Censor &#8211; SIDE-LINE

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. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Opera Multi Steel – Les Passions Tristes (Album – Wave Records)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 21 May 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave, Dark-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Legendary, French, trio Opera Multi Steel are back on track unleashing their thirteenth full length album. The band this year celebrates its fortieth anniversary.

Content: The work moves on in the line of its predecessor “D’Une Pierre Deux Tombes” (2021). The songs are still mixing the magic of real instruments on one side and electronics on the other side. The French, sung, poetic lyrics remain dark and existential. The songs are mainly into dark, reverie but also featuring more danceable and Electronic passages.

+ + + : Opera Multi Steel don’t care about disgusting censor of social media, their front cover featuring a beautiful, symbolic, painting from early 20^th century. It also stands for the band’s approach in sound; a very singular experience mixing elements of Dark-Wave and Dark-Pop music with a deep taste of sadness running throughout the lyrics. The use of real instruments -but especially the flute creating melody lines, has something bewitching and elevating. The work sounds minimal and delicate, beautiful and sad. I also have to mention some more danceable passages with explicit electronic treatments which stand for the later evolution of the band.

– – – : The way of singing remains cool and unique but I sometimes miss a little bit more passion.

Conclusion: Darkness remains a beautiful expression when it has been transposed into music with such an artistic devotion.

Best songs: “A La Messe Ou Aux Vèpres”, “Tout En Tous”, “Dites-Nous”, “Tombés A Terre”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: https://axelkl14.wixsite.com/operamultisteel /

Label: www.waverecordsmusic.com / www.facebook.com/waverecords

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.

IC3PEAK react with anti-Putin video after being banned on VK for anti-war comments

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 07:13:18 +0000

You have followers in a society, the sheep, and you have those who stand up against the herd mentality and show their middle finger to oppression. One of those bands is the Russian electronic band IC3PEAK. They saw their VK page (the biggest social media platform in Russia) banned because of anti-war statements. Their concerts are also officially prohibited by the Russian government and in casu Putin. Instead of remaining silent, they unleashed the video “Kiss Of Death” (the title track of their most recent album) which is “dedicated to the Russian police state which tries to censor us all but is doomed to fail.”

The band is also collecting funds to support Ukrainian humanitarian aid.

Here’s the video for “Kiss Of Death”.

IC3PEAK is the duo Anastasia Kreslina and Nikolay Kostilev. They formed the band in 2013 and released the English sung EP “Substances” the following year. Shortly after, they released the video for the song “Ether”. In 2017, IC3PEAK released their first album (in Russian), “Sladkaya zhizn” (“Sweet life”). The duo released another Russian-language album, “Skazka” (“Fairy Tale”), in 2018. The band’s third album in Russian was “Do Svidaniya” (“Goodbye”) and was released on April 24, 2020.

IC3PEAK boycotted by Putin and his regime

By then they were already under political scrutiny, especially because of the video for the song “Smerti bolshe net” which was considered as an insult to law enforcement structures and to the Russian authorities. There were also accusations that the video would be promoting suicide, which, according to the authorities, could have an impact on the duo’s underage fans. What followed was targeted harassment, threats, and intimidation from the Russian security forces. Concert venues throughout Russia were told not to program them or cancel shows. The performance in Novosibirsk on 1 December 2018 became the peak of that confrontation. On that day, the members of IC3PEAK and the local concert organizers were detained while exiting the train at Novosibirsk Central Railway Station. The concert took place at an alternative venue.

On March 5th the band posted the below message on their Facebook page, which was not well received by the Russian authorities…

Click Interview with Opera Multi Steel: ‘No More Ego Problems For A Very Long Time Now’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 17:00:00 +0000

The twelfth album “D’une Pierre Deux Tombes” by the French formation Opera Multi Steel has been composed by the original line-up. Franck Lopez, Patrick L. Robin and Catherine Marie set up the band in 1983. “D’Une Pierre Deux Tombes” released by Wave Records is a very intimate work about the loss of the members mothers. Poetry and melancholic Dark-Wave & Dark-Pop music have been merged together creating a poignant, posthumous, tribute.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Opera Multi Steel is now active for nearly forty years! How do you look back at this amazing adventure and what’s the importance of Opera Multi Steel in your life?

Franck L: If we had been told forty years ago that we would still be active today, I am not sure we would have believed it. It was very difficult for us to find a place in France in the beginnings of the band, we were considered too atypical compared to many formations of the Indie movement of the time and we had to confine ourselves to self-production on our own label created for the occasion and on which we released our first albums up to “Stella Obscura”.

This one marked the end of the group’s first period. Recognition therefore came later thanks to a Brazilian label (completely unexpected!) which, after discovering our first works, released a compilation (“Days Of Creation”) which made us known there and which in the process produced the album “Histoires De France”. From this, curiously, the interest aroused by the group ends up returning to Europe. Since that time, support has continued to grow and apart from Wave Records, which has trusted us from the start, we can also mention the labels Triton (Germany) Meidosem Records (France), Dark Entries (USA), Infrastition (France), VOD (Germany)… which either through re-edition, compilations or production of original albums have enabled us to gradually broaden our visibility among the alternative scene. We are very grateful to them.

Catherine M: After all this time, if Opera Multi Steel still exists, it is simply because it is part of our lives. We can therefore assume that it will live as long as we have the strength and the creative energy to make it live and that the precious support of those who have long adhered to our aesthetics will continue.

Patrick L. R: Since I was a child, I’ve spent an important quantity of moments listening to the music through radio-shows, vinyl records and TV networks and I quickly decided to make music of my own. Because of this, Opera Multi Steel has always and will be definitely an important part of my life! Each moment of my existence since the beginning of the band has been rhythmed by its music and the flow of poetry I decided to write since the end of 1982 (the real beginning). I could not have imagined living without this meaning that gave me the possibility to stay really alive for forty years more. I swear and I promise to perform with this band until the end!

Q: How much of the ‘early’ Opera Multi Steel do you still recognize in your way of working, -writing, -lyrics and spirit today? And do you see contemporary bands reminding you to the ‘young’ Opera Multi Steel?

Franck L: Pretty hard to say. In fact, we have been composing and writing in the same way for all these years. At the beginning, we were probably more minimal than now, both by choice or by force of circumstances, and we used a little bit of everything that came to our hands. We discovered drum machines and polyphonic synths with the greediness of children discovering their gifts at the foot of the Christmas tree. We were not all great technicians and we touched a little on everything. Unable to imitate those who influenced us, we had no choice but to turn our shortcomings into a kind of strength. This is the way the group was born around an Elex synth, a Casio VL1 and a TR 606 rhythm machine, joined to a recorder and an old cheap Gibson copy bass.

Nothing has really changed since then, except that our sound has grown a lot and it’s more powerful. The whole thing sounds less minimalist. On the other hand, we have remained faithful to the sounds which rocked the birth of the band and which are the immediately recognizable mark of Opera Multi Steel. They are sometimes no longer played on the original instruments as at the time, but through various softwares. Other change, as time goes by, our lyrics have become a bit sadder and disabused that they were in the first years of the band. But it could be too long to explain…

In fact, among the groups currently claiming to belong to the Post-Punk/ Minimal-Wave label, which is ultimately very broad, we hardly find any equivalent to what we were, except here and there in the use of very connoted sounds which were our daily life at the time. Not sure that we have been emulators for some other younger musicians but we are not the best placed to say so. On the other hand, it is quite pleasant to note that groups that have not lived through the era that saw us born seek to rediscover and reinterpret it through their own work.

Q: Your new album “D’une Pierre deux Tombes” is an appropriated title for the concept or main theme of this work dealing with the loss of your mothers. Do we have to understand the album as part of your mourning process? And can you give us more details about the content?

Patrick L. R : Yes of course. Personally, I’s been a way to achieve the work of bereavement started since my birth (father and grandfather died when I was just one) then grandmother, then no mother. I had been prepared to that fatal eventuality so when my mother died, it did not surprise me. Rather than a real sadness, it gave me the very part of my life. I could imagine all those people assembled in a kind of Sky, maybe Heaven? all together now and waiting for us, the next ones on the list. This gave me the inspiration when I created the lyrics of this last album and the strength to the three of us to turn this mourning into music. Don’t know if they can listen to us, wherever they are now but the releasing of this album was for us the way to pay tribute to what they were.

Q: I can imagine your way of working has maybe been different because of Covid-19 restrictions. How did you manage this situation? What have been the different stages to achieve this work?

Franck L: In fact, Covid-19 did not really affect the development of this last album which was already composed, recorded and mixed just before the first confinement was proclaimed here in France. During the lockdown period we refined the graphic design of the album remotely with Hernan Czauski, Brazilian designer who made the cover from images that we had provided to him. Normally, we would have done the same anyway!!! We also produced the videos of the album remotely while exchanging images with Lexx Grave of Wave Records to the development of three clips of the album (“L’Après-Mort”, “Cimeterre” and “Jardin Du Souvenir”). The very first one, directed by French videographer Isthmaël Baudry on the title “L’Annonce” had been carried out before the health crisis. However, the release of the album has been postponed several times following the cumulative delays in the pressing factories due to the closures imposed during the health crisis and to think about them during each step of the creating process of “D’une Pierre Deux Tombes”

Q: After all these years working together there must be a true chemistry between you all. What makes this chemistry and what’s the input of each member? And how does it happen when there’re decision to make?

Franck L: Since this last album (“D’une Pierre Deux Tombes”) we have returned to our original trio formation (Catherine, Patrick and me) as we were at the time of our very first album “Cathédrale”. It is not wrong to speak about alchemy as it always seems so easy to compose and create together as soon as the three of us meet in the rehearsal room. No more ego problems for a very long time now, everyone brings their stone to the songs and the Opera Multi Steel-‘style’ is so integrated in each of us that everything has become over the years of great fluidity and great naturalness to the point that we no longer even have to censor each other to obtain a compromise. It practically happens by itself.

The involvement of each member is now well defined. I develop a large number of rhythmic patterns that we select together to know which ones will serve as bases for our future songs. Patrick on his side always has a large number of texts at his disposal (he writes all the time). From these two elements, lyrics and rhythms prepared in advance, we work out the pieces together, each finding their own instrumental or vocal lines generally played or sung by the one who created them. It is very rare that a four-hour session does not lead to the already very accomplished structure of a song. Chemistry, that’s the good word!

Q: I noticed your label Wave Records has released a box featuring the works you released as O Quam Tristis which was a side-project between Opera Multi Steel and Collection D’arnell-Andrea. I always saw a connection between both bands for the sound, influences and dark poetry. How do you look back at this experience and why did this project stop? What’s the next plan for Opera Multi Steel?

Franck L: Yes, Wave Records recently released a beautiful box set (“The Complete Works”) containing the whole 4 albums originally produced by “O Quam Tristis” on Palace Of Worms. This integral is accompanied by a bonus-CD containing rare titles, covers and various remixes produced by the band between 2000 and 2008. O Quam Tristis is not strictly speaking a side-project between Collection D’arnell-Andrea and Opera Multi Steel. Carine Grieg (Collection D’arnell-Andrea) had already participated as a vocalist in Opera Multi Steel albums like “Eternelle Tourmente” and “Une Idylle En péril” and I myself have been a Collection D’arnell-Andrea bass player for many years already. When we decided to set up this Electro-Medieval project largely based on female voices, it was only natural that we called her.

There is indeed a link between Opera Multi Steel and Collection D’arnell-Andrea that now goes back a very long way. This link undoubtedly goes beyond our poetic and musical styles which are all relatively distant: Dark-Wave / Cold-Wave for Collection D’arnell-Andrea and Dark-Pop / Minimal-Wave for Opera Multi Steel. Beyond the differences in style, we should probably look more in the care that we both bring to the particular aesthetics of our respective projects. It is probably also an old friendship story born around common artistic inclinations.

Catherine M: We carried out the O Quam Tristis project during a break of several years in the activity of Opera Multi Steel. It was an opportunity to explore more deeply our love for Medieval music and the Latin language on Electro rhythms. Towards the end of the 2000s a renewed interest in French New/Cold-Wave emerged. Several labels have offered to reissue the first works of Opera Multi Steel and the Brazilian label Wave Records has put us back in the saddle following the publication of the double compilation “Parachèvement De l’Esquisse”. So we focused on our original project again and we haven’t stopped creating with Opera Multi Steel since then. The O Quam Tristis parenthesis was therefore definitively closed with the album “Les Chants Funestes”. However, it’s not forbidden to think that this side-project may have belatedly influenced the way we now arrange the titles of recent Opera Multi Steel-albums, in particular the latest and most certainly the next ones.

Concerning Opera Multi Steel plans, we now have more than 20 new tracks ready to be mixed. Time will tell what they will become.

Click Interview with FleischKrieg: ‘I Don’t Think There’s A More Powerful Form Of Music In The World Than Industrial-Metal’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

FleischKrieg is an American formation inspired by the ‘Deutsche Neue Härte’ calling their music ‘Brutal-Wave’. After a few singles they self-released the debut album “Herzblut”. This album is a mature and accomplished production. It sounds like an imaginary hybrid between Rammstein, KMFDM, Armageddon Dildos and Birmingham 6. A powerful sound with a perfect balance between guitar and electronics. “Herzblut” is a sonic bomb and you better can keep the band’s name in mind as they might become the ‘next big thing’! I asked a few questions to core members Richard Cranor and Thomas Crawford.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Let’s start by asking you how FleischKrieg saw the daylight? How did you get in touch and what kind of music did you want to compose?

Richard: I was a big fan of Synth-Pop and Industrial-Metal growing up. I’ve always related to the mystical and aggressive aspects of both genres. I wrote songs when I was in my 20s, but took a long hiatus from music. I honestly never had the self-confidence when I was young to really push as hard as you need to make a band work. So I did what grown-ups were supposed to do -stopped dreaming. That was of course until I started having dreams of Trent Reznor asking me to open for him -I had to tell him I didn’t have any songs. I guess that was a little nudge from my subconscious saying it was time to get to work and start writing again. I remember having a $200 light bill to pay. At the same time, there was a sale at Guitar Center for a 7 string guitar -same price. I made a fateful decision that day, and time has proven it to be the right one.

I met Thomas (FleischKrieg’s guitarist) while I was driving for Uber. I noticed he was wearing a RAMMSTEIN-shirt when I picked him up and we soon were collaborating on each other’s personal projects, one of which became FleischKrieg.

Thomas: When we started putting together songs and wanting to play live, it was just the two of us. We set up all the backing tracks and drums, and could play live with just the two of us. But it didn’t feel full. We were introduced to Nick Mason (FleischKrieg’s drummer) by our friend D-Punk from DK-Zero and clicked right away. Shortly after, we collaborated with Nuda for our song “Reach”. She’s such a phenomenal EBM artist in her own right and worked so well together, we asked her to join as our live keyboard/sample player.

Q: The name of the band, but still elements of the music and the image are clearly evoking Rammstein and other ‘Neue Deutsche Härte’-bands. What do you like in this music genre and in which way do you feel connected with this -or any other band and what does the FleischKrieg sound stand for?

Richard: I don’t think there’s a more powerful form of music in the world than Industrial-Metal. You get all the power of Rock/Metal but also the seductive and mystical elements of Synth-Pop. I remember doing an inventory of all my favorite bands, and realized that the Germans had it all figured out just PERFECT for me.

Thomas: For most of my musical career, I’ve always been drawn to heavy music with industrial elements. Be it Mushroomhead, Rammstein, Chimaira, or even more recently Lord Of The Lost. I also love the opportunity to write music where guitar is the accessory rather than the focal point. No flashiness, just pure energy.

Richard: As for our name and meaning, I felt the band needed a German name. ‘FleischKrieg’ literally means ‘Flesh War’. So as to what our name/sound stands for -I would say ultimately it’s about reclaiming your power and personal sovereignty from forces trying to steal it daily. In my opinion, we are fighting a ‘Flesh War’ every day. Most of the songs reflect personal experiences dealing with the particular journey I’ve had with the subject. Just about everybody has some personal war to fight on some level. I’d like to think FleischKrieg can provide the soundtrack.

Q: You last year self-released the debut album “Herzblut”. Tell us a bit more about the writing and production process of this work? What was the input of each member? And is there any particular reason you self-released the album instead of getting signed to a label?

Richard: It all started with “Bloody Prophets”. I’d been having alien abduction nightmares and was too terrified to go back to bed. So I stayed up all night and wrote the rough demo of the song. Thomas filled in the guitars and recommended other arrangements, and we went and filmed our first music video. I think it was then I knew we could do something really great together.

Being the band’s founder, I drive the creative vision and do the main songwriting/arrangements with Thomas providing guitars and feedback on the compositions. I then work with Nuda and Nick on how the rest of the arrangements/drums should sound -and how the live show should work. At the end of the day, everyone brings their personal touch to the FleischKrieg sound. I am grateful to have met such talented and brilliant people.

Self-releasing is easier than waiting around for the cavalry to show up. We’ll see what the future brings. I certainly don’t think it’s worth waiting around for a label’s help -at least in the beginning.

Thomas: Also, it’s so much easier for musicians to be independent now. While it was expensive to do it on our own, we were fortunate enough to receive some funding through a crowdfunding campaign. We also wanted to make sure that we were doing everything right. We worked with D-Punk as a producer who not only gave us insight into the mixing/mastering process, but also how to release it right. Because of this, we definitely have been successful for being a brand new band formed in the middle of a pandemic.

Q: You already made a few clips and especially the one of “Relax” caught my attention. It looks like a great ode to Frankie Goes To Hollywood. What does the original song mean to you and what did you try to express by the cover version and the clip?

Richard: What’s weird is Frankie spoke to me and Thomas from the psychic dimension lol. We’d both been contemplating doing an 80s cover… and on the same night, we called each other up and BOTH recommended the song to each other. It was kinda weird. It just popped into both our heads as THE song todo.

For me the song means freedom to be yourself without judgement. I tend to censor myself to please others often. I always loved how unabashed the song comes off. It’s literally about spraying semen everywhere. You can’t get more liberated than that, right?

Q: How do you see FleischKrieg as a live band? What have been your experiences so far and what are the further plans? Do you’ve contacts in Europe and other foreign countries?

Richard: The live band has worked out exceedingly well, more so than I ever expected. Each member has great stage charisma and we truly love performing. It was a major affirmation to me when we played the Wasteland Weekend festival last year -people really loved our set. You could tell we had an impact, that our energy on stage and the quality of the music delivered the goods. We hope to do a lot more touring, in Europe would be fantastic.

Thomas: The interesting thing for me is how the crowd reacts to us for the first time. Almost every single show, there’s a handful of people in general audience area with mild curiosity. Then by the end of the first song, everyone in the venue comes right up to the stage. By the beginning of the second song, there are people dancing. I say again, ‘Dancing!’ That is truly a first for me as I’ve been in several bands and never had people dancing.

As for touring in Europe, we have been making contacts in Germany and the UK trying to set something up in spite of Covid. However, we’ve recently started working with a booking agent. They’re confident that we’ll be able to get over to Europe once things start to die down. We’re hoping for late summer of this year.

Q: I noticed a cool quote affirming ‘If Hell hosted a dance party -FleischKrieg would be the headliner’! What would be the other bands on the list that night? And how do you imagine ‘hell’? More seriously now, what brings the future for FleischKrieg?

Richard For me hell is more of a metaphor where individual spirits go to be themselves, to free themselves from the soul-crushing burden of being ‘well behaved’. I would definitely want all the Neue Deutsche Härte bands we could book, plus any 80s Synth-Pop band willing to show up. I have no desire to go to any actual hells lol.

I remember at one show a 20-something kid told me his favorite thing about our performance was that ‘it was real’. I’m not exactly sure what he meant, but I believe he felt we were there to really play versus just to get lots of new likes and subscribers on social media. I think that strikes as disingenuous to fans -just trying to look the part versus connecting an audience to a much bigger reality only music from the heart can reach. He could tell our songs meant something to us, and I think that made them mean something to him. I honestly think the kids are getting burnt out on the Instaworld we live in. There’s no filter for genuine connection.

I’d like to think FleischKrieg’s rebellion hidden behind heavy dance music can act as a form of subterfuge to the system, even if we someday get on a major label and have a similar success to what NIN had in the mid-90s. Just dreaming for now, but so far… our dreams do tend to become reality.

Thomas: As for the future, the sky’s the limit. We’re continuing to find ways to play more live shows in more and bigger places. We’re dying to play some festivals in the near future. Additionally, we’re working on at least one more music video in support of “Herzblut”. And we’re currently writing our second album and if all goes well will be out in early 2023.

Branntshatz’ new 5-track EP ‘Private Enemy’ follows in January 2022

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 16:39:52 +0000

Branntshatz is a dark alternative electronic music project from Berlin, Germany. They now have announced a new 5-track EP, “Private Enemy”, which will be released on January 07, 2022.

“Private Enemy” is the second EP from the industrial act Branntshatz and features the singles “Opera Fire” and “Philanthropy” which are also released with music videos co-produced and co-starred by drag artist Toylette Paypr.

The EP features guest-vocals by Gullible Deity and cover artwork which Facebook may or may not censor. Let’s see what happens with this article once it gets shared on Facebook.

To give you and idea what the band sounds like, check below.

Grausame Töchter – Zyklus (Album – Scanner / Dark Dimensions)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Electro-Punk, Industrial-Pop, Cabaret.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Grausame Töchter, which means ‘Cruel Daughter’ is back unleashing the sixth album in the band’s history. Driven by the enigmatic and eccentric Aranea Peel, this work has been introduced as ‘a dark, dystopic, sexual, sarcastic and grotty look at humanity.’ A pessimistic vision the band prefer to label as ‘joyful pessimism!’

Content: You don’t necessarily have to speak German to understand the provocative themes of this formation. “Zyklus” is as provocative as it is artistic. The music remains a truly free-style of Electro mixed with Industrial-Pop and a Punkish way of singing reminiscent of Nina Hagen. The songs reflect a mature writing process while the sound became an osmosis between all different sources of inspiration. You now get the feeling of discovering the female alter ego of Dive while you next get a pure reincarnation of Punk music into Electro. Sometimes sensual, but often moving on the edge of censor, “Zyklus” reveals a non-stop amount of sonic surprises.

The bonus disc reveals a kind of ‘cabaret burlesque’ style; a more theatrical approach and personal interpretation of German ‘chanson’. It reveals a minimal style, accomplished with classical instruments and creating the illusion to watch a kinky, forbidden performance in a secret underground bar.

+ + + : Grausame Töchter remains a very unique experience because of the image, but also because of the sound. They elevate the art of provocation to a high artistic degree. It’s never a ‘cheap’ thing, but clearly a creative process where image and sound become fully complementary to catch the attention of the heaviest skeptics. I was a skeptical mind right at the beginning of this band’s career, but became progressively convinced by the talent of Grausame Töchter. I hate when artists just focus on a strong image, but I like artists who behind the image still have the skills to compose great music. “Zyklus” is a genius work –one more, somewhat versatile, but always easily recognizable because of Aranea Peel’s unique timbre of voice and theatrical way of singing. And behind the voice also hides an accomplished song writing, which mainly comes thorugh at the Industrial sounding “Sarkastische Katzen”, which is a kind of Dive-song on sex! And I also recommend “Laber Laber” for its Industrial-Punk approach carried by a solid lead.

The bonus disc also reveals a great free-styled Cabaret-music style, which I can imagine together with the band’s image would become a true live sensation!

– – – : The Cabaret-style of the bonus disc will probably not ravish all music lovers and rather sounds as a production for the German market.

Conclusion: If provocation wouldn’t exist, Grausame Töchter would invent it! This music would be the right soundtrack for a forbidden version of the successful series “Babylon Berlin”!

Best songs: “Laber Laber”, “Sarkastische Katzen”, “Wilde Wölfe”, “Fickstück” + “Ich Lass Mir Meinen Körper Schwarz Bepinseln”, “Das Lied Von Den Braunen Inseln”.

Rate: (8 ½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/GrausameToechter

Label: www.darkdimensions.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206

‘Click Interview’ with Chris Shape: ‘Living In Lockdown Is Essentially My Way Of Life’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Cristian Camporesi is an Italian musician/producer/live performer/sound designer who has been involved with an endless list of projects. His latest solo-project CHRIS SHAPE is driven by old-school EBM, Minimal-Electro and Techno vibes. He last year released the debut album “Shaped To Deform” on Unknown Pleasures Records, which sounds a true masterpiece. Thirteen songs driven by power and danceable vibes featuring guest singers HIV+, ALBERTO FRIGNANI, IV HORSEMEN, DAVE INOX, BLACK ASTEROID, RAFFAELLE VENTURELLI, VELVET KILLS and BLIND DELON. It for sure is one of the best EBM productions from 2020.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You’ve been involved with an impressive number of projects/bands dealing with very different music styles. What do you consider as your main accomplishments and how did you finally come to set up CHRIS SHAPE?

Chris: This is simple: I’m an old man with a long career: this is why I was involved in lots of projects. My roots are in the 80’s New-Wave, Electronic and Punk music. I started my career in some local New-Wave bands in late 80’s, but in the early 90’s I was hit by Techno music and started to work with the historic Cocorico Club resident DJ in lots of projects from Techno to Psy-Trance to Hardcore to Eurodance. I was involved in lots of projects ‘cause my goal was to raise money, lots of money’.

In the early 2000’s I was very disappointed by the Techno scene and my accomplishment. When I met DJ Franz I realized that my New-Wave origins could mix with Techno giving life to a project without any pretension. A new project made for the pleasure of writing music and not to earn money: FRANZ & SHAPE became one of my greatest success. We started a tour that lasted 10 years and that took us to play all over the world. After the split in 2011 it took me years to start again; I had to understand who I was and what I wanted to convey with my music. In 2017 I decided to start again on my own, continuing what I had done with FRANZ & SHAPE, but also emphasizing leaving messages to try to sensitize people on introspective ‘difficult’ issues and denounce a capitalism that has made us unaware slaves. The first message was ‘Eat the bankers’!

Q: What does this project brings you in comparison with all others you’ve been involved with? Did you’d a specific idea and sound in mind how CHRIS SHAPE had to sound?

Chris: Now I’m naked! I’m myself, without shame, no masks. I understood that art ends where the money goes and I do simply what I feel. Nothing is left to chance, from music production and the use of sounds from vintage analog gear to the production of contents, images, videos everything must follow a logical thread. It took me a long time to find my way, but now I see it well!

Q: You last year released the debut album “Shaped to Deform”, which is featuring an impressive number of guests/friends. Tell us a bit more about how this work took shape and how did the collaborations with the other artists happened? What have been their input?

Chris: During the years in which I was looking for my own way I produced a lot of music, but I left all these songs unreleased because I had to find a wire that could connect all or at least a lot of them. Once I ‘had enlightenment’ it was easy to adapt everything to fit into an album. I have always enjoyed working with singers despite having produced Techno music without vocals for years. I had lots of demos written on purpose to be sung so I started sending them to several friends put together with a long work on social media and it was easy to target the right demo to the right singer. Usually my collaborators send me a vocal part which I then readapted on the song. Except for the song “Mind” where BLIND DELON besides singing have also brought a notable sound contribution.

I have to thank very much Pedro Penas Robles who believed in me and gave me the opportunity to print my album on Unknown Pleasures Records helping me in all aspects of production and endure all my mistakes!

Q: Like you’ve said, the songs are clearly driven by 80s elements like EBM, but still by some Minimal-Electro approach and Techno influences. What does it say about your personal sources of inspiration, the love for analogue equipment and the connection with the 80s vs. the cover version of DEATH IN JUNE’s “Heaven Street”?

Chris: DEATH IN JUNE together with THE SISTERS OF MERCY, THE CURE, BAUHAUS, CHRISTIAN DEATH, DEPECHE MODE and many more… were one of my favorite bands during my New-Wave period. Then during the Techno years I put all these records of mine in a closet. Only recently I discovered that all these records have continued to play in my head and have always influenced my productions. There is no escape from the rule: black is forever! I often found in my productions parts of ideas that I unconsciously ‘stole’ from DEATH IN JUNE or those 80s New-Wave records. When Pedro from Unknown Pleasures Records asked to do a cover for a DEATH IN JUNE-tribute I was very happy because I was finally able to pay homage to one of the groups that influenced me the most. In 2 days I had the instrumental version ready, everything magically built itself.

About my love for vintage analog gear there isn’t much to say: I’ve worked years with digital synths, but when I went back turning on my old synths I discovered the warmth they give off that I wasn’t ready to perceive before. What I love is what drove so many musicians to digital: imperfection. For about 10 years I have forced myself not to use the computer anymore and I have begun to travel to the studios of friends who have mythical synths that I can’t afford or incredible self-built modular systems. I have recorded hours of sessions, a lot of my past and future music comes from these sessions.

Q: Can you give us an idea about your way of working? Do you follow a precise pattern and do you need to be in a specific mood to compose music? And when do you know a song/album is finished?

Chris: The first rule is: there are no rules. The second is: there are never rules. The third rule is: error is human, perfection is for robots. ‘Mr. Mistake’ and I have finally become good friends and have a great time in our studio.

HAHAH Inspiration is not something linear, it is a large sine wave with a variable wavelength. I write music only when it reaches its highest peaks, I have also spent dark years in which I did not see it return, then I realized that if you call it sooner or later it arrives. I have developed a quite effective recall system and now I can get it to arrive with a few days’ notice: I am a sponge and absorb everything I like until the moment when I am full and everything is downloaded in one or more songs.

Knowing when a song is over is like looking at a painting, seeing that every brushstroke and every nuance are put at the right place and the whole vibrates something inside you. It is something absolutely individual, but when someone who has listened to one of my songs writes to me telling me that he has felt the vibration, I have reached my goal and that pays for every effort of mine, much more than money.

Q: In which way have you been affected as artist and simple citizen by the ongoing pandemic? How did you try to keep yourself busy during the lockdown and what are your further artistic plans?

Chris: I have been living with my daughter and my wife in the countryside for almost 20 years, surrounded by nature between river and hills, I have no neighbors, I have no television, I have not been ill for decades, I cut wood in the woods for heating, I cultivate my vegetable garden. The only information that reaches me is what I decide to come from books or the internet. Living in lockdown is essentially my way of life. Only on weekends I go out to work in clubs. Thanks to all of this I can see this pandemic situation for what it is: a huge propaganda work to promote the globalist agenda. The virus exists, but it is only an excuse, it is not strong enough to justify what they are imposing on us. Democracy is dead; we are in full dictatorship, big pharma is more powerful than any state and can afford to corrupt everyone. I am very sad to see so many people plagiarized by propaganda, but also very pissed off: they have destroyed the art world and left millions of people unemployed. I had to look for a new job out of the club world and now I have a lot less time to devote to my music than before. We will never go back; we are in a new Middle Ages: social networks have replaced our constitutions and allow themselves to censor what they do not like. In any case, history teaches: truth always finds a way to come out and whoever seeks it will find it. I can’t live without music so I’m always working for new stuff, new album, new collaborations, new remix 😉

Side-Line revamps popular weekly newsletter AND redesigns daily newsletter as well

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 08:43:11 +0000

Back in the good old days, Side-Line online had a weekly newsletter that was sent to over 40.000 people. And when we say back in the good old days, we mean 1999. That’s 22 years ago. Time flies… When in 2004 our provider back then stopped, we were unable to continue the service as we found no new provider able to send that newsletter on a weekly basis at a reasonable price.

22 years later Audioglobe’s Sebastian Koch suddenly mentioned that good old newsletter during a quick chat back and forth. He missed that newsletter where he could find some relevant info on the scene. His comment triggered us to look for a good partner in order to relaunch that very service and at the same time also look for a better solution for our daily newsletter which currently services a rather large readership of thousands of people worldwide. We say a ‘better solution’ because let’s be honest, what Feedburner offers currently is extremely poor when it comes to usability, options, etc.. And that for a Google owned company, you would think they’d do a better job, but no.

On a side-note, we ditched Google’s Adsense a few years ago as well, because they started intervening in the content of our site. Although they claim never to intervene in what publishers publish, we were regularly asked to take down articles of Apoptygma Berserk, Front 242, VNV Nation, Rammstein, Acylum, … because they didn’t like the content or images. Censorship at its best, and when we were asked to censor an article on Kant Kino, we called it quits and removed Adsense from our pages, enough was enough.

Now, back to the newsletters solution.

New design and the relaunch of the weekly newsletter as well

With our new partner we are now able to offer you a very slick design, a Facebook follower even called it ‘chic’. We offer you a preview of the new newsletter below (here split up in 3 segments so you see how the whole newsletter looks like).

As you can see the new look is very much in line with our website: simple, clear, clean… and no ads.

The biggest change will however be the relaunch of our weekly newsletter. You can subscribe to either the daily or the weekly newsletter OR you can sign up for both if you want to.

You can sign up below.

You will also have noticed if you visited our website in the past few days that there is a ‘slide in’ sign up form which appears after you have passed 50% of a page, also this one. It features the German EBM band Rector Scanner who was so kind to allow us to use this specific promo picture.

Over time other bands will be invited to offer a picture as well. So look out for some nice cameos.

Good to know, for those who don’t want to subscribe, it won’t be popping up all the time, only every 2 weeks if you didn’t sign up. We might adjust this depending on the feedback we get.

What happens with my old subscription?

Good question. First of all, the older weekly newsletter subscribers will get an email to resubscribe. All 40.000+ emails from our very first weekly newsletter have been checked for their validity and so far a bit more than 24.000 are still valid. If you were part of that newsletter, and your email is still valid, you will receive an email to sign up again in the next week.

As for the daily newsletter, we are currently also testing if the Feedburner emails are still active, something Feedburner never managed properly. Actually, Google never bothered to check it and kept all emails active, even the ones that bounced. This is actually a pure disgrace, but since we are leaving the Google platform for good, let’s look to the bright future ahead instead.

If the test this Monday evening, that’s today, goes well, the daily newsletter subscribers from Feedburner will be transferred automatically to the new service. But if we encounter too many bounces in the testmail that goes out, we will send out an email to the current subscribers here as well to sign up for the new daily newsletter so that we don’t run the risk to get flagged for spam due to too many bounces.

Note that all new signups will again be double opt-in, this to avoid spam and to avoid bounces.

The future is bright, the future is away from Facebook

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

As said before, we have no reason to believe that Facebook will be getting friendlier for indie (music) publishers. So we continue to work on own channels to get the news out just like we have been doing over the past 22 years.

A few weeks ago we already officially launched the web push notification service which has been rapidly adopted by our readers, and now we launch our newest newsletters in a rebooted version and will continue to develop other platforms such as our Telegram channel to make sure that readers get the news they want.

Our priority will be given to work on the platforms where we really are sure that people get correctly informed without having a sh*t load of ads to wade through so to speak.

Franco-Israeli electro pop project Starbabe launches 2 singles – watch the videos now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 15:28:09 +0000

Starbabe is an electronic pop duo (Elodie and Jean Claude) hailing from Paris and Tel Aviv. They have chosen to refrain from using a computer when recording their music and create their music on vintage analogue gear, using industrial elements, electronica and pop.

The band’s debut single, “Scandal”, explores their hectic urban life, it’s temptations, dangers, sensationalism, all the way down and up to oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olxXIP0pCgo&feature=youtu.be

Do also check out the band’s single “Attack” which is about the growing culture of silencing. “From the biggest politician to the common person, it seems like everyone is a censor, a critic, a victim, a judge, a journalist or an opinion leader”, says the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEF-zUGQ4PI

Goodbye GA – and that decision is final

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 14:21:49 +0000

Oziel Gómez

As many have noticed Side-Line is no longer offering adverts from Google Adsense. Although we have been working with Google Adsense since the early days, the ethical stretch we had to do in order to continue doing this was getting a bit too extreme.

The reasons for taking this measure are explained in detail below.

Censorship, poor ads, malware, …

On various occasions in the past Google forced us to remove content. The reason: it was considered to be too explicit, too offensive, etc.. 100% of the cases involved artwork of CDs we reviewed. That is, until now when we refused to remove the following articles from the website which Google wanted us to censor (this article, this article, this article, this article, this article, …). A huge list actually.

Truth to be told, we also were getting pretty fed up with the very poor user experience offered by the Google Adsense ads. Despite continuous complaints and technical interventions from our side, the network kept on advertising services on Side-Line which are illegal: Mac and PC malware, prostitution, fake brides, counterfeit goods, … The list is huge and actually pretty alarming, you have to wonder if Google is actually checking what kind of garbage is appearing on their network.

So, bye bye to the clutter Google Adsense has become. Good riddance.

How will Side-Line continue to survive?

The team behind Side-Line has been investing a lot of its own finances in the website since day 1, back in 1997 that is. And if you look back, that’s indeed a lot of money to keep Side-Line.com up for the past 22 years (hosting, dev, a botched iOS app, mastering, …). But we were never in it for the $$$ anyhow as we have a good daytime job. All advertising was sent towards charities worldwide since we started with Side-Line online. And that’s a good thing which will not change.

Over the years we indeed focused on supporting various charities (including donations to artists in medical need – you all know who you are) and we also collaborate with various labels who have been so generous to help finance those charity endeavours since day 1 via our sponsorship program. Thousands of readers are also helping out via the donations we receive via our popular “Face The Beat” download compilation series and via the donations made right here (which also help us covering some of our other costs to keep the site up and running).

So, if you want to help out, then support our Bandcamp page releases, you get a lot of good music in return too!