Out now via SkyQode is the “Stay At Home Sessions 1” EP by Mental Discipline (available on Bandcamp right here). It is the first EP in a special series of releases with classic Mental Discipline tracks recorded live in a home studio during late 2020. The “Stay At Home Sessions 1” EP holds 3 tracks: “Over the horizon”, “Place where I belong” and “Fall to pieces”.

The whole concept was inspired by successful online concerts that Alex Mental did during the corona lockdown time last year, where he performed his tracks with additional piano accompaniment. It is also the first time that some of the tracks previously released with guest vocalists can be heard with Alex on vocals.

About Mental Discipline

Mental Discipline is a Russian synthpop / futurepop project started by Alex Mental in 2008. He has since released two well received acclaimed albums, “Constellation” (2012) and “Past Forward” (2018), as well as several EPs, featuring collaborations with vocalists like Felix Marc, Jimmy Machon (Lights Of Euphoria), Salva Maine (Culture Kultür), Rouven Walterowicz (Endanger) and many others.

Check the release on Spotify.

Check out the video for “Over Horizon”.

And the Bandcamp release is available here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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DIORAMA was set up in 1996 by Torben Wendt. The German dark-Wave project got rapidly signed to Accession Records. Felix Marx joined the band in 2000. All over the years there were a few changes in the line-up, but Torben Wendt and Felix Marc became inseparable. DIORAMA this year released the tenth full length album in the band’s discography. The new work fills a gap of four years, but still sounds as a new beginning. The band defines “Tiny Missing Fragments” as ‘glitch beats, complex loops and atmospheric density’. The work became one of their most accomplished- and maybe best works to date. I talked about it all with Torben Wendt.  

(Picture credits by Thomas Wuhrer / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Tiny Missing Fragments” is your tenth full length album! This is more than an accomplishment, but does it have a special significance to you? And how do you perceive this new album in DIORAMA’s discography?

Torben: It doesn’t matter at all if it’s album number 10, 8 or 69. It took us 24 years to get to this point and if there is any reason at all to celebrate (well, ok, there is always one :-)) then it’s the fact that we’re still around, alive, energized, at ease with what we do.

We perceive the album as a turning point in our discography. It repositions our sound, it adds another dimension in terms of playing field to our core building blocks, which have been the same forever. Melancholy, poetry, lightness, obscure nihilistic romanticism.

Q: When did you start writing the new album and can you tell us the different stages you’d to go through to achieve “Tiny Missing Fragments”?

Torben: We started out a couple of months after the last album “Zero Soldier Army” was published. The stages we went through depend a bit from the particularity of the song. For some songs like “Avatars” or “Horizons”, we started out with programming beats, designing soundscapes and then afterwards we added melodies and vocal parts on top. Other tracks like “The Minimum” or “Sensation” were evolving as a whole, meaning the songwriting went hand in hand with the arrangement basically in one big step. Over 3-4 years the songs were slowly taking shape, we enhanced the productions by adding more love and details to them, including the acoustic drum and guitar parts, complemented the lyrics and at some point in Spring 2020 we made the final recordings, finished the productions and handed the stuff over to the Mastering studio.

Q: I experienced “Tiny Missing Fragments” as one of your most diversified works to date; an album filled with melancholia, bombast and yet refined, sometimes minimal and globally speaking more ‘electronic’. What are your thoughts about this opus and was there a kind of guiding line and/or specific criteria you handled?

Torben: The guideline was that we had to feel comfortable with what we were doing. I’m not saying that was a completely new goal, rather a newfound one maybe. But the older you get the smaller the amount of expectable album releases becomes, which makes every step you take increasingly important. So I really felt the urge to build a monument to ourselves that would depict us as authentically and uncompromisingly as possible.

Q: The lyrics have been always an essential element in DIORAMA’ work and it’s not that different about “Tiny Missing Fragments” featuring a deeply psychological exposure. What’s hiding behind the lyrics and in, which way are they a kind of mirror reflecting own experiences and thoughts?

Torben: They are very much a mirror. Ever since I was young I’ve been writing poems and short prosaic texts to get certain things worked up, to document certain ideas. The diorama lyrics come from the same source. They don’t need to objectively make sense or describe a particular topic coherently. I’m trying to convey feelings, broaden the thought horizon, capture the essence of things that are impossible to express by ‘normal’ means.

Q: Torben and Felix, you’re now working together for 20 years, right? What makes the chemistry between you both? And how do you perceive each other as musicians?

Torben: The most important chemical aspect is that we’re accepting each other just the way we are. Together we’ve learned this business of music production from scratch and we’ll always know where we come from. 1 Atari, 1 Keyboard, 10.000 nonsensical ideas. The biggest strength I would certify for Felix -apart from his capabilities as a producer -is his keen sense of earworms. The ability to write songs that are instantly catchy without being banal.

Q: Because of the pandemic I noticed artists are taking care to do ‘other’ and/or ‘different’ things like live streams, extra remixes, reworking old material, collaborative productions, cover versions, clips ao. What do you think about this situation and what are you actually busy with? How do you see things evolving?

Torben: The Corona circumstances clearly affected our planning. Without the pandemic, we would have released the album a couple of months earlier and we would have started touring this October/November. However, in the absence of concerts and concert preparations we could allow more time for finishing the album worthily and preparing our promotional activities. Also, we collected a number of remixes that will be released shortly.

What do we predict for the upcoming months? On the artist/event market, the dry spell will continue and gradually get better with the growing distribution of vaccination. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is long. And winding.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

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Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Dark-Popk, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Diorama is now active for twenty four years and this new opus is the band’s tenth album. The songs were written and recorded over the past four years. Torben Wendt and Felix Marc both remain the artistic force and creative spirit of the band completed by Zura Nakamura playing guitar and drummer Markus ‘Marquess’.

Content: Defining this album as Electro-Pop would be wrong, but it has been always difficult to define Diorama’s sound! The new album doesn’t sound that different and yet I get the feeling there’s a clear evolution towards something ‘new’. The songs for sure have something ‘poppy’ because of the carrying and elevating choruses. It also has this typical taste of melancholia, which we are also used to hearing when listening to Electro-pop, but Diorama always has had something of their own. That’s exactly what this new opus illustrates. It’s all about the sound treatments and the distance they take with the copyists of 80s synth-pop. The songs are filled with emotions, refined with delicate arrangements, sometimes accomplished with minimalism –which is probably one of the innovating aspects and once again carried by the charisma of their singer Torben Wendt.

+ + + : Everyone has to make up its mind to say if this album is Diorama’s best one or not, but it definitely is my favorite one. Diorama strikes back with ‘new’ –or refreshed ideas, which are mainly coming through in the impressive and explicit Electronic sound treatments, but still in a subtle, Minimalistic taste running through a few cuts. The album also is diversified and that’s an exciting element, but also because this formation feels comfortable dealing with different angles of Electronic music sometimes reinforced by guitar playing. From the well-crafted opening song “Avatars” carried by an elevating chorus to the more Funky “Patchwork” to the Minimalism of “Horizons” to the beautiful melancholia showed at “Gasoline” to the danceable “Charles De Gaulle” to the somewhat bombastic “iisland” to an emotional final part featuring “Sensation”, “Minimum” and “Orbitalia” this work takes you in its grip from start till the end.

– – – : There’s only one song that left me unmoved and that’s “Dark Pitch”, which is more a kind of break.

Conclusion: Diorama has always been a creative and artistic ambassador of the Electro-underground scene, but “Tiny Missing Fragments” also reveals a band striving for innovation and walking on new paths.

Best songs: “Avatars”, “iisland”, “Patchwork”, “The Minimum”, “Charles De Gaulle”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.diorama-music.com / www.facebook.com/dioramawastaken

Label: www.accession-records.de / www.facebook.com/accessionrecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Future-pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Vasi Vallis (music) and Felix Marc (vocals) are recognized as one of the hottest electro/future-pop duos from the German electro scene. This year they strike back with their newest opus “Gezeiten”. Both singles/EP’s taken from this album clearly are some of the best songs ever composed by the duo so I was wondering how this new Frozen Plasma would sound-like.

Content: “Gezeiten” is an album in the truest tradition of the band. The tracklist is mixing harder cuts with menacing EBM lines and elevating, melodic choruses at one side and softer, more melancholic pieces at the other side. Both singles “Gefühlsmaschine” and “Safe.Dead.Harm” definitely belong to the harder side of the band and are dancefloor killers. On top of it all there’s this charismatic, powerful and emotional voice of Felix Marc.

+ + + : Frozen Plasma has already great songs and noticeable albums, but the single feature of both aforementioned singles makes this album essential. “Gefühlsmaschine” and “Safe.Dead.Harm” both are mixing elements of EBM together with electro/future-pop. The verses are hard while the choruses move crescendo and will make you sing along with Felix Marc. Frozen Plasma makes people happy by great danceable stumpers on one side, but still with this sensitive and melancholic touch at the other side. Vasi Vallis remains a talented musician who has a nose to write great melodies carried by solid bass lines.

– – – : The softer, melancholic side of the band has never been my favorite one. It brings a break, but too much softness sometimes becomes a bit boring.

Conclusion: If you like modern future-pop music you for sure like this new Frozen Plasma work.

Best songs: “Gefühlsmaschine”, “Safe.Dead.Harm”, “Sailor”, “Westend”, “Rivers”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.frozenplasma.de / www.facebook.com/FrozenPlasma

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Out on Accession Records by end of next month is “Tiny missing Fragments”, the 10th studio album of the darkwwave act Diorama. On their new album, Diorama decided to dump the ‘classic’ electro arrangements and go for – and we quote – “glitch beats, complex loops and atmospheric density”.

The album was recorded and produced single-handedly by Torben Wendt and Felix Marc. The album release will be accompanied by a number of digital singles and video material.

10 albums in 24 years

Diorama was founded in 1996 as a musical project of Torben Wendt. His music was soon picked up by Adrian Hates of Diary of Dreams, who together with Rainer Assmann (Daf/ Fad Gadget) helped recording a debut-album “Pale” in 1999.

In 2000, Felix Marc joined Diorama as a keyboard player, co-producer and backing vocalist. The second album “Her Liquid Arms” was released in April 2001. The second album was followed by club-oriented single “Device” later that year. Bassist Bernard Le Sigue joined the band the following year, and together with Torben and Felix saw the release of the third album, named “The Art of Creating Confusing Spirits” in October 2002.

After a long break and another addition to the band’s line-up (guitar player Sash Fiddler joining in 2003), the fourth album “Amaroid” was released in April 2005. In October 2005, Diorama released two more albums: a re-release of their first album “Pale”, with three new songs (“Don’t Be There”, “You and Ice” and “Crop of Illusions”); and “Re-Pale” – a collection of new versions of earlier songs, remixes and some previously unreleased songs.

At the end of 2006, Bernard Le Sigue left the band. On 23 February 2007, a new single was released: “Synthesize Me”, a prelude for the next album, which was released 4 weeks later: “A Different Life”. “Cubed” was their seventh studio album (released on 19 March 2010).

2 more albums followed: “Even the Devil Doesn’t Care” (2013) and “Zero Soldier Army” (2016).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

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

Background/Info: We all know Felix Marc as the singer of Frozen Plasma and member of Diorama. But we sometimes forget he also has his own self-named solo-project. After two albums released on Infacted Recordings, Felix Marc started to release his work on his own. “Substance” is the man’s latest exposure featuring twelve songs.

Content: “Substance” is different from Felix’s early work and even starts in a pretty sensitive and melancholic way. He also surprises with the cover version of Cock Robin’s mega-hit “The Promise You Made” featuring Lis Van Den Akker (Misery). Quite progressively the album moves towards more danceable cuts with more future-pop on top. This is a more familiar approach reminding me of  the early works.

+ + + : Felix Marc first of all is a talented singer. He’s a great pop singer and his timbre of voice is totally appropriated for the sensible touch he injected into his work. It has something sensitive and sensual as well. “Our Time” is a great song illustrating this emotional side. “Substance” is a delicate opus with fine piano-like arrangements, but still with a more danceable part. I recommend “Vertigo”, and also the incredibly beautiful song “Omen”. This is the kind of record that will make you feel good!

– – – : The sweetest cuts aren’t my personal favorites. I definitely prefer the danceable side of the album. It’s also surprising to see such an artist self-releasing his work on digital format.

Conclusion: If you’re a pop addict and you have a preference for electro-pop to listen to you definitely have to try “Substance”. And if you prefer electro-pop music you can dance to, “Substance” is worthy of examination as well. Not my favorite Felix Marc-album although an enjoyable experience!

Best songs: “Omen”, “Vertigo”, “Our Time”, “The Promise You Made”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.felixmarc.de / www.facebook.com/felixmarcmusic

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

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

Background/Info: The “Electropop”-series became one of the most exciting compilations in the electro-pop genre style, but especially a sonic canvas to discover Conzoom artists and new, upcoming talents. One of the main particularities of the sampler also is the number of “Extended”-versions. This new series features 14 bands!

Bands: Emt, Insight, JanRevolution, Kosmos, Mechatronic, Midnight Resistance, Nordika feat. Felix Marc, Polyester8, Rename, Rroyce, Shelter, The Sweetest Condition and Robert Marlow.

Content: This new edition of “Electropop” reveals an impressive number of less familiar pop artists. The main influence running through the album remains electro-pop although there also is a solid dance input recovering most of the songs. The first and main part is pretty dance-pop orientated, but progressively moves towards a more familiar electro-pop sound during the second part.

+ + + : I like a compilation on, which you can discover a lot of new names and that’s precisely what this sampler stands for. Next to rather new names I also noticed some more familiar artists, getting us back to A Different Drum (a label we’re missing) and the genius of an artist like Robert Marlow. This is a sampler that will make you feel happy and get you into the dance.

– – – : The more into dance-pop formations are not the most exciting ones. I noticed cool songs, but no real hits!

Conclusion: “Electropop” is a compilation-series I enjoy and which always gives me the opportunity to discover new names. I can’t affirm this vintage is the best one to date, but it remains a great sampler.

Best bands: Robert Marlow, Rroyce, Midnight Resistance, Shelter.

Rate: (7).

Label: www.conzoomrecords.de / www.facebook.com/conzoomofficial

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com