Týr

This is a heavy metal/"viking metal" band hailing from the Faroe Islands, and about half of their songs are sung in Faroese, a northern Germanic language very similar to Icelandic but with a slightly different pronunciation (the other half are sung in English, and a lot of the time songs sung in Faroese are interspersed with English). All of their music is drawn from/inspired by Norse Mythology.

This is one of my fucking favorite songs ever by them!!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXjF9po2hYk

In Extremo

In Extremo's technically Mittelaltischer-Metall (Medieval Metal), which is subset of Heavy Metal music that utilizes nominally medieval instruments, although of course supplemented by modern guitar and drum work. At times they're a little overly fond of bagpipes, and I personally don't tend to associate bagpipes with Germans overly much but rather Scots...but then all Mittelaltischer-Metall bands seem to have an infatuation with the bagpipes...Subway to Sally and Tanzwut are examples of that. In Extremo seems to fall somewhere in between NDH bands like Rammstein and more articulate bands like Subway to Sally, and so the lead vocalist has this sort of growly stereotypical German voice that is less aggressive sounding than Rammstein's but still sort of unbelievable as far as anyone really speaking that way. What's most interesting about them though, is that they've done songs in a huge variety of languages, both living and dead, including Gaelic, Spanish, English, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, French, Estonian, Hebrew, Latin, Old High German, and Middle German!

Dieses Lied heißt "Erdbeermund" und es kommt von ihrem Album 7:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6OlvkzR51Y

"Kraummavisur" von "Sünder ohne Zügel":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE92PWaAXgs

Frittenbude

I've more recently gotten into what Frittenbude tracks I've been able to lay my hands on, which isn't very easy given that they're relative unknowns even in Germany, only having just released their first album Nachtigall last year. Their songs and accompanying lyrics are meant to be playful and entertaining, not terribly deep or polemic, and they're always set to a fairly generic club-techno beat, but I like them anyway.

Video-Verknüpfung für "Mindestens in Ein Tausend Jahren":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABnyHNgE2Q8

Fejd

Fejd is a band hailing from Sweden, and the music they play can probably best be characterized as folk or world music. As far as I know, they only have one or two albums out, and I've only listened to one of them thus far. All of their music incorporates bagpipes, violins, and other traditional instruments, so you won't hear anything electric; also, all of their music is sung only in Swedish, which to me is as it should be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfU2hIODwBI&feature=related

Peter Fox

Personally I think that Peter Fox's solo work's better than most of what Seeed ever did, but both have their merits. Like Seeed, it's hip-hop mixed with pop influences, although without the funk and ska/reggae elements that characterized some of Seeed's work. Oh, as an aside, his actual name is Pierre Baigorry. So far, aside from a single or two, he's only released one album, entitled "Stadtaffe".

haha, this videoclip's ironically appropriate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGmVcoXzpJ8

Eisbrecher

This band's invariably one of the first bands that German students in the United States will have access to, since, for whatever reason, Eisbrecher has achieved some measure of the success that Rammstein's had abroad. Ironically, Eisbrecher isn't at all as popular or well-known within Deutschland, most likely as a result of both their style and the way they portray themselves. Eisbrecher is Neue Deutsche Härte in the same tradition as Rammstein or OOMPH!, and so much of the same theatricality and aggressive attitude is heard within Eisbrecher's songs. I'd say that Eisbrecher can be useful to the beginning German student because of their very clearly enunciated (if sometimes disturbing or offensive) lyrics, but after a time they quickly become monotonous and tiresome, since there's little variation between albums. Eisbrecher's suitable as part of an introduction to German music and to the language in general, but in reality little more than that.

2raumwohnung

A group founded in Berlin, 2raumwohnung is very recent, having only been founded in 2000. Their female lead vocalist instantly calls Sheryl Crowe to mind, and their songs are often dreamy/ethereal in nature. That having been said, they're still very much a pop band, so don't expect anything too psychedelic or cerebral: they aren't The Olivia Tremor Control.


Dieses Lied heißt "36 Grad":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBCKpyvzH4o