The Berlin-based dark electro act To Avoid have released their brand new album “All Gods Are Gone”. This new double album is out now via Belgium’s Alfa Matrix label.

“All Gods Are Gone” is available now in a double-CD digipak and as a download via Bandcamp.

The band mixes late ’80s EBM and ’90s melodic dark electro including elements from modern cross-genre influences. Thematically this release builds on their past explorations of dark themes—crime, corruption, and environmental destruction—delivered through hard-hitting EBM that will please fans of early Front 242, Skinny Puppy, Vomito Negro, and Grendel​.

The first disc offers 13 original tracks like “Trust”, “Fireball”, and “1989” (which got released as an EP earlier this year). Complementing these, the second disc features 14 remixes by a rather impressive lineup of electronic artists, including Haujobb, Portion Control, and Circumpolar.

Formed in 1998, To Avoid launched their debut album “Resurrection” in 2002, followed by “Passion and Pain” (2009). Following a period of hiatus, they returned in 2022.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Berlin-based industrial band To Avoid recently released the single “Diatribe” and the “1989” EP ahead of their album “All Gods Are Gone”, out December 6, via Alfa Matrix. We now have more details on that new album.

“All Gods Are Gone” will be out as a double-CD digipak. While the first CD holds 13 tracks, the bonus CD features remixes by a rather impressive lineup, including Haujobb, Portion Control, Mildreda, Circumpolar, Kifoth, Sleepwalk, Severe Illusion, Ice Ages, Forgotten Sunrise, Object, Kalt, Gettner, Tension Control and Chrome Corps.

Thematically the album tackles dark themes such as crime, corruption, and environmental destruction.

You can pre-order the album via Bandcamp or order it on CD via the Alfa Matrix webstore.

Formed in 1998, To Avoid gained early recognition with their debut “Resurrection” (2002), followed by the albums “Passion and Pain” (2009) and recent singles such as “1989”. The new album continues their legacy of hard-hitting sound and thematic intensity, further solidifying their place in the global industrial music scene. Known for pushing the boundaries of dark electro since 2000, the band fuses late ’80s EBM with ’90s melodic dark electro, creating intense soundscapes.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Martin Bowes and his main music project Attrition have been part of the collective memory of many Electro fans since the 80s. This year, Attrition released their first new studio-album in years. “The Black Maria” sounds on the one hand like a ‘classic’ Electro-Wave-Pop album but on the other hand also as a refreshing and sensual production with some Cinematic parts. The work became a truly collective production with the contribution of female singers Emke (Black Nail Cabaret), Yvette (Vaselyne), Joanne Wolf and the return of the original Attrition-singer Julia Niblock Waller. Guest musicians Alia Miroshichenko, Annie Hogan, Vancorvid and Marietta Fox, Ian Arkley, Steve Clarke and Kris Force joined forces together with Attrition. I asked Martin Bowes some questions about this new and fantastic work released on Two Gods. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Attrition has now been active for over 40 years. Can you draw up a preliminary and concise overview of this exceptional career with the highs and lows that spontaneously come to mind? And how do you feel Attrition and its work has influenced the music scene over the years?

Martin: I started out in music inspired by Punk… first running a local music fanzine here in Coventry, between 1979-81 (Alternative Sounds ran for 18 issues). I knew that I had to make my own music so started Attrition in 1980 with Julia Waller, and her brother Ashley. We were totally influenced by Electronics and Post-Punk by then. It wasn’t easy to get gigs for music like this in the early 80’s, at least not around here… it would take a while for the music to take hold… and Industrial, Dark-Wave, whatever you may call it gradually became a lot bigger; lot was so good to be there at the beginning.

We have gone through many record labels, booking agents and even band members since those early days. It’s never been an easy road but it has taken us all over the world and we have released a lot of albums… and scored some film soundtracks along the way.

I hear that Attrition has influenced bands and the scene… I remember Skinny Puppy writing to us back in the mid-eighties… which is a wonderful thing to know.

Q: “The Black Maria” is your first new studio album in quite a long time. Why did this take so long and what sparked the new work?

Martin: The last full studio album was the “Millions Of The Mouthless Dead” album of First World war poetry and sounds I recorded as Attrition with Anni Hogan (of Marc And The Mambas amongst many projects she has done over the years). Since then we have toured a lot and released various singles and live recordings, and I have put out a side project… The Engram-album of 2018, and the DPM improvisational collective I was a part of in more recent years.

Recordings were slowed by covid, and the tragedy of my ex-wife, and Attrition collaborator Kerri Bowes untimely death in 2022. And also by increasing production and mastering work for other bands here in my studio The Cage. So yes it was high time for another Attrition album!

Q: I think I can say that it became a collaborative album. Tell us more about the choice of singers and other musicians? How did this collaboration go and did you discover new facets of yourself as a musician and producer?

Martin: I have been the main person in Attrition for many years, and with knowing so many musicians after all this time, and the ease of recording remotely these days, I found myself working with guest musicians more and more. Since our original singer Julia dropped out of the music scene 20 years ago I have recorded with a succession of guest female vocalists…  I think “The Black Maria” is the peak of that phase… as Julia… and her brother Ashley… after decades… have rejoined the band! They came back recently and have been playing live again with me and Julia sang on 2 songs on the new album… so Attrition is now the original line up, augmented by more musicians… a good place to be.

Q: “The Black Maria” is an interesting title with a whole background and meaning. What exactly inspired you and what did you try to express with this title and entire album?

Martin: “The Black Maria” was the name for a mythical figure that would come to take away ‘wrongdoers and miscreants’. Later it was used for the name of the  UK Police vans in the 1970’s… Kerri and I had a clash with our local corrupt Police a few years ago… hence the inspiration for the title… The album is, like all our albums, very personal… like an audio photo album of the time if you like. And it also looks at issues of state and religious corruption and control. Nothing really changes…

Q: What comes next after this album and what dreams or expectations do you have for the coming years?

Martin: Next on the agenda… we are planning shows and tours in The UK, Europe (next is The Castle Party in Poland July 12th – 14th) then The USA (Cold Waves festival Chicago and Dark Arts Festival Salt Lake City and more) then we are looking at Australia/New Zealand and Japan for the end of 2024/start of 2025…  Meanwhile I am releasing a double album of remixes from “The Black Maria”, also on my own label, Two Gods. And have started recording a Dark-Ambient Soundtrack work.

After all these years I can still get that same feeling of excitement with music and of only just beginning… and I love being a part of a wonderful world community.  I never have expectations, but plenty of dreams.

Thank you for the interview! Interested parties please check out our online sites!

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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(Photo by @vv.photography95) The Ukrainian cyberdance act BlazerJacket have just released their latest single “DedSec”. The track pays homage to the renowned hacking collective from the popular video game
series “Watch Dogs”.

To accompany the release of “DedSec” BlazerJacket has unveiled an official music video that fuses in-game footage from Watch Dogs 2 with the artist’s signature style. The single is now available on all major streaming platforms and on Bandcamp as a pay-what-you-want download.

The visuals take fans on a journey through the digital world, where “DedSec”‘s hacker heroes challenge the status quo and wield a worldwide presence with millions of followers. Their mission: to expose corruption within the ordinary world, including the most formidable corporations.

Below is the free download single on Bandcamp.

BlazerJacket was created in Kyiv by Denis Cherryman (Dirty Bird 13 / KIND) and Hybri Mod. Their love for cyberpunk, retrowave, sci-fi, and action films of the 80′s and 90′s inspired them to create a new sci-fi universe, conceptual music releases, and video materials which are a series of science fiction novels.

Musically they combine different genres of rock and electro dance music with passion 80’s inspired background. The band was among several Ukrainian acts featured on our two Ukrainian download compilations, “Electronic Resistance” and “Electronic Resistance – Reconstruction.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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The California-based industrial metal act Our Frankenstein has just unleashed their new video for the single, “Illuminate”.

Ryan Laney explaisn the lyrics behind “Illuminate” as follows: “It is a song about finding the light that can exist in a barren and hopeless wasteland and building a better future for yourself; it’s about forging forward and discovering the strength in yourself to move on past a difficult time in your life.”

“Illuminate” is available on all major streaming platforms including Bandcamp.

Our Frankenstein was formed in Orange County, CA in 2013. Drawing influences from both cinema and the gothic music scene, the band has quickly evolved to what it is today.

Below are the band’s previous releases:

• Illuminate (July 25, 2023)
• HYPERCULT (March 11, 2023)
• Internal Corruption [Single] (January 20, 2023)
• Inhale [Single] (December 10, 2022)
• A Pale Horse (September 10, 2022)
• Bubonic [Single] (July 22, 2022)
• Scorpion Eye EP (April 29, 2022)
• You Are a Witness [Single] (March 11, 2022)
• The Hunchback Of Hollywood,CA [Single] (February 11, 2022)
• From The Grave [Single] (January 11, 2022)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Greek dark electro band Siva Six has released a new EP titled “Fight The Machine” through Alfa Matrix. The title track is part of the group’s fifth studio album, “DeathCult” (2021).

The band’s frontman, Z, describes the track as representing Siva Six’s opposition to the Metaworld, corruption, injustice, inequality, prioritization of profit over human life, and the moral decay of society. The lyrics convey the message, “In a world of chaos, be a whore or join the Metawar…!”

Siva Six, consisting of Z (vocals) and U-Ri (keyboard), is joined by seven other bands on the EP: Φωνόπτικoν, Euphrosyne, Infected Sound System, Xentrifuge, Hell:Sector, Asylum Promises, and To Avoid. Each participating band contributes its unique sound, resulting in remixes that take the track in new directions.

A music video has also been released to accompany the EP. The production was a collaboration between Siva Six and Death Mask Productions, with direction and editing by Thanos Kallianiotis.

Siva Six is a Greek dark electro band that originated in the early 2000s. The group primarily consists of two members: Z on vocals and U-Ri on keyboards. Their music is characterized by a fusion of dark electro, industrial, and EBM elements, creating an intense and atmospheric sound.

Siva Six gained recognition in the dark electro scene with their debut album “Rise New Flesh” released in 2005. Over the years, they have released several more albums, including “Black Will” (2006), “Superstition” (2013), “Dawn of Days” (2016), and “DeathCult” (2021). Their music often delves into themes of spirituality, existentialism, and societal issues, creating a thought-provoking experience for their listeners.

In addition to their studio albums, Siva Six has also released numerous EPs and singles, featuring collaborations with various artists in the dark electro scene.

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.

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Set up in 1990 by Sean Brennan, Californian (USA) based London After Midnight never stopped to increase their success and popularity. After having conquered the West Coast they progressively started to play world wide becoming a true phenomenon at the wider fields of Dark-Wave and Gothic music. While Sean Brennan is working on a new opus for several years now he this year unleashed the album “Oddities Too” featuring rare songs, alternative edits, cover versions and demos. The album has been released on Sean’s own label Darkride Records and is a true, artistic, creation mixing heavy Goth-Rock passages together with a Cinematic style. I talked about it all with Sean Brennan.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The odyssey of London After Midnight started more than thirty years ago now. Can you draw up the balance sheet of this amazing and successful story?

Sean: LAM has experienced a great deal, both good and bad. In the end when reflecting back I mostly think of the music I was able to create and the people who it mattered to, rather than the struggles.

Q: Over the past thirty years you for sure have seen things changing/evolving. I’m thinking to aspects such as internet, streaming platforms vs. physical sales, new technologies and equipment, more and more labels closing doors, the growing importance of image, etc… What’s your perception of this entire evolution? What are the pros and cons?

Sean: In some ways it’s a devolution. But yes, a lot has changed with our culture in a relatively short time span. The internet brought about many problems- from impacting peoples’ mental health with toxic social media, the spread of disinformation and conspiracies, to the collapse of the music industry, but it has presented opportunities, too, like for people who are normally without a voice -some social media has provided a platform to challenge the powerful or raise awareness.

But it’s hard to gauge the pros versus cons because things have changed so radically and tumultuously in that time span -maybe now we’re so accustomed to tragedy and disaster and corruption and conspiracy that our standards have been lowered, so we accept the small benefits that come from the internet without questioning the costs. But I think generally, with a few exceptions, there are greater costs than benefits.

Q: How much of the ‘young’ musician you were early 90s do you still recognize in your approach today? And are there specific aspects you would have done differently?

Sean: Things have changed from that time, obviously, how I feel about it and how I view it now from external influences- forced upon me by the world. There’s still a passion and drive to create that’s always been there. How that might manifest itself in the future is unknown to me, but I will always love music.

Q: I think to remember you were working on a completely new album, right? How are things evolving and can you already reveal some details?

Sean: The all new album is about half recorded. It would have been much further along if not for the pandemic. I recorded some drum tracks before I moved out of Los Angeles to the east coast of the USA, where I planned to finish the albums. But then the pandemic hit (lucky timing for me, because being in over-crowded LA during the pandemic was reportedly a nightmare). So the pandemic delayed everything by at least 2 years.

I feel the all new album has my best work on it so I am very eager to get it released. I just have to finish up some lyrics and then do some final recording. There will be one cover song on it, the rest are all original, new songs. But the cover song is pretty special as it turned out quite nicely. It will probably be another unexpected cover-song like Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”-cover from “Oddities Too”, but quite emotional.

Q: In a previous question I was mentioning the streaming platforms. (Younger) people are no longer listening to an entire album but are making their own playlists featuring separate songs. So do you think  releasing an album still makes sense today?

Sean: In one sense you have to release a full album to earn enough to make it worth recording, to make the process pay for itself. Just a drum session in a real studio, for example, can cost a few thousand dollars. And then mixing and mastering will cost several more thousand dollars. If you release a 4 song EP then you sell it for far less than a full album and aren’t really able to earn those costs back to make the practice sustainable. And there are a lot of people who also still buy physical product, CDs or records, which my new record label I started in 2019 is releasing -Darkride Records.

And pressing CDs and LPs is another huge cost. So making physical products with fewer songs means lower pricing and a harder time earning back what you’ve invested. You can lose money releasing music, which is clearly not sustainable. But yes, it’s sad that people’s attention spans are so short now. Too often the music is just a playlist, background music, and people don’t even know who the artists are, despite all the effort and work the artists put into their creations.

Q: In the meantime you released “Oddities Too” which became a mix of rare songs and alternative edits, surprising cover versions, demos and new material as well. How did this album saw the daylight and how was it working on it? And tell us a bit more about this amazing new song “October”?

Sean: “Oddities Too” started out as a 10 song sequel to the 1998 “Oddities”-album, featuring unreleased, re-imagined, and new material. But it has transformed into a double album including everything from “Oddities”. With my label, Darkride Records, I want to reissue all my past albums that are out of print, but make them better than they were by remixing them from the original multi-track master tapes. Doing this I am able to included missing audio elements cut from the original mixes due to limitations at the time, and even forgotten recordings. I always planned for another album like “Oddities”, and the time was right.

The song “October” is probably the first LAM song. I wrote it when I played keyboard for another band when I was a kid, just months before starting LAM. It was someone else’s band, but it fell apart after its first concert. So I started LAM and used the song as a starting point. A really rough recording appeared on LAM’s first 4 song self-titled demo cassette tape in about 1990 or 91. Then it was removed off the tape as I had just recorded “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World” in 1991 and I replaced “October” with the new song “Revenge”. Some people never understood “October”, so I just buried it. It was meant to be like a Goth-Punk version of “Timewarp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show, not literally but just a thing that wasn’t in any way serious. But people looking for a reason to attack me used the song to try and say I was claiming to be a vampire, or that I thought I was God’s gift to women or something. They wanted to pretend it was serious just so they could talk shit. I was shocked at how utterly stupid these people were, that they couldn’t understand a silly song. The humor and fantasy of the song was lost on them. But it’s always been popular with fans, I would still get requests for it even now, so I decided to include it on “Oddities Too” and see what happens. Hopefully the naysayers won’t resort to more insane accusations of me being a vampire this time around.

Q: There’s an important ‘Cinematic’ side featured at the album. Do you have concrete plans to release a Soundtrack and do you’ve favorite soundtrack composers?

Sean: I’d love to score film, but I’m actually getting more interested in making films rather than music for them. But we’ll see what happens. My first love was film Soundtracks and Classical music. I have records and CDs from childhood of film scores from Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Ron Grainer, John Barry, John Williams and tons more. That’s the music I listen to most frequently.

Q: I really have to mention two cover versions featured at “Oddities Too”. I wasn’t surprised by the David Bowie cover but you took me by surprise covering Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”. I guess you covered “Hot Stuff” because of the lyrics? Does the BOWIE song have special meaning to you?

Sean: I covered “Hot Stuff” because I’ve always liked some of the music from that era, and I thought that song had a very cool guitar riff melody (which I play on keyboard in my version). I thought it could make for a sort of creepy, weird, dark song that might contrast in a funny way with the lyrics. “Scary Monsters” is a song that LAM used to perform live starting in maybe 2006, or so. So that’s just a little history of LAM. I was quite shocked after I released “Hot Stuff” that the guy who wrote the song for Donna Summer, Pete Bellotte, sent me an email saying how much he loved my cover. He said of all the covers he’s heard mine stood out as original, hypnotic, dark, and ‘great’. I was utterly floored, as he’s a sort of legend in the song writing world, having written songs for big artists.

Q: The ongoing pandemic seriously affected all artistic activities. How did you experience this situation and how does it feel to be back on stage again?

Sean: It was very difficult- LAM had some tour plans for 2020 to promote the re-release of “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World: 9119”, but those obviously had to be cancelled. Touring now is even harder than before because this readjustment period, when shows are starting to come back, is exposing the weaknesses of the music industry. Even major, top 40 bands, are posting to their social media about how they cannot sustain touring any longer due to costs or harsh schedules required or problems with cancellations, etc. So it’s kind of difficult at the moment.

Q: Any concrete plans for the coming months/year?

Sean: In regard to concerts LAM will perform at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in 2023 with Sisters Of Mercy, System Of A Down, Korn and many other bands. Then there should be a festival scheduled in Germany later in summer and maybe a few other shows. We’ll see. And I will continue with recording the all new album, as well.

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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Genre/Influences: Minimal-Electro, Experimental.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Texas (USA) based Veronica Campbell strikes back with the fourth full length album of her Death Loves Veronica project. The work has been introduced as ‘inspired by the atrocities of an evil world, told through the eyes of Veronica.’

Content: This female artist moves on composing Minimal-Electronics. Some parts feature guitar riffs (played by Tim Skold) on top while other passages move into Industrial influences. The work sounds cold, and obscure but also sensual because of Campbell’s sexy, whispering timbre of voice.

+ + + : Death Loves Veronica is an intriguing project and that’s because of the sphere she creates. It’s an obscure and freaky sound which is mixed with ghost-like, sensual vocals. I imagine this album being played in dark cellars and dungeon parties. I especially recommend the second half of the album featuring a few great songs but especially “In Hell” featuring guitar play by Bari-Bari.

– – – : I can’t say that the debut tracks of the album are disappointing but they definitely are a level below the second part.

Conclusion: Death Loves Veronica has something atypical and definitely ominous but also fascinating for its global minimalism.

Best songs: “In Hell”, “The Monster”, “It Kills Like God”, “Whore”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.veronicacampbellofficial.com / www.facebook.com/deathlovesveronica

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 now is a video for the Ministry track “Sabotage Is Sex” taken from Ministry’s 15th studio album “Moral Hygiene” (Nuclear Blast Records). Featured on the track is Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys). The two kickstarted their side project Lard in the late ‘80s, a fusion of industrial and punk, and this latest collaboration “may be a hint of things yet to come” so Al Jourgensen says.

The video features both musicians, surprising as this is the first time Biafra has ever appeared in a music video. “Jello and I have been friends and music collaborators for decades. I had no idea he’d never done a video before and I’m honored to pop that creative cherry for him on ‘Sabotage Is Sex.’ It’s crazy how tech savvy we’ve all gotten yet somehow it all seems very punk rock to shoot a video at home with just an iPhone. Who knows, maybe one day there will be a Lard video?”

Created by director Joel Smith of Mad Minute Productions, the black-and-white video focuses on the corruption of the powers that be, racial injustice and the infringement on the rights of Americans.

You can see the video for “Sabotage Is Sex” right 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.

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Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, USB.

Background/Info: “Human” is Australian Daniel Hall’s fifteenth album whereon he reveals twelve new songs.

Content: If you’re familiar with the artist, you will directly recognize his timbre of voice and the global sound arrangements and approach of his work. It remains a pure and sweet-sounding and melodic Electro-Pop production. I however noticed a few interesting experiments like filtered sequences running through “Corruption” and the harder, danceable “Humanoid”. One of the songs features guest vocals by Stephen Newton.

+ + + : I salute the professional production of “Human”, which remains a true trademark of Daniel Hall. But I also like his ‘little’ experiments like on “Corruption”, which sounds not only harder and club-minded, but also adding that little extra on top of the song. It’s exactly the same for “Humanoid”. I also recommend listening to catchy songs like “You Won’t Let Me Go” and “What Is Your Story”.

– – – : Daniel Hall has a great timbre of voice and is a talented singer, but he maybe needs some external producer to get the vocals a bit more diversified.

Conclusion: “Human” is according to me the best work ever produced by Daniel Hall; sweet and alluring Electro-Pop.

Best songs: “Corruption”, “Humanoid”, “You Won’t Let Me Go”, “What Is Your Story”, “The Fireman”, “Invader”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/designhallptyltd

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 now is “Resurrection”, the debut solo album by Australian electro musician Gregory Kodric. The album is actually a compilation of tracks from Kodric’s previous electro bands Corruption and Control holding a mix of electro styles combining synth-pop, pop and harder EBM edged tracks. But iit also holds solo work by Kodric.

The 8-track album holds 6 tracks from his former Control and Corruption days plus two brand-new tracks.

We checked with Gregory Kodric and here’s what he says about the genesis of the release: “After a long time out of the music scene it was time to let previously unreleased tracks see the light of day and I’ve thrown in a couple of new tracks (“And I Love You” and “I Don’t Need No One”) as a hint of things to come.”

You can listen to the album below.

The opening track “Instinct” also comes accompanied by a video.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Since “Wonderful (The Anix Edit)” from Daniel Hall’s 14th album “Dark Horse”, was released on our “Face the Beat 6” compilation, the electropop artist has been very busy.

A new single and EP “The Watchman Remixes” was released with such guests as Wave in Head, Fused, Lord & Master and Screamershock. The original single was supported by an official video which you can see below.

Hall also formed a new group called Emerge with British female vocalist Charlotte Henry and released the album “The trip” last November. Charlotte’s background is country/rock and she is best known for getting to the semi-finals of the 2002 UK Eurovision song contest competition. The recording was quite an endeavor as Hall is based in Sydney, Australia.

The album was released as a custom boxed USB as you can see above. The single “Without You” also has an official video, see below.

At the moment Hall is busy working on his 16th album which was already preceded by 2 singles earlier this year: “The Fireman” and “Corruption” both supported by official videos. Hall was also featured on Vaylon’s side project Second Complex as vocalist on the track Every Moment Counts.

Here’s “Wonderful (The Anix Edit)” from our “Face The Beat 6” compilation.

Videos available now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Aegri Somnia is a solo-project driven by Croatian artist Jurica Santek. “Nusquam” is the artist’s third official album released on Cryo Chamber while he also contributed to the album “Tomb Of Druids”, which is a collaboration between different artists from the label. “Nusquam” has been released three years after the previous full length “Endtime Psalms” (2017).

Content: The new opus moves on where the previous one stopped. It brings a deeper exploration of dark sonorities, mixing Dark-Ambient and pure Cinematographic music together. This is for sure the main evolution from the previous work to this composition. The tracks are progressively built up bringing electronic treatments and field recordings together. The work is getting progressively darker and even menacing. 

+ + + : The sphere is dark and like every good thriller it becomes darker and darker. Overwhelming sound treatments and blasting sound creations have been mixed together while field recordings are injecting an extra atmospheric touch to the work. This album has a strong paranoiac sensation; it feels intimate and yet you get the impression there’s an invisible danger waiting behind the corner. I like the progression in the songwriting, which mainly comes through on “Corruption Incarnate” and “Archetype Of Fraud”. I also have to mention the suffocating “Doomocalypse”, which definitely sounds like one of the darkest and most tormented cuts.

– – – : The work is just missing an absolute climax; great songs, which have been progressively built up, but not reaching that ultimate point of cold sweat.

Conclusion: Aegri Somnia confirms all the potential illustrated at previous works and yet I get the feeling this band still has to release its opus magnum!

Best songs: “Corruption Incarnate”, “Archetype Of Fraud”, “Doomocalypse”, “Throne”.

Rate: (7½)

Artist: www.facebook.com/Aegri-somnia-489456297863916

Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com /  www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: EBM.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Set up in the late 80s in Berlin (Germany) Crocodile Shop (later on renamed Croc Shop) released several productions during the 90s –mainly on Metropolis Records. Nearly twenty years after their last album (cf. “World” released in 2002) the band strikes back with new work. Core member Nick Hale got inspired by the election of Trump who in a way awakened the political engagement of Croc Shop.

Content: “Resist” features 9 songs, which are clearly driven by the good-old EBM vibes of the band. This is retro-EBM reminding me of the 90s. You’ll rapidly notice the engagement emerging at the surface by the multiple spoken samplings from Donald Trump. The way of using the samplings mixed with real vocals are here again reminding me of the 90s.

+ + + : “Resist” could have been written in the 90s. It’s old-school and yet it has something refreshing; a kind of sweet, danceable EBM with a message on top. I like the most danceable pieces like the opener “Empowered”, “Pride” and “Unwanted”. The last mentioned song is carried by a solid bass line.

– – – : I like this old-school approach of making EBM, but I’m missing a climax in the work.

Conclusion: Do we have to be grateful to Trump, who clearly inspired a forgotten EBM formation to strike back? This is a pleasant work, which will appeal for all retro-lovers and die-hard fans of Croc Shop.

Best songs: “Empowered”, “Pride”, “Unwanted”, “Corruption”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.crocshop.com / www.facebook.com/crocshop

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: EBM, Ambient-Body Music.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: American solo-project Agitprop 666 is back on track unleashing a new work featuring twelve songs. After the “Penitentiary” album released late 2018, this artist strikes back with a different theme, which is clearly inspired by major events in the US during 2020.

Content: First there’s the music, which remains inspired by good-old 90s Electro and some EBM formats. This is not hard EBM to dance to, but a rather evasive EBM format reminding me of projects like Ringtailed Snorter and Noise Unit. The songs are carried by a soft cadence while the composition is filled with bleeps and wafting Electro waves. The main characteristic of the work are the numerous spoken samplings dealing with important news facts from the past year. There’s of course a song about the pandemic, but also one about George Floyd. Other themes like politics, racism, corruption, religion have been treated as well.

+ + + : Agitprop 666 realized a great job here. The album makes me think of a kind of 2020 overview put on music. The samplings are essential to this work while the music is well-crafted. The entire production became more elaborated. Using spoken samplings from news and speeches isn’t new, but the way it has been accomplished here is original. You feel this album is clearly engaged.  

– – – : I think some aspects of the sound production –like the mixing, can be still improved, but “Corruption” is a noticeable work.

Conclusion: This work is without a shadow of a doubt, the most elaborated and successful album by Agitprop 666. The style is not that new and yet refreshing!

Best songs: “Chrome Koran”, “George Floyd”, “Malcom X”, “Santa Muerte”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: http://www.agitprop666.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial, Trance, Tribal.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: LivingTotem is back on track unleashing its fourth full length album; the second released on Ant-Zen, this time in collaboration with Raumklang Music. LivingTotem is the sonic brainchild of Hungarian artist András Gulyás. 

Content: “Surreal Existence” moves on there where the previous work (cf. “Raw Effort”) stopped. The work is a new symbiosis between different influences, which are mainly driven by Industrial music, but achieved with Trance passages and Tribal percussion patterns. It’s an exciting production featuring songs that have been progressively built up, coming pretty close to a total climax. Some passages are more cinematographic, but globally speaking the Industrial-Trance & Tribal approach is ruling over this work. The last track features guest vocals (and also is the single cut with vocals) by Metal singer Attila Csihar.

+ + + : LivingTotem remains a great experience in sound, a project dealing with related music influences, but featuring less influences than other names in the genre. I’m not comparing this project to This Morn’Omina, but there are similar influences. Especially the Trance and Tribal parts make sense and create the project’s originality. The songs have been progressively built up and joined by overwhelming rhythmic. The last song featuring Attila Scihar is a great experiment and the single song that really ends in a total apotheosis. The album is however diversified, but definitely a total ravishment from start till finish. LivingTotem moves on composing music from a real high qualitative level!

– – – : I think a few songs are missing a total climax, which is maybe the difference with the previous work. It however is a great album I can only, but highly recommend.

Conclusion: If you’re in search of Industrial music with something extra and different from the mass, LivingTotem definitely sounds as one of the very few alternatives! This is a project definitely deserving more recognition!

Best songs: “Cyclone Of Haarp”, “Underwater Bonefires”, “Corruption-Friendly Comrade”, “Macrocosm Of Corpse Candidates”, “Yoshino Mausoleum”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/LivingTotem-1444034325824760

Label: www.ant-zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official

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

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

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Out right now is the massive collection “Prequel Extended” on which the Swedish cult act Cultivated Bimbo revisits its past. The compilation includes 222 tracks from before Cultivated Bimbo became Cultivated Bimbo, so we are speaking about the period between 1985-1990. It spans over 12 hours and includes 14 remixed, remastered and reconstructed tracks made during the last year as well.

Joacim Thenander: “This is a huge collection so allow some time and space for the download (8 GB Wav or 1 GB mp3).”

Included in the set are short song ideas, original versions of Cultivated Bimbo songs, complete demos from a time when cassette tapes were the only recording option. You will find versions that later became Cultivated Bimbo tracks, and notice samples you might have heard on Energy Rekords releases later on.

Also included as mentioned above are the 12 tracks that were released on CD (“Prequel”) earlier this year. They are now remastered and edited especially for this compilation. Two bonus tracks decorated 2020 are included as well. The quality of the recordings will vary wildly because of the recording equipment used, good or bad song ideas (the band’s words, not ours), instruments and so on.

But what was there before Cultivated Bimbo?

Early 1985, in a small village outside Uppsala, Sweden, two young boys (Joacim Thenander and Jonas Österdahl) start making music using an old Tandberg Reel-to-reel and a cheap keyboard. Their parents seems to like their new interest and start helping them financially with equipment for their “studio”.

Musically the band would switch from synth pop to EBM heavily influenced by bands such as Nitzer Ebb, Front 242 and à;GRUMH… The demo ”Pest” for instance features quite a few EBM tracks and they continue this on the cassette ”Die Die Mauer Bau” which also became their new name at that moment. Notice that the track “Corruption” would later be featured Cultivated Bimbo’s debut. The track was recorded first in 1988, re-recorded in 1990, re-re-recorded in 1991 and eventually re-re-re-re-recorded in 1993 as ”The Final Attempt” on ”Blasting In Progress”.

But let’s go back to the 2 young boys. A few months after starting to make music the first tracks are made and recorded and the duo decides to record under the name Buddhas Besättning, suggested by a good friend of Jonas – Henrik Araviadis. Henrik will be very involved with the band later on, especially on Cultivated Bimbo’s last album “Album. 1995.” as the third member.

Joacim and Jonas would do a last live gig under the name Buddhas Besättning in early 1990. One of the new tracks were very well received: ”Body-Mechanic”. One of the members of Systema The Affliction – Wiktor Wong – suggested a change in the chorus after he heard it. Back in the studio they made the changes and wrote some real lyrics (instead of the fake ones they used on stage). They then included the track on the new cassette ”This side of the terror”. This time the name of the band was Herr Capitan. The cassette also included a new version of ”Erleben Nicht Aus”. All tracks on this cassette except for ”Impulzus” were later included on different Cultivated Bimbo releases. ”Henry Spencer and the garden of evil” was renamed to ”Qui est quoi?”, and one of the tracks – ”Brutalize” – was re-sculpted and renamed to ”In Brief” when released on ”Tunes from a high wire”.

As Herr Capitan they re-record some stuff for a demo cassette and give it to Krister Svensson (Electronic Beat Association) in May 1990. The demo led to the band being signed just a few weeks later.

In the meantime (1988-1989) Joacim had also been picked up by the industrial synthetic band Angsttraum and toured Sweden. The year after the band changed their name to Systema The Affliction and released an album on Strontium Records. Most of the tracks were written and co-written by Joacim.

Joacim and Jonas were never really satisfied with the Herr Capitan-name, so when it was time to release the debut single on Electronic Beat Association they took the name Cultivated Bimbo. The story about where the name come from varies, the band themselves for instance told several made-up stories, but the truth is this: In 1987 the label Front Music Production released a compilation cassette featuring a bunch of small Swedish industrial electronic bands. One of those were Sound Manufacturers. Joacim absolutely loved their songs – especially one called ”Cultivated beauty”. Joacim talked to a good friend of his – Michael Janvid – about taking the name for his band. Michael, who was studying philosophy, suggested that they should replace ”beauty” into ”bimbo”. That would be paradoxical and much more interesting.

Late in the autumn of 1990 Cultivated Bimbo released the ”Configuration 1″ EP on Electronic Beat Association. This would be their only release on that label. A few weeks later the label would be merged with two other labels – Energy and Front Music Production – and Energy Rekords was born.

Another EP “Configuration 2” followed in 1991 just like the band’s debut vinyl album “Tunes From A High Wire”, which later in 1992 was re-released on CD holding the Depeche Mode cover “Something To Do” and some other extra tracks. Also in 1992 the EP “Blasting In Progress” was released followed in 1993 by the full album “Your Useful Guide To Life” in 1993. In 1995 we got the “Album. 1995.”

Since then it became silent around the eccentric band, until 2020 when “Prequel” was released, a very small teaser for this mastodont of a back catalogue release which is out now.

Check out the 222 tracks 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.

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Out now is New Order’s first new track since 2015’s album “Music Complete”. “Be a Rebel” was originally planned as a release ahead of New Order’s tour this autumn, but with live shows on hold and their dates re-scheduled to 2021, the band decided to release it anyhow. The track is a typical, but good, New Order track.

The single is available digitally now and will be followed by 12” vinyl, CD, and digital bundle formats featuring remixes.

New Order will also release the definitive collection of their 1983 studio album “Power, Corruption & Lies” via Warner Music on October 2. The box set will be accompanied by individual releases of the four 12” vinyl singles from 1983/1984 that didn’t appear on the original album, beginning with “Blue Monday,” followed by “Confusion,” “Thieves Like Us,” and “Murder.”

Re-scheduled tour dates

Here are the dates for the rescheduled The Unity Tour 2021 (* co-headline with Pet Shop Boys):

• September 18 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage *
• September 20 – Boston, MA – Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion *
• September 22 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden *
• September 25 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann *
• September 28 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion *
• October 1 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion *
• October 3 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory *
• October 7 – Vancouver, BC – Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena *
• October 9 – George, WA – Gorge Amphitheatre *
• October 13 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center *
• October 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl *
• October 16 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl *

And there will also be a special one-off London headline show on November 6 in London at the O2.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Los Angeles based industrial metal act Dawn of Ashes announces its new album “The Antinomian” on Artoffact Records. “The Antinomian” is the follow-up to their 2019 album “The Crypt Injection II”.

Lyrically “The Antinomian” explores humanity’s possible downfall as it blindly follows it’s leaders. Vocalist and composer, Kristof Bathory expands on the inspiration behind the album: “We are witnessing a critical era where a mass amount of human beings follow a herd mentality. Corruption is all around us and our leaders are the ones who are planting this seed. Society is full of mindless machines who live their lives to bow down to the wretched ones. Hollow and empty there is nothing inside.”

The Antinomian will be released July 10th on Artoffact Records worldwide. The lyric video for their new song Pawns of the Wretched can be seen 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.

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When in 1991 the Depeche Mode tribute album “I Sometimes Wish I Was Famous: A Swedish Tribute to Depeche Mode”, the very first Depeche Mode tribute album ever, was released via the Swedish label Energy Rekords, many non-Scandinavian electronic music fans suddenly got acces to a series of good Swedish bands they had never heard of before, except for Cat Rapes Dog who were by then already distributed by the now defunct KK Records. Bands like S.P.O.C.K., Scapa Flow, Elegant Machinery, Page, Pouppée Fabrikk, Inside Treatment, etc. had gotten quite a big platform (the compilation sold over 70.000 copies if memory serves us right) to represent their sound.

Another band was also present on that compilation, the Uppsala-based duo Cultivated Bimbo with their cover of “New Life”. The band debuted with their 12″ “Configuration 1” on the classic label Electronic Beat Association which later became part of Energy Rekords. Cultivated Bimbo alwasy has been quite an unpredictable band with a sounds constantly changing: they started out as a synthpop / industrial duo but switched to hip hop, rap and even metal and hardcore. The first EPs “Configuration 1 + 2” (1991) were typical synthpop / EBM while the first album “Tunes From A High Wire” (1991) was more industrial. But one year later when the EP “Blasting In Progress” (1992) was released they had switched to hip-hop a direction continued on the full length “Your Useful Guide To Life” (1993). From “98.66” (1994) on they went for a metal sound and on their last album “Album. 1995.” (1995) we got a mix of straight rock / hardcore / rap.

Unpredictable, we told you. And there’s more, on the above picture you see Joacim Thenander (Wallin at the time) and Heidi Martens. Heidi sang on the 2 Depeche Mode covers the band recorded (“New Life” and “Something To Do”). She was however never a member of the band. Ö-dahl simply couldn’t join the photo session, so Heidi was dressed in toilet paper to cover her up.

The past revisited on new album

But the band is back now with the album “Prequel” (limited to 500 copies). For the occasion Joacim Thenander (who is nowadays also the band Maschine Brennt) has taken 12 classic tracks and totally remade and reshaped them to fit into a more of a 2020 standard.

Included on the this release you’ll find new versions of “Impulzus”, “Slaugher House”, “Brutalize”, “Walking on Acid”, “Pain”, “Corruption”, “Horst”, “Brain Diggers”, “Assassin”, “Take No.5”, “Fascisma” and “Mr Rubber”.

Here’s a teaser for the album:

And here’s the track “Corruption” in its original version as the older readers will remember.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Genre/Influences:  Electro-wave, wave-pop, minimal-electro.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Black Snow In Summer is a Belgian project that has been active for several years. Driven by Kurt Vanhollebeke and joined since early 2019 by the new female singer Corina Baekeland, “Shadows At Night ” appears to be the debut work of this band. “Shadows At Night” has been mastered by Mika Goedrijk (This Morn’Omina).  

Content: The work is clearly driven by the spirit of 80s electro and new-wave music. It creates a minimal sound effect reminding me of the good-old magic of analogue gear. The female vocals have this sterile expression reminding the true spirit of early new/cold-wave music. Some passages are more into half-spoken format. The work features 7 songs, which remain pretty short. The opening- and last cut are instrumental versions.

+ + + : I’ve always loved the minimalism of the 80s electro-wave movement and especially this unique, analogue sound. That’s what this work is all about; the cadence of a good-old rhythm box merged with icy tunes and sweeping effects. On top of it all you’ll hear a rather emotionless vocal production.

– – – : I get the feeling the writing of the songs can be still a bit more elaborated, but without losing the great minimal feeling.

Conclusion: There’re not enough Belgian formations dealing with this kind of music so Dark Snow In Summer is an interesting newcomer, which will appeal to fans of Absolute Body Control, Enzo Kreft and co.

Best songs: “Leaving Me”, “Run”, “Power And Corruption”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Black–Snow–In–Summer-388543957916596

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

Numb is a Canadian electronic formation that saw the daylight in 1986. The band was driven by Don Gordon, David Hall and Sean Stubbs. Singer David Collins joined the band in 1995. Numb started as an electronic formation, but the sound progressively evolved towards a harsh and merciless industrial sound. Numb on stage was a bit like facing a merciless noise wall. They released several successful albums on major companies such as KK Records and Zoth Ommog. The band splitted in 1998 and instigator Don Gordon moved to Vietnam. Twenty one years after the last album “Language Of Silence” released by the long-time defunct Zoth Ommog, Numb strikes back with a noticeable electro-driven opus “Mortal Geometry”. The work got released on Metropolis Records and reveals a somewhat old-school, fascinating electronic creation. It talked about it with Don Gordon.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Mortal Geometry” stands for the return of Numb, but also the return of Don Gordon as musician/composer. How do you look back at the past years, the feeling to be no longer releasing new music and what incited you to strike back and writing this new work?

Don: After completing “Language Of Silence” and “Halo_Gen” in 1999/2000 I had intended on taking a break from Numb. However, this break extended for longer than originally planned due to a number of opportunities that I was able to pursue when I arrived in Vietnam. That being said, the limited amount of Numb material released over the last 20 years (ie. remixes for other artists and some compilations/re-issues) doesn’t reflect a lack of activity on my part in other areas of music/sound production. After moving to Vietnam I focused more on commissions, commercial sound design and production rather than Numb. A couple of highlights from the commissions included writing and performing the music for “Missed Connections”, a video installation work by artist Richard Streitmatter-Tran that is now part of the Singapore Art Museum permanent collection. The track “The Waiting Room”, which is included on “Mortal Geometry”, had its origins as a short 30-second soundtrack for a YouTube promotional clip to the novella of the same name by the literary erotica author Remittance Girl. 

I was also engaged in audio production work in advertising and teaching music/sound production at a university in Vietnam.

About 3 years ago, I started writing material as a personal response to the social/political changes I was seeing and Numb felt like the relevant instrument through which to comment… “Mortal Geometry” is the outcome of this.

Q: You are a kind of veteran, who has seen it all; you have been involved with music since the 80s, you released multiple successful albums with different projects, you played live all over the world, worked with prominent record companies etc. How do you look back at it all and what have been the main changes/evolutions throughout the years?

Don: A complete answer to this could probably fill a book but to summarize a few observations:

-The evolution of music technologies from the 80’s through to the present day has completely transformed the way in which I write, record and produce music. The creative/technical potential that I have to work with in my home studio was unimaginable not so many years ago.

-The mass adoption of digital media technologies has radically changed how music is consumed and used by audiences as well as redefining the relationship between artists and their fans.

-The music databases at Spotify, Apple etc have created this interesting scenario in which they both provide an incredible resource for music fans and musicians while at the same time creating a situation in which new artists are now competing for attention with the whole history of recorded music

Q: “Mortal Geometry” sounds a bit like ‘going back to the roots’, but what kind of album did you want to compose and what means this album to you compared to previous Numb-productions?

Don: From the outset I intended for “Mortal Geometry” feel contemporary, but recognized that at the same time it also needed to evoke a sense of continuity with previous Numb releases. One of the ways this was accomplished was to consciously reference elements of earlier Numb to act as a bridge… a bit like picking up on a lapsed conversation with an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time through the introduction of some familiar ideas and then to build on these as the foundation for new explorations.

The actual approach to production for “Mortal Geometry” was quite different from previous releases reflecting both changes in technology and in the fact that as a solo production I was able to bring the vocals into the process earlier on. This allowed for a more tightly integrated link between the music, lyrics and vocal delivery.

Q: Next to the harder songs I also noticed cinematic/ambient passages running through “Mortal Geometry”. Where do they come from and do you’ve references and/or favorite artists when it comes to this specific music genre?

Don: Numb-releases have always included aggressive industrial/EDM tracks along with abstract/cinematic tracks. On “Mortal Geometry” this is more pronounced as there are several instances in which both aggressive and cinematic elements are combined within a single track.

I still think of an album as an integrated whole through which the listener navigates, rather than as a collection individual tracks.

My interest in cinematic/abstract music goes way back to my first hearing of releases like side 2 of Bowie’s “Low”-album, early Berlin period Tangerine Dream and composers like Edgard Varese. My exposure to traditional Asian musical forms over the last 20 years, in particular Gamelan and Smot, has furthered this interest. There is an abstract trance-like quality to this music that is particularly strong when experienced live.

Q: You said you started to write new songs ‘as a personal response to the social/political changes’ so what did you try to express with the album title and the lyrical content of the album?

Don: The title and artwork reflect a convergence of different themes that are explored on the album. Living in Asia for the last 20 years has had a massive influence on me so it was important that the cover art visually capture an element of this experience.  The visual core of the artwork is a series of images by Andrew Stiff who produces ‘extrusion photographs’ as a part of his PhD research. In particular he is looking at the application of Tschumi’s architectural theories of space, event, and movement in the context of the (destructive) urbanization in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. This approach to representation easily extends to include how digital technologies are mapping/recording our lives as data points within spatial geometries over time… in essence, surveillance to predict and control. In parallel to this there is the impact of digital disruption on communications/media that corrupt and erode meaning by intent (editing/redaction/hacking), error (glitch), spectacle and apathy… and through this, a death of social rationality. So “Mortal Geometry” is a kind of metaphor for this convergence visualized through an Asian lens.

Lyrically the album presents a number of themes that reappear across the different tracks. The challenge was to present these in a manner that draws a listener in rather than coming across as didactic… to seduce and entertain rather than having the listener feel that they are being lectured to. I think that Mortal Geometry has been successful in this.

“Redact” is very much a reaction to the corruption of language and meaning in the media-sphere to ultimately redefine a new compliant ‘reality’ that aligns with the narrative of those wanting power and control. It contextualizes ideas presented in the novel “1984” within the modern media environment of social media, commercialized news, contemporary technologies and the rise of authoritarianism. “When Gravity Fails” reflects some of the same issues but presents this more from the perspective society becoming increasing divided and falling apart.

“Hush”, suggests that rather than the dystopian cyber-punk futures, or a technological utopian futures suggested by some… these have been replaced by a ‘future’ that looks suspiciously like the past and which in turn looks like the present… a kind of ‘forever now’ loop. Mark Fisher and others have written about this sense of ‘haunted by lost futures’, the ‘persistent recycling of the past’ and an ‘inability to escape old social forms’.

“Complicit Silence” builds further on some of these themes while at the same time rejecting a simplistic, homogenous view of society. Silence is about so much more than just an absence of sound. Its power comes from what it reveals or makes you confront… the objects, events and ideas that are normally masked or unspoken and as a result gain an acceptance just through their being. Noise, on the other hand, is about immersion in complexity, diversity and change…qualities that I see as desirable. So the line ‘resurrect the worlds of noise’ is a call to embrace this.

“How It Ends” is about lost opportunities, a society contracting on itself, a focus on spectacle over the real and the rise of the sense of ‘the other’ through the distancing of human interaction.

Instrumental tracks like “The Waiting Room”, “Shadow Play” and “Mortal Geometry” reflect aspects of my time living in Asia while the ‘morality of altitude’ theme from the first Numb-album finds a new expression on “Mortal Geometry” in the track “Summer Lawns”.

Q: I think too much bands are sharing a similar sound today while “Mortal Geometry” sounds as a truly antidote! I can’t understand the more equipment and facilities so-called ‘artists’ have the less creative they become! What makes “Mortal Geometry” different from the rest and what means ‘creativity’ to you?

Don: For me creativity is a process in which an initial core idea gets translated into a final form which successfully communicates its intended ideas and emotional context. The challenge in this is in developing the core idea into the larger form that both amplifies and reinforces the initial inspiration without losing its essence. This can be harder than it might seem and for me is where most of the effort is applied. Interesting core ideas often come out of improvisations or  ‘planned accidents’ which help you get beyond your own habits and the strictures of hardware/software interfaces that try to force you into a particular way of interacting with them.

“Mortal Geometry” succeeds at a number of levels. It is a very personal statement that incorporates a diverse range of experiences and influences; it challenges the listener with new ideas while still retaining a sense of familiarity.

The ‘early’ decades of electronic music coincided with quantum leaps in music technologies… the introduction of drum machines, analog/FM/wavetable/digital synths, samplers, etcetera. This meant that musicians, both through intent and chance, were creating new timbres, forms and genres that had never been heard before almost by default. While music technology is still evolving today these changes are much more incremental so the seeming quantum leaps in creativity appear to be fewer. Also, electronic music has been with us for at least 40+ years and as a result has developed a canon in much the same way that rock or classical music has. One outcome of this is that new electronic music tends to be viewed and contextualized against this framework by audiences and artists.

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