Dirty Vocoder is a new electronic solo project by Cologne based Thomas Elbern, founder and frontman of the German new wave band Escape With Romeo. Besides Thomas Elbern we also find multimedia artist Shufflerror behind the project. Out now is the first single, “Cocaine Dawn”, and video for the project.

The “Cocaine Dawn” EP will hold 4 tracks: “Cocaine Dawn”, “Dream On”, “Cyber Lover” and “Halloween”. Out via Zeitklang / Reptile Music, the ep will mainly be released via Thomas Elbern’s own label Zeitklang, Reptile Music will just take care of the bandcamp release.

Here’s the video.

Where the era of Escape With Romeo ended with the last studio album “After The Future”, the Dirty Vocoder picks up the threads again offering melancholic electronica mixed with robotic voices and ethereal vocal samples. The debut EP “Future Shock” will now be followed by the second EP “Cocaine Dawn”, which deals with the consequences of drug abuse. It will be released together with a video to the title track, featuring model Blondrausch in her first music clip.

The Belgian scene…

Here’s what Thomas Elbern has to tell us about the project and the new single: “Dirty Vocoder is a project I’ve always wanted to realize. Especially working with vocoded and electronic treated vocals gave me a buzz. And it should not sound like Daft Punk, Kraftwerk or Telex. When it comes to the Belgian scene I was mainly influenced by projects like Elektrokiss or Minister Of Noise. The goal was to create an artificial character to electronic music. I’ve tried this with Escape With Romeo (“Heart Of Darkness” or “Firefly”), but that concept didn’t go as far as I wanted to go. So, after the debut EP “Future Shock” the new “Cocaine Dawn” EP is one step forward in the idea of Dirty Vocoder – a concept that spans electro to trip hop, but with a special (voice) character that is represented by the man with the mask.”

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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