EMMON – ICONMIXED (Digital Album – Icons Creating Evil Art)
Side-Line contributor Karo Kratochwil reviews “ICONMIXED,” EMMON’s 15-track remix album on Icons Creating Evil Art, released October 23.
Swedish EBM artist EMMON released “ICONMIXED,” a 15-track remix album revisiting her 2025 album “ICON,” on October 23, 2026, via Icons Creating Evil Art. Side-Line contributor Karo Kratochwil reviews the album below.
My relationship with EMMON’s music goes back many years, and following Emma Nylén’s artistic evolution has never ceased to interest me. The woman often called the queen of Swedish EBM has developed a sound that is unmistakably hers: elegant, sensual, rhythmically commanding and never entirely confined to one genre. With “ICONMIXED,” she allows others to take that identity apart and reconstruct it according to their own instincts. And what a cast she has assembled! Fifteen remixes by some of the finest names in EBM, industrial and alternative electronic music, with artistic backgrounds extending well beyond those territories.
Released a year after “ICON,” the album is particularly interesting for the freedom its contributors take with the original compositions. These are not simply club adaptations with reinforced basslines. The musicians bring their own histories, preferences and peculiarities into the arrangements, sometimes preserving the original atmosphere, sometimes changing its character almost beyond recognition.
Rhys Fulber opens with “Shades of Blue,” one of my favourites, bringing his characteristic command of electronic textures and atmosphere to the composition. “Speak to Me” receives two strikingly different treatments. SIIE give it considerably more bite, pushing its hypnotic qualities towards darker, more insistent club electronics. The Foreign Resort, meanwhile, introduce their unmistakable guitar sound, saturated with melancholy and shoegaze textures. Their version is particularly appealing to me: those guitars alter the emotional weight of the composition without compromising its electronic foundations.
Randolph & Mortimer turn “DARK” into a splendidly infectious club number, propelled by muscular rhythms and a wonderfully assertive energy. DSTR take “Slow Running” somewhere else entirely, lending it an almost cinematic quality, with a more expansive arrangement and a compelling sense of atmosphere.
Agent Side Grinder’s interpretation of “Relics” is another highlight. Drawing on house, eurodisco and acid basslines, they give the track a charged, contemporary character while retaining something of its original identity. The connection is especially interesting given Emanuel Åström’s vocal contribution to the original. Kris Baha takes the same composition into harder big beat and techno territory, demonstrating how little these two interpretations have in common beyond their source material.
The different treatments of “Decisions” are equally revealing. Zweite Jugend introduce their characteristic rhythmic severity, creating an imposing, almost martial EBM piece. Alongside .endmap’s industrial approach and Beborn Beton’s playful “Discocisions,” it becomes a particularly enjoyable exercise in stylistic contrast.
I am also very fond of aux animaux’s “Cold Within.” Gözde Düzer brings her recognisable dark electronic sensibility to the composition, adding layers of icy synthesizers and a hypnotic, almost glacial pulse. Finally, XOTOX closes the collection with “No Mans Land,” giving it a considerably harsher industrial edge. The aptly named “Industrial Relaxation” is a ferocious conclusion.
What I particularly appreciate about “ICONMIXED” is that the artists have not sacrificed their individual identities to accommodate EMMON’s sound. Quite the opposite. Each approaches the material on their own terms, and the tracks that appear in several versions are often the most interesting for precisely that reason. The differences reveal not only what the remixers hear in the originals, but also what they choose to disregard.
Following “RECONMIXED” in 2023, this is another rewarding exploration of musical reinterpretation. There is no need to establish which version surpasses another; the pleasure lies in hearing familiar compositions develop unexpected personalities. Having followed EMMON’s work for so long, I find that especially satisfying. “ICONMIXED” is a fine reminder that a strong musical identity does not have to remain untouched to remain recognisable.
Tracklist
- Shades of Blue (Rhys Fulber Remix)
- Speak to Me (SIIE Remix)
- Speak to Me (The Foreign Resort Remix)
- DARK (Randolph & Mortimer Remix)
- DARK (IDORU Remix)
- Slow Running (DSTR Extended Remix)
- Slow Running (Bestial Mouths Remix)
- Blood on The Ceiling (Die Verletzt Remix)
- Relics (Agent Side Grinder Remix)
- Relics (Kris Baha Remix)
- Decisions (.endmap Remix)
- Discocisions by Beborn Beton
- Decisions (Zweite Jugend Remix)
- Cold Within (aux animaux Remix)
- No Mans Land (Industrial Relaxation by XOTOX)
About EMMON
EMMON is the project of Swedish artist Emma Nylén, based in Stockholm. Working at the intersection of EBM, industrial, darkwave and techno, she released her album “ICON” on October 17, 2025, via Icons Creating Evil Art, followed by a series of singles and remix collaborations, including “Relics” with Agent Side Grinder and “Speak to Me” with The Foreign Resort, both previewed ahead of “ICONMIXED.” The remix album, released October 23, 2026, brings together fifteen reworkings of “ICON” tracks by artists including Rhys Fulber, SIIE, Randolph & Mortimer, DSTR, Agent Side Grinder, Kris Baha, Zweite Jugend, .endmap, Beborn Beton, aux animaux and XOTOX, following EMMON’s earlier remix collection, “RECONMIXED,” in 2023.
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Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.
