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.
Touch the Light
Scanner Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like rain over the land
No one knew of their existence
If he read no tales
Caught our minds tied to our brains
With visible chains
When they met the men in grey
One day if they cross your way
Don't believe a word they say
They're not creatures of the day
Afraid to touch the light
Giving them no chance
To realize their plans
They want to rule the earth
By the fruits of work
You are not allowed to rest
First you have to pass the test
As long as your heart beats in your breast
Touch the light with your hands
You're the only one
Touch the light with your hands
Save the frozen time
Touch the light with your hands
You're the only one
Touch the light with your hands
Only you can save the time
Time will stop a certain day
That's the chance to find a way
Only Mr. Hora knows
How to stop their fights
If you meet the men in grey
Don't believe a word they say
Touch the light with your hands
You're the only one
Touch the light with your hands
Save the frozen time
Touch the light with your hands
You're the only one
Touch the light with your hands
Only you can save the time
Heads will be rollin'
When you touch the flower
They will decay to dust in this hour
One little girl
She can sweep all their power
Aside
Touch the light with your hands
You're the only one
Touch the light with your hands
Save the frozen time
Touch the light with your hands
You're the only one
Touch the light with your hands
Only you can save the time
Scanner’s song “Touch the Light” is a sci-fi inspired track that warns listeners about the dangers of aliens – creatures that come down to Earth at night, unnoticed by humans. The second verse describes the aliens’ ability to control human minds, forcing them to work towards their own goals. The lyrics suggest that the aliens are manipulating humanity for their own benefit by forcing them to work without rest in order to achieve their plans of ruling the Earth. The chorus urges listeners to “touch the light with your hands” as a way to save the frozen time – presumably time that has been stopped by the aliens.
The song ends with the suggestion that all hope is not lost – that there is still a chance to defeat the aliens, and that there is someone named Mr. Hora who knows how to stop their fights. This final verse sets up the idea that the listener has a crucial role to play in defeating the aliens, culminating in the final chorus, which repeats the call to “touch the light with your hands”.
Overall, “Touch the Light” is a warning of the danger of blindly following those who might not have humanity’s best interests at heart. It encourages listeners to be discerning about who they trust and to stay alert to the signs of those who might be using their power for negative purposes.
Line by Line Meaning
They came down late at night
Unknown entities descended upon the Earth under the cloak of darkness.
Like rain over the land
Their arrival was sudden and widespread, like a torrential downpour.
No one knew of their existence
Their presence was completely unknown and unsuspected by humanity.
If he read no tales
Only those who were ignorant of mythical folklore were caught off guard by the entities' arrival.
Caught our minds tied to our brains
The entities mentally enslaved humanity, imprisoning their thoughts and consciousness.
With visible chains
Their enslavement was apparent to all those who saw them.
When they met the men in grey
The entities encountered powerful, shadowy figures in positions of authority.
The contract had been signed
An agreement had already been made between the entities and the men in grey, making their conquest of humanity legal and binding.
One day if they cross your way
If you encounter the entities, beware.
Don't believe a word they say
Their words are false and deceitful.
They're not creatures of the day
The entities fear the daylight and only appear at night.
Afraid to touch the light
They fear the purity and goodness of uncorrupted beings.
Giving them no chance
We must not let them succeed in their plans.
To realize their plans
The entities seek to dominate and control the Earth.
They want to rule the earth
Their goal is to become supreme rulers of the planet.
By the fruits of work
They seek to reap the benefits of others' labor.
You are not allowed to rest
Under their rule, no one will be allowed to rest or take a break from work.
First you have to pass the test
Everyone must pass a test to prove their worthiness to the entities.
As long as your heart beats in your breast
As long as you are alive, you will be subject to their control and demands.
Touch the light with your hands
Only those who are pure of heart can save humanity from the entities' grasp.
You're the only one
No one else can save humanity from the entities.
Save the frozen time
By freeing humanity from the entities, time can continue moving forward.
Time will stop a certain day
If the entities are not stopped, time will eventually come to a standstill.
That's the chance to find a way
This foretold event is humanity's opportunity to find a solution and end the entities' reign.
Only Mr. Hora knows
The solution to stopping the entities lies solely with Mr. Hora.
Heads will be rollin'
Those who support the entities will face severe consequences.
When you touch the flower
A symbol of purity, touching the flower represents a challenge to the entities' corrupt control.
They will decay to dust in this hour
When the entities are defeated, their power and influence will crumble to nothingness.
One little girl
A young, pure-hearted individual can bring about the downfall of the entities.
She can sweep all their power aside
Her innocence and goodness can triumph over their evil and corrupt rule.
Only you can save the time
The responsibility to save humanity and time itself rests solely on the individual who dares to challenge the entities.
Contributed by Jeremiah N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.