Genre/Influences: Technoid, dark-techno, techno-body.

Background/Info: Ethan Fawkes is already back on track, now joining hands together with Ötomo Trax (The Netherlands). This EP features 3 tracks plus a remix of the main cut (cf. “You Break The Balance”).

Content: “XXIX” saw Ethan Fawkes getting back to EBM although mixed with his dark-techno approach. “You Break The Balanced” is a song that will rapidly evoke Fixmer – McCarthy. There’s a similar techno-body approach plus vocal parts. The “Alternate Mix” sounds less polished accentuating the raw approach of the Belgian producer.

Both cuts left are somewhat different, but still interesting cuts to discover. Ethan Fawkes first experiments with a harder industrial-techno style while the last cut is more into his acid approach. Both cuts have been carried by a hard, beating kick.

+ + + : “You Break The Balance” is a real cool cut, which will appeal for all lovers of Fixmer/McCarthy. There’s a similar, efficient merge between EBM influences and raw techno vibes. I also like the unpolished production. Ethan Fawkes also explores the possibilities of techno- mixed with industrial music. It’s an interesting experience opening new perspectives for further releases.

– – – : “You Break The Balance” is a great song, but I’m convinced it could have been even better by somewhat more enraged vocals. This is the single aspect of the production I would improve and that’s maybe an interesting experience for a remix. Ethan Fawkes likes remixes so why not a remix mainly focuses on harder vocals?!

Conclusion: Ethan Fawkes has found the perfect balance between dark-techno and EBM. “You Break The Balance” is a dangerous dancefloor killer that will appeal to EBM freaks and techno lovers.

Best songs: “You Break The Balance”, “Yin”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.ethanfawkes.com / www.facebook.com/ethan.fawkes

Label: www.facebook.com/obscuurrecords

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: Minimal-electro, industrial-techno.

Background/Info: Rhys Fulber doesn’t need that much of an introduction. Long-time member of Frontline Assembly, involved over the years into bands like Delerium, Noise Unit, Will, Synaesthesia, Conjure One, Intermix ao, the Canadian sound guru has now achieved a new EP under his own name.

Content: If you’re a bit familiar with the Adam-X label Sonic Groove, you for sure get an idea what to expect. Rhys Fulber has composed 4 industrial dance-cuts. The opening track is quite FLA-like, but with this little techno-groovy touch on top.

Quite progressively the tracks become more technoid, but still minimal and always dark. “Realism” sounds like industrial-techno with some groovy dance kicks and several spoken samplings.

+ + + : After great names and sound architects such as Orphx, Monolith, Fixmer/McCarthy it’s now time for another famous artist from the dark-electronic scene to join hands together with Sonic Groove. Rhys Fulber remains a real genius when it comes to transposing sounds into a very own styled dimension. But I especially like the way he mixes electronic-minimalism and other EBM influences together with a dark, danceable technoid style. It’s a fascinating experiment resulting in four brilliant songs.

– – – : I didn’t hear any minus point on this release and I just hope that Rhys Fulber will go on with this intelligent industrial-techno format!

Conclusion: If you think that Rhys Fulber is just an electronic veteran without new ideas, you’re at damned fault! “Realism” is an intelligent and contemporary format mixing underground elements together with techno influences. Brilliant!

Best songs: “Abstraction”, “Reload”, “Effigy”, “Minsk Maschinen”.

Rate: (8½).

Band: www.facebook.com/rhys.fulber

Label: www.sonicgroove.com / www.facebook.com/Sonicgrooverecords

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

Terence Fixmer and Douglas J. McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb) are back on track unleashing one of their hardest and most industrial cuts ever. The new EP “Chemicals” released on Sonic Groove is a must have for all fans of minimal-techno & EBM. I got the opportunity to ask a few questions to both protagonists.

You can order several limited edition vinyls from Terence Fixmer right here.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: After a hiatus of several years, “Chemicals” is your second single in less than 2 years. How does it feel to be back again in studio? 

Douglas: Actually, we haven’t really been in the studio together much. A lot of the new material has been worked on remotely – me in LA and Terence in Europe. We have worked on songs whenever we’re playing shows, so a lot of ideas have literally been tried for the first time in front of an audience.

Terence: Strangely, the years have passed by fast, but in my head we have never really stopped, we are always in contact for one thing and other – to start to do the “So Many Lies”-EP and now “Chemcials” are just a normal flow without any strange feeling to ‘re-work’ on music.

Q: Do you notice some changes/evolution in the global writing and approach compared to the earlier work of F/M?

Douglas: We made a very conscious decision to return to a more aggressive and minimal approach similar to “Between The Devil…”, but I think there is a progression in terms of the sound and production that Terence now has.

Terence: The first album “Between The Devil…’ in 2003 was really instinctive and direct, and when we did the 2^nd album, “Into The Night”, we wanted to show another side of us, including more melodies, but I think we realized that the real fun for F/M is to be on stage, and when we played some melodic songs live, I feel like we wanted to be harder. It is not like we are bored but we like to deliver powerful music and to see Douglas running from left to right all the time!

Q: From a very personal point of view “Chemicals” is without a shadow of a doubt the rawest and maybe most ‘industrial’-like song you ever have written. What kind of song did you had in mind and tell us a bit more about the writing? 

Douglas: I agree. Terence sent me the baseline and I was immediately reminded of the mid 80’s when Nitzer Ebb first began doing shows in Spain, specifically in Valencia and Murcia on the South-Eastern coast. There was a club in Valencia called ‘Spook Factory’ that we’d go to after playing. It was pre acid-house but certainly an early version of what was later termed ‘Balearic Beats’. There was a penchant for having a drug capsule sticker on the back of your car, basically the same design as I did for the cover.

Terence: To me, it is just a direction or a sequence which could have been in our first album in terms of energy, and style. I don’t think it is a more industrial song but it is a really powerful sequences which maybe could become a classic F/M track such as “You Want It” or “Destroy”.

Q: The sound of F/M has been often described as EBM and techno-like, but I’m more interested to know your own perception about aspects like ‘sound creation’, ‘composition’, ‘equipment’, ‘production’ etc? 

Douglas: I think that analogy is a fair description. Terence is a prolific writer of baselines and other parts. He presents ideas to me and if I hear a vocal idea we continue with the track, if I don’t we choose another of his ideas. I record in LA if I am not able to be in Europe. Our approach to what particular style changes. After the melodic-ness of “Into The Night” we were in the mood for a change.

Terence: I work instinctively. I use some classic old analog machines coupled with some modern ones. In the end it is just about feelings and usually i really know when it will fit for F/M or for my solo work.

Also, I think with Douglas we both have  the same feelings about music with a common taste for underground music, and we both are really instinctive and direct, so actually it is never complicated with us, if it works it works for both at same time.

Q: So what makes the chemistry between Terence Fixmer and Douglas McCarthy and do you have a particular way working together?

Douglas: We are both extremely childish and have a really dumb sense of humor. We spend most of the time laughing and joking about pretty much everything. We do not take ourselves seriously at all. Fixmer/McCarthy is fun.

Terence: Totally true, we have the same level of stupidity (or maybe wisdom) so we understand each other really well.

Q: You both played at the biggest festivals and all kind of events so what makes the magic to move on playing live and what might the fans/audience expect from the next few shows? 

Douglas: We try to give a performance that inspires a reaction, even if it is one of curiosity. We’re never afraid to be ourselves and each show has differences based on how we are feeling the audience is, we seem to be able to win over a crowd.

Terence: What I like is to realize that we have an F/M fan base who really follow us and knows all our tracks. So of course we like to play those classics F/M tracks, but we always add the new ones, and unreleased ones. Sometimes we play unreleased ones, and people follow quite quickly the lyrics from Douglas and sing with him… then at this moment we know that it’s gonna be a good one to release.

Q: “Chemicals” is the first F/M production released on Sonic Groove. What incited you to join hands with Adam X and what are the further plans for F/M right now? 

Douglas: We’ve both known Adam for a long time. I first met him in New York before he moved to Berlin. He’s always a very positive guy with a lot of energy and drive. He saw us perform at Berghain last September and asked about releasing “Chemicals” and we thought it was a great idea. We definitely look forward to continuing to work together.

Terence: I know Adam for many many years, we both really understand, belong and play in the same scene. I know how deep he is into industrial, EBM and techno. Adam is one of the most true and passionate artist, he has been faithful to his sound and vision for decades so industrial, EBM and techno are his keys elements. As friend I always told him I’ll do something for him, and then I realize that he’d be really happy to have an F/M release on Sonic Groove, as he has always supported F/M and myself solo.. so it was obvious to do this release with him and it is a good match sonically.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Available now right here in a very limited quantity (50 copies to be exact) is the black vinyl (in a simple black vinyl-sleeve with hole) reissue of the Fixmer/McCarthy single “So many lies.

The single has the following tracks: A1 So Many Lies (Original Mix) 5:45, B1 So Many Lies (Instinct Mix) 4:53.

Here’s the video for “So Many Lies”.

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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Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas J. McCarthy returns with producer Terence Fixmer for a very limited edition vinyl only EP, “Chemicals” which is available right here (until end of stock).

The vinyl EP is the first official new release from the duo since the 2016 EP “So Many Lies” and the 2008 album “Into the Night”. The A side of this 3-track EP presents the title track “Chemicals” in two forms; the original version and an instrumental version. Side B continues with the track “Wrong Planet”.

The duo met when (in 2002) Mute records asked Terence to remix Nitzer Ebb. Fixmer/McCarthy launched their debut LP “Between The Devil…” in 2004.

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: Techno-body-music, minimal-EBM.

Background/Info: This is the meeting between one of the living legends of EBM (cf. Douglas McCarthy from Nitzer Ebb) and one of the pioneers of the so-called techno-body-music movement (cf. French producer Terence Fixmer). Both artists already released 2 full lengths and a few EP’s but their last work got released in 2008. So we might speak about a comeback!

Content: “So Many Lies” features 2 songs. The title-song is a rather typical Terence Fixmer composition getting us back to pure EBM-minimalism wrapped with dark-technoid vibes. The typical, repetitive loops are quite typical for this artist. And at the other side you get the charismatic and powerful vocals of Douglas McCarthy who hasn’t lost his magic sensation.

The B-side features the so-called “Instinct Mix”, which reveals a harder version. This is more into industrial elements making the original song rougher. The vocals have been produced in a more fragmented way.

+ + + : This is a cool song without a real surprise, but the biggest surprise for sure is the comeback of this successful duo. Fixmer is a mature and genius techno-body composer and McCarthy just one of the best vocalists of the EBM scene. I like the somewhat industrial mix on the B-side.

– – – : One song and one remix is not that exciting to speak about a real comeback, but let’s hope this is just a teaser for more new work.

Conclusion: The success formula of this duo is quite simple: you take one of the best EBM singers and a dark techno-body producer with a visionary approach. The result is a minimal, but reinvented EBM formula!

Best songs: So Many Lies – Instinct Mix”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.fixmermccarthy.com / www.facebook.com/FixmerMcCarthy-42966951729

Label: http://planeterouge.bandcamp.com / www.facebook.com/Planete–Rouge–records-105913342822974

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