(Photo by Maf Lewis) On Friday, January 19, Austin (TX) based band SINE (the project by Rona Rougeheart) will release a new album entitled “Luxuria”. “Luxuria” was produced by Danish industrial artist and producer Claus Larsen from Leaether Strip. The album will be available on digital, CD, and vinyl formats, and pre-orders are already open on Bandcamp through eMERGENCY heARTS and Re:Mission Entertainment.

Here’s what Claus says about working on the album: “Working on these great songs was hyper-inspiring for me. It was such a pleasure to be let into her dark universe with its slow, captivating grooves. Rona (Rougeheart) has huge talent, and working with a fellow artist with such passion is an honor for me.”

Rona Rougeheart adds: “When I sent Claus my demos for the album, I didn’t have any particular direction in mind for him. I didn’t want to influence him. I wanted him to be inspired in the moment. The final production of the songs he sent back was everything I hoped for in our collaboration and more!”

Along with Larsen, hip hop producer AwareNess from Denver (CO) also contributed to the album with a song entitled ‘Dark Matters’. It was the last song added to the album, resulting from a collaboration between AwareNess and SINE.

Rona explains how the collaboration came about: “I had been discussing a potential collaboration with the artists Time and AwareNess (who have a project called calm.) for a while. It wasn’t until one day when AwareNess randomly sent me a music sample and asked for my thoughts. I liked it but suggested, “You can go darker…like, way darker”. He quickly returned with a sample of the darkest, sexiest soundtrack, which was incredible! It’s one of my favorites, and I can’t wait to do more with him!”

The album also saw additional production, mixing, and mastering by another Denver-based artist and producer, Chase Dobson. Dobson’s resume includes production work for Curse Mackey’s two solo albums, various solo endeavors, and live production with artists such as Kanye West, Rihanna, M83, Tycho, Rüfüs Du Sol, and Röyksopp.

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. 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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Genre/Influences: Cinematographic, Electro-Ambient, EBM.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Behind this project is hiding Chase Dobson who you may know from his C.DB.SN-project. That was back in time when this artist was dealing with Experimental- and IDM releasing an album on Tympanik Audio. Cellar Graves is another sonic trip. The album “Omen” was already released back in 2018.

Content: “Omen” clearly sounds like an Electro-Ambient exploration, most of the tracks having this astral-like dimension. But the work isn’t entirely into ambient and still deals with early EBM influences, which sometimes remind me of Frontline Assembly. Other songs are featuring Industrial sound treatments, which are still mixed with space-like influences.

The album features 5 songs plus 2 remixes by Blackcell and Statiqbloom.

+ + + : There’s an interesting duality running throughout this work; it has something bombastic at one side and refined with subtle arrangements at the other side. The mix between overwhelming space-driven atmospheres and EBM influences comes mainly through on “Tormented”. This is for sure the best song, which also inspired Statiqbloom to make a cool remix.

– – – : I regret some songs aren’t featuring real vocal lines, Cellar Graves preferring to use the good-old spoken samplings formula.

Conclusion: “Omen” is a promising debut album by Cellar Graves and I’m sure there even is more potential hidden inside. 

Best songs: “Tormented”, “The Dig”, “Tormented – Statiqbloom Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/cellargraves

About Cellar Graves

Cellar Graves is the electro-industrial project of American musician Chase Dobson, a departure from his earlier IDM and experimental work as C.DB.SN on Tympanik Audio and from his post-metal project Apocryphal Throne. The project is rooted in early-1990s electro-industrial and EBM.

Cellar Graves self-released the debut EP “Omen” in 2018, followed the same year by the single “The Bog (Bigod20 Cover)”. The cover single “Testure (Skinny Puppy Cover)” followed in 2019.

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.

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Out on February 14th is the a tribute to The Legendary Pink Dots & The Tear Garden. “Love Notes to a Velvet Apocalypse” will feature over 18 renditions of some of their most well known and rare tracks. Note that the release will be offered 100% free of charge via Bandcamp.

The release is a collaboration between Coitus Interruptus Productions and Auricle Media and features a wide range of various artists and genres from around the world, such as post-punk, industrial, ambient and experimental. Contributing artists include: Chase Dobson and Curse Mackey, European Ghost, Dreamscape Invocation, Kill Shelter, Zeitmahl, The Present Moment, Broken Fabiola, The Rorschach Garden, Factice Factory, The Midnight Marionettes, The Strange Walls, Bioassay, Tearful Moon, DACID, Fluxion AD, Dead Receptors, Night Terrors, Sol Sirenn and Manufactura.

Coitus Interruptus Productions has released 3 tribute compilations in the past dedicated to Fad Gadget, Cabaret Voltaire and Klinik/Dive/ABC.

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. 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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(Photo credit Radiant Inc) Curse Mackey (Evil Mothers, Pigface, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult), along with Rona Rougeheart of SINE, at the request of David J filled in for Peter Murphy who was unable to perform due to illness. A statement from Peter Murphy was issued on his website. Mackey was in attendance initially to appear as a guest vocalist for SINE when he was approached by David J side stage during the SINE set.

Rougeheart (who as SINE was the sole opener for Peter Murphy’s rescheduled, final date of a monumental 5-month, ninety-four date world tour) and Mackey joined David J along with Peter Murphy guitarist Mark Thwaite and drummer Marc Slutsky in what David J described to a near capacity audience as an “Improvised, mash-up, deconstructed Bauhaus in dub” set.

A video of Mackey singing the Bauhaus hit song “In The Flat Field” with the ensemble can be seen below.

Mackey will be releasing his debut solo album “Instant Exorcism” May 10th on Negative Gain. On “Instant Exorcism” Mackey fuses post-punk atmospherics with dark electronics and industrial dance beats.

Mackey: “This record for me is like a personal exorcism. The songs had to get out of my system. Working from a solo project perspective presented an opportunity for me to write with a clean slate, to broaden the brush strokes and create something that represents where I am at today. Influenced by the past and all the experiences of my life to this point but not constrained or obligated to it.”

Instant Exorcism was produced by Curse Mackey and Chase Dobson (Tycho, Black Tape for a Blue Girl) with additional recording sessions with Charles Godfrey who engineered the last two Yeah Yeah Yeahs records and has worked with …Trail of Dead and Explosions in the Sky. The album was mastered by Stephen Seibold who has worked extensively with Mackey as members of Pigface.

Check out the first 2 singles below.

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. 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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Genre/Influences: Dark rhythmic-ambient, electro-cinematographic.

Background/Info: Cellar Graves is Chase Dobson, an American artist you maybe remember from C.DB.SN, which released an album on the now gone Tympanik Audio. “Omen” is Cellar Graves debut album revealing 5 songs and 2 remixes.
Content: “Omen” is a fascinating work, which of course reminds me of the legendary movie. It’s not a coincidence there’s something pretty cinematic running through the songs, but the music also moves back to some 90s instrumental electro-industrial compositions. I especially refer to Benestrophe for the dark moods, subtle treatments and fine bleeps.

Remixes have been accomplished by Blackcell and Statiqbloom.

+ + + : Cellar Graves is bringing opposite elements together; there’s something bombastic in the production, which has been mixed with refined arrangements. Bombast and delicacy are joining hands while carried by solid bass lines. “Tormented” and “Omen” both are very efficient exposures of this work while I also have to mention the remix of “Witching Hour” by Blackcell.

– – – : You’ll notice a very few spoken vocals running through the work (Blackcell remix), but I think it would have been interesting to add a few more spoken vocals and/or chants/choir passages.

Conclusion: Cellar Graves is a project to keep in mind. There’s an interesting fusion between different influences running through the work while the vintage touch reminding the 90s is quite exciting.

Best songs: “Omen”, “Tormented”, “Witching Hour”, “Witching Hour – Blackcell Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/cellargraves

About Cellar Graves

Cellar Graves is the electro-industrial project of American musician Chase Dobson, a departure from his earlier IDM and experimental work as C.DB.SN on Tympanik Audio. The project is rooted in early-1990s electro-industrial and EBM.

Cellar Graves self-released the debut EP “Omen,” reviewed here, in 2018, followed the same year by the single “The Bog (Bigod20 Cover).” The cover single “Testure (Skinny Puppy Cover)” followed in 2019.

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

For its 15th anniversary, the Belgian record label Alfa Matrix also celebrated the 35 years of existence of Front 242 and this with the Front 242 tribute album “Recovery >for you<” uniting 32 fellow label bands who have each covered one song from Front 242’s music repertoire.

The release is available on the Alfa Matrix webstore as a 2CD plus also on their Bandcamp page as a download.

You can preview the tracks right below:

The bands who collaborated to “Recovery >for you<” include Metroland, Komor Kommando, Ad:Key, Plastic Noise Experience, Imjudas, Sin.Sin, Cosmic Armchair, Neikka Rpm, Alien Vampires, Ayria, Implant, Avarice In Audio, Acylum, Schwarzblut, Star Industry, Regenerator, Elektroklänge, Elm, Kant Kino, Technoir, Diffuzion, Aesthetische, Circuito Cerrado Vs. C-Lekktor, Növö, Totem Obscura, Venal Flesh Feat. Chase Dobson, Llumen, The Psychic Force, Helalyn Flowers, Essence Of Mind, Armageddon Dildos and Xmh.

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. 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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With “Recovery >for you<”, the Alfa Matrix label is closing this double-celebration year 2016 in beauty. For its 15th anniversary, the Belgian record label also celebrated in many ways the 35 years of existence of Front 242. Therefor the Alfa Matrix label family decided to pay homage to the band.

32 fellow label bands have each covered one song from Front 242’s music repertoire, picking songs from the full discography of the band, from “Geography” to “Pulse”. The release is already up for pre-order on the Alfa Matrix webstore plus also on their Bandcamp page.

“Recovery >for you<” resulted in a collection of 32 songs reflecting the Alfa Matrix band roster’s high diversity by bands such as Metroland, Komor Kommando, Ad:Key, Plastic Noise Experience, Imjudas, Sin.Sin, Cosmic Armchair, Neikka Rpm, Alien Vampires, Ayria, Implant, Avarice In Audio, Acylum, Schwarzblut, Star Industry, Regenerator, Elektroklänge, Elm, Kant Kino, Technoir, Diffuzion, Aesthetische, Circuito Cerrado Vs. C-Lekktor, Növö, Totem Obscura, Venal Flesh Feat. Chase Dobson, Llumen, The Psychic Force, Helalyn Flowers, Essence Of Mind, Armageddon Dildos and Xmh.

Classic Front 242 tunes covered include amongst others “Headhunter”, “Happiness”, “Lovely Day”, “U-men”, “Commando Mix”, “Masterhit”, “No Shuffle”, “Tragedy for You”, “Take One”, “Funkhadafi”, “Moldavia”, “Operating Tracks”, “Don’t Crash”, “Body To Body”, “Welcome To Paradise”, and many more. The full tracklist can be viewed here.

Below is a first exclusive preview which Front 242 have posted on their Instagram account earlier this evening.

#Front242 #tribute “Recovery>for you<” now available via www.alfa-matrix-store.com 32 tracks, this is an exclusive preview! @alfamatrix #alfamatrix

A video posted by Front 242 – Official (@front242official) on Nov 2, 2016 at 11:49am PDT

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. 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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The Spanish dark electropop act Mondträume return with a brand new EP, “Free”, on November 4. Today Side-Line offers you a preview of the complete 5-track EP (which you can download right here on Bandcamp)! The material is the first new work from the band now that they are working on a new album, “Lovers, Liars & Sinners”.

Note that the Mondträume duo (Pikotto Vond Mond and Damasius Venys) have also decided to make this EP available as a (very limited!) physical release (available here). The CD version comes with a rather excellent bonus, the previously released digital EP “Still Beating” which will be available on CD for the very first time. That digital EP featured collaborations with Rotersand, Avarice In Audio, Aesthetische and Nordika.

But here’s already the exclusive preview of the digital version of the “Free” EP. The EP is out on November 4.

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. 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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