‘Love is Still Alive’ EP is a 'hidden' sequel to Iron Sky - The Coming Race film, which ends with the destruction of planet Earth and its satellite Moon - from where the exodus of the last surviving Earthlings, who until recently still lived on the Moon, are now forced to find a new planet suitable for life.
In principle, they are aimed at Mars, but we do not know if they will succeed in getting there. Their spaceship is not in the best shape, and their food and water supplies are also very limited. The extended EP follows their journey through our solar system, but it is also a journey through some of the more 'space' music genres of recent decades. This EP was released in the context of Laibach’s album release with music from the movie Iron Sky - The Coming Race, and together with it the band is also launching a computer game with the same theme.
Beside the forementioned material Laibach will present selected tracks from their recently released albums, the theatrical project ‘Wir sind das Volk’ and ‘Sketches of the Red Districts’. The band will perform also other material from their repertoire, including some preview songs from their forthcoming projects and a set of Laibach classics, spanning from the early 80’s till today, plus a very special Laibachian remake of Leonard Cohen’s prophetic song ‘The Future’. The concert will also feature the song The Engine of Survival written by Donna Marina Mártensson, a collaborator and backing vocalist of Laibach. The title of the track is a reference to the verse 'Love is the Only Engine of Survival' of the aforementioned Cohen track 'The Future'.
The video for ‘The Engine of Survival’ references a famous conceptual performance by Raša Todosijević, 'Was ist Kunst, Marinela Koželj?'. Dragoljub “Raša” Todosijević (born 1945) is a Serbian artist from the first generation of neo-avant-garde artists of the so-called New Art Practice of the 1970s, one of the most prominent political performative artists of former Yugoslavia, alongside Marina Abramović. His conceptual works relate to rudimentary questions of history and our relationship to ideologies.
Laibach formed in the then-Yugoslavian industrial town Trbovlje. Founded in the year that the country’s founding father Tito died, the band rose to fame to become one of the most internationally acclaimed bands to have come out of the former Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe, and for their performance in North Korea in 2015. In 2019 they released a Laibachian interpretation of The Sound of Music, conceived during their trip to North Korea and in 2020 celebrated four decades with Laibach Revisited. An album of music from the acclaimed theatrical production Wir sind das Volk (ein Musical aus Deutschland) based on the writings of Heiner Müller (1929 -1995) followed in 2022 and the band announced recently that diplomatic negotiations are underway for a performance in Tehran of Alamut, an original symphonic work composed in collaboration with Iranian composers and performers.
“… sounds like an old country tune being covered by Silicon Teens” - Electronic Sound (on Love is Still Alive)
“Incredible Schlager & western vibes” - Luke Turner, co-founder and co-editor of The Quietus (on Love is Still Alive)
“Most covers of Leonard Cohen are mewling & sentimental singer songwriter guff that miss his bleak wit, but this version of ‘The Future’ by Laibach is utterly fantastic” - Luke Turner (The Quietus)
Tickets online: 30 EUR in presale, 38 EUR on the day of the event
The Laibach concert is a pre-event of Festival Lent 2024.