Essence Of Mind &#8211; SIDE-LINE

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!

Lights A.M – Stories Without Words Vol.2 (Album – Alfa Matrix)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Ambient-Electro, Cinematic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Erlend Eilertsen -in a previous life involved with Essence Of Mind, is back on track unleashing the third album of his solo-project Lights A.M. The work features ten new tracks. The album is also available as a CD featuring both debut albums as a bonus.

Content: Lights A.M moves on there where previous work stopped; it’s a dreamy, astral, instrumental, retro-like Ambient-Electro production. Slow rhythms are getting it more accessible while giving a little extra to the production.

+ + + : Lights A.M isn’t reinventing the Ambient-Electro style which clearly evokes good-old pioneers from the Berlin school and others. The Cinematic feeling is more present creating a visual appeal. This work also features the best cuts I’ve heard so far. “Afraid To Let Go” is a brilliant piece of Ambient-Electronics with a true, elevating, effect. “A Sign Of Life” coming next is another noticeable cut.

– – – : You clearly get the feeling the music is part of a wider, artistic, concept so I’m missing this ‘other’ creation.

Conclusion: This is my personal favorite work by Lights A.M which stands for dreamy Electronics in the midst of dark times…

Best songs: “Afraid To Let Go”, “A Sign Of Life”, “Can You Feel It”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/lightsaftermidnight

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Stories Without Words Vol.2’.

Listen to “Stories Without Words Vol.2”:

Stories Without Words Vol. 2 by Lights A.M

About Lights A.M

Lights A.M is a Norwegian cinematic ambient project led by Erlend Eilertsen, previously involved with Essence Of Mind. The project released the EPs “Shine Our Lights” (2019) and “Surrender & Evolve” and “Agnes” (both 2020) before its debut album, “Stories Without Words”. “Stories Without Words Vol.2”, released via Alfa Matrix, continues that instrumental, meditative direction and was reissued on CD alongside the earlier albums as a bonus.

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.

Out now: Brand new The Cure tribute 2CD compilation via Alfa Matrix and Spleen+ featuring 27 songs: ‘A Strange Play (Vol. 2) – Tribute to The Cure’

Eldrina Mich — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:26:25 +0000

Nine years after the release of their first tribute to The Cure, titled “A Strange Play – Tribute to The Cure“, Alfa Matrix and Spleen+ have joined forces to create a follow-up tribute album. The second volume in the series, “A Strange Play (Vol. 2) – Tribute to The Cure“, features 27 tracks, including electro, synth pop, EBM acts from Alfa Matrix and cold wave, post-punk, and gothic rock bands from their Spleen+ division and is out now via Bandcamp, the label’s webstore and all other platforms.

The album includes reinterpretations of classic hits and lesser-known B-sides, shedding new light on the original tracks or giving them an entirely different sonic perspective. The tribute album itself this time is a collaborative effort between both established and emerging artists from the Alfa Matrix and Spleen+ rosters.

Compiled by and for The Cure fans, this new tribute adventure brings together a growing roster of Spleen+ artists, including Noemi Aurora, Star Industry, Imjudas, The Ultimate Dreamers, The Breath of Life, and Lovelorn Dolls. Additionally, the album features synth and electro cult acts, as well as upcoming Alfa Matrix artists, such as Neuroactive, Armageddon Dildos, Implant, Darkness on Demand (formerly Dance or Die), Helle9 (an Alien Vampires side-project), Metroland, Aesthetische featuring Zombie Girl, Aiboforcen, Technoir, Kant Kino, Digital Factor, Regenerator, Lights A.M (an Essence of Mind solo project), Neikka RPM, First Aid 4 Souls, Diffuzion, Avarice in Audio, Elektroklänge, Circumpolar, and Cosmic Armchair.

In conjunction with the release of “A Strange Play (Vol. 2),” goth-metal/darkwave act Lovelorn Dolls has released a single and accompanying video clip for their cover of “Lullaby.” The music video, created entirely using artificial intelligence, tells the story of a girl pursued by a mysterious, threatening, yet alluring man. The video’s creator, Kristell, was inspired by her own childhood experience of being both fascinated and frightened by The Cure’s original “Lullaby” music video.

Here’s the track list for the new volume which is available now on 2CD via the Alfa Matrix webstore and as download via the Alfa Matrix Bandcamp page and the Spleen+ Bandcamp page.

A Strange Play (Vol.2) – Tribute to The Cure by VARIOUS ARTISTS

Here’s the first volume.

A Strange Play (Vol.1) – Tribute to The Cure by VARIOUS

Side-Line also covered The Cure’s ‘s ’.

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.

Norway based post-punk / ambient project Lights A.M launches 3 albums on CD in one go

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 08:54:19 +0000

Out now is the all new Lights A.M album “Stories Without Words vol. 2“, the 2nd installment of the project’s instrumental concept album series that takes off where volume 1 ended. It’s the first album on CD for the project which goes accompanied by the reedition of the first 2 albums on CD for the first time.

As a result out now as well is the re-release on CD (for the first time) of the 2021 album “Stories Without Words vol. 1” which is the debut album of Lights A.M after a couple of digital EP’s. Also originally released on digital format only in July 2022 was “Clouds”, the 2nd album of the project and now also that 2nd release get s a CD version. Both albums get rereleased on physical format in a limited carton sleeve edition.

Here’s the all new album already on Bandcamp.

Stories Without Words Vol. 2 by LIGHTS A.M

Available formats

Below are the various formats.

Interview

The Norwegian cinematic ambient electronic project was formed by Erlend Eilertsen of Essence Of Mind. We talked with Erlend regarding these albums.

SL: How come “Clouds” was released in between?

EE: I tend to work on both vocal based tracks and instrumentals in parallel actually, so most of the SWW1 tracks were written in the same time as I did the first two vocal based Lights A.M EP’s. The same has to be said about SWW2 and Clouds, but I wanted to finish the vocal based album before the next instrumental. So in a way, they are connected, but the «Stories Without Words» series stands for itself.

SL: Lights A.M is not an instrumental project from the start on, are these two albums intermedium albums or how do you see it?

EE: When I started Lights A.M I did want to make a lot of instrumentals, but wanted vocals as well, so I thought a lot about how to do it actually. My initial idea was to release vocal based 4-5 tracks EP’s and instrumental concept albums, but after SWW1 I changed my mind and wanted to do regular albums as well. So basically, the SWW series is just a way for me to make instrumental concept albums with total freedom to keep my creativity flowing.

SL: You are a big Vangelis fan I think, but at the same time you have incorporated some by now typical Lights A.M sounds in it. How would you define that specific LAM sound compared to that of a Vangelis?

EE: You are correct about that, but I also have a lot of other musical influences for sure 🙂 . To me, the music is not that similar, but I see the connection, mostly for the passion for melodies and the mood in the music. I think the most obvious difference is my incorporation of elements from both shoegaze, kraut and post rock as well as my somewhat darker soundscapes.

SL: What’s in the air in the nordics that you guys come up with such great electronic music?

EE: Hehe, hard to say, but it could be as simple as our surroundings, nature and the big difference between winter and summer up here. The days are short and dark in the winter, but very long and bright in the summer, and maybe our senses pick it up in some way and channel creativity? Or it could be completely random? 🙂 One thing that keeps getting mentioned is the nordic melancholia, so maybe that is the source?

Norwegian cinematic ambient / post-punk act Lights A.M offers 3-track single ‘Afraid To Let Go’ including live track

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 09:40:58 +0000

The Norwegian cinematic ambient / post-punk project Lights A.M (aka Erlend Eilertsen of Essence Of Mind) presents an all new quite dark and eerie ambient 3-track single, “Afraid To Let Go”. The release is available now via Spotify and Bandcamp.

The title track is an organic sounding song which also is added in a live bonus version. The 2nd track “Not Ready For This” comes with layers of synths and some tribal almost ritualistic percussions.

This is how Erlend himself perceives it: “Both these tracks have some of the same emotions, though in different ways. “In Not Ready For This” I see fog, a challenge, and fear of going through it, while in “Afraid To Let Go” the challenge is to let go of something which doesn’t serve you, but still being afraid of what will happen after you let go. So it is basically fear, sadness and melancholia blended together, quite dark yes…”

Afraid To Let Go EP by LIGHTS A.M

The new EP acts as a new teaser for the project’s upcoming new album “Stories Without Words Vol. 2” which is on pre-order now via Bandcamp and on CD via the Alfa Matrix website. Add to this you can also get the new album in a package with all 3 Lights A.M releases plus the new Alfa Matrix compilation “A strange play vol.2 – an alfa matrix tribute to The Cure” 2CD. But attention, this special package is only available during the pre-sale period.

You can watch the video for “Afraid To Let Go (live)” on Bandcamp.

You can download the EP now from Bandcamp or stream it on all other platforms such as Spotify.

Norway based cinematic ambient project Lights A.M launches new single ‘Not Ready For This’ ahead of new album ‘Stories Without Words vol. 2’ + reissue first 2 albums on CD for the first time

Eldrina Mich — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 15:48:14 +0000

Out today on all streaming and download platforms is “Not Ready For This“, the first new single from the Norwegian synth wave / experimental electronic act Lights A.M. The track is taken from the band’s forthcoming “Stories Without Words vol. 2” album which will be out on June 23rd via Alfa Matrix on CD (in a limited carton sleeve edition) and as download.

“Stories Without Words vol. 2” is the 2nd installment of the band’s instrumental concept album series that takes off where volume 1 ended.

Also out on June 23rd is the re-release on CD (for the first time) of the 2021 album “Stories Without Words vol. 1” which is the debut album of Lights A.M after a couple of digital EP’s. Also originally released on digital format only in July 2022 was “Clouds”, the 2nd album of the project and now also that 2nd release get s a CD version. Both albums get rereleased on physical format in a limited carton sleeve edition.

The Norwegian cinematic ambient electronic project was formed by Erlend Eilertsen of Essence Of Mind. Time to hail Norway and ask Erlend a few questions.

SL: How come “Clouds” was released in between?

SL: Lights A.M is not an instrumental project from the start on, are these two albums intermedium albums or how do you see it?

SL: You are a big Vangelis fan I think, but at the same time you have incorporated some by now typical Lights A.M sounds in it. How would you define that specific LAM sound compared to that of a Vangelis?

SL: What’s in the air in the nordics that you guys come up with such great electronic music?

The new single is also available from Bandcamp for immediate download.

Stories Without Words Vol. 2 by LIGHTS A.M

Available formats: Read the reviews of ‘Stories Without Words’ and ‘Stories Without Words Vol.2’.

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.

Lights A.M – Clouds (Album – Alfa Matrix)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Ambient-Electro, Cinematic.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: One year after the debut album “Stories Without Words” we get the second opus by Lights A.M. This Norwegian project is driven by Erlend Eilertsen -known from Essence Of Mind. Side-Line first covered the “Clouds” album announcement in July 2022.

Content: Lights A.M moves on with the Cinematic/Ambient style of the debut album. The songs have a retro feeling reminding me of Ambient pioneers but also Electro-Pop legends like OMD. The songs are driven by a slow cadence while the major evolution is the addition of vocal parts.

+ + + : This is what I should call a ‘beautiful’ album. Songs that will lead you to dream and bring you to prosperity. It’s a Cinematic experience constructed by vintage sound treatments and melody lines which might remind you of the evasive side of OMD. The addition of vocals is for sure a bonus.

– – – : This album sounds cool for a while but -and just as for the debut album, rapidly starts to repeat itself. I’m missing a climax and/or variation. This album appeals to visual arts to reinforce the sound.

Conclusion: I have mixed feelings listening to this work; great and entertaining music but repeating itself over and over again.

Best songs: “Another Life”, “Wide Awake”, “Right On Time”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.lightsaftermidnight.com / www.facebook.com/lightsaftermidnight

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

About Lights A.M

Lights A.M is a Norwegian project driven by Erlend Eilertsen, also known for his work with Essence Of Mind. The project debuted with the album “Stories Without Words” before returning with “Clouds” via Alfa Matrix, announced in July 2022 alongside the video for “Another Life“. Later releases have seen the project reissue its first two albums on CD and expand the catalog with the single “Not Ready For This” and a second volume of “Stories Without Words”.

Out now – all new album by Norwegian synthwave / dreamwave project Lights A.M

Eldrina Mich — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 13:41:15 +0000

The Norwegian synthwave / darkwave / electronic dream-pop project Lights A.M returns with “Clouds”, a 10-track new album today. Lights A.M is the project of Erlend Eilertsen (aka Essence Of Mind’s frontman) and offers what he himself describes as being “quite melancholic, but always with a tint of hope and a deeper meaning; it is a reflection of life and how it can feel sometimes, from everything from dark days, sleepless nights and the loss of someone close, to hope, appreciation and the feeling of connecting to everything as a part of our journey.”

The label from its side describes it as “dream pop with elements from shoegaze and synth pop”. All in all very enjoyable music that can only come from the Nordics. The release is available now on Bandcamp and all other online streaming and downloadplatforms. You can check the full release below. In the next few days you can expect an interview with Erlend.

Clouds by LIGHTS A.M

The release is the follow-up to last year’s well-received “Stories Without Words” and was teased by the 2-track single “Run Away”. Below are the official clips for the album tracks “Run Away” and “Another Life”.

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.

Norway’s Lights A.M releases brand new video ‘Another Life’

Eldrina Mich — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 13:07:29 +0000

The Norwegian synthwave / darkwave / electronic dream-pop project Lights A.M has released a brand new video for the track “Another Life” taken from the project’s upcoming album “Clouds”. The original footage was shot by Christian Paulsen (Hell:Sector).

Lights A.M is the project of Erlend Eilertsen (aka Essence Of Mind’s frontman) and offers what he himself describes as being “quite melancholic, but always with a tint of hope and a deeper meaning; it is a reflection of life and how it can feel sometimes, from everything from dark days, sleepless nights and the loss of someone close, to hope, appreciation and the feeling of connecting to everything as a part of our journey.”

The label from its side describes it as “dream pop with elements from shoegaze and synth pop”. All in all very enjoyable music that can only come from the Nordics. The release is available for pre-order on Bandcamp and will be out on July 15th. Three tracks are already available for immediate download.

For now, check out the new video for “Another Life”!

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.

Out now on Spotify: New ‘Run Away’ single by Norway’s indie electronic project Lights A.M

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 14:33:06 +0000

The Norwegian indie electronic project Lights A.M (the solo project of Erlend Eilertsen of Essence Of Mind) returns with a new double A-side single, “Run Away”. The single is accompanied by the release of a beautiful video clip for “Run Away” made by Erlend Eilertsen’s long time partner in crime Christian Paulsen (Essence Of Mind, Hell:Sector).

While the previous album offered a soundscape journey, “Run Away” sees the project taking a more dark electronic side while the second track “Clouds” showcases the more indie-electronic pop side of Lights A.M mixed with Erlend’s moody and emotional vocals. Nordic electronic sounds which should please all those who like the more ethereal side of the electronic spectrum with some post-punk ingredients subtly added.

The 2-track single is available now from Bandcamp plus all other platforms.

Below is the single on Bandcamp.

Run Away (2-track single) by LIGHTS A.M

Here’s the video for the single’s title track.

Come Together by Lifeline International Electronic Resistance – A Darkwave / Post-Punk Compilation From The Ukrainian Underground by Various Artists

How the alternative scene launched two mega-projects to gather funds to help Ukraine (interview with John Fryer and Bernard Van Isacker)

Eldrina Mich — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 13:06:30 +0000

Two charity releases to help Ukraine have taken the Bandcamp charts by storm in the past few weeks. There is the Side-Line powered “Electronic Resistance” compilation (and book and T-shirt) featuring 55 Ukrainian bands, and there’s the COP International powered 3-track single “Come Together” featuring members of bands including Faith No More, Stabbing Westward, Rammstein, Black Needle Noise and others.

The two releases have three things in common, they come from the indie scene, they have been created and released in record time, and both people behind the release are actually longtime friends. We decided to talk with both initiative takers, our very own chief editor Bernard Van Isacker and producer and musician John Fryer who both invested their time in creating two extremely successful charity projects.

SL: John and Bernard, you were the very first people to launch a charity project in the metal/rock and darkwave scene to help the Ukrainian people and also the ones that made it a huge success. What was the decisive moment when you said, ok, let’s do this?

John: It was late one Sunday evening and I was talking to Christian from COP International records on the phone and as always we were discussing many thing that are happening to us and the world and we got talking about the invasion and all the people suffering the effects it was having on them. So we decided to do a song to raise money. We were like yeah let’s do a song get it recorded and out by Friday of that week.

We were totally nuts to think it could have been done in such a short time. It took as 3 weeks and working around the clock not just on the music side of things but calling, emailing and texting people to get them involved in the project.

Bernard: The moment I saw the first images of the bombing, the dead civilians, I was like, I have to do something, and I have to do it right now. It took roughly 2,5 weeks to get everything done as far as the compilation goes, because I’m still working on the photo book itself which is also going to be released.

I honestly never thought Putin would actually invade Ukraine… who on earth can be so sick? It came as a big blow in my face when I heard the news. I was like, WTF, we are in the year 2022 and some lunatic still thinks it is OK to just invade another country. Looking back, we should have known this was going to happen, all the signals were there for years, especially after he invaded the Crimean with his ‘green’ men. Putin has a track record which is just plain wrong in all its facets and that was just one of the examples that should have made us realize far worse was bound to happen. Add to that that Europe acts like a junkie when it comes to oil and gas…

SL: I know you know each other rather well, it’s like same minds think alike?

John: I have known Bernard for many a moon now and he has a big heart also. Even though we didn’t discuss this with each other we have both come to the same conclusion of what a terrible thing that is happening in Ukraine and want to help in some way.

Bernard: I appreciate John a lot as well and I know he has the heart at the right place. It didn’t surprise me that he ended up with a similar idea. I think we both are very much affected by what is happening so it came as a natural thing to help in the way we know best, John by making music, me by setting up a project and use the Side-Line promo machinery to turn the project into a success.

SL: Can you both describe how you set up your projects?

Bernard: Within 3 days most of the tracks were delivered by the participating bands, some even recorded new material during those 3 days. I then had to literally chase for the necessary paperwork, because the last thing these Ukrainian bands are busy with or need now is bureaucracy, which I totally understand, but it is and was a necessary evil which took me around 2 extra weeks. In the meantime I had contacted Erlend Eilertsen (Lights A.M, Essence Of Mind) in Norway if he could make sure the sound would be ok because some of the sourced material literally was recorded while the bombs were falling like I said. Other bands had nothing left but rough demos, so there was some work needed to get everything polished.

John: Christian and I had done a similar thing before but on a smaller scale. This time we wanted to reach a much bigger audience so we decided to reach for the stars. I’ve known some of the artists for a long time but we also got a lot of help from people we asked like Geno Lenardo, Marija Buljeta, Rod Saez Chavez who also joined in asking people to join our project and we thank them and everyone else who has helped along the way and the people who have donated money to the project.

Side-Line: Bernard, you decided to get to work with Ukrainian bands only. How on earth did you get hold of 55 bands in such a record time?

Bernard: Ah yes, I forgot to tell that. Very simple, I contacted a few bands in direct, but most were actually triggered by a Facebook message I spread in Ukraine. People there reacted very quickly from allover Ukraine, also fans contacted bands after seeing the message. That’s one of the few times when I thought that Facebook did a proper constructive job.

Side-Line: John, you chose to work on a cover of John Lennon’s “Come Together”…

John: John Lennon wrote “Come Together” and we re-imagined it and added Queens [we will rock you]. It is a cover of the Beatles song mixed with a Queen song and we changed the words to [we will stop you]. As in the name, we wanted people to come together to help. This kind of invasion should not be happening. It’s horrifying to think that things like this can still happen in this day and age.

Side-Line: John, you made a supergroup – à la Bruderschaft – but this time from the metal scene featuring members of Faith No More, Stabbing Westward, Rammstein, and a lot more bands. How did this process technically work?

John: I wouldn’t say Metal Scene I would say Alternative Music Scene.

Doing this kind of thing these days is much easier I would say as you have the internet and that’s how we got everyone from around the world on the track. We would email, text or call and if they were willing to be involved we would send them the track and they would record their parts as most people these days have the ability to record at home. I ended up with about 200 tracks of audio and it was like fitting a jigsaw puzzle together and everyone is super happy with the end result.

Bernard: Now that you mention Bruderschaft, I worked on that charity project when it was released on Alfa Matrix back in 2003. You know, working on projects like these makes you realize that you can indeed help people, you just have to use your talents and network. And if everyone would do this, the world would be a much better place anyhow.

Side-Line: If I’m not wrong, this is the first time that 2 band scene players, COP International and Side-Line took the number 2 and 3 spot at the same time on Bandcamp. Kinda huge. What is your feedback on this?

John: In fact “Come Together [we will stop you] reached number 1 on Bandcamp and we have raised around 10,000$ and the artists that are involved with us in this have donated 100% from the money raised but unfortunately Bandcamp have taken their % from the donated sales and we are probably going to have to pay the publishers too even though it’s a god damn charity record to raise money for those who are suffering from this horrific and despicable war.

Bernard: Bandcamp and Paypal indeed take a big chunk. Luckily Bandcamp Friday helped a lot to recoup some of the costs that were involved.

As of this morning, Side-Line has already donated over 8000 EURO (8674,96 US$) to Ukrainian aid. Our compilation is still doing very well and I foresee to be sending hundreds of parcels with merchandise by mid-May as well.

As far as Bandcamp goes, it does make sense that we both stormed the charts there. You don’t find an artist like Rihanna on Bandcamp do you, I think she doesn’t even know it exists. Bandcamp mainly is a platform for the indie crowd, whether it is darkwave, metal, folk, jazz, blues or any other alternative (sub)style that often is not captured by the mainstream charts. So, we charted right in the indie scene, and that’s a very good thing.

Side-Line: Bernard, Side-Line is not a label, but a magazine, why was this project not released via a label?

Bernard: Good question but very easy to answer as well. These kind of projects need a very short roadmap from idea to execution, and since I worked with 55 bands things needed to be done quickly. In short you can not wait for months to get the ball rolling with these kind of projects, you need to act fast and thus instead of having this project go through various hands with different views and ideas, I decided to do it myself and handle everything from A until Z. Luckily Benoit Blanchart (Alfa Matrix, Aiboforcen) quickly volunteered to work on the book layout when I told him about the idea late February this year. Lots of work, which basically happened during long nights after my daytime job and all other work I have. But since I’m also responsible for the ‘Face The Beat’ compilation series, compiling it was not really different as far as the approach goes, just a lot faster when it came to releasing it.

The major difference however was the multitude of charities that had to be funded this time. I usually donate towards 2 or 3 charities per release. But here I spent a whole morning wiring money to all kind of Ukrainian organizations and also to bands who then did local charity. Lots of work, but I guess it’s more than worth it.

Side-Line: How do you both see things evolve in Ukraine?

John: We are hoping this ends now and the killing must stop and Ukraine can be re-built and bring back the misplaced people to their land and rebuild their lives. It’s amazing to see the resolve of these people through this tragedy.

Bernard: I’m personally not really optimistic as far as the length of this full blown war goes. If I see the increasing aggressive tone from all parts in the Russian society – just look how they have set up this huge Z-propaganda – I don’t think this will be over pretty soon. Hence why we need to support the population right now and continue to do so. The country is under heavy shelling in the east since a few days now and there is more happening. Putin started to roll a snowball downhill that is increasing in velocity and size.

I would not be surprised they’ll do sabotage acts inside Finland and Sweden to disrupt the society there since those countries clearly will choose to adhere to the NATO. Railway sabotage, massive hacking of public service networks, etc., they have done it in the past in the Baltic states so I see them returning to that modus operandi with Finland and Sweden especially. This is just the beginning. And we haven’t talked about how China is behaving in all of this.

But, one thing is quite clear, Putin seriously miscalculated what a courageous people the Ukrainians are. And especially because of that we have to start thinking of how to help Ukrainians to rebuild their country after this mad war is over and done.

Side-Line: Bernard, you are still in contact with all the band’s on a weekly basis, how are they?

Bernard: At least once a week they receive an update on the compilation, and I usually get a lot of messages back from the bands telling me how they are, where they are, where they have fled to this week, etc.. I wouldn’t say it is depressing, but it’s not really uplifting either. Having said that, I’m here, safe in my attic, they are there, unsure what will come next. So who am I to complain? I’m proud of every single one of those bands.

Side-Line: Is this the final word or do you plan to continue with this?

Bernard: I don’t know for you John, but I will most probably work on another project in the near future to help and collect funds for Ukraine. The first plans are on the table as we speak. Honestly, I am very positively surprised how our scene has been showing that they really care for the idea and purpose behind these 2 releases. A BIG thank you to all those who donated and who made these projects big successes.

John: We hope the song will continue to keep raising money. So if you have read this and want a way to help please head over to Bandcamp and buy the songs as every little bit will help in the long run. A big thank you again for everyone involved and those who have donated and to those who be donating in the future.

Below are the two charity releases.

Side-Line also covered John Fryer’s ‘Not Another Vampire Song’.

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.

Electronic Resistance – A Darkwave / Post-Punk Compilation From The Ukrainian Underground by Various Artists

Side-Line presents: ‘Electronic Resistance’ – a 55-track Ukrainian darkwave / post-punk compilation

Eldrina Mich — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 07:02:00 +0000

This weekend Side-Line released “Electronic Resistance“, a 55-track compilation featuring darkwave / post-punk acts from the Ukrainian underground scene only on Bandcamp. Compiled in the past few weeks in – extremely – difficult conditions it offers you an insight into the Ukrainian dark underground and also reflects what all of them are going through. It suffices to see some of the titles on this compilation to understand what we mean.

All donations will go to the bands involved and/or a humanitarian project of their choice. Although this is a free compilation, we do encourage everyone to be very generous.

The release goes hand in hand with a photo book which will act as a testimonial of every band participating in this compilation. The release of this book is planned for early May as we are still working on getting all the material secured.

Also, everyone pre-ordering the photo book by mid-April will be added in the credits as sponsor. Benoit Blanchart from Alfa Matrix / Aiboforcen will take care of the design of the book.

And there’s more, the famous graphic artist Dirk Stallaert (Belgium) made a drawing which will be featured in the preface of the book. Compiler Bernard Van Isacker explains: “I know Dirk for years and have always appreciated his work whether it was for Nino, Nero or any other material he worked on, I also have various originals from him. In early March I asked him if he would be up for making a drawing. He succeeded in delivering a drawing which perfectly showcases the idea behind this compilation and the struggle the Ukrainian people, in this case musicians, are undergoing. And there’s more, but I will reveal that in a later stage.”

Besides this you can also support the artists by getting your ‘Electronic Resistance’ T-shirt, or a packet holding both the photo book and the T-shirt. For the big fans, you can also sponsor a band in direct via a special perk.

Let’s act, not just talk

The 55 bands reacted in record time on a call spread by Side-Line via social media in Ukraine and Ukrainian darkwave fans were themselves contacting bands to participate. The bands on the compilation represent a good example from the dark scene in the country covering post-punk, industrial, darkwave, dark folk, dark rock, noise and dark ambient and this from allover Ukraine, from Odesa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mariupol, and many other cities.

When we say that the release happened in extremely difficult conditions we refer to the fact that many of the artists are right now in the frontline, or help in all kind of services from the fire departement to field hospitals. Others are distributing food, others have been forced out of their destroyed homes.

Bernard Van Isacker adds: “Within the first 48 hours after that call for submissions went live in Ukraine, I received the largest bulk of the submissions, with some bands even using their phones to transfer files from the frontline. To not loose time Erlend Eilertsen (Lights A.M, Essence Of Mind) immediately started work on the sound in his studio in Norway the moment all material had arrived. Within 4 days we had the material ready for upload. In the meantime the biggest challenge was to set up a communication line with every band to secure the paperwork as well, not easy when you know you are trying to contact people who are on the run, or in metro stations seeking refuge or who are on combat missions. But in the end all got arranged. I must say that this is probably the most rewarding release I have worked on in years despite the long nights, little sleep and in-between all my other work which also needed to be done. But the feedback I got from the participating bands was very heartwarming.”

As we speak, the compilation has reached the number 1 spot in the industrial charts on Bandcamp, thanks to you, our readers who are very supportive once again.

Bernard Van Isacker: “I must say that this is probably the most rewarding release I have worked on in years. I have been completing this project every evening after all my day job and evening work was done, so it have been very short nights for me the past few weeks. But the feedback I got from the participating bands was very heartwarming.”

Van Isacker also plans to head for Ukraine: “I promised that the participating artists would also get their merchandise and books, so I’ll stick to my word and I will personally hand it over to them. I have already assembled a team around me who wants to go with me as part of a humanitarian convoy to deliver goods there. That will be organized by another action here locally in Belgium for which I have already laid the contacts. This is an ongoing story…”

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.

Electronic Resistance – A Darkwave / Post-Punk Compilation From The Ukrainian Underground by Various Artists

Electronic Resistance – A Darkwave / Post-Punk Compilation From The Ukrainian Underground

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 08:25:01 +0000

Buy the digital album (name your price)

Price: Free – Name Your Price

Catalogue number: SLER1

Style: EBM / Darkwave / Post-Punk

Today Side-Line presents you “Electronic Resistance”, a 55-track compilation featuring darkwave / post-punk acts from the Ukrainian underground scene only. Compiled in the past few weeks in – extremely – difficult conditions it offers you an insight into the Ukrainian dark underground and also reflects what all of them are going through. It suffices to see some of the titles to understand what we mean.

The compilation – available on Bandcamp – features artists from allover Ukraine, from Odesa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mariupol, etc.. Many of them are right now in the frontline, or help in all kind of services from the fire departement to field hospitals. Others are distributing food, others have been forced out of their destroyed homes.

All donations will go to the bands involved and/or a humanitarian project of their choice. Now it is up to us to support them. Although this is a free compilation, we do encourage everyone to be very generous.

The release goes hand in hand with a photo book which will act as a testimonial of every band participating in this compilation. The release of this book is planned for early May as everyone pre-ordering the photo book by mid-April will be added in the credits as sponsor. You can also support the artists by getting your ‘Electronic Resistance’ T-shirt, or a packet holding both the photo book and the T-shirt.

Bernard Van Isacker: “It has been a very confronting job to compile this release. Here I was sitting at home replying to messages from musicians who were at the frontline … I knew things were bad, but being confronted in direct with this horror is a punch in the face. We all complain about high prices at the gas station, me included, but that’s really nothing compared to what the Ukrainian people are going through right now.

The book that we will publish will even be a bigger confrontation for many. There you will see the musicians whose music you listen to. You will see how they are just like you and me. With this difference, they live in a country invaded by an agressor and they live in constant fear.

Some of the material has been recorded in pretty hefty conditions, including at least one during bombardments on Kiev. Other musicians lost all of their gear and files and only had rough material left which Erlend Eilertsen (Lights A.M, Essence Of Mind) worked on to restore to the best sound possible.”

New free ‘Face The Beat’ compilation peaks at nr 1 on Bandcamp’s industrial charts (within 12 hours after its release)

Eldrina Mich — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 09:36:39 +0000

Our free download compilation “Face The Beat: session 7” has stormed the Bandcamp industrial music charts in no time reaching the number 1 spot overnight. That’s faster than ever before. This ‘mastodont’ release, as someone put it on Twitter, features no less than 135 tracks featuring the broad spectrum of subgenres in the darkwave music scene and coming from bands from allover the world.

Just like last time Side-Line received a huge amount of submissions hence why it also took a while to complete it. We were at the same time also helped out by several labels who offered material to be included on this compilation including but not limited to darkTunes Music Group, Insane Records, SkyQode, Dungeon Recordings and Alfa Matrix. It thus became again a collection of new and established acts.

The release itself was compiled by our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker in Winter of 2021 during long listening sessions in an Istanbul hotel, an attic in Ypres and a holiday house in Eupen. The mastering & sound adjustment was executed by Erlend Eilertsen (Lights A.M, Essence Of Mind) in Norway. And as it happens, Shane Aungst from Seattle is already working on a next promotional surprise.

All proceedings will again go to the various charities we support and this time we will also donate to humanitarian aid for refugees in Eastern Europe due to the ongoing war there which we truly hope will end soon.

You can download the release right below. Enjoy and thanks to all bands involved!

Face The Beat: Session 7 by Various Artists

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.

30 Years Of Journalism – Celebration Interview with Bernard Van Isacker (Side-Line & Alfa Matrix): ‘Consider Us As An Incubator For Talents’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

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 !

Lights A.M – Stories Without Words (Album – Alfa Matrix)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 20:30:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Electro-Ambient, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Lights After Midnight (Lights A.M) previously released a few EP’s and strikes back with its debut full-length. This Norwegian solo-project is driven by Erlend Eilertsen of Essence Of Mind and is clearly inspired by early Electro-Ambient music.

Content: “Stories Without Words” is an invitation to imagine little stories created by music. The work sounds in the prolongation of previous EP’s, clearly getting back to the early days of Electronic music. It brings us back to the magic and reverie of Jean-Michel Jarre with melody lines colored by OMD. This is space music driven by slow rhythms.

+ + + : Lights A.M remains one of the most unusual projects signed to Alfa Matrix. This album is entertaining, but especially has a poignant, relaxing effect. The songs are well-crafted and particularly the melody lines have a somewhat elevating effect. There’s an evolution in sound resulting in a few brilliant songs like “When The Tide Turns” and “Agnes”. This is a beautiful work for a Cinematographic goal.

– – – : The single, but main point that hurts is the similar approach of all songs. You rather get the feeling listening to one endless song than hearing 10 separated cuts. If I get back to the concept of the work, it all feels like Lights A.M is telling us the same story again and again.

Conclusion: “Stories Without Words” is the best production I’ve heard from Lights A.M, but the main difference with all pioneers in this genre, is that we here get less magic!

Best songs: “When The Tide Turns”, “Agnes”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.lightsaftermidnight.com / www.facebook.com/lightsaftermidnight

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Stories Without Words’.

About Lights A.M

Lights A.M (Lights After Midnight) is the Norwegian synthwave and electro-ambient solo-project of Erlend Eilertsen, also known for Essence Of Mind. The project released early singles and EPs from 2018 onward, including “Lightworker” (2018) and “Agnes” (2020), before “Stories Without Words” arrived in 2021 as its debut full-length. Lights A.M continued with the EPs “Run Away” and “Another Life” in 2022, and “Stories Without Words Vol. 2” in 2023.

Norwegian electronica wave / ambient act Lights A.M launches debut album – an interview

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 10:28:14 +0000

(Photos by Tori Lind) Out since last month and now available on Bandcamp and all other platforms including Spotify is the full length debut album by the electronica wave / ambient act Lights A.M, the brainchild of Norwegian musician Erlend Eilertsen we know from the electro rock act Essence Of Mind. The conceptual full length album “Stories Without Words” comes after the release of 3 EPs back in 2019 and 2020: “Shine Our Lights” (2019, and re-released with bonus tracks in 2020), “Surrender & Evolve” (2020) and “Agnes” (2020).

The instrumental 10-track offers a mix of meditative soundscapes, heartwarming hymns and melancholic melodic layers, something which we actually also could hear in the electronic layers Eilertsen added in his Essence Of Mind work.

The Norwegian artist is going very deep here, digging into his emotions and intimate moments as our interview will show. Timeless electronic music from the Nordics.

We hailed Norway, and caught Erlend in his studio. You can check out the album below whilst reading the rest.

Stories Without Words by LIGHTS A.M

SL: How are things in Sandvika?

EE: Here in Sandvika (20 kilometer outside Oslo), it is all good, apart from the ongoing pandemic which does put it’s mark here as well. That said, it hasn’t had that much impact on my daily life apart from not being able to play live and attend some concerts. I do miss those and other opportunities, like being more social and traveling. But in the end I really can’t complain, cause the impact it has on a lot other people’s life is far more severe.

I can’t wait for it all to be over though, it’s really sad to see how many people are struggling in many different ways, and that we can’t remove all the current restrictions.

SL: Lights A.M seems a really good way to pass a good time in confinement, it’s very tranquilizing, I guess it had the same effect on you?

EE: Funny you should mention that (laughs). It does, but all the tracks I have released so far have been written before the outbreak last year actually, so just wait to see what comes next! Joke aside, it does fit the current situation in a way, but it’s more a reflection of me personally, and how I evolve as a person, and music is my therapy. I really enjoy making soundscapes, it’s almost meditative in its own way. I tend to think that the scares and frustrations I needed to scream out before is done. Now it’s time to heal the wounds, and for me the best way is to slow down.

SL: Is this a project that has been boiling in your head for while? What was the click to start recording it?

EE: Yes it is, you are correct. Back in late 2016 I found myself doing some more cinematic and slower instrumental tracks all of a sudden, and I really enjoyed doing things differently than before. So I got really creative, more than I had been in a long time. So it just happened more or less.

It did take some time to figure out what do with the new tracks though, as I felt it could not be interpreted into Essence Of Mind without doing a radical change in style. I also wanted to do something new again, back to start in way, so I started this new chapter in my life, with total creative freedom.

Another thing I quickly realized is that writing instrumental tracks is very deliberating in the way that the music tells the story itself. I often find words limiting, and to have another way of telling a story is something I really appreciate.

Take the track «Agnes» for example; a track I wrote as a tribute to our beloved Griffon dog which had been a big part of our lives for almost 16 years at that time. I really don’t think I could have made a track about her with words to express my feelings for her. I feel that the track itself channel the love and gratitude I feel for her in a way not possible with written words.

Stories Without Words by LIGHTS A.M

I also believe that the listener experience the tracks in a more personal way as well, as everything is more open to each own interpretation, so the listener is a part of making the story. Making an album called “Stories Without Words” really made sense to me.

SL: It has the melodic twist we also find back in Essence Of Mind but with synth layers that remind us a lot of Vangelis. I guess he was one of the main inspirations musically speaking?

EE: One of many, but a big inspiration of course. The 70’s and 80’s have a lot of amazing instrumental electronic music. Another thing I quickly realized is that writing instrumental tracks is very deliberating in the way that the music tells the story itself. I often find words limiting, and to have another way of telling a story is something I really appreciate.

SL: The music instantly also reminds of that stellar Netflix series “Stranger Things”, I guess you are a fan as well? I actually find that several pieces would well have fitted that series.

EE: I am, just love it, and thank you very much! The atmosphere, characters and the story are just awesome, and together with the soundtrack, it really makes something special! If you have not already, I really recommend that you check out the band Survive, which is the band behind the music in the series, they are totally awesome and a big inspiration for me as well.

I would love to make soundtracks my self one day, that magic when picture and sounds blend together perfectly is truly amazing! So it’s a dream I have.

SL: The release has a very own musical synth palet, it’s very easy to recognize it as Lights A.M, I guess that was the purpose?

EE: Thank you, I’m happy to hear that! I actually have not thought that much about it to be honest, but I do want to do things my way, and I guess giving myself total freedom to not have to fit something really helped to develop my own style and sound. I do listen to a lot of different music, and have influences from all over the place, from krautrock, old soundtracks, to ambient and melancholic pop and rock, it really does not matter. So what you hear is just me picking the parts I like and make something out of it.

SL: You aren’t too keen on the term synthwave, why is that?

EE: I have nothing against it, just feel it does not fit Lights A.M, I also feel that the genre has been a little saturated, and lot of the music sounds too generic and artificial to my taste. Maybe that’s what happening when something get’s a hype and a lot of people all of a sudden want to make something sound a specific way?

Then there are bands like Gunship, who are brilliant and who I really enjoy, and even Cliff Martinez (behind the amazing Drive soundtrack) has been put into that term, so it’s not about the genre, it’s about the music presented. I do like that the music and visuals have some kind of organic approach – even if it’s purely electronic just like my own stuff – and that it has strong emotions and a story behind it.

I want to feel something when listening, and it does not matter if it’s a 20 min drone track or a 3 min pop track, and it certainly does not matter which genre you put it in.

SL: Are there plans to bring the project live once this whole pandemic is over?

EE: I hope so! I have a quite clear vision of how it should be, but it has to be done the right way. Very different to how I have done things before, but that is a challenge I want to take on. It will be a lot more visual to what I’m used to do, so the whole production needs to be on another level than before. I will not perform alone on stage either, so a lot of puzzles have to fit, but I do have some ideas and have been in talk with a close friend and awesome musician already.

Lights A.M videos

Alfa Matrix releases brand new free download compilation + exclusive face masks

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 16:19:31 +0000

It has been a hectic year, also for Alfa Matrix, but luckily their bands took the time to work in their studio to record new material. Out now via the Alfa Matrix Bandcamp page is the label’s 10th edition in the “Matrix Downloaded” compilation series, again offering you a – free – insight in what the Belgian label is all about. You can discover 64 tracks right here on Bandcamp.

Matrix Downloaded 010 by Various Artists

The download holds tracks from Cubic, Psy’Aviah, Aesthetische, Digital Factor, Reichsfeind, Llumen, Zombie Girl, Diffuzion, Matthew Creed, Circuito Cerrado, Circumpolar, Venal Flesh, Mentallo & The Fixer, Freakangel, Alien Vampires, I:Scintilla, Schwarzblut, Totem Obscura, Reactor7X, First Aid 4 Souls, Lederman / De Meyer, Implant, AD:keY, Kant Kino, Die Robo Sapiens, ELM, Pouppee Fabrikk, Armageddon Dildos, Plastic Noise Experience, Synapsyche, Avarice In Audio, Elektrostaub, Junksista, First Aid 4 Souls, Benestrophe, Mental Exile, Star Industry, Halo In Reverse, Lovelorn Dolls, Helalyn Flowers, Essence Of Mind, Rector Scanner, Elektroklänge, Metroland, Lights A.M, Cosmic Armchair, Aiboforcen, H.O.W., 808 DOT POP, Suicidal Romance, Entrzelle, Technoir, Neuroactive, Mondträume, The Psychic Force, Studio-X, Studio-X Vs Simon Carter, Neikka RPM, Komor Kommando, Siva Six, Aengeldust, Acylum, Dunkelwerk and Növö.

Exclusive face masks

Next to that you can also get the download together with a face mask, out in a very limited series. You can either buy them separately or get all 3 in one. Check the set of 3 Face Masks (Blue Matrix + Endzeit + Red EBM Alert) or the separate masks.

Note that EVERY face mask order comes with a free compilation CD on top: “Sounds from the matrix 022” with 20 extra tracks.

Electronic dream pop act Lights A.M returns with delicious and heartwarming 2-track single ‘Agnes’ + video

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 10:15:49 +0000

(Photos by Tori Lind Kjellstad) Norwegian electronic dream pop act Lights A.M is back with a delicious and heartwarming new 2-track single, which is right now exclusively available via Bandcamp. With this new single the electronic project (aka Erlend Eilertsen of Essence Of Mind) also announces his forthcoming conceptual full length album “Stories Without Words”.

This time Lights A.M dives deep into the cinematic side of the project offering two instrumentals that remind of some of the best work executed by Brian Eno, Tangerine Dreams and related, but staying faithful to timeless electronics.

Agnes EP by LIGHTS A.M

The title track, “Agnes”, was written when Erlend lost his beloved Griffon dog companion named Agnes.

Erlend: “She shared my life for some 16 years along with her best friend Mogwai, also deeply missed… Agnes was and still is a big part of me, my family and close friends life. She’s been an inspiration, a support and a best friend for me, and has brought me a lot during all the years we spent together. We did so much fun and memorable things together, she even was part of the first promo pics for my first band back in the days…”

A video clip is also simultaneously released, made from private footage and images, adding a visual dimension to this heartwarming tribute Erlend wrote to what can be considered a man’s best friend. You can view it below.

The second track “A Mystery After Sunset” on the other hand showcases the darker and more mystical soundscapes of Lights A.M and is again proof that stories can indeed be told without words. Excellent electronic music from the north!

Here’s the video for “Agnes”.

Members of Mindless Self Indulgence, Lights A.M, Aesthetic Perfection, … lend voices to new animated music series ‘X-RL7’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:29:11 +0000

The debut episode of ‘X-RL7’, a pixel-art cyberpunk animated series and music project featuring the voice acting skills of numerous alternative rock, metal and electronic musicians, is available today.

The series is free to watch. Check out the first episode below.

The series, created by Mike Evans of UK based electronic rock act MiXE1, chronicles the exploits of the fictional band X-RL7 in a mix of comedy, social commentary and original music. Fueled by mysterious dream-like visions, the show follows the X-RL7 frontman Omega as he navigates the trials and tribulations of the music industry alongside guitarist/producer PJ and flamboyant larger-than-life band manager Alfie in their journey to make it to the top of the musical food chain. Featuring a myriad of colorful characters and original electronic rock tunes set against a cyberpunk-inspired futuristic backdrop.

“I’m absolutely delighted (and terrified) to launch X-RL7 at last,” Evans says. “The series has been in development for over a year and a half and represents the amalgamation of so many of my passions – my love of pixel art, music, comedy, social commentary, romance, cyberpunk and conspiratorial themes all coming together in one unique pixelated cocktail.”

The origins of the X-RL7 project can be traced back to 2016 in the form of an unfinished point and click adventure game developed by Evans with the concept revolving around a music journalist and other fictional bands with original music. After moving on from this, Evans formed Youtube video series Project Anything, honing his animation skills, while still creating music with his band MiXE1. Still enamored by one of the songs he penned for the game (“Apotheosis Man”), Evans picked up the remnants of the project in late 2018 and started repurposing it as a video/music series with a brand new story, focusing largely around one specific band – X-RL7.

Guest voices from around the world

Along the way Evans approached musical friends and past collaborators to lend their voices to various characters and songs. As the series took shape, he approached others in the alternative music scene, some of whom he has been a fan of for many years, who kindly got involved and delivered fantastic performances as their animated counter parts. “I am very blessed that so many super talented artists have taken the time to lend their voices to the project, embracing the world of X-RL7 and the music,” says Evans.

Musicians who have lent their voices to the show so far include:

Jimmy Urine (Mindless Self Indulgence)
Rob “Rawrb” Kersey (Psychostick)
Daniel Graves (Aesthetic Perfection)
Lauren Babic (Red Handed Denial, Crazy Eighty Eight)Nyxx (Nyxx)
Erlend Eilertsen (Essence of Mind, Lights A.M)
Mikey AlterRed (AlterRed)
Richard Kaltenhauser (Machine Rox)
Natasha Cox (AL1CE, Mankind Is Obsolete)
Sasha Travis (AL1CE)
Pete Crane (SHIV-R)
Lawrie Bayldon (Studio-X)
Bridgette Hill (Studio-X)
Mike Evans (MiXE1)
Lee Towson (MiXE1)
Chris Voigt (Greasy Tales, Sexual Lobster)
Michael Joseph (Rockstar Esoterica)

For a full overview of the series, including clips from all episodes and featuring the voices of all guest musicians, check below.

Lights A.M – Surrender & Evolve (EP – Alfa Matrix)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 18:00:54 +0000

Genre/Influences: Ambient-pop, electro-ambient.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: “Surrender & Evolve” is the second EP by Essence Of Mind front manErlend Eilertsen. On the first EP “Shine Our Lights” he explored electro- ambient fields, which sound inspired by some pioneers of the electronic music scene. This is the next step revealing five songs meant as a cure to our deepest traumas and frights.

Content: You directly recognize the prosper sound universe featured at “Shine Our Lights”, which has something retro-like, but this time mixed with more explicit pop elements. The songs are recovered with melody lines, which reminds me of the evasive mood of OMD’s legendary “Maid Of Orleans”. The vocals have something linear and yet expressing some emotions. The EP features 4 new songs plus an “Expanded”-edit of the title track.

+ + + : Lights A.M remains the most ambient-driven project I’ve ever heard on Alfa Matrix. It indeed sounds as a cure to leave troubles and sources of stress away for a while. This EP is an invitation to relax, a kind of sonic meditation. Sound-wiseErlend Eilertsen realized a real tour de force, this project being something totally new and for sure a new chapter in the musician’s career. I like the vintage sound aspect running through the work while the slow rhythm gets it all more accessible.

– – – : Lights A.M is not what I would call a hit machine! This is music to dream away and simply disconnect you from reality. I experienced the songs as being a little bit linear, which is an element that also comes through in vocals’ production.

Conclusion: This new EP is somewhat different from the previous one, but in the end also very complementary. Music for electro-ambient lovers.

Best songs: “Little Stars”, “Surrender & Evolve”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www .facebook .com /lightsaftermidnight

Label: www .alfa –matrix .com / www .facebook .com /Alfa .Matrix Read the news on ‘Surrender & Evolve’.

About Lights A.M

Lights A.M is the solo project of Norwegian musician Erlend Eilertsen, also known as the frontman of Essence Of Mind. The project’s debut EP “Shine Our Lights” appeared in 2019 and was re-released with bonus tracks in 2020 after Lights A.M signed to Alfa Matrix; “Agnes” followed as a single later that year. The full-length debut, “Stories Without Words”, arrived in 2021, followed by the album “Clouds” in 2022 and “Stories Without Words Vol. 2” in 2023.

Swedish electro act Neurobash return with brand new album ‘2K2X’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 15:55:05 +0000

The Swedish electro act Neurobash returns with a brand new album entitled “2K2X” after last years retrospective singles. The fresh 11 track album has been released on all major digital platforms via Dose Response Recordings. A 14 track special edition with additional mixes is also available exclusively on Bandcamp.

This is the band’s first own studio album for almost five years. Style wise Neurobash delivers a combination of EBM and dark electro with touches of industrial music.

Electro beats from Southern Sweden

The band was originally founded on 1 July 2004 in Southern Sweden. Neurobash today are Ewan “Ober” Kelley on vocals and synths and Patrick “G-Nome” Nelson on electronics. Over the years, the band has collaborated with many artists active in different fields of art and a great number of musicians. Neurobash has released albums and songs together with electronic music pioneer Ralph Lundsten, Kenji Siratori and producer and experimental artist Yamo Kawaiah.

They also made some excellent remixes for Essence Of Mind, Virgins O.R. Pigeons, I:Scintilla, Unitary, Helalyn Flowers and Finkseye. Front man Ober has also released a few singles as a solo artist (as Oberfunker) via Aeongate Music.

Lights A.M – Shine Our Lights (EP – Alfa Matrix)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 18:30:31 +0000

Genre/Influences: Ambient-pop, electro-pop, experimental, cinematographic.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Lights A.M is a new name signed by Alfa Matrix although featuring a familiar musician from the label roster. This new project is driven by Erlend Eilertsen who’s also involved with Essence Of Mind. This project has disappeared from the radar, but we now get something totally different, Lights After Midnight being reintroduced as the exploration of ‘the mysterious, the spiritual and the unknown’. After a self-released debut single (cf. “Lightworker”) in 2018, Alfa Matrix has now released the official debut EP (which more looks like a mini-album) featuring six songs.

Content: Lights A.M has been introduced as a project inspired by some electronic pioneers like Van Gelis, Tangerine Dream and co. The comparison makes sense as a similar astral sound dimension has been recreated. The songs are mainly driven by instrumental passages –vocals being more accessory, taking the listener away on a dreamy voyage to imaginary galaxies. The sound is totally retro-like!

+ + + : This work appears to be a truly challenge. It first of all has nothing in common with Essence Of Mind, while it’s mainly ambient- and cinematographic like. It’s however well-crafted with noticeable sound treatments and detailed arrangements. The best cut comes right at the end and is the already familiar “Lightworker”, which is a little sonic jewel in its genre. I also have to mention “Walking Through The Dark” for its elevating sensation.

– – – : From a pure ‘commercial’ point of view, this EP is a total challenge! This is not exactly music for dancefloors, which is not exactly a point. I however experienced the songs as a bit linear and without a real climax –except “Lightworker”.

Conclusion: Light A.M enlarges the sonic horizon of Alfa Matrix offering an ambient travel to fans of relaxing music.

Best songs: “Lightworker”, “Walking Through The Dark”, “We Are Ready”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www .facebook .com /lightsaftermidnight

Label: www .alfa –matrix .com / www .facebook .com /Alfa .Matrix Read the news on ‘Shine Our Lights’.

About Lights A.M

Lights A.M is a synthwave project from Norway created by Erlend Eilertsen, known from the electronic rock band Essence Of Mind. Eilertsen released the single “Lightworker” in 2018, followed by the self-released EP “Shine Our Lights” in 2019. Lights A.M signed to Alfa Matrix in January 2020, which re-released “Shine Our Lights” with a bonus track as this EP.

2nd single for Norwegian synthwave project Lights A.M out now via Bandcamp : ‘Surrender & Evolve’ EP

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 16:17:00 +0000

(Photo by Tori Lind Kjellstad ) After signing with the Belgian electronic music label Alfa Matrix, the Norwegian electronic project Lights A.M has now released a 2nd single on the Belgian label, a 5-track EP, “Surrender & Evolve”.

Lights A.M is the side-project of ESSENCE OF MIND’s frontman Erlend Eilertsen. With the debut-EP “Shine Our Lights” we already got a glimpse of what to expect from this project: cinematic electronics, something that will please all fans of Vangelis and Tangerine Dreams.

But there’s definitely more into the project as you’ll hear now on “Surrender & Evolve” which offers 5 tracks. Listeners will notice that this new EP is a bit more upbeat than the first EP, “Shine Our Lights”, offering an insight on the more electro pop side of the project as well and this spread over 4 brand new songs and a remix of the title track.

The new single is available now via Bandcamp including a bonus booklet with all lyrics. Other services will follow in the next week. You can already listen to the tracks on Bandcamp of course.

Surrender & Evolve EP by LIGHTS A.M

The first EP “Shine Our Lights” can be downloaded right below or played via Spotify. Read the review of ‘Surrender & Evolve’.

Shine Our Lights (Bonus Tracks) EP by LIGHTS A.M

MATRIX:REB00TED – The PSY'AVIAH Guerrilla – Zion [Electro Dance] Warfare [07] by VARIOUS ARTISTS

Alfa Matrix offers 2 more ‘Matrix:Reb00ted’ remix albums, this time remixed by the electro dance / trip pop electro act Psy’Aviah

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 19:22:57 +0000

Alfa Matrix continues the ‘Matrix:Reb00ted’ series, this time with 2 remix albums by Belgian artist Psy’Aviah displaying his electro dance trip pop remixes cruising through the Alfa Matrix band catalogue. The releases are first released via Bandcamp and will follow on all other platforms in the next weeks.

Here’s what is available on both volumes plus also a preview of what to expect.

Matrix:Reb00ted – The Psy’Aviah Guerrilla – Zion [Electro Dance] Warfare [07]

This volume holds 15 songs from Alfa Matrix’s massive music repertoire remixed by Psy’Aviah. Offering the electro dance side of the Belgian band you can expect a harder selection of modern dancefloor assaults with these bands: Ayria, Suicidal Romance, Zombie Girl, Junksista, Leaether Strip, Essence Of Mind, Nebula-H, Diffuzion, Schwarzblut, Diskonnekted, Krystal System and Psy’Aviah. You can check all the songs below and download it from Bandcamp directly.

Matrix:Reb00ted – The Psy’Aviah Guerrilla – Zion [Trip Pop Electro] Warfare [06]

This volume also holds 15 songs from Alfa Matrix’s massive music repertoire remixed by Psy’Aviah. The “trip pop electro” edition reveals a selection of more moody and catchy synth electro songs thanks to bands like Mondträume, Metroland, Aiboforcen, Helalyn Flowers, Acylum, Junksista, Entrzelle, Llumen, Virgins O.R Pigeons, Halo In Reverse, Schwarzblut, Mildreda, Totem Obscura and Psy’Aviah, also including guest vocals by Kyoko Baertsoen, Mari Kattman and Fallon Nieves. You can check all the songs below and download it from Bandcamp directly.

MATRIX:REB00TED – The PSY'AVIAH Guerrilla – Zion [Trip Pop Electro] Warfare [06] by VARIOUS ARTISTS

Previous volumes

Here’s a list of the 5 previous volumes which Alfa Matrix released in the past with remixes executed by Kant Kino, Simon Carter, Acylum and Aesthetische !

Matrix:Reb00ted – The Kant Kino Guerrilla – Zion (EBM) Warfare (01) by VARIOUS ARTISTS Matrix:Reb00ted – The Acylum Guerrilla – Zion (Dark Elektro) Warfare (02) by VARIOUS ARTISTS MATRIX:REB00TED – the AESTHETISCHE guerrilla Zion [advanced electronic] (red pill) Warfare [04] by VARIOUS ARTISTS MATRIX:REB00TED – the AESTHETISCHE guerrilla Zion [advanced electronic] (blue pill) Warfare [03] by VARIOUS ARTISTS MATRIX:REB00TED – The SIMON CARTER Guerrilla – Zion [Hard Dance] Warfare [05] by VARIOUS ARTISTS

Synthwave project Lights A.M signs with Alfa Matrix and re-releases self-released debut EP ‘Shine Our Lights’ with bonus tracks

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:49:44 +0000

From Norway comes the synthwave/dreamwave project Lights A.M which loyal Side-Line readers will probably already now thanks to this and this article and thanks to the band’s great participation on our “Face The Beat: Session 5” charity download compilation with the track “Dare to live”.

The band has signed a record deal with the Belgian electronica label Alfa Matrix after self-releasing it’s first single and EP, which now are re-released via Alfa Matrix. The musician behind this refreshing new project is Erlend Eilertsen, known from the electronic rock band Essence Of Mind. A first single, “Lightworker”, was released in 2018 and the EP “Shine Our Lights” followed in 2019.

Timeless electronic music from the North

That very EP has now been re-released including a bonus track, clocking off at 6 tracks and is available now via Bandcamp , on Spotify, iTunes etc.. What you get is being (correctly!) decribed by Erlend as being “timeless electronic music from the North”. The mostly vocal based tracks offer a very moody type of electronic music which will please quite a lot of electronic music fans.

Enjoy the material below. We warmly recommend it! Read the review of ‘Shine Our Lights’.

Bandcamp

Shine Our Lights (Bonus Tracks) EP by LIGHTS A.M

Spotify

‘Face The Beat: Session 5’ out now and immediately goes into Top 3 most popular releases on Bandcamp

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 10:55:06 +0000

Almost exactly 3 years ago we launched the 4th volume in the Side-Line powered charity compilation series “Face The Beat” offering electro-industrial tracks by a long list of different bands. It was the most downloaded volume ever and stayed for weeks in the TOP 10 on Bandcamp. And… it also raised an absolute record in donations!

Out now is the 5th volume and this time it raced immediately into the Top 3 of most popular releases on Bandcamp, and landed even on number 2 for most popular digital releases.

The 5th volume is also the darkest volume

“Face The Beat: Session 5” is probably the darkest of all “Face The Beat” compilations we released so far as you will notice. You get 87 tracks from a lot of new bands, very young bands, several unsigned bands and also some more established bands from all over the world.

Many thanks to all of the bands that have sent material, and congratulations to all those that have made the selection! United we can show that we have our heart at the right place!

A charity compilation

Just like the previous time, the Side-Line team will again donate 500 Euro as well, just to show you how much we care about this project. All proceedings this time will be going towards our Plan International cause (which finances the education of young kids in 3rd world countries). You can also support this project with recurrent donations if you wish to, or simply donate here on Bandcamp when you download the compilation.

The compilation was compiled by Side-Line Chief Editor Bernard Van Isacker while the mastering was executed by Erlend Eilertsen (Essence Of Mind, Lights A.M.).

Previous volumes in the ‘Face The Beat’ series

Essence Of Mind frontman launches debut EP for side-project Lights A.M. – listen to an exclusive preview!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:20:06 +0000

Out on Friday – but already available for preview on Side-Line today – is “Shine Our Lights“, a 5-track EP by Lights A.M., a side-project by Essence Of Mind frontman Erlend Eilertsen. The EP is the follow-up to the single track “Lightworker” released in August 2018.

This 5 track EP features mostly vocal based tracks on melodic dreamwave with a touch of ambient and 80’s pop, just like the inital single.

You can listen to an exclusive preview of the complete EP right below!

Lights A.M. is also currently working on the debut full length instrumental concept album which currently goes under the working title “Stories Without Words”.

Lightworker by Lights A.M.

Essence Of Mind-founder releases first single of new project Lights A.M.

Jan Ronald Stange — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 16:13:46 +0000

(By our Norwegian correpondent Jan Ronald Stange / Lights A.M. press release)

Erlend Eilertsen, also known from the electronic rock band Essence Of Mind, got into a creative bubble and wanted to make music from the heart. With Lights A.M. he is presenting his deepest feelings, thoughts and spiritual journey, in an emotional as well as uplifting way.

The ambitions are well defined: Lights A.M. wants to present timeless electronic music from the North, created with influences from the past and the future to emphasis the present moment, embracing the unknown as the known always looking to unite all. The unique and cinematic electronic music evolves into futuristic melodic pop with a touch of ambient and 80’s dreamwave manifesting that the future is now!

The first single “Lightworker” is an uplifting and progressive instrumental track about breaking through the darker aspects of life to embrace the light and contribute to positive changes, and a small sneak peak of what to expect from Lights A.M in the future.

Listen and buy the song @ Bandcamp:

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

Junksista – Promiscuous Tendencies (DCD Album – Alfa Matrix)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 18:30:06 +0000

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, indie-pop.

Background/Info: Junksista Duo Diana S. and Boog are back on track and have unleashed their fourth full length album in five years. A few artists such as LayZee (Mr. President), Noemi Aurora (Helalyn Flowers), Emke (Black Nail Cabaret) and Erlend Eilersten (Essence Of Mind) have been invited on a few songs with guest vocals.

Content: The first (and regular) disc features 12 new cuts revealing the particular electro-pop approach Junksista has always deal with. It’s an pop format sometimes mixed with minimalistic elements, but also moving on the edge of indie music. Junksista is also in for some experiments such as Monster” featuring rap vocals by LayZee.

The bonus disc featured at the limited edition features 12 extra songs, which are remixes by Psy’Aviah, Metroland, Kant Kino, Ananel’s Voices vs. At0shima 3rr0r, Wasserkraft Manifest, T-Error Machinez, Space March, Technolorgy, Nerd Revolt, XMH and 2 remixes by Flesh Eating Foundation.

+ + + : Junksista has gained their success and reputation because they have their own style, which often was linked to punk meeting pop music. This new opus is less punk-like, but still revealing a proper sound DNA. It’s a well-crafted composition moving in between minimalism and even experimentalism at one side and indie-music at the other side. There are great sound treatments featured on this work, but I especially like the menacing bass lines from “Love Makes People Stupid”. I also like the duo vocals featuring Diana S. and Noemi on “Celebration Fornication”. Among the remixes I especially recommend the work accomplished by Psy’Aviah, Metroland and Space March.

– – – : Junksista remains a very particular experience in sound, but I regret they’ve lost a bit of their original naughty and punkish sound. This work sounds ‘softer’ while I personally prefer their darker and harder work from the early years.

Conclusion: Far away from the classical electro-pop standards and clearly sounding like a solid antidote to the numerous Depeche Mode clones, “Promiscuous Tendencies” is a shocking title for an intriguing band although this new work is not my favorite one!

Best songs: “Celebration Fornication”, “Freak At Heart”, “Control”, “Bitch This Is My Party” + “Love Makes People Stupid – Psy’Aviah Remix”, “Freak At Heart – Metroland’s Art Of Bleep Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www .junksista .de / www .facebook .com /Junksista

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

Fuck for Love by JUNKSISTA

New Junksista album and download single available now – here is your reduction code

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 17:30:31 +0000

Officially out today is the brand new Junksista album “Promiscuous Tendencies”. The LP is the follow-up to the band’s 2014 album “High Voltage Confessions” and offers 12 brand new songs, on the regular CD edition that is. On the bonus disc of the deluxe edition you get some 12 bonus tracks on top.

Available now on Bandcamp and via the Alfa Matrix webstore for the CD and 2CD sets. Do you use the discount code sideline2518 to get a 25% discount on Bandcamp.

On the album the duo, Diana S. and Boog, continues to venture into their well received mix of club anthems, melancholic electro-pop songs, funky electro tunes and ballads. The band worked with several artists on this new album, amongst them LayZee (Mr. President), the international Eurodance superstar of the 90s, best known for the hit single “Coco Jamboo”, Noemie Aurora (Helalyn Flowers), Emke (Black Nail Cabaret) and Erlend Eilersten (Essence Of Mind).

But that’s not all. Out as well now is the 4-track download single “Fuck for Love” which you can download right now from Bandcamp. And again, do you use the discount code sideline2518 to get a 25% discount. Next to the title track you get the exclusive B-side “Tip Top” next to two excellent bonus remixes by Aesthetische and KPT.

You can check out the new single below.

Promiscuous tendencies (Bonus Tracks Edition) by JUNKSISTA

Listen to the first 2 tracks from upcoming 2018 album by Junksista

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 19:15:41 +0000

Next year, in February more precisely, you can expect the brand new Junksista album “Promiscuous Tendencies” to be released. The LP is the follow-up to the band’s 2014 album “High Voltage Confessions” and will offer 12 brand new songs, on the regular CD edition that is.

We had a pre-listen to the the unmixed version and could hear that the duo, Diana S. and Boog, continues to venture into their well received mix of club anthems, melancholic electro-pop songs, funky electro tunes and ballads. A band to follow closely, there’s some real talent at work here!

The band worked with several artists on this new album, amongst them LayZee (Mr. President), the international Eurodance superstar of the 90s, best known for the hit single “Coco Jamboo”, Noemie Aurora (Helalyn Flowers), Emke (Black Nail Cabaret) and Erlend Eilersten (Essence Of Mind).

For the fans, there’s also a stylish 2CD deluxe digipack of “Promiscuous Tendencies” – available for pre-ordering right here – which includes 12 extra remixes in various styles.

For now, you can listen to these 2 tracks on Bandcamp.

Matrix:Reb00ted – The Kant Kino Guerrilla – Zion [EBM] Warfare [01] by VARIOUS ARTISTS

Kant Kino remixes united on first volume ‘Matrix:Reb00ted’ download album series

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 15 May 2017 18:00:46 +0000

Alfa Matrix has launched the 1st edition of its new compilation series: “Matrix:Reb00ted”. The 1st volume is entered around the remixes the Norwegian dark electro act Kant Kino completed over the years, hence the sub-title for the first volume: “Zion [EBM] Warfare [01] – the Kant Kino guerrilla”.

On the download compilation – which can be downloaded here – you find 15 songs from Alfa Matrix’s massive music repertoire which got mixed by Kant Kino. For those who are familiar with the band’s remix sound, you know you can expect a unique blend of EBM basslines, upbeat sequences and melodic synths.

The bands remixed by this duo include Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Leather Strip, Bruderschaft, Pouppée Fabric, Amgod, Komor Kommando, Implant, Aesthetische, Essence Of Mind, Studio-X vs. Simon Carter, Kant Kino themselves, Junksista and the label’s most recent discovery from France Crytek.

Available now on Bandcamp, you can listen to the trackless below.

Alfa Matrix launches Record Store Day 30% discount on webstore and Bandcamp – get your code here

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 18:00:14 +0000

It was Record Store Day this past weekend and for the occasion the Belgian label launched a special 30% discount code ( RSD2017 ) which is available to use until the end of this week. You can apply the code in the label’s webshop or on the label’s Bandcamp page. You will get 30% off on everything that is added in your basket (except on the forthcoming Metroland and Alien Vampires box sets).

Happy hunting!

Included in this massive discount action are releases by 32CRASH, Acylum, Aengeldust, Aesthetische, Agonised By Love, Aiboforcen, Alien Vampires, Ambassador21, amGod, Armageddon Dildos, Avarice In Audio, Ayria, Bruderschaft, Cosmic Armchair, Crisk, Cynical Existence, Depeche Mode (the tribute releases), Diffuzion, Diskonnekted, Dive, Dream Recall, Dunkelwerk, Elektroklänge, ELM, Entrzelle, Epsilon Minus, Essence Of Mind, Freakangel, Front 242, Gaytron, Glis, Halo In Reverse, HausHetaere, Headscan, Helalyn Flowers, Hungry Lucy, I:scintilla, Implant, Internal, Inure, Junksista, Kant Kino, Klutæ, Komor Kommando, Krystal System, Leaether Strip, Lovelorn Dolls, Malakwa, Male Or Female, Mari Chrome, Mentallo and the Fixer, Metroland, Mind:State, Mnemonic, Mondträume, Monolith, Nebula-H, Neikka RPM, Nitzer Ebb, Növö, O.V.N.I., Plastic Noise Experience, Pouppee Fabrikk, Prozium, Psy’Aviah, Razorfade, Recoil, Regenerator, Saeldes Sanc, Schwarzblut, Sebastian Komor, Seize, Sero.Overdose, Shaun F, Simon Carter, Siva Six, Star Industry, Stray, Studio-X, Suicide Inside, Tamtrum, Technoir, The Cure (tribute), The Psychic Force, Totem Obscura, Trisomie 21, Unter Null, Venal Flesh, Virgins O.R Pigeons, Virtual Embrace, XMH, Zombie Girl, … plus a long list of compilations.

And in order to save on shipping costs, it’s recommended to combine this with the label’s 2 newest releases although they are not discounted.

Norwegian trio Essence Of Mind are returning to Germany this spring doing a club tour – here are the dates!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 19:00:23 +0000

It will be the first time that Essence Of Mind will play a headline tour in Germany after playing at famous festivals like M’era Luna and Autumn Moon as well as touring with bands like Apoptygma Berserk and Zeromancer. The Synthpop-band Alienare from northern Germany will open the shows as special guest.

Dates, venues, tickets and more are listed right here on the band’s official website. The band has a solid live reputation as we could see during the shows we have seen over the years not in the least thanks to its strong live line-up consisting of frontman Erlend Eilertsen, Christian Paulsen (guitars, bass) and Hasse Mattsson (additional programing, live keyboards).

The Norwegians recently released their EP “After The Break Up” as a sequel to their longplayer “The Break Up!”, you can check it out below.

It’s EBM day at Alfa Matrix! Use code ebmday242 and get 30% of on all releases (incl. Front 242 vinyls)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 10:20:47 +0000

“Today he has no means He’s alone and anonymous, but written in his cells he’s got the marks of a genius”, with these Front 242 lyrics (“Headhunter”) the Belgian electro label Alfa Matrix has launched quite an impressive EBM day action offering no less than a 30% discount on all of it’s physical (and download releases) including the much wanted Front 242 vinyls sets.

All you need to do is use the code ebmday242 to get 30% off on all of the labels releases (ltd editions, boxsets, t-shirts, vinyls, …) purchased via the Alfa Matrix webstore and the official Alfa Matrix Bandcamp page.

The code ebmday242 is only valid today and this weekend and will be applied on all products you have added in your basket.

And that’s not all! the label has also added a huge list of VERY low priced compilations right here.

Included in this massive discount action are all physical and download releases by 32CRASH, Acylum, Aengeldust, Aesthetische, Agonised By Love, Aiboforcen, Alien Vampires, Ambassador21, amGod, Armageddon Dildos, Avarice In Audio, Ayria, Bruderschaft, Cosmic Armchair, Crisk, Cynical Existence, Depeche Mode (the tribute releases), Diffuzion, Diskonnekted, Dive, Dream Recall, Dunkelwerk, Elektroklänge, ELM, Entrzelle, Epsilon Minus, Essence Of Mind, Freakangel, Front 242, Gaytron, Glis, Halo In Reverse, HausHetaere, Headscan, Helalyn Flowers, Hungry Lucy, I:scintilla, Implant, Internal, Inure, Junksista, Kant Kino, Klutæ, Komor Kommando, Krystal System, Leaether Strip, Lovelorn Dolls, Malakwa, Male Or Female, Mari Chrome, Mentallo and the Fixer, Metroland, Mind:State, Mnemonic, Mondträume, Monolith, Nebula-H, Neikka RPM, Nitzer Ebb, Növö, O.V.N.I., Plastic Noise Experience, Pouppee Fabrikk, Prozium, Psy’Aviah, Razorfade, Recoil, Regenerator, Saeldes Sanc, Schwarzblut, Sebastian Komor, Seize, Sero.Overdose, Shaun F, Simon Carter, Siva Six, Star Industry, Stray, Studio-X, Suicide Inside, Tamtrum, Technoir, The Cure (tribute), The Psychic Force, Totem Obscura, Trisomie 21, Unter Null, Venal Flesh, Virgins O.R Pigeons, Virtual Embrace, XMH, Zombie Girl, … plus a long list of compilations.

Final hours to enjoy 50% off on Alfa Matrix Bandcamp page

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 19:10:19 +0000

We enter the final few hours to enjoy a 50% reduction on all of your purchases via the Alfa Matrix Bandcamp page. You get a discount of 50% when using the discount code january50432. Just enter it when checking out. The code is valid on ALL of the releases on the label’s Bandcamp page.

Included in this massive discount action are releases by 32CRASH, Acylum, Aengeldust, Aesthetische, Agonised By Love, Aiboforcen, Alien Vampires, Ambassador21, amGod, Armageddon Dildos, Avarice In Audio, Ayria, Bruderschaft, Cosmic Armchair, Crisk, Cynical Existence, Depeche Mode (the tribute releases), Diffuzion, Diskonnekted, Dive, Dream Recall, Dunkelwerk, Elektroklänge, ELM, Entrzelle, Epsilon Minus, Essence Of Mind, Freakangel, Front 242, Gaytron, Glis, Halo In Reverse, HausHetaere, Headscan, Helalyn Flowers, Hungry Lucy, I:scintilla, Implant, Internal, Inure, Junksista, Kant Kino, Klutæ, Komor Kommando, Krystal System, Leaether Strip, Lovelorn Dolls, Malakwa, Male Or Female, Mari Chrome, Mentallo and the Fixer, Metroland, Mind:State, Mnemonic, Mondträume, Monolith, Nebula-H, Neikka RPM, Nitzer Ebb, Növö, O.V.N.I., Plastic Noise Experience, Pouppee Fabrikk, Prozium, Psy’Aviah, Razorfade, Regenerator, Saeldes Sanc, Schwarzblut, Sebastian Komor, Seize, Sero.Overdose, Shaun F, Simon Carter, Siva Six, Star Industry, Stray, Studio-X, Suicide Inside, Tamtrum, Technoir, The Cure (tribute), The Psychic Force, Totem Obscura, Trisomie 21, Unter Null, Venal Flesh, Virgins O.R Pigeons, Virtual Embrace, XMH, Zombie Girl, … plus a long list of compilations.

The discount code only lasts till January 31st midnight, so make sure to use it asap!

Face The Beat: Session 4 by Essence Of Mind

Side-Line introduces Essence Of Mind – listen now to ‘The Other Side (Vigilante Remix)’ (Face The Beat profile series)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 20:00:37 +0000

The 29th track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by the Norwegian electro-rock act Essence Of Mind whose Erlend Eilertsen also mastered this volume.

Formed in late 2006 by Erlend H. Eilertsen, Christian Paulsen and Hasse Mattsson this Norwegian act offers alternative electro-rock which will certainly please those who are into Apoptygma Berzerk, Zeromancer, IAMX, etc.. Known for a very strong live reputation the band has toured extensively in Germany and Scandinavia. Make sure to catch up with the band on Facebook!

The band’s most recent material was featured on last year’s “After The Break Up” and also included the studio edit of “The Other Side” which got an exclusive rework here.

Listen to “The Other Side (Vigilante Remix)” below and download it right here.

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.

for you<' right now from Side-Line : 32-tracks by Front 242's label mates on Alfa Matrix" width="1420" height="1414" srcset="https://www.side-line.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/recovery-for-front.jpg 1200w, https://www.side-line.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/recovery-for-front-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.side-line.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/recovery-for-front-300x300.jpg 300w, https://www.side-line.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/recovery-for-front-768x765.jpg 768w, https://www.side-line.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/recovery-for-front-1024x1020.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1420px) 100vw, 1420px" />

Stream the Front 242 tribute ‘Recovery >for you<‘ right now from Side-Line : 32-tracks by Front 242’s label mates on Alfa Matrix

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 17:00:31 +0000

For its 15th anniversary, the Belgian record label Alfa Matrix also celebrated the 35 years of existence of Front 242 and this with the Front 242 tribute album “Recovery >for you<” uniting 32 fellow label bands who have each covered one song from Front 242’s music repertoire.

The release is available on the Alfa Matrix webstore as a 2CD plus also on their Bandcamp page as a download.

You can preview the tracks right below:

The bands who collaborated to “Recovery >for you<” include Metroland, Komor Kommando, Ad:Key, Plastic Noise Experience, Imjudas, Sin.Sin, Cosmic Armchair, Neikka Rpm, Alien Vampires, Ayria, Implant, Avarice In Audio, Acylum, Schwarzblut, Star Industry, Regenerator, Elektroklänge, Elm, Kant Kino, Technoir, Diffuzion, Aesthetische, Circuito Cerrado Vs. C-Lekktor, Növö, Totem Obscura, Venal Flesh Feat. Chase Dobson, Llumen, The Psychic Force, Helalyn Flowers, Essence Of Mind, Armageddon Dildos and Xmh.

Alfa Matrix roadshow lands in IKEA

Eldrina Mich — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:45:27 +0000

This morning IKEA Ghent (Belgium) was the place to be for bands wanting to know something more on the future of the music business and how to make the best of it. More precisely, the Belgian electronic music label Alfa Matrix was presenting a workshop at IKEA to the musicians behind the bands Llumen, ELM, Psy’Aviah and Mildreda (Diskonnekted), respectively Pieter Coussement, Peter Elm, Yves Schelpe and Jan Dewulf. For the label it’s the first time it has organised a joined workshop with other bands inside Belgium, but it surely won’t be the last.

Side-Line talked with Alfa Matrix’s promo manager Bernard Van Isacker who gave the workshop.

SL: First of all, you also work as an online marketeer during your daytime job?

B: Yes, I’m the online marketeer for a major seed company (number 5 in the world) for whom I develop the social media strategy, and in that role I have been giving several trainings regarding social media tricks in Belgium and in the Netherlands, but also regarding CRM since one doesn’t go without the other. For those who don’t know, CRM stands for customer relationship management and is an approach to managing a company’s interaction with current and potential future customers. We then analyse this data to improve business relationships with customers. But that’s another story.

SL: Why did Alfa Matrix decide to do this workshop?

B: This is not the first time we do this, in the past I have organised a couple of such workshops with Alfa Matrix bands but then more face to face, so one band at the time. I did several in Belgium, in Scandinavia and in Greece (where I had sessions with Siva Six and Virgins O.R. Pigeons).

But the idea to get a few bands together only started a year or 2 ago when I had a very interesting networking diner in Oslo (Norway) where several of the Alfa Matrix bands were joined by such people as John Fryer, Paul Kendall and the Electro Spectre duo. You immediately could sense there was an energy that you don’t often see.

I also know that there is a need for bands to discuss about the topics we talked about today such as marketing, communication and an insight on how the algorithms work for such companies as Spotify, Apple Music and so on.

Anyhow, when I was at an intimate event at the Club 52 here in Belgium a few weeks ago, I talked with the people behind Llumen, Psy’Aviah and Mildreda who were playing there and suggested them a joined workshop in the near future. They all agreed, so a few days later we decided upon a precise date, a location and I prepped the workshop itself. In the meantime I had invited a few other bands over too, so that’s how Peter (ELM) also joined us, the others will be joining me during a future workshop that fits their agenda.

I also plan a few of these workshops outside Belgium with the next one being in Oslo where Kant Kino, Essence Of Mind and a few other acts will be joining.

SL: What was the purpose of this meeting?

B: It’s always good to meet the artists from time to time, so that is already a good plus. But the main purpose of the workshop is to help the participating bands with their communication, their online presence, and explain them a few things which the general public and most bands are not aware of (because often their label doesn’t know either). Today for instance I presented them my future vision on the (online) press and club scene.

SL: And that is?

B: That’s classified, but it’s safe to say that my vision is quite radical. Back in the days (let’s say 10 years ago) people told me I was mad to start investing in digital distribution at such a fast pace. 10 years late I’m not so mad anymore so it seems, at least what that aspect is considered :). You have to know that I talk a lot with people from inside the business (digital distributors, major promo companies, …) to know the ins and outs of what happens and what is going to happen. I also have a few trusted people from within the scene (distributors, musicians such as Yves Schelpe, other label owners) with whom I discuss quite often about what directions the music industry might take. From that input and my own knowledge and intuition I distill a vision for Alfa Matrix which I then share with my 2 other colleagues in the label.

SL: How did you come up with the idea to do this workshop at IKEA?

B: I’m an IKEA addict basically… :). Ghent is in the centre of the Belgian cities where our bands come from, so it was kinda logical to choose this city as the central place. And since it isn’t the first time I do meetings at IKEA, it kinda was logical to keep it here. Plenty of coffee and plenty of space, I only asked the bands to be here at 10 AM so we were sure to have the space we wanted.

SL: What came out of this workshop?

B: Well, besides the content of my presentation which gave these bands a nice insight in how the business works these days, there were also a few new and exiting things that have come out of our interaction, which we hope to materialise soon. Add to this that a few really nice surprises appeared which opened opportunities. I personally strongly believe in the 1+1=3 setting if you have people sit together who are all very driven by the desire to learn. That was the case here.

SL: Do you plan to publish this guide on the net?

B: No, nice try though! This presentation and its explanation is strictly restricted to the bands signed to Alfa Matrix and is not for external distribution. In the past I have worked for labels on consultancy basis giving them ‘intel’ on a few things, but that’s only because they contracted me for this. Since I’m now only busy with Alfa Matrix, it will remain for the Alfa Matrix eyes only :).

SL: Can we expect some more of these workshops taking place in Belgium?

B: Sure, we plan one in Brussels as well in the near future, probably at IKEA Zaventem :). Next we also plan one in the Netherlands and in Mexico where we also have a few bands under contract.

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.

Face The Beat: Session 4 by Various Artists

Free download mega-compilation ‘Face The Beat: Session 4’ is now available – 90 tracks from the absolute industrial underground!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 20:00:14 +0000

Side-Line Magazine has launched the 4th volume in the popular free ‘Face The Beat’ series: “Face The Beat: Session 4” via the official Side-Line Magazine Bandcamp page. “Face The Beat: Session 4” features no less than 90 tracks (!) from the worldwide industrial underground.

During the past few months Side-Line Magazine has been completing this brand new volume again focusing on getting as many unsigned bands as possible on board. And what a ride it has been… as we have again been inundated with thousands of submissions. The quality was so high this time that we have increased the number of bands that could participate this time.

Like has been the case in the past with our previous volumes, we are again supporting a charity work with donations received for this new volume. More precisely we will help build a sanitary installation for a public hospital (based in the Mexican state of Veracruz).

Why Mexico? Our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker explains: “When I was in Mexico to get wedded earlier this year, I was rushed to a public hospital (where usually the poor people go) with a serious back injury. I was so incredibly well-received and helped out even though it was very clear that the hospital was very much underfunded. The doctors, the nurses, they have done a splendid job in caring for me. But one thing struck me during this period and that was that the poor people waiting outside (sometimes for hours) had no toilet facilities or a place where they could take care of their babies. The hospital had no funds to build this, so I decided to help them out financially. But what I gave isn’t sufficient to finish the construction and complete the sanitary facilities. That’s when I realised that the charity project to be supported this time by Face The Beat should be this. You know, we are so damn lucky with our public health service here in Europe. So, if you want to help out, then please donate, you’ll make the life of so many people a lot easier and comfortable.”

“Face The Beat: Session 4” – available via Bandcamp – features lots of new talents, and several familiar ‘faces’, from the electro, wave, industrial, dubstep, dark folk scene who wanted to put their shoulders under this release. You’ll find well known acts such as The Psychic Force, Kant Kino, Antibody, and many more next to a huge lot of new talents which caught our attention in the past few months, many of these bands don’t have a label contract or have just been signed recently.

The material was carefully mastered by Erlend Eilertsen (Essence Of Mind) for your best audio pleasure. You can preview the 90-track release below.

Many thanks to all of the bands and labels that have sent material, too many to name (over 2400 this time), and congratulations to all the bands that have made our selection! United we can show that we have our heart at the right place!

The other 3 free charity download compilations are still available:
– Various Artists – Face The Beat: Session 1
– Various Artists – Face The Beat: Session 2
– Various Artists – Face The Beat: Session 3

Front 242 gets unexpected 32-tracks tribute from their label Alfa Matrix – listen to the first exclusive previews!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 19:10:31 +0000

With “Recovery >for you<”, the Alfa Matrix label is closing this double-celebration year 2016 in beauty. For its 15th anniversary, the Belgian record label also celebrated in many ways the 35 years of existence of Front 242. Therefor the Alfa Matrix label family decided to pay homage to the band.

32 fellow label bands have each covered one song from Front 242’s music repertoire, picking songs from the full discography of the band, from “Geography” to “Pulse”. The release is already up for pre-order on the Alfa Matrix webstore plus also on their Bandcamp page.

“Recovery >for you<” resulted in a collection of 32 songs reflecting the Alfa Matrix band roster’s high diversity by bands such as Metroland, Komor Kommando, Ad:Key, Plastic Noise Experience, Imjudas, Sin.Sin, Cosmic Armchair, Neikka Rpm, Alien Vampires, Ayria, Implant, Avarice In Audio, Acylum, Schwarzblut, Star Industry, Regenerator, Elektroklänge, Elm, Kant Kino, Technoir, Diffuzion, Aesthetische, Circuito Cerrado Vs. C-Lekktor, Növö, Totem Obscura, Venal Flesh Feat. Chase Dobson, Llumen, The Psychic Force, Helalyn Flowers, Essence Of Mind, Armageddon Dildos and Xmh.

Classic Front 242 tunes covered include amongst others “Headhunter”, “Happiness”, “Lovely Day”, “U-men”, “Commando Mix”, “Masterhit”, “No Shuffle”, “Tragedy for You”, “Take One”, “Funkhadafi”, “Moldavia”, “Operating Tracks”, “Don’t Crash”, “Body To Body”, “Welcome To Paradise”, and many more. The full tracklist can be viewed here.

Below is a first exclusive preview which Front 242 have posted on their Instagram account earlier this evening.

#Front242 #tribute “Recovery>for you<” now available via www.alfa-matrix-store.com 32 tracks, this is an exclusive preview! @alfamatrix #alfamatrix

A video posted by Front 242 – Official (@front242official) on Nov 2, 2016 at 11:49am PDT

After The Break Up EP by ESSENCE OF MIND

Essence Of Mind to play Subkulturfestivalen (SE), M’era Luna (DE) and Autumn Moon festival (DE) + start work on new material

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 17:47:57 +0000

The Norwegian electro rock act Essence Of Mind, is finally getting the recognition they deserve. After being selected to play this year’s M’era Luna festival in August, the band has now added 2 more festival line-ups: Autumn Moon festival 2016 in Hameln, Germany (14-15 October) and the Subkulturfestivalen in Sweden (12th to 13th August).

At the Autumn Moon festival they will be playing together with such acts like Welle:Erdball, Das Ich, Moonspell, L’ame Immortelle and Legend. So you are in for a good treat.

In related news the band is currently busy with working on new material in the studio. No details have leaked so far, but the moment we can lay our hands on a demo, we’ll inform you.

Here’s the band’s latest work (you can still download a previously unreleased song called “Still Untold” from the band’s website, all you have to do is sign up for their newsletter):

After The Break Up EP by ESSENCE OF MIND

Norway’s electro rock act Essence Of Mind offers previously unreleased song to new subscribers of their newsletter – get it now!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 16 May 2016 15:28:32 +0000

The Norwegian electro rock act Essence Of Mind are servicing a download for the previously unreleased track “Still Untold” to new subscribers of their newsletter. You can subscribe below or head towards their official website to complete the signup and receive an immediate download of the track.

The band just released their brand new EP “After The Break Up” (available right now from Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify) and will please all Zeromancer and APB fans.

The new release features 4 brand new songs including the title track next to remixes. These remixes were selected by the band which resulted in work by Chris R & Jaroslav Vyhnička (with a piano/strings-rock crossover version), by ExoSun (with an EDM electro remix) and Vigilante. 8 tracks in total which you can listen to and download below.

Below is the excellent video for the title track!

Norway’s electro rock act Essence Of Mind strikes back with the 8-track download EP ‘After The Break Up’ – listen/download now and watch the video

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 09 May 2016 16:46:44 +0000

A week ago we already hinted that a new Essence Of Mind was in the making. The full details have now been revealed. The follow-up to last year’s excellent “The Break Up!” CD (available here) is out now and it’s an EP called “After The Break Up” (available right now from Bandcamp) and will please all Zeromancer and APB fans. This new release features 4 brand new songs including the title track next to remixes. These remixes were selected by the band which resulted in work by Chris R & Jaroslav Vyhnička (with a piano/strings-rock crossover version), by ExoSun (with an EDM electro remix) and Vigilante. 8 tracks in total which you can listen to and download below. After The Break Up EP by ESSENCE OF MIND A video for the title track has also been released and can be viewed below and shows the band live at work. In related news, the band has been selected to play M’era Luna due to their excellent performance at the Danish SPOT festival.

Read the review of ‘The Break Up!’.

a-ha’s farewell concert weekend in Oslo (Norway) – an impression

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 02 May 2016 13:27:26 +0000

When a-ha announced (yet another) farewell tour, it was my guess that the best place to see them live would be in Oslo, Norway. After all they formed in that very city in 1982 and the public there is always that little bit more enthusiast.

I quickly booked my wife and I seats for the April 30 concert at the Spectrum venue near the Oslo Central Station, got some really cheap Ryanair tickets and found a good Airbnb flat in the Majorstuen area (just a few minutes by tram from the city center and in walking distance from the Vigeland park) to spend a few days. At the same moment we also took some time to meet up with Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange and family, producer John Fryer and his wife, plus the members of the Norwegian acts Kant Kino, Essence Of Mind and Electro Spectre.

The support act for the a-ha’s shows in Oslo on April 30 and May 1 was Frøkedal & Familien. Frøkedal is a Norwegian songstress who mixes minimal pop music with folk, traditional music and bits of electronics. It was quite well received by the public, not in the least thanks to Frøkedal’s very modest way of talking to the public. Whilst watching the support act I noticed that there was free wifi available (a service unknown in Belgium) with some pretty good connection, so instead of just taking pictures I decided to just start tweeting out live. As a result you can follow the concert below via the tweets sent out. Enjoy!

For those still in Norway tomorrow night (May 3rd), know that a-ha will play a one-off live show called “Afterglow” with advanced scenography by Void. The concert will equally take place in Oslo at the Spectrum venue. For the show, a-ha will clear away their normal stage-production to give room to a very different concert performance in collaboration with Void, a computational design studio working in the intersection between design, architecture, art and technology.

If the live show we saw this weekend was already offering an excellent visual experience (Anton Corbijn should have a close look to get some inspiration) then the “Afterglow” show will probably be stunning. Judge for yourself below.

Prepping for @aha_com in #Oslo pic.twitter.com/mtHptrzknB

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

#mortenharket #selfie #ahaoslo2016 #ahaoslo16 promises to be a great evening! pic.twitter.com/jssY9mnnNc

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

@aha_com has started playing in #oslo #spektrum #ahaoslo16 opening track… pic.twitter.com/C7gvWl8loG

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

#ahaoslo16 fans go nuts #oslo #spektrum 🙂 good vibe. pic.twitter.com/EMmPawBjXK

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

The swing of #ahaoslo16 things in #oslo @spektrum pic.twitter.com/aYqtxWZ3wK

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Looking for the whales introduced by @mortenharket #ahaoslo16 #oslo @spektrum pic.twitter.com/SqrHh4FLW9

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Pål Waktaar goes velvet with @annelidrecker #ahaoslo16 @spektrum #oslo pic.twitter.com/5eTZJ5WgHm

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

#smartphone lifeline #flashmob at #ahaoslo16 pic.twitter.com/tmEFavyjCK

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Absolutely top visual work at #ahaoslo16 with @annelidrecker doing an excellent intro @spektrum pic.twitter.com/xAkvupqEfh

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Lots of live recordings being made at #ahaoslo16 , if you don't have tickets, youtube will be your #firstaid #ehbo pic.twitter.com/Sc5MAl9nNh

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Hunting high and low #ahaoslo16 you now know what you are missing @spektrum in #oslo pic.twitter.com/wjcZ0oo4rE

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Hunting high and low singalong moment #ahaoslo16 @spektrum #oslo pic.twitter.com/MXeSBsX6Ln

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Sun always shines on tv #depechemode #wime shot at #ahaoslo16 @spektrum #oslo pic.twitter.com/cOOJPaTObr

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Major fun during the living daylights #jamesbond #ahaoslo16 @spektrum #oslo thanks for tuning in. CU in next concert pic.twitter.com/dSdHFmveWD

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Take on me #ahaoslo16 @spektrum @aha_com did it again. #oslo and thank u @Ryanair for the great flights! pic.twitter.com/I2p9dy7Hs0

— Side-Line Magazine (@sidelinemag) April 30, 2016

Gente molona que conoces en los conciertos de @aha_com . Directo desde #Belgica @sidelinemag #ahaoslo16 pic.twitter.com/JqLGZsGN3Z

— Mónica Castelao (@castelao19) April 30, 2016

Me han pillado ! Gracias @sidelinemag ! 😂 #ahaoslo16 @aha_com https://t.co/KZ1UKlP40q

— Mónica Castelao (@castelao19) April 30, 2016

@sidelinemag @spektrum @aha_com @Ryanair thank you for posting the pics

— Sabrina Crunch (@sabrinacrunch) April 30, 2016

Side-Line also covered a-ha’s ‘Afterglow’.

Essence Of Mind release teaser for what looks like a new single or album

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 18:54:08 +0000

(By Johannes Gordan) A year ago the Norwegian electro-rock-dance act Essence Of Mind released the album “The Break Up!” (check here to listen to it), and now a teaser has turned up for what could well be a new album or single. Sure thing is that something is coming up in the next days or weeks after watching the teaser.

Keep an eye on the official Essence Of Mind page, and sign up for their newsletter, for extra info.

But before that Essence Of Mind are taking the stage at Åbne Scene in Aarhus, Denmark during the SPOT Festival 2016 – M’era Luna night.Other bands playing are Les Fleurs Du Mal (SE) and Neonsol (DK). For those who have seen Essence Of Mind at work, you know what to expect: high energy and great songs. At least one of the bands will also be chosen for the M’era Luna Festival in Hildesheim on the 14th of August 2016. It’s about time Essence Of Mind get offered concerts in Germany.

Here’s already the brand new teaser:

Face The Beat: Session 3 by Essence Of Mind

Side-Line introduces Essence Of Mind – listen now to ‘For Real’ (Face The Beat profile series)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 15:09:21 +0000

Track 26 on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 3” is by the Norwegian act Essence Of Mind. “For Real” perfectly showcases the band’s preferences for a mix of current edm, dubstep and electro rock influences, but at the same time remaining very electro minded. The band’s shows are known to be perfectly executed with lots of hard beats and guitar riffs (the versatile line-up of the band explains it all really) just like we are used from so many other high quality bands from Norway (that country together with Sweden seems to be blessed with lots of good musicality genes).

You can listen to the track below:

The track was originally the B-side for the 2014 5-track EP “Wrong” which you can listen to below. We decided to pick up this track since it shows all of the hooks and approaches which this Norwegians are capable of. Here’s the complete “Wrong” EP.

Wrong EP by ESSENCE OF MIND

Essence Of Mind are currently busy working on a follow up to “The Break Up!” album which they released last year (check it here). Says frontman Erlend Eilertsen when probed for some feedback: “It is almost done and the title and and first teaser will be revealed soon!” But earlier in November this already popped up online…

Essence Of Mind was founded in late 2006. After their debut album “Insurrection” which was released in 2008 via Alfa Matrix, they followed it up with “Try and Fail” and the “Indifference” album which turned out to be the band’s hardest and most emotional album yet. But “The Break Up!” even proved to be way more mature with a string of singles which did very well including the massive club hit “Escape” whose club remix was picked up by the Spotify team for further spreading.

The band also toured extensively with Apoptygma Berzerk and Zeromancer (and continuous to do so on regular basis).

Anno 2016 Essence Of Mind are Erlend H. Eilertsen (music, vocals, lyrics, production, keyboards and guitars), Christian Paulsen (guitars, bass) and Hasse Mattsson (keyboards, additional programming). You will probably know Hasse from the Xenturion Prime project while Christian is also active with Hell:Sector.

For the loyal Side-Line readers, you might remember that Erlend also remastered “Face The Beat: Session 2” which was released last year. Essence Of Mind can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube and of course via their own website which will be re-launched soon.

Face The Beat: Session 3 by Various Artists

Side-Line launches free ‘Face The Beat : session 3’ charity download compilation – get yours now!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 01:00:04 +0000

Officially out on December 26th, but available right here for the quick ones, is the 3rd volume in the Side-Line powered charity compilation series “Face The Beat”.

“Face The Beat: Session 3” counts 63 tracks from electro / industrial / experimental bands based allover the world. They have one thing in common, they all are supporting our charity work, which this time will go to supporting O Allos Anthropos (A Different Person), a mobile kitchen in Greece, Athens which is supporting the poorest citizens there with daily warm meals.

“Face The Beat: Session 3” was compiled by Elise Din and Bernard Van Isacker and features lots of new talents, and several familiar ‘faces’, from the electro, wave, industrial, dubstep, dark folk scene who wanted to put their shoulders under the release. You’ll find well known acts such as Kant Kino, IIOIOIOII, Essence Of Mind, Empusa, and many more next to a lot of new talents which caught our attention and which often haven’t got a label contract or have just been signed recently.

The material was carefully mastered by Kenneth Fredstie (Kant Kino) for your best audio pleasure.

Here’s a bit more info on O Allos Anthropos, the charity project we will be supporting this time. The people behind O Allos Anthropos don’t just cook healthy meals for the poorest residents, they also sit together with those people in an effort to combat the shame of receiving a free cooked meal. Another purpose of this community kitchen is to distribute any left over funds to the unemployed people who help them on a daily basis. We came aware of their work when being in Greece last year and seeing the tremendous work they have been doing, we decided to help them out.

Being in the middle of the Christmas and New Year’s festivities we count on you to be generous with your donations – it’s no obligation of course, but you’ll make sure that other people will be able enjoying a decent meal with what you donate. Good to know, there will be no middleman to transfer the donations. We’ll wire it directly to O Allos Anthropos and the Side-Line team will already be donating 500 Euro directly, just to show you how much we care about this project. You can also support this project with recurrent donations if you wish to.

You can download the compilation right here.

Many thanks to all of the bands and labels that have sent material, too many to name (over 3000 this time), and congratulations to all the bands that have made our selection! United we can show that we have our heart at the right place!

Do not forget to also get our 2 other charity download compilations, “Face The Beat: Session 1” and “Face The Beat: Session 2“.

Face The Beat: Session 2 by Various Artists

Face The Beat: Session 1 by Various Artists

Oslo’s ElektroStat ends in beauty with this year’s final festival on November 6 & 7

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:19:27 +0000

All good things must come to an end! Since 1999 Oslo’s ElektroStat (formerly known also as Oslo Synthfestival) has been an active promotor and purveyor of great electronic music in the shape of small bands, big bands, small bands becoming big bands. This year’s ElektroStat will be the 17th running, taking place on November 06-07 2015, and unfortunately also the very last one. Yes, that’s right, ElektroStat has run its course and will be no more after this year’s edition.

But they will end in beauty as this year’s line up holds live performances from Dive, Leæther Strip, Tarmvred, Deutsche Bank, Schnodig, Distortion Six and Lurendrei.

Side-Line has been at the festival at several occasions in the past few years and it’s one of the few festivals where it was good fun being at with shows from Recoil, Kant Kino, Karin Park, Essence Of Mind, Marsheaux and many many more.

It’s highly recommended to already book your hotel if you plan to go as hotels tend to be rapidly booked around that period in Oslo. You can find a list of hotels available during this period right here. Make sure to choose a prolonged stay as Oslo has many exquisite corners to offer that will make your stay even more enjoyable.

Tickets for this year’s edition can be bought right here. You can check the festival’s official website for extra info too.

We’d like to take the opportunity to thank the team behind ElektroStat for the good collaboration over the past years and for the hospitality we enjoyed during our stays in Oslo. En stor kyss og vi vil se hverandre ganske snart !