Polish musician Kuba Włodarski set up Egoist around 2002/2003 as a solo Electro-Industrial music project. A self-released demo CD came to light in 2004, and was followed by live gigs. In 2008 Kuba had the pleasure to collaborate with ‘Jan Siuta Art Gallery’ in Krakow, which resulted in the “Phazes”-album; Industrial-Ambient music to accompany cycle of exhibitions: “Ritual, Rhythm, Harmony”. In 2020 the digital version of the album “Breaking Moment” got released by Slovak label Aliens Production and followed by a limited physical release in 2021. The album is clearly appealing for lovers of Canadian EBM reminding Front Line Assembly. The album is a well-crafted and sophisticated work. Recently the digital remix album “Phantoms” has been released on Aliens Production as well.  

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Egoist is an ‘older’ project, which has been reactivated, right? Can you tell us how you got involved with music and what kind of music/sound did you wanted to create with Egoist?

Kuba: Egoist is an old project indeed, but it was rather hibernated than abandoned… I was always involved in doing music, but even when I was working in some cooperative projects covering slightly different musical stylistics, I was always keeping Egoist in back of my mind, and was composing ‘Egoist’ songs –slowly but surely…

Q: Your sound is clearly driven by EBM influences reminding Front Line Assembly. What’s your perception of EBM and what’s the impact of Frontline Assembly and other sources of inspiration on your own music? How do you transpose these influences into an own sound?

Kuba: I always had a soft spot for Canadian Electro-Industrial music. Skinny Puppy, Numb, early Psyche and of course Front Line Assembly. What kept me interested, especially in Skinny Puppy and FLA, was the complexity of their sound, attention to almost every detail that emerges in the background, helping to create rich, evolving sonic atmospheres. As to the FLA –in my early stuff I might have been under too much influence regarding song structures, etc., it seems, however, that I managed to broke off that convention as you may hear in more recent songs.

I really appreciated, but was never too carried away by classic European EBM bands such as Front 242, DAF or Nitzer Ebb. I was always intrigued in more complex alternative ‘body’ music – like Haujobb, Gridlock as well as classic industrial acts.

Q: Tell us a bit more about the re-release of “Breaking Moment”, which was originally (self)-released in 2004 as an EP. And what can say about the extra songs?

Kuba: The self-released demo consisted of 5 original tracks and a remix of a Controlled Collapse song. It was received rather well by the audience and gave me opportunity for live shows. In 2005 I did a gig in Bratislava, during ‘Apocalyptic Visions’-festival, organized by Ryby (Peter Rybar) of Disharmony and Aliens Production label. During full European lockdown AD 2020 Peter contacted me and proposed releasing a full LP with tracks from my demo plus previously unpublished material. I collected songs that I thought were good enough to be released, Ryby took care of mastering and production side of things, and released it as both digital download and 13 track physical CD. I believe the extra songs are more mature, complex and showing an evolution in music I make.

Q: How do you see yourself as musician/producer? Do you’ve a specific way of working and are there specific references/criteria in the production work?

Kuba: I do not have a proper modus operandi when it comes to creating music. I try to combine the most convenient benefits of hardware synths, drum machines, samplers, whatnot and the overwhelming power of computer equipment used for musical purposes nowadays. I’m certainly not a big fan of mixing and music production in general, as I find it much less interesting than the creative process, such as sound sculpting, arranging, etc.

If you ask about the compositional process -it varies, sometimes I have a general outline of the main theme and structure of the piece or just fragments of the melody lines around which I arrange the whole song. Sometimes interesting ideas emerge during jam sessions to be developed later during work in D(igital)A(udio)W(orkstation).

Q: There’s a new album (or EP) out now featuring two new songs and an impressive list of remixes. Tell us a bit more about the writing of the title song “Phantoms”? What do you think about the remixes? Any favorite ones?

Kuba: Remixes are intentionally of different, bar electronic, stylistics, as it shows how much one can make with the same source track. It is a very interesting experience to find out what parts of the original song were most appealing to remixers, and how they transformed it, picking up different ‘start points’ and approaches.

If I had to choose my favorite remix –I think it would be Tomtylor’s one or a dancefloor killer by Procesor Plus.

Q: What are your further plans about new productions, live shows, remixes and eventually side-activities?    

Kuba: I did remixes for well known Polish alternative artists, i.e.: Agressiva 69 and Clicks. Right now I am finishing a thing for legendary polish Post-Punk formation 1984. I am also preparing EGOIST live shows, which will start at the end of 2021 at ‘Energia Dzwieku’-festival in Wroclaw, alongside Frett, Liebknecht and Haujobb, as well as trying to find time and energy to finish an EP of my side-project Brud.

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: Krautrock, Cinematographic, Experimental.

Format: Digital, Vinyl.

Background/Info: You for sure remember Gridlock, which was featuring Mike Cadoo. After the split of this duo, Cadoo focused on his solo-project Bitcrush. Most of the works were released on his own label n5MD. It’s already a while ago we heard new stuff from Bitcrush, but Mike Cadoo released two new tracks on Ant-Zen.

Content: Both songs are definitely appealing to Krautrock; instrumental edits with Psychedelic guitar playing and achieved with electronic treatments. There also is a strong Cinematographic feeling emerging from the composition, which comes mainly through on the title song.

+ + + : It’s good to see Bitcrush back on track and releasing new material on Ant-Zen definitely is a way to gain a wider audience. I like the title song for its fusion between all the different influences; kind of Cinematographic-Krautrock experience.

– – – : Two songs isn’t that enough to speak about a major release. The B-side track (cf. “On Infinite”) is just fine, but nothing more.

Conclusion: Bitcrush strikes back appealing a diversified audience, which moves in between Krautrock and Cinematographic music.

Best songs: “Dead Corners”.

Rate: 6½.

Artist: www.bitcrish.net / www.facebook.com/haveyoulostyourway

Label: www.ant-zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official

About Bitcrush

Bitcrush is the solo project of American musician Mike Cadoo, based in Oakland, California. Cadoo was one half of the IDM duo Gridlock with Mike Wells, and also records as Dryft. He runs the label n5MD, which releases electronic music alongside shoegaze, post-rock, IDM and electro-acoustic material.

Where Gridlock and Dryft worked with harder post-industrial material, Bitcrush combines live instrumentation with glitch-based electronic production. The project debuted with “Enarc” in 2004, followed by “Shimmer And Fade” in 2005, “In Distance” in 2006, “Epilogue In Waves” in 2008, “From Arcs To Embers” and “Of Embers” in 2010, and “Collapse” in 2012. Cadoo then self-released the compilation “Shipwrecked” and the set “From Sinking” in 2015, and “Palms” in 2020.

Two months before this single, Side-Line reported that Cadoo had revived his other project in n5MD owner-operator and ex-Gridlock member Mike Cadoo aka Dryft returns with ‘From Stasis’, released on vinyl in October 2021. “Dead Corners” is his first Bitcrush material for Ant-Zen.

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

Excellent news from Oakland, California as n5MD owner-operator and ex-Gridlock member Mike Cadoo returns as Dryft by way of the forthcoming album “From Stasis”. The release was mastered by Blau Studio’s E.Pozzolini.

The 5-track album “From Stasis” is out on October 22nd and can be preordered on grey with black marble vinyl now at n5MD’s Bandcamp.

Mike: “‘From Stasis’ is a deep dive into post-industrial soundscapes and grittily compressed beat work, which I hinted at via my previous Dryft albums.”

n5MD is an independent record label based in Oakland, California . The label primarily releases electronic music which focuses more on melody and emotion but also now releases music in compatible genres such as shoegaze, post-rock, IDM and electro-acoustic. Mike Cadoo has been recording under the names Bitcrush and Dryft and was a member of Gridlock and Under.

You can check the opening track of the release below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Out in a few days is “Carnage”, the all new album by Stendeck, an artist based in Lugano, Switzerland. Stendeck ala Alessandro Zampieri released a number of albums on Geska Records and Tympanik Audio but the project didn’t release anything new since 2015.

Zampieri is a classically trained pianist and formed Stendeck in 1999 as part of a growing interest in electronic music. In 2002 he made his first demo album, “A crash into another world” which was followed by the 2005 album “Can you hear my call” on Geska Records in a mastering by Mike Wells of Gridlock. After the release of “Faces” in 2007, also on Geska Records, Stendeck switched to Tympanik Audio for his next album, “Sonnambula” (2009). Two more releases followed, “Scintilla” (2011) and “Folgor” (2015), after which the project hibernated.

Featured on this all new album are vocals of Kristi Lyn Scaccia and the voices of the ‘Les Voix Obscures’ choir. The album is out as a double vinyl (in a limited edition of just 200 copies) and on CD.

Here’s the video for the excellent track “Somewhere nobody knows”. Read the review of ‘Carnage’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

The last album by the ArtOfFact signed act Dead When I Found Her, “All The Way Down”, was such a great release (and so thought many of you as the 2CD edition of the album sold out in less than a month – that’s 500 units) that we absolutely wanted to know what this musician’s musical Top 5 were.

And although he already cited bands such as Haujobb, Skinny Puppy, Mentallo & The Fixer, Doubting Thomas and Gridlock on his Facebook page, there is way more to discover in this absolute TOP 5 from Dead When I Found Her.

Here’s a Top 5 best of from Dead When I Found Her, the solo project by Portland (Oregon) based musician Michael Arthur Holloway. The 1CD version is still available directly from the band’s label, if you haven’t yet picked this one up, do it now.

1. Haujobb – “Blendwerk”

Michael Arthur Holloway: “Lyrics about Ice Cream, didn’t Skinny Puppy already do that on their last album? There must be some new connection between our venerable industrial elders and every kid’s favorite treat, because this can’t be coincidence…

Ok, it probably is coincidence. Anyway, this album is infectious from start to finish. Slick production, precision-honed analog synths, aggressive yet understated vocals (Daniel Meyer has become a master of this approach), and an overall cohesion from track to track this is enviable. A deeply satisfying Haujobb release, and one of their best.”

A white vinyl 2LP version off this album is available right here.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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