Maschinenfest is a yearly, three-day underground music festival in Germany, featuring industrial, power electronics, noise and other alternative electronic performers. There are both independent and signed bands who are booked to play, as well as many vendors for music and related paraphernalia. Featured record labels and noteworthy companies include: Ant-Zen, Hands Productions, Pflichtkauf, Spectre Records and Ad Noiseam.
Traditionally the festival has been in October, held in a bunker deep underground Aachen, Germany. The venue has posed some problems with heat, humidity and air circulation, as well as condensation dripping on to the gear of the performers, but the atmosphere of the bunker has proved quite fitting to the genres of music played throughout the festival. For only one edition, in 2003, the festival moved to Geilenkirchen, into the castle ruin of Schloss Leerodt. From 2004 to 2008, Maschinenfest has been held at the Kulturfabrik in Krefeld, Germany. In 2009, the festival was held in Essen, and since 2010, the festival has been taking place in Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen.
Part of the pre-festival fun is the Maschinenfaces page, on this page the visitors can add pictures of themselves and say where they're staying, who they are going with and comment on each other. Mfaces '99 Mfaces 2k Mfaces 2k1 Mfaces 2k2 Mfaces 2k3 Mfaces 2k4 Mfaces 2k5
An April Fools' Day posting on the Side-Line website claimed that the 2008 edition, the 10th one, would also be the final one. On the contrary, there are plans to expand the festival.
In 2011 Wolfram Bange, Henning Hinck, Sebastian Vogel and Lena Neugebauer filmed a documentary about the festival. It was a tribute to the scene and can be watched on several video platforms for free.
1999–2003
1999: Imminent Starvation (now Imminent), Winterkälte, P.A.L, Noisex, Ah Cama-Sotz, Hypnoskull vs. Tunnel, ZymOsiZ, Synapscape, S.alt, MS Gentur, Morgenstern, Andxesion
2000: SINA, Klangstabil, MS Gentur, Silk Saw, Xingu Hill, Scorn, Imminent, Ammo, Celluloid Mata, NKVD, Asche, Proyecto Mirage, Synapscape, Tunnel, Winterkalte, Mlada Fronta, Mono No Aware, Monokrom, Somatic Responses, Sona Eact. Vromb, Converter, Panacea vs. Needle Sharing
2001: Iszoloscope, Frames a Second, Typhoid, Noosa Hedz, Xabex, Monolith, P.A.L, Synapscape, Templegardens, Substanz T, Telepherique feat. Roger Rotor, Cybernetic Fuckheadz, Savak, Sonar, Winterkälte, Law Rah Collective, Contagious Orgasm, Azure Skies, Axiome, Panacea vs. Needle Sharing, Proyecto mirage, Black Lung, Orphx
2002: Sonic Dragolgo, Synth-Etik, SINA, m2, Klangstabil feat. S.alt, Somatic Responses, Hypnoskull, Winterkälte, Config.Sys, Tarmvred, Roger Rotor, Deutsch Nepal, Placid, Panacea vs. Needle Sharing, Klinik, Ars Moriendi, Die neue Sachlichkeit, This Morn' Omina, Xabec, Mimetic, Mental Destruction, Venetian Snares vs. Fanny vs. Hecate, Imminent, Vromb
2003: CellAutoMata, Law-Rah Collective, Iszoloscope, Asche, ULTRA s t a t a l s ! feat. Hypnoskull, Panacea, Hanin Elias, 5F 55, Punch Inc., Telerotor, Pow[d]er Pussy, Mono No Aware, Klangstabil, Synapscape, Converter, Antigen Shift, Axiome, Detritus, Morgenstern, Architect, Needle Sharing, Ah Cama-Sotz, Sonar
2004–2008
2004: Dazzling Malicious, Greyhound, Norm, Monokrom, Geistform, Hecate, Mimetic, Vromb, This Morn' Omina, Heimstatt Yipotash, Genetic Selection, Hecq, ¥Π¥, Config.Sys, L'ombre, Hypnoskull, Winterkälte, Robert Görl, Caos, Mothboy, Polarlicht 4.1, s:cage, Catholic Boys in Heavy Leather, Larvae, Mlada Fronta, Sanctum, Monolith, Proyecto mirage
