Genre/Influences: Experimental, Minimal-Electro, Ambient.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Laurent Boudic has been involved with numerous projects, mainly dealing with Techno, EBM and related genres. He now strikes back under his own name, unleashing a first album of a series recorded between 2017 and 2021.

Content: Laurent Boudic invites us to join an Electronic universe, which is mainly mixing Experimental- and ambient music. It feels like a sonic trip constructed with vintage sound treatments. The experience has something evasive, but still pretty cold and rough. All tracks are instrumentals and without rhythm, accentuating the Ambient/Cinematographic effect.

+ + + : This Works sounds like emerging from a true sound laboratory. Analogue sound treatments will always have a different ‘sound color’ than when composed with digital synths. There’s a natural power and magic emerging, but you still need an experienced and talented operator who knows how to create sounds and noises. This album reminds me a bit of pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre, but with a very different production; this album sounds raw, cold and even unpolished. It’s a kind of Industrial interpretation of early electro-Ambient music.

– – – : This kind of production is definitely not the artist’s most accessible work; it’s not music for dancing, but for listening.

Conclusion: Laurent Boudic clearly seems like an artist who doesn’t like repeating himself. I’m wondering what the next album will sound like.

Best songs: “D/ubnium”, “B/eryllium”, “I/ndium”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist & Label: www.facebook.com/laurent.boudic

Listen to “Abstrakt Vol.1”:

About Laurent Boudic

Laurent Boudic is a French electronic musician active since the early 1980s, known for the Electro/EBM project Növö, the Intelligent Techno outlet Genetik System, the synthpop project CrashVox and the ambient/space electronica project x2Proton. As Növö, Boudic released the albums “The Shortwaves” and “Zeitgeist” on Alfa Matrix in 2014, preceded by the “I Flee” EP in 2013 and followed by the “The Shortwaves/Parallel” digital EP in 2016.

“Abstrakt Vol.1” is the first album Boudic released under his own name, recorded between 2017 and 2021 and issued through his own imprint, GenComProdukts International.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

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“Groupe 8​/​2 – Vertical” is the new download single (out now via Bandcamp) by the veteran electronic music artist Laurent Boudic aka Növö. The 7-track (!) download single is the follow-up to the already impressive 5th full length album “The Shortwaves”.

Next to the LP version of the title track, we get a remix by Flood Veyor, a rework by Commuter and Black Egg (Norma Loy) plus an extended remix executed by Növö. The whole is topped with an extended version of “Whisky Tango Romeo” and the exclusive non-album track entitled “115”.

Judge for yourself!

A trailer for the EP is also available:

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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The 51st track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by the Belgian electronic music project Növö, characterised by a sonic closeness to early-Front 242, Kraftwerk, Telex and other pioneering electro bands.

The man behind the Növö project is the electronic music pioneer Laurent Boudic who you might know from his other projects x2Proton, CrashVox and Genetik System which were launched in the late 80s. Boudic started his career in a synthetic Punk band before evolving to a more structured electronic sound. And between 1986 1990, he was an active part of the so-called “Electronic Body Music” movement working on several collaborations under different nicknames.

So far Növö has released 5 albums: “The Shortwaves” in 2016 (Alfa Matrix), “Zeitgeist” in 2014 (Alfa Matrix), “Architecture & Severity” & “Konztruktivizm 09 – The remixes”, both in 2009 (Alfa Matrix/GenComProdukts international/BlackMontanas) and “Konztruktivizm” in 2003 (PSI49NET). He also collaborated with other electronic artists such as Metroland, Black egg & many more. You can find more info on the band right here on Facebook.

Listen to “The Shortwaves” 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!

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Genre/Influences: Minimal-EBM, experimental.

Background/Info: Laurent Boudic earlier this year unleashed his new opus “The Shortwaves” featuring 11 pieces of electro analogue complexity and entirely dedicated to shortwave radio. I always have liked this artist for his creative writing, which often sounds as an antidote to contemporary electro clones emulating themselves.

This EP is meant as a kind of continuation to the album tracks. There are several remixes of the title track plus two new cuts as well.

Content: Among both new tracks I can be very clear and short. The cuts are in the purest tradition of Növö and the continuation of the last album. I especially recommend the song “Zero Zero” for the great sound treatments, which might appeal to the early ‘242’-fans.

The title song has been remixed as a “7” Edit” plus exposed to the remixing skills of Black Egg, Flood Veyor, Commuter and Amorphous.

+ + + : Növö remains a great experience in genre. I think it’s no longer necessary to confirm that analog equipment has much more of a magical impact on the listener simply because of the unique sound DNA. Laurent Boudic is one of the faithful adepts of this sound formula, but also invited artists sharing similar sound ‘values’ to remix the title track of this EP. I was impressed by the great and totally vintage sounding remix of Commuter, but also the more groovy transformation by Amorphous. Last, but not least I can also recommend one of both new cuts (cf. “Zero Zero”).

– – – : I expected a bit more out of some other remixes while the new song “Interfearence” is nothing less than a cool B-side track.

Conclusion: This EP sounds as a cool bonus to the full length album revealing a few noticeable cuts.

Best songs: “The Shortwaves – 7” Edit”, “The Shortwaves – Commuter Remix”, “Zero Zero”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.gencomprodukts.com / www.facebook.com/novomusik

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

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

Laurent Boudic is a kind of pioneer in electronic music although he’s not the most famous and recognized artist at the wider fields of EBM. While he was mainly dealing with different forms of techno music Növö definitely sounds more into good-old vintage EBM. It still sounds quite minimal and accomplished with a technoid flavor on top. I discovered this artist by some productions released on the American digital label Black Montanas. Növö finally joined the established Alfa Matrix to releases the latest albums. The newest brainchild is the album “The Shortwaves”, which will definitely appeal for lovers of analogue gear and the magic of old-styled electronics.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Can you briefly remind us the main facts from your artistic background and how did you get contaminated by the electronic-music virus?

Laurent: I started in the early 80’s by experimenting industrial electronic & concrete music, first in Belgium & then in France under different nicknames & collaborations. During the whole 90’s I got into intelligent techno & ambient music with projects such as Genetik System & x2Proton. Since year 2000 I’m essentially working on Növö.

I’ve been contaminated to the avant-garde electronic & industrial music essentially with bands such as Severed Heads, Throbbing Gristle, SPK or Suicide.

Q: You’re one of those artists with a real passion for analogue equipment. Where does this fascination comes from and what makes the magic of analogue equipment?

Laurent: From my childhood. In the 70’s, electronic music was already almost everywhere. On TV advertising, news & documentaries, movie soundtracks etc. This analogue sound really fascinated me forever.

But it’s not only the way how it sounds, it is also how do you interact with it. Working with vintage analogue equipment and its limitations is something that definitely opens the creativity.

There’s also something of magic in that sound. It is alive, warm and organic, the total opposite of the digital sound which is interesting in terms of sound synthesis but very cold and clinical in sound.

Q: What’s your opinion about the huge mass of bands using software and composing nearly all the same sound?

Laurent: To be frank I find it pretty sterile & boring. The same beats, almost the same sounds everywhere & the same way to create. I personally can’t conceive to create a musical piece with a mouse and a controller. I’m a musician so I must feel and play with the instrument, the equipment.

The music & creativity from today is pretty poor in general but it’s not necessary due to the technology, you know it’s just a tool. The main factor is the lack of audacity from these artists even though they doesn’t bear the entire responsibility. Indeed, the narrow-minded people buying the same records again & again without other interests are also responsible.

It’s becoming very hard to find artists that breaks the rules nowadays. Fortunately, there’s still some interesting people with interesting minds but not too many.

Q: You recently released your new album “The Shortwaves”. I experienced this album as more experimental than some of your previous work. What kind of album did you’ve in mind and how do we have to understand the result?

Laurent: You definitely right, “The Shortwaves” is more experimental, dark & lo-fi than the previous ones, except maybe for “Architecture & Severity”. I have to thanks Alfa-Matrix for taking risks. It’s definitely not a commercial album nor for people looking for standard electronic music even though some songs are more affordable (“Radio Peking”, “Operator”) & catchy (“Whisky Tango Romeo”, “The News” & “Groupe 8/2”).

I didn’t have and never had an album in mind during the process, it’s not the way I conceive creativity but rather a concept: to create a whole musical album entirely devoted to shortwave radio and spy numbers stations.

With “The Shortwaves”, the aim was not to use conventional structures but rather to break the rules & explore something else, something that first reflect the main concept, vocals included since they are used & treated as samples, then to form a kind of ‘musique concrete style’-soundscape all the way.

Q: The Alfa Matrix releases usually feature next to the regular album a limited edition (box) with an extra album. Why is it “The Shortwaves”-album has been only released as a ‘regular’ disc?

Laurent: Well, you have to know that the process was a bit long and painful. Two full years of very hard work, first by selecting and treating the huge material (AM Radio/noises/interferences samples) and then by creating the structures & sequences. After these 2 years I was very tired by the process and I couldn’t create anymore. As a result there was not enough material to fill a limited edition box. But now and after some rest I recently did some new tracks for the forthcoming EP’s…

Q: So you already have new plans and music in mind? What brings the future?

Laurent: For the moment I’m working exclusively on the videos & single EP’s. For a solo-project it’s a hard work as you guess, then I will see what the future brings to Növö.

You’ll get more news at http://www.gencomprodukts.com

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

Read the review of ‘The Shortwaves’.

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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The Belgian electronic act NÖVÖ – famous for bringing work that recalls early Front 242 – is preparing a brand new album for the Alfa Matrix label. “The shortwaves” album is now in its finale stage and it took Laurent Boudic 2 years to complete it. A released date is scheduled for June with videos to be launched as well to coincide with the album release.

This 5th NÖVÖ album will be the follow-up to the 2014 released “Zeitgeist” album, which you can stream below.

In further news, NÖVÖ finally has hit Facebook, you can find the electronic act right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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