"&", Kristian Hoffman's third CD as a solo songwriter, is a collection of duets with many of the leading bright lights of modern alternative pop, and has been Kristian's most wildly adulated best selling CD so far. Goldmine said of its songs :"all a [+]"&", Kristian Hoffman's third CD as a solo songwriter, is a collection of duets with many of the leading bright lights of modern alternative pop, and has been Kristian's most wildly adulated best selling CD so far. Goldmine said of its songs :"all are tuneful, artful, and irresistibly enaging!" and Magnet called & " a self orchestrated pop masterpiece!" For more excerpts of reviews you can proceed to the bottom of this page. For a brief biography, read on. As a tunesmith, Kristian Hoffman is probably best known for the song "Total Eclipse", the cult hit he wrote for early 80's German Space Opera legend Klaus Nomi, ( and more recently a top ten hit in Germany for dance band Rosenstolz, with guest vocals by Soft Cell's Marc Almond!). The song was also featured in the movie" Urgh-A Music War" and more startlingly in the recent biopic on Biggie and Tupac! But the smart aleck pop songcraft Kristian displayed in his 70's CBGBS NYC punk pop band, Mumps, (with "American Family"'s Lance Loud on lead vocals - their career retrospective CD "Mumps - Fatal Charm" is also available from CDbaby), his dance rock band The Swinging Madisons, and his folk parody band Bleaker Street Incident (with Bongwater's Ann Magnuson) had garnered him critical raves and cult hero status before and since his work with the otherworldly elfin Nomi (which is further documented in the new film by Andy Horn "The Nomi Song" -it debuted at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival). It is Kristian Hoffman's solo work that has cemented his status as "one of the underground's best songsmiths" (Rolling Stone) whose music is"an exquisite, extravagant pop-pourri of carnival coloured hooks and pinwheel feelings" (Montreal Mirror). His first two solo cds," I Don't Love My Guru Anymore "(1995) and" Earthquake Weather"(1998) included moments of introspective acoustic melancholy as well as Queen/Bowie inflected epic orchestrated bombast, all tempered with generous helpings of his tademark wordplay. But it was" &" - so named because it is an album of duets and collaborations with an amazing group of legendary friends and admirers- that finally freed him from any pre-conceived constraints of pop singer/songwriter convention. Though still always based heavily in craft and hook-mo
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