A special event titled The Black Lodge Ball will take place on May 9, 2025, at Fallout in Richmond, Virginia, celebrating the life and work of late filmmaker David Lynch. The evening also marks the release of “Protection Spells”, the new album by dream pop artist Ships In The Night.

The event will feature live performances by Ships In The Night, alongside the dark pop sounds of NYC’s NOIR and North Carolina’s synth project Solemn Shapes. DJs Bobby Metronome and Xris Smack will provide Lynch-inspired dance sets throughout the night.

Organizers describe the event as “a place both wonderful and strange,” inviting guests to dress in “anything otherworldly or unsettling, sultry or strange.” Costumes are strongly encouraged.

There are early discussions about expanding The Black Lodge Ball to additional locations, with organizers mentioning the possibility of future events in towns reminiscent of Lumberton or Twin Peaks. More information is available on the event page: The Black Lodge Ball on Facebook.

Here’s a video to get into the spirit of the event.

About Ships In The Night

Ships In The Night is the musical project of Alethea Leventhal, based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Blending dream pop, darkwave, and ethereal synths, Ships In The Night debuted with the album “Myriologues” in 2016, followed by “Latent Powers” in 2021.

Leventhal’s work often explores themes of memory, loss, and otherworldly landscapes. “Protection Spells” continues this trajectory.

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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David Lynch passed away on January 15, 2025, at the age of 78. Diagnosed with emphysema in 2020, he had been reliant on supplemental oxygen for daily activities.

About David Lynch

David (Keith) Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 15, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, and musician, known for his surreal storytelling. Born in Missoula, Montana, Lynch’s early years were marked by frequent relocations due to his father’s occupation as a research scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His childhood lifestyle exposed him to various American landscapes, which later influenced the settings of his films.

Initially wanting to become a painter, Lynch studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. It was during his time in Philadelphia that he began experimenting with moving images, leading to his first short films. His debut cult feature, “Eraserhead” (1977), was a nightmarish and surreal narrative.

Lynch’s subsequent works further solidified his reputation as a master of blending the mundane with the macabre. “The Elephant Man” (1980) resulted in multiple Academy Award nominations. Other cult successes include “Blue Velvet” (1986) and of course the television series “Twin Peaks” (1990–1991).

In 2001, Lynch released “Mulholland Drive”. The narrative weaves the journey of Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), an aspiring actress who arrives in Los Angeles, with that of an amnesiac woman (Laura Harring) recovering from a car accident. What followed was a quest to uncover the woman’s identity, and also a clear look at the treacherous facets of Hollywood.

Beyond filmmaking, Lynch was a painter, musician, and advocate for Transcendental Meditation. He also founded the David Lynch Foundation to promote its benefits.

David Lynch’s final feature film was the experimental psychological thriller “Inland Empire”, released in 2006. It stars Laura Dern as an actress whose reality becomes increasingly mixed with the character she portrays.

In 2017, Lynch returned to television with “Twin Peaks: The Return,” an 18-episode continuation of the original series. Lynch’s last directorial work was the short film “What Did Jack Do?” in 2017, featuring himself as a detective interrogating a monkey. The film was later released on Netflix in 2020.

In 2024, Lynch revealed that he had been diagnosed with emphysema, which limited his mobility and ability to direct in person.

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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Today History of Guns present the short film “Drug Castle” which is also accompanied by the companion 3-track remix single, “Last Train to Drug Castle”, featuring remixes and alternate versions of the single tracks. The video follows the releases videos for the tracks “No Longer Earthbound”, “When You Don’t Matter”, and “What’s Buried (Will Rise)”.

The short film is made for one of the more experimental parts of their latest album, “Half Light”, in which they take their instruments to the beach, and experiment with different audio and emotional frequencies, “in an effort to contact beings from another world.”

Filmed, directed and edited by Howard Gardner, the short film “Drug Castle” comprises two tracks from History of Guns’ eighth album, “Half Light”: namely, “Drug Castle” and “Survive the Night”.

Producer, co-writer and keyboard player/programmer Max Rael says: “Drug Castle was the nickname given to a facility in England where they used to conduct what were often unethical, experimental, psychological procedures during the ‘60s and ‘70s. No one’s quite sure of its exact location, other than it was near the sea, and some of the sessions happened out on the beach. It was originally built for use in World War II, but no one seems to know what its original purpose was. Different psychologists and psychiatrists could effectively book it out, and then take patients or unwitting volunteers down there for however long, and do whatever they liked. There are some good stories from people who received really helpful treatment there, but it’s probably more famous for some of the awful horror stories and reports of deaths and extreme abuse. Apparently, there was very liberal use of experimental drugs and techniques, hence the nickname. One of the experimental treatments was called Frequency Therapy which involved using sonic frequencies to match or harmonise with emotional frequencies, which would cause a third frequency to be created, which caused some quite profound healing and bizarre experiences.”

“I first told Howard about the sci-fi plot I had for the album, one night after a few drinks when we were at Infest together a good few years ago. He’s been a solid, trusted and much-loved friend and collaborator on a range of projects over the years, so this seemed a perfect chance to continue our collaboration.”

Max Rael and filmmaker Howard Gardner are also collaborators in London-based experimental electronic trio, Decommissioned Forests. Gardner describes the process behind the Drug Castle film: “I listened to the tracks for the first time in a darkened room and they absolutely blew me away, so bleak and powerful was the imagery. I imagined the band all sitting around a campfire at night near the shore, playing the song while being plagued by demonic hallucinations or visions. I described this impression to the band, and they absolutely loved it, so we went from there. I’m a huge fan of David Lynch and I often solve filmmaking problems by trying to imagine what he might do. This was certainly the case with ‘Drug Castle’. Owing to the song’s length I imagined a slow-burning and ambiguous narrative with harsh lighting thrown by the fire, with slow edits and dissolves. For some of the more way-out visuals I took inspiration from Lucio Fulci (the decayed corpse-like figure) and The KLF (the trio of handmaidens sitting on the rocks). We shot it in a single evening in June, down on the Kent coast, and the band were very good-natured and cooperative the whole way – even when I asked Del to lie in the freezing cold sea and be splattered with fake blood. Max got an antique oscilloscope to work in the middle of a beach without any mains power, for which I think he deserves some sort of commendation!.”

Guitarist and co-writer, Caden Clarkson, who is both the newest addition to the group in its current iteration, and Rael’s son, says of both the recording and the video: “On ‘Drug Castle’ I had to take a different approach to what I’d normally do. I used the guitar as less of an instrument, and more of a means to create rich and somewhat haunting textures and soundscapes. I also used my Theremin to add the click beeping sounds and higher frequencies. The video recording was not at all what I had expected. When I read the script saying that Del would have to lay partially in the sea, I thought there would be no chance he’d do it, but he jumped right in and did such an amazing job of it, it was genuinely impressive to watch.”

Vocalist and co-writer, Del Alien adds: “I had not seen Howard in years! It was great to see him again. He had the video all planned out way before we got there. The last bit of the film was shot first, as it had to be in daylight, but I had to get on the beach with the freezing cold waves slightly coming up – sadly for me, I hate the cold! But to the others, great laughter was had. We misjudged the tide at one point, and I got frigging washed over! Luckily, Howard could see how bloody cold I was, and did that bit of the filming as fast as he could. And I must say, I think the end result of a very long and challenging day paid off.”

About History of Guns

Formed in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire in 1996, the duo became frontrunners of the Wasp Factory / FuturePunk scene of the early 2000s. The band went on hiatus in 2012, returning with 2022’s album “Forever Dying In Your Eyes” before setting about finishing an electronic project they’d begun in 2008 – resulting in “Half Light”.

The starting point for this album lays in Robert Anton Wilson’s words “The future is up for grabs; it belongs to any and all who will take the risk and accept the responsibility of consciously creating the future they want.” The release contains elements of a story currently being written as a novel by Max Rael, with these 10 tracks exploring inner and outer space.

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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Eric and Jeremy Hanes set up Spankthenun in 2019. The duo released an impressive number of top notch singles, albums and remixes. Dealing with a powerful mix of EBM and Dark-Electro the Hanes-brothers never stopped improving their work. The last year self-released album “The Bunker Tapes Vol.III” was a new masterpiece driven by solid bass lines, icy sound treatments, danceable rhythms and harsh vocals. I asked a few questions to Eric Hanes to get a bit more details about Spankthenun.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Let’s traditionally start by asking you about the background of Spankthenun? How did the project saw the daylight and what  brought you together?

Eric: Spankthenun began as an idea between my brother and I. We knew we wanted to do something with music but the original idea was more of a Love And Rockets meets Joy Division, with a full band. We experimented with that format for a while and had fun with it. We had trouble holding onto the guitar player and the drummer and stopped playing but kept writing. A number of years later I started experimenting with drum machines, DAWs and synths and started putting a new concept together. Writing a bunch of tracks, but with no plan for release. In 2019, I sent a few demos out to different producers looking for help with mixing and mastering… we ended up with a bunch of tracks, including a collab with Claus Larsen; he really helped us see the potential of what we had. He helped explain a few things to us that really set us on our journey. We worked with Scott Fox (iVardensphere) on mixing the album; he taught me the basics, and we pulled together the first album, which we released as Spankthenun.

Q: I think you set up Spankthenun in 2019 and already released an impressive number of works featuring three albums. How comes you’re that prolific and what means music vs. Spankthenun to you?

Eric:The first artist that agreed to work with us on a remix or production was Zoog Von Rock, he really gave us the confidence to push things forward and do it for real. Next, Claus Larsen agreed to work on “Rotting Meat” and took the time to help us understand songwriting better. We knew how to get what sounded good to us, but we didn’t really understand the concepts of melody and choruses and repeating what worked. Claus helped us understand that in a way that never made sense to us. The original “Rotting Meat” track we sent him did not have a chorus, he identified a hook in a random bridge we did and turned that into a chorus with a very strong hook that is powerful in the live shows and the club.

I also believe in being creative every day. As soon as I wake up I go into the studio and work for an hour on something new. I also like to end the day in the studio, especially if I am dead tired. I find that time to be a super creative time. I often create a complete track in an hour if I start on it at 2 am and in bed by 3 am. Other times, I get two or three good sketches down, and I forget about them until a few days or weeks later when I discover them again. There is something about being tired and being creative. I rarely get ‘writer’s block’. I subscribe to the David Lynch way of combating it. Keep your space you work in conducive to creativity and ideas. Have different things to work on when something isn’t working out. So, if I get stuck on a track or can’t come up with a good hook to get started. I’ll switch over to another artist’s track and remix, or I’ll switch over to the graphic side of things and design an album cover.

Q: Can you give us details about your perception of sound? Do you’ve a specific way of working together and references plus sources of inspiration when writing your music?

Eric: I have to have a hook in our songs; I put a hook in every song. Usually, it’s a bassline. Our basslines are often the melody of the track, too. I start with the bassline and kick and get a hook that works. if it works on that basic level, I keep working on it. I spend about 10 minutes doing that; if it doesn’t work in 10 minutes, I dump it and move on to a new one. Industrial music gives you some liberties to use more noise and unconventional sounds, so sometimes I like to take the bassline and transpose to a weird glitch or white noise or machine sample and bury the hook in there. 

My brother and I write many of the tracks independently; he will send me the tracks he is working on, and I will finish them. We can write separately but write tracks that still work together. I will create a set of sounds that we both use. I create a template with a kick and percussion, snares, a bass, and a lead sound. So we are working with the same template many times.

Q: Your newest album “The Bunker Tapes Vol.III” is the last part to a trilogy dealing about ‘a fictitious 30 year career of a band that never really existed, covering influences from 1994 – 2024.’ What is it all about and how did you transpose the concept of this trilogy into music?

Eric: I have a strong affinity for the 1994 Industrial club music, something about that era really speaks to me, but I also am really hooked on modern new music and pushing the boundaries on what is labeled Industrial or Dark-Electro music. We came up with the concept at the beginning of Covid in early 2020 right after we released our first album. My brother sent my 8 tracks in less than a week that nailed that 1994 sound. We had about 20 songs within a month and realized we needed to split these up. That is when it occurred to us not just to focus on 1994 but to make something that transcended eras and moved us into the modern world of Industrial-Bass, Cyber-Punk, and EDM.

Q: All songs from the new album have been first released as singles. What’s the idea behind it and how important is it today to releases singles versus albums? Do you’ve favorite songs and remixes from the new album?

Eric: In the scheme of things the ‘music industry’ has been around for the blink of an eye. Less than 100 years and even those 100 years we have seen it dramatically shift; the last big shift was with smartphones and putting any music we want to listen to at our fingertips. When our kids group up, they will never know about record stores and physical media; it won’t make sense why you would have those. In reality, those existed for a very short amount of time. But many people grew up with that and still want that, and it’s nostalgic, and it’s how they know things work. Streaming is here to stay, anyone can upload music. The reality is that 60% of uploaded music is never listened to. You still have to put in the work to get your music heard. We have opportunities to reach more people than ever before. Right now, releasing one track at a time makes the most sense. More people want a single bite than the whole album. Fewer people want 12 songs than 1 or 2 songs at a time. I am fascinated by the marketing side of things and enjoy solving that challenge.

When we switched from an album release strategy to a single release strategy, we went from less than 500 to 20,000 streams a month within three months. With singles, we get added to new playlists and saves every week; with an album, it’s one and done. The old release strategy doesn’t make sense to most new artists. We still do make physical media for the fans who really want it. With this album, we added some exclusive tracks to the physical media that are not on the digital stuff. This world we live in has always been an adapt-or-die world.

Q: I think the artwork must be very important as well. Tell us a bit more about this aspect and what did you want to express?

Eric: The artwork is also important to me; I like seeing that cool, dark, weird image pop up on the phone or the display in the car when listening to something new; it adds to the atmosphere of the track. Early on we worked with different artists on art concepts. We worked with a now very popular fantasy artist known for his work on Magic: The Gathering and D&D. Then we started seeking out more obscure artists that were just getting started. But the reality is we are finishing a new track every week, and we need so much art that it is just easier for me to do it most of the time. I do enjoy doing it and it gives me another way to explore the vibe of a track while I am working on it. Many artists I do remixes for will tell you I also do a remix of the artwork.

Q: I noticed you already announced new live dates in the US. What kind of live band is Spankthenun and how does a live performance looks like? 

Eric: We did some shows earlier this year and are locking in dates for the summer. We just played a show with LEATHER STRIP, which was something we have wanted to do for a long time. Bring things full circle for us. The crowd at that show was great and energetic. Our goal is to have fun, get the crowd shouting the lyrics back at us, jumping up and down, and going crazy. We are very interactive with the crowd. We bring a very high-energy show. We played a show with Piggy D (Rob Zombie, Manson Fame), and his crowd was made up of ROB ZOMBIE fans. When we walked out on stage, people were yelling, ‘Where are the guitars?!’ within 10 seconds of starting the show with our track “Dominate”, the crowd was moshing and dancing and completely forgot about us not having guitars.

Most of the crowds we play for have never heard of us, yet we get them chanting along the whole time. We pride ourselves on a high-quality professional show that sounds as best as it can at any venue.

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: Dark-Wave, Post-Punk, Minimal-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Legendary French 80s formation Norma Loy are back on track. Seven years have passed since the previous album “Baphomet” which already was a come-back album. Core members ‘Usher’ and ‘Chelsea’ joined hands together with a few guests to bring us twelve cover versions.

Content: You’ll discover cover versions of very famous artists like the unavoidable Suicide but also Minimal Compact, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Nico, The Velvet Underground, Tuxedomoon, Throbbing Gristle, Factrix, David Lynch, Coil and… Norma Loy. The songs have been meticulously transposed into the dark, haunting, and sometimes minimal style of Norma Loy. You easily recognize most of the songs and their original sound but they’ve been recovered with a darker touch mixing guitar and electronics.

+ + + : I mostly have reservations about cover albums but the way this opus has been accomplished is absolutely great and magical. You easily recognize songs from artists like Suicide, Throbbing Gristle and even Leonard Cohen but Norma Loy adapted the songs in their own, obscure, interpretation. From pure Post-Punk and Dark-Wave to Minimal-Wave the work is versatile and yet compact. Most of the songs are fully accomplished featuring porcelain sound treatments on top but I especially recommend listening to the subdued “Saeta” (Nico), the rough and minimal driven “Touch Me” (Suicide), the harder, Dark-Wave sounding “Romance” (which is a 2022 version from an older Norma Loy song), the good-old Dark/Cold-Wave like “A Night To Forget” (Factrix) and the somewhat Ritual-orientated “Ritual Of The Mind” (Coil).

– – – : The single cut which couldn’t convince me is the Bowie-cover “Some Are”.

Conclusion: Cover albums always are a bit of a challenge but “Ouroboros” sounds as a refreshing Dark-Wave / Post-Punk piece of music.

Best songs: “A Night To Forget”, “Touch Me”, “Ritual Of The Mind”, “Saeta”, “Romance”, “Venus In Furs”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/NormaLoyOfficiel

Label: www.manicdepressionrecords.com / www.facebook.com/manicdepressionrecords

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 Tarik Essamamni) Paris-based French post-gothic group Alien Mekanik has launched their second album titled “La Colere De Dieu”. Alien Mekanik’s new album is accessible for streaming and in CD format through the French label Musiko_eye.

Drawing inspiration from a diverse range of musical influences, including Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, and Front Line Assembly, the band released their debut album “Apostasie” in 2021.

Alien Mekanik was established by Olivier Korbo, a former member of Tétines Noires, La Souris Déglinguée, and Collapse, along with guitarist Quentin, who has a black metal background from bands such as Acedia Mundi, The Owl Cave, and Spectral Void, and drummer Ibo.

Their work primarily explores themes of death, fear, belief, and chaos. In terms of lyrics, the band finds inspiration in the works of Louis Aragon (“Les soleils révolus”), French avant-garde writer Antonin Artaud, and film directors like Jean Cocteau, David Lynch, John Carpenter, and Stanley Kubrick, from whose movies they also incorporate samples.

Here is a sneak peek of the album.

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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Don’t Get Lemon, a danceable pop trio based in Austin and Houston, Texas is back with an all new single, “Blow-Up”.

Sharing a name with Michaelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 swinging London film, Don’t Get Lemon’s “Blow-Up” has lyrics that are partially pieced together borrowing from William Burroughs cut-up technique and images inspired by David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet”.

The trio describes their sound as ‘heatwave’ and their debut album “Hyper Hollow Heaven” was released in March via the independent label à La Carte Records. Don’t Get Lemon consists of vocalist Austin Curtis, synth/guitar/drum programmer Nick Ross and bass player / percussionist Bryan Walters.

Don’t Get Lemon was also featured on our recent “Post​-​Punk (Genesis)” compilation with the excellent track “Working Man’s Ballet”.

But here’s the brand new single, “Blow-Up”.

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: Experimental, Abstract, Dark-Ambient.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Canadian Francis Theberge is part of a video art group called TiND (thisisnotdesign), but he’s also composing music. After having released several EP’s he now unleashes his debut album.

Content: The sound universe of this artist is mainly driven by Experimental music. The tracks sound like collages where field recordings and sonic manipulations have been merged together. The work is supported by a hostile atmosphere, which is now and then evolving into Dark-Ambient passages.

+ + + : I especially like the darkest passages of the work, which have an post-apocalyptic appeal. “V” is a noticeable cut revealing this obscure and ominous sphere.

– – – : This is not exactly the most accessible music. It sounds Abstract and would be more credible when joined by visual arts -which I guess is what must happen by the video art group this artist is member from.

Conclusion: Francis Theberge makes me think to movies of David Lynch; fascinating but hard to catch the story.

Best songs: “V”, “XI”, “IV”.

Rate: 6.

Artist: www.facebook.com/cecinestpasdesign

Label: www.adventurousmusic.com / www.facebook.com/adventurousmusic

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

English musician Barry Adamson came to prominence in the late 1970s as a member of the post-punk band Magazine and went on to work with Visage, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and the electro musicians Pan Sonic. In addition to prolific solo work, Adamson has also remixed Grinderman, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Recoil and Depeche Mode. He for instance created the seven-minute opus “Useless (Escape From Wherever: Pts. 1 & 2!)” remix for the latter band in 1997. He also worked on the soundtrack for David Lynch’s surrealistic crime film Lost Highway.

He has now announced details of a series of long out of print catalogue releases on Mute, starting with the white vinyl edition of his 1996 album, “Oedipus Schmoedipus”, limited to 1000 copies, out on 29 July 2022. This 1996 album features collaborations with Nick Cave, The Associates’ Billy Mackenzie and Jarvis Cocker. You can listen to a new edit of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis” featuring Cocker right below.

The reissue series continues on 23 September with the “Stranger on the Sofa” album (2006), available for the first time on vinyl (pressed initially as double red vinyl), and “Back to the Cat” (2008) on clear vinyl – both originally on Adamson’s own Central Control label – alongside a strictly limited edition (1000 copies) antique blue vinyl issue of 2021’s “Steal Away” EP of new songs, originally released digitally on Mute.

Then, on 2 December “I Will Set You Free” (2012) and “Know Where To Run” (2016), get the reissue treatment (on curacao and silver vinyl, respectively) before Mute continues the series, reissuing Adamson’s entire catalogue.

Currently working on a new album, Barry Adamson published the first part of his memoir “Up Above the City, Down Beneath the Stars” (Omnibus press) in 2021.

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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Out on August 26 is the full-length debut album “Display Model” by the US act Harsh Symmetry. It’s the second release for the band on Fabrika Records Following the release of the darkwave debut single “Mirror Twin”. The debut album is mixed and mastered by She Past Away’s Doruk Öztürkcan.

Hailing from Sacramento, California, the band’s founding only member Sharwarko was influenced by Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Birthday Party, Iggy Pop, Depeche Mode and Bauhaus, plus David Lynch’s work.

The new album will come out in 3 different vinyl versions as you can see below. A black vinyl, a white vinyl (limited edition of 300 copies) and a white and black splattered one (limited edition of 400 copies).

Check out the first single “Mirror Twin” below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The American singer Julee Cruise has died at the age of 65. Her husband announced the sad news on Facebook.

Cruise became world famous with the song “Falling”, the title song of the cult series “Twin Peaks”.

It wasn’t the only time that Julee Cruise worked with director David Lynch. In 1986 she sang the song “Mysteries of Love” that could be heard during the last scenes of the film “Blue Velvet”. Angelo Badalamenti composed the music for this song. Badalamenti also made the music for “Twin Peaks”, including the title song. The composer brought the singer to the attention of director David Lynch in 1986 after hearing her sing at a workshop.

She also had minor appearances as a roadhouse singer in “Twin Peaks”, both the original series and the 1992 movie, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”.

The song “Falling” was on the first album that Cruise made, in 1989. The instrumental version was used for the series. In total, the singer recorded four albums but also wrote a lot of music for theatrical performances, such as the Shakespeare parody “Return to the Forbidden Planet”. In addition, Cruise toured with other formations, such as the B-52’s and Bobby McFerrin.

Cruise also worked with other musicians, mostly in electronic music. She for instance provided the vocals for Delerium’s “Magic” song (on the “Chimera” album) and collaborated with Moby on his song “Drown Disco” which remains unreleased. Next to that she provided vocals and lyrics to several of the songs on “Wide Angle” (1999), the debut album by Welsh electronic music group Hybrid.

Here’s the track “Falling”.

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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Out now is the newest single “On a Sunday Night” by the electro pop act Kid Moxie. Behind Kid Moxie we find Elena Charbila who has an established track record as a composer, producer and recording artist.

The single holds 2 tracks, the title track and a remix.

Having left Greece as a teenager to study in San Francisco, classically trained Elena Charbila took up the bass while in college, played with a number of bands, and eventually wound up as a musical accompanist to Michael Bublé. Eight years ago she established her own project Kid Moxie and since then has collaborated with composer Angelo Badalamenti on a cover of “Mysteries of Love” (From David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet”), and has been writing songs for soundtracks, television commercials (including a national Victoria’s Secret ad campaign) and video games.

Four albums later she is now bound to release her fifth studio album “Better Than Electric”.

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

“Artificial” is the name of the brand new video by dark pop artist Bara Hari. It is inspired by the loss of friendships with people that have fallen victim to the vanity of the Hollywood dream. The song was featured on the EP “Dark New Day” which was released on May 21st, 2021 through Re:Mission Entertainment.

The music video for “Artificial” was inspired by the theater scene in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Bara Hari: “That film so perfectly depicts the surreal experience of seeking stardom in Los Angeles. A dream that so many strive for that ultimately eats them alive and makes them lose all sense of humanity as well as their ability to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships. I wanted to portray that sentiment through the lens of my own experience in the burlesque scene.”

Sam Franco, known professionally as Bara Hari, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, music video director/editor, costumer, and visual artist. Her music is inspired by a plethora of styles such as dark pop, synth-pop, industrial, techno, electro-pop, darkwave, and goth.

This video for “Artificial” was directed, styled, and edited by Sam Franco (Bara Hari) and was shot and lit by Ian Flux, Franco’s partner.

Here’s the EP “Dark New Day”, available from Bandcamp.

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: Experimental, Minimal-Electro.

Format: Digital, CD, Box (DCD + Vinyl + Book).

Background/Info: French duo Eliane P en Philippe Fichot is back on track unleashing their first new album since “Baroque Equinox” (2017). Fichot has now been busy for 43 (!) years, but has never abandoned the original approach of the project, always ‘committed to night, lust and shadow’. The new work is inspired by the idea of a camera, which might record psychic states, but ‘camera’ also refers to the Italian word ‘chamber’. Both meanings together are the basis of the work, ‘a mental chamber’!

Content: Die Form is one of these bands with a very proper sound you can easily recognize. And even if this new opus sounds like one of the most Experimental productions of the band in years, it remains easily recognizable. You rapidly can feel darkness emerging; Die Form never has been the kind of ‘happy music’-composer. The songs sound like decomposed fragments, which have been reassembled and mixed with a few danceable passages. The main part of the lyrics have been sung in French. The themes aren’t always easy to seize, Die Form inviting the listener into a strange cabinet of reflection and thoughts. A kind of philosophical poetry carried by music. Eliane P. still injects all her grace and sensuality while Philippe’s way of singing remains tenebrous.

+ + + : When you’re active for more than 40 years it’s pretty understandable you can’t repeat yourself again and again. The previous productions of the band already revealed a slow progression towards more Experimental and Abstract fields, but also to Neo-Classic elements. “Mental Camera” sounds a bit like summarizing the influences from the last 20-30 years. “Insomniac Activity” and “Black Nerves (We Never Die)” both remind us of the more danceable side of the band. I also have to mention “Au Coeur De La Nuit (Mix 2)”, which has something Experimental-Pop-like with a very dark touch on top. The sound is elaborated featuring numerous effects, sweeps and dark noises. It has been mixed with a slow rhythm. This work has something pretty visual, which always has been part of Die Form -and illustrated by the massive book featured at the limited box-edition. Eliane’s enigmatic, graceful and sensual timbre of voice remains a delicious and essential element of the work. More than ever before Die Form has found a balance between their influences.

– – – : Die Form no longer releases albums for the dancefloor and that’s somewhat a pity. This kind of work is more complex and sophisticated, but also harder to catch. The band’s homepage refers to David Lynch to explain “Mental Camera” and I think the connection makes sense. It’s an intriguing work, but nearly impossible to grasp.

Conclusion: I can’t say “Mental Camera” has totally convinced me, but Die Form definitely remains a very single experience in its genre. This album will rather appeal to Experimental Electro lovers.

Best songs: “Insomniac Activity”, “Black Nerves (We Never Die)”, “Au Coeur De La Nuit (Mix 2)”, “Automatique”, “Théâtre De La Cruauté”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.dieform.net /  www.facebook.com/DieFormMusic

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471

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: Electro-Ambient, Cinematographic, Experimental.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Music For Installations is a band name, which reminds me of the legendary ambient artist Brian Eno, and is a Belgian solo-project driven by Pieter Gyselinck. After a few previous works, he joined hands together with Wool-E Discs releasing the thirtieth part of the Ambient-series “Belgian NeuMusik”.

Content: There’s an interesting evolution in the tracklist of this work. The album takes off in a pretty Ambient way and I even dare to say ‘classical Electro-Ambient’. Quite progressively you’ll notice Experimental sound arrangements and darker tones emerging at the surface. The more you enter the universe of the artist the darker it becomes. The second part is driven by icy, sonar-like noises, the hoot of an owl and mysterious, frightening sound atmospheres.

+ + + : Pieter Gyselinck is clearly mixing different although related influences together. It’s not pure Ambient and not entirely Experimental. Some passages are clearly into a Soundtrack approach while the second part of the work –which is definitely the best one, becomes extremely dark and mysterious. This artist conceives a sonic canvas with different atmospheres, but found his most creative side in the darker side of his brain. “Fractal 6” is worthy of examination, but I also have to mention “Fractal 7” and “Fractal 9”. There’s something David Lynch-like in the sound of this work…

– – – : I already mentioned the great second half of this opus, which unfortunately comes to end with a poorly inspired last track.

Conclusion: Ambient music is not only meant as a dreamy moment, but it can be also a way of self-reflection, which in a way is the feeling I got when listening to “Fractions Of Unity”.

Best songs: “Fractal 7”, “Fractal 9”, “Fractal 6”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.musicforinstallations.com / www.facebook.com/musicforinstallations

Label: www.wool-e-discs.be / www.belgianneumusik.be /

www.facebook.com/woolediscs

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

(Photo by Olga Diasparro at LACMA, Los Angeles) Ivan Iusco, the Italian award-winning film music composer, is back with a brand new album on Minus Habens. “Synthagma” includes twelve tracks, using dominant and multi-layered synthesizers. It also features three songs co-written with the Greek singer and musician Kid Moxie (“Head On Fire”, “Fly’s Heart” and “The Other Side”) who is well known for her past collaboration with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch Foundation.

The music videos for “Head On Fire” and “Sabotage” were already available on YouTube, but now we also get served the 3rd one for the track “The Other Side”. “The Other Side” was directed by Alexo Wandael and is a tribute to the videogame culture of the past and to its icon par excellence, Pac-Man, that is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year.

Here are the two other videos.

Music for Cyberpunk 2077 videogame

In further news, Iusco scored music for the videogame Cyberpunk 2077. Ivan: “I never imagined that in 2020, I would have the chance to work on one of the most anticipated video games of the last few years. Today, I can finally reveal it! I had the honor of composing two new tracks with singer and musician Kid Moxie for Cyberpunk 2077. This futuristic action-adventure game featuring Keanu Reeves is out now.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed and published by CD Projekt and is released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One. It will come out for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2021. The story takes place in Night City, an open world set in the Cyberpunk universe. Players assume the first-person perspective of a customisable mercenary known as V, who can acquire skills in hacking and machinery with options for melee and ranged combat.

Cyberpunk 2077 was developed using the REDengine 4 by a team of around 500 people, exceeding the number that worked on the studio’s previous game “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” (2015). CD Projekt launched a new division in Wrocław, Poland, and partnered with Digital Scapes, Nvidia, QLOC, and Jali Research to aid the production.

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

“Synthagma” is the new album by Ivan Iusco, the Italian composer based in Los Angeles and author of numerous soundtracks for feature films, TV shows and new media.

“Synthagma” includes 12 tracks of which 3 are co-written with the Greek singer and musician Kid Moxie (“Head On Fire”, “Fly’s Heart” and “The Other Side”). You might remember her from her past collaboration with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch Foundation. Iusco also engaged the Russian soprano Maria Bochmanova and Leo Gadaleta, the violinist from Bari, who has played with such musicians as Ennio Morricone and Antony and the Johnsons.

The recordings were made between 2018 and 2019 in Los Angeles, with the exception of the title track, for which vocals were recorded at the historic PRS Studio in St. Petersburg, Russia.

“For some time I had been planning to compose an album starting from a precise historical period of my path, in which electronic music began to have a powerful impact on a global level, interacting on different fronts, including the cyberpunk cultural movement. I am of course referring to the 90s. I had the feeling of having left unwritten a chapter linked to those times. In 2018 this thought popped up once again and so I decided to conceive an album that looked through the eyes of that period at the materialization of our fragile post-human contemporaneity”, says Iusco.

The cover image “Untitled”, is taken from the “When Light Casts no Shadow” photo series (2008) by Portuguese photographer Edgar Martins and portrays one of the runways of the Santa Maria airport located on the archipelago of the Azores. Edgar Martins is a former NY Times collaborator and he released covers and portraits for Pink Floyd, Madonna and The Streets.

“Synthagma” will be released by Minus Habens.

The music videos for “Head On Fire” and “Sabotage” are available on YouTube, two songs that preceded the release of “Synthagma” by a few months.

Head On Fire (Official Music Video)

Sabotage (Official Music Video)

About Ivan Iusco

Ivan Iusco is an Italian award-winning film music composer based in Santa Monica, California.

He has composed diverse and evocative scores for feature films, TV shows, documentaries, video art, choreographies and art exhibitions. He debuted in the film industry in 1999, scoring the Italian cult movie “LaCapaGira” directed by Alessandro Piva that won Best Soundtrack at the Valencia Film Festival (Spain, 2000).

His scoring career also includes the Italian blockbuster “Ho Voglia Di Te” (2007) by the Spanish director Luis Prieto. In 1987, he founded the pioneering music label Minus Habens (involving international artists such as Brian Eno, Angelo Badalamenti, Aphex Twin and Depeche Mode) through which he explores and publishes avant-garde and cutting-edge music.

Ivan Iusco’s forthcoming projects include two original soundtracks for films currently under development and two original songs for one of the most anticipated video game of 2020.

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

(Photo by Cecily Eno ) “Film Music 1976 – 2020” is a brand new Brian Eno release out on double vinyl / CD and download on November 13th in the UK and followed by a US release on January 22nd.

“Film Music 1976 – 2020” is the first ever collection of music from his film and television soundtrack oeuvre. Spanning five decades, this release features classic Eno compositions, lesser-known gems and seven previously unreleased tracks.

Eno’s long-standing affair with film goes all the way back to 1970 with his soundtrack to Malcolm Le Grice’s short experimental film “Berlin Horse”. In 1976 he followed this with “Sebastiane” and a long forgotten Greek b-horror film, “Land Of The Minotaur” AKA “The Devil’s Men”.

Early classic Eno film moments include “Prophecy Theme” from David Lynch’s “Dune”, “From The Beginning” from Dario Argento’s “Opera”, “Force Marker” and “Late Evening In Jersey” from Michael Mann’s “Heat”, “Under” from Ralph Bakshi’s “Cool World” and his cover of William Bell’s soul classic, “You Don’t Miss Your Water”, in Jonathan Demme’s “Married to The Mob”.

His 1978 studio album, “Music For Films” was a loose compilation of material recorded between 1975 – 1978. It was intended as a conceptual soundtrack for imaginary films and only the last track, “Final Sunset” was written for an actual film. It proved to be a fruitful project with nearly every piece on the album going on to be used in future films.

Eno again explored the above approach with U2 as passengers on their collaboration album, “Original Soundtracks 1”. Four of the tracks from the album were used in films prior to release: “Beach Sequence” and “Your Blue Room” in Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Beyond the Clouds”, “Miss Sarajevo” in an eponymous documentary about a beauty pageant held in the midst of besieged ‘93 Sarajevo, and “One Minute Warning” in Mamoru Oshii’s Japanese animation classic, “Ghost in the Shell”. Another track, “Always Forever Now” later appeared in “Heat”.

In the mid-seventies Eno began a collaboration with British film maker Derek Jarman, who initially commissioned Eno to record “Final Sunset” for the closing scene to his first feature film, “Sebastiane”. The collaboration continued all the way through until Jarman’s untimely death in 1994.

“An Ending (Ascent)” and “Deep Blue Day” are taken from “Apollo: Atmosphere & Soundtracks”, Eno’s collaboration with his brother Roger and Daniel Lanois. The music was originally written for Al Reinert’s documentary of the Apollo moon landing, “For All Mankind” although since then “An Ending (Ascent)” has taken on a life of its own and is now remembered just as much from Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic”, Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” and Miguel Arteta’s “Beatriz at Dinner”. It even made an appearance in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. And then there’s “Deep Blue Day”, which will forever be identified with Ewan McGregor’s legendary toilet dive in “Trainspotting”.

Besides this and more filmwork, Eno has also scored extensively for television, including all three series of award-winning UK crime drama “Top Boy” and Danny Boyle’s “Mr Wroe’s Virgins”. Other television credits include his scores to BBC Natural World’s “Hammerhead”, “Francis Bacon’s Arena”, Neil Gaiman’s futuristic urban series, “Neverwhere”, and Stewart Brand’s BBC mini-series “How Buildings Learn”.

Check out the “Ship In A Bottle” video.

Track-list:

1. ‘Top Boy (Theme)’ from ‘Top Boy’ – Series 1, directed by Yann Demange, 2011
2. ‘Ship In A Bottle’ from ‘The Lovely Bones’, directed by Peter Jackson, 2009
3. ‘Blood Red’ from ‘Francis Bacon’s Arena’, directed by Adam Low, 2005
4. Under’ from ‘Cool World’, directed by Ralph Bakshi, 1992
5. ‘Decline And Fall’ from ‘O Nome da Morte’, directed by Henrique Goldman, 2017
6. ‘Prophecy Theme’ from ‘Dune’, directed by David Lynch, 1984
7. ‘Reasonable Question’ from ‘We Are As Gods’, directed by David Alvarado / Jason Sussberg, 2020
8. ‘Late Evening In Jersey’ from ‘Heat’, directed by Michael Mann, 1995
9. ‘Beach Sequence’ from ‘Beyond The Clouds’, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, 1995
10. ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ from ‘Married to the Mob’, directed by Jonathan Demme, 1988
11. ‘Deep Blue Day’ from ‘Trainspotting’, directed by Danny Boyle, 1996
12. ‘The Sombre’ from ‘Top Boy’ – Series 2, directed by Jonathan van Tulleken, 2013
13. ‘Dover Beach’ from ‘Jubilee’, directed by Derek Jarman, 1978
14. ‘Design as Reduction’ from ‘Rams’, directed by Gary Hustwit, 2018
15. ‘Undersea Steps’ from ‘Hammerhead’, directed by George Chan, 2004
16. ‘Final Sunset’ from ‘Sebastiane’, directed by Derek Jarman, 1976
17. ‘An Ending (Ascent)’, from ‘For All Mankind’, directed by Al Reinert, 1989

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: Abstract, psychedelic, experimental.

Background/Info: Active since 2005 under the Fear Falls Burning moniker, Belgian artist and veteran Dirk Serries (in a previous artistic life active as Vidna Obmana) strikes back with the help of Tim Bertilsson on drums and Colin Webster on tenor saxophone, with this vinyl release featuring two long duration cuts. 

Content: The sound universe of this work is mainly characterized by a kind of ‘free’ expression and play. Dirk Serries manipulates guitar sounds in a mix of psychedelia and darkness. It’s a somewhat bombastic sound, which has been joined by sax and drum sections. The tracks are moving progressively reaching a sonic zenith, which mainly comes through on the second cut.

+ + + : The abstract- and psychedelic sound universe of this album has something mind-boggling, but fascinating at the same time. The sound is rather dark and spiced with bombastic passages and yet it has something relaxing, like a new form of meditation. It also has something totally improvised, but here again the musicians found certain harmony between their instruments or should I say the effects and noises created by their instruments. “Function Collapse” could be the right soundtrack for an abstract movie.

– – – : The experimental side of the work will be the hardest challenge for listeners to get conquered by this sound. This is the kind of record I mainly recommend for experienced fans in the music genre.

Conclusion: If I’d to compare the music of Fear Falls Burning to a film director, it could be David Lynch. It’s hard to seize the plot, but it remains fascinating from start to finish.

Best songs: “II”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Fear–Falls–Burning-200825863287688 

Label: http://consouling.be / www.facebook.com/ConsoulingSounds

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

After the 3LP/2CD release “Swanyard” (featuring nearly 150 minutes of previously unreleased Coil recordings and available here), we have another Coil release coming up. “The Gay Man’s Guide To Safer Sex” features more previously unreleased material, namely Coil’s unreleased soundtrack for the VHS only, pre-internet, sexual education documentary entitled “The Gay Man’s Guide To Safer Sex” released in 1992.

The line-up for this project consisted of John Balance, Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson and Danny Hyde and was what John Balance called a “slightly new agey, progressive house type thing”. The material is not far removed from Badalamenti’s work with David Lynch, somewhat of an ambient house album for your home listening and early morning sunrise dances, Coil style.

The material featured on this CD/vinyl (available here for ordering) was taken from the original masters provided by Danny Hyde. “The Gay Man’s Guide To Safer Sex” features a new sexy edit of the main theme with the bonuses “Nasa-Arab” and “Omlagus Garfungiloops” taken from the 1992 CD only “Stolen And Contaminated Songs”, both being original versions of the radically reworked “Nasa-Arab 2” and “Exploding Frogs” of the OST in order to balance the whole album and extend the listening pleasure.

6 tracks in total which are available on CD and on (purple!) vinyl. Below is the CD digipak version.

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

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange)
Imagine David Lynch producing an offspring of The Jesus And Mary Chain and Radiohead with a touch of The Sisters Of Mercy – that’s the associations that dropped into my head when first listening to the new two track single ‘The Chaser’ from the Norwegian band The Ghostly Ravens. Jon Martens Holm (formely of Icon of Coil and The Pussyclub) was available for answering some questions on the release day:

Side-Line: How did this project start, and what have the band done so far?

Jon Martens Holm: The Ghostly Ravens started out in 2017 at Black Lodge studio in Fredrikstad, on a request to play the soundtrack to an art exhibition as a part of the installation at Rød Gård in Moss. Emil Nordbæk and me worked together on Emil’s psychedelia project, Marching Forest, and spent much time together in the studio making several instrumental sketches in a Lynch landscape.
Conrad Nilsen was brought into the project on bass, and The Ghostly Ravens was formed. I also play in the electro/post punk band The Sky´s Gone Out, and Emil is the front man in one of the finest psychedelia bands in Norway, Marching Forest.
We use a Roland D-5 as a drummer. Very easy to relate to 😉

A setlist of 12 songs was written in 2 weeks, for the exhibition and made the basis for the forthcoming album.

We started to record the album in December 2017, and have spent almost every day in the studio since then, playing around, trying to bring our influences together and form our own very unique sound. We narrowed the instruments down to an old Roland drum machine, modular synthesizers from my collection and mixed them with Emil’s guitars and vocals 60’s style and ended up somewhere between the 80’s and 90’s. Conrad has also major influences from the 80’s and 90’s.

S-L: Any plans ahead – releases or gigs?

JMH: Our plans for the future are as broad as our musical influences. Wanting to reach more than just the Norwegian underground, and looking towards Europe and the rest of the world. The music has a broad spectre of potential, taken the sound is both synth, 90’s brit pop, post punk, psychedelia and easy to like from a broad range of genres.
We are planning to pitch this to several booking agencies around the world and focus on a few selected major cities with potential crowds. The gigs we have done so far has been overwhelming in positive response, with a noticeable age variance in the audience, ranging from 16 to 70!
This is our first release from the forthcoming album due in September, and we’re very proud to present this quite extraordinary piece of work.

The Ghostly Ravens is part of the Velvet Electra Rec catalogue. A collective of cooperations between local artists, helping each other out in every aspect of production. MC Peko at Focus Studio is the the cover artist and photographer. He is not only featured here, but has made the music videos, done remixes and masters for Jon´s solo project The Sky´s Gone Out, both on the former release and his next.
Photographer and artist Vidar Kollstad also have an occasional role here.
– ‘The Chaser’ c/w ‘1995-1988’, release today
– The full album is due 15th of September

Listen and buy here:

http://listen.tidalhifi.com/album/91070070
https://itunes.apple.com/album/-/id1404413064

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Genre/Influences: IDM, industrial, experimental, dark-ambient, electro-minimal.

Background/Info: David Lynch fans and especially the “Twin Peaks”-ones will directly recognize the legendary extract ‘The Owls Are Not what They Seem’. Russian label Zhelezobeton previously released the sampler “Now It’s Dark”, which already was a tribute to the legendary filmmaker. This new tribute features mainly remixes from these songs. Most of the bands are featured with two cuts.

Bands: Reutoff, Sal Solaris, Kryptogen Rundfunk, Anthesteria, Peter Theremin, Wunderblock, Light Collapse, Povarovo ao.

Content: This is a quite diversified compilation featuring a total amount of 25 tracks. Most of the bands are hailing from Russia. This sampler is an invitation to discover a varied selection of music tracks inspired by the work of David Lynch and transposed into different kinds of music.

+ + + : I like the concept, but the main strength of this album definitely appears to be the discovery of less familiar and simply unknown music projects. The IDM orientated cuts are pretty inspired and I especially want to tip the track of Relic Radiation remixed by Sal Solaris. Another noticeable cut is the one by Povarovo remixed by Bionoid. I also want to mention another track of Relic Radiation remixed by Alex Schultz, which moves into electro-minimalism. The IDM tracks clearly are the best exponent of this sampler.

– – – : Diversity creates a lack of coherence between some tracks. It’s quite strange to hear a totally industrial and experimental cut as an ode to David Lynch while other cuts are definitely more electro- and even dance-like. On the other side it also stands for the work of Lynch, which often is hard to seize.

Conclusion: This is a noticeable compilation, which I absolutely recommend. It will give you the opportunity to discover a bunch of ‘new’ bands, but still many cool cuts. I would like to know what David Lynch would think about it….

Best bands: Relic Radiation, Povarovo, Krytogen Rundfunk, Light Collapse.

Rate: (8).

Label: www.zhb.radionoise.ru / www.facebook.com/zhbrecords

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: Experimental, electro, industrial, IDM.

Background/Info: Mentallo & The Fixer will next year celebrate its 30^th anniversary. The Texan project is no longer releasing new material at regular basis. “Arrange The Molecule” is the first new opus since “Music From The Eather” (2012).

Content: If you’re familiar with the sound of this artist you rapidly will recognize the familiar electro complexity. The tracks have been accomplished with dense and multiple sound layers, sometimes creating a chaotic impression although accomplished with some fine, icy bleeps and other delicate tunes.

Gary Dassing doesn’t care about music standards, but simply seems to exorcise the endless music ideas running through his brain. From industrial sequences to avant-garde electronics to pure IDM, this album is a sonic voyage.

Next to the regular album format you also can purchase the limited edition featuring extra songs and remixes, which still bring us back to previous work.

Dassing says about this album ‘It’s my approach to try and ping as many frequencies across the spectrum as possible, and get this dense full sound, with a lot of movement in the stereo field. … I just want people to trip out on it, I don’t expect fans to like every piece I do, u love some of it and u don’t, it’s just music, fxxk it’s not going to change the world in any major capacity, play it to freak your friends out, get a laugh out of it. Use the music as your drug!’.

+ + + : Mentallo & The Fixer remains a band with a very own sound DNA characterized by complexity, bombast and yet refined passages. This new work excels in experimentalism and visionary sound treatments. Who’s Gary Dassing? Is he really a musician? Maybe a sound collector? Or a genius sound alchemist who’s transforming any single sound into another noise dimension? We all have to make our mind, but he definitely is an artist you can’t compare with any other formation.

– – – : The sound formula is hard to seize and not exactly the most accessible one. Mentallo & The Fixer makes music for people who aren’t satisfied with clichés and all those bands sharing the same equipment, the same sounds and in the end the same kind of songs! But it’s a difficult album, which sometimes gives you the impression of pure improvisation and total chaos. I’m missing vocals or chants/choirs to get it maybe a little less more accessible.

Conclusion: Mentallo & The Fixer makes me think to a movie of David Lynch; you’ll never totally catch the plot, but it’s always fascinating!

Best songs: “Treat It Like A Loaded Gun”, “Just What I Had Been Missing”, “Gammera”, “The Moment You Realize …”, “Metaphysical Agents – Antigen”.

Rate: (8).

Label: www.alfa–matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

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: Experimental, psychedelic, cinematographic.

Background/Info: If you’re somewhat familiar with the small, independent and experimental label Frank Mark Arts you for sure will be familiar with both protagonists from this work. Roman Leykam and Frank Mark indeed have already released multiple productions together while they both are established label artists.

Content: This new opus is a sonic travel throughout minimal and experimental-like music creations. The main aspect of the work is a kind of alternative play/use of all instruments. From electric guitar to bass to guitar synths to midi trumpet to fretless bass to shortwaves to voice samples to piano every single piece reveals an atypical and alternative way of using instruments to create noises and sonic atmospheres. From total experimentalism and a kind of improvisation to psychedelic passages, “Experience Space” sounds like being composed in a sonic laboratory instead of a studio.

+ + + : I deeply respect this label and its artists for their perseverance and the never-ending exploration of how to create new sounds with familiar instruments. It creates a specific atmosphere filled with endless effects. Some cuts have a visual appeal and I’m especially recommending the opening cut “Tumult Of The Senses”. There definitely is some prosperity emerging from this experimentalism. This work also features an artistic digipak format.

– – – : This kind of work will always appeal for a very restricted number of adherents. It remains pretty abstract and hard to grasp. I’m missing some real vocal parts to get the entire production maybe a bit more accessible.

Conclusion: Roman Leykam & Frank Mark sometimes make me think of a movie of David Lynch. You try to understand the plot, but in the end you’ll never seize all the details. This is a truly sonic puzzle.

Best songs: “Tumult Of The Senses”, “Sources Of Friction”, “Roots”.

Rate: (6½).

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.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

Out in weeks from now is the 2-track 7 inch vinyl single “Snake Eyes” by Trouble. Written and recorded for the return of David Lynch’s cult television classic Twin Peaks, “Snake Eyes” harkens a time when noir R&B was the de-facto soundtrack to hard liquor violence.

You can order this 7 inch right here.

The instrumental trio Trouble includes Lynch’s son Riley Lynch on guitar, longtime music supervisor for Lynch, Dean Hurley on drums and Alex Zhang Hungtai (Dirty Beaches, Last Lizard) on tenor saxophone. The B-side to the single consists of the bonus “Mother’s Gone”, a companion track also recorded during the band’s only Twin Peaks recording session.

Here’s already a preview of the title track:

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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Helalyn Flowers is lead by the powerful vocals of Nøemi Aurora and the artistic input of studio guru MaXX. The duo released this year their fourth full length album revealing a furious production featuring heavy electronics and menacing, metal-minded guitar riffs. Helalyn Flowers is mixing multiple influences, but always with power and sonic violence. I got in touch with the male pole of the band to get more info about “Sonic Foundation”, which has been released on Alfa Matrix.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What is your new album “Sonic Foundation” all about and how do you see the evolution in sound from your previous albums towards the new work?

Max: “Sonic Foundation” is Helalyn Flowers as it’s meant to be. It’s a burst of dichotomies, opposites, wildness and passion. When Noemi and I founded Helalyn Flowers we had an album like this in our minds, so I suppose that past three albums represented the necessary way to it. In the past, we intentionally redefined our sound, trying new ways and taking our risks, like the “Stitches Of Eden” album back in 2009, living a sort of uneasiness that sure has darkened our music gradually. We feel to be thankful to all that angst and rage of which “Sonic Foundation” is the proud son. We cling to ourselves exclusively, we have Helalyn Flowers on our minds all the time, we are our own bigger source of inspiration.

Q: I get the impression that you never stop to increase the power of electronics and guitar play, reaching a hard and merciless production, but still a real harmony between sound and vocals? Tell us a bit more about your sound properly speaking and the global production?

Max: I always believed that melody is very important for music in general. It’s able to raise whatever mood you need and makes you sing and drag you to a song. Doesn’t matter how aggressive the music is. In our case, I think that it’s a reflection of what we love to be and act.

The sound production is based upon our approach to the wall of sound. We overlay everything. We oppose the modern way of producing electro-metal and industrial in general. When I listen to many records to me it’s more like a computer screen sliding MIDI tracks than enjoying songs. It’s all clean, dry, so… responsible and ‘correct’. Well, Helalyn Flowers are irresponsible and incorrect, dirty and wet. “Sonic Foundation” has the feeling of an old classic.

When you say ‘hard and merciless’ it’s exactly what there’s in our minds when doing a song. We love big sounds, big ambiences, we feel like a BIG band and everyone must join it. It’s the Ancient Roman way. Not by chance.

Q: I noticed an interesting quote at your site telling that ‘”Sonic Foundation” is an album that uncoils through dangerous and surrealistic figurative worlds, invoking post-primitive scenarios à-la William Burroughs and David Lynch. Can you give us some more details?

Max: The destruction of modern civilization and worshipping the Nature not for what it may seem like might be keys to that quote. We are so bond of the woods we live nearby that when we watch “Twin Peaks”, for example, not only we can recognize how it feels like but also we can understand the most dangerous and terrifying needs within the human nature.

Q: The song “Beware Of Light” previously released as EP-title song and featuring Chris Pohl (Blutengel) is a real master hit. How did you get in touch with Chris Pohl and how did the recording and production of the song happened?

Max: When we were collecting bonus stuff for the album we felt like something big, something going beyond the ‘usual’ remix was missing. Immediately, we thought at Chris Pohl of Blutengel as the one really able to let it happen. So, we asked him and he accepted enthusiastically. It was clear that he had to put his vocals into this version because one of the main reasons why we contacted him is just the huge vocal dimension of Blutengel (besides the ‘bigness’ of the meeting itself!). He re-sampled the song to add his own Blutengel vibe too. He didn’t give himself airs. He is a very passionate guy. Nowadays, younger people in the scene have much more schemed minds and do these kind of things just for money without considering if they actually love what they do.

Q: Do you already have new ideas and inspiration in mind regarding further releases? 

Max: We will start to record the new album next September. Our ideas are so clear about it. Sure we won’t replicate the same album. That doesn’t belong to us. Also, we love to think that “Sonic Foundation” is the ultimate summa of our first decade as well as of the direction we took after our first self-released Mini-CD (“Disconnection”) in 2005. We don’t think that there are parts of “Sonic Foundation” that need to be improved. It’s perfect in its entirety. Contrary, we didn’t feel this way in the past years: when we were about to deliver a new album we felt like we might have done better or that it was not ALL that we wanted to say. So, we catapulted ourselves in massive sessions of studio and song-writing also in reply to that sense of ‘incompleteness’. Now we need to renew our ways, trying different things, because ageing doesn’t suit us. Our blood must remain young forever. Replicants are the meanest suicidal.

Q: Helalyn Flowers stands for a heavy sound, but still a noticeable and explicit image! Where’s the link between sound and image?

Max: The link is within Max and Noemi Aurora, simply as that. The image that you can see in our pictures is the same as the one in our private lives. It’s the way we love to be. We live Rock’n Roll on our flesh.

Many people believe that a noticeable and eye-catching imagery means stupid pop music or brainless esthetic fascists. My opinion is that they are afraid of sex and/or have sexual problems.

Since I was a kid I feel attracted by bands with a great image. That’s what pushes you to listen to their music. It’s like you go in a confectionery: you always want to buy and eat the most beautiful cake!

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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: Dub-step, glitch, cinematographic, experimental.

Background/Info: Terrabeats Concept is a Serbian solo-project set up by Marijan Stancic. This artist was previously active in the metal scene, playing guitar until he moved towards more electronic sounds. That brought him to set up Terrabeats Concept, which is now already active for more than 10 years. A few EP’s have been released while this is the debut full-length revealing 10 tracks.

Content: Terrabeats Concept sounds like a fusion between different genres. There’s a constant switch and evolution from wafting, cinematographic passages to a kind of experimental dubstep carried by deep, blasting sounds while mixed with multiple sources of noises. There also is a psychedelic touch and other d’n’b influences, but it’s a more experimental and definitely glitch-like element that emerges at the surface of multiple cuts.

The album sounds like having been made in a dedicated sound laboratory. The creation has been accomplished with a special care for great sound treatments. A few spoken samplings can be heard now and then as well.

+ + + : Diversity is the main keyword and still the main strength of this work. It sounds like a modern and avant-garde like composition, which is mainly dominated by impressive deep, resonating sound blasts.

– – – : I can’t say that “Concept 3004” is the most accessible work and you really need a few listenings to get a bit more into the sound of the artist. This is a complex and versatile work.

Conclusion: You have musicians and sound creators! Terrabeats Concept definitely belongs to this experimental number of artists who are more into the creation of sounds and the mix of influences instead of a clean and structured composition. Terrabeats Concept is to music what David Lynch is to the film industry: a visionary and fascinating artist, but who’s not easy to understand.

Best songs: “Insects”, “Slammer”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.audiotraumatik.com / www.facebook.com/Terrabeats.Concept.1

Label: www.audiotrauma.org / www.facebook.com/audiotrauma.records

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: Experimental, IDM, glitch, abstract.

Content: Big Brother On Acid is a project set up by Brooklyn (USA) based producer ‘Mister G’. The debut album has already been released a few months ago, but has finally reached our headquarters.

Big Brother On Acid is using several influences so it’s nearly impossible to define the sound as one established genre. You many have to listen carefully for the influences running through the work, but it will be a hard labor as this band is literally working on a real big sound platform. I think we might easily speak about a kind of abstract electronic format, but other passages move into IDM and minimalism. Electronics and guitar manipulations cross each other.

A saxophone can be heard as well, which creates a kind of experimental and totally free-jazz like style.

Nothing seems to be weird enough for Big Brother On Acid and I’m sometimes really wondering if the main inspiration behind this creation is not the use of some hallucinogenic substances. I honestly don’t care because this album walks on new sonic paths. If experimental music often became the offspring of pure improvisation this “Big Brother On Acid”-CD is pushing experimentalism into a coherent production. It remains pretty weird, but made with a great sound intelligence and the passion to create unique sound treatments.

The work more appears to be a sonic patchwork featuring many influences and opposite styles. This is all a bit like music without compromises and no rules. It becomes a kind of pure anarchy in sound spiced with some delicious mystic elements –which mainly comes through during the final tracks.

When Mister G was asked what his music is all about he answered ‘it is all about life, stupidity, and the Antarctica dream’! I think there’s no better and more confusing way to describe the work of this sonic chameleon.

Conclusion: Big Brother On Acid is a total sonic enigma, but one that will get you in its grip like watching a David Lynch movie.

Best songs: “Friday Night”, “Order-Sigil-9”, “Sanity-Hidden”, “Binary”, “It Was All Very Good”.

Rate: (DP:8)DP.

Band: www.bigbrotheronacid.com / www.facebook.com/bigbrotheronacidny

Label: www.alrealonmusique.com / www.alrealon.co.uk / www.facebook.com/alrealon

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