Artists / German Error Message

German Error Message
After The Warmth

Catalog Numbers: FH-077
Release Date: February 15, 2022
Original Release Date: February 15, 2011
Genre: Ambient Folk / Lo-Fi Folk
Radio Friendly: Yes
Type: Album
Purchase: Bandcamp
Links: Spotify

pressing information

Digital: Worldwide
Cassette Tape: Furious Hooves

• 1st Press (2022): 100
  ”Frosted Ice” semi-translucent cassette with white imprint A-side, full-color 4-Panel J-Card (two-sided), in black plastic Norelco case. Hand-numbered. 11-Year Anniversary Pressing.

CD: Self-Released

• 1st Press (2011): <15
  Hand-painted and stitched case with a full lyric sheet, hand painted vellum insert with track listing and printed photo, a cardstock sleeve, and a hand-numbered and hand-painted CD-R.

Release Biography

German Error Message began in 2004 as the solo bedroom recording project of Paul Kintzing. With a combination of delicate walls of sound, symbolic lyricism and diverse instrumentation, Kintzing creates songs that exist in a realm all their own. 

Kintzing started writing and recording ‘After The Warmth’ in the early winter of 2010 and finished it later that year. As Kintzing recalls, “I had moved to a new city for school the year before and didn’t know many people and all of my free time outside of school was spent working on it. My friends would sing with me and add parts when we were home for holidays. The songs came out quickly, many close to fully formed, and I’d rush to get them recorded while they were still fresh. I was still figuring out how to record, and these songs bounced around between an early digital multitrack, a four track cassette recorder, an ancient PC, and finally a Macbook.”

11 years later to the day in 2022, ‘After The Warmth’ got an official physical release in the form of a limited edition cassette tape via Furious Hooves – who had also released German Error Message’s autumnally adorned ‘Haunts’ album in 2014. If ‘Haunts’ is considered thee go-to album for Fall, then ‘After the Warmth’ can safely be considered thee album for Winter. Back in 2011, ‘After The Warmth’ was met with high praise, getting a 10/10 rating from Dying For Bad Music and even coming in at number 7 on their Top 23 - Best Records of 2011 list. It’s an album that can immediately take you away to a dimly-lit place in the woods with frost on the windowpane and snow gently falling outside.

Press & Accolades

• 10/10 rating from Dying For Bad Music.

• Number 7 on the Dying For Bad Music Top 23 - Best Records 2011.

“The sensation of being cut off in a world slowed down by the cold, the only company the small lights peeking through closed blinds across the way. Kintzing’s words are candid in the manner one can be in an empty room. Promises or threats offered to the quiet stillness like prayers. But no matter how sorrowful things sound, there’s something almost magical in the sharing, and the very fact that you’re there to hear it begins to feel miraculous. A reminder of the lights beyond the immediate present, and of the importance of lighting your own lamp too.”
– Various Small Flames, premiere of “Discontent” music video from ‘After the Warmth’ LP. (2/2015)

“Minimal, gorgeous and often ornately foreboding in tone, the album is evocative of inward journeys through emotionally fraught soundscapes.”
– My Old Kentucky Blog, review of “We Arose” from ‘After the Warmth’ LP. (2011)

“For fans of lyrically driven bedroom indie, ‘combining delicate walls of sound with personal metaphorical and symbolic lyricism and diverse instrumentation’, put this on your radar.”
– Indie Music Filter, review of ‘After The Warmth’ LP. (2011)

“He keeps the rich instrumentation and warm atmosphere of ‘To Carry Alongside’ including all the tape hiss. It still reminds me on The Microphones/P. Elverum guitar playing, the mix between lazy strumming and picking. Also the melancholy undertone are present and the out of tune wind instruments. Again a very beautiful album.”
– Dying For Bad Music, 10/10 review of ‘After The Warmth’ LP. (2011)

“The songs on new album ‘After The Warmth’ have a sense of fragile intimacy, especially ‘Reaching Out’, which boasts tender guitar and gorgeous vocals from Kintzing.”
– The Music Ninja, intro feature on German Error Message. (2011)

"The songs are light and bedroom-pop-like with softly sung vocals, soft guitars, and brushed percussion. Despite many listens, I’ve had trouble pulling out a weak song on the album. And I’ve had the same problem selecting a favorite. ‘Reaching Out’ and ‘The Warmth’ are both great, but honestly you can say that about all the songs"
– FensePost, review of ‘After The Warmth’ from a feature on German Error Message. (2011)

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