Maschinenfest was an annual three-day underground music festival in Germany, featuring industrial, power electronics, noise and other alternative electronic performers.[1] It included both independent and signed bands as well as many vendors for music and related merchandise. Featured record labels and noteworthy companies included Ant-Zen, Hands Productions, Pflichtkauf, Spectre Records and Ad Noiseam.
The festival was traditionally held in October in the bunker of the Autonomes Zentrum (AZ) deep underground Aachen, Germany. The venue posed some problems with heat, humidity and air circulation, as well as condensation dripping on to the gear of the performers, but the atmosphere of the bunker proved quite fitting to the genres of music played throughout the festival. For only one edition, in 2003, the festival moved to the castle ruin of Schloss Leerodt in Geilenkirchen. From 2004 to 2008, Maschinenfest was held at the Kulturfabrik in Krefeld, Germany. In 2009, the festival was held in Essen, and starting in 2010, the festival was held in the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen.
The Kulturfabrik Krefeld in October 2007Turbinenhalle Oberhausen in October 2014
Part of the pre-festival activities was the "Maschinenfaces" page where the visitors could add pictures of themselves and state where they were staying and who they were with as well as comment on each other's pictures.
An April Fools' Day posting on the Side-Line website claimed that the 2008 edition, the 10th one, would also be the final one.[2]
This was not the case.
In 2011 Wolfram Bange, Henning Hinck, Sebastian Vogel and Lena Neugebauer filmed a documentary about the festival. It was a tribute to the scene and can be watched on several video platforms for free.[3]
1999–2003
1999: Imminent Starvation (now Imminent), Winterkälte, P.A.L[de], Noisex, Ah Cama-Sotz, Hypnoskull vs. Tunnel, ZymOsiZ, Synapscape, S.alt, MS Gentur, Morgenstern, Andxesion
2016: the_empath, Dirk Geiger, Spherical Disrupted, Blush_Response, Fractional, Ambassador21, Deutsch Nepal, Hypnoskull, Winterkälte, Supersimmetria, Morthound, EA80, Heimstatt Yipotash, Sonic Area, Test Dept, 13th Monkey, Hologram_, Ancient Methods, Ecstasphere, Trackologists, Axiome, ESA, The [Law-Rah] Collective, Cervello Elettronico, Trepaneringsritualen, Niveau Zero, Iszoloscope
2017: Alarmen, Aphexia, Dive, Gatto Nero, Haus Am Rand, Imminent / Synapscape, In Slaughter Natives, Mono No Aware, Siamgda, Ah Cama-Sotz, Empusae, Esplendor Geometrico, Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim, Geneviéve Pasqier, Gold, Greyhound, Somatic Responses, Suicide Inside, goreshit, Horskh, Kaffee Und Kuchen, Lustmord, Meta Meat, Monolith, Nur Zwei Linien, S.K.E.T., Sutcliffe Jügend, Yura Yura
