Heimstatt Yipotash – Belt To Blender (Digital EP – Hands)
André Matthes and Thomas Niedballa present a kind of addendum with this EP, following their fantastic 2020 album “Brinkmanship”. It serves as a deeply committed and critical reflection on the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Musically and in terms of influences, many of the same elements from the album are present. The German duo continues to explore Industrial and D’n’B structures, but also ventures into quieter realms such as Ambient. Along the way, we encounter beautiful string arrangements, and later the journey shifts toward IDM territory.
The EP offers a perfect blend of new tracks and remixes—one of which is by Ukrainian artist Kotra, also known as the head of the minimalist yet excellent label I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free.
EPs often feel more varied than albums, and that’s certainly true of “Belt To Blender”. It adds a rich, complementary layer to their now ‘older’ album, offering both continuity and something refreshingly new. (Rating:7½).
Listen to “ Brinkmanship (без вас)”:
About Heimstatt Yipotash
Heimstatt Yipotash is a German Industrial and Rhythmic-Noise project formed in Dresden in 2001 by André Matthes and Thomas Niedballa, who joined their two solo projects, Heimstatt and Yipotash, into one act. Over the following two decades the duo built a discography that includes “Mecanismos De Control” in 2014 and “Brinkmanship” in 2020, both mixing an Industrial base with D’n’B, Techno, and Breakbeat elements alongside political spoken-word samples. “Belt To Blender” is a digital EP released in 2025 on Hands that extends the “Brinkmanship” theme with new tracks and remixes, including the “Brinkmanship (без вас)” version reworked as a direct response to the war in Ukraine.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
