The Chicago-based industrial metal band Derision Cult has released their new single and video, “Warning Signs”. The video premiered at Glitch Mode Recordings’ immersive cyberpunk showcase, Tech Noir, on July 20, 2024.

“Warning Signs” is a fast-paced industrial metal track featuring heavy, spoken-word vocals, thrash metal guitars, cyber beats, and guitar by former David Bowie guitarist, Reeves Gabrels.

Lyrically, “Warning Signs” explores the current turbulent cultural climate, highlighting the warnings that surround us. The chorus, “Is it getting real enough yet?” draws from a true story shared by frontman Dave McAnally’s brother, a Naval EOD officer. During a raid, a Hollywood director, witnessing the aftermath of a firefight, was shaken. As a Navy SEAL carried the body of a Taliban member past the director, he chillingly remarked, “Oh, is it getting real enough yet?”

The single features contributions from Glitch Mode stalwarts, including Jim Marcus, David Kultgen, Justin Broadrick, Chris Harris, and Pete Berwick. The video was created by Vancouver-based Empire Animae. Empire Animae previously collaborated with Derision Cult on their “Deaf Blood” video.

“We had so much fun with the ‘Deaf Blood’ video we couldn’t wait to work with Empire Animae again,” says Derision Cult founder, Dave McAnally. “This time around, we wanted to do a whole different setting and just go crazy with influences from ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,’ Martini Ranch and do things with animation that wouldn’t be possible in a live-action video.”

About Tech Noir

Tech Noir is Glitch Mode Media’s Cyberpunk Showcase, held in Chicago on July 20th. The event featured the premiere of the “Warning Signs” video and live performance, celebrating 40 years of cyberpunk culture. Tech Noir included performances from nine bands, cyberpunk films, and fashion, all housed in a building that once served as Al Capone’s private club. Tech Noir aims to redefine live music experiences by combining film and music in innovative ways.

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

Five years after the last album, “Cmbcrst” stands for a fierce and brutal experience. This is pure Industrial/Electro-Metal with a perfect balance between guitar sounds and menacing electronic sequences carried by menacing bass lines. Some songs are truly furious as if possessed by an imaginary sonic devil. The devil is represented by the hellish vocals of front man Andy LaPlegua. The first disc sounds incredible, while the additional album takes a very Cinematic approach and therefore sounds completely different. (Rate:9)

Listen to “Only Death Is Immortal”:

https://combichrist.bandcamp.com/track/only-death-is-immortal

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

Why do journalists often ask silly questions, particularly in the entertainment industry? It’s a question that frequently arises after watching TV or radio shows where artists are invited to discuss a new album or project.

Two videos that are spreading fast on social media and which feature The Cure as the interviewees perfectly exemplify this issue. After watching these clips, it’s hard not to question the intellectual aptitude of some journalists to be very honest.

There are a few reasons why journalists might ask silly questions. Sometimes, they may lack the necessary knowledge or understanding of the topic. However, this is not usually the case. More often, they ask these questions to capture the response on tape, film, or in writing. But this approach essentially reflects lazy journalism. Instead, they could ask a question that delves deeper into the subject matter, providing the information that people genuinely want. In short, journalists should strive for thought-provoking and insightful questions, rather than resorting to superficial inquiries that may ultimately leave both the artist and the audience unsatisfied.

These two cringe-worthy moments occurred during interviews with The Cure, and fortunately, we can enjoy them for their sheer absurdity. Which reminds us of this nice Depeche Mode line: “Is stupidity the best or simply the easiest?”

In the first video, The Cure is confronted by a journalist who bizarrely starts to mimic the sounds of their songs. The second video captures the band being ‘interviewed’ during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. It becomes painfully obvious that the band members were far less excited about their induction than their overly enthusiastic interviewer, Carrie Keagan.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

The 8th Extize album “MonStars” will be released exactly in eight moths, on September 30th. 2022. The band will now release 1 new single and 1 new video each month till the album release. The first one is out now, “Pinheadbanger” which is about the first monster taken from the cult horror movie “Hellraiser”. Coming up next on February 11th is “Hot Like Carrie”.

The video for the first track features Mexico’s most famous female cosplayer Lorraine Cosplay and can be seen right below.

To download the track, check right below.

“MonStars” is a concept album which act as a tribute to the horror and sci-fi stories from the 80s all the way to the 2000, something which frontman Cyb3rella grew up with. The album will be released as a digipak with 3D glasses and 3D booklet to properly take you back in time and “make your listening experience even more exciting”, so the band’s label darkTUNES says.

As a bonus, Extize is also releasing a collectors edition in the form of a VHS box with an audio cassette version of the album and many goodies from the movies that it’s about. And added as well is a bonus track to the cassette called “Dusk” which was inspired by the movie “From Dusk Till Dawn”.

You can pre-order the album right 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

The French electro-pop label BOREDOMproduct doesn’t often sign new bands. So I was really wondering who was hiding behind this new name added to the label roster. ‘JB’ from Dekad and  ‘XY’ from Foretaste joined forces creating The Overlookers. After the promising debut EP “Driving Fast” (2018) they now have unleashed their debut full length “Teenage Wet Dreams”. The albums sounds in the purest tradition of the BOREDOMproduct bands, but with a funny concept dealing with aspects of the 50s and 60s American society.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: It all looks like Foretaste + Dekad = The Overlookers! How did this project saw the daylight and what new sonic challenges do you purchase?  

JB: it started as a recreation. XY had finished his album, mine was just at the beginning and we felt it would be a good thing to try to work on new songs without any pressure, just to see if we could produce something together. We did not intend to make a full album, rather an EP. The obvious challenge was to manage to blend our two universes so that it doesn’t sound exclusively Foretaste or Dekad.

XY: As long as I remember, nothing was planned, we both often have to worry about each other’s demos and that’s how it started. As we work quite quickly, we found out that we had an album in our hands in a few weeks.

Q: The Overlookers has been introduced as a project inspired by American vintage red cars, thriller movies and electronic music. Except the electronic music it all feels like we’re going back to the 50s & 60s. What is this concept all about?

JB: Like a lot of guys from our generation, we are fascinated by certain aspects of the American culture. Nothing very original in fact… Beautiful cars, Western landscapes, movies from the 80s and the American way of life as it could be depicted in movies like “Christine”, “Carrie” or “American Graffiti”. As electronic musicians, we wanted to break the Rock‘n’Roll codes and try to imagine what teenagers from the 60’s would have listened in their jukebox if drum machines and synths had replaced electric guitars and saxophones.

XY: It was just a joke at first, but very quickly it gave the album a common thread. It was very inspiring, there is so much to write about being a teenager.

Q: Your debut EP “Driving Fast” features a wink to the 60s with the cover version of “Unchained Melody”. I rather expect you to make a cover version of Kraftwerk instead of The Righteous Brothers. I guess it was pure fun revisiting this song? How did it happen?

JB: Our boss at BOREDOMproduct suggested that we make a cover of a typical standard of the 60s. What better choice than “Unchained Melody” that everybody knows? The melody, the lyrics sound so 60s! As far as I’m concerned it was quite a challenge to sing that song as it is so far from the way I’m used to sing… Concerning Kraftwerk, even if they started their career in the early 70s playing Krautrock, it is already to recent for us !

XY: I have a real passion for these 50s and 60s torch songs. We had chosen several tracks to cover. “Unchained Melody” was not my favorite one, but we wanted people to immediately recognize the song.

Q: Tell us a bit more about the composition and global production of the album? How was it working together and who took care of what?

JB : We never met during the production of the album. We just communicated by e-mails. In fact, we are used
to work that way. And it works perfectly. It gives us so much reactivity. Sometimes, XY could send me the music in the morning, I could write the lyrics and record the vocals in the afternoon. The song was done at 8pm.

XY: It was really cool to work like that. The objective was not to think too much, we just had to turn the knobs on the synthesizers, find great sounds and record without saving our presets.

Q: The lyrical content is also an interesting item; there’re some links to 60s songs and artists, but still interesting metaphors about life like on “Driving Fast”. Can you tell us a bit more about this aspect and the artwork as well?

XY: On “Driving Fast” we really wanted the listener to be able to project himself into a car, to feel the speed
and life passing by. There’s only one chord in this song like a long straight road. The texts talk about the speed
and death that coexist and give us a good dose of adrenaline.

The artwork was made by BOREDOMproduct even before the album was recorded, it helped us a lot and
inspired us to write the songs.

Q: BOREDOMproduct clearly is much more than simply a label. It makes me think to a kind of ‘electronic family’ featuring artists sharing their common passion for electronic music. How do you perceive it as ‘artists’ and do you feel a kind of ‘label spirit’?

JB: There definitively is a ‘label spirit’ at BOREDOMproduct. We know each other for more than 15 years now. Even if we are not in contact every day, we have as strong sense of cohesion. All
this, based on  strong sense of humor as well !

XY: That’s exactly it, I even remember that the label offered to sign this album before even listening to it.
Nowadays artists can do their thing without a label, but with BOREDOMproduct we don’t even ask ourselves the question, we feel confident with them.

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

Out soon is the “Base Box” boxset by the Italian dark wave act Kirlian Camera. Be fast to order this set as it will be sold out soon. You can order it right here on Bandcamp.

The boxset holds the DVD “Memorabilia” (incl. official videoclips, TV-appearances, live-recordings, interviews, and much more). The DVD comes in PAL, Region Code 0 and has a duration of a lovely 150’ 30″, that is 2 hours, 30 mins., 30 seconds.

Next there the exclusive “Odyssey Europa” 7” featuring the tracks “Odyssey Europe” and a special version of “Coroner’s Sun” by Lux Anodyca. You also get some extra’s such as a ‘Base MMXVI’-Card with metallic letterings and hand-signed by Angelo Bergamini & Elena Alice Fossi, next to the triangular badge with the old logo of the band next to a ‘Gladiators of Light’ t-shirt.

The tracklist of the DVD is as follows:

• HYPNOSIS – Aegonauts (1983) Communicate (1984)
• Blue Room (1995 Official Video)
• Blue Room (1995) Ocean (1986)
• Ocean (1986) Ocean (1986)
• Ocean (1987) Heldenplatz (1987)
• Heldenplatz (1987 Festivalbar Bergamo)
• Heldenplatz (1987 Festivalbar Padova)
• Kirlian Camera Special at “Video-Music” (1994) Ragazze della Notte (1995 – extract from Documentary Film, Swiss National TV)
• SPECTRAparis/SIDERARTICA – Antland (2009 Rudolstadt, Germany)
• SPECTRAparis – Spectra Muder Show (2010)
• SPECTRAparis – Carrie Satan (2010 Official Video)
• SPECTRAparis – Behind the Scenes and Beyond Infinity (2010 Official Outtake Video)
• Nightglory (2010 Official Video)
• Edges (2013 Markthalle Hamburg)
• Blue Room (**2013 Markthalle Hamburg) 21 Materia Oscura (2013, Lyrics Video)
• BLANK feat. KIRLIAN CAMERA – Lost Simmetry (2013 – Official Video)
• Black August (2013 – Official Video) 24 The Fountain of Clouds (2013 – Official Video)
• ELENA ALICE FOSSI – Mini-Interview (2014 – Promovideo for ‘Benefiz for Kids Festival)

FAN-MADE Live Videos (Unknown Videomakers)

• Comfortably Numb (2013 M’Era Luna Hildesheim, Germany)
• E.D.O. (2009 Lübeck, Germany)
• Eclipse (2013 M’Era Luna Hildesheim)
• Ascension (2015 WGT Leipzig)

The next tracks were all are recorded during the 2014 Runes and Men Festival in Leipzig.

• K-Pax
• Neither Honour nor Glory
• Black August
• Erinnerung

Last track

• Nightglory (**2014 Dresden)

(*) Italian TV Showcase
(**) Live Showcase

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

Here’s something for the horror fans, Arrow Video has released the first two instalments of hit horror franchise ‘House’ on Blu-ray for the first time. You can order both in one packet at this fine mail order (US readers, make sure to order some extra horror flicks from this blu-ray selection, shipping is free from 100 US$ on).

In the original “House”, William Katt (Carrie) stars as Roger Cobb, a horror novelist struggling to pen his next bestseller. When he inherits his aunt’s creaky old mansion, Roger decides that he’s found the ideal place in which to get some writing done. Unfortunately, the house’s monstrous supernatural residents have other ideas.

In “House II: The Second Story”, we see a young Jesse (Arye Gross) moving into an old family mansion where his parents were mysteriously murdered years before. Plans for turning the place into a party pad are soon thwarted by the appearance of Jesse’s mummified great-great-grandfather, his mystical crystal skull and the zombie cowboy who’ll stop at nothing to lay his hands on it.

From the team that brought you Friday the 13th, “House” and “House II” are considered as era-defining horror classics. Both films have been restored and loaded with brand new extras. Here’s a list of what you can expect:

• The House Companion: a limited edition 60-page book featuring new writing on the entire ‘House’ franchise by researcher Simon Barber, alongside a wealth of archive material
• Audio commentary with director Steve Miner, producer Sean S. Cunningham, actor William Katt and screenwriter Ethan Wiley
• “Ding Dong, You’re Dead! The Making of House”: a brand new documentary featuring interviews with Steve Miner, Sean S. Cunningham, Ethan Wiley, story creator Fred Dekker, stars William Katt, Kay Lenz, and George Wendt, composer Harry Manfredini
• “It’s Getting Weirder! The Making of House II: The Second Story”: a brand new documentary featuring interviews with Ethan Wiley, Sean S. Cunningham, stars Arye Gross, Jonathan Stark, Lar Park Lincoln, and Devin DeVasquez, composer Harry Manfredini
• Stills Gallery
• Theatrical Trailers

Just to get you in the mood, here are the theatrical trailers for both horror pictures as they are featured on YouTube:

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

(By Joanna Hobart) Yacht, an American dance-pop band from Portland, Oregon, currently based in Los Angeles, California, is going to win the award for the lamest PR stunt this year. Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans claimed in a post on Facebook that an intimate video they made together had been leaked to the public and so they had started to spread it themselves (weird twist n’est-ce pas?). It actually was a way to promote their (not so brilliant) song “I Wanna Fuck You Til I’m Dead”.

According to Yacht their ‘sex’ tape (holding no sex at all) was a stunt intended to “explore the intersection of privacy, media, and celebrity”, in other words, they looked for some cheap publicity. Yacht’s PR company Motormouthmedia probably saw the backlash this very poorly executed PR thingie would get and quickly distanced themselves from the band.

Here’s the video they posted on Pornhub etc.. Note that if they wouldn’t have created all the mayhem around it, the video would actually have been a funny one, but knowing the context of how this one was marketed, it’s not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0cxpv2JRgY

The backlash came quite quick as many see the action of the band as nothing else but trivialising revenge porn. Not exactly what the duo had hoped for of course.

Lawyer Carrie Goldberg, whose New York law firm helps victims of internet harassment, told The Guardian that he considers it to be “a bullshit marketing stunt (…) As somebody who spends all day, every day working with actual victims of nonconsensual porn and rapes that have videos and gone viral, I just thought: ‘Where are these guys, I’m going to come and hunt them down’.” And he adds: “My fear is that next time somebody’s sex video goes viral without consent everyone’s going to stop and say: ‘Wait wait wait, we can’t believe her, this is just a stunt’.”

Bechtolt and Evans have responded now saying that they “never make light of victims of any form of sexual abuse”. Here’s what the duo wrote as well: “Frankly, it’s disturbing to us that press outlets could make the incredibly irresponsible leap from “celebrity sex tape,” which is the cultural trope this project explicitly references, to “revenge porn,” which is unfunny, disgusting, morally repugnant, and completely unrelated. Even within the fictional narrative we created, there was no violence or exploitation. It was always about agency and proactive empowerment.”

What’s your take on this? Let us know.

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