(By János Janurik) In September 1985, Erasure asked: “Who Needs Love Like That?” The answer – at least in terms of audience interest – seemed to be: not many. Despite Vince Clarke’s remarkable track record with three hugely successful projects (Depeche Mode, Yazoo and The Assembly), the first single from his new venture peaked only at number 55 on the UK charts and fared little better elsewhere.

His newly discovered “songbird,” the fantastically talented but then very shy and reserved Andy Bell – who at that time had released only one almost unnoticed single, Air of Mystery, with Pierre Cope – took full responsibility for the duo’s modest early showing. Of course, this can only be seen as a setback when measured against the early, chart-topping hits of Depeche Mode and Yazoo.

Forty years on, it has been proven time and again that Vince Clarke made the right choice in selecting Andy Bell as his musical partner. The two have always been grateful to their fans – many of whom have supported them almost from the very beginning, buying their records and attending their concerts faithfully.

‘A 40th Anniversary Evening with Erasure’

To celebrate this milestone, they took time to reminisce and sing songs with their fans. With the help of Richard Evans- leader of their fan club, editor of their website and newsletter, and a seasoned veteran of the music industry – a series of celebratory events was organised across the United Kingdom, taking in Edinburgh, London, Manchester and Bristol. Tickets were limited and sold out quickly, and there was huge interest in the fan sessions that took place between 17 and 21 September.

Unfortunately, due to official commitments, I was unable to attend the London event, which perhaps received the most attention. Nevertheless, I stayed in close contact with the organiser, the band, other fans and members of the press.

Now, a week after the events, here is a summary of the key moments and a link to a high-quality YouTube video – so that others can join in the celebration too. Because celebrating is always a joy, especially when great music and true friendship come together. Those qualities have arguably played the most important role in Erasure’s four-decade career.

Fan gatherings have been part of Erasure’s history before, but this one was perhaps the most prestigious and closely followed. The reason was, of course, the 40th anniversary – and a mixture of devoted love and gentle concern from the fans. In 2022, for reasons beyond their control, Erasure were forced to interrupt their tour promoting The Neon, one of their biggest successes of recent years. Then, at the end of 2023, Vince released a sombre solo album to process a personal tragedy. In early summer 2025, Andy followed with a colourful pop record co-written with Dave Audé.

With only rumours of another collaboration circulating, fans were eager to know when their favourites would next release new material together.

While that new material is still to come, Andy and Vince proved that their on-stage chemistry remains as strong as ever. They treated their fans to a carefully chosen set of songs, including a number of genuine rarities. Andy – taking a brief break from his solo tour – was in superb voice, while Vince provided an expertly crafted musical foundation for these few days of shared memories.

The setlist featured the unmissable mega-hits (“Oh L’Amour,” “Love to Hate You,” “A Little Respect”) alongside gems such as “Rock Me Gently” and one of this writer’s personal favourites, “How Many Times?”. Vince alternated between his array of gadgets and his guitar, and even mimed singing along beneath his non-existent moustache. He clearly wanted the two-part concert to feel relaxed and celebratory. There was even a playful question-and-answer game to see who knew more about the other, which had the audience laughing heartily. This mini talk-show was hosted with great professionalism by Richard Evans (EIS), aided by a projector above the stage.

Andy was joined on stage by vocalists Val and Emma, who have performed with him almost continuously since 1988.

One of Erasure’s great anthems, “Always,” was sung by Andy for his friend and co-writer Vince, lifting the lines “Always, I wanna be with you / And make believe with you” to a deeply moving level.

Friendships like theirs are truly rare in today’s commercialised pop business. To this day, Andy emphasises how grateful he is to Vince for selecting him from so many applicants and giving a gay “Smalltown Boy” the chance to break free and realise his musical dreams.

But these evenings were not only about looking back – they were also about the future. The good news for fans is that Erasure have already begun writing new songs. Early writing sessions have taken place both at Vince’s home in San Diego and at Andy’s in Mallorca, and these could well take shape as a new album sometime next year.

In the meantime, there is another collaborative treat: Vince Clarke’s remix of “Dance For Mercy,” a track from Andy Bell’s solo album.

Andy Bell will resume his highly successful Ten Crowns tour on 3 October, accompanied by support act Savannah Pope. The tour will travel across the United States until 13 December, before concluding with a double concert in Los Angeles.

We can only hope it won’t be long before Andy is back on stage with Vince, Val and Emma – and that we’ll hear brand-new Erasure songs from his golden voice.

We will, of course, keep readers informed as soon as there is any fresh news from the Erasure camp.

Setlist for the 40th Anniversary Erasure Events (2025)

1. A Little Respect
2. Ship of Fools
3. Oh L’Amour
4. In My Arms
5. Breath of Life
6. Stop!
7. Victim of Love
8. Rock Me Gently
9. Love to Hate You
10. Always
11. Blue Savannah
12. How Many Times?

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

Andy Bell has launched a brand new track today, “Dance For Mercy“, the latest to be taken from his forthcoming solo album, “Ten Crowns“. The new track follows “Don’t Cha Know”, and “Breaking Thru The Interstellar”.

Talking about the track, Andy Bell explains, “Sometimes I wonder how many lives (God, or whatever you wanna call it) has given me: from heart attacks, to HIV, to being run over as a kid, nearly drowning in the sea and smashing over the handlebars of my bicycle into a brick wall! I have no idea why any of us are here, so it’s best just to have a bloody good dance!”

As reported before, the album coincides with a tour – full details below – beginning on 1 May in York, continuing through to x§Cambridge on 19 May, with a London show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 16 May, which is followed by a run of European dates. Support for the UK dates in York, Birmingham and Manchester, will be Dave Audé (who produced and co-wrote the album). He will open with a DJ set. For the rest of the dates, Hifi Sean & David McAlmont support.

“Ten Crowns” is set for release on 2 May 2025 on vinyl (white, oxblood and picture disc available), CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.

Andy Bell Tourdates

• 1 May – York (UK), Barbican
• 2 May – Birmingham (UK), Symphony Hall
• 3 May – Manchester (UK), Bridgewater Hall
• 6 May – Glasgow (UK), Royal Concert Hall
• 7 May – Aberdeen (UK), Music Hall
• 8 May – Gateshead (UK), Glasshouse
• 11 May – Bournemouth (UK), Pavilion
• 12 May – Guildford (UK), G-Live
• 13 May – Bath (UK), Forum
• 16 May – London (UK), Shepherd’s Bush Empire
• 17 May – Llandrindod Wells (UK), The Albert Hall
• 18 May – Liverpool (UK), Philharmonic
• 19 May – Cambridge (UK), Corn Exchange
• 12 June – Frankfurt (DE), Batschkapp
• 13 June – Hamburg (DE), Markthalle
• 15 June – Berlin (DE), Columbia Theater
• 16 June – Koln (DE), Gloria
• 18 June – Leipzig (DE), Anker
• 19 June – Bremen (DE), Modernes
• 21 June – Holstebro (DK), Summer Sounds Festival

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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Last month we wrote that a new Erasure album was in the making. But before that frontman Andy Bell will release a new solo-album, “Ten Crowns” on May 2nd. Added to this he will be playing a UK and EU tour to promote the release in May.

“Ten Crowns” was written and recorded with US producer, remixer and DJ, Dave Audé and features ten tracks. It also includes collaborations with Debbie Harry and Sarah Potenza. Audé has collaborated with a diverse array of artists before, including U2, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, and Madonna.

“Ten Crowns” will be released in various formats, including several vinyl colours, a picture disc, a deluxe 2CD edition and a cassette next to related merchandise.

His solo tour will featureg tracks from the new album, and cuts from his solo career, alongside lots of Erasure classics. Andy Bell will be playing 12 shows across the UK in May with his band which includes Dave Audé.

Here’s already the opening track, “Breaking Thru The Interstellar“.

Andy Bell solo tour in May 2025

• 1 May – York (UK), Barbican
• 2 May – Birmingham (UK), Symphony Hall
• 3 May – Manchester (UK), Bridgewater Hall
• 6 May – Glasgow (UK), Royal Concert Hall
• 7 May – Aberdeen (UK), Music Hall
• 8 May – Gateshead (UK), Glasshouse
• 11 May – Bournemouth (UK), Pavilion
• 12 May – Guildford (UK), G-Live
• 13 May – Bath (UK), Forum
• 16 May – London (UK), Shepherd’s Bush Empire
• 18 May – Liverpool (UK), Philharmonic
• 19 May – Cambridge (UK), Corn Exchange
• 12 June – Frankfurt (DE), Batschkapp
• 13 June – Hamburg (DE), Markthalle
• 15 June – Berlin (DE), Columbia Theater
• 16 June – Koln (DE), Gloria
• 18 June – Leipzig (DE), Anker
• 19 June – Bremen (DE), Modernes
• 21 June – Holstebro (DK), Summer Sounds Festival

About Andy Bell

Andrew Ivan Bell, born on April 25, 1964, in Peterborough, England, is best known as the lead vocalist of the synth-pop duo Erasure, which he formed in 1985 with Vince Clarke.It results in hits like “A Little Respect”, “Sometimes”, and “Always”, and over 25 million albums sold worldwide.

Before joining Erasure, Bell worked in various jobs, including selling women’s shoes, and performed in a band called the Void. He responded to a newspaper advertisement placed by Vince Clarke, who was seeking a vocalist for a new musical project.

In addition to his work with Erasure, Bell has also embarked on a solo career, releasing albums such as “Electric Blue” (2005) and “Non-Stop” (2010). He has also been involved in various charitable activities, including contributing to the “Red Hot + Blue” album to raise funds for AIDS and HIV research and performing on the True Colors Tour in 2008.

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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Vince Clarke and Andy Bell from Erasure have reunited over the holiday season to start work on what will become the next Erasure album. The first sessions should take place later this month when Bell is expected to join Clarke in New York.

Although it’s not sure when the album will be released, a late 2025 release should not be excluded.

Clarke has been crafting new tracks over the past few years. He began developing backing tracks immediately after the band’s UK tour supporting “The Neon” in 2020. These tracks are now prepared for Bell’s vocal contributions.

The duo’s most recent album, “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)”, released on August 12, 2022, was their 19th studio effort. This experimental release served as a companion piece to their 2020 album, “The Neon”. Vince Clarke deconstructed and reimagined tracks from “The Neon”, uncovering “a track within a track”, which led to entirely new compositions. Andy Bell then collaborated with producer Gareth Jones to add vocals.

“Day-Glo” diverged from their typical synth-pop style, bringing a more ambient and introspective approach. The tracklist includes titles such as “Based on a True Story,” “Bop Beat,” and “The Conman”.

And… a 2025 Erasure remix

For now enjoy this 2025 remix.

About Erasure

Erasure formed in London in 1985, a synth-pop duo of Vince Clarke (keyboards, production, songwriting), a founding member of Depeche Mode and half of Yazoo, and vocalist Andy Bell, who answered a music-press advertisement Clarke placed seeking a singer. The duo’s debut album, “Wonderland,” was released in 1986, with commercial breakthrough arriving via the single “Sometimes” the same year. Erasure logged 24 consecutive UK top-40 singles between 1986 and 2007 and won Best British Group at the 1989 Brit Awards.

The duo has released 19 studio albums, including “Tomorrow’s World” (2011), “World Be Gone” (2017) and “The Neon” (2020), selling more than 28 million albums worldwide. In 2025, Andy Bell confirmed the duo was writing material for its first album since “The Neon,” with sessions following the death of Vince Clarke’s wife, Tracy Hurley Martin. Both members have said they remain actively working together as Erasure. As of 2025, Vince Clarke and Andy Bell confirmed they were writing new material together, their first sessions since “The Neon” (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!

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Athens, GA post-punk outfit Vision Video has launched the video for “Let Go of Time”, showcasing their “Modern Horror” album. The album was produced by Ben Allen (Erasure, Animal Collective, Washed Out, Deerhunter) and mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Frank Arkwright (The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Primal Scream, Blur, Mogwai).

Gannon shares, “I wrote ‘Let Go of Time’ not long after I was diagnosed with PTSD. I was watching my favorite vampire film (Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’) and I found myself feeling a lot of parallels to how the character Adam felt about the world – having to endure for so long, but always feeling less and less purpose because of this diminishing luster of things. I think that film, and ultimately this song is about finding purpose, joy and love when it is most difficult to find those things in life.”

Vision Video was formed in 2020 by Dusty Gannon (aka Goth Dad) and Emily Fredock. You can order the full album 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 Athens, GA-based post-punk band Vision Video has released its third album, “Modern Horror” which holds 11 tracks. The album is available now via Bandcamp and other platforms.

Produced by Ben Allen (known for his work with Erasure, Animal Collective, and Deerhunter) and mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Frank Arkwright (The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division), thematically the album explores the unsettling realities of today’s world.

The album was introduced through three singles—”Stay”, “In My Side (Modern Horror Version)”, and “Dead Gods”, the latter critiquing the violent dogma and authoritarianism that often dominate global narratives.

Fronted by Dusty Gannon and keyboardist Emily Fredock, Vision Video brings raw goth rock. Gannon, an Afghanistan war veteran and former firefighter-paramedic, channels his experiences into the themes of “Modern Horror” and is much darker than their previous works, such as “Inked in Red” (2021) and “Haunted Hours” (2022).

Gannon has openly discussed the album’s themes, saying, “I see regression happening all over the world. We’re watching the failure of systems like capitalism and religious fundamentalism, and it’s causing unnecessary hardships. This record is my way of addressing these issues and urging for change.” He continues, “Modern Horror is a reflection of the atrocities that we’re witnessing today, but it’s also a call for people to confront these horrors head-on, just as you would face a monster in a horror film.”

Vision Video tourdates

• Oct 25   Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club (Southern Gothic Festival)
• Nov 25  Berlin, Germany – Urban Spree
• Nov 26  Hamburg, Germany – Hafenklang
• Nov 28  Bochum, Germany – Die Trompete
• Nov 29  Bielefeld, Germany – Movie (with the Cassandra Complex & SJÖBLOM)
• Nov 30  Rotterdam, Netherlands – Soundville (with Lifeless Past)
• Dec 1  Brighton, UK – The Hope & Ruin  *
• Dec 2  Nottingham, UK – Bodega Social
• Dec 3  Liverpool, UK – Quarry  *
• Dec 4  Kings Heath, UK – Hare & Hounds  *
• Dec 6  Bristol, UK – Marble Factory  ^^
• Dec 7  London, UK – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire  **
• Dec 9  Dublin, Ireland – Opium  *
• Dec 10  Belfast, UK – Limelight Complex  *
• Dec 12  Glasgow, UK – The Garage  ^^
• Dec 13  Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK – Riverside 1  ^^
• Dec 14  Manchester, UK – Albert Hall  **

^   with The Nightmares
*    with Mark Burgess (The Chameleons)
^^  with The Chameleons
**   with The Chameleons and The Membranes

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 British synthpop duo, Erasure, consisting of vocalist Andy Bell and Vince Clarke, have announced the vinyl reissues of three albums: “Tomorrow’s World” (2011), “Snow Globe” (2013), and “The Violet Flame” (2014). These limited edition vinyl reissues, set for release on December 13, will be available via Mute Records.

Tomorrow’s World (2011) – Limited Edition Clear Vinyl

“Tomorrow’s World” marks Erasure’s return after a four-year hiatus. Released in 2011, the album showcased a duo deeply rooted in the synthpop scene yet embracing a more modern sound. Produced by Frankmusik (who has worked with artists such as Lady Gaga and Pet Shop Boys), the album was recorded across multiple locations, including Maine, London, and Los Angeles. It includes the singles “When I Start To (Break It All Down)”, “Be With You”, “A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot”, and “Fill Us With Fire”.

The album was well received. It followed a period where Andy Bell released his solo album “Don’t Stop”, and Vince Clarke briefly reunited with Alison Moyet for a Yazoo tour.

Snow Globe (2013) – Limited Edition Pink Vinyl

“Snow Globe” took Erasure in a stripped-back, often melancholic take on the festive genre. Departing from the more traditional, glitzy sounds of Christmas music, the album features eerie, minimalist arrangements.

Produced by Erasure, alongside Gareth Jones and Richard X, the album includes a modern rendition of the traditional Latin carol “Gaudete” and new versions of classics like “White Christmas” and “Silent Night”. The album’s lead single was “Make It Wonderful”.

The Violet Flame (2014) – Limited Edition White Vinyl

“The Violet Flame” came out in 2014, following the festive experiment of “Snow Globe”, and saw Erasure return to their electronic roots. The album was produced by Richard X (known for his work with Goldfrapp, SOPHIE, and Róisin Murphy).

Unlike their previous work, where songs traditionally began on guitar or piano, the tracks on “The Violet Flame” emerged directly from electronic dance grooves. This change in process resulted in standout singles such as “Elevation”, “Reason”, and the Halloween-themed “Dead of Night”.

With over 25 million albums sold worldwide and an impressive 18 studio albums under their belt, Erasure has cemented their place as one of the UK’s most successful synth-pop duos. Formed in 1985, they have consistently evolved while maintaining their signature synthpop sound. Their most recent releases include “The Neon” (2020) and its experimental follow-up “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)” (2022), which reimagined the songs from “The Neon” with new arrangements and vocals.

The vinyl reissues will be available on December 13, 2024, via Mute Records, and pre-orders are currently open.

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

Athens, Georgia-based post-punk band Vision Video has just dropped their latest single, “Dead Gods”, a critique of those who use dogma and ideology to perpetuate violence and authoritarianism. The single comes ahead of their third album, “Modern Horror”, which is set to release on October 22. The band is known for their mix of modern goth rock with post-punk elements.

Dusty Gannon, the band’s frontman, describes the track as “a defiant anthem” against rising fanaticism. Gannon, a former Afghanistan veteran and anti-war activist, draws from his personal experiences to challenge the justification of war through religious dogma.

Vision Video’s “Modern Horror” album takes a darker and more visceral approach than their earlier releases, reflecting on the brutality and disenfranchisement present in today’s society. The album is produced by Ben Allen (Erasure, Animal Collective), and mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

The band was formed in 2020 by Dusty Gannon and Emily Fredock.

As Vision Video prepares for the release of “Modern Horror”, they have also announced a European tour starting in late November, with performances in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Ireland. The tour includes several high-profile dates alongside The Chameleons and The Membranes.

Vision Video EU tour

• Nov 25: Berlin, Germany – Urban Spree
• Nov 26: Hamburg, Germany – Hafenklang
• Nov 28: Bochum, Germany – Die Trompete
• Nov 29: Bielefeld, Germany – Movie (with The Cassandra Complex & SJÖBLOM)
• Nov 30: Rotterdam, Netherlands – Soundville (with Lifeless Past)
• Dec 1: Brighton, UK – The Hope & Ruin (with Mark Burgess)
• Dec 2: Nottingham, UK – Bodega Social
• Dec 3: Liverpool, UK – Quarry (with Mark Burgess)
• Dec 4: Kings Heath, UK – Hare & Hounds (with Mark Burgess)
• Dec 6: Bristol, UK – Marble Factory (with The Chameleons)
• Dec 7: London, UK – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire (with The Chameleons & The Membranes)
• Dec 9: Dublin, Ireland – Opium (with Mark Burgess)
• Dec 10: Belfast, UK – Limelight Complex (with Mark Burgess)
• Dec 12: Glasgow, UK – The Garage (with The Chameleons)
• Dec 13: Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK – Riverside 1 (with The Chameleons)
• Dec 14: Manchester, UK – Albert Hall (with The Chameleons & The Membranes)

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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Andy Bell, the frontman of Erasure, is featured on the remix of the U2 classic “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” by Dave Audé. Andy Bell is featured along other guest vocalists such as Crystal Waters, Sarah Potenza, Wyn Starks, Plumb, and Zee Machine.

In the UK, the single is currently sitting at number seven on the Music Week Commercial Pop Chart, and down under in Australia, the track is maintaining the number one position on the Hot 30 Chart for five consecutive weeks. The DJ Tracy Young remix of the track is also doing well in Scandinavia, holding the sixth spot on the iTunes Dance Chart in Denmark and ranking 41st on Denmark’s overall iTunes chart.

The remix was released under Audacious Records on August 23 and is available across all major platforms, including Apple Music and Beatport, with various remixes by DJs made available.

Check for yourself.

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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(Interview by Janos Janurik) Ever since I got into online music journalism, I’ve always been interested in the background characters around my favourite musicians’ releases that add something important to the product we, the fans end up with.

With this in mind, over the years I have interviewed personalities such as Anton Corbijn (photographer of Depeche Mode and many other music greats), Gareth Jones and Mark Saunders (producers and mixmasters of Depeche Mode and Erasure amongst others).

About eight years ago I had the honour of helping to promote Vince Clarke’s then newly founded mini-record label (VeryRecords) and his releases. In addition to the artists whose albums have been released there in recent years, I also got in contact with Mat Smith, who, like me, is a freelancer – readers of Electronic Sound and Clash know him well – and works as a publicist for VeryRecords as well as being commissioned by Erasure and Mute for a number of press pieces. He also wrote the sleevenotes in the booklet of the new “Cowboy” Deluxe-Edition.

In addition to his journalistic work, he also has his own project “Mortality Tables”, which has just released a new mini-album on cassette and as a digital download. Last November, at the premiere of Vince Clarke’s solo album in London, I had the pleasure of meeting Mat in person and we had a lively chat about our shared passion for music. Knowing how important this project is to him, I approached him and asked him a few questions about it. 

But then life, or rather death, intervened. I didn’t mean this as a cheap shot, but it was indeed a sad event that forced me to make changes to the interview I had with my friend and colleague almost three weeks ago. Now that the aforementioned label is going on holiday, and before I do the same, I would like to bring this exciting musical venture (“The Engineer”) to your attention – and this interview with the man behind it.

SL: Tell us briefly about how you became interested in music. Have you had any musical training, have you learnt to play any instruments? Do you remember the first record you bought?

I grew up in a house where music seemed to always be playing, either on the radio or on my parent’s stereo. My mother listened to a lot of ABBA. Nothing about that was exceptional, particularly. When I used to go to friends’ houses, they always seemed to have the TV switched on, which felt strange to me. My family chose music, and I’ve surrounded myself with it ever since. 

I tried to play the recorder, which was the instrument that most of us learned as kids. My parents gave me a blue one for Christmas one year. I couldn’t play a single note. I briefly learned the basics of notation at school but very quickly forgot all of it. In early high school music classes I was more interested in recording real-life sounds into the Casio keyboard and using those to make compositions. Not long after that, I started making sample-based electronic music on my Amiga 500.

The first album I owned was Nik Kershaw’s ‘Human Racing’. I was given for my birthday the year it was released, along with a Sanyo portable cassette player. I played that album constantly. I wore out the cassette player after two weeks but I still have the ‘Human Racing’ tape and it still sounds incredible to me. 

SL: When did you discover electronic music? And who was the first electronic artist who introduced you to the world of electronic music?

My father is responsible for switching me on to electronic music. There were three pivotal events, and they all relate to times I was with my father.

The first was one evening when my mother was at her restaurant job, and my father was looking after me. I was playing with Lego in the lounge and Gary Numan was performing ‘Cars’ on TV. That performance completely captivated me.

The next was driving around in my father’s car while he did his second job as a debt collector. A friend at work had recorded two tracks from OMD’s ‘Architecture & Morality’ album onto a cassette for him. The songs were ‘Joan Of Arc’ and ‘Maid Of Orleans’, and we’d listen to them over and over.

The third was Soft Cell’s ‘Non-Stop Erotic Videotape’, which he brought home from work one day. That was pretty mind-blowing for a five-year old, and I can only imagine he didn’t realise what it was. It was definitely not suitable for a kid of my age, but, looking back, I don’t remember the imagery – I only recall the music. 

So I owe my father a huge debt for how he shaped my music tastes at a very early age. He was also the one who brought home a cassette copy of ‘The Innocents’ by Erasure and gave it to me. He had no idea quite what he started that day. 

SL: When did you start writing journalistic texts for Mute Records and its artists? What was your first article for Mute and about which artist, which release?

I began a blog called Documentary Evidence in 2003, which was focused on my personal Mute Records collection. I’d just write about the releases from a mostly non-musical perspective, explaining how they made me feel. I still write reviews like that today for Electronic Sound. I also got really interested in telling the stories of specific releases or artists, and that led me to interview people who released music through Mute, or were somehow connected to the label. I have a natural curiosity and inquisitiveness, and that seems to mean people like talking to me and opening up. 

From there I started writing for Clash, and then Electronic Sound and some other places. In 2017 I got asked to chair a panel discussion with Anton Corbijn, Daniel Miller, Paul A. Taylor and Steve Claydon (Add N To (X)) at Rough Trade East in London, about the visual identity of Mute. The first written Mute commission I got was to write a press biography for Chris Carter’s ‘Chemistry Lessons Vol. 1’. I couldn’t believe they asked me to do that, and I couldn’t believe I was being paid to write for the label I loved so much. The team at Mute liked what I did and I’ve been given a few more things to do since then, as well as with the team at BMG who look after the Erasure reissue programme, and Erasure themselves. 

SL: Did Vince Clarke’s VeryRecords label and the associated promotion give you any impetus for your own project, which you called “Mortality Tables”?

Indirectly, yes, but perhaps not in the way you might expect.

My task with VeryRecords was to assemble the press releases. It was the first time I’d worked behind the scenes of a release, where I’d often get involved before the album was even mastered, or before the artwork had even been considered. So I’d be talking to the artists – Reed & Caroline, Alka and Brook – at a very early stage, generally when Vince felt that the album was finished enough for me to listen and for me to start engaging the artists.

It took a while for me to realise this, but the process of working with the artists to write a press release became a collaboration – between all of us, and between my words and their music. I wasn’t just a writer but part of the collective effort to put this music out into the world. I did the same with Nick Hook’s Calm + Collect label, working on releases by Gareth Jones, Spiritual Friendship and others.

In 2019, when I began forming Mortality Tables, I envisaged it as a creative community of collaborators. You can definitely draw a line between that and the ideas that began to form as I worked with VeryRecords and its artists. I also took a lot of inspiration from Vince, who didn’t feel that he needed to only focus on the music that people would expect him to release. That sense of freedom, which Daniel Miller also brought to Mute, directly fed into what Mortality Tables has become. I wanted something where I could work with people making sound art as well as people making images. It had to have artistic breadth. 

I wanted Mortality Tables to be like a gallery, with a portfolio of artists in vastly different disciplines. That’s why Neil Coe deigned the first sleeve image to look like the description of an artwork on the wall of a gallery.

SL: The name of the project refers to the work of actuaries who measure the statistical probability of life insurance payouts. You do something like this in your everyday working life, don’t you?

That’s right. I work with insurance companies all around the world, and have done for over twenty years. I find lots of parallels between the worlds of insurance and electronic music, and the kinds of people I engage with in both of my jobs.

The story goes that I was meeting a friend in a café in Bloomsbury in London one morning. He runs a record label, which is another big inspiration for Mortality Tables. He wishes to remain anonymous, but he is actively involved, in the sense that he must approve anything we decide to do. I call him the Creative Consultant.

So I was meeting him and he had an LP of one of his releases to give me. He asked me if I had a bag to put it in, and I reached into rucksack and retrieved a tote bag. It was from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and had been given to me by an actuary a few years before. The Creative Consultant saw the bag with its logo and Latin inscription (‘e peritia ratio’ – ‘reason from experience’) and asked what it meant. I replied, “It’s all mortality tables and shit like that.” The name stuck.

We created our first Mortality Tables Product that morning. It’s called FORKTALK and is a conversation between two friends. We do not publish the details of our conversations. Its entry in the Mortality Tables Catalogue is MTP0.

SL: Dave Clarkson, who is mostly active in electronic and experimental music and Wonderful Beasts, a sound art/electronic music duo consisting of the anonymous Xqui and Carl Knott (boycalledcrow, Spacelab) were your first artists, right? How did you get in touch with them?

The release that moved Mortality Tables from something conceptual to something ‘real’ was ‘Two Meditations For Freya’ by Goodparley (whose name has now changed to Please Close Your Eyes). That was in 2022. It signalled what I wanted Mortality Tables to be: I would come up with ideas and hand them to someone to ‘respond’ to.

That concept has stayed consistent through the first two years of Mortality Tables. I’ll come up with an idea and pick someone to get involved. At the last count, there are at least fifty people who are collaborators. And it isn’t just sound projects – Mortality Tables encompasses sound, art, and words. And insurance. 

However, all rules in creativity are there to be broken, and I broke my own rules in 2023 with the release of Dave Clarkson’s ‘Ghosts Of Christmas Past (Music From Vintage Toys)’. I had nothing to do with the concept of that album, so I guess that’s a bit like Mortality Tables acting like a traditional record label, which is a description I never want to use. The same is true of Andrew Brenza and Alka’s ‘pod’ and boycalledcrow’s ‘Kullu’. However, all these releases only existed because of an earlier collaboration, and that’s how I got myself comfortable with releasing these projects. You’ll see a few more of those types of projects from Mortality Tables over the next few years. 

In answer to your question about how I find artist, it’s actually really straightforward. Anyone involved with Mortality Tables is someone whose music I’ve written about. As for how I choose an artist for a particular project, that’s mostly a case of matching a collaborator to an idea that feels aligned to what they would usually do. However, some of the most enjoyable projects are where the artist is working a long way outside of what they might normally do.

SL: After artists like Andrew Spackman, Rupert Lally, Simon Fisher Turner and Veryan, two years ago you released a strange and experimental piece called “On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives”. The piece is a spoken word piece in which you read out the Mortality Tables’ manifesto: “In life, our one true certainty is death.” This narration, recorded by Gareth Jones, was then sent to Vince Clarke who recorded a musical response to the text, which forms the soundtrack to the release. How did you come up with this, somewhat absurd, idea?

I had bought a copy of a book by Alex Danchev called ‘100 Artists’ Manifestos – From The Futurists To The Stuckists’ at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2021. I read each of the manifestos from groups like the Surrealists, Dadaists and Situationists as if they were short stories, and it became a really profound experience. On the back of ‘Two Meditations For Freya’, people had started to ask me what Mortality Tables was all about, so it seemed completely natural (and not absurd at all) to write a manifesto.

Mostly it was designed to help me understand why I was doing this, and then I decided to explain it to everyone else. That’s when I asked Gareth to record my narration. At the same time I approached Vince and an anonymous sound artist called venoztks to create sound pieces to accompany it.

The listener can judge whether it successfully explains what this is all about, or not. It does explain why the composer and actuary Charles Ives is so critical to the evolution of Mortality Tables. In fact, the second Mortality Tables Product to be made available was a postcard containing an illustration of Ives in front of a mortality table from 1874, the year of Ives’s birth. That piece was a collaboration with Savage Pencil who had illustrated a lot of the Blast First sleeves.

SL: Released on June 16th, the 40-copy limited edition cassette “The Engineer” is a charity project for Alzheimer’s disease featuring Vince Clarke, Penelope Trappes, Chris Illingworth, Barney Ashton-Bullock, Lara Jones, Simon Fisher Turner, Hattie Cooke, Gareth Jones, Veryan and others. The title character is your father, isn’t he? Is that why you chose Father’s Day as the release date? Tell us a bit about this project!

The title character, the engineer, is based on my father. This project dates back ten years, probably longer, a long time before Mortality Tables was an idea.

I wrote a short story that tried to deal with my feelings about my father as he approached retirement. He lived for work, had no hobbies or friends, and I envisaged him struggling to cope with the concept of stopping work. I was angry when I wrote it, but I was also scared for him. It’s fiction, but it’s rooted in his reality. His actual retirement was very different to what happens in the story. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2018, and that’s why we’ll donate all profits from ‘The Engineer’ to the Alzheimer’s Society. Sadly he passed away shortly after ‘The Engineer’ was released. 

When I published the story on my blog, an electronic musician called Laica (Dave Fleet) offered to create some music inspired by the story. He composed a beautiful piece but the project never got completed. A few years later, I came up with a different idea, which involved someone narrating the story with a piece of music behind it. That version also never got off the ground at all, but I liked the idea of asking someone to narrate the story. That’s when I asked Barney Ashton-Bullock if he would do it. He has a brilliant speaking voice, and it was perfect for this story.

It was Gareth Jones who suggested the idea of having different artists respond to different sections of narration. He said it was a bit like the Surrealist game ‘Exquisite Corpse’. I think of Gareth as my spiritual guru. He has a way of unlocking ideas, and freeing you from obstacles that are only there because you’ve put them there. ‘The Engineer’ wouldn’t exist in this form if it wasn’t for Gareth. 

From there, it was a case of picking the collaborators and asking them to respond to a specific 30-second section of narration. No one heard the full story, and no one asked to hear the whole thing. The order the artists agreed to say yes determined which section they got. The only rule I gave them was that their sound response needed to last exactly thirty seconds. 

There are two editions of ‘The Engineer’. One is a digital file that combines the narration and sound responses. The other is a cassette that splits the narration and responses apart. That means the only place you can hear Vince Clarke’s sound response without Barney’s narration is on the cassette, which has now sold out. 

SL: Barney Ashton-Bullock (the creator of Andy Bell’s “Torsten” projects), Vince Clarke, as well as Reed Hays, Alka and Gareth Jones will be familiar to most of our readers, but who are the other contributors? 

Again, everyone involved is someone I’ve written about. When I came up with my collaborator list for this, it was important to me to achieve some sort of diversity. So a lot of the artists here are electronic, but you have artists covering everything from pop to sound art. That was deliberate.

I also wanted diversity of textures. That’s why I included Charlotte Keeffe, Chris Illingworth from GoGo Penguin and Luce Mawdsley. When you put all 29 sound responses together as a single piece, it sounds like a right fucking mess. As the responses were coming in over a 30-month period, I realised that the sprawling, messy quality was a lot like my father’s Alzheimer’s – ideas form, are quickly forgotten before they develop, and are then replaced by something else. That wasn’t planned, at all, but now I can see it was a subconscious idea that must have been there from the moment that Gareth suggested involving lots of artists. 

SL: What plans and ideas are currently circulating in your head? Will it be something journalistic or another Mortality Tables release?

I’m always writing, and I’ve got a few big things underway right now, including something for a label I’ve done a few pieces for before.

In terms of Mortality Tables, now that ‘The Engineer’ has been released, all activities will he paused until later in the summer. We’ve released a huge number of Products in just over two years and I need a break. We’ll return later in the summer with Season 03 of LIFEFILES, which is an ongoing project where artists respond to my really basic field recordings.

We’ll also release a single from Please Close Your Eyes, an album from Andrew Spackman and the full version of Andrew Brenza and Alka’s ‘pod’ collaboration. I’ve been working on one of several projects inspired by Charles Ives, ‘Central Park: A Picture-In-Sounds’, which will be issued as a ‘score’ in October, along with some additional performances of the piece. We’ll begin work on another large-scale collaboration called ‘The Impermanence Project’.

Other things will happen. Other things will not.

More information on Mortality Tables releases.

Use code janos for a 10% discount off anything in the Mortality Tables Catalogue. 

I would like to end this article with a personal message from Mat Smith, who asks the readers and the music listeners to support, if they can, the Alzheimer’s Society, which has received the proceeds of the tape release mentioned in the interview. If you feel able to, please donate to alzheimers.org.uk directly.

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

Survivorship bias. Most have never heard of this term, but it really does impact the music industry where a striking 90% of artists, even the talented ones, fail to achieve major success. Over the years, many have questioned me why certain bands with strong music and substantial label support do not become significant acts.

Time and again, I have pointed to survivorship bias, or survival bias, as a key explanation. Yesterday the question also came up in a conversation with my colleague Nele Bonte with whom I run the social media consultancy FOX DS.

Survivorship bias is the logical error of focusing only on the entities that have passed a selection process while ignoring those that did not. This can lead to incorrect conclusions due to incomplete data. In the music industry, this manifests when people only consider the artists who have achieved fame and visibility, neglecting the vast majority who have not. This bias can result in overly optimistic beliefs by overlooking multiple failures, such as excluding bands that left the roster of labels, or simply stopped playing music altogether. It may also foster the false belief that the successful few in the industry possess some unique qualities, rather than acknowledging the role of chance or misinterpreting correlation as causation.

It’s a logic you do not need to explain to most label owners. They know very well that successful bands are not born using just a magic formula, it’s a mix of things, and luck is often one of them. It also explains why many indie labels usually have only one or two well performing bands, while other bands on the same label – who get the same support – do not perform as well. If you look at Mute for instance, in their most successful years there were only a few bands keeping the label afloat: Depeche Mode, Erasure and Nick Cave. And that’s fine.

An Example of Survivorship Bias from the Military

A easy understandable example of survivorship bias can be found in military history. During World War II, statistician Abraham Wald incorporated survivorship bias into his calculations when determining how to minimize bomber losses to enemy fire. Working with the Statistical Research Group at Columbia University, Wald examined the damage on aircraft that had returned from missions and recommended adding armor to the areas that showed the least damage.

The rationale was that the bullet holes in the returning aircraft represented areas where a bomber could take damage and still fly well enough to return safely to base. If the aircraft was reinforced in the indicated areas, it was a result of survivorship bias because crucial data from fatally damaged planes was missing; those hit in other places did not survive.

Survivorship Bias in the Music Industry

To reiterate, 90% of all artists fail to make it big, a fact underpinned by the reality that 45.6 million tracks on Spotify had zero streams in 2023, and 158.6 million tracks received less than 1,000 plays.

The music industry is highly competitive, with countless individuals aspiring to become successful artists. However, only a small fraction achieve noticeable success or become household names.

We often also forget that there’s a vast middle ground of musicians who manage to make a living from their art but aren’t widely known or considered “successful” by mainstream standards.

Survivorship bias often leads to the overlook of these careers, even though they might offer valuable insights into sustainable practices within the music industry. The stories we often see and hear tend to homogenize the narratives about success, emphasizing certain themes like overnight success or the importance of never giving up, over more nuanced or less glamorous but equally valid experiences.

Here’s a video which was posted by Haulix a few years ago. Although it only garnered 470 views in 4 years, it’s worth it to check it out.

And then There is Failure Bias and the Underdog Effect

On the flip side, the opposite of survivorship bias is often referred to as failure bias or the underdog effect. While survivorship bias focuses only on the successes, thereby overlooking failures or those who did not make it, failure bias emphasizes the failures or the unsuccessful attempts, possibly at the expense of understanding the full range of successful outcomes.

This could demotivate musicians by presenting an overly pessimistic view of success rates. However, focusing on failures provides an opportunity to learn from mistakes. Understanding why things didn’t work out for some can provide valuable lessons that can be applied to avoid similar pitfalls. However, without a balanced view that also considers success stories, the lessons might be incomplete or misdirected.

Balance and Perspective

The most effective approach to understanding success and failure, whether in the music industry or any other field, is to maintain a balanced perspective that considers both survivorship and failure biases.

Recognizing the successes and understanding the failures, while also taking into account the various factors that contribute to these outcomes, offers a more nuanced and realistic view of what it takes to succeed or fail in a given endeavor.

This balanced perspective is crucial for setting realistic expectations, making informed decisions, and fostering a healthy and realistic ambition. But never forget, the core of your carreer should always be that you love creating music. If your music gets traction, the better, if it doesn’t you at least can blame it on… survivorship bias.

PS: The eighties really weren’t better, you just remember the best songs and bands, whereas you have forgotten the vast amount of very bad synthpop that got released back then.

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 Christiania Krueger) Crime & The City Solution continue their reissues series on Mute with their 1985 mini-LP, “Just South of Heaven”, and their debut full-length album, “Room of Lights” (1986). Both reissues will be out on June 7. The band recently released their sixth studio album, “The killer”.

The band will perform two very special shows next week in Berlin with the three-piece acoustic line up of Bronwyn Adams (violin and vocals), Simon Bonney (vocals) and Joshua Murphy (acoustic guitar and vocals). Crime & The City Solution will perform acoustic shows at Eschschloraque Rümschrümp in Berlin on the 17 & 18 April before a tour across the island of Ireland in May.

“Just South of Heaven” (available in limited edition blue vinyl) features Crime’s London line up of Simon Bonney, Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard, Harry Howard and Epic Soundtracks. The material was recorded between the legendary Hansa Tonstudios in Berlin and London’s Strongrooms with producer Flood (Frank Tovey, Depeche Mode, Erasure).

1986’s full length debut album, “Room of Lights” (available in limited edition yellow vinyl), would be the final recording by the London line up. The album includes one of their most beloved songs, “Six Bells Chime”, and this lineup reached its zenith with a historic swansong performance of the track in Wim Wenders’ 1987 cinematic masterpiece “Wings of Desire”.

Formed in Sydney by Simon Bonney at the age of 16, Crime & the City Solution’s early performances from 1977-1979 had a big impact on key figures of the early Melbourne art-punk/post punk scene. In 1984, Bad Seed Mick Harvey shipped Bonney to England to form the London based Crime & The City Solution with their friend Rowland S Howard, with his brother Harry Howard on bass and Epic Soundtracks on drums. The London incarnation – encapsulated by these two reissues – disbanded soon after their performance in “Wings of Desire”.

The first Berlin incarnation which followed is represented by three albums recently reissued on Mute – “Shine” (1988), “The Bride Ship” (1989) and “Paradise Discotheque” (1990), and the live album, “The Adversary”. Another 20 years would pass before the band, then based in Detroit, would return with their fifth studio album, “American Twilight”.

Watch the band perform a brand new, exclusive session version of “Witness” from the album for Le Cargo.

Crime & The City Solution (Acoustic)

• 17 April – Berlin, Eschschloraque Rümschrümp
• 18 April – Berlin, Eschschloraque Rümschrümp
• 10 May – Inis Oírr, Áras Éanna Arts Centre
• 11 May – West Cork, Levis Corner House
• 14 May – Belfast, Accidental Theatre
• 15 May – Doolin, The Attic
• 16 May – Borrisokane, The Barn
• 17 May – Galway, Taibdhearc

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 Pere Masramon) Diamanda Galás has announced details of her latest live release, “Diamanda Galás in Concert”, featuring recordings taken from performances at Thalia Hall in Chicago, and Neptune Theatre in Seattle from 2017. The album is set for release on 14 June 2024 via Intravenal Sound Operations.

Out now is the album’s “A Soul That’s Been Abused“- her take on Ronnie Earl’s soul ballad.

Talking about the track, she explains: “I had a gentleman caller off and on for ten years. Quite often I had to put him on the shelf because he was quite dramatic. But I loved him because usually he could take my sense of humor and colorful language by laughing at me. There was one day when I insulted him badly; and he informed me immediately that he could kill me where I stood. After the drama, we went to sleep. The next morning I went looking for my scissors and couldn’t find them. I looked for my knives and could find not even one. Finally I thought, “He hid them while I was sleeping!” I lifted the mattress and there was a petty arsenal of kitchen knives, scissors, my stun gun, my 38 special, and maybe even a toenail clipper! I laughed so hard that day! And we had a great dinner that night. A Soul That’s Been Abused was always his song.”

Diamanda Galás is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and visual artist. Her work concentrates on themes such as AIDS, mental illness, despair, loss of dignity, political injustice, historical revisionism, and war crimes. Galás’s recordings have also included collaborations, some of which are with the bands Recoil and Erasure, instrumentalist Barry Adamson, and musician Can Oral (also known as Khan), among others.

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

Vince Clarke is set to perform ‘Songs of Silence’ live at National Sawdust, Brooklyn, NYC, on Saturday, May 4th, 2024. Following the success of the November concert in London, Clarke has decided to bring the show to New York City. Accompanied by Reed Hays, the event promises an intimate evening with doors opening at 6 pm and concluding by 9 pm. The duo plans to present “Songs of Silence” in full, along with additional tracks from the same project.

Tickets for this exclusive performance will be available starting this Sunday, March 24th, at noon (NYC time). Unlike the larger London event, the Brooklyn show offers a more personal experience in a stunning venue, anticipated to be a truly special occasion.

Priced at $35 each, plus a service and booking fee of $4.19, tickets are for general admission standing only. Interested parties can secure up to four tickets per transaction exclusively through the designated Eventbrite page. Purchases cannot be made at the venue or through other channels. Additional details regarding wheelchair access, venue specifics, and the evening’s schedule are available on the ticketing page.

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 UK correspondent Simon Helm of Cold War Nightlife) A few days ago we posted a review of the first solo concert of Vince Clarke at the LSESU in London, with Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones), and today we present you a review of the additional Q&A session featuring Daniel Miller which took place at Rough Trade East on Sunday, November 19th.

Vince Clarke needs no introduction, so Daniel Miller didn’t give him one. The mastermind behind Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, and Erasure, Clarke was in London to perform his solo album, Songs of Silence. A Q&A session at Rough Trade East allowed the Mute label boss to put some questions to Clarke and talk about their shared history.

Update: Mute in the meantime posted a video of the Q&A.

When Vince Clarke met Daniel Miller

The first time Clarke and Miller met was a bit of a disaster. Dressed up in futurist clothes, Clarke had travelled from Basildon with Dave Gahan to pitch Depeche Mode’s demo tape to London-based labels. When they tried Rough Trade, the counter staff pointed them at Miller, who was in the back preparing the artwork for a Fad Gadget record. When the Mute man emerged, he took one look at the Mode boys and kept walking. 

Miller chuckles at the lost opportunity, which he recovered from when Depeche Mode supported Fad Gadget at the Bridgehouse in Canning Town. He notes a controversy that has arisen because Stevo, the notorious Soft Cell manager and Some Bizarre label boss, has claimed that he “let” Miller “have” Depeche Mode for Mute. Rubbish. Depeche Mode did what they wanted – and, as Clarke confirms, that was to work with the genius behind The Normal, Silicon Teens, and the sound of Fad Gadget.

The lockdown stopped Erasure from working together

On to the new album. Clarke explains that lockdown stopped Erasure from working together. Inspired by repeated viewings of Bladerunner 2049, he decided to make the soundtrack for a sequel in his basement studio using modular kit. Drones provided the fluidity, while additional elements were layered on top. “It was never intended as a record,” Clarke said. “It  was really just for me to learn to use the synthesizer.”

When Miller asked Clarke what he was up to, some tracks were passed across, and Miller suggested they become an album. “I was in total shock, because it wasn’t what I intended,” Clarke told the audience.

The only track with lyrics used a recording of a traditional miner’s union song, which Clarke had struggled to set to music previously. Miller explained that it proved impossible to track down the rights holder for the vocals – drawing a laugh when he explained that Mute would “Take care of them.”

New Erasure album in the making

Clarke revealed that there is a new Erasure album planned for release next year, but he has not played the music to Andy Bell, yet. “We never write remotely. It just doesn’t work for us. We have to be in the same room, at the same time, to make a complete song.”

Miller let on that there is more coming from the Erasure camp. “Andy [Bell] is also working on a solo album at the moment.” No word whether it will also feature Eurorack modules or found sound, but it will undoubtedly come with its own stories.

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

(Interview by János Janurik) Vince Clarke just released his first solo album “Songs Of Silence” in late autumn 2023. The fact that he has now recorded his first solo album after more than forty years in the pop business was long overdue. Our editor Janos Janurik contacted Vince Clarke and his partner in crime, Reed Hays, regarding this solo debut that opens up new listening perspectives into Vince Clarke’s previously unknown parallel universe, and a special concert in London.

Although the ingenious composer and sound wizard had several side projects alongside his main band Erasure – just think of the countless remixes, the collaborations with Martyn Ware, Paul Hartnoll and Martin Gore, and his label boss activities at Very Records, or the almost unknown album of instrumental compositions called “Deeptronica” – this is still the first time that he has released an LP under his own name. And on the parent label Mute Records. A feast for fans of electronic music!

Even the first appetiser was a shock for some fans: Vince ventured to the dark side, his solo track “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” sounding darker and sadder than ever before. The accompanying music video, shot in black and white, only reinforced the gloomy mood of the first pre-release track. This was anything but the dynamic electro-pop that Vince Clarke is known for.

The second pre-release single “White Rabbit” is already more similar to the typical musical style of the Erasure mastermind. Intelligent pop at its best, where hypnotising, shimmering electronic beats keep up the tempo with electric guitar sounds and thundering drums at the end. The visual backdrop this time is an animated film, with educational content about how we are “modern humans”. After the break since “The Neon” sound cosmos, fans of Vince Clarke’s music are eagerly awaiting their musical hero’s first solo LP.

„The joy for me has been the process of making the music… Everything else is a bonus.”

SL. When I heard and saw the track “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” for the first time, I was deeply touched by the experience. Although you mentioned to me in an earlier interview (around the time of the release of “2Square”) that you “still like to write “nobody understands me” songs”, you’ve waited so long to show this side of yourself. If there’s no pressure from the label, these songs might stay in the drawer. Is that really true? Did Daniel Miller persuade you to release these compositions as your first solo album on Mute?

Vince: The tracks I recorded during lockdown were never meant as an album. I was spending time in the studio just experimenting with sound and mood. I sent some of these ‘experiments’ to Daniel Miller, owner of Mute records and he suggested that perhaps this collection of soundscapes could be released as an album. Up to that point I was purely making the music for myself.

SL. As for the album title (“Songs Of Silence”), it wasn’t too hard to work out that it was some kind of homage to the legendary film score by Simon & Garfunkel. They were a big inspiration for you to compose music yourself, weren’t they? And what inspirations did you take this time? Or did everything follow your inner voice?

Vince: Yes, the title is a tiny homage to “The Sounds of Silence” and I’m a huge fan of Paul Simon. At the same time “Songs Of Silence” describe exactly what the album is about.

SL. The music of Vince Clarke lives without bombastic sound or glittery synth pop effects too, that was my first thought after listening to this album. What equipment did you use in your home studio this time?

Vince: For all the tracks I just used my Eurorack Modules. It was an opportunity to learn about the technology and really focus on the precise sounds I needed without being distracted by all the other sound sources in my studio.

SL. The opening track (“Cathedral”) already takes the listener out of the real world and frees them from the matrix. The whole thing has something religious and spiritual about it, in which the wholeness of the world is connected with one’s own existence. Such a process is necessary for mental health and for dealing with negative feelings. Was it the same for you?

Vince: I’m not religious but the word Cathedral suggested to me something huge and wondrous. I found the process of recording all these tracks to be cathartic and helpful to cope with the stresses I was experiencing at the time.

SL. One of my favourites is the track “Red Planet”. Relaxing ambient music with ethereal voices. I think a lot of fans – especially Depeche Mode fans – will say it’s their favourite track. Do you have your own favourite track from the album?

Vince: “Cathedral” is my favourite track and I’m also very fond of “Passage” which is all about a difficult/impossible journey.

SL. Not only “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”, but also “Scarper” has an acoustic touch – flamenco-like guitar. Once again a highlight of the album for me. Did you use samples here or did someone play the guitar live?

Vince: Reed Hays played cello on “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” and the guitar parts were played by my friend Steve Walsh.

SL. “Blackleg” is inspired by the traditional folk song “Blackleg Miner”. Your label mate, Frank Tovey, who died too soon, dedicated an entire album to workers’ songs in 1989 (“Tyranny And The Hired Hand”). Music and resistance was the main theme of this album. And what about you? What did you find inspiring about this folk song?

Vince: The song has a real raw edge to it. The lyrics are quite violent and paint a stark picture of the misery of the mining community during and after the Industrial Revolution. It was interesting to mix a very synthetic soundscape with something so organic.

SL. “Last Transmission” could also be related to the Erasure song “Turns The Love To Anger”, especially with the instrumental intro of its live version. It’s like a radio signal into space, with the hope that it will find a recipient with empathy. Do you still believe in the good in these difficult times?

Vince: No. I find it difficult to feel optimistic.

SL. You have always been known to be rather reluctant to appear in video clips. But for the first promo video, you had to stand alone in front of the camera. Where and how did the filming of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” take place?

Vince: I wanted the video to convey a certain gravitas that reflected the sadness of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”. It was shot in Brooklyn New York in a day.

SL. An animated video was made for “White Rabbit” – another favourite track of mine. You recently uploaded funny cartoons (“Günter Finn” and “Bacon And Eggs”) to the internet yourself. How did you find the cartoonist Daniele Arcuri for the second clip?

Vince: I saw his show reel on Fiverr and was instantly attracted to his irreverent and bonkers style of animation.

SL. At the special album release event in London the support band was the duo of Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller (called Sunroof), who play electro-improvisation music. Both of them have played a big role in your career. Was it natural for you to invite them to support you?

Vince: I was delighted that they agreed to do the show with us. I think the combination made for a really interesting evening.

SL. A month has passed since that concert in London. Your first solo album has received very good reviews, it’s also at the top of the album charts. Looking back on the whole process, what are your feelings now? Did you expect such positive feedback?

Vince: To be honest, I didn’t expect any feedback. The joy for me has been the process of making the music… Everything else is a bonus.

Reed Hays, the synthesiser specialist and master of the Buchla synthesiser, and long-time friend of Vince Clarke, also joins the conversation.

SL. Reed, you and Caroline were the first to sign a label contract with Vince’s Very Records. So far you’ve released two albums on his label and you then supported Erasure on their 2018 tour. Now you’ve played cello as a guest musician for Vince’s solo album. How did this invitation come about?

Reed: During the Reed & Caroline years Vince had me put together a couple instrumental tracks to promote Veryrecords on Soundcloud. One was called “Buchla and Cello” and the other was called “Cello and No Buchla”, so he was already familiar with my playing. While working on “Songs of Silence” he asked in his usual polite English manner, “Would you mind terribly if I sent you something, and maybe consider if it needs some sort of cello on it?” I purposely overplayed the part, thinking he would edit most of it out, but to my surprise he kept the whole thing!

SL. Were you there – as an expert advisor – for the entire creative period, or did you only hear the final result?

Reed: He played me some of the tracks while he was working on them, but I’m afraid I had no “expert advice” to give, because they already sounded amazing. I remember thinking only Vince Clarke could call something a “drone piece” but you’d still walk away from it with a catchy part in your head!

SL. Do you have your own favourite tracks from Vince’s solo album? If so, what are they and why?

Reed: Vince’s friend Steve does some great acoustic guitar work on “Scarper”. There’s a little blippy part on “Cathedral” that sounds Buchla-inspired, so of course it makes me smile every time I hear it. I love the sequencer in “White Rabbit” and of course his treatment of the “Blackleg Miner” song is wonderfully haunting.         

SL. On release day you shared the stage with Vince in London. What was your role at that concert?

Reed: In a very un-Vince reversal, nothing was rigidly synchronized. We were playing drones and triggering elements from the album by hand. The timing was totally based on the feel of the evening and the impressions of the visuals. And, of course, I had my cello with me. J

SL. For a while you had a joint radio show on a New York alternative radio station called “The Synthesizer Show”, which was very popular among fans of synthesiser music. Do you miss these radio shows? Do you talk to each other privately about what’s new in the genre?

Reed: It’s funny to think that for close to a decade “The Synthesizer Show” was an important anchor for both of us. It was a great way to break up the grinding tour schedule with Erasure, and during Covid it was the only activity either one of us had apart from family lockdown life. I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of “The Synthesizer Show” yet, but right now we have a couple ambient concerts to deal with!

SL. Do you currently have something in progress? Will there be another Reed & Caroline album?

Reed: I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Buchla 100, the earliest Buchla instrument. It’s also the rawest and most visceral of Mr. Buchla’s creations. I like to think of Reed & Caroline as a magical pre-Covid time capsule, but in a couple years her girls and my son will be out of high school, so never say never!

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

(By our UK correspondent Simon Helm of Cold War Nightlife) This is a review of yesterday’s event at the London School of Economics where Vince Clarke did a debut solo show supported by Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones).

Vince Clarke admits that he is a little nervous. The confession comes as he adjusts his set-up between songs. Normally, Andy Bell would step into these gaps, but this is not an Erasure show. It is a performance of “Songs of Silence”, Clarke’s album of songs based on drones. There is no need for concern: the sold-out crowd in a basement venue at the LSE is a friendly one (look – there is Neil Arthur from Blancmange!); and the spaces between tracks are exactly what the album’s title promises.

The event is billed as Vince Clarke’s first ever solo performance – but, of course, it is not. Clarke is a serial collaborator, who has spent his career working with other talents. Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, Erasure, The Illustrious Company, VCMG – even when the prime mover, Clarke has sought out others to share the experience and the credits. Tonight, the limelight is shared with his friend, Reed Hays, and a cameo from the indomitable Sarah-Jane Dale, while Richard Evans from the Erasure Information Service tweaks the lighting. Clarke is more exposed than usual, but he is not alone.

The title of the new album is a reminder that Clarke is a life-long Simon & Garfunkel fan. It might also be a reference to the recent losses of his friends, Robert Marlowe and Andy Fletcher. The cover photo shows Clarke in stark relief, and the cruelty of time is written into the songs. Performed live, they lose none of their emotive content, and Hays’ cello underlines the sadness of “The Lamentations of Jermiah.” Even “Blackleg,” a version of the traditional miners’ song made popular in a more combative form by Steeleye Span and the PCA Band, is ominous and melancholy. Grainy footage of miners walking from a pit invokes something lost – like Test Dept without their fine-tuned debris.

The appearance of Sarah-Jane Dale for “Passage” adds a touch of glamour to the otherwise spectral drones and haunting rhythms. Clarke seems relieved to have the focus on another part of the stage, but he warms to the experience as the show continues. By the time of “Last Transmission,” he can’t hold back a full-on smile. The audience – most of whom have followed Clarke’s career for more than four decades – never doubted that it would be a special night. Clarke, it seems, has to pass through it to agree.

Support came from the Sunroof project of Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller. Facing each other across blinking panels of Eurorack modules, the two great producers embarked on a journey into improvised electronics that led down unpredictable tributaries of blips and webs of bloops. Sunroof’s shows are as unique as snowflakes and even cooler, as they harness the flow of electricity to weave magical textures. On a stage filled with Mute’s main superconductors, they played their roles as human Tesla coils with inspiration.

Pictures of Vince Clarke and Sunroof live sets

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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(Photo by Eugene Richards) Vince Clarke unveils his first solo album today, titled “Songs of Silence”. This ambient album, spanning 10 tracks, is now available in vinyl, CD, and digital formats through Mute. Clarke celebrates this release with his debut solo show tonight at the LSESU in London, with Sunroof (comprising Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones) as the opening act. Additionally, a Q&A session featuring Daniel Miller is scheduled at Rough Trade East on Sunday, November 19th.

After writing numerous hits for prominent bands like Erasure, Yazoo, and Depeche Mode, Clarke has finally ventured into a solo project. The album, recorded in his New York home studio, showcases photography and artwork by renowned Magnum photojournalist Eugene Richards. Originating as a lockdown diversion, Clarke delved into the possibilities of Eurorack, a modular synthesizer known for its expansive and engaging configurations. “The process was incredibly enjoyable, and it was solely for my own pleasure initially. I never contemplated others hearing it. The learning and creative journey in my studio was the highlight,” Vince reflects. “It was a surprise when Mute decided to release it.”

As previously mentioned, Clarke adhered to two self-imposed guidelines for this album: exclusively using Eurorack for sound production and constructing each track around a single note, maintaining a consistent key. Vince humorously notes, “No one in my family, not even the cat, showed much interest in my studio work, especially after hours of drone sounds.”

Vince Clarke video singles

Here are the two previously released videos from 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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(Photo by Eugene Richards) Vince Clarke (Erasure, Yazoo, Depeche Mode) has shared “White Rabbit”, the latest track to be released from his forthcoming debut solo album, “Songs of Silence”. “Songs of Silence” is a 10-track ambient album which will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally via Mute on 17 November 2023.

In addition, Vince Clarke’s debut solo performance has been confirmed for the LSE, London on Friday 17 November, with a Rough Trade East Q&A confirmed for Sunday 19 November.

“White Rabbit” comes accompanied by an animation by Daniele Arcuri looking at the darkness surrounding our relationship with technology. Daniele Arcuri explains, “I wanted to openly address the themes of hyper-connectivity, anxiety, apathy, and voyeurism towards others’ suffering. This video is a bold and thought-provoking reflection on how technology is eerily shaping our existence, and challenges viewers to contemplate the human cost of an ever-connected world.”

Watch the video below.

Recorded in his home studio in New York, and featuring photography and artwork by Eugene Richards, work on the album began as a distraction during lockdown, a chance to finally get his head around the possibilities of Eurorack, a modular synthesiser format famed for its addictive and limitless configurations. Alone in the studio, Clarke set himself two rules: first, that the sounds he generated for the album would come solely from Eurorack, and second, that each track would be based around one note, maintaining a single key throughout.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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(Photo by Eugene Richards) Vince Clarke, known for his contributions to bands like Erasure, Yazoo, and Depeche Mode, has unveiled his first-ever solo album titled “Songs of Silence”. Set to launch on 17 November 2023, this ambient music album, devoid of lyrics across its 10 tracks, will be available on vinyl, CD, and digital platforms through Mute.

For enthusiasts eager for a glimpse, the track “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” is now available. The accompanying video was directed by Ebru Yildiz, whose previous collaborations include artists like Laurie Anderson, Mitski, and A Place to Bury Strangers. Ebru Yildiz comments, “When I first heard the song, I felt like it encapsulated an entire lifetime. It’s an amalgamation of drama, peace, anxiety, serenity, tension, hope, and more. My aim was to make the visuals echo these myriad emotions.”

Crafted in Clarke’s home studio in New York, “Songs Of Silence” also showcases the artistic prowess of Magnum photojournalist Eugene Richards through its photography and artwork. Interestingly, the album’s inception was a product of the lockdown period, born out of Clarke’s exploration of the Eurorack – a modular synthesiser known for its boundless configurations. “The whole process was incredibly immersive. It felt like I was on this continuous journey without an endpoint in sight,” Vince shares. “The surprise came when Mute expressed their desire to release it.”

During the album’s creation, Clarke adhered to a couple of self-imposed guidelines: one, the soundscapes should exclusively originate from Eurorack, and two, each composition should resonate around a singular note, ensuring a consistent key throughout. With a touch of humour, Vince adds, “My household isn’t particularly drawn to my studio sessions. In fact, even our cat would often retreat after an hour or so of listening to the continuous drones.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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(Photo by Douglas Brothers) Out on Mute / Bmg on 18 August 2023 is an updated release of “Always (The Very Best of Erasure)”, out on vinyl for the very first time as a double disc heavyweight viny edition.

Originally released in 2015 to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary, “Always (The Very Best of Erasure)” offers a journey through nearly four decades of hit singles. Also included are post 2015 tracks such as “Love You To The Sky” (from 2017’s “World Be Gone”) and “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)” from 2020’s album, “The Neon”. Those two tracks replace the “Be with You” and “Sometimes 2015” which were on the original release.

When it was released in 2015, “Always (The Very Best of Erasure)” was the fourth compilation album released by the British synthpop band Erasure. The deluxe edition contained two additional CDs with corresponding remixes, including some of their singles that did not make the compilation. The compilation followed the release of the first and only single from the album, entitled “Sometimes 2015”, a re-vamped version of the original single mixed by David Wrench. The single was released on 23 October 2015, and contained a mixture of previously released remixes of “Sometimes” as well as a new remix by Love To Infinity.

Erasure recently released “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)” and their eighteenth studio album, “The Neon”.

Erasure are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a member of synth-pop duo Yazoo.

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 Belgian electronica pop ensemble, 808 DOT POP, makes a return with a double EP following the well-received launch of their companion CD albums “FM88.2” and “AM1350” (plus “MW720” available on digital platforms) under the Belgian electro label, Alfa Matrix.

Now available, initially via the Alfa Matrix Bandcamp page, are two fresh EPs, “FM96.9” and “AM1040”, both emphasising the second single “Distant Voices”.

Vocal duties are handled by Lis van den Akker, who is featured on the leading song, which gets reimagined in an Erasure-esque style.

Alongside a revised version of the album track “Modulation”, there are two exclusive titles – one being “FM/AM” and the all-new track “The Boys Of Wireless”, influenced by Frank Webster’s 1912 book. There are also two new extended versions, one of “Distant Voices” and one of “Modulation”, as well as a club mix by Belgian artist Sequence 5.

A video for “Distant Voices (on the radio)” has also been launched.

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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Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Driven by Roger Tell Vogon Poetry unleashed their fifth full length album to date. The CD format features nine songs featuring two collaborative cuts together with Social Ambitions, while there are two more tracks (remixes) featured on the digital version.

Content: The Swedish project didn’t change its global approach and influences. This is pure Electro-Pop music in the purest tradition. The songs are catchy and driven by good melody lines. It often reminds me of the magic of Erasure; kind of ‘happy pop-music’. Most of the songs have been sung in English but you’ll also notice a few tracks sung in their Mother tongue.

+ + + : I can easily say this is the best album to date by Vogon Poetry. Especially the most ‘danceable’ cuts are well-crafted and masterly produced songs; great sound treatments and poppy tunes with Roger Tell’s vocals on top. “Atomic Skies” and “Visitors” both are great pieces of catchy Electro-Pop. “Gargle Blaster” is another attention grabber for its explicit ‘happy’ mood.

– – – : I regret the album only features nine songs including an intro.

Conclusion: Great Synth-Pop music in the truest sense of the meaning.

Best songs: “Atomic Skies”, “Visitors”, “Gargle Blaster”, “The Forbidden Land”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.vogonpoetry.band / www.facebook.com/vogonpoetrymusic

About Vogon Poetry

Vogon Poetry started in 2012 as an office-party competition entry in Sweden, where band members Roger and Daniel worked. The pair wrote the first song for what became Vogon Poetry and recruited John, a singer they knew from the gym, to perform it live. The trio, now based in Gothenburg, kept working together afterward and chose their band name through a Facebook vote. Vogon Poetry released the single “Atomic Skies” in 2021 and “The Forbidden Land” in February 2022, both later featured on the band’s fifth full length album, “The Guide”.

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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BXL Central and Pias are collaborating to host a special musical event that brings together Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers of the renowned Belgian synth-pop trio Telex, and Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records.

The event aims to provide an insight into Telex’s lasting impact on electronic pop music and their groundbreaking contributions. Olivier Monssens, a respected journalist and filmmaker, will be interviewing the artists during the discussion. The event is free to attend, however, reservations are required.

Event Details:

• Title: A Night with Telex & Daniel Miller
• Date: April 17
• Venue: BXL CENTRAL [CHEZ PIAS], Rue Saint-Laurent 36-38, 1000 Brussels

Schedule:

• 6:00 PM – Doors open
• 6:30 PM – Talk and interviews
• 8:00 PM – Event concludes

The event is free to attend; however, reservations are required.

Telex, consisting of Marc Moulin (1942-2008), Dan Lacksman, and Michel Moers, formed in 1978 in Brussels. As electronic pop pioneers, they played a key role in popularizing the genre. Their discography includes six albums, which Mute Records is reissuing in various formats on April 14, 2023.

Daniel Miller founded Mute Records in 1978 with his 7″ single ‘Warm Leatherette,’ released under the name The Normal. Mute has since evolved from a one-man label to a global group, with Miller remaining focused on the creative output. The label’s catalog features prominent artists such as Fad Gadget, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Erasure, Goldfrapp, and Yann Tiersen.

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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Jonas Olofsson and Patrik Hansson (still involved with Uncreated) last year released the fifth official Vanguard-album. “Spectrum” released by Infacted Recordings became a new accomplished, successful work in the band’s history. Vanguard is much more than simply Electro-Pop but a band band with an own, powerful, sound. “Spectrum” is the perfect illustration of the constant progression in writing and production. This work became one of the best Electro-Pop releases of 2022. I asked a few questions about it to Patrik. 

(Picture credits by Peter Engman / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The new album “Spectrum” has been released exactly ten years after your debut full length “Sanctuary”. How do you perceive the evolution of Vanguard from the very first album till “Spectrum”?

Patrik: Since the day we started to work together we have always wanted to evolve and find new ways in our music. We have found our own sound and it has been a challenge not to be too comfortable and just walk the same path. Rob Dust has also influenced us and put his sound into our music the last three albums.

Q: I already experienced your previous album “Manifest” as your most mature work to date but “Spectrum” even moves a step further; what an accomplishment! Is it just a growing experience or also the will to experience with new techniques and put more efforts in sound production? Do you think by the way the last album is always the best one and how do you look back at it a few months after the release?

Patrik: I guess it is us getting better writing and producing music as we gain more experience. Then we always fine tune every part of the production together with Rob. Sometimes it feels like we are not moving forward during the process, but in the end all those small steps matters. When it comes to me, I did not have the feeling that “Spectrum” was the best album so far when we released it. It had to do with some personal issues I have been battling. But ever since the release it has been growing and now I can be proud and say that I really like what we accomplished!

Q: What have been the main sources of inspiration when writing “Spectrum” and what do you try to express by its “lyrical content?

Patrik: Our inspiration has always been life and feelings and how it affects us all in different ways. It is a challenge to put it into words and music in new ways but with new experiences and events in life it seems to come out different each time.

Q: Tell us a bit more about the writing of this album? What have been the main stages and difficulties you’d to go through to accomplish this opus?

Patrik: When we started to pick out songs that would actually be on the album we focused all on those tracks. Most of the time the songs are not ready at all at that stage. The difficult part of the songwriting/production starts and turning good and cool ideas into a complete track is one of the big challenges. On an album you want them to be connected to each other in one way or another, which is also something that makes it a bit hard. We have had tracks that are done, but then we feel like it is not suitable for the album and we cut it out.

Q: When listening to Vanguard I often think to Mesh. What I like with both bands is a very own approach and sound DNA which sounds like an antithesis to all Electro-Pop bands driven by Depeche Mode. What makes this sound DNA and how do you perceive the Electro-Pop scene?

Patrik: I have heard before that we have some ‘common things’ with Mesh and I don´t mind that but I leave that up to the listener to decide. Me and Jonas have different backgrounds when it comes to music, although our taste in music cross ways and we have both listened to bands like Depeche Mode, Erasure etc in the 80s and 90s. Since me and Jonas met I have been listening more and more to the ‘harder’ part of the Electronic genre. It shows in the way we have evolved in writing music. Though we are still making melodic Electronic music the foundation of the tracks are a bit darker and harder. I always try to find new acts that inspire me to make new music. That is a good way of not getting stuck in old habits making the same four beats over and over again.

Q: How does it feel to play back live again and how do you transpose “Spectrum” to the stage? What are the further plans for 2023?

Patrik: We have had the privilege and opportunity to play live at good stages and with good bands. We have Markus Schmidt at Epicentre Booking to thank for that. We are really greatful to be able to play live in front of people, let it be they already know about us and our music or just found out about us coming to the gig. We are looking forward to continue the tour with Solitary Experiments and Mental Exile during this spring. “Spectrum” was well received during the autumn leg of the tour and we hope that people that join us for the spring leg will like it too.

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-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Twenty five years after their debut single, Swedish Saft now released their fifth studio album -the third one released by Progress Productions.Notice by the way there’s also a limited edition featuring an extra disc with remixes and extra songs.

Content: “Dansar Med Satan” (English “Dance With Satan”) sounds as ‘pure’ Synth-Pop music in the truest Swedish tradition. The vocals are in Swedish while the music is evoking famous and legendary names like Erasure, Depeche Mode, The Eurythmics, and Elegant Machinery.

+ + + : Happy tunes and melodies to dance on and forget horror of life. This is a ‘classical’ Electro-Pop production which is typified by a mature writing process featuring vintage sound treatments. The retro-like sound however has a refreshing effect. This is music that will make you happy. I especially recommend listening to “Kallt Liv” which is one of the most danceable cuts and also recommend “Känns Som December” and the very Eurythmics-driven title song.

– – – : If you’re in search of ‘progressive’ Synth-Pop you better avoid this record. The Swedish language is maybe a reason why Saft is not that more famous outside their homeland.

Conclusion: Warm Pop tunes from the high North; a totally accomplished production!

Best songs: “Kallt Liv”, “Känns Som December”, “Dansar Med Satan”, “Glömma, Ge Och Ta”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/saftswe

Label: www.progress-productions.com / www.facebook.com/progresspro

About Saft

Saft is a Swedish synth-pop act active since the mid-1990s. After 15 years of silence, the band returned with its third album, “Norrbacka”, in 2016. “Dansar Med Satan”, released via Progress Productions in November 2022, is Saft’s fifth studio album and the label’s third Saft release, also issued in a limited edition with a bonus remix disc.

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

(By Janos Janurik) Temperatures are dropping, days are getting shorter and from now on the umbrella is a permanent accessory when you leave the house. Nevertheless, you can also love autumn. One reason for this can be a good book that you can pick up and read in front of the fireplace without a feeling guilty.

For us, lovers of electric music, the book by Richard Evans, published on 17^th November, would be the perfect read.

Setting out to chart a unique chapter in the history of popular music, “Listening To The Music The Machines Make” tells the story of a single generation of post-punk musicians, mavericks, visionaries and opportunists tinkering with primitive synthesisers in bedrooms, bedsits and basements around Britain, who assembled a potent cocktail of ideas and influences, took them apart, mixed them up, and reassembled them in entirely new ways to create a genuine golden age of British pop, and along the way creating some of the most enduring, iconic and influential records in pop history.

Drawing from years of extensive research, as well as from conversations with many of the movement’s key movers and shakers, “Listening To The Music The Machines Make” sets out to examine the multitude of influences that led to the synthpop revolution that spanned 1978 to 1983; tell the definitive story of a true golden age of British pop through the careers, releases and stories of the movement’s pioneers, mavericks and superstars; and explores the era’s lasting musical impact and enduring influence, including it’s role in the development of hip-hop, house, techno and beyond.

Richard Evans has worked in the music industry for over thirty years in a variety of roles, including positions at London Records, Factory Records and MTV Europe. In 1998 he set up marketing consultancy The Fan Base and has been connecting musical artists with their audiences ever since. He is the founder of the This Is Not Retro website and record label and has worked for Andy Bell, Vince Clarke and Erasure since 2009. Richard is based in Dorset where he lives in perpetual fear of being asked what his favourite record is.

I have known Richard for several years as a result of being an Erasure fan for many years. I emailed him a few questions about his upcoming book and you can read his answers here. Of course, I also asked him about his favourite record.

SL: Richard, you have been the leader of the international Erasure fan club (EIS) and the webmaster of Erasure’s homepage for several years. I think your name has become known to the general public through this activity. Did you make it to the top of your career?

It’s quite complicated to talk about my career as at any given time I’m usually working on a few different projects simultaneously and it’s always very likely that they are all shooting off in different directions. But you’re right that Richard from the EIS is much better known than the Richard Evans who wrote the book! I also think that having worked with Erasure for as many years as I have definitely represents a career peak.

SL: With a background like that, one would have thought that you would write a book about Vince and Andy, about Erasure. Have you ever thought about anything like that?

Vince and Andy get offers to write books every year, on their own or as part of Erasure, but at this point in time neither of them feel the time is right to tell their stories. However when the time is right I very much hope that I will be involved in some way.

SL: You must have a lot of funny or exciting stories about your collaboration with Erasure. Could you tell us a short story that you particularly like to think back to?

I think the best stories are the ones that I can’t tell…

SL: Have you always been a big fan of electro music? Where did your interest in this music genre come from?

I kind of have and I haven’t. My book covers the period 1978-1983 which coincides with the time I was starting to discover music for myself and I always  consider my musical tastes extremely varied. Looking back however and I can see that the music that I was drawn to often had a very noticeable electronic element even when it wasn’t electronic music as such, so although I would enjoy, for example, rock music, the actual songs I was listening to would be things like ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ by Yes, or tracks from ZZ Top’s ‘Eliminator’ album. It turns out that those electronic elements run through a huge amount of my favourite music but I hadn’t really noticed it before. But I did always love ‘pure’ electronic music too. I can remember being blown away the first time I heard things like Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ and Kraftwerk’s ‘The Model’ for example.

SL: On 6^th November there will be a special event in London to launch your book “Listening To The Music The Machines Make” where you will interview Andy Bell and Martyn Ware (The Human League, BEF, Heaven 17) about their lives in electronic music. We already know about your connection with Andy, but what about Martyn? Have you known him for a while too?

I first met Martyn through a website I used to run called This Is Not Retro and I interviewed him a few times for that website, but I got to know him better through Vince Clarke who has a side-project with Martyn called Illustrious. Illustrious released a boxset called ‘House Of Illustrious’ under the name The Clarke & Ware Experiment a few years go and I was involved on the periphery of that release and got to know Martyn a little better through doing that. Then Martyn was working on his book, ‘Electronically Yours Vol. 1’, at the same time I was working on mine and I was able to introduce him to some helpful publishing people and also to share some of my research with him. We’ve only met in real life a couple of times so I’m looking forward to doing that at my launch in London and then again when we’re doing a joint event at the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester the following week.

SL: Both Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke have special podcasts and radio programmes where they talk about synthesizer music, play such tracks and talk to famous artists. Do you listen to these programmes regularly?

I always listen to The Synthesizer Show, Vince’s radio show with Reed Hays, for pleasure of course because it can be very entertaining, but also so I can talk about it in the Erasure newsletter. I try to keep up with Martyn’s podcast Electronically Yours but he does so many of them that I’m always a few episodes behind!

SL: The foreword in your book was written by Vince Clarke who has been a living legend in the music industry over the last 40 years. How did he like your book? Has he already read it?

I sent Vince the manuscript so he would have an idea about what was in my book and I know that he has dipped into it, but I don’t know if he’s actually read it all… the book is 528 pages long so it takes a lot of reading and Vince is a busy man with a lot on his plate. I was delighted that he agreed to do the foreword though, as you say he is a legend and I’m extremely lucky to be able to call him a friend.

SL: Could you please name artists you met during your research or with whom you had conversations on the topic? By the way, who is your biggest hero from the electro music scene?

When I first started work on the book I did intend to talk to as many people from that time as possible, but I actually changed direction quite early on in the process simply because a lot of those people don’t actually remember the details very well after all these years. Instead I went to the original music and popular culture media from 1978 to 1983 and collected as many interviews, reviews, features and news pieces as I could – literally thousands of them – from magazines and papers from the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker to Smash Hits, The Face and ZigZag and constructed the narrative of the book from those original materials. Where I was fortunate was in having access to a number of those people who were available to answer questions, join the dots and provide extra clarification when I needed it. Vince Clarke and Andy Bell of course but also people like Martyn Ware, Neil Arthur, Rusty Egan and Daniel Miller.

I don’t know that I have a biggest hero as such, but in the summer Karl Bartos from Kraftwerk published a book, ‘The Sound of the Machine’, with Omnibus Press, the same publishers who are putting out my book ‘Listening to the Music the Machines Make’, and I was able to go to one of Karl’s events and was introduced to him afterwards which was a huge thrill. He was absolutely lovely and very funny.

SL: You jokingly said about yourself that you live in constant fear that people will ask you about your favourite record. Is that really such a difficult question to answer? Could you name at least three records that have had a big impact on your life?

It really is a difficult question to answer. There are so many great records and my favourite one day might not be favourite the next day depending on what I’m listening to, how I’m feeling and what sort of a mood I’m in. So here are three electronic records which I absolutely love and which I never get tired of listening to: The League Unlimited Orchestra’s ‘Love & Dancing’, Propaganda’s ‘A Secret Wish’ and Depeche Mode’s ‘Ultra’… but it really is an impossible question. If you were to ask me again in half an hour I would probably choose three completely different records!

SL: In the last two years, the music industry has also been hit hard by the pandemic. Many tours had to be cancelled or postponed. Which band did you see live for the last time from the electro music scene? Are there still concerts on your personal wish list?

A few weeks ago I saw Front 242’s concert in London which I think I was supposed to see in 2020 and which had been rescheduled four or maybe five times before it finally happened. It was a great show though. And I’m off to see Blancmange next week which I’m looking forward to as I really like their new album. As for a concerts wish list, I never saw the Eurythmics so I think they would be top of the list for me.

SL: We, electro music fans, are already very excited about your upcoming book. And what are you reading right now when you have a little “me time”?

I’m currently reading Martyn Ware’s ‘Electronically Yours Vol. 1’ as I will be interviewing him about the book at my event in a few weeks time. It’s very good, he has done some extraordinary things and has been involved in some amazing projects, so I’m very much enjoying it.

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

Erasure have announced details of their new release, “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)”, out on Mute on 12 August 2022 on fluorescent green vinyl, CD and digitally. “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)” is an album of brand new tracks, each created using elements of “The Neon” universe resulting in a 10-track album.

Origins of this new album

Vince Clarke, finding himself with unscheduled time to spend in the studio, began manipulating files for tracks from “The Neon”, their 2020 album release. Vince explains: “With no agenda in mind, gradually a hidden landscape in the tracks began to emerge – one that revealed a track within a track, another world within ‘The Neon’.”

Clarke explored this further, progressing some of the techniques he was using until the tracks that make up “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)” started to fall into place.

Andy Bell then took these tracks into the studio and, working with long-time collaborator Gareth Jones, began work on his parts. The final album bears little resemblance to the original source material – although echoes of “The Neon” can be heard from time to time. As a whole the album is an alternative look at Vince and Andy’s world.

Listen to the first chapter of “Day-Glo (Based on a True Story)” 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. 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) Trym Nævestad aka DJ 7trym had been working on an extensive Depeche Mode megamix to celebrate his 50^th birthday June 7^th. I got wind of this when he contacted me mid-April, asking if I had some DM remixes digitally available, and after searching my hard drives I found what he was looking for. After sharing the files I got a draft in return two days later – and as a DM fans since 1983 I’ve heard a LOT of mixes, but immediately rated this as a top 3 in my book! Feels updated with a great selection of songs and remixes, transitions that other remixers would envy, have some surprises and doesn’t get dull.

Then May 26^th happened… Andrew Fletcher died, the Depeche Mode fan base mourned, and Trym decided to release the mix in Fletch’ honor the day after. As the mix was prematurely published I’d wanted to wait a few weeks, let things settle down and have his birthday pass before follow up, so earlier this week we had a mail chat.

S-L: We read about what the mix were initially made for and that you released it earlier because of Fletch’ passing – tell us what thoughts went through your head those days that made you change the purpose of the mix? 

Trym: Like everyone else, I was in total shock when I got the news about Fletch. The mix was meant to be a celebration of me as a DM fanboy, but suddenly it became way more important than my little ego-trip. I had produced a lot of DJ sets scheduled around my anniversary, so I had to work quickly to find out what to do. The decision to release it ASAP was easy, even if it gave me a lot of extra work though.

S-L: What’s your process doing a mix like this?

Trym: Behind every one of my works, it’s hundreds of hours of getting to know every song by heart. That part is easy for me with DM since I’ve followed them since ’82. It’s actually way harder to find out which songs to exclude to keep the duration down to 2 hours. I have thousands of remixes to choose from. Most are bootlegs and fan made, so the quality is really varied. If I hear a good attempt but with obvious flaws or bad audio, I try to see if I can recreate it easily myself before I decide what to do with it. Software like the online service https://www.lalal.ai/ is just insanely powerful for dissecting tracks! When putting the set together, I focus on the right harmony when deciding the order to play the songs. I avoid breaking the rules of the Camelot wheel so my transitions are always in harmony. (https://mixedinkey.com/camelot-wheel/)

The final mix is done in Mixmeister, which do most of the work if you prepared well. It’s an old software and not developed anymore, but I still find it so powerful for programming DJ sets and easy access to plugins for EQ, compressors and so on. The mix is done quite quickly, but I tend to adjust knobs and filters, adding and removing beats for weeks after I really should be happy and just release it 😀

S-L: How many have heard the mix so far?

Trym: It’s passed 215 unique listeners on Mixcloud, but that’s kind of normal there. For me, the most important thing was to get it published so it can be played, used and inspire listeners for years to come.

(Editor’s note: At the moment of writing this article it’s 9th in the global vocal chart and 88th in the global electronica chart.)

S-L: How long have you been a fan of DM, and how have they impacted your life?

Trym: They came into my life in ‘82 as the older brother of my classmate was really into them then. Strange enough, my classmate was also named Trym and his older brother is Lars Holte, the man responsible for lots of the first raves in Norway and later breaking Tiësto. I just kind of fell straight into it all 😀

My first CD ever was ‘A Broken Frame’, and I was surprised because I thought I had bought ‘Speak and Spell’ when I asked the man in the record store for their album. It was probably in the summer of ‘83 because CDs were a totally new invention that year. I hunted down every vinyl edition of everything I could get hold of after that even if I didn’t have a decent record player and had spent most of my cash on that CD player.

In ‘87 I started working for a radio station, and that opened up more and more opportunities for me. I saw DM live for the first time with the ‘Music for the Masses’ tour and I started practicing as a club DJ. Radio hooked me up with Vince Clark and Andy Bell for an interview in Oslo. I only cared about Vince because of his work with DM. I remember Andy as quite offended since he wanted to be the star and I was told quite clearly that Vince was in Erasure now 😀

During the 90’s I worked hard day and night with morning shows in radios and club gigs at night. When ‘Ultra’ was released in ‘97, I attended a release party and ended up forcing the DJ out of his booth because he didn’t play DM “right”! I took over and the roof just flew off and the crowd went wild. That was the start of my long list of DM parties after that response.

The local label manager for Mute Records saw it too, took me in and used me for everything DM after that. That’s how I was placed backstage at their gigs in Scandinavia at the ‘Exciter’ tour, and on the stage of the official afterparties.

I almost missed their actual concert every time, and had to go to Vilnius in 2006 to finally see their full show as an ordinary member of the audience. It was not the plan to be more than a guest there, but even in Lithuania I ended up on the stage at the afterparty after “politely” removing the DJ that did not live up to my standards that time 😉

I was quite an active dude thinking waaaaay too high of myself at that time – hope I’m seen as more polite now. Anyway, it all worked out in the end!

There is little doubt that the internal life of DM has been rough on its members, and I’ve had the pleasure to meet and play with both Alan Wilder and Fletch when they toured away from DM. Wilder is a conundrum to understand, and Fletch was just the total opposite. Fletch talked freely and made everybody feel like we’d been friends forever. Truly an amazing man and very open about the alcohol problems both he and Martin struggled with. Maybe because I was quite troubled myself at that time so we found that as our common ground, both wanting a way out to a life that didn’t always start the days with hangovers.

S-L: Any other projects or mixes planned in the near future?

Trym: I decided to release a mix for cleaning my house the first Friday of every month, and share it willingly if it can help those mops to move 😀

I’m not playing live anywhere this year, but I’m thinking seriously about doing festival gigs again from 2023. I don’t know if I will do another DM party again though. It just feels strange now, but I hope that will change in time.

As a unique one off around my 50th anniversary, I’m releasing 7 unique DJ sets in different flavours. A new one every day to show off some of my different sides and inspire DJs to open their minds for new stuff.

It’s some high energy festival sets with bangers& mashups, a showcase of what a DJ can do with alternative rock, an Altern80s revisit, a Dark Wave set and a Sunday brunch soundscape. They can all be found on https://www.mixcloud.com/7rym

I hope people will enjoy them 🙂

PS! As a side note on how the DM community connects people, I can add that I first met Trym at a meet & greet before the ‘Exicter’ concert in Oslo, 2001, after winning a contest on Norwegian TV, with Trym being the judge. (sorry for the lousy quality, TV recording equipment on a PC wasn’t very good 21 years ago :/ )

Me and my friend Truls got tickets to the concert and the opportunity to meet the band backstage before the concert, and went out of there with an additional three new acquaintances in Trym, Lars and Frank, whom I still have occasional contact with, meet at concerts etc. 20 years later. DM for life!

Listen to the mix right here, and find other mixes by 7rym at his Mixcloud page:
https://www.mixcloud.com/7rym/

Side-Line also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Memento Mori Tour’.

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

The sudden death of Andy Fletcher yesterday has – as predicted – caused a big shockwave throughout the electro pop community. Several former colleagues and people close to the band have in the meantime posted condolences.

We picked the most relevant ones.

Alison Moyet was one of the first to react: “I have just heard the news. Since we were 10. Same estate. Class mates to label mates. He who kept faith with all the old gang and they with him. It doesn’t compute. Fletch. I have no words.”

Andy Bell and Vince Clarke from Erasure posted a picture of Andy Fletcher with as text an emoji of a broken heart.

Fletcher’s former Depeche Mode colleague Alan Wilder (Recoil) posted this: “A real bolt from the blue to hear about former Depeche Mode colleague Andy Fletcher yesterday. My thoughts and condolences are with his wife Grainne and all the family at this distressing time. RIP ‘Fletch’.”

Mute and Daniel Miller: “We mourn the loss of our dear friend Andrew Fletcher who passed away yesterday. Such an integral part of Depeche Mode from the very start of their remarkable journey, he will be missed beyond words. Our hearts go out to his family, Dave and Martin and to all the wonderful fans and friends who loved him. With love from Daniel and his entire Mute family.”

Phil Burdett who used to form a band, Norman & The Worms, with Martin Gore and who went to the same school as Fletcher posted the following: “So very sad to learn of the passing of Andy Fletcher my old school pal & eventual member of Depeche Mode. Whilst I have never been a fan of the band I have many good memories of the times at the end of my fourth/fifth form at St. Nicholas & he was an integral part of a very fertile period in Basildon at that time & somehow when contemporary friends are lost the sadness felt is made more vivid. He used to come & see me & Martin play at Norman & The Worms gigs & I always thought it odd that he was positioned in between us in this photo…out of all three in the picture two thought they would make it big…couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap…RIP Fletch…”

Deb Danahay who was very close to the band during its earliest history posted the following: “I’m still in shock… Andy never took drugs or even hard alcohol… he just loved a pint or two of lager with the boys… He never learned how to drive. He’d get the train back to Basildon to meet up with his old mates… he was a fiercely loyal friend… Something I’d love to tell devotees… that they’d travelled the same route on the same trains… I was at a DM event in Berlin with Gareth Jones and someone asked what Andy brought to the recording sessions, Gareth Jones was adamant that Fletch brought the whole process together…”

Orchestral Manoeuvres: “Tonight we are celebrating selling out The Greek Theatre in LA but it will be touched by a great sadness as all of us say farewell to Andy Fletcher from Depeche Mode. A beautiful person in an amazing band. We send alll our love to his family.”

Jurgen Engler: “Crazy news… R.I.P. Andy Fletcher… we hung out in Dusseldorf way back in the 80s on DM’s Some Great Reward tour… the band had invited me to meet them after the show… he was such a nice guy, easy going and curious… it’s hard to believe he left so young… I know the world won’t forget him 🖤”

Pet Shop Boys: “We’re saddened and shocked that Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode has died. Fletch was a warm, friendly and funny person who loved electronic music and could also give sensible advice about the music business. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends and to Dave Gahan and Martin Gore. Neil & Chris xx”

Blancmange: “Very sad news. I have great memories of times we shared all those decades ago. On tour I never won a single game of chess against him. Before either of us signed record deals we both worked at London Bridge. me under that railway arch as a graphic designer and he in a suit, at a solicitors I think, or may be an accountants. I’d quite often bump into him, each of us doing a double take to process the sight of each other not standing on some tiny stage next to synths and tape machines.
A lovely man. A gentleman.”

Soft Cell: “We are so sad to hear about the passing of Andy Fletcher. Depeche Mode and Soft Cell will forever be part of each other’s early histories and genre-defining the early 80’s. What a band, and what a success story. We send our love to Dave, Martin, Daniel and all the Depeche Mode team.”

New Order: “We are saddened to hear of Andy Fletcher’s passing. Our thoughts are with Depeche Mode, their crew, his family and friends at this difficult time.”

This article will constantly be adapted with new quotes.

For more on Depeche Mode, see DJ 7rym releases 2hr long Depeche Mode mix honouring Andrew Fletcher… on Side-Line.

About Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode formed in Basildon, Essex, England, in 1980, initially under the name Composition of Sound. The lineup that became Depeche Mode came together that year around Vince Clarke (keyboards, guitars), Andy Fletcher (keyboards, bass) and Martin Gore (guitars, keyboards), with Dave Gahan joining shortly after as lead vocalist. The band adopted the name Depeche Mode at a gig at the Bridge House in Canning Town on 24 September 1980, where Mute Records founder Daniel Miller saw them and signed the group.

Depeche Mode’s debut single, “Dreaming of Me,” was recorded in December 1980 and released on Mute in February 1981, followed that October by the debut album “Speak & Spell.” Vince Clarke left the band that November, going on to form Yazoo and later Erasure; Alan Wilder joined on keyboards in 1982 and became an official member from the 1983 single “Get the Balance Right!” The band’s catalog through the 1980s includes “A Broken Frame” (1982), “Construction Time Again” (1983), “Some Great Reward” (1984), “Black Celebration” (1986) and “Music for the Masses” (1987), the latter turning the band into arena headliners in the US off the back of their Rose Bowl concert, later documented in the film “101.”

“Violator” (1990) and “Songs of Faith and Devotion” (1993) marked the band’s commercial peak, but Wilder departed in June 1995, continuing his own project Recoil, leaving Gahan, Gore and Fletcher as a trio. The band released “Ultra” (1997), “Exciter” (2001), “Playing the Angel” (2005), “Sounds of the Universe” (2009), “Delta Machine” (2013) and “Spirit” (2017) as a three-piece, touring with long-serving live members Christian Eigner (drums, keyboards, since 1997) and Peter Gordeno (keyboards, bass, since 1998). Alongside the band, Gahan released solo albums “Paper Monsters” (2003) and “Hourglass” (2007), and Gore released “Counterfeit²” (2003).

Depeche Mode was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 7 November 2020. Andy Fletcher died on 26 May 2022, and Gahan and Gore continued as a duo, releasing “Memento Mori” in 2023 with Eigner and Gordeno again on the road. The band has sold more than 100 million records and placed 54 singles on the UK charts. Fletcher had been a member since the band’s 1980 formation, and his death left Gahan and Gore to continue as a duo.

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

After a 30-year hiatus, brothers David and Warren Harrison (Jess Lamb / Hungry Lucy) have reunited as Studio II. The duo have released their long awaited debut album, “The Good the Bad the Odd and the Slightly Depraved” holding a collection of synthpop songs written from both sides of the Atlantic, over the span of many years.

The 10-song album opens with “Letters From America” which is an ode to a long distance relationship spanning two continents and the longing to be together again. “Little Girl Dreams” is a new and updated version of the duo’s first single (from 1987), bringing together the original lyrics and a new lush soundscape.

The collection of songs concludes with the two new singles. “Silence is Never” and “Runwalker”.

Available on all digital platforms on Apr 1, 2022 and in pre-order via Bandcamp below. Advised for fans of Erasure, Yazoo or Pet Shop Boys.

And below are the two previous singles.

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

Erasure have announced that they are cancelling the upcoming UK & European, South American and North American legs of The Neon Tour.

In a statement the band says: “We are very sorry to announce that, due to unexpected family circumstances beyond anyone’s control, we have had to make the extremely difficult decision to cancel the remaining stages of The Neon Tour and we will therefore no longer be playing our planned shows in the UK & Europe, South America or North America this year. Refunds are available at point of purchase.”

The band confirms that both Vince Clarke and Andy Bell are well. “Although bitterly disappointed to be forced to cancel the rest of the tour, (we) send (our) sincere apologies to anyone affected by the cancellations. Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to being able to play to everyone again soon.”

This is quite a hard blow for the band as they already had to reschedule, postpone, reschedule etc a lot of their shows due to the pandemic.

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

Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. During the late 1970s bands such as the Human League, Kraftwerk, and later on Gary Numan, Soft Cell and John Foxx helped pioneer a new synth-pop style that drew more heavily from electronic music and emphasized primary usage of synthesizers. Developed in the late 1970s it has seen several revival periods up until now.

We picked out the best synthpop albums from the past 4 decades (!!!). Here’s our list.

The Human League – ‘Dare’ (1981)

The Human League are ‘oldies’ when it comes to synthpop. Formed in Sheffield in 1977 and initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group attained widespread commercial success with their third album “Dare” in 1981. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US number one hit “Don’t You Want Me”. The band’s third studio album, it was recorded between March and September 1981 following the departure of founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, and saw the band shift direction from their prior avant-garde electronic style toward a more pop-friendly, commercial sound led by frontman Philip Oakey. A remix album based on “Dare”, “Love and Dancing”, was released in 1982.

Talk Talk – ‘It’s My Life’ (1984)

Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). The group achieved early chart success with the synth-pop singles “Talk Talk” (1982), “It’s My Life”, and “Such a Shame” (both 1984) before moving towards a more experimental approach in the mid-1980s. Not surprisingly that our next pick is “It’s My Life”, the second studio album by Talk Talk, released in 1984. The album enjoyed an enormous succes thanks to the big international success of its singles (notably “Such a Shame”). We have a soft spot for the tracks “Dum Dum Girl”, “Such a Shame”, “Renée”, “It’s My Life” and “It’s You” although the entire album is just extremely enjoyable.

Alphaville – ‘Forever Young’ (1984)

The German synth-pop band Alphaville, which formed in Münster in 1982, achieved chart success with the singles “Forever Young”, “Big in Japan”, “Sounds Like a Melody”. All these were taken from their 1984 debut album “Forever Young” which was produced by Colin Pearson, Wolfgang Loos and Andreas Budde. Despite the success of the album and its singles, the band did not tour as they felt more like ‘studio rats’. It remains the band’s best output to date.

a-ha – ‘Scoundrel Days’ (1986)

The Norwegian synth-pop band a-ha was formed in Oslo in 1982 by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards and guitars), and Morten Harket (vocals). “Scoundrel Days” is the second studio album by the trio and offered a more mature sound compared to their debut “Hunting High and Low” (1985). “Scoundrel Days”, recorded in England in early 1986 and produced by Alan Tarney, sported such singles as “I’ve Been Losing You”, “Cry Wolf” and “Maybe, Maybe” which was released solely in Bolivia. “Manhattan Skyline” was the forth and final single released from the long-player.

Erasure – ‘Wonderland’ (1986)

“Wonderland” is the debut studio album by the English synth-pop duo Erasure and was released in 1986. Although it was not an immediate success, the three singles released from it did become cult tracks overtime: “Who Needs Love Like That”, “Oh L’amour” and “Heavenly Action”. Although “Wonderland” was considered a failure, especially when comparing it to Clarke’s prior successes with Depeche Mode and Yazoo, the album became an all time favourite that laid the fundament of what was to follow in 1987 with the release of “The Circus”. The album was produced by Flood who would become a long-time collaborator.

Pet Shop Boys – ‘Actually’ (1987)

Pet Shop Boys, the English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981, broke all records when they released “Actually”, their second studio album, in 1987. It was pushed forward by such great tracks as “One More Chance”, “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” (with Dusty Springfield), “Shopping”, “Rent”, “It Couldn’t Happen Here”, “It’s a Sin”, “Heart” and the majestic “King’s Cross”. In short an album filled with hits.

New Order – ‘Technique’ (1989)

New Order was formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band formed after the demise of Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis and were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. Their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work which resulted in their 1983 hit “Blue Monday” becoming and absolute monster hit. However, we picked out “Technique”, their fifth studio album. Released in 1989 by Factory Records, the album incorporates Balearic beat and acid house influences into the group’s dance-rock sound. “Technique” was the first New Order album to reach the number one spot on the UK charts and had such excellent singles as “Fine Time”, “Round and Round” and “Run 2”.

Depeche Mode – ‘Violator’ (1990)

“Violator” is the seventh studio album by England’s Depeche Mode. It was first released on 19 March 1990 through Mute Records internationally, and through Sire and Reprise Records in the United States. Preceded by the singles “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy the Silence” (a top-10 entry in both the United Kingdom and the United States), the album propelled the band into international stardom, and also yielded the singles “Policy of Truth” and “World in My Eyes”. The album is generally considered as their most accomplisched electropop album before they encorporated more rock elements in the next album, “Songs of Faith and Devotion”. The role of Alan Wilder was crucial in “Violator”, you only have to compare the first and final version of “Enjoy The Silence” to notice the huge difference.

Bel Canto – ‘Birds of Passage’ (1990)

Bel Canto is a Norwegian music duo, originally a trio, fronted by vocalist Anneli Drecker and musically powered by Geir Jenssen and Nils Johansen. Signed originally to Crammed Discs, their second album “Birds of Passage” is considered as an absolute pearl holding an excellent production (aided by Giles Martin) and a long list of guest musicians who added acoustic elements to the cold nordic synths Jenssen and multi-instrumentalist Johansen. It was also the last album featuring Geir Jenssen. It holds the hits “Intravenous”, “Birds of Passage”, “A Shoulder to the Wheel”, “Time Without End”, “Continuum” and “The Suffering”. The band remains an often well-hidden pearl in electropopland.

De/Vision – ‘Fairyland?’ (1996)

De/Vision, a German synthpop act formed in 1988, was at the peak of its electropop stardom around the mid-nineties culiminating in the outstanding “Fairyland?” album which had such great tracks as “I Regret”, “Sweet Life”, “Today’s Life” or “Bleed Me White”. The band was fronting a new wave of electropop bands in Germany but was generally considered to be the most consistent one as far as quality and output. Sadly enough the release, and also the band’s earlier material, are no longer available on Spotify.

Wolfsheim – ‘Spectators’ (1999)

Wolfsheim was a synthpop duo from Hamburg, Germany, that consisted of Markus Reinhardt and Peter Heppner. Their fourth studio album was “Spectators” (1999) preceeded by two ‘pre-release’ singles from the album. “Once in a Lifetime” was released on October 16, 1998 and “It’s Hurting For The First Time” followed on November 30th. The LP was produced by Wolfsheim and José Alvarez-Brill and held 11 new songs. To this day, “Spectators” is the best-selling album by Wolfsheim with over 250,000 copies sold. The third single, “Künstliche Welten”, was released in 1999.

Iris – ‘Disconnect’ (2000)

“Disconnect” is the debut album by the electropop group Iris. Released in 2000 via the US label A Different Drum, the synthpop label by excellence, its success was guaranteed by the now cult synthpop jewels “Annie, Would I Lie to You?”, “Lose In Wanting” and “Danger Is The Shame”. Originally formed by Reagan Jones and Mat Morris in 1993, after the release of their first album “Disconnect”, Matthew Morris was replaced with Andrew Sega, who pushed the band’s sound in a more experimental electronic direction. Sadly enough the release, and also the band’s earlier material, are no longer available on Spotify.

Elegant Machinery – ‘A Soft Exchange’ (2008)

The Swedish synthpop band Elegant Machinery defined the Swedish synthpop movement along with such bands as Page, S.P.O.C.K, Sista Mannen På Jorden and Kiethevez. Heavily influenced by acts like Yazoo, The Human League, Depeche Mode and Rational Youth, the trio Robert Enforsen, Richard Jomshof and Leslie Bayne started the band in 1988 under the name Pole Position. The band was very successful in Sweden, with a number of successful singles and various awards. But it is their 2008 album “A Soft Exchange” that earned them a place in our list. The album was extremely mature yet very melodic and features such pearls a “With Grace”, “Do You Know”, “Feel The Silence”, “Bleeding Words” and “Is This The Way”.

Electro Spectre – ‘Dangerous Game’ (2012)

The Norwegian electronic music duo Electro Spectre fronts the 3rd electropop wave. Isak Rypdal (writer-producer) and Alexander Björneboe (writer-singer) debuted in 2009 with the album “Watch It All Turn” (which was later reproduced and re-released in 2010). The duo has secured us from a steady and consistent output ever since. In our list we picked the band’s 2012 release, which is their second studio album entitled “Dangerous Game”. Included are such pearls as “Love Thief”, “Dancing Girl”, “World Keeps Turning” and “Tokyo Shuffle”.

Mondträume – ‘Empty’ (2014)

Mondträume is the creative outlet of 2 Spanish talented artists Pikotto Vond Mond and Damasius Venys. In only a few years, the duo rapidly caught the attention of concert organizers, released several songs on compilations, and secured a label contract with Belgium’s electronic label Alfa Matrix where they debuted with the album “Empty”. The hits “Life Is Short”, “Parasite” and especially the synth pop pearl “Far From Pain” show why this band became one of the strongholders in the 3rd electropop wave together with such bands as Electro Spectre, and more.

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.

www.side-line.com

The January and February shows of Erasure won’t go ahead in North America.

Here’s what Erasure just communicated: “We are very sorry to have to announce that, as a result of circumstances beyond our control, we need to postpone our January and February North American dates. We will announce the rescheduled shows shortly so please hang on to your tickets and we will bring you more information very soon.”

Below is a roundup of all the canceled shows.

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

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. The last interview in this series is one with Bernard Van Isacker. I definitely had to close the circle with this interview. Being active as Side-Line’s chief redactor and as one of the Alfa Matrix label owners, Bernard and I became close friends. We didn’t always agree on some topics, which finally brought me to leave Side-Line as staff member in 2016. We remained in touch and decided to move on working together, but in a different format. A lot of things have been said and written about Bernard -not always kind things – but I got the privilege and opportunity to see how he’s working and all what he’s doing. I can only, but deeply respect his involvement. Time to ask him some questions.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Lots of people from this scene know who you are, but how would you introduce yourself and how did you get in touch with the Electro/Industrial/Gothic scene? 

Bernard: My name is Bernard Van Isacker, 47 years old, and I have 2 kids. Magnus, 4 years old, and Sebastian, 16 years old, from my first marriage. I work currently as a social media manager, web developer and CRM admin for a multinational. I also run 2 holiday houses, but for the past 2 years they have been empty due to the corona pandemic. That was a big blow to our budget, so I had to take extra work to keep on paying our bills. But we survive.

I sleep basically 5 hours per night, take a small breakfast and lots of coffee at 6 in the local Panos –both the owners Mario and Hannelore are sweethearts -before I start work at 7:30 until, 10, 11 at night. I’ll probably die working (laughs).

I first got introduced to the Dark-Wave scene when I was 14 years old and was sitting next to a guy in class who said he had heard a really sick tape. That was Nitzer Ebb’s “That Total Age”. But you have to know that I was already heavily into Depeche Mode and New-Beat (yes!) so the ‘move’ to more industrial sounds was not really a surprise. Anyhow, Nitzer Ebb had more or less the same BPM as new beat so that was easy (laughs). By the time I was fifteen I was listening to Cat Rapes Dog. Their “Maximum Overdrive” remains legendary as far as I am concerned. And after that I got hooked to Inside Treatment, Pouppée Fabrikk, and other bands from Scandinavia. I only started to listen to German acts when I went to university, and that included bands such as Fortification 55, Project Pitchfork, Psychic Force, Trial, etc..  

As we speak I’m in the middle of compiling our newest volume in the “Face The Beat”-series for Side-Line. The 7^th so far. But shoot with the questions Stephane!

Q: I guess less people know you graduated in journalism so what did you try to add/change when joining Side-Line? And how did you happen to join Side-Line magazine? 

Bernard: That’s correct, I graduated in journalism and worked at a couple of newspapers before diving into the startup world of ecommerce. That was pre-Google so SEO was still something very rudimentary and traffic was basically created via price comparison sites and massive mailings, you can call it pure spam (laughs). 

But I worked for 4 years as a journalist, was able to write a lot of solid articles, but I got fed up with the easy way things were covered (while we all knew it were lies) and the easy way things were NOT covered (because some bishop threatened to sue the newspaper –and me, for defamation). I left that world disgusted. Add to that it is one of the worst paid jobs ever. 

I got fed up with the easy way things were covered in the press

Anyhow, whilst studying one of my friends, Yves Van De Veken, told me there was this magazine that was going to be published with an attached CD compilation full of Dark-Wave music and that they would have the first issue with the sampler later that week in the Metrophone cellar, in Antwerp that is, where I studied. I got the magazine, which was in a very stylish layout, liked the CD sampler and was hooked on the review section to read about new bands. I was at that time already working part-time as journalist whilst studying, and I got access to bigger bands which I thought could fit Side-Line pretty well, so I sent a mail to Seba (who I thought was a girl) and told ‘her’ that I could arrange bigger interviews for them. Seba wanted to test the waters I guess, and I told that I could do Hooverphonic, but could also check with Dirk Da Davo  in the next week to show what I was capable of. Apparently ‘she’ really liked what I wrote and asked for more. Paradise Lost, Marc Almond, Bel Canto, … the list of interviews I did for Side-Line grew by the day.  

But I had never met any of the team. The first time I met someone from the Side-Line team back then was actually you, but I can’t recall where that was, I think it was in Brussels, but for what exactly?

A few weeks later I met Seba –who you told was NOT a girl, at a Die Form concert in Ghent I think. If I’m not wrong Cédric and Benoit were also there. Since then we were like a band of brothers who went to concerts, either together or with one or two others. Sweet times I must say, we were all very young, had not yet lived ‘real’ life with all its hurdles and accidents.

Q: Early 2008 was a turning point in the magazine’s history. Former chief-redactor Séba Dolimont decided to stop his involvement so you became the new chief-redactor. The printed magazine definitely stopped and Side-Line remained only active as online magazine. How do you look back at the loss of the printed magazine and how did the transition happen? 

Bernard: I basically had always pushed to keep the magazine alive as a print magazine, but at the same time I had launched www.side-line.com in 1999 because the initial Side-Line website –on a different url, was basically just a page, looked bloody awful and served no purpose –no offense Ronan Harris. So when Seba told me that he had decided to stop with the printed magazine, my mental switch was fast and I decided to focus on the online magazine which by then was attracting a tenfold of the printed magazine anyhow. It was a no-brainer.

Going online only? It was a no-brainer.

With Seba stopping, we also lost most of the external contributors, which is logical since a print magazine has a more loose team whereas a news website has to work with a very productive small team, as Side-Line.com was by then already producing daily news updates. A small team is always easier to work with, and I had seen that with the print version of Side-Line I was already doing most of the interviews, delivering 99% of the news, while you already did most of the reviews. So, we had a winning team anyhow, why change that?

In short, yes, it had an emotional impact, but not a practical one. We had a good run, but the times were changing. And I for sure was not planning to miss the online train as you know.

Q: I think there’re significant differences between a printed magazine and an online page. Can you give us the pros and cons especially from your perspective? 

Bernard: Yes, the differences are there for sure and I think you will agree with me, but tell me if you don’t! I will give you the pros and cons as far as online is concerned, the cons will largely cover the pros for print.

Pros: 

• Write, enter it in the CMS, add a picture and post. Simple. In short: it’s fast.
• The news goes out instantly via a wide array of tools. One post on Side-Line reaches around 5000 people in the next few minutes via our different channels, above and under the hood. By the end of the day –when syndication and newsletters have kicked in, we have a 10.000 reach per item. This doesn’t mean people have read it, it means that they have at least seen the picture and title.
• The articles can be as long or as short as you want.
• We can add multimedia, which is a good way to add metadata to your articles. This was limited back in 1999 when we went online though.
• A small team can move mountains.

Cons: 

• There is a strict daily deadline to maintain each day.
• The rapidness also gives room to errors you might not have noticed or simply wrong info (although we only had a few incidents with that).
• Getting decent daily news is sometimes difficult, other times you get inundated by news,
• Some labels and bands have no clue how to write press texts and fill it with promo blabla. If there are no 4 lines of good solid facts, I usually do not publish it.
• In our case I have to be technically savy, have seo skills and have IT skills. And I know how to write. That’s a lot if something goes wrong, and we have had times when it really went wrong.
• Online income generation as a news website is not easy. Most of the labels still have no clue what online means and still think in an old school way. 
• A small team means problems when one leaves or falls sick.
• A magazine accept slow reading, a website not.

Q: Do you’ve an idea who’s reading Side-Line and is there a kind of reader’s profile? 

Bernard: Actually I do, thanks to a combination of datasets, which are limited as I hate being followed myself. The last dataset of November shows that 31% is female, 67% is male and 2% identifies not as male or female. Most readers come from the USA, followed by the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Mexico, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Poland, Holland, Greece and Denmark. We got data from 45 countries in total once we filtered out the accidental and spam traffic.

When it comes to the profiles, we have data of a survey that happened a few months ago on our website. 8200+ respondents later we see that half (51%) has an office job, 36% has an outside or factory job and 11% is unemployed and 2% is enjoying their pension. 

The same survey also showed us info regarding age and it goes synchronically with the data from our Facebook page: 4% is between 18-24, 34% is between 25-34, 25% is between 35-44, 27% is between 45-54, 5% is between 56-64 and 3% is older than 64. That info again corresponds more or less with the survey we did.

It shows we have mostly a very active public between 25 and 54 years old.

Q: Back in time the Side-Line forum was quite ‘popular’, but unfortunately also a place for bullshit and conflicts. Did you expect this evolution and was it the main reason to stop the forum? 

Bernard: The Side-Line forum was indeed very popular and at times had 20 to 50.000 visits a day. It was so popular that it had become a full time task to keep the spammers out, to keep things civilized, etc.. The discussion there were legendary. Some were in it for the fun, others to learn something new, and others just to anonymously troll. It was the graveyard of subtleness though (laughs).

The Side-Line forum was the graveyard of subtleness…

It ran its course, but I was so glad I could kill that baby. Just with one click: bye bye! By the end it had become uncontrollable and we had to delete 90% of all posts because the trolling really went overboard. No loss, it’s part of history, but I still have to laugh when I think of the silliness of it all.

Do you know that we once launched a T-shirt line where you could have your nickname printed on it? We sold a few hundred of those… really fun times!

Q: In the meantime, you also became one of the owners of Alfa Matrix, which became one of the leading labels of underground Electro music. What’s your input and impact in the label activities? 

Bernard: I take care of the IT, web dev, communication and digital distribution. I leave the A&R to Seba, as we each have our own department. But we do have to agree all 3 for signing a band or not. I also often am abroad and try to hook up with the bands in real life.

Q: Let’s go on with a rather tricky question. I think it’s very confusing for a lot of people to understand you’re chief-editor of Side-Line and still one of the Alfa Matrix owners. That sounds pretty incestuous, don’t you think? How do you manage both activities without too much conflict of interest?  

Bernard: Nothing tricky at all. I have never hidden the fact that I’m also behind Alfa Matrix and I am proud of it. Actually, I am not the only label guy behind a magazine, check Blabbermouth for instance, it is also successfully run by label people, possible because we have intel on both sides of the medal.

As far as conflict of interest is concerned: there is none. I don’t intervene in the reviews at all, and that’s where there could be a conflict of interest because reviews are subjective an sich. When it comes to news articles, Alfa Matrix gets as much attention as for instance Metropolis, and I bring it as dry as I do with all the other articles: facts, facts, facts and no promo speech.. Actually, sometimes Alfa Matrix bands complain because they have not gotten a good score on Side-Line. I then have to explain that reviews are completely out of my control to keep a healthy balance in the magazine.

I have a very clean conscience.

That other people claim otherwise on Facebook or so is their problem. I have a very clean conscience regarding this. 

Q: It’s also interesting to see next to Alfa Matrix, Side-Line is actually releasing digital compilations; the magazine also became a kind of label! The “Face The Beat”-series became a real success story. What’s the main goal of this compilation series and how do you select the artists? 

Bernard: Well, the move is not so strange I must say. In the early days there was Side-Line Records, some kind of precursor to Alfa Matrix. Then Side-Line produced compilations to go with the magazines. I just brought it to the 21^st century when I took over and compiled and launched the first “Face The Beat” as a Facebook compilation, hence the name, 10 years ago. 

The main goal is reflected by what Side-Line has all been about even when Seba first launched it: get people to know music from established and new bands. It’s a vision I embraced since the start. I added an extra touch and that is that all revenue goes to charity. 

The compilations are compiled like this: I do a call for submissions on all channels we have, there is one reminder and then I lock myself up for weeks with the material that I have received, usually thousands of demos and completed tracks. Once a first selection is made, I go through the material again that is selected and do an extra selection to make sure the best tracks are included. After that I send out the necessary paperwork and then usually almost everyone responds quickly. There are usually only 2 or 4 bands that are too late or never respond. It’s always a race to meet the deadline I have in my mind, but I usually make it on time. In the meantime, I usually have worked on the artwork and worked through the material with Erlend Eilertsen from Essence Of Mind and Lights A.M to make sure the tracks get the best possible sound on the compilation.

After that I launch it on Bandcamp basically and the platform does its work, with some help of me (laughs). It’s all a very intuitive process where clear communication is king. 

A lot of labels and bands still haven’t learned from ecommerce.

Q: You definitely were one of the first from this scene to have understood the impact streaming platforms would have. I remember you got a lot of hard reactions about it, but today you can tell to all of your critics you were right! How do you look back at this period and how do you expect things evolving during the next few years? 

Bernard: Yes, I must say that the short sight of a lot of people in the record business was reflected in the harsh attacks I got in interviews, on radio programs and on social media. Some even went so far to send me mails accusing me of killing the industry, that I was a traitor. One of my biggest critics in the end contacted me back years later saying that he was wrong and that I was right. I still appreciate him till the day of today. Only great people can apologize and say they were wrong.

The thing is, it’s not that I like this or that evolution, it is that I just can see what is going to happen and where our music industry is heading towards. Some new techniques will never take off, but it is my job at Alfa Matrix to keep an eye on what is happening in the industry and what is going to happen and see if we should invest time and money in it.

My hunch that propriety was going to be over and done with except for a solid and loyal base has proven to be correct. The success of both Spotify and Bandcamp show that my theory on mixed digital music consumption was spot on and that my critics didn’t have a clue what was going to happen.

It’s actually not the first time that I have had a conflict with my colleagues in the music sector. Back when I worked at an ecommerce startup, some shop owners said that we were killing their business. But when I once worked together with such a critical shop owner annex distributor he was unable to deliver the goods… because we sold tenfold of what he was able to get (laughs). One of the biggest channels of sales for that ecommerce shop was actually Side-Line. To give you an idea, when Depeche Mode released their single boxes, Side-Line single handedly sold all, but literally all of the stock available in Belgium in just a few days. They had to restock with copies from all over Europe because they were in limited supply. The same for the Erasure single boxes. And as far as the Covenant boxset “Synergy: Live In Europe” is concerned. That is the release we sold 10 times what the Belgian distributor had promised he was able to get… (laughs). And still we were the bad guys (laughs even louder).

I have to thank Warren Harrison from Hungry Lucy for that way of forward thinking. He opened my eyes as far as digital music is concerned and taught me to dissociate my own wishes from that of a public’s wish, and to open my eyes for new technologies. I doubt he realizes the impact he had on me. Now he knows (smiles). A good guy he is, a pity we lost contact a bit.

And the future will continue, but more in the propriety field where things are moving rapidly, think of NFT’s. Len Lemeire planted that seed in my head actually. Add to that that we will sooner or later be faced with cryptocurrency payments on a larger scale. I have a few other new technologies in mind that might be big in the near future.

One thing though that will remain key, is data. A lot of labels and bands still haven’t learned from ecommerce –namely that it is an opportunity to know who your fans are, and  they are now again missing the boat as they have put all their money on Facebook and other platforms that lock their fans into their platform without offering you any way to communicate except via their own platform. Deadly on the long run.

There is a story to this actually. I was approached by at least 2 major Indie labels in the past few years asking if I would be willing to –listen well, sell all of Side-Line’s data in order to set up an own label of Electro-Pop music. And these are indies who have had BIG artists on their roster. But they have never ever gathered data, never had a decent newsletter, in short they were flying blind once things went sour. 

Having said that, I also see bad evolutions, the platforms work more and more via AI to push releases to people in order to keep them as much as possible on their platforms. It unfortunately also leads to tracks, which are made to trigger these AI powered algorithms. The first automatically generated tracks are very ‘promising’ and they have been released for quite some time now. I personally am not happy with this evolution, as it removes the human genius from it, but like I said, we risk to see this more and more.

Q: It all looks like ‘younger’ people show less interest to write for a magazine. Why is it and how do you expect things evolving? 

Bernard: If we look across the board, most print magazines from our scene are gone, and when we look to the online press, most online magazines from our scene are gone or are unable to keep up with the daily news pace like we do for instance. I often get requests from people if they can start writing for us, but their mail always ends with this question: ‘How much do you pay?’ Knowing that we have never received any money, it’s rather cynic that people who have never proven a thing think they can ask money… So I will repeat it again, THERE IS NO MONEY TO MAKE with an online magazine about Dark-Wave. 

As far as contributors is concerned, I am happy with the team I work with now. I can count on you and Jan-Ronald, basically the main contributors next to me. You both have a very professional attitude and we are friends most and first of all.

The evolution will depend on the fact if there will be more people willing to invest money and time in these kind of projects like running a magazine. We all know that nowadays you will not earn a living from it, on the contrary, you need some financial backup to keep a website up and running, pay the licences for plugings, data storage, and so on. And that’s without the hours of unpaid work on top each day.

Q: I already had discussions with people –including label owners, who no longer belief in the real impact of magazines today because of streaming platforms and other channels like YouTube. What’s your point of view and do you think magazines are enough taking care to adapt and renew themselves? 

Bernard: Well, this is not a problem for us honestly. Side-Line online is still about kickstarting new and young bands. And that’s mainly why people check Side-Line as we have the finger on the pulse to know what might become hot and what not. Remember Suicide Commando, Apoptygma Berzerk, etc..? They got pushed by Side-Line back in the days when they were largely unknown. Once we give these small bands an initial push they have to continue and work from their side as well and that’s when they get in the flow of things with the streaming platforms for instance nowadays.

Side-Line online is still about kickstarting new and young bands.

Take a magazine like Side-Line away and many small bands will never ever get a platform to develop. The same goes for our compilations, they serve to push smaller bands to a wider public. Consider us as an incubator for talents.

Know that I also regularly get contacted by the biggest bands in the scene directly with news, because they know we will publish it and they know we have a very good reach on a daily basis.

The AI used by streaming companies is a very big part in the music consumption and trying to trigger it is not something that is easily done especially with smaller bands on indie labels like I said earlier. The streaming Ais therefore still leave a lot of pearls untouched. Roughly 5 to 7 million songs on Spotify have never been played you know… That is HUGE.

That’s where magazines enter. Take me for instance, I basically have no time to start looking for new music, and I always look into our own review section for new material. So as a gatekeeper a magazine still has its purpose, at least from my point of view. I once did a test and played a few tracks and checked what the services would deliver as suggestions. They didn’t offer anything extra that interested me compared to what I got from your reviews, but instead offered a lot of junk extra so that I would have to weed out anyhow. It kinda proves that these Ais are still not capable of matching the human ear and feeling. Maybe that will happen in the future, I think so, or I would be really disappointed in our human genius (laughs).

That is of course as far as my own consumption goes. 

Now, I talked about the gate keeping function which has been the purpose of a good magazine. It’s my belief that a niche magazine which has a steady output of well selected news and articles will keep that gatekeepers function intact. Let me explain, most music magazines have over the years changed their focus on more popular bands, new music styles, added games, clothes, TV and showbiz in their mix just to get traffic. Look at NME for instance that is now ruled by clickbait articles and rubbish content. It has nothing left that reminds of the good old NME. All of its roots have been removed for the sake of clicks.

Another example is Techcrunch. This online tech magazine was the best back in time, but then it got taken over, and suddenly they started to pour out tons of clickbait articles, which had nothing to do with what the magazine was about in its early days and that was: talking about startups. I used to be a daily reader, I stopped simply because I couldn’t keep up with all the extra news being posted that was way out of the scope they had in the past. 

Less is often more, also for magazines. 

It comes to this, stick to your roots and make sure you have a continuous and regular number of articles posted.

From a label’s point of view, I have always worked on both. Now, since I usually work with new bands, it’s not always easy to have them launched rapidly like we could in the past. It now takes time. And I also understand the labels when they no longer see clear. There are roughly 1500 journalists out there that claim to have a magazine that handles Dark-Wave. 80% of which basically has a blog that has 10 visitors a day. Good for them, but I don’t believe in them. Basically, and we have to be very honest, there are close to no magazines left in this scene with a wacky team like ours that is day in day out constantly working to get a certain number of articles online.  

Those left still reach around 50.000 people daily on their websites and socials combined per day. And that’s a rough estimate but I’m very close, I think. Not exactly peanuts in a scene this small like ours. And quite a good crowd to for instance push smaller, unknown bands to.

In short, yes, I do believe in our future, as long as we stay loyal to our vision and mission. The numbers show it, we are reaching more people than ever, and not thanks to Facebook, but thanks to our daily newsletter, push notifications and all the other channels combined.

Q: Next to Side-Line and Alfa Matrix you’ve been also involved as organizer -and later as organizer ad hoc, of the now defunct famous Belgian underground festival ‘Eurorock’. A lot of things have been said about that festival. How do you look back at this event(s) with hindsight? 

Bernard: A bit like SABENA, such a bad experience never again (laughs). 

I’m still unable to talk about the first 2 editions I invested money in, due to some legal matters, but suffice to say you always have to look out who to trust. I lost a lot of money there, and evicted myself right on time from that very toxic situation. The 3^rd time, I was contracted – as I never wanted to be an investor again- but never got paid. In the end I had to solve most of the shit together with the stage managers who just like me were contracted and never paid. The shit thrown at us afterwards by people who have no clue is  exemplary yet not exceptional in this or any other scene. 

I made sure that every single band I had placed there was paid correctly. Most were grateful I made this happen, others cashed in and badmouthed me in public. So far for the thanks (grins). But I never forget… nor forgive (laughs).

Q: I know you prefer avoiding the question, but next to music you’re also politically engaged. What can you tell us about the subject?

Bernard: I’m not really trying to avoid it, I just think it’s not part of my work for Side-Line or Alfa Matrix, period. I always have tried to never mix it with both although some people are trying to frame me one way or another, usually because they don’t get my sarcasm. But now that you ask about it, yes I’m politically active in one of the biggest elected and ruling parties here in Flanders. That has been an excuse from extremists and activists to attack me in public, call my employer and frame me as ultra conservative, ultra catholic or even a pur-sang fascist. Well, sorry for those lunatics, but I’m as much a nationalist as any Norwegian hanging the Norwegian flag in their garden (that’s roughly every Norwegian with a garden) and as catholic as Macron. And as far as the other words used by ‘my’ critics, I don’t like the woke culture that is being pushed in our faces. Period.  

For the rest I’m happily married with a Mexicana, one of my best friend is a Turkish Muslim, one of my closest friends is transgender, and in my scarce free time I help people with learning disabilities to learn social skills. That should say enough. For the rest, I keep politics out of Side-Line and far away from Alfa Matrix because it’s basically not music. I don’t ask our readers about their political ideas either and I frankly don’t care.

However, I must say that over the years we never had remarks from readers when we post reviews or news from hardcore communist bands, but that we always get harassed by a very tiny group when a more conservative band is being covered. That’s a pure fact. I never discriminate, but I see some others discriminating people because they don’t agree with the ideas of this or that band. Rather disturbing…

I have a very good story actually regarding this. I once got an email from a guy, who started a rant because we had posted a review of a certain band on Side-Line. He called them fascists, racists, etc, etc.. But when I went checking his Facebook profile, I immediately understood why he was specifically attacking that band. His Facebook was filled with anti-semitic and anti-Israel rants… and the band he talked shit about had a Jewish singer. Shocking, but reality. 

The same for some BLM activists who have been attacking Side-Line in the past because we talk about –and I quote: ‘White men bands’. It is the same as attacking Motown Records because they have a  black repertoire. Most of the criticism can be explained by checking who is saying what about whom.

I know 2 famous bands in this scene who have made anti-semitic rants behind closed doors, I was shocked and told them this was really not right. One band member –member himself of a communist party, has since then been talking shit about me whenever and wherever he can, I guess in order to cover himself in case I make his name and emails with rants public. I also know bands who are very homophobic, but for the sake of things pretend they are pro LGTB-rights. In short, if I would write a book about the dirty wash I have witnessed over the years I think I would have a bestseller (grins). 

I personally don’t believe in left or right. I believe in doing good or doing bad.

Anyhow, I personally don’t believe in left or right. I believe in doing good or doing bad. I prefer doing good, under what political umbrella that may be. I also believe in taking responsibility for your own actions, and hard work. Locally I’m quite appreciated because I talk and listen to everyone, what their skin color, political belief or sexual orientation may be. And if they have a legitimate claim or need, I will try to help.

Q: Quite recently the Side-Line server crashed and you started a crowd funding to pay the costs. Your action was quite successful and Side-Line has been reactivated, which seems to prove Side-Line still means a lot to labels/artists and readers. How do you look back at this stressed period? 

Bernard: I was like ‘NOT AGAIN!’ when I realized it was not just an issue of rebooting the server when the server didn’t fire up as planned. We already had lost our previous site years ago due to a server issue and lost years and years of data… so you can imagine I was kinda stressed (laughs). But luckily enough, I had been working with this software engineer (editor’s note: Martin Rosselle) in another IT project. He is working for some of the biggest companies I know and he literally has made a name as being somebody who solves problems, a Winston Wolf in the software sector as you wish. I contacted him and told him we really needed the site back operational pretty fast and if he could help out. He canceled all his freelance work he had planned and asked me to come over so I could follow closely and help with the work. The error we had, was even for the engineers at our hosting company quite a real conundrum. Hell, they even asked us to please keep them informed as to how we would solve it because they had run out of options.

I took a 5 days unpaid leave, jumped in my car at 5 in the morning and drove 3,5 hours to set up shop at Martin’s place. In the car I was thinking of how to finance this endeavor… I’m already pumping thousands of Euros into Side-Line each year, but corona made that a lot of my income had completely vaporized so an extra financial blow like this was just very, very difficult. 

Then while I was having a coffee at a motorway restaurant, somebody sent me a WhatsApp message saying: ‘Hey Bernard, I saw your message that the site is down and that you guys are working on it. If you set up a crowdfund, I’ll gladly help!’ I was like, ‘really would people help out?’ So whilst doing the last hundred kilometers I was thinking ‘why not, if it gathers enough to pay half of the bill then that would already help a lot ‘. 

But it turned out to be really overwhelming… I’m still emotional when I think of it really… I saw the donations pouring in, from readers, bands, small labels, small PR companies, artists. I was actually very positively surprised that it were the smaller labels and bands next to lots of readers that came forward to support this crowdfund. I haven’t heard a word from the big labels… One of the biggest label bosses in this scene did send me an email… asking when their news would be up… no help, no question, nothing. It strengthens me in my vision that we have to stay an incubator for new talents and new and smaller labels, as they are definitely more connected with us… 

I did learn another lesson from this though, and that is that I need to delegate more. Jan-Ronald Stange has been helping with design, and I contracted Martin for our server maintenance and security so that we can intervene directly with the right people when needed. 

Q: What have been the best and worst memories from all the years you’ve been involved with Side-Line? 

Bernard: The worst: seeing others suffer. You know what I mean. 

The best: it is wonderful to stay friends for all these years with people with such different characters inside the team. And Side-Line also opened the gate towards other people I respect, I got in contact with Jan-Ronald Stange thanks to a lunatic groupie, so that ended well (laughs). And I shouldn’t forget Anne-Laure, Erlend, Marianne, Leydi, Simon and so many other people who have become close and reliable friends thanks to Side-Line.

Basically, working at and with Side-Line is the proof for me that one doesn’t need to stay in his/her own echo chamber to respect and be respected. You know that as well, I have told you that in a recent text message remember?

Q: Are you sometimes thinking about the end of Side-Line and also the end of Alfa Matrix? What should be the best way to say goodbye? 

Bernard: I have a pretty compulsive character, however, Side-Line has been a constant element in my life for the past 30 years. I always dedicate 2-3 hours per day to the magazine, writing articles, working on the site’s cms and machinery behind it, answering a ton of emails… It survived 2 marriages so far as well (laughs)! So no, it’s a part of me, and I haven’t really thought about stopping although there have been moments that I think, who the hell am I doing this for… But then you get a big thank you mail from a band or reader or label and that’s enough to kill off those negative feelings.

But if we would close shop, I guess it will be with a big bang (smiles). But so far so good.

If we would close shop, I guess it will be with a big bang.

The same goes for Alfa Matrix, as long as we can find good bands to push, we’ll continue.

Q: You and I have had some personal issues, but I think that thanks to Side-Line, we became and still are good friends. Any specific souvenir or anecdote you want to share? 

Bernard: Ah yes, we have gone through some turmoil you and me. I guess that is just part of good friendships, it’s like a marriage I guess, either you make up or you go to a lawyer (laughs). I guess we both learned from our private wars and have learned to respect each other. And that is what counts, we learned to see what unites us, not what divides us. And we never had to hire a lawyer (laughs)!

But speaking about the special moments… Well, racing on a German motorway at 200 km/h in a BMW to get home in time to drop of some equipment and then realize we could have delivered it 2 days later as well…. That was quite a memorable and especially dangerous moment we shared (laughs). Honestly, it was completely irresponsible, and I would never do it again, whatever the reason. Had we crashed, a magazine would have disappeared, a label and a few bands would never have seen the light of day and my sons would for sure never have existed and most importantly this: some others could have been injured or killed. I never drive fast nowadays, if I’m too late for a meeting so be it, but usually I start on time, it also avoids unnecessary stress and gives me the option to also have a coffee underway.

I also remember some sectarian veggie restaurant somewhere in Brussels where we ended up via John Sellekaers I think? That was quite weird for me… the food was ok though, but I’m not really into sects (laughs). But aside from that, I kinda miss sitting in a restaurant with all of us, you, Seba, Benoit, Cedric, and a few others which are still part of my inner circle, but who I don’t see enough. Luckily at least you and me did a good restaurant now !

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

Patrick Knoch set up Elektrostaub in 2007. Elektrostaub  can be defined as Electro/Future-Pop and is a solo-project with guest singers. After the first official album “Birthday And Death” released in 2017 on Echozone, the German project joined hands together with Alfa-Matrix. The new album “Reliance” features guest singers Patrik Hansson (Vanguard, Uncreated), Henrik Iversen (Namnambulu), !DISTAIN, René Anke (Logic & Olivia), Stefan Netschio (Beborn Beton), Jan Dieckmann (Norderney), Alex Rush (Unity One), Claudia Uhle (X-Perience), Damasius Venys (Mondträume, Mental Exile), Alex Nórdika (Nórdika) and Darrin Huss (Psyche). The work is a diversified, danceable and ambitious piece. I asked a few questions to Patrick Knoch.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Patrick, tell us a bit more about your music background and how did you come to set up Elektrostaub? 

Patrick: I received musical education in my childhood at a Yamaha music school, mainly on the electronic organ and keyboards. In the early 2000s I founded a band and later decided to start a solo project to better implement my own ideas and ideas.

Q: Elektrostaub is clearly driven and inspired by different forms of Electronic music, but ‘Pop’ definitely appears to be the main source of inspiration.  What are your examples and references in music and how would you analyze your own composition? 

Patrick: I’ve always been a fan of Electronic music and I liked the music of Depeche Mode, Camouflage, Erasure to name a few. Later, Silke Bischoff, Vnv Nation, Solar Fake, for example. So it was relatively obvious that I should try to make music in this direction myself.

Are you looking for powerful beats, flying, melodic and dreamy surfaces as well as modern sounds and catchy Electro-Pop songs? Then you’ve come to the right place with Elektrostaub. Due to the large number of singers involved, the styles of the respective bands also flow into the project and increase the spectrum of versatility.

Q: You mentioned the large number of singers so why do you prefer working with guest singers instead of a real band singer? And what’s your connection with the guys of !Distain? 

Patrick: In the beginning, the main idea was to do remixes and write instrumentals. Later on the idea came up that I could have guest singers set it to music. 

On this album all lyrics come exclusively from the guest singers. I think it’s important that my guests can get involved in the project themselves.

I have known Manfred and Alex from !Distain since the beginning of Elektrostaub and they have become very good friends of mine. Producing songs together is similar to do house music with your family… lol.

Q: How did the writing- and production process of “Reliance” happened? And how did the collaboration with the different singers happened?  

Patrick: First I write the arrangements and instrumentals. When that happens I think carefully about which singer could sing the song best. In most cases I choose artists whose music I also like and whether I personally like the voices or would simply go very well with the song.

When the process is finished I write to the respective artist and ask if they are interested.

After receiving the vocal tracks, I embedded them into the arrangements and then created the final mixes.

Q: There’s an impressive evolution in sound and production from your debut album “Birthday And Death” (2017) towards “Reliance”. How do you look back at your debut work and the transition to “Reliance”? 

Patrick: Thanks so much. I would think it’s just a constant development and advancement. Perhaps the experience gained plays a role. I don’t really like to look back, I love to look forward 😉

Q: How do you expect Elektrostaub evolving and what are the further plans regarding aspects like live shows, remixes, singles and clips? 

Patrick: I will start work on the third album soon. I will write several arrangements and instrumentals again and then proceed as always. I still have some remixes to do in the near future. I’ve been doing a few lately and they’ll all be out soon. Live shows are not planned or very feasible due to the fact that I don’t have a permanent singer.

In which direction will Elektrostaub evolve? I can’t say that today. I’ll just try to develop myself musically and hope to take the next steps.

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

Erasure will be releasing a live album, “The Neon Live”, in 2022. “The Neon Live” was recorded across the two shows the band played at Manchester’s O2 Apollo on 9th and 10th October 2021.

The double CD version features an entire show, complied from the band’s favourite performance of each song chosen from across the two shows in Manchester. The 2CD release comes in limited edition of 3000 units.

A 4CD set, limited to 1500 copies will also be released and holds Erasure’s shows at Manchester’s O2 Apollo on October 9th and 10th 2021 in their entirety. The four CDs come packaged in an 88-page hardback book format which contains live and backstage photographs and a selection of exclusive content.

A deluxe 3-vinyl edition, limited to 1500 copies, will also be released on heavyweight, violet-sparkle vinyl. This Triple LP features an entire show, complied from the band’s favourite performance of each song chosen from across the two shows in Manchester.

Below are the visuals.

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

Out now is the brand new Space March video “Algorithm”, which is also the title track of the 2021 album by Space March, which was released on 24 September 2021.

“Algorithm” is a collection of 10 songs spanning 10 years of songwriting. It is the first in a series of albums drawing on Craig Simmons’s deep and ever-growing archive of material. The album features 6 new and unreleased songs, as well as new mixes of recent Space March singles, and a completely new version of the past single, “Saturn’s Sun”, with “Again” appended to the title.

Craig Simmons released his first Space March album already in 2003, having previously released a dance music album in the mid-90s and two albums through a synthpop duo called ElectroSquad in the late 90s. For those into recording and mixing details, the project’s third album, “Monumental”, got mixed by Mark Saunders (Erasure, A-ha, The Cure, David Byrne).

You can watch the video for “Algorithm” below.

And here is the full 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!

side-line.com

Erasure (Andy Bell and Vince Clarke) have announced details of a surprise EP, celebrating the first night of their UK tour. Out on CD, limited edition purple cassette and digitally tomorrow, Friday 1 October, “Ne:EP” is a 5-track companion piece to their latest album, “The Neon”, with 4 new tracks sitting alongside “Secrets” which originally appeared on “The Neon Remixed”.

Watch the trailer below.

Erasure’s UK tour kicks off in Glasgow, where they’ll play 3 nights at the Armadillo before a series of dates that includes a show at The O2 in London on 17 October with additional special guest Blancmange.

Erasure – The Neon Tour – 2021 dates

• 1 Oct 21 – Glasgow, Armadillo – SOLD OUT
• 2 Oct 21 – Glasgow, Armadillo – SOLD OUT
• 4 Oct – Glasgow, Armadillo – NEW DATE
• 6 Oct 21 – Edinburgh, Usher Hall – SOLD OUT
• 7 Oct 21 – Edinburgh, Usher Hall – SOLD OUT
• 9 Oct 21 – Manchester, O2 Apollo – SOLD OUT
• 10 Oct 21 – Manchester, O2 Apollo – SOLD OUT
• 12 Oct 21 – Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
• 14 Oct 21 – Bournemouth, International Centre
• 16 Oct 21 – Birmingham, Utilita Arena – SOLD OUT
• 17 Oct 21 – London, The O2 *with additional special guest Blancmange
• 18 Oct 21 – Brighton, Centre

Erasure – The Neon Tour – 2022 dates

• 11 May 22 – Dublin, 3Arena – Rescheduled from 4 Oct 21
• 13 May 22 – Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle – Rescheduled from 21 Oct 21
• 14 May 22 – Cologne, Palladium – Rescheduled from 24 Oct 21
• 16 May 22 – Copenhagen, Royal Arena – Rescheduled from 26 Oct 21
• 17 May 22 – Hamburg, Barclaycard Arena – Rescheduled from 27 Oct 21
• 19 May 22 – Leipzig, Immobilien Arena – Rescheduled from 28 Oct 21
• 20 May 22 – Berlin, Max-Velodrom – Rescheduled from 22 Oct 21

*support from Wayne G across the UK dates

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

OSS have a new single/video out: “Disco Bombing”.

The track is taken from “Enter The Kettle”, the second album by Alex Paterson on The Orb’s new label Orbscure. It’s primarily a duo LP with him and old friend Fil Le Gonidec, who together are OSS. Other guests on the album include official-other-half-of-The Orb Michael Rendall, plus Jah Wobble, Roger Eno and George Holt – whose credits include Depeche Mode and Erasure.

Here’s the video.

About OSS

OSS were originally known as Orb Sound System – a half DJ/half live version of The Orb – and they are currently just OSS, which now stands for, have a guess, On Sum Shit.

The pair first met whilst both working as roadies for Killing Joke. Fil later lived for a period in Chicago above H-Gun Labs – base to the legendary video makers of the same name – whose credits later included the Orb’s “Toxygene” video, which starred Chris Connelly from Murder Inc (and Finitribe / Revoting Cocks / Ministry).

Fil roadied for Murder Inc, but was poached by the Orb who had started to take-off and flew him back to the UK, as they needed a reliable merch seller on tour.

Fil went on to feature on the albums “FFWD”, “Orbus Terrarum”, “Bicycles & Tricycles”, “Orblivion” and “Orbsessions Volume 1”. He has played live with The Orb many times, and also released industrial techno as Autolump on BadOrb and Mike Coles’ Malicious Damage.

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 Phil Sharp) Erasure have just announced that they have made the decision to move the shows from October 2021 to May 2022 on the advice of the promoters of their upcoming shows in Ireland, Denmark and Germany.

The new schedule looks like this.

May 2022

• 11 – Dublin, 3Arena
• 13 – Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle
• 14 – Cologne, Palladium
• 16 – Copenhagen, Royal Arena
• 17 – Hamburg, Barclaycard Arena
• 19 – Leipzig, Immobilien Arena
• 20 – Berlin, Velodrom

The reason for the move is, of course, the ongoing uncertainty around the Covid-19 situation.

If you have already booked tickets for any of the shows then your tickets will remain valid for the new date (the only venue which has changed is Berlin and your tickets for that show will also remain valid for the new venue), and everyone with tickets will be contacted by the ticket agent shortly with all the information they need concerning those changes.

For those of you with tickets for shows in the UK or North America, you can stand down, as those shows are unaffected by this decision.

For the moment being, check out our recent interview with Vince Clarke.

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 local correspondent János Janurik) “Hey, Janos, there you go…” It’s cool to be in email contact with Vince Clarke, founder of bands like Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure. He may not be a wordsmith, but good-humouredly, the living synthpop legend had answered my questions before he went on a well-deserved vacation. At the end of October he is going on a tour through the UK and Europe with his long-time bandmate, Andy Bell. As a small appetizer for the upcoming concerts, Erasure’s latest album “The Neon Remixed,” will be released at the end of July, featuring remixes of their 2020 work “The Neon,” as well as a brand new track “Secrets.”

Certain electropop tracks are often more successful in remixed version and sometimes sound better than the original. This genre of music simply suits remixes well. The same goes for Erasure. Although I’m not a big fan of remixes from the last two decades, this time I was very pleased with what I heard. The remix of “The Neon” includes partly complete new productions, partly extended maxi versions in the classic sense and of course there are enough tracks to dance along to. “The Neon” is also remixed and in this revised version it is a pure electropop perfection! “The Neon Remixed” features reinterpretations from artists like Kim Ann Foxman, Hifi Sean, Octo Octa, Paul Humphreys (OMD), Andy Bell & Gareth Jones, Brixxtone, Theo Kottis, and others. My first question to Vince Clarke was of course about this upcoming remix compilation.

SL: One year after the release of your last album „The Neon” its remix version will be released at the end of July. Whose idea was this remix compilation? Did you want to take a new turn with „The Neon” songs to take them in a new direction or was that the idea of the record company?

VC: The remix album was the idea of Mute Records. They wanted to extend the ‘life’ of the album, hopefully right up to the start of the „Neon” Tour.

SL: Old friends and colleagues of you, like Paul Humphreys or Gareth Jones, as well as a lot of new DJs and remixers can be found among the participating artists. Who selected and requested them for these remixes?

VC: Neil Blanket from Mute came up with the list of remixers. (Neil Blanket is the Head of Marketing at Mute – author’s note)

SL: The „Violate Flame” album also had a similar remix version, but my favorite one is still „The Two Ring Circus”. I would be glad to hear live that stunning remix version of „Leave Me To Bleed” by Vince and Eric Radcliffe one day in my life. Are there any such remixes from your back catalogue, which you think are even better than the original?

VC: I’m very fond of Orbitals remix of „Ship Of Fools”.

SL: As mentioned before „The Neon” album is already one year old. How did it affect you the last time you heard it? Do you still have the same favorite songs on the album? By the way, what are your current favorites?

VC: I tend not to listen to an album once it’s been released unless of course, I’m preparing tracks for our up and coming tour.

SL: This year there is another anniversary in the history of Erasure: Your debut album „Wonderland” was released 35 years ago. Many of the fans think that your current album has a lot in common with your first album. Have you noticed any similarities in the sound or in terms of the production work?

VC: I think there are similarities. Both albums are upbeat and positive looking and the sounds and arrangements are less cluttered.. (I think?)

SL: This October you are going on tour according to your plans. Have you put the new setlist together yet? Which are the songs that already have a fix place on the setlist?

VC: We’ll obviously be doing songs from ’The Neon’, a few old favorites and a couple of lesser known tracks from our back catalogue.

SL: There’s a rumor that Andy wants to sing the Eurythmics classic „Love Is A Stranger”. Are you planning to perform this cover version on the upcoming tour?

VC: ‘W & S’… (Wait and see.) 🙂

SL: In these Corona times it is difficult to make preparations for a tour. When can you meet each other to rehearse live?

VC: We start rehearsals in London, two weeks before the first show in Scotland.

SL: At your London concert you are going to have Blancmange as the opening act. I have always liked their music and a lot of fans know about the contact with Depeche Mode (Blancmange were the opening act on Depeche Mode’s 1981 and 1982 tours) and with Vince. Vince, you remixed „Living On The Ceiling” a few years ago and your fans are also eagerly awaiting the joint work with Neil Arthur. Where is this project lying right now?

VC: We’re hoping to finally mix our ‘collaboration’ at the end of July although it rather depends on UK and US travel restrictions.

SL: Vince, you’re also a label manager and host of an online radio show about the world of synths. Are there any news from the home of VeryRecords?

VC: There’s not a lot going on at the moment… perhaps a new release in 2022?

SL: And let’s not forget that your son son Oscar has just released his debut work. Vince, please, tell us a few words about this record and about your possible involvement on it.

VC: I contributed very little. My son did pretty much everything including getting it on Spotify etc.

SL: Back to the subject of touring. You are giving six concerts in Germany during the forthcoming tour in October. The German fans have always been very loyal to you. Do you have a story in your mind about Erasure and Germany that you still remember?

VC: Our very first show in Hamburg comes to mind. We played a venue called the Markthalle which was probably about half full. We were not well known in Germany at the time but I remember the audience was amazing… So warm and enthusiastic.

The fans are still waiting with great enthusiasm to finally see their idols live on stage again. Hopefully the Corona situation will get better and then we can enjoy Vince and Andy on a concert! Here you can see the tour dates once again. See you there!

“The Neon Remixed”

CD TRACKLIST (CD 1)

1 Secrets
2 Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling) (Hifi Sean Remix)
3 Nerves of Steel (Andy Bell & Gareth Jones’ Sapphire and Steel Mix)
4 Fallen Angel (Saint Remix)
5 No Point in Tripping (John “J-C” Carr & Bill Coleman 808 BEACH Extended Remix)
6 Shot A Satellite (GRN Extended Remix)
7 Tower of Love (BSB’s Stella Polaris Remix)
8 Diamond Lies (Armageddon Turk Extended Remix)
9 New Horizons (Matt Pop Extended Remix)
10 Careful What I Try to Do (Brixxtone Extended Remix)
11 Kid You’re Not Alone (Theo Kottis Remix)

CD TRACKLIST (CD 2)

1 Secrets (Kim Ann Foxman’s Heaven Mix)
2 No Point in Tripping (Can Love Be Synth Remix)
3 Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling) (Hifi Sean Dub)
4 Careful What I Try to Do (Brixxtone Synthwave Dub)
5 Nerves Of Steel (Gareth Jones’ ElectroGenetic Terabyte of Love Mix)
6 Kid You’re Not Alone (Paul Humphreys Remix)
7 Secrets (Octo Octa’s Psychedelic Visions Disco Dub)

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

(Photo by Our Silent Canvas Records) Out now is “A Walk in the Woods”, the second album from Nous Alpha (Gareth Jones & Christopher Bono). “A Walk In The Woods” is the follow up to the Nous Alpha 2019 debut, “Without Falsehood”, and is according to the duo “a collaboration with the natural world through the lens of modern music technology, with natural elements created by performing with found objects in the dense woods of the nearby Catskill Mountains and around the Our Silent Canvas studio”.

Nous Alpha was formed a few years ago when Christopher asked Gareth to help mix two tracks for his project Ghost Against Ghost, which appeared on the 2017 album “Still love”. Nous Alpha exist as a parallel to NOUS, Christopher’s loose collective of diverse players with improvisation as its cornerstone.

You can check the new album below. In case you didn’t know, Gareth Jones is an English music producer and engineer notable for working with Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire and Erasure.

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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GLOK is the electronic alter ego of Andy Bell, not the Erasure frontman nor the former Anne Clark keyboardist but the guitarist in the shoegaze act Ride. This October his first album proper as GLOK – “Pattern Recognition” – is released via Ransom Note Records’ sister label Bytes.

While GLOK was formed as an instrumental affair, on “Pattern Recognition” he has branched out to working with vocalists, with guests including the Irish punk poet Sinead O’Brien on “Maintaining the Machine”, who he approached having fallen in love with her single “Most Modern Painting”.

Other voices include Ransom Note labelmate Chloé ‘C.A.R.’ Raunet on “Entanglement”, MC Shamon Cassette on “Process” and his wife Shiarra on “That Time Of Night”, while Primal Scream’s Simone Marie plays bass on “Maintaining The Machine”.

Most recently Bell contributed a GLOK track “Tories in Jail” – alongside Daniel Avery, Roisin Murphy and Nitzer Ebb – for ‘The Gun Aid’ collection, which was released to raise funds for the Hackney drinking establishment of the same name that took a serious financial hit due to lockdown.

Here’s the single “Maintaining The Machine”.

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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From BlakLight member Adam Collier comes a brand new project: Frontal Disco. The idea for Full Frontal Disco already came in late 2019 and the basic aim behind the project is to have different singers from Collier’s favorite indie bands on vocals.

The first of those collaborations is now out on single: “Beautiful Crisis”. On vocals we find Ryan Slemko from Hollowlove, who personally selected “Beautiful Crisis” as the track to work on. The track throws you back in time, and if you ask us it reminds a lot of Erasure’s splendid “Always” period in 1994.

Adam: “I have other songs ready now with a couple more male vocalists and one female and I will be releasing those singles throughout 2021. There is another song called “Deep” that is slated as the next release with Mark Bebb of Shelter.”

The single release has the radio edit, an extended version, and a club mix. Warmly recommended to fans of Erasure and related acts!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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(Photo by Renaud De Foville) The French post-punk band Versari are due to release a remix EP of the album track “Brûle”. The EP includes the track in its original post-punk incarnation, along with a remix by Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire, Erasure), Erica Nockalls (The Wonder Stuf) as well as by School Daze who remixed the album track “Des Images”.

“Brûle” is taken from the album “Sous la Peau”, an album also featuring Adrian Utley (Portishead) on guitar. Utley also produced Versari’s debut album “Ostinato”. You can check the new single below on Bandcamp where you can also buy a limited CD version.

Formed in 2003, Versari are comprised of Jean-Charles Versari (vocals/guitar) former Sloy member Cyril Bilbeaud (drums) and former Candie Prune member Laureline Prod’home (bass/backing vocals).

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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UK’s synthpop act Erasure have announced a North American tour earlier today set to launch January 14, 2022 in Miami before wrapping up in late February at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Bag Raiders will open each date with a DJ set.

News of the North American tour follows the 2020 release of Erasure’s eighteenth studio album, “The Neon”. This Summer, the duo will release “The Neon Remixed”, a collection of reimaginings of songs from The Neon by artists such as Kim Ann Foxman, Hifi Sean, Octo Octa, Paul Humphreys (OMD), Andy Bell & Gareth Jones, Brixxtone, Theo Kottis, and more. Also included is the brand new single “Secrets”.

Below are the tour dates. Tickets will be available from Friday on.

Erasure The Neon Tour 2021-2022

• October 1 – Glasgow, Scotland – Armadillo SOLD OUT
• October 2 – Glasgow, Scotland – Armadillo SOLD OUT
• October 4 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
• October 6 – Edinburgh, Scotland – Usher Hall SOLD OUT
• October 7 – Edinburgh, Scotland – Usher Hall SOLD OUT
• October 9 – Manchester, England – O2 Apollo SOLD OUT
• October 10 – Manchester, England – O2 Apollo SOLD OUT
• October 12 – Cardiff, Wales – Motorpoint Arena
• October 14 – Bournemouth, England – International Centre
• October 16 – Birmingham, England – Utilita Arena
• October 17 – London, England – The O2
• October 18 – Brighton, England – Centre
• October 21 – Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
• October 22 – Berlin, Germany – Max-Schmeling-Halle
• October 24 – Cologne, Germany – Palladium
• October 26 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
• October 27 – Hamburg, Germany – Barclaycard Arena
• October 28 – Leipzig, Germany – Immobilien Arena
• January 14 – Miami Beach, FL – The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater
• January 15 – Orlando, FL – Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center
• January 16 – St. Petersburg, FL – The Mahaffey Theater
• January 18 – Durham, NC – DPAC – Durham Performing Arts Center
• January 20 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
• January 25 – Toronto, ON – Meridian Hall
• January 27 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Byham Theater
• January 28 – Chicago, IL – Credit Union 1 Arena at UIC
• January 29 – Cincinnati, OH – The Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center
• February 1 – Asbury Park, NJ – Paramount Theatre
• February 3 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
• February 4 – Atlantic City, NJ – Caesars *
• February 5 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens Bank
• February 8 – Atlanta, GA – Symphony Hall
• February 11 – Houston, TX – TBA (venue & on sale to be announced)
• February 12 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
• February 13 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theater *
• February 15 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
• February 18 – Denver, CO – Bellco Theatre
• February 19 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center
• February 23 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
• February 25 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
• February 26 – Los Angeles, CA – Performance Venue @ Hollywood Park
• February 27 – Las Vegas, NV – Venetian Theatre

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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(Photo by Dag Stinus) Out on June 11 via Bandcamp and Beatify Audio (and one week later on all other digital platforms) is the newest single from the Danish synthpop duo SoftWave: “System Failure”. SoftWave consists of the duo Catrine Christensen and Jerry Olsen.

The track is a clear reference to how the Covid19 crisis has affected people mentally around the world. Singer Catrine Christensen explains: “System Failure” describes the duality of being isolated in many months without associating with others, and how much life with a computer can disturb the mind and even provoke frustration, depression and in rare cases – anger.”

The band formed in 2014 and debuted in 2016 with the EP “Together Alone” which was followed by “Together Alone The Remixes” in 2017. Their debut landed in 2019 with “Game On” which also got the remix treatment on “Game On 1Up” (re-released in 2020 with bonus tracks on Electro-Shock-Records).

After touring with OMD on the Scandinavian leg of their “Greatest Hits – Souvenir Tour” (feb, 2020), SoftWave was invited by Erasure’s Andy Bell to produce remixes for his forthcoming Andy Bell is Torsten project “Club Torsten!” among Vince Clarke, Bronski Beat and more.

Below is the band’s “Game On 1Up” release including a live track from their OMD support show at Oslo’s Rockefeller venue.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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(Photo by Phil Sharp) Erasure have announced details of “The Neon Remixed”, an album collating new remixes from their latest album, “The Neon”, alongside a brand new track, “Secrets”. “The Neon Remixed” is set for release on 30 July 2021 on limited edition double colored vinyl and gatefold CD, both packaged in a mirror board sleeve.

On “The Neon Remixed” you’ll see tracks from 2020’s “The Neon” remixed by a host of artists including Kim Ann Foxman, Hifi Sean, Octo Octa, Paul Humphreys (OMD), Andy Bell & Gareth Jones, Brixxtone, Theo Kottis and more.

Listen to the new track, “Secrets” right below.

October 2021 will see Erasure bring The Neon to venues across the UK, Ireland, Germany and Denmark, kicking off at the Glasgow Armadillo auditorium on 1 October, with a London date at the O2 Arena on 17 October. Tickets can be bought right here.

ERASURE – THE NEON TOUR – 2021 DATES

• 1 Oct 21 – Glasgow, Armadillo – SOLD OUT
• 2 Oct 21 – Glasgow, Armadillo – SOLD OUT
• 4 Oct 21 – Dublin, 3Arena
• 6 Oct 21 – Edinburgh, Usher Hall – SOLD OUT
• 7 Oct 21 – Edinburgh, Usher Hall – SOLD OUT
• 9 Oct 21 – Manchester, O2 Apollo – SOLD OUT
• 10 Oct 21 – Manchester, O2 Apollo – SOLD OUT
• 12 Oct 21 – Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
• 14 Oct 21 – Bournemouth, International Centre
• 16 Oct 21 – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
• 17 Oct 21 – London, The O2
• 18 Oct 21 – Brighton, Centre
• 21 Oct 21 – Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle
• 22 Oct 21 – Berlin, Max-Schmeling-Halle
• 24 Oct 21 – Cologne, Palladium
• 26 Oct 21 – Copenhagen, Royal Arena
• 27 Oct 21 – Hamburg, Barclaycard Arena
• 28 Oct 21 – Leipzig, Immobilien Arena

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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Good news for the Suicidal Romance fans, the Estonian dark electropop act has decided to re-release 3 of its EPs which have been unavailable for quite some time. Available right now via Bandcamp (and in 3 weeks from now on all other platforms) are the following EPs: “Whisper Goodbye” (2013), “Burning Love / Remember Me” (2012) and “A Kiss To Resist” (2008).

The cult dark pop duo Dmitry Darling and Viktoria Seimar recently returned with their rather stunning new EP “Runaways”, so the re-release of their older material does not come as a complete surprise.

“A Kiss To Resist” EP was originally released in November 2008. This 13-track EP was the follow-up release to the band’s debut album ”Love Beyond Reach”. Included is also an excellent cover version of Erasure’s “Always” and a collaboration with Lost Area’s singer Jan Moser. Next to this you got an acoustic version of “Call Me” next to various upbeat electro remixes from acts in the likes of Aesthetic Perfection, Massiv In Mensch, Syrian and many more.

“Burning Love / Remember Me” EP was originally released in October 2012. The 13-track EP came out after the release of the band’s 3rd studio album “Memories Behind Closed Curtains”. It featured two new tracks including the very first song ever sung in Russian by the band. Hovering between romantic synth pop and female-fronted dark elektro, these two cuts were accompanied by quite a diverse selection of additional remixes from acts like Diversant13, ES23, Kant Kino and many more.

The “Whisper Goodbye” EP was originally released in December 2013 and features 7 tracks revealing the harder side of Suicidal Romance. For the occasion the band teamed up with Pete Crane (SHIV-R) as guest vocalist on the club hit “Slave/Slave” as well as with remixers in the likes of Die Sektor, Reaxion Guerrilla, Incubite, CeDigest and Psy’Aviah.

You can check out these re-releases 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. 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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