/dance-version of the film's title melody, which had been originally composed by Klaus Doldinger. Also an album of the same name was occasionally number one on the charts. This album smoothed the way for the commercial breakthrough of dance music in Germany.

The next album, "Replugged" (1993), had an experimental sound, inspired by the Electropop of the 1980s and by Ambient and Disco music. Despite its unoriginality, it was commercially successful like the first album. The album produced a couple of Top10 hits such as "Love Sees No Colour" and "Night in Motion". In addition, the album featured calmer titles such as "The One Russian" and "Without You", which can be regarded in hindsight as forerunners of Trip hop.

The follow-up album "Club Bizarre" published in 1995 changed the sound of U96 radically. The album mixes influences of Techno-pop with at the time very successful fast Trance, which constantly dominates the album. The greatest hits in this album were the very fast "Love religion" (with Daisy Dee) as well as the title track "Club Bizarre" with "classical" harmonies, which was reused later by Brooklyn Bounce.

Motor Music also released "Club Bizarre Interactive CD-ROM". The audio part of this CD-ROM includes several music tracks and the multimedia part features a discography, interviews with Alex Christensen and a neat little game for Mac OS and Windows PC.

In 1996 the successor "Heaven" was published. The album was very catchy and commercial, despite some still-existing Electropop influences, which were covered however by Eurodance inserts and typical Rave Pop à la Scooter. On this album new singer Dea-Li (Dorothy Lapi) was featured, who participated in the preparation of 4 titles.

In the following years singles "Seven Wonders" (1997), "Energie" (1998), "Beweg Dich, Baby" (1998) and finally "Das Boot 2001" (2000) were released. Instead of a new regular album, U96 releasedcompilation "Best Of 1991 - 2001" with some new songs from the unpublished album "Rhythm Of Life". The last song "We Call It Love" was released in 2003 as a promo single only. They returned to the German Top 30 charts in 2006 with their downtempo hit "Vorbei" which featured the vocals of guest singer Ben.

The long-anticipated new full-length album, Out of Wilhelmsburg, was released in 2007.

Group members

* Helmut Hoinkins
* Hajo Panarinfo
* Alberto Ingo Hauss (a.k.a. "Bela Wycombe")
* Alex Christensen (a.k.a. "AC 16", "AC Beat", "Alex C.")

Discography

* "Das Boot" (1992)
* "Replugged" (1993)
* "Club Bizarre" (1995)
* "Heaven" (1996)
* "Best Of 1991 - 2001" (2000)
* "Out of Wilhelmsburg (2007)

Singles

* "Das Boot" (1991)
* "I Wanna Be A Kennedy" (1992)
* "Come 2 Gether / Der Kommandant" (1992)
* "Ambient Underworld" (1992)
* "Das Boot / Kennedy Megamix" (1992)
* "Love Sees No Colour" (1993)
* "Night In Motion" (1993)
* "Inside Your Dreams" (1994)
* "Club Bizarre" (1994)
* "Love Religion" (1994)
* "Movin'" (1995)
* "Boot II" (1995)
* "Heaven" (1996)
* "A Night To Remember" (1996)
* "Venus In Chains" (1996)
* "Seven Wonders" (1997)
* "Calling The Angels (Feat. Dea-Li)" (1997)
* "In Your Mind" (1998) [Which Never Released]
* "Energie" (1998)
* "Beweg Dich, Baby" (1998)
* "Das Boot 2001" (2000)
* "We Call It Love" (2003)
* "Vorbei" (2006)
* "Mr. DJ Put On The Red Light" (2006)

External links

* [http://www.kingsize-records.com/ Alex Christensen's Official Site]
* [http://u96.hauner.cz/ U96's Discography]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/x.dll?P=amg&sql=u96 AllMusicGuide Profile]
* [http://eurokdj.free.fr/search/eurodb.php?name=U96 Biography of U96]