Karpatenhund was a German pop‑rock group formed in Cologne in 2004 by vocalist Claire Oelkers and guitarist Björn Sonnenberg, who had met in 2003. The band's debut EP, Karpatenhund #1, was issued on 24 November 2006 after the duo had added bassist Stefanie Schrank, Jan Niklas Jansen, and drummer Maurizio Arca. After a long series of concerts from the end of 2005, the group attracted attention from major labels and signed with Virgin Records in summer 2006. Their first full‑length album, Karpatenhund #3, followed on 11 May 2007, produced by Wolfgang Stach and mixed in the United States by Peter Katis; it included the single "Gegen den Rest" which became the title track of the ARD series Türkisch für Anfänger and entered the German charts, peaking at Number 1 on the SWR3 listener chart and reaching number 3 in the annual rankings. In August 2009 the band released #7: Der Name dieser Band ist Karpatenhund, their second album, which received generally positive reviews in Musikexpress, Rolling Stone and Intro. Karpatenhund toured extensively across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, supporting acts such as Razorlight and Futureheads, and performed at major festivals including the Hurricane Festival and the Hamburger Reeperbahn Festival. The group's last concerts occurred in summer 2010; thereafter the band became inactive, and no formal disbanding announcement was made. In 2014 the group opened its archive on Bandcamp, releasing previously unreleased material and compilations such as Necronomicon and Die Band im Zeitalter der technischen Reproduzierbarkeit.
