Update: Geir Jenssen has co-written two of the tracks on “Radiant Green”.

(Photo by Knut Åserud) Good news from Norway as the cult band Bel Canto will release an all new album on April 26th, called “Radiant Green“. “Radiant Green” comes after more than two decades of studio silence since their last album “Dorothy’s Victory” already dates from 2002.

“Radiant Green” will be out digitally and on CD and double vinyl. The material was mixed by Matias Tellez and Gilles Martin. For Martin it means his comeback after having produced the first 3 albums of the band, the last being “Shimmering, Warm & Bright” from 1992. Martin’s production helped establish Bel Canto’s distinctive sound in the early days.

Here’s a first teaser which the band released.

The band also released the cover artwork for the new album.

About Bel Canto

Bel Canto, originally a trio but now a duo, features Anneli Drecker as the lead vocalist and was initially under the Crammed Discs label.

The ensemble originated in Tromsø in 1985, established by Geir Jenssen (handling synthesizers and programming), Nils Johansen (playing synthesizer, violin, bass, and guitar), alongside vocalist Anneli Drecker. Their musical influences span a wide range, including Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), David Bowie, artists from 4AD, Clannad, Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, David Sylvian, Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Depeche Mode, and the Blue Nile.

In 1986, the trio relocated to Brussels, releasing their debut album, “White-Out Conditions,” through Crammed Discs a year later. Following their second album, “Birds of Passage” (1990), Jenssen departed to pursue a successful solo career as Biosphere, leaving Drecker and Johansen to achieve a commercial breakthrough with “Shimmering, Warm and Bright” in 1992. By this time, their music had transitioned from ethereal dream electropop to a synth-based pop sound enriched with world music elements.

Anneli Drecker occasionally paused her involvement with Bel Canto to focus on solo projects and collaborations with other artists and bands, including Röyksopp and a-ha, in addition to her work in film and theater. Nils Johansen, meanwhile, composed music for film and television and continued his involvement with his other band, Vajas.

In 2010, following a reunion concert in Oslo, Side-Line interviewed the original members, who revealed they were working on a new album, although tensions were apparent. Ultimately, Geir Jenssen left the band once more, and the project was left unfinished.

A previously unreleased track from 1988, “Flowerbeds,” surfaced in 2009 on the Norwegian compilation “Maskindans: Norsk synth 1980–1988,” released by Hommage Records. In 2017, Bel Canto graced the stage at Øyafestivalen in Oslo, delivering a performance that spanned their hits in a set lasting nearly an hour. During an interview, Drecker expressed the band’s enthusiasm for more live performances and the potential for new music.

In June 2022, Anneli Drecker and Nils Johansen shared news of their ongoing work on a forthcoming Bel Canto album.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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In June we informed you that the Norwegian electropop / dark pop act Bel Canto was working on the follow-up of the 2002 album “Dorothy’s Victory”. It’s now clear they also took the Norwegian producer and mixer Matias Tellez on board.

Matias Tellez runs the recording and mixing facility Skogen Studio at Bergen Kjøtt in his home city Bergen, Norway. He is one of the many young artists that the Norwegian press have called the Bergen Wave. Besides solo work and recording with his band Young Dreams, Matias has also worked as a producer, mixer and arranger for fellow New Bergen Wave bands Kakkmaddafakka, Sondre Lerche, Razika, Chain Wallet and Real Ones, as well as Girl in Red and Veps.

In 2020 he was awarded Spellemannprisen as the producer of the year for his work with Girl in Red, Sondre Lerche, Kakkmaddafakka and others.

Below are two screenshots from a mixing dession.

Bel Canto was formed in 1985 in Tromsø by Geir Jenssen (synthesizer, programming), Nils Johansen (synthesizer, violin, bass guitar, guitar) and vocalist Anneli Drecker. The group was one of the first Norwegian bands to sign a record contract abroad. They moved to Brussels in 1986 and had their debut album “White-Out Conditions” released by Crammed Discs the following year.

After a second album, “Birds of Passage” (1990), Jenssen left the band for a solo career as Biosphere. The group had a commercial breakthrough with “Shimmering, Warm and Bright” in 1992, and won the Spellemannprisen award twice, in 1992 and 1996. Their style evolved over time from an ethereal dream pop sound to synth-based pop influenced by world music.

During the years from 1985 to 2009, Bel Canto occasionally took breaks between albums in order for Anneli Drecker to pursue a solo career and to perform with other bands and artists, as well as performing in films and theater plays. Nils Johansen composed music for film and television as well as working and performing with his other band, Vajas.

Back in March 2007 we reported that Bel Canto would start work on a new album in its original line-up after we interviewed Geir, Nils and Anneli in Oslo right after a reunion concert. However that album was shelved. The band returned to being a duo but in 2017 Anneli Drecker told Side-Line that the band was keen to possibly record new songs.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Two weeks ago we informed you that the Norwegian electropop / dark pop act Bel Canto had left a rather cryptic message on their Facebook page hinting that the band had finally finished the recordings of the follow-up of the 2002 album “Dorothy’s Victory”.

Today the band posted the following update: “Yes yes, good zoOOom meeting with prominent producer. TBC!😄#newbelcantoalbum #muminbusiness #MusiqueNonStop” In short they are indeed recording a new album and are working with a yet unnamed ‘prominent’ producer. You can see the Facebook update below.

Good news, as Bel Canto is one of those bands from which we have wanted to hear new work for years,

A new album that has taken years

In March 2007 Side-Line reported that Bel Canto would start work on a new album. This was based on an interview we had with all three original members in Oslo. But this first resurrection was aborted and Geir Jenssen left the band again. The only ‘new’ material would be released in 2009 on the double album package “Maskindans: Norsk synth 1980–1988” that was released on Hommage Records. It holds the previously unheard Bel Canto song, “Flowerbeds”, which dates from 1988.

Bel Canto was formed in 1985 in Tromsø by Geir Jenssen (synthesizer, programming), Nils Johansen (synthesizer, violin, bass guitar, guitar) and vocalist Anneli Drecker. The group was one of the first Norwegian bands to sign a record contract abroad, namely to the Belgian label Crammed Discs. The trio moved to Brussels in 1986 and had their debut album “White-Out Conditions” released by Crammed Discs the following year.

After a second album, “Birds of Passage” (1990), Jenssen left the band for a succesful solo career as Biosphere. The group had a commercial breakthrough with “Shimmering, Warm and Bright” in 1992 which held a lot of ethnic ingredients fluently mixed with their dark electropop sound.

A few more albums followed: “Magic Box” (1996), “Rush” (French release titled “Images”) (1998), and “Dorothy’s Victory” (2002). In between these albums both Nils Johansen and Anneli Drecker worked on solo material.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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The Norwegian electropop / dark pop act Bel Canto has left a rather cryptic message on their Facebook page saying just this: “Ahh summer! Feeling inspired and ready to work, the polar sun gives us enery, esp 3 in the morning! Great things in the making so stay tuned. #gettingthere #belcantotheband”

You would of course think – and especially hope – that the band has finally finished the recordings of the follow-up of the 2002 album “Dorothy’s Victory”.

In March 2007 Side-Line reported that Bel Canto would start work on a new album. This was based on an interview we had with all three original members in Oslo. But this first resurrection was aborted and Geir Jenssen left the band again. The only ‘new’ material would be released in 2009 on the double album package “Maskindans: Norsk synth 1980–1988” that was released on Hommage Records. It holds the previously unheard Bel Canto song, “Flowerbeds”, which dates from 1988.

Bel Canto was formed in 1985 in Tromsø by Geir Jenssen (synthesizer, programming), Nils Johansen (synthesizer, violin, bass guitar, guitar) and vocalist Anneli Drecker. The group was one of the first Norwegian bands to sign a record contract abroad, namely to the Belgian label Crammed Discs. The trio moved to Brussels in 1986 and had their debut album “White-Out Conditions” released by Crammed Discs the following year.

After a second album, “Birds of Passage” (1990), Jenssen left the band for a succesful solo career as Biosphere. The group had a commercial breakthrough with “Shimmering, Warm and Bright” in 1992 which held a lot of ethnic ingredients fluently mixed with their dark electropop sound.

A few more albums followed: “Magic Box” (1996), “Rush” (French release titled “Images”) (1998), and “Dorothy’s Victory” (2002). In between these albums both Nils Johansen and Anneli Drecker worked on solo material.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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As the Belgian, Brussels based, Crammed Discs label turns 42 this year, they are taking this opportunity to focus the spotlight on certain areas of their catalog that have been somewhat obscured in recent years. Some music trends which are back popular now were originally explored by the label in the 80s and 90s, but were never released digitally before.

We are speaking of 250 tracks that were once only released on vinyl (or on CDs that have been discontinued for a long time) via SSR Records (Sampler & Sans Reproche) which released music covering a range of styles, from early new beat to downtempo, techno, house and hip hop.

These digital reissues will be released in different phases in the coming years, each consisting of a compilation plus a number of related EPs. They’re introducing the series with a sneak peek, the “Appetiser: Rare Early SSR Electronica” EP which is out today, May 27 and holds material from the era 1989-91.

This release will be immediately followed by the “Phase 1: Rare SSR Electronica”, which focuses on the early days of the ‘electronic’ SSR label from the period 1988-94 with a 24 track compilation and five standalone EPs or albums, all of which come out on June 17.

Here is the complete list of scheduled release waves:

• Appetiser: Rare Early SSR Electronica EP 1989-91 (Crammed Archives 0) out on May 27 – 22
• Phase 1: Rare SSR Electronica 1988-94 (Crammed Archives 1) out on June 17 – 22
• Phase 2 : Rare Global Pop 1980s (Crammed Archives 2) out in Autumn 2022
• Phase 3 : Rare Electronica 1994-01 (Crammed Archives 3) out in Spring 2023
• Phase 4 : Rare Electronica B-sides 1988-97 (Crammed Archives 4) out in Autumn 2023

What’s on the first EP out now?

Here is a description of the tracks on this first EP.

“Hallucination Generation” by The Gruesome Twosome : The GT were an outfit formed by Samy Birnbach/Morpheus with Norwegian techno whiz kid Per Martinsen, and later joined by Bertrand Burgalat. This track – as well as the Mr Big Mouse track mentioned below – enjoyed considerable club success in the US, where they made it into mainstream and underground charts, from Billboard to Rockpool etc..

“A Byte of AMC” by Bleep : Bleep aka Geir Jenssen was a member of Bel Canto. After several EPs and a debut solo album on SSR (as Bleep), he went on to become a leading ambient electronic composer under his Biosphere moniker. This track pays tribute to Manchester hip hop duo Kiss AMC and their cheeky track “A Bit of U2” and also includes an – authorized – sample from the Sussan Deyhim / Richard Horowitz album “Desert Equations” (recently reissued by Crammed). The debut singles by Geir Jenssen and Per Martinsen on SSR are considered as the first Norwegian techno tracks ever. You will notice some Bel Canto sounds too on it.

“Drop That Ghetto Blaster” by Mr Big Mouse feat. Karen Finley : Mr BM were none other than Crammed’s Vincent Kenis and Marc Hollander, and this song was conceived as an ‘answer track’ to the hit single “Theme from S’Express” (and to several other tracks) which had made extensive use of vocals by provocative NY performance artist Karen Finley (lifted from her “Tales of Taboo” EP, released by Crammed in 1986).

“Danger” by Alegria : This was the debut release by Bjørn Torske who, alongside the aforementioned Per Martinsen, is one of the godfathers of Norwegian techno. “Danger” came out as part of the T.O.S. EPs, which laid the foundations for what later became a vibrant electronic music scene, with the likes of Todd Terje, Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas, Röyksopp et al.

“Security” by Farida International : A track created by Mr Big Mouse aka Kenis and Hollander from elements of a song by Middle Eastern rock band Foreign Affair (a Minimal Compact splinter group) and from a bunch of other things.

About The Early Days Of SSR

The story of SSR in a nutshell: As soon as the first wave of Detroit techno hit Europe, and playful, sample-based electronic dance music started popping up in the UK, the people at Crammed Discs were immediately excited about these new combinations of sounds, and started their SSR division in on 1988.

In those early days of SSR, a Belgian-Norwegian axis emerged, when a handful of young Norwegian musicians and producers came to Brussels (in connection with Bel Canto, the electro-pop group then signed to Crammed), and sat down with central figures of Crammed Discs such as Minimal Compact vocalist Samy Birnbach (later known as DJ Morpheus), label owner Marc Hollander, and Vincent Kenis (Marc’s former partner in Aksak Maboul).

A series of hybrid electro EPs were released, mixing early techno styles with influences from around the world.

SSR (and its sub-labels Language and Selector) would release more than sixty albums and dozens of EPs, spanning various styles (from house and techno to downtempo, ambient, broken beats, drum’n’bass and hip-hop), featuring artists such as Carl Craig, Snooze, Juryman aka Ian Simmonds, DJ Spinna, 4hero and Tek 9, Bleep aka Biosphere, Telex, DJ Morpheus and many others.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Based in Brussels, Belgium, the Belgian cult label Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released around 375 albums and 275 singles. Some of the bands that have seen releases via Crammed are Minimal Compact, Hector Zazou, Tuxedomoon, Bel Canto, Bleep by Geir Jenssen who is also active with the ambient project Biosphere, The Gruesome Twosome, Telex.

Crammed Discs is now reactivating its legendary composers series in 2021. You can expect the release of new albums, and remastered vinyl reissues of several classics including “Made To Measure Vol.1” featuring Minimal Compact, Benjamin Lew, Aksak Maboul and Tuxedomoon. Originally released in 1984, the first volume of the series included works commissioned as soundtracks for dance and theatre performances, films, and a fashion show.

Here’s a rundown of the tracks. Tracks 1 to 4 were made to measure for a ballet by Pierre Droulers. Track 5 was an aural backdrop made to measure for a fashion exhibition called “Huit Jeunes Stylistes Limbourgeois”. Track 6 was made to measure for The Honeymoon Killers’ “Pan! Dans Les Vacances” private movie with all of the sounds being generated with a turntable. Tracks 7 to 12 were made to measure for a play by Michel Gheude based on the life of Maïakovsky. And finally, tracks 13 to 15 were made to measure for “Het Veld Van Eer”, a film by Bob Visser.

It will be exciting to see what the label’s owners Marc Hollander, Hanna Gorjaczkowska and Vincent Kenis will come up with in the next few months.

Below is a preview of “Made To Measure Vol.1”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange) The crowd funding project ‘Norske albumklassikere på CD’ (‘Norwegian Album Classics on CD’) is a series of CDs whose purpose is reissuing music that either never has been released on CD or is hardly available on CD anymore. The project is enjoying a success beyond all expectations these days. The concept is this: always having 20 albums in the crowd funding pool, and when an album goal is reached it can be purchased at the main website norskealbumklassikere.no. The public Facebook group for the project, which recently passed 11.000 members, have a constant flow of suggestions and discussions among the members.

There’s also a similar project for LPs in the works, and 20 albums are at the present being decided and published daily until the launch May 9^th.

We got more background info from one of the main two founders, Christer Falck, who early on in last year’s mid-March corona lock-down quickly became restless and started the concert streams series ‘Koronerulling‘ the very next week. 83 artists/bands was able to stream their concerts the following year, ended up getting 4.5 mill NOK in well-deserved and much needed donations.

Side-Line: How and when did the idea for ‘Norwegian Album Classics’ surface?

Christer Falck: I was doing some promotional phone calls to the local press when I was releasing the 20 CD-box set by Jahn Teigen, and one of the most enthusiastic journalists in Norway, Erik Munsterhjelm at Tønsberg Blad, asked me if I could release a box set by one of his childhood heroes, The Kids, as well. Since they had only released two albums, I thought the idea of a box set was a bit too ambitious, but then the idea came to me. Releasing all the good records that had only been available on LP and MC – on CD. Not just one record, but a lot of them. I called my 5-6 most nerdy friends, and asked them to make a list of the 50 albums they miss in their CD-collections. My partner John Richard loved the idea, and the funny thing is that the lists that I received were almost identical. I thought “when 6 people, so different from each other manages to make almost equal lists, it has to be a market out there”.
This, combined with my fetish for crowdfunding, made me do a website with my crowdfunding-partners bidra.no, where 20 records should be on display. Each record should get 30 days to be financed, if 150 people pre-order it, I will produce the record. If we don’t reach goal, they will all get their money back.

One month after the idea came, we started. Now we have made 90 albums in 100 days.

S-L: How successful do you consider this to have been so far?

CF: It depends how you measure success. As a cultural experiment, I’d say it’s a huge success. A lot of records that aren’t available on streaming services are now available, remastered and with much better sound quality than ever. A lot of CD-enthusiasts can join our little group on Facebook and suggest their favourite records, and I think we have managed to create a cool platform, where everyone respects each other’s musical taste. If they don’t, we throw them out, so they don’t have a choice ?
Financially, I think I could have found a lot of different jobs that would pay much better off, but at least I have something to do, these Covid-19-times. The alternative was to not arrange festivals, that’s my real job.

S-L: What has surprised you the most so far? Any weird album suggestions, the involvement of members, the process itself, other things?

CF: I know some much more about Norwegian music now than three months ago. I have a short list with 1700 titles on Norwegian albums. From easy listening to hardcore and punk records I’d never heard of before. And everything in the middle. But what I like with the concept, is that since we just need to find 150 buyers, nothing is too weird and strange. A Christian choir-album from the South of Norway or a heavy metal album from Finnmark – 150 people will probably find their way. The job is to expand the target group, so that the next album in the same will have the same opportunity to be financed. And the good part with our group, some of the members are doing the job for us. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I’ve had a lot questions in our forum, and then some of the members have explained and solved all the problems for us. It would be impossible to do all the things that we do now AND do a great customers service too. So far we haven’t got any too weird suggestions, but a guy started a homophobic thread where he “Loved our series, but hated the “pride”-logo on our CD’s”. This was the most read and commented post so far, and 100% of our members made this person probably never post something like that again. I love the self-justice that the group is creating. Usually, when 11-12.000 people are gathered together, at least 1-2 % is fucking up for many of the others. But here, fucking up is very uncool. That’s probably what I’m most happy with.

S-L: As I write this there’s just weeks or days until the 100^th album is financed. How do you see the future of this project – is there an end, or does it have the potential to continue indefinitely?

CF: Well, I have 1700 records on my list. And there are still a lot of records being added every day. I’m not going to stop, but this concept will die by itself. It’s impossible to keep up the speed that we’ve have had so far. Both for us, but also for the buyers. Just too expensive. So hopefully, we will end up producing 2.3 records a week. Then my wife and kids will be happy too, ‘cause this takes all of my time. But it’s all a huge labour of love, so I hope it will last many more months.

SL: How is the interest outside of Norway for this project – are there many foreigners among the customers?

CF: We see that some of the genres are more popular outside Norway than others. Jazz, prog and Norwegian west coast music, has a huge standing abroad. One of the most selling records so far is Moose Loose – a jazz/fusion/prog band who hardly sold records at their peak. My goal is to sell more of their records in 2021 than they did in the 70’s.

Another major contributor on this project is Arvid Skancke-Knutsen; music journalist, author, musician and quiz master, who have contributed with lot’s of input and suggestions, but also liner notes on the CD releases. I thought it would be interesting to get an historical view on projects like these, and who better than to get from than a Historical Consultant at Rockheim, Norway’s National Museum of Popular Music?

S-L: In all your years in the music industry and press, have you ever seen a project accomplishing so much in such a short time?

Arvid Skancke-Knutsen: No, this is pretty amazing, and I am very proud to be a part of it. We have now realized 90 albums in just 100 days – with very few signs of the project slowing down. What we have achieved is certainly a Norwegian and Scandinavian record. There might have been other projects similar to this, somewhere in the world, but I cannot think of any offhand. A commercial music series like Absolute Music ended up with a total of 64 record releases, but that took them 23 years. We have done this in mere three months – at a point in history where CD sales are plummeting. 

The success of our series is basically down to just a few factors, I think. Firstly, the genuine enthusiasm of Christer Falck and John Richard Stenberg, the two founders of the project. Their enthusiasm spilled over to Norwegian record companies and artists. And especially to our 11, 000 members on Facebook, who have been very supportive all the way. The rest is about hard work, and making sure that the quality is as good as it gets.

S-L: How will this and similar projects “born” in the year(s) of corona influence music industry in the future?

ASK: Good question! I think that online concerts might have a future, even beyond the pandemic. It’s all about good logistics and excellent production values. If those elements are present, fans of bands and music genres will be willing to pay for it.

The corona situation has been a terrible worldwide event, but we still might be able to take away some creative solutions from it. I wrote a book, dealing with the pandemic in Norway, and its impact on the Norwegian music scene. And what struck me more than anything else was the amount of creativity going on.

S-L: What your best moments/highlight of this project?

ASK: The sheer amount of records that we have brought into existence in a very short time, while maintaining high production values. And the fact that the series is not just limited to one musical style, or merely the most popular artists. It’s really a history ride through Norwegian music, covering all sort of styles, fashions and creativity over a span of sixty years. Another personal highlight is the fact that I pick a cult classic every month or so, showcasing some of the strangest music ever recorded in Scandinavia.

Check out Arvid’s book ‘Da musikken stilnet’ – loads of pictures from corona restricted concerts (by Per Ole Hagen), and essays from musicians and others in the music business influenced by the lock-downs.

We also reached out to one of the projects most eager members and an oracle of Norwegian synth/electronic music/post punk ++: Per Aksel Lundgreen (Apoptygma Berzerk, Cronos Titan, Angst Pop, Chinese Detectives, Technomancer, Rossetti’s Compass and Shatoo) for tips about what foreigners should look for in this crowd funding project.

S-L: As one of the most active members of the Facebook group for this project, you have both suggested a lot of candidates for the crowd funding, and also shared and posted about your favorites in various groups all over. Which albums do you think Side-Line readers should consider getting their hands on?

Per Aksel Lundgreen: Yes, I’m a CD-man myself, having collected CD’s since I got my first CD-player from my aunt at my birthday in 1986, so when Christer Falck mentioned starting this project, I immediately contacted him and said that I would do my best to help out with promotion and pushing this project. Since this project also was started in the middle of the corona pandemic, it meant that I, and everybody else, had a lot of extra time on their hands, and so the ‘Norske Albumklassikere På CD’ has become a very welcome “distraction” and something that’s brought a lot of joy in a time that has been difficult for a lot of people, especially in the music business.

Anyhow, here’s some suggestions from my side, all depending on what your musical preferences are, but there’s some really great post-punk/new-wave/experimental/electronic/alternative stuff that has made it through here and that is already financed. (links in the titles)

Munch – ‘Excessive Mobility’: An amazing Norwegian classic that really deserved a CD release. They’re kinda the “Norwegian Einstürzende Neubauten” if you will, and if you like stuff like Shock Therapy, Polyphonic Size and Ledernacken, this album is definitively something for you. Most albums in this series are printed in 500 copies, but Munch insisted on only doing 300 copies, so this will be a collectors item very quickly too! 🙂

Garden Of Delight – ‘Big Wheels In Emotion’: Norway’s first real goth album, self-released in 1987 on vinyl only. They also did two great 7″ singles back in 1984 that never made it to the album, but the album itself is well worth checking out. Goth with female vocals and a touch of tuba, you’ve never heard that before, but you’ll love it!

Babij Jar – ‘Stalingrad’ and ‘The Night Before’: Two of Norway’s best hidden gems in the new-wave/post-punk genre. Went completely under the radar for people outside Norway, but had they had decent promotion and distribution back then, they could’ve made it really big.

Helge Gaarder – ‘Eine Keine Angst Musik’: Something as rare as a Norwegian art-rock/experimental/electronic album. Impossible to describe, must be experienced. The original LP will set you back at least EUR 120 and you find none of the music on YouTube or digital distribution. Very happy that this finally gets a CD release and the credit it deserves. Too bad Helge Gaarder died 17 years ago, so he never got to see this album being included in this classics series. 

Plann – ‘Elektra Elektra’: One of very few minimal-wave albums from Norway, and a great one too! Quirky songs, haunting vocals, amazing synth sounds. Several songs can be found on YouTube if you want to check it out. Listen to “Cadillac”, “Sug”, “Ato Signal” and “Cherokee” which also was the single from the album. The original LP will set you back some EUR 140, so unless you’re a rich vinyl freak, I suggest you get the CD to enjoy this rarity.

Boastein – ‘Urgata Hurgata’: A Norwegian new-wave/kraut-rock inspired album, with repetitive drumming, charming synth sounds and a very nice all over feel to it. Check out the songs “Helium”, “Seismisk Kollaps”, and “Khomeini’s Visjon” on YouTube. 

Ole I’Dole – ‘Blond Og Billig’: This album has become kind of an underground hit outside of Norway in the minimal-wave community because of the track “Space, Action, Sex & Blod”, which is pure synth heaven. The rest of the album is a bit more pop oriented, but the tracks “Framtidsskrekk” and “S.O.S.” are also really great tracks. Recommended listening indeed! 

Creation – ‘The Real Thing’: two of the guys from Drama, making very soft synthpop in the style of Shatoo and a-ha, but with a couple of really nice tracks on there, and especially the track “Don’t Do It”. If you’re into Norwegian/Scandinavian (synth)pop this will hit home with you for sure. 

Blind Date – ‘Don’t Talk’: Probably the closest you get to a Norwegian version of Psychedelic Furs, and this is a beautiful new-wave album with some really strong material on it! Check out the title track, “Don’t Talk” on YouTube, and if that is to your taste, then don’t hesitate to invest in this album!

There’s more goodies here of course, but the 10 albums above are my priority suggestions right now.
Also, currently there’s some other really great stuff still being crowdfunded:

Famlende Forsøk – ‘En Overraskende Måte Hvorpå Man Kan Kaste En Person Over Ende’: Norway’s equivalent to Throbbing Gristle, and their quirky synths, great programming and musical skills, mixed with dada elements and dadaistic lyrics/vocals, makes this super interesting. The full album can be enjoyed on streaming services, but really deserves a CD release. One of Norways most original and groundbreaking bands through all times!

PVC – ‘Emile Berliner’: A superb post-punk band that released two albums in the early 80’s. Bitten Forsudd later went on to join/fund Garden Of Delight mentioned above, and Eivind Rølles went on to form one of Norways most known pop duos, The Monroes. If you’re into Joy Division and The Residents, then this is music for you! 

Chrissy – ‘Chrissy’: Her single “Mark My Words” sold over 500.000 copies in Scandinavia and Germany combined, and is one of the best selling singles in Norway in all times, way up there with a-ha and Röyksopp. The music is a fantastic new-wave/power-pop combo with snappy synth lines on there too! Find the track ‘Mark My Words’ on YouTube to get an idea. This is the album that I’m currently most excited about getting fully funded! 

S-L:  I guess you have a long wish list of albums not yet funded or suggested – wanna share? 😉

PAL: Yes, absolutely, and one of the first posts I made in the Facebook group, was an invitation to have everybody post their Top 5 Want List of albums they wanted on CD, and so far, I’ve gotten one of these 5 realized, and that was Munch – “Excessive Mobility”.

The rest of my Top 5 looks like this:
– Holy Toy – ‘Pakt Of Fact’ (Their best album in my opinion!)
– E-Man – ‘E-Man’ (Pre-Biosphere project from Geir Jenssen – great minimal-wave)
– Susanne Sundfør – ‘A Night At Salle Pleyel’ (Beautiful electronica!)
– Ultra Sheriff – ‘Galactic Frame’ (Norway’s first ever synthwave album, only released digitally!)

Other Norwegian albums that I feel definitively belong in this series and that I know is on the list is:
– Thorbjørn Grønning – ‘Galskapens Teater’ (Amazing minimal-wave self-released album)
– Göbbels A-Go-Go – ‘Våre Problemer Er Rent Musikalske’ (Superb electronic/new-wave)
– Ultra Sheriff – ‘Deception, Oil And Laser Beams’ (Another amazing synthwave album from them!)
– Det Elektriske Kjøkken – ‘Elefantene Er Kommet’ (Superb electronic/new-wave album)
– Bearburger – ‘The Bearburger’ (Great electronic/experimental album!)
– A Place To Pray – ‘Disciplina Arcana’ (Amazing goth/electronic album!)
– PLX 15 – ‘Kort Prosess’ and ‘PLX 15’ (Two great experimental electronic albums!)
– Axis – ‘Axis’ (Superb Norwegian new-wave mini album!)

… and finally, maybe one of the most important ones, because of the extremely high quality of the album, and this should absolutely be more known outside of Norway:
– Lily & The Gigolos – ‘Secrets’: An album that sounds like a Norwegian Siouxsie & The Banshees, with super strong song material, great production and great artwork. Check out the track “Listen To The Radio”, “Russia” or “I’m Just A Child” on YouTube, and you’ll know what I mean.

The project in itself has now released 88 albums in 99 days through crowdfunding, and is the most successful and longest spanning series in Norwegian record industry history, which in itself is a great feat! ALL countries should have a project like this! Just think about Sweden, a country which haven’t even released the albums like NASA – ‘Power Of The Century’, or most albums by Secret Service and Freestyle on CD at all! I really hope that this Norwegian project will inspire others to do the same in their countries, because there’s so much music history out there, and if we want to keep it for later generations, it has to be done NOW, or it will never be done. The younger generation consumes music digitally, so it is up to us to get these master tapes digitized and onto a physical medium like a CD, so that they also can be used as masters for digital distribution later on. That’s not the first priority, but what label wouldn’t jump at the chance of getting paid for a physical license and also get a remaster they can use for digital distribution/streaming? This also means that a lot of these artists WON’T be forgotten, and that their music will live on to be discovered by others.

Also, a lot of people in the Facebook group for ‘Norske Albumklassikere På CD’ constantly discover new “old” acts/releases, and this is half the fun of being part of this. I mean, I started working in a record shop in the summer of 1985, and I’ve worked in the music business in one way or the other since then, as a DJ, on radio stations, playing in bands, fixing record fairs, selling stuff via mail-order, working at record companies, writing for music magazines etc etc. so I try to contribute the best I can, but even I discover new and exciting things through this project.

Nobody knows everything, and that’s one of the great charms of music, that you can discover a band from the 80’s you’ve never heard of that you totally love!

Search and order already financed albums here: https://norskealbumklassikere.no/
See and order albums being crowfunded now: https://www.bidra.no/norskealbumklassikere

Join the Facebook group for CDs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/norskealbumklassikere and/or LPs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/norskealbumklassikerelp

jrstange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

André Matthes and Thomas Niedballa started their music activities in 2001. A few years later they singed to HANDS and started to release heavy Industrial & Experimental productions under the HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH moniker. The new work “Brankmanship” is their first new album in six years, but also a work revealing a more sophisticated sound mixing Industrial, Rhythmic-Noise, Experimental and Industrial-Techno. I experienced the work as the fusion between power, melody and intelligence. Both artists had a lot to say about their work.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Brinkmanship” is your first new album in six years! How does it feel to have released this new work after such a long time and why did it take that long?

André: I’m surprised myself that there’s such a long time  between the two albums. The selective sense of time is sometimes very relative, I don’t feel that the time span since our last release “Mecanismos De Control” is that long. Nevertheless, six years is of course a long time in which a lot has happened, both in the small private sphere and on a global scale.

After “Mecanismos De Control”, which dealt in the broadest sense with the financial crisis in 2008 and the actions of the responsible actors behind it, we worked together with Mike Erkau (The_Empath) on our joint project Trackologists. The work on Trackologists’ debut album “No Surrender, No Retreat” proved to be very fruitful, inspiring but also time-consuming, so there was space for new HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH ideas during this time. It then took some time until we had enough material for new songs, and above all a unifying idea on the theme, a guide that should connect the tracks on the album.

We like to give our albums a story in which the songs are embedded and refer to each other. Storytelling is already important in our way of working, perhaps it also explains the longer intervals between our releases. In the early summer of last year we had all the songs ready, the tracklist was fixed and an intensive phase of fine-tuning followed. I listened to every song and the album almost every day for eight weeks and made some changes. It is really difficult for me to accept the track as finished and release it for mastering. That’s when the control freak in me comes through. Terrible 😉 Thomas does it a more Punk-style. Boarded up and good. Then I come and start to make some changes. But that’s only good up to a certain point, because at some point it gets smoother and more pleasing but not really better.

HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH has always stood for a certain amount of unspoken joy in experimentation, and of course I don’t want to and should not optimize it to the max. At the end of 2019 the master was finished and we were very proud to be part of it, I think I can speak for both of us. The album shows so many different facets and yet, in my opinion, never loses the red thread. It is an astonishing further development to its six years older predecessor, especially when you listen to both of them one after the other. Now, a good year after the completion of our songs, I can say for myself that I can still get excited about the titles, despite listening to them umpteen times. 🙂

Thomas: I feel like André: the previous album “Mecanismos De Control” is somehow still present and doesn’t seem so far away. However, after that album there was a bit of ‘air out’ and we concentrated on the joint project Trackologists with Mike. During this joint work we were able to benefit from Mike’s knowledge for our own composition and production process. Thanks to this input, we then invested much more time than before in the current album “Brinkmanship” to compose and produce the tracks as cleanly as possible without losing sight of the worn edges.

Q: That’s maybe why I experienced this new album as your most diversified production ever; a true mix between different influences. How do you explain the evolution from the early, rough Industrial productions till “Brinkmanship”?

André: I think the driving force behind our work is experimenting with our possibilities. Personally I was inspired by Rhythm Noise and related styles. Especially by the fact that you suddenly got the chance to become creative yourself. That was in the mid-nineties. Until then I was rather an enthusiastic consumer. Records and concerts -I took everything that excited me, and that was always very comprehensive. Whether AlternativRock, Grunge, Punk or Avant-Garde, EBM, DarWave, Rhythm Noise -I could and still can get enthusiastic about many styles.

That was my input, and has remained so to this day, with some small cutbacks. For every time and for every situation there is the right music for me. So at some point I started to become creative myself, using pickups and microphones to shape and record noises and soundscapes. In addition, I had the possibility to merge the whole thing together using simple PC tracker programs and thus record my first (mostly very repetitive) songs. In this phase I found a like-minded person in Thomas and from then on we complemented each other in initially still separate projects. In the following time we self-released some CDRs, which we mostly distributed to friends and acquaintances and played a handful of concerts in small clubs. Our equipment at that time consisted of two PCs including tube monitors, pickups and lots of stuff. At some point we were actually allowed to play at the “Maschinenfest 2004”, and so we joined the HANDS label there.

Label boss Udo Wiessmann offered us to release an album on HANDS. It was a huge thing for us, it was incredibly inspiring and expanded our possibilities enormously. From this time on we officially called ourselves Heimstatt Yipotash, in reference to the previous solo-projects. With the years and every further release the learning curve in what we did and how we made music increased. In addition to the initially dominant intuition and joy of experimenting, we also gained a growing understanding of songwriting. In principle, we taught ourselves to make music over time, we are the absolute autodidacts 🙂 And -as mentioned at the beginning, we experiment with the respective possibilities we have.

Thomas: Since the beginning of our musical journey together, we have loved jumping between drawers and playing with listeners’ expectations. We actually always do what we want to do and do not look for disco suitability or the satisfaction of listening habits or expectations. But at the same time we don’t turn a song around until it absolutely sounds “especially creative and different”. We are insanely happy that Udo has always allowed us this creative freedom and that we can release our albums on the HANDS label without ‘censorship’ or ‘creative guidelines’.

The songs of the first albums sound for us now, with the distance of the years, both from the composition rather ‘simple’ and low-fi. Also some of our own musical preferences are shifting, which is reflected in the current songs. You find  more influences from IDM and other ‘song based’-styles than the more dominant Rhythm Noise of the earlier years. More stringency in sound and less jumping between genres could possibly be helpful to be more successful. But that has never been our motivation to make music. We want to entertain, but at the same time we want to encourage people to think, do research and also to exchange ideas. All the albums we have recorded so far reflect our view of society, the world and our environment at the time.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the writing and production process of the new songs? And what makes the chemistry between you both?

André: The driving force for each of our albums is usually to tell a story. The narrative element is already strongly pronounced. In the case of the debut “Storegga Effect”, for example, it was the cyclical sequence of major natural events with mass extinctions and the subsequent renewal or regeneration of the biosphere. The most narratively dense work to date, “Urban Night Motifs”, was a dystopian plunge through a dark, dirty and violent metropolis at night. We wanted to achieve a similarly dense atmosphere again on our current album, because I still like the soundtrack-like gloomy atmosphere very much.

The content of our songs is always close to the problems of the world and we have often addressed them. Also this time we created many songs that take a stand on global problems, so like new catchwords like genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, data surveillance or old scourges like war, corruption and abuse of power. Originally the album should be called “Tribunal” and it should be a kind of condemnation of the conditions. From today’s point of view, it seems to me to be richly bold and naively superficial. We had already taken this direction somewhat with “Mecanismos De Control” and we didn’t really want to go on further like this. We changed the context and formed the songs into a kind of taking status of the world today (“Artificial Ego”, “Fix, Find, Finish”, “Belt To Blender”). We contrasted this with our personal feelings, anger and powerlessness (“Progress”, “At the Edge Of Words”) and the desire to escape this mad world (“Step Into The Void”, “Separation”, “Trigger”).

Seen in this light, the current album is less combative than the previous one, but rather pessimistically resigned. Perhaps it results from the realization that no matter what happens, no matter how bad the disasters and wars will be, people still rarely learn from mistakes, and that in the end the predator prevails. Our way of working is usually to sit together (usually in Thomas’ arbor), connect our equipment and just jam away. Sometimes the first ideas come up, sometimes we just do sound exploration and fill our sample memory. The resulting song sketches are then moved back and forth a couple of times, and at some point the individual track develops its own character, which is then worked out. It’s not that we set ourselves a concept and then work it out, it all starts intuitively, almost like jazz from the gut. 🙂 If the track comes to life, it gets a name and is then shaped in the desired direction. When you finally compare the sketches and the finished track, you are amazed and get the impression that the song has a life of its own and we are just the obstetricians. It has always been like that, and I think that’s what makes up the way we work.

Thomas: Instead of the rehearsals and jam sessions that are usual with ‘classic’ bands, we have now established a well-functioning ping-pong method for us: if not out of jam sessions together, relatively many sketches are first created at my place. These are partly loops of only 10 seconds, but can also be rough song structures of three minutes. André takes over these beginnings and works on them with his own preferences and moods. This gives the sketches a completely new dynamic and complexity, which you often can’t even think of when you tinker with them alone. The nice thing about our joint work on songs is that nobody has a special role as ‘songwriter’ or ‘drummer’ or similar, but the songs can always develop without ‘selfish’ wishes or preferences. Neither of us has the claim to put more songs than the other on an album or to always have to listen to our own samples in the finished song. There are tracks that completely change their sound several times during their creation.

The possibilities of working with, in our case, Ableton Live are simply indescribably beneficial here. For us, it is amazing how the songs on the albums ultimately come together to form a harmonious product, without us planning it that way from the beginning. All our albums had a common thread, which we often only found during the ongoing creation process, without having to ‘bend’ the songs.

On “Storegga Effect” the mutual influences of environment and human beings on each other were the main theme. “Perpetual Beta” focused more on the mechanization of the world and the anonymization of the individual in society, but also on the simultaneous (self-zchosen) revelation of very private things, for example on the internet. “Urban Night Motifs” highlighted a modern and realistic, but also dystopian metropolis in the current time: psychological problems, pressure to perform, pollution of the environment, social injustice and increasing loneliness of people were the topics. “Mecanismos De Control” extracted this view on a political / social level, whereby we chose the situation in Argentina in 2001 as the main theme. “Brinkmanship” could now be interpreted as a once again ‘zoomed up’ view of the whole world politics and its influence on each and every one of us.

Q: “Brinkmanship” indeed appears to be a critical reflection about the world we’re living in. What’s your perception about the latest news events like the Covid-19 pandemic, the presidential election in the USA ao?

André: “Brinkmanship” is indeed a critical examination of the state of the world. The term means as much as the politics of absolute risk, the planning of one’s own destruction, the play with fire. There are many political examples, the policy of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War is only one of them. Even today, the term can be applied to many aspects. We have tried to cover some of the topics on the album, even if many things are missing (climate change, environmental destruction, etc.) There are many questions that most people are reluctant to ask, because the answers might question their way of living. Will artificial intelligence dominate us one day? Will we become slaves of omniscient networks and algorithms? How dangerous is genetic engineering? And is it ethically acceptable? What do animal experiments and factory farming and the perversities associated with them say about our humanity? These and countless other questions, some of them more or less philosophical, occupy our minds and are a recurring theme in our songs.

Much of this can be discussed controversially, and I too have no productive answers to many of them. Nevertheless it is important to ask these questions and to deal with them. Because if you don’t face it, you are much more receptive to ‘strong men with simple solutions’, which brings us back to the actual topic. The multitude of questions seems to overwhelm a large part of the people intellectually, there is no other way to explain, for example, a President Trump, Erdogan or Putin. In my view, Trump is one of the most stupid and incompetent people you can imagine at the head of such an influential superpower. But Trump is for me not the cause, but rather the symptom of a certain social and societal degeneration that can be observed throughout the Western world.

The most pressing current issue is the Covid-19 pandemic. The exceptional situation in which we are currently living is magnifying the acute social upheavals like under a burning glass and is a test of character for each individual. Whether and how measures to contain the infection will be effective will only be known when it is history, because much of it cannot yet be assessed. It is therefore easy to condemn decisions in retrospect and to know everything better. As a realist, I see the situation, recognize possible risks and try to avoid them without hysteria. In my opinion, it would sometimes be helpful for many people if they could look at things more soberly, abstractly and then stick to the facts. That way, prophets and conspiracy theorists of all colors would have less of an audience.

Q: Because of Covid-19 artists can’t no longer play live, which must be frustrating when you’ve a new album out. How do you try to face the situation and what do you expect from artistic activities during the next few months?

André: Of course this is extremely frustrating for us! Originally “Brinkmanship” was supposed to be presented at the “Elektroanschlag” festival or at the “Forms of Hands” and we had prepared some limited bundles with iron-on patches and stickers for the record release. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions, all this became obsolete. The release date was postponed to August, and unfortunately we had no chance to present the album live until now. And it’s through concerts that you can reach a larger audience. As far as that is concerned, we really fell victim to a bad time.

But it’s not just us! Much worse affected are artists who have to live from their art, who depend on the income. As far as that is concerned, we are well off as ‘amateurs’ and too much complaining would be somehow indecent. Well, what the future will bring, we will see. Maybe we will try ourselves as street musicians 😉 At the moment, it’s mid-October, the infection numbers are rising again and I don’t believe in a return of the festivals soon. What this means for the whole music industry, promoters and labels cannot yet be estimated, but the coming period will certainly not be easy. Many are acutely threatened in their existence. That is something you should bear in mind! Therefore: ‘Support your artists! Support your label!’

Thomas: Yes, it makes us sad not to be able to present the new material live and experience the feedback of the audience. But in the current situation we have the big advantage over musicians who have to earn their living by performing, that we both have regular jobs and therefore the band has been a pure hobby project from the beginning and doesn’t have to feed families. So we see the situation as very uncomfortable for us, but for the whole music industry, especially the independent labels and concert operators, with far greater concern and fear for the future of the many employees and enthusiasts.

We house label HANDS are also severely affected by cancelled concerts and closed clubs. This is the best way for each of us to help: Buy CDs and merchandise directly from the small, fine labels!

Q: Next to HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH you’ve been also involved with other projects. What can you express and maybe exorcize in these other projects –like TRACKOLOGISTS, and do you plan new releases?

André: I am cautiously optimistic when I say that there will be a sign of life from TRACKOLOGISTS in the near future. Optimistic, because all three of us have a great desire for it and already have concrete ideas for a release; cautious, because all three of us are involved in other projects and therefore many things simply go slower and need more time. It will probably be like with the first and so far unfortunately only TRACKOLOGISTS album: we will set ourselves a lot of goals, we will meet several deadlines and still get it finished. 🙂

Thomas: I think the chances of an upcoming release of the TRACKOLOGISTS are good. We love the project and the slightly different development process than at HYMSTATT YIPOTASH. TRACKOLOGISTS songs are much closer to the EBM and IDM than our own tracks, but working with Mike enriches our own way of working immensely as we benefit from his knowledge and set the bar high ourselves. Whether there will be another masterpiece of “No Go!” depends mainly on the simultaneous availability of (too) much time, extremely obscure sample collections and large amounts of alcoholic beverages…

André: Thanks for your questions and hopefully see you soon live!

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, electro-ambient, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Daniel Ruane is a British producer based in Manchester. Last year he released the acclaimed album “The Interpreter” and is now back on track unleashing 4 new cuts.

Content: “Incandescent” takes off in an experimental way, but rapidly reveals the real ingredients and influences it has been made of. Is this artist a hybrid between Biosphere and Autechre? It however is an interesting basis, which might have served as sources of inspiration.

I noticed a well-crafted astral sound creation consisting of multiple bleeps and ultra, deep resonating bass sounds. The work moves towards real dark passages, which sometimes are pretty soundtrack-minded.

+ + + : Daniel Ruane stands for an extraordinary sound production. This producer is a real genius sound crafter and a brilliant producer. The volume and power of his mixing are overwhelming. But the music properly speaking is also resulting from an ultra creative process, which makes me think of a futuristic soundtrack. This is a visionary approach of electro-ambient music, which I can only, but highly recommend.

– – – : There’s just one single piece (cf. “Amino”), which doesn’t exactly sound like a highlight, but in the end you don’t hear me complain!

Conclusion: Daniel Ruane belongs to a new and talented restricted list of contemporary producers mixing different genres together. If you’re wondering how the electro-ambient music of the future will sound, just listen to “Incandescent”.

Best songs: “Codon”, “Exo”, “Incandescent”.

Rate: (8½).

Band: www.facebook.com/danny.ruane.1

Label: www.thesilenthowl.com / www.facebook.com/thesilenthowl

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

The German electronic music composer and musician Klaus Schulze has a back catalogue which counts over 60 albums, and that number is increasing month after month. For 2016 a lot of old deleted titles will be re-released.

2016 will start with the release of the Pete Namlook collaboration “The Dark Side of the Moog Vol.1-4” 5CD box. The release originates from the collaboration the late Peter Kuhlman a.k.a Pete Namlook had with Klaus Schulze for a series of collaboration releases out on his Fax label. He wouldn’t just limit to Klaus Schulze as other artists Pete Namlook collaborated with would include Robert Görl of DAF, Geir Jenssen of Biosphere fame, Bill Laswell, Ritchie Hawtin, Lorenzo Montanà, Gabriel Le Mar, Atomheart [Lassigue Bendthaus] and David Moufang to name just a few. But it’s only the Klaus Schulze collaboration which would result in 11 volumes recorded between 1994 and 2008.

The 2nd Klaus Schulze release for 2016 will be “In Blue”, a 3CD set originally released in 1995.

Here’s a list of what you can expect next: “Klaus” digipak 2CD, “U.S.O.-Privee” digipak CD, “Cyborg” digipak 2CD, “The Dark Side of the Moog Vol. 5-8” 5CD box, “Audentity” digipak 2CD, “Irrlicht” digipak CD, “Blackdance” digipak CD, “Dziekuje Poland Live ’83” digipak 2CD, “Trance 4 Motion” digipak CD, “Drums’n’Balls (The Gancha Club)” digipak CD, “Picture Music” digipak CD, “The Dark Side of the Moog Vol. 9-11” 5 CD box, “The Dark Side of the Moog” 16LP box, “Time Actor” digipak CD, “Live @ Klangart” digipak 2CD, “Timewind” digipak CD, “Moondawn” digipak CD, “Mirage” digipak CD, “Angst” digipak CD, “Le Moulin de Daudet” digipak 2CD, “Body Love 1” digipak CD, “Body Love 2” digipak CD, “Das Wagner Disaster” digipak 2CD, “Solar Moon Docking” digipak CD, “X” digipak 2CD, “Dune” digipak CD, “Ion & Andromeda” digipak CD, “Trance Appeal” digipak CD, “Dig it” digipak CD+DVD, “Inter Face” digipak CD, “Trancelation” digipak CD, “Thank You” digipak CD, “En=Trance” digipak CD, “Ballett 1 & 2” digipak 2CD, “Another Green Mile” digipak CD, “Mediterranean Pads” digipak CD.

Get get more Klaus Schulze releases here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Technoid, minimal-electro.

Content: We don’t often get promo material from Atom™ (also known as Atom Heart) and that’s a pity as it concerns an artist we’ve fully supported during his early years and first steps dealing with electronic music. That was quite a long time ago when Uwe Schmidt was known as the master mind behind the Lassigue Bendthaus project.

Schmidt has released an impressive discography under multiple names and diverse projects, but Atom™ brought him to explore the paths of techno music. It’s a long odyssey revealing a never-ending inspiration and which has been now continued at this new EP released as a vinyl while the digital format features one extra track.

The “Album Version” confirms the long-time passion and addiction of Uwe Schmidt for high tech electronics based on minimalism and explicit sound manipulations. You immediately get in the grip of the deep, vibrating blasts and the kind of whipping kick. The track is expressed with darker tones while a few spoken like vocals inject a somewhat creepy touch to the work. This song is a remarkable composition, which explores some experimental technoid arrangements, but it first of all remains an intelligent electronic creation.

“Riding The Void” has been next featured in different remixed versions. The “Scuba’s Pulse Mix” is carried by a bouncing techno kick, which makes the song fully accessible for the clubs. Some elements of the original version have been fully respected while the extra danceable vibes makes it more exciting and techno-minded, which in a way is a bit the global mark for the other remixes as well.

The “Nought Remix” is a little bit more into groovy loops while the flat, deep sounding arrangements are coming through. The “Tool”-mix sounds a bit similar while the extra remix available on the digital format-only (cf. “Gesetz Der Oktaven’s Consumed Remix”) is my personal favorite. Hanno Leichtmann transformed the creation into an icy groovy version, which remains ultra danceable, but underground-minded as well.

Together with this release you also get a DVD including the visual works of “HD+”. It consists of 8 songs and clips, which are like a throwback to the “HD”-album released in 2013. The music reminds me a bit to a mix of minimal-electronics and even pure sound experimentalism, plus a kind of wink to Kraftwerk. The visual part of the work totally matches with the music. There’s a part of avant-garde and typical electronic visuals. The clips are absolutely great and threatened by the newest techniques of montage.

Among the song I especially like the kind of Suicide-inspired “Empty”, which reminds to this legendary band, but transposed into the sci-fi electronic universe of Atom™. The most surprising song probably is the cover version of “My Generation”, which was originally written by The Who.

The Other songs left move in between pure experimental and ambient inspired music to more explicit techno driven grooves. Atom™ often revealed himself as the imaginary hybrid between Kraftwerk, Biosphere and Autechre, but all in the end Uwe Schmidt doesn’t really need any further comparison because there’s only one Atom™!

Conclusion: Interesting material, which confirms the never-ending genius of this artist who’ll always and first of all remain a great sound architect.

Best songs: “Riding The Void”, “Riding The Void – Gesetz Der Oktaven’s Consumed Remix” + Empty.

Rate: (DP:8½)DP.

Band: www.atom-tm.com / www.facebook.com/AtomTM

Label: www.raster-noton.net / www.facebook.com/rasternoton

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com