Genre/Influences: Ethereal-Pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: “Love Decayed” is the debut album of the New-Yorker (USA) female artist New York multi-instrumentalist and producer Yasmin M. Haddad. She got a helping hand from a few guests featuring Chris Harms (Lord Of The Lost).

Content: I never heard of this project before and discovered an intriguing piece of sensual-ethereal Pop music. The songs are pretty minimal-like, composed with electronics plus guitar and violin. Yasmin M. Haddad is also taking care of the vocals which have something fragile and precious. Some songs are into a Ballad style while others are more into an evasive Electro-Pop approach reminding me of Hooverphonic.

+ + + : NightNight has something special and definitely different from established standards. It’s hard defining this project, but I experienced it as a kind of fragile-, sensual- and Ethereal-Pop format. It sounds minimal, sometimes a bit Electro-Wave like and also moving through melancholic passages. The addition of violin playing accentuates this melancholia with a deeply artistic touch. Last, but not least, the production of the vocals is also one of the album’s main characteristics.

– – – : NightNight is an original project but hard to label. So I’m really wondering which kind of audience NightNight will appeal to.

Conclusion: “Love Decayed” is an original, beautiful, sensible and fragile piece of music.

Best songs: “Down”, “Strange Dismay”, “Different”, “Leaves”.

Rate: 8.

Label: http://nocut.de / www.facebook.com/spvhannover

“Love Decayed” arrived on 28 January 2022 as a self-released digital album, with the CD following through NoCut and SPV later in 2022. The thirteen tracks are “Different”, “Leaves”, “Maybe It’s Too Late…”, “Ashes”, “On His Mind”, “Love Decayed”, “Little Sister”, “Somewhere Outside”, “Their Man”, “Strange Dismay”, “Down”, “Ugly” and “Untied”. Side-Line had already carried the video for ‘Leaves’ in January 2022.

Yasmin M. Haddad wrote every song and plays vocals, violin, guitar, synthesizers, drum machine and samples. Sylvia Massy co-produced ten tracks with Haddad at Studio Divine in Ashland, Oregon, and also plays drums and percussion on the title track. Chris Harms produced and engineered “Ashes” with Haddad and added instrumentation to it; that track was mixed by Benjamin Lawrenz at Chameleon Studios in Hamburg and mastered by Jeremy Cimeno. Joshua Lago adds guitar to “Their Man” and “Down”, Arista Illona adds vocals to “Different”, and Lisa Keane, Bill Murphey, Ivan Handwerk and Gabriel Lucas play auxiliary percussion on “Strange Dismay”. Marcel Fernandez mixed the remaining tracks and Stevie B mastered them. Sean Waple made the artwork.

Listen to “Love Decayed”:

About NightNight

NightNight is the project of American multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer Yasmin M. Haddad, who works between New York and Los Angeles. She writes all the material and plays vocals, violin, guitar, synthesizers, drum machine and samples herself, mixing ethereal pop, darkwave and post-punk.

“Love Decayed” is her first album under the name. It was recorded at Studio Divine in Ashland, Oregon, and at West Alley Recording in Los Angeles, with additional work at Chameleon Studios in Hamburg. Producer Sylvia Massy and Chris Harms of Lord Of The Lost are the two outside voices on the record.

The album was self-released digitally in January 2022 and then picked up for CD by NoCut and SPV, the German label group that also handles Eisfabrik. Side-Line covered the project first through the ‘Leaves’ video, and the review here followed in April 2022.

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

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

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Going online only? It was a no-brainer.

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

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

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

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

Pros: 

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

Cons: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Side-Line forum was the graveyard of subtleness…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have a very clean conscience.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Less is often more, also for magazines. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

(Photo by Serecki) In November, Luka Cruysberghs (20) learned through a Zoom conversation that she would be replaced as a singer at Hooverphonic by former singer Geike Arnaert (41). “A heavy blow,” she says in an interview adding that “the way in which it happened is what I continue to regret.”

For three years, Luka Cruysberghs was the face and voice of Hooverphonic. Former singer Geike Arnaert however approached Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts saying that she was interested in a comeback. Geike has been the face of the group for more than ten years (from 1997 to 2008). Cruysberghs was then told in a Zoom call by band members Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts that she would be replaced.

“I was told on 9 november 2020 I was fired and this via a Zoom session when I was on holiday in Portugal. It happened one hour before the media announcement was going to be published. I think that’s a shame: I worked with those people for three years, which is quite something. After the famous Zoom call, I had an hour to put something on Instagram myself.”

It’s not the first time the band is having a new singer as you can see below… former frontwomen included Esther Lybeert (1995–1996), Liesje Sadonius (1996–1997), Kyoko Baertsoen (1997), Noémie Wolfs (2010–2015) and now also Luka Cruysberghs (2018–2020). Below is the timeline. Along the way also Frank Duchêne (1995–1998) left the band.

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

Genre/Influences: Indie-Pop/Rock, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Bling Rodent is a Swedish project driven by a handful of musicians from prominent Swedish pop acts who came together to explore their darker sides. “Constant Smile” is the band’s debut work featuring four songs.

Content: It’s not that easy defining the sound of this band. It clearly reveals a darker atmosphere, the songs being dreamy-like. There’s a melancholic touch hanging over the songs, which have something Cinematographic-like. One of the songs (cf. “Desert Sidewalk”) reminds me a bit of Hooverphonic on a dark trip.

+ + + : Bling Rodent makes me think of Hooverphonic and that’s more than simply a reference, but they even go further. The dark side of the sound has something ghost-like and yet pretty accessible. There’s a perfect balance between guitar playing and electronics while the female fragile and yet passionate vocal parts have something magic on top of the production.

– – – : There’s maybe not an absolute hit featured here although “Desert Sidewalk” has a strong potential.

Conclusion: Bling Rodent is an interesting newcomer, composing a kind of dark Indie music. I’m really looking forward to hearing more from this band.

Best songs: “Desert Sidewalk”, “Constant Smile”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/blingrodent

Label: www.facebook.com/icycoldrecords

About Bling Rodent

Bling Rodent is a Swedish project formed by musicians from established Swedish pop acts, brought together to explore a darker musical direction than their main projects. “Constant Smile”, a four-track EP, is the band’s debut release, issued via Icy Cold Records in 2021.

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

The old line-up of Hooverphonic, with front singer Geike Arnaert, is back. The news was confirmed by the Belgian band.

The arrival of Geike also means the exit of singer Luka Cruysberghs, who met Alex Callier as coach of “The Voice”. “It’s a bit bittersweet for Luka, of course,” Callier realizes. “She is an excellent singer, without a doubt. We have traveled across Europe and the United States, and we have had many memorable moments together. We continue to support her with all our heart. Luka will get a solo single from Universal and if she wants to, I will of course continue to accompany her solo as well.”

A phone call about the twentieth anniversary of Hooverphonic’s most famous song, “Mad about you”, triggered Arnaert’s comeback, according to Alex Callier. “The split in 2008 was by no means hostile, although it has been suggested here and there. We were very sorry that she left the band. Geike wanted to make a solo album, and couldn’t combine that with the full-time job with the band.”

The rest is history so it seems. “We ran into each other. We started chatting. All three of us were eager to work together again, so we felt we had to do this”, the band explains in a press release. “It is still the core Hooverphonic, which is synonymous with the band for many people. It’s that simple.”

Tonight at midnight, “Mad About You” will be released in a new version, with the voice of Arnaert. Below is the original version.

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

One of Belgium’s finest electronica trademarks over the last decade, Antwerp-based Psy’Aviah aka Yves Schelpe returns with “Soul Searching”. The new album, expected for a November 1st release, was preceded by the “Dream Fever” download EP released in March this year.

The basic album (available here) will hold 12 tracks while there is also a limited 2CD set (available here) holding a 16-track bonus CD. And for the remixers amongst you all, there are 2 remix kits waiting for you as well once the album is released on Bandcamp.

Guest vocalists

The album itself features guest vocalists in the likes of Mari Kattman, Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic and Lunascape), Lis van den Akker, Ellia Bisker, Addie Nicole, Saydi Driggers, Alicia May, Roeland van der Velde, Marieke Lightband, Mark Bebb as well as psychiatrist Prof Dr. Dirk De Wachter speaking on the intro track “Becoming Human”.

First 2 tracks available

You can now listen to the first 2 tracks which have been made available from the album.

In case you missed the “Dream Fever” EP, as released in March, check it out below. Read the review of ‘Soul Searching’.

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

Genre/Influences: Trip-pop.

Background/Info: Phillipp Bückle (owner of Tarkovsky Green Records) and Karen Vogt (still involved with Heligoland) met in Paris and decided to work together. Bückle is a German musician and filmmaker while Vogt is an Australian musician based in Paris (France).

Content: “Before we rise” might appeal to lovers of Hooverphonic, Portishead and co. There clearly is a trip-pop inspired sound driven through the songs. The production has something minimal-like (especially at the opening cut), but still sensual through the slow rhythm and Karen Vogt’s timbre of voice.

+ + + : “Before We Rise” features 5 different songs and especially the first three are worthy of examination. First there’s the heavenly and emotional singing of Karen Vogt and next there’s this sensual melancholia emerging from the rhythms and the music arrangements.

– – – : Both last cuts are less inspired and not convincing at all.

Conclusion: Bückle / Vogt have created an intimate- and exciting work, which is an experience I hope they’ll renew.

Best songs: “Orange Blue”, “Before You Rise”, “Layers”.

Rate: (7).

Artists: www.facebook.com/philipp.bueckle /

 www.facebook.com/karenvogtmusic

Label: www.editionsfurioso.com / www.facebook.com/editionsfurioso

About Bückle / Vogt

Bückle / Vogt is the duo of German ambient musician Philipp Bückle and Australian musician Karen Vogt. Bückle, based in Dortmund, Germany, began releasing solo ambient work in 2015 with “Drawings”, “Sketches” and “Blanket For A Cold Seabed”, and curated the Tarkovsky Green label from 2011 to 2015. Vogt, based in Paris, has recorded with the band Heligoland since 1999.

“Before We Rise” (2019), released on Editions Furioso, was Bückle and Vogt’s first collaboration. Vogt went on to release solo albums including “I Just Want To Feel” (2020), “Now And Then, Again” (2022) and “Losing The Sea” (2023).

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: Trip-hop, indie-pop, ambient-pop.

Background/Info: This is a new formation featuring Athens based singer Martha Voulgari and Vienna based composer Theo Foinidis. They self-released this debut-album featuring 12 tracks.

Content: The least I can say is that this duo doesn’t deal with a cheap emulation of an electronic established music style and/or band. They’re clearly influences rapidly bring us back to trip-hop music, but the global production is more personal. It’s an intimate approach revealing the beautiful and sometimes sensual vocals of Marva mixed with a modest sonic composition. Some passages are into pure reverie and that’s why I call it ambient-pop music, but the dreamy passages are sometimes becoming dark like revealing an obscure side of the band.

+ + + : I remain a true supporter of intimate compositions and especially when featuring a singer with such a sensual timbre of voice. I sometimes get the feeling the music has been composed around the simple power and magic of the vocals. And that’s maybe why it feels that personal and intimate. But the music is also quite interesting for the refined treatments and cool effects. Last, but not least the album is packed in an original lenient artwork.

– – – : I can’t get away from the feeling this is the debut album of a new formation. I get the impression there’s much more potential in this duo than what came out of “Dream Within A       Dream”.

Conclusion: Marva Von Theo might possibly appeal to  fans of Hooverphonic, but the sound is darker and more personal. In the end it’s music to listen to and figure your own imaginary universe.

Best songs: “What Is It About Me You Love”, “Secret Lover”, “Dead In Berlin”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/marvavontheo

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

Hooverphonic has found a brand new frontwoman: 17-year old Luka Cruysberghs, the winner of The Voice Of Flanders 2018. Hooverphonic’s Alex Callier was also Cruysberghs’ coach in the TV program and sung the Hooverphonic track “Mad About You” in the finals.

Luka Cruysberghs will be replacing Noémie Wolfs who quit the band in 2015. Since the band formed in 1995 the duo Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts have had various frontwomen: Liesje Sadonius, Kyoko Bartsoen, Esther Lybeert and Geike Arnaert.

The band has also announced a brand new single: “Romantic”. You can watch an acoustic version of the new single below.

Here is the teaser for the official version.

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 58th track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by the popular Belgian electropop act Psy’Aviah here featuring Fallon Nieves (see the photo above).

The track we offer here is also featured on the band’s most recent “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars” album which sees Yves Schelpe collaborating with Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic, Lunascape), David Chamberlin (Entrzelle), Andrew Galucki, Alvin River, and many other artists. Over the years Psy’Aviah has gained a solid reputation offering strong songwriting and a slick production. You can connect with the band via their Facebook page.

Listen to “Not What I Expected (Feat. Fallon Nieves)” 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.

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

Genre/Influences: Dark-rock, gothic, cinematographic, ethereal.

Background/Info: The Gathering is a band, which doesn’t really need any further introduction. Hailing from The Netherlands they quickly became an established and renowned formation active inj the wider fields of gothic music. The Gathering always has been a kind of sonic chameleon experimenting with multiple influences. “Blueprints” only confirms this taste to experiment with different ideas, but it first of all is a real particular work. The work reveals 24 songs (demos & unreleased songs) that were originally written in between 2001 and 2005, which is a lapse of time covering the albums “Souvenirs” and “Home”.

Content: “Blueprints” is a versatile piece of work, which by the way still features singer Anneke van Giersbergen who left The Gathering around 2007. The songs move from dark-rock influences towards fuzzy, gothic driven cuts to cinematographic-like music, to delicious ethereal passages.

“Blueprints” sometimes sounds intimate, sometimes just like demo cuts, but always characterized by the input of varied influences.

There’s not that much difference between both discs, but I noticed some interesting cuts on the second disc, which even reminds me of Hooverphonic.

+ + + : The diversity of the work is for sure the main characteristic of this work and I think it was a real great idea to release this album. It reveals the prolific work of The Gathering, but with their attitude to only take the best cuts. You’ll easily notice that several tracks of this album are just little experiments resulting in several short instrumentals. But it also reveals a more film-like approach in their composition process. There are some great experiments and hidden treasures featured on “Blueprints” and I especially recommend the ethereal-like “A Noise Severe – Demo” and the film-minded “Box – Demo”. In a more sensual approach “A Life All Mine – Demo” is another attention grabber.

I also want to say a word about the informative booklet, which is giving you some info about each song of the album. It’s a great idea, which I’m sure will please all fans of the band.

– – – : I think it’s nearly impossible with such an album to get a few cuts with less substance because they were just little experiments that remained unaccomplished. I’m mainly referring to the instrumental cuts, which aren’t exactly the most successful part of the work.

Conclusion: The Gathering has exorcised some hidden songs and demos, which have been recovered from dust. It’s an interesting release and a perfect addition to the impressive discography of the band.

Best songs: “A Noise Severe – Demo”, “Box – Demo”, “A Life All Mine – Demo”, “Forgotten – Demo”, “Zion – Early ‘In between’ Version”, “The Intangible”.

Rate: (7½

Band: www.gathering.nl / www.facebook.com/thegatheringofficial

Label: www.psychonautrecords.com / www.facebook.com/psychonautrecords

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

Belgian singer Kyoko Baertsoen, who you will know from her work with Hooverphonic and as Lunascape will release her solo debut on March 8th, on International Women’s Day, simply titled “Kyoko”.

“Kyoko” counts 10 new songs which bring us back to her triphop-roots. The first single to be released from the album is “Wildest Rain”.

The material for this album was co-written with the producer/songwriter Jan De Block. The album was further completed together with guitarist Jo Mahieu; bassists Jan Detremerie and Vincent Pierins; songwriters Jim Colman (Jim Cole), Bert Wuyts, Patrick Hamilton and Kevin Strauwen; Uwe Teichert (mastering) and producer/musician Ronald Vanhuffel.

We have been listening to the album already and can only recommend it warmly. An interview will be published shortly.

Below is already a video trailer:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Out on November 11th is “Chasing The Speed Of Light” EP by the wellknown Belgian electropop act Psy’Aviah. Side-Line secured an exclusive stream of the 10-tracks available on the download version of the EP (note that this limited fan CD version has 7 extra tracks – it can be ordered right here). The EP features vocals by Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic, Lunascape), Lis van den Akker, Fallon Nieves and Mari Kattman (CD-version only).

The extended fan edition CD version also offers 2 previously unreleased club remixes by trance/dance producer Tim Iron for “Lessons from the Past” and “Last of Us”, plus a very early Psy’Aviah demo written back then under the Marion Xue moniker. Next to that you get 4 atmospheric recordings Yves Schelpe made back in 2002 as a soundtrack for a theatrical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic novel “The Portrait Of Dorian Grey”.

But here’s already the full 10-track download EP for you to listen to, exclusively on Side-Line!

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

Read the review of ‘Chasing The Speed Of Light’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Out in April, but ready for ordering on Bandcamp and here for the CD/2CD versions, is “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”, the brand new Psy’Aviah album. Alfa Matrix is now offering 4 tracks for streaming, which you can check below. The tracks included are the intimate “Looking Back (feat. David Chamberlin from Entrzelle), the pulsating “Lessons From The Past (feat. Mari Kattman)”, the what we expect to be an upcoming dance hit “Not What I Expected (feat. Fallon Nieves)” and “Wild Ride (feat. Miss FD)”, the latter has a very oriental touch as you’ll hear.

These days Psy’Aviah is basically the project around the multi-talented Belgian artist Yves Schelpe who has been gathering a varied range of singers around his songs including Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic, Lunascape), David Chamberlin (Entrzelle), Roeland van der Velde (Model Depose), Bernard Feron (MED, Combat Voice), Mari Kattman, Andrew Galucki, Alvin River, Pieter Van Vaerenbergh (Metafuzz, Zelon), Ellia Bisker (Sweet Soubrette), Miss FD, Addie Nicole (Halocine), Diana S. (Junksista) and Fallon Nieves.

Next to the normal CD version and the extended download version, the album also comes out as a limited deluxe 2CD carton box edition with a 14-track bonus CD holding album songs reinterpretations with a much more dancefloor techno / trance oriented approach. You an find the complete trackless of remixers right here.

Below is already the trailer for the album:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop & rock, dreamy-pop.

Background/Info: Francesca Lago is an Italian multi-instrumentalist and singer who already released a few productions, but on an irregular basis. She’s back on track unleashing an album featuring 10 new songs.

Content: When I hear the music of this work I can’t get away from making a comparison with Hooverphonic and Kyoko Baertsoen (one of the early singers of Hooverphonic and later on involved in Lunascape). There’s a sweet, sensual and charismatic timbre of voice, which is merged with a kind of dreamy-pop music. There’s a great balance between music and vocals. You now and then will notice a few harder and rock-inspired passages featuring guitar parts reminding me now to The B52’s and then to shoegaze.

The work reveals several beautiful songs touched with a melancholic flavor. The slow rhythm accentuates the sensual aspect of the work, but we also get a few harder cuts with more enraged vocals.

Francesca Lago got some help from a few contributors and I here like the beautiful passages of the cello reinforcing the melancholic touch of the work.

↑↑↑: there’s a noticeable and poignant dreamy aspect running through the work, which is joined by the magic of beautiful vocals.

↓↓↓: I was not as convinced by the harder element emerging from a few cuts, which inject some diversity although not really adding to the album.

Conclusion: This work is a sweet and elevating experience revealing a talented vocalist in harmony with beautiful song writing.

Best songs: “Dna”, “Out In The Blue”, “Where Do We Go”, “The Desert”.

Rate: (DP:7½)DP.

Band: www.francescalago.com / www.facebook.com/francescalago

Labels: www.urtovox.com / www.t3records.de / www.facebook.com/T3-Records-105364864720

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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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