"Modern vintage sounds that will make you laugh and cry and dance like there’s no tomorrow, Ruby Friedman is an electrifying performer and songwriter"-- KCRW, Gary Calamar  
“You don’t need to know Ruby Friedman’s life story to get a sense of who she is. Just hearing her, and better seeing her perform, tell enough. Her voice and manner are as bold and brash as her flame-red hair. But she’s telling you anyway, with ‘Fugue in L.A. Minor,’ the opening song of her long-in-coming first album, Gem…It’s quite the curtain-raiser, fitting as what follows has some theatrical punch, Vaudevillian in some spots, Brechtian in others. Well, really it’s Vaudeville-y and Brecht-y, not fully either, or any one thing at any time. Bluesy also applies. Jazzy maybe. But brassy, always…another highlight is a last-minute addition to the album, the powerful ‘Ballad of Lee Morse…’ Friedman sings the tale with a kind of force that can only come from someone who sees something, or a lot, of herself in it. It’s part celebratory, part cautionary. And all Ruby Friedman.”
--Steve Hochman, KPCC (NPR Affiliate)
"One hell of a frontwoman with a completely unique and transfixing voice laden with passion... {Gem} is a necessary addition to your music collection." --  POP MATTERS, Sarah Zupko  
"Songs of Quiet Devastation - Gem is full of intense emotion, dark and menacing, full of violent frustration and shattered expectation"  -- MAGNET MAGAZINE, J Poet

Since autumn 2000 I have been active in and around Berlin with (co)-booking, (co)-promoting, (co)-financing, (co)-organizing performances and festivals. In the beginning as a part of the organisation Iocur e.V. (now in hiatus) and since 2002 under the name Raubbau. One of the largest projects was the 2003 festival Information wants to be free, 25 live-performances, 20 DJ’s, 15 VJ’s, 30 projections and many other performances.

Next to these activities promoting music on stage, I was involved in the operations of Formosan Records between 2001 to 2003. In these 3 years Formosan was able to work with such fantastic projects like Magmax (Japan), Des Esseintes (Sweden), AntiZycle (Germany), Negru Voda, (Sweden) and Atrabilis Sunrise (France) and Noize Creator (Germany)..

Now, four years after the last release on Formosan and with a lot of built-up energy and love for sound and music, I would like to present to you a new initiative: Raubbau, the label..

On july 14, 2007, under an apple tree in 35 degrees Celcius, after two years of dreaming, thinking, rethinking, finalizing and a lot of organisational pre-work I decided it had to be done. Since that – allthough it doesn’t sound like it, still quite spontanious – decision Raubbau was not only my moniker for organising performances, but also the name for my new label..

Surprisingly the first release was realised that same night. Partially because it was previously scheduled to be released on Formosan, but both parties agreed that Raubbau was a much better place .

Cold Spring is the UK's premier record label / mailorder for: Industrial, Dark Ambient, Esoteric, Japanese Noise, Ritual, Power Electronics, Noise, Drone, Death Industrial, Neoclassical, Neofolk, Doom, Dark Soundtracks and Experimental music.

Cold Spring Records has primarily been a label since 1990, releasing such influential artists as Coil, Laibach, Psychic TV, Merzbow, MZ. 412, Z’EV, Skullflower and more.

http://www.coldspring.co.uk / http://store.coldspring.co.uk / info@coldspring.co.uk

Hypocrites // OUT NOW
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TESCO GERMANY: 
An Industrial, Noise, Power Electronics, Dark Ambient,
Neofolk, Experimental Music and Eclectic Media Mailorder, Label and Distribution

Blogueur, auteur et réalisateur multimedia.

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