1. Scanner is a Power Meta… Read Full Bio ↴There are multiple artists named Scanner:
1. Scanner is a Power Metal Band from Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
2. Scanner is multimedia artist and sound designer Robin Rimbaud from London, United Kingdom.
3) A German EBM and Synthpop label founded in 1999 by Francesco D'Angelo Spine Of God.
1. Scanner
Was previously known as:
- Reinforce (1977 - 1982)
- then as Lions Breed, a German Metal act that released the 1985 album on the Earthshaker label entitled "Damn The Night") the group changed vocalists and drummers and became Scanner in 1986, adopting an on stage sci-fi image.
SCANNER appeared in 1987 with the opener track "GALACTOS" on the "DOOMSDAY NEWS" compilation by NOISE RECORDS, Berlin. The group’s debut album, "Hypertrace", was produced by Eloy vocalist Frank Bornemann and was released in 1988. Backing vocals for this outing were contributed by Ralph Scheepers (see Primal Fear[[/artist]). The Japanese Release of this album added the exclusive track "Galactos" from the DOOMSDAY NEWS compilation.
In 1991 the second album, "TERMINAL EARTH", had been released the group had parted company with vocalist Michael Knoblich and replaced him with the Yugoslavian born ex-Angel Dust front man S.L. Coe. When personality clashes erupted between Coe and his band mates the vocalist was forced out in 1993.
Guitarist and bandleader Axel Julius (also producer aka Nigel Boston) recruited a new line up for SCANNER to release the "MENTAL RESERVATION" album in 1995 for the MASSACRE RECORDS label and JVC Victor Entertainment, Japan. The band comprised Polish vocalist Haridon Lee, bassist John A.B.C. Smith and drummer D.D. Bucco for this album, although Smith was succeeded by Marc Simon shortly after the record was released.
1997’s "BALL OF THE DAMNED" would prove an ambitious affair as the band took on cover version of QUEEN’s epic "Innuendo". Ralph Scheepers, by now in PRIMAL FEAR, also appeared once more lending vocals to "Puppet On A String". Touring to promote the album saw headline European dates with support act UNREST before a further round of shows on a package billing with FATES WARNING and OMEN. In summer ‘97 SCANNER appeared first time at W.O.A., Wacken Open Air, Germany.
SCANNER ‘s 2002 release was brandishing the new studio album "SCANTROPOLIS".
At this stage the new look band comprised female vocalist Lisa Croft, guitarists Axel Julius and Thilo Zaun, bass player Marc Simon, keyboard player Johannes Brunn and drummer Jan Zimmer. The album closes with an unaccredited version of "Till The Ferryman Dies" recorded live in Stockholm.
In 2003 Greek vocalist Efthimios Ioannidis joined the band and is SCANNER’s most constant singer until today’s line-up. SCANNER played a lot of shows whole of Europe in the past years and will come up with their 6th album, "THE JUDGEMENT", in January 2015 (Release Date: January the 23rd, 2015, MASSACRE RECORDS).
2. Robin Rimbaud (born in 1964) is an electronic musician who works under the name Scanner due to his use of cell phone and police scanners in live performance. He is also a member of the band Githead with Wire's Colin Newman and Malka Spigel and Max Franken from Minimal Compact.
Rimbaud is also a writer and media critic[citation needed], multi-media artist and record producer. He borrowed his stage name from the device he used in his early recordings, picking up indeterminate radio and mobile phone signals in the airwaves and using them as an instrument in his compositions.
Born in in Southfields, London, Scanner was interested in avant garde literature, cinema and music while growing up. When he was a teenager his family was bereaved when his father was killed in a motorcycle accident.[1] He attended Kingston University in Surrey, earning a degree in Modern Arts (BA). There, he formed a musical project The Rimbaud Brothers with fellow student Tony Rimbaud, releasing cassette editions in the early 1980s, later becoming Dau Al Set with the addition of Chris Staley.
He released Peyrere compilation cassette album in 1986, featuring the work of Nurse with Wound, Derek Jarman, Current 93, Coil and Test Dept. That same year, he composed the soundtrack to a short film A Horse with No Name, directed by Phil Viner, shown at the London Film Festival.[2]
In 1989, he was commissioned to contribute to the Cultural Icons publication (Bloomsbury) edited by James Park, writing many articles on contemporary art, literature, music and dance.
His debut Scanner CD was released in 1992 on Ash International, a subsidiary label of London's Touch Music label. He continued to produce the first dozen releases with Mike Harding of Touch, including Scanner², Mass Observation, Blind, and Runaway Train, a real-time recording of the captivating radio contact between Alfie, controller of the line and Wesley, the driver of a runaway train. Location: New Brunswick, Canada, recorded 9 March 1948.
In 1994, he pioneered one of the first webzines, in the very early days of the internet, I/O/D, in collaboration with Matthew Fuller and Graham Harwood. In 1998, he presented Surface Noise on a London bus, commissioned by Artangel, and won the Imaginaria 99 Award for Digital Arts, ICA London the following year. He re-soundtracked Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville movie in a series of performances around the world, whilst playfully presenting 16 concerts in one evening using a series of Scanner look-alikes to perform in his absence. For 2003, he installed a permanent installation in Raymond Poincaré hospital in Garches, France as part of the bereavement suite Channel of Flight.[3] In 2004, Tate Modern commissioned Sound Surface in collaboration with Stephen Vitiello as their first sonic arts work. In the same year, he composed Europa 25, an alternative National Anthem for Europe that was freely distributed via 10,000 CDs and a website.
He has continued to collaborate with classical musicians – Michael Nyman for Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, Musique Nouvelles in Belgium for their 'Play Along' collaborative string quartet, and opera singer Patricia Rozario for a new untitled work in 2007.
From 1994–2000, he set up and "curated" The Electronic Lounge music club at London's ICA, where these monthly sessions presented nights of music in a social environment. Nights included presentations with the record companies Warp Records, Irdial, Ninja Tune, Touch, Mego, Leaf Records and many others.
Since 2000 he has featured on BBC Radio 4, as a commentator on issues relating to popular music on a number of occasions.
Working with choreographer Wayne McGregor, he created Nemesis for Random Dance in 2002, Detritus for Ballet Rambert in 2003, and Qualia for the Royal Ballet in 2004. He continues to work with dance, with new works for Shobana Jeyasingh and Siobhan Davies in 2007. In 2006 he created the sound for Merce Cunningham's E:vent at London's Barbican theatre.
In 2006, he created Night Haunts, a monthly online artwork, working with writer Sukhdev Sandhu and designers Mind Unit. He sound-designed Aitan Errusi's new British horror film Reverb. In 2007 he soundtracked British filmmaker Steve McQueen's film installation Gravesend, at the 52nd Venice Biennial.
In 2008 he was President of Honour at the Qwartz Music Awards in Paris, and scored the musical comedy Kirikou & Karaba in Paris, which was later released on DVD (EMI). He premiered his six-hour performance show, Of Air and Eye at the Royal Opera House London in late 2008, and sound-designed the new Philips Wake-Up Light with Philips Electronics in NL, a lamp to wake you up with natural light and sound.
In 2009 He showed Atlantida, an HD film installation at the Canary Islands Biennial, created in collaboration with filmmaker Olga Mink. In the summer of 2009 he composed the soundtrack to the opening ceremony of the World Swimming Championships in Rome, broadcast in 164 countries, and soundtracked the new Samburg Corby telephone campaign in Italy.
In 2005, he was a contributing curator 'J’en rêve' at Fondation Cartier Paris, and in 2006, jointly curated the video art exhibition 'Mobile' at Espace Landowski Paris.
His BBC radio production of Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice won the Prix Marulic Award and recently, he won First Prize Neptun Water Prize for his installation Wishing Well in Austria, in collaboration with Austrian artist Katarina Matiasek. In 1998, he became 'Professor Scanner' at John Moores University in Liverpool. In 2009 he became Visiting Professor at University College Falmouth UK, and Visiting Professor at Le Fresnoy National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Tourcoing France.
He recently contributed a chapter to Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (The MIT Press, 2008) edited by Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky. In 2010 Rimbaud working with The Post Modern Jazz Quartet on Blink of an Eye with a very subtle touch, embedding his sounds into those of the New York jazz ensemble seamlessly as critics observed.[5]
In 2013 Rimbaud dueted with Alexandra Strunin on the song "Robot" from her EP called Stranger released on 29 October 2013.
R.M.U
Scanner Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From a place that's named Galactos
Led by are. M. You.
Behind our back the unseen focus all-electric fate
Avoiding warfare's deadly tactics
Rescue infantry we act superior
Like a hawk in the sky - programmed to trace (we can watch ya)
Like a hawk in the sky - we zoom into ya
Like a hawk in the sky - invisible strike (we can watch ya)
Like a hawk in the sky - we keep the balance, lead the way
Contradictions, rotten morality, did you ever learn?
Hypocrites and puny humans
If there's a judgment day you better pray
We observe each single movement, feel our presence everywhere
In your houses out in the streets
Perpetually we stare hidden from the sight
Stop the wars!
No need to be brave men!
Cease the fights!
Now!
In Scanner's song "R.M.U", the lyrics describe a group of extraterrestrial beings who have traveled through space from a distant galaxy called Galactos, led by an entity known as A.R.M.U. The group is portrayed as superior, with the ability to navigate unseen and strike with precision, like a hawk in the sky. They observe humanity's morality from their hidden vantage point and urge them to "stop the wars" and "cease the fights."
The lyrics offer a reflection on humanity's shortcomings from an outsider's perspective. The contrast between the advanced and peaceful beings from Galactos and the divided and violent nature of humans creates a sense of irony. The message conveyed could be interpreted as a call for peace and collaboration between people, and a warning of the consequences of continuing down the same path of violence and conflict.
One of the interesting facts about this song is that Scanner is a German band that has been active since 1986, initially focused on a thrash metal sound before incorporating elements of progressive rock and electronic music. "R.M.U" is taken from their 1995 album "Ball of the Damned" and is one of their most recognizable songs. Another interesting fact is that the acronym R.M.U stands for "Remote Manipulation Unit," which is a technology used in space exploration and other fields. Beyond that, the song has several references to sci-fi themes, specifically in relation to advanced beings and interstellar travel.
Line by Line Meaning
We have come, we travelled space through the galaxies
We have journeyed through different galaxies in space
From a place that's named Galactos
We started our journey from a planet called Galactos
Led by R. M. You
Our leader is R. M. You
Behind our back the unseen focus all-electric fate
The unseen forces determine our fate in every step
Avoiding warfare's deadly tactics
We try to avoid any destructive warfare strategies
Rescue infantry we act superior
We rescue the infantry with confidence
Like a hawk in the sky - programmed to trace (we can watch ya)
We are like hawks in the sky that observe and track everything
Like a hawk in the sky - we zoom into ya
We closely monitor your actions like hawks flying close to you
Like a hawk in the sky - invisible strike (we can watch ya)
Our attacks are invisible as we keep an eye on you
Like a hawk in the sky - we keep the balance, lead the way
We maintain balance while guiding the way
Contradictions, rotten morality, did you ever learn?
Have you learned anything from your contradictory and unethical behavior?
Hypocrites and puny humans
You humans are hypocrites and insignificant beings
If there's a judgment day you better pray
You should pray if there will be judgment day
We observe each single movement, feel our presence everywhere
We are omnipresent and observe every single move of yours
In your houses out in the streets
We monitor you both inside and outside your homes
Perpetually we stare hidden from the sight
We are always watching you, but you can't see us
Stop the wars!
We urge you to stop all wars
No need to be brave men!
Being courageous is not necessary at all
Cease the fights!
Stop fighting right now!
Contributed by Lauren J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.