In May of 2023, Cherry Red Records asked Black Tape For A Blue Girl aka Sam Rosenthal to contribute “Within these walls” (from the band’s 1986 debut) to a 4CD Darkwave compilation, “No Songs Tomorrow”. Sam offered the original mix as well as a new one; they could pick which they preferred. Note that songwriter Sam Rosenthal went to the cassette Portastudio masters of the band’s 38-year-old debut, “The Rope”, to remix this version.

A single will be released on May 17, “Seven days till sunrise (2024 mix)” back by “the “Within these walls (2024 mix)”.

Sam says: “I was motivated to make the new mix because I wanted to dive into the original 1986 Fostex 4-track cassette Portastudio master tape to see what I could do with it. The original mixes of The Rope were very mushy and rushed. That’s an understatement! I mixed the whole 12-song album in two hours. That’s unheard of; I really had no idea what I was doing (laughs). Creating this mix for Cherry Red was an experiment towards creating a new mix of The Rope album for the 40th anniversary in 2026.”

And he continues by saying: “This mix is much more distinct than the original, you can hear the parts more clearly. Vocalist Oscar Herrera and I both think this version is an improvement, even if perhaps it loses some of the ‘charm’ of the poorly recorded & mixed 1986 version. The Cherry Red 4CD has a May 31 release date. As it’s a physical-only release, I thought it would be good to have the new one up at streaming sites. A 2-song single is always better than a 1-song single, and I knew which track I wanted to remix next. At Spotify, the most played track off The Rope is the instrumental ‘Seven days till sunrise.’ The 2024 mix was less of a struggle compared to ‘Walls.” It was a minimal recording with only three instruments: acoustic guitar, cello & clarinet, each on their own track. It turned out very pretty!”

Songwriter Sam Rosenthal went to the cassette Portastudio masters of the band’s 38-year-old debut, “The Rope”, to remix this version. Eye-openingly, 60% of BlackTape’s Spotify audience is under 34; the song is older than they are! Fans email that they love our introspective, melancholy music introduced to them via the algorithm. This 2024 mix is created in appreciation of Spotify and all our new fans!

Below is the original album both tracks are taken from.

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 by Chris Carter) Out on 28 January 2022 via The Grey Area (Mute) is the reissue of the 1979 album “The Bridge” by Thomas Leer And Robert Rental. This new reissue will be available on limited edition white vinyl and CD, both featuring new sleevenotes.

The reissue of Leer and Rental’s sole collaboration will coincide with “From The Port To The Bridge”, an exhibition detailing the duo’s work and legacy, due to run at The Horse Hospital in London from 21 January through to 10 February 2022.

Discovered by Throbbing Gristle

Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, both from Port Glasgow in Scotland, were at the vanguard of a DIY electronic scene that went on to influence and inform the 80s synth-pop movement. After self-releasing two solo 7” singles, they came to the attention of Throbbing Gristle and signed to their label, Industrial Records. Their one and only collaboration, “The Bridge”, was originally released in 1979, the first non-TG / associated release for the label.

Recorded at Rental’s home over two intense weeks using equipment provided by Throbbing Gristle (with only rudimentary explanation of how to use it), their album was cited by a number of electronic musicians at the time, including John Foxx, Matt Johnson (The The) and ABC.

Listen to “Monochrome Days”.

The late Robert Rental retired from the music industry

Robert Rental (who sadly died in 2000), went on to collaborate with The Normal – Daniel Miller and Rental’s live album, “Live at West Runton Pavilion, 6-3-79”, was released in 1980 by Rough Trade. Rental also released a single on Mute, “Double Heart” / “On Location” in 1980 and produced music for the Comic Strip’s “A Fistful of Traveller’s Cheques”, before retiring from the industry.

Thomas Leer continued to release music

Thomas Leer went on to release albums on Cherry Red and Arista, formed Act with Claudia Brücken (formerly of Propaganda) in the late 80s who released on Trevor Horn’s ZTT label. After a hiatus, he re-emerged with a series of releases from 2001, and currently lives in Greenock.

About The Grey Area

The Grey Area was founded in 1990 to restore and reissue albums by important and influential artists, initiated by catalogue deals between Mute and Throbbing Gristle, Can and Cabaret Voltaire.

The label went on to be the home for the catalogues of DAF, Virgin Prunes, SPK, Swell Maps, Dome, The Radiophonic Workshop and The Hafler Trio as well as key early works by Wire, Buzzcocks and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Dormant for a few years during the 2000s, The Grey Area emerged again quietly in 2013 with the re-release of Cabaret Voltaire’s Virgin period work, Richard H. Kirk’s solo work, the Sandoz catalogue and a new agreement with Throbbing Gristle.

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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In 1982 the UK electronic outfit Attrition released “This Death House”, a dark ambient soundtrack, spread over two long tracks: “Crawling” (23:22) and “Dead Of Night” (22:49). This iconic album now gets a re-release on vinyl and download to celebrate it’s 40th anniversary year. Included with the vinyl is a free poster.

Released on the Russian label Other Voices “This Death House” will also be available on all streaming services from April 30th on.

The line-up for this released consisted of Martin Bowes (Electronic drums/Synthesizer & production), Ashley Niblock (Synthesizer and Keyboards) and Richard Woodfield (Synthesizers). The whole was remastered by Martin Bowes at the Cage, Coventry, England last year. The artwork for this re-issue was executed by Oleg Galay.

You can check out the album below.

Also out soon in May is a new single and video, “The Alibi” taken from the all new album for this year, “The Black Maria”. More on that when it happens.

About Attrition

In 1979, Martin Bowes started a xeroxed fanzine called Alternative Sounds to document the Coventry music scene (including such notables as The Specials and Furious Apples). The fanzine ran for 18 issues until 1981, and culminated in a vinyl compilation, “Sent from Coventry” (on Cherry Red) and a brief appearance on the BBC’s Something Else programme. During this time, Martin met Julia at a local gig and, with the addition of Martin’s brother Chris on guitar, Attrition was formed. In 1980 Chris was replaced by Julia’s brother Ashley Niblock on synthesizer, and a short time later they replaced their live drummer with a drum machine

Musically the band emerged from the experimental post-punk scene of the early 1980s and, along with other groups such as Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Einstürzende Neubauten, and In the Nursery, greatly contributed to the development of industrial music in the UK.

Drones and tape manipulations released under the title “Death House” prefigured dark ambient by almost 10 years, while the group’s first two proper albums, “The Attrition of Reason” and “Smiling at the Hypogonder Club” set the tone for the style now known as darkwave.

A band which has never ceased to produce new material and as such one of the few still active today along The Cure and related bands who all coloured the early days of the post-punk movement pitch black.

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, ambient, psychedelic.

Format: Digital, CD, vinyl.

Background/Info: This is the debut album of a so-called enigmatic solo-artist, who achieved a conceptual album as a kind of imaginary soundtrack ‘based around the end of the world and a zombie takeover’. However it has been introduced as a solo-work, some famous artists like Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Simon Hinkler (The Mission), Julianne Reagan (All About Eve) ao contributed to this work.

Content: The dystopian and somewhat SI/FI theme of the work resulted in a deeply, cinematic inspired work. From vintage electronic sounds to psychedelic guitar play, this work sounds a bit like the offspring between Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd. There are numerous, noticeable piano arrangements. While most of the songs are instrumentals edits, you also will notice a few tracks with vocals and/or chants.

+ + + : The music has been conceived as a soundtrack and it clearly sounds that way. I like the vintage electronics and multiple effects while the psychedelic passages inject an exciting 60’/70’ touch. One of my favorite cuts is the extra elaborated “Don’t Look Now”. This song is more melodic as well. The contribution of all the guest musicians for sure is an extra attention grabber.

– – – : The album is easily enjoyable, but there’s no truly climax. It’s an ambitious work, but without becoming a real soundtrack it might get lost in anonymity.

Conclusion: This album will appeal for lovers of dark soundtrack music and psychedelic experiences.

Best songs: “Don’t Look Now”, “Inferno”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: www.lecygnenoir.co.uk / www.facebook.com/lecygnenoirmusic

Label: www.cherryred.co.uk / www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords

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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If you’re an ‘80s kid’ who listened to ‘dark’ music you for sure remember Anni Hogan! She started piano lessons and studied politics at the Leeds University. There she met Marc Almond and Dave Ball. We all know Anni Hogan as musician and pianist, but she got also active as record producer, composer and DJ. She worked a lot with Marc Almond, but also with other artists and bands. She went on tour with The Style Council, Nick Cave got featured as guest vocalist on one of her songs, she did an album together with Scanner etc. And this year Anni Hogan is back on track with the beautiful album “Lost In blue” released by Cold Spring Records. The work features eleven songs and sounds like a dark-jazzy-cabaret & chanson style. Anni Hogan invited numerous guest singers like Kid Congo Powers (ex-The Gun Club, ex-Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds…), Richard Strange (Doctors Of Madness), Wolfgang Flür (ex-Kraftwerk), Celine Hispiche, Lydia Lunch, Scarlet West, Gavin Friday (ex-Virgin Prunes) and John Fiddler. The works has something very intimate and has been produced by Dave Ball. Anni Hogan kindly accepted to answer a few questions.

(Picture credits: Peter Ashworth; interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Lost In Blue” appears to be a new sonic travel between you and some of your friends/mates featuring Dave Ball as producer. How did this album saw the daylight and tell us a bit more about the title, your ‘guests’ and the accomplishment of the songs?

Anni: The title went through a few conversions but “Lost In Blue” resonated with the album vibe, what I perceived as the ensuing darkness reflected in a cinematic jazz-cabaret infused compositional surround. I had a few songs written with Kid Congo, Richard Strange, Wolfgang Flur, Lydia Lunch, David Coulter and already had involved one of my favourite musicians & old friend, trumpet player Enrico Tomasso.  

Dave Ball and I met up a few times and talked through album choices including him suggesting the incredible Gavin Friday and John Peel’s Dandelion label signing, 70’s band Medicine Head’s John Fiddler who sang the title track on “Lost In Blue”.

I initially wrote the music for each track and sent everyone my versions to write their responses. Dave and his music partner Riccardo Mulhall finessed their musical attributes and together we 3 worked with the album main ‘band’ consisting of Enrico, saxophonist Al Nicholls, harpist Maria Christina Harper and recorder & zither from multi instrumentalist Joanna Neale.

Once we had arranged all the tracks and reached a kind of critical mass, then Dave and Riccardo focused their talents on the final intrinsic visionary production, in my opinion creating a beautifully crafted, sensitive and satisfying confluence of all the songs into the final album. 

Q: I’ve been touched by the intimate sphere recovering this work and the music influences moving from jazzy to cabaret to ‘chanson’. What kind of album did you want to accomplish and what has been the impact of Dave Ball?

Anni: I just wanted to make a great record of original songs and after meeting up with Dave in Soho this seemed like a genuine possibility. I have gone down on record many times as to my thoughts on Dave as a highly underrated but essential producer. I’ve known him since the Leeds early days and had total faith in his ability to create a holistic album ‘sound’ from all the musical elements involved. He has an immense knowledge of music history and despite his own history in electronic music, he has an innate knack for orchestral & jazz production techniques so we communicated very well and of course his musical partner Riccardo Mulhall is also amazing as sound engineer and co-producer. Plus we all got on great and we are all pretty funny so it was a really happy album setting based on love and friendship.

Q: You’ve done a lot with Marc Almond, who’s maybe the great absentee on “Lost In Blue”. Honestly I sometimes got the impression to hear him singing on a few songs. Are you still in touch with him and are there some other ‘guest’ artists you ever would like to work with?

Anni: The album is loaded with fabulous generous artists, everyone wrote their own stories in response to music I composed particularly for their voices and personas. I’ve not actually seen Marc for 30 years so I think we’d have needed a time machine (lol). “Lost In Blue” was my final work in that model so any future collaborations will be just that and not as ‘guests’.

Q: My favorite song from the album is without a shadow of a doubt “Ghosts Of Soho”. I feel a real passion emerging from the vocals while the lyrics make me think to Jacques Brel when he sings about Brussels… and I know Brel means a lot to you. Tell us a bit more about the song and Brel?

Anni: It is Celine Hispiche who delivers a ‘scream of consciousness’ vocal despairing the gentrification of Soho which Dave Ball & Riccardo Mulhall then edited down and half paced to allow the song to breathe more and allow the key musical elements piano, saxophone and trumpet to create a smokey jazz band dive-bar atmosphere. It could be that my previous piano/orchestral arrangements of Brel songs impacted my playing on this and possibly other songs on the album, but it was not a conscious thing, it’s part of  my  musical fabric shall we say.

I was told by Dave that theatrical writer and actress Celine could also be a little like Ian Dury in her performance technique so I wrote a sort of alternative cabaret style piano driven piece for her.  

Q: In 2016 you released an album together with Robin Rimbaud (Scanner). I didn’t exactly expect you working together with Scanner and “Scanni” is maybe one of your most surprising works to date. What did you keep in mind from that particular experience?

Anni: I found Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud an interesting artist,  he actually had my original “Kickabye”-12″. We met up a few times and became friends and as in all my projects, it just grew organically from sending a few files between us. I just wanted to try mixing my piano with Robin’s modular style production and I already had a few pieces that were ready for a new approach. It was a very easy experience musically between us, but I don’t think there was an audience for it particularly. Cherry Red did very little to promote it and so it remains a mixed feeling experience. 

I wish we had explored more instrumentally as our instrumental piece “Once Upon” is one of my delights on “Scanni”.

The Jarboe songs were my favourites, I adore her as an artist, she’s a long time friend since the 80’s and hopefully we will work together again. There are a few people I would like to work with, but I’m currently just enjoying spending some alone time with my beloved baby grand piano.

Q: You’re in the music ‘business’ since the early 80s and I think we might affirm ‘you’ve seen it all’. What do you consider as the greatest evolutions/changes all over the years and how do you see things evolving towards the coming years? 

Anni: Only technological advances have impacted any real change. In my opinion everything else has all been done before and I don’t hear anything new to be honest, myself included. People keep telling me ‘music is dead’ but I prefer to keep an open mind and await the next great evolution, but unless they invent a genuinely ‘new’ instrument… unlikely let’s face it,  then it’s going to be more technological changes that make any real difference. I’m waiting for the tech’ to enable me to just ‘think it’ and it’s done regarding the computer side to my work so I don’t need to physically use computer software with my hands, just to use my brain would be great, save my hands for the beautiful real instruments!

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

There is some more sad news from the music world as we know it. The frontman of the post-punk band The Fall, Mark E Smith, passed away as well, aged 60 after a long illness. The news was confirmed by The Fall’s manager Pam Vander.

Mark E. Smith passed away at home on January 24. A more detailed statement will follow in the next few days. The Fall’s record label Cherry Red also confirmed the news.

Since Mark E. Smith was the only constant member of the band, his passing also means the end of The Fall.

Smith formed the Fall in 1976 after attending a Sex Pistols gig at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in June that year. From 1979 to 2017, they released 32 studio albums, and more than three times that number when live albums and compilations (often released against Smith’s wishes) are taken into account.

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!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop.

Background/Info: “The Age Of Reason” is the first ‘new’ Bronski Beat album in 22 years. It all started with the album “The Age Of Consent” (1984). The album became a cult full length thanks to legendary hits such as “Smalltown Boy”, “Why?”; “It Aint’s Necessarily So” ao. Steve Bronski, Larry Steinbachek and of course singer Jimmy Somerville instantly became new idols of electro-pop and ambassadors of the homosexual community.

This legendary work has been now reworked while the second disc also features two brand new songs plus a cover version. Steve Bronski recovered Bronski Beat from the dust teaming up with Ian Donaldson and singer Stephen Granville.

Content: It’s nearly impossible listening to this album while taking distance with the original versions which simply are part of the collective memory. The songs have been reworked and mainly adapted into a ‘modern’ edit. The music became more groovy and into dance-pop. Stephen Granville of course does not have Jimmy Sommerville’s timbre of voice although he’s a great singer. You constantly have to face the idea this is the 2017-edit of an album that was composed in the magic decade of the 80s.

The second disc first reveals a cover version of Patrick Cowley’s “Stars”. This is a clubby adaptation of an old disco track revealing the ‘new’ Bronski Beat. You definitely will discover a side of the band you maybe didn’t ever expect to come true. “I’ll Be Gone” and “A Flower For Dandara” both are great and groovy dance cuts. All the songs have been remixed, mainly reinforcing the club-direction of these songs. Remixes have been made by Sordid Soundz (aka Ian Donaldson) and Qubiq.

+ + + : The magic of the 80s was something unique because electronic music was something new and even revolutionary. Bronski Beat entered into history and their original hits are still hot stuff on parties of today! This reworked and adapted album doesn’t want to emulate this magic, but reveals that it’s possible to rework “The Age Of consent”-album into a modern and danceable work. I like the ‘new’ versions of “Love & Money”, “Junk” and “Run From Love” (originally released on “Hundreds & Thousands”). The work also features the songs “No More War” and “It Ain’t Necessarily so”, which have been mixed in one song.

Among the new song I especially like “I’ll Be Gone” while “Stars” is a great cover version. I noticed two great remixes of “I’ll Be Gone” by Sordid Soundz.

– – – : I don’t say that this ‘new’ work will be banished by the die-hard fans, but “The Age Of Reason” clearly sounds different from the original work. The analogue magic of the sounds and Jimmy Sommerville are missing especially on the greatest hits “Smalltown Boy” and “Why?”. The groovy turnover clearly sounds into modern hypes and might be an opportunity to discover Bronski Beat by younger fans, but I can’t imagine the die-hard fans will be totally convinced!

Conclusion: Bronski Beat is alive and the best way to fight back was probably to rework and re-edit their most famous album in history plus adding a few new cuts. I’m not saying it’s the most successful way, but globally speaking I rather enjoyed “The Age Of Reason”!

Best songs: “Love & Money”, “Junk”, “Why?”, “Smalltown Boy”, Run From Love” + “I’ll Be Gone – Dub & Dusted”, “I’ll Be Gone – Stompin’ Siletto Mix”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.bronskibeat.club

Label: www.cherryred.co.uk / www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords

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