The Brussels-based Spleen+ label (a division of Alfa Matrix) has prepared a deluxe 7CD collector’s edition – “Resurgence” – which brings together 133 active bands from across the globe, spanning the diverse sub-genres born from post-punk’s iconic roots. You can order it now from the Alfa Matrix webstore and in digital download format from Bandcamp.

The release comes housed in a luxurious vinyl-sized box, and comes accompanied by a 28-page book. The book holds interviews from renowned producers like John Fryer and Jean-Marc Lederman, label managers, journalists, and iconic artists (including Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, William Faith, No More, Skeletal Family, Mona Mur, KaS Product, And Also The Trees, Clan Of Xymox, Attrition, Das Ich, Merciful Nuns, The Names, The Breath Of Life, etc).

Spanning 23 different nationalities, the music included is a genre-spanning mix of post-punk, cold wave, dark synth, ethereal, and minimal EBM with such bands like Boy Harsher, A Cloud Of Ravens, No More, Skeletal Family, Collection D’Arnell Andrea, Underviewer, Attrition, Merciful Nuns, Lederman/De Meyer, Local Suicide & Sekelesys, Star Industry, Ataraxia, Czarina, Helalyn Flowers, Ascii.Disko, Je T’Aime, The Ultimate Dreamers, Lycia, Opera Multi Steel, The Breath Of Life, Auger, The Names, Whispers In The Shadow, Lovelorn Dolls, Astari Nite, Chiasm, Saigon Blue Rain, Omnimar, Still Patient, Creux Lies, Golden Apes, and many more.

You can already check out a few tracks here.

Apart from the 7CD vinyl size deluxe carton box format, “Resurgence” will not be available on mainstream digital platforms, except exclusively via the label’s Bandcamp page.

There is also a special combi pack including the 7CD set plus Darkness On Demand’s “Panic In Reserve” CD and To Avoid’s “All Gods Are Gone” 2CD.

“Resurgence” Tracklist

Cd 1

1. Bestial Mouths . Hex (The Spell)
2. A Cloud Of Ravens . Parable
3. Boy Harsher . Give Me A Reason
4. Czarina . Wonderland
5. Collection D’arnell Andrea . Waiting For Meaulnes
6. Krystal System . La Lame Dans Ta Main
7. Je T’aime . Out Of Sight
8. Aeon Rings . Fully Operational
9. The Ultimate Dreamers . Polarized
10. Partikul . Nothing Good In Me
11. Cosmobrigade . Spacepit
12. Aeon Sable . From Witchcraft To Deviltry
13. Stereoskop . Deep Down
14. The Breath Of Life . Slowly Crushing
15. Faust Project . Rats Lullaby
16. Al . Mistake
17. N.E.L. & J.P . Desinteresse
18. Zeitgeist Zero . Scream
19. Voyna . Moulding Heart

Cd 2

1. Blackbook . You Are Strange
2. Auger . My Heart Is Glass
3. Dekad . A Deadly Show (Video Edit)
4. Love In Cage . A Logical Secret Collection
5. Helalyn Flowers . Halos
6. Soft Scent . No Wounds
7. Sweet Ermengarde . Sweet Sacrifice
8. Martin Dupont . Bent At The Window (2023)
9. The Names . Far From The Factories
10. Boxes Of Blow . Melting Faces
11. Mirror Of Haze Feat. Primitive Heart . Reckless
12. A Slice Of Life . Seven Days
13. Then Comes Silence . Pretty Creatures
14. Nite . Inside Of My Head
15. Astari Nite . Bowie In Daydreams
16. Korus . Złote Światło Pierwszego Zachodu
17. Lovelorn Dolls . A Heart Cries
18. Whispers In The Shadow . Revenants
19. Merciful Nuns . Oneironauts

Cd 3

1. Lederman – De Meyer . Heartbeat
2. Local Suicide & Skelesys . Surface Of The Sun (Radio Edit)
3. Punx Soundcheck Feat. Ascii.Disko & Princess Superstar . Gasoline
4. No More . Sleepers And Trains
5. Mitra Mitra . Memories For Company
6. A Copy For Collapse Feat. Simona Pietrucci . Faded
7. Alien Skin . Depress Me
8. White Mansion . Cancel The Sky
9. Apnoie . Splash Your Bile
10. Celluloide . Compte Les Ombres
11. Risk Risk . Streetwalk
12. Total Chroma . Northern Lights
13. Opera Multi Steel . À Nos Moments Perdus
14. Lycia . Simpler Times
15. Noemi Aurora . Blood As Lipstick
16. Novus . Ess
17. I Ya Toyah . Death’s Kiss
18. Katcross . Rest
19. Winter Severity Index . Speak To Me

Cd 4

1. Systeme Paradoxe . Comme Le Sable En Hiver
2. Aiboforcen . Break The Black Ice (Original Mix)
3. Chiasm . Cut Right Through (Emileigh Rohn Edit)
4. Saigon Blue Rain . Dolls Dresses
5. Her Own World . Mistrust
6. Still Patient Feat. Minu-Schirin Samimi . Blind Vision
7. Creux Lies . Playtime
8. Der Klinke . Curtains (Your Life On Hold Remix)
9. On The Floor . Crying On The Dancefloor
10. Numa Echos Feat. Red Zebra . Waisted Items
11. Factheory . The Day (Ok Lion! Mix – Short Version)
12. Antiflvx . Crystal
13. Flor Concreta . She’s Closer
14. Golden Apes . Ash Trees
15. Glis . Blue Sky Night
16. Ataraxia . The Source
17. Hanging Freud . Grooming
18. Ok Lion! . Get Away
19. Yuzna . Queen Of The Eels

Cd 5

1. The Breath Of Life Feat. Implant . The Last Record
2. The Halo Trees . Happy Man
3. Palm Ghosts . Tilt
4. Your Life On Hold . Imprisoned (Merciless Radio Edit)
5. Götterdämmerung . Common Existence
6. Jenni Sex . Sin Chimes
7. Denner . She Radiates Darkness
8. Imjudas . I Love You
9. Black Needle Noise . Dollhouse On Fire
10. Dead Souls Rising . Dysmorphobia
11. The Waning Moon . Annabel
12. Korinthians . Leader Of The Night
13. Elektrostaub Feat. Stefan Netschio . Mantis (Auger Remix)
14. Omnimar . The Matrix
15. Synapsyche Feat. Chris Harms (Lord Of The Lost) . The Last Dying Flame
16. Dance My Darling . Criminal
17. First Aid 4 Souls Feat. Emke Of Black Nail Cabaret . Das Messer
18. Supernova 1006 . Tell Your Name (Mix)
19. Suicidal Romance . Runaways

Cd 6

1. Ascii.Disko . Loslassen
2. Vioflesh . Emotions
3. Dina Summer . Who Am I (Club Version)
4. Pleasure Victim . Rascheln
5. Pink Opake . Pronta
6. Thewalkingicon . The Trail (Radio Edit)
7. Psy’aviah Feat. Sorrow Stories . Healing
8. Seasurfer . Collapsing
9. Lakeside X . Fire In The Sky (Radio Version)
10. Darkness On Demand . Hang On (Winterhart Remix)
11. Star Industry . Selling Icons (The Dreamside Remix)
12. Alphavox . Dark Satellite
13. Yama Uba . Shapes
14. Lifeless Past . Anxiety
15. Pink Turns Blue . Not Gonna Take It
16. Social Union . Waiting For Red
17. Sine . Until (Clan Of Xymox Remix)
18. Sorry, Heels . She Burns (We Burn) Version
19. Lights A.M . Clouds

Cd 7

1. Useless/You . Echo
2. Attrition . The Great Derailer
3. Children Of Zeal . Taking Over
4. Octolab . Friend Or Foe
5. Vague Phonique . The Last Man
6. Midnight Poetry . Black Hole
7. The Overlookers . Undercover (Edit)
8. La Machine . Vamos A La Playa (Radiomix)
9. Die Sexual . House Of God
10. Carrellee . Morning Sun
11. Underviewer . Was Soll Ich Tun (Aiboforcen Remix)
12. Night In Athens . Words Unspoken
13. Neila Invo . Alienation
14. Skeletal Family . My Own Redemption
15. The Murder Mystery . A Girl Named Red
16. Princess Ugly . For A Moment I Forgot The Desolation
17. Instant Lake . Ivory Dreams
18. Vision Video . Balaclava Kiss
19. La Scaltra . Dancing On Debris

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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Celebrating its 30th year, Audioglobe, the most important distributor in the darkwave scene, just shared a statistical review, revealing the shifts and trends in the darkwave (and related) music genre.

Our readers will surely remember that we have reported on these stats for years, until 2018, the first year that Audioglobe didn’t communicate these stats. Sebastian Koch from Audioglobe explains: “Some customers never really cared that much about these, as they have better things to do than reading boring mails from the undersigned. But… Surprisingly there are quite a high number of customers, that sort of ‘complained’ about the fact, that no stats were being done any longer… The reason is: I was simply always far too busy in past years. Anyway: Here we go with the first new stats since 2017!”

So here are some export facts.

Top 10 Bestselling Labels of 2023 (export)

1. FABRIKA/DEAD SCARLET
   • She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, M!R!M, Doric…
2. METROPOLIS
   • Birthday Massacre, Delerium, Front Line Assembly, A Projection, KMFDM, Legendary P.D…
3. ICY COLD/MANIC DEPR.
   • Twin Tribes, Je T’aime, Traitrs, Kill Shelter, Closed Mouth, Talk to Her, Schonwald…
4. ALFA MATRIX
   • Alien Vampires, Front 242, Metroland, Die Robo Sapiens, Elm, 808 Dot Pop, Helalyn Flowers…
5. RUSTBLADE
   • Claudio Simonetti, Ennio Morricone, Lycia Lunch, Spiritual Front, Ketvector, Legendary Pink D…
6. OUT OF LINE
   • Blutengel, Hocico, Solitary Experiments, Suicide Commando, Signal Aout42, Erdling…
7. TRISOL
   • Sopor Aeternus, Rome, Clan of Xymox, Asp, Ostara, Skinflicks, Nachtmahr, Mantus, Soman…
8. DEPENDENT
   • Kirlian Camera, Girls Under Glass, Spectra*Paris, Mildreda, Black Nail Cabaret, Beborn Beton…
9. ARTOFFACT
   • Actors, Noise Unit, cEvin Key, Kaelan Mikla, Ploho, Sacred Skin, Kauan, Ken Mode, Spectres…
10. AUERBACH
    • Spiritual Front, Sol Invictus, Tenhi, Moon and the Night Spirit, Haavard, Hekate, Orplid…

Best Export Territories of 2023

If we look at the Audioglobe stats, we notice that Germany and Greece remain the company’s strongest markets, continuing a trend that has been consistent for ages. However, the 2023 statistics reveal some notable shifts.

Canada, once a prominent market for Audioglobe, has surprisingly disappeared from the export landscape. In contrast, the United States and the United Kingdom have re-emerged as significant territories, marking their return to prominence in the darkwave music scene after several years.

The most unexpected development in 2023 is the rise of Australia as a key market. This growth stands in stark contrast to Switzerland, which, despite its affluence, has seen a sharp decline in sales. Sebastian Koch adds: “The (by far!) lowest sales of all countries where we export to, was to Switzerland… The rich Swiss don’t buy records! Since I left the country (1990), something is wrong back home!”

Here is the top 10 list of export territories:

1. Germany
2. Greece
3. Netherlands
4. Portugal
5. USA
6. United Kingdom
7. Australia
8. Spain
9. Russia
10. Poland

Not in the top 10, but France, Japan, Malta, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, and Perù are also good export territories for Audioglobe.

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 on December 15 are 3 vinyl reissues of the Lycia album “The Burning Circle and then Dust”. Each vinyl edition is limited to strictly 100 copies only on black, 200 on gold and 200 on neon orange triple vinyl, coming inside a deluxe tri-fold gatefold sleeve.

Apart from the vinyl the album also gets reissued regular double-CD digipak editon. The double-CD and also the vinyl versions contain all the original tracks.

“The Burning Circle and Then Dust” is Lycia’s fourth studio recording, originally released on double CD via Projekt Records in 1995. Save for a very small CD re-release in 2006 by Silber Records, the album has never been reissued since – and never before on vinyl.

Mike VanPortfleet himself commented: “After several years of doing more synth oriented material I wanted a return to my guitar roots (in particular English post punk and 4AD). Lycia started as a guitar based band and I wanted to reaffirm that with disc one, which was originally going to be the release. I was also listening to a lot of shoegaze then, which inspired a return of making the guitars, as opposed to the synths, the focal point of the atmospherics.”

The album also marked the first collaborations between Mike VanPortfleet & Lycia members David Galas & Tara Vanflower.

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 via Avantgarde on March 4th is the newest Lycia single “Simpler Times”/”A far away Place”, which is being released as a 7 inch single in 2 different formats, one in babypink & black (300 copies), and pure black (200 copies).

The single comes less than a year after the “Casa Luna” EP. Here’s what Mike VanPortfleet says about this single: “After John Fair and I revived “Except” and “Galatea” for Casa Luna it stirred up quite a bit of nostalgia in me. John and I started working together in 1982 and he was my main collaborator throughout the 1980s. Back then our goals were to write songs in the post-punk and synth styles of the time. After Casa Luna, John and I discussed reviving additional old songs, but decided instead to write a couple new songs in the same way we worked back then. So we kept it a bit more minimal and tried to create in the same way we did back then. We tried this a couple times in the past with the Dust sessions in 1994 and Empty Space in 1999 and it didn’t work, with both sounding more in sync with the time they were created. When John rejoined the band on “In Flickers” (2018) we collaborated on “A Failure” and “Mist”, and those two songs really recaptured the spirit of the way we worked and wrote back then. Which then led to our remakes of “Except” and “Galatea” for Casa Luna and then to these two new songs.”

Check out the teaser 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 later this Spring in 2 limited editions of bottle green and black double vinyl is “A Day In The Stark Corner”, the second studio album by darkwave masters Lycia (or the third if you also count the “Wake” EP. Originally released on Projekt in late 1993 the album never received a vinyl treatment until today.

At the moment of recording this album the band was solely Mike VanPortfleet on vocals and instruments. Additional mixing was done by Project Records label boss Sam Rosenthal.

When asked about his thoughts on this reissue, Mike VanPortfleet says: “It’s hard for me to describe A Day In The Stark Corner. It’s a release that came from a difficult space. Dark albums usually come from dark times, and for Stark Corner that was definitely the case. I was in the midst of an existential meltdown (and one fueled by excessive substance use) and while recording it felt as though this would be the last Lycia album, and the last I’d ever sing.”

Below is a visual of both versions.

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 Swedish duo Ison formed in Gothenburg in 2015 to produce space-themed downtempo music. In late 2020 Heike Langhans left the band and Daniel Änghede continued by himself. Out on June 26th is Ison’s first album “Aurora” but this time without Heike Langhans. The release comes two years after the release of “Inner-Space”.

Daniel Änghede explains: “After Heike Langhans left the band in late 2019 the future of Ison was unsure, but it didn’t take long before I was feeling the urge to write again, and I decided to continue as a solo artist. I spent the entire 2020 writing and recording what would later evolve into my most ambitious album to date! I knew from the start that I wanted to invite friends and vocalists I admire to sing on the album, rather than finding a permanent vocalist, and it gave the songs their own unique vibe. It is by far the most diverse and emotional Ison album I have written so far. This is the result of manifestation and channeling and my aim with this album is to try to mend and calm the listener. It should be played in sequence from start to finish and it was made for listening in headphones with your eyes closed.”

The new 4th album comes in a limited edition of 300 copies on white vinyl and on a CD edition limited to 450 copies. It features guest vocals by Sylvaine, Cammie Gilbert (Oceans Of Slumber), Tara Van Flower (Lycia), Vila, Carline Van Roos (Lethian Dreams), Gogo Melone (Aeonian Sorrow), Circle & Wind and Lisa Cuthbert. Additional bass was delivered by Niklas Sandin (Katatonia), additional Synths By Mark Furnevall (Venus Principle/Ex Crippled Black Phoenix).

Check out the Video for the album track “Jupiter” featuring guest vocalist Vila.

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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After the recent re-release of “Ionia” on Vinyl, which became Audioglobe exports’ bestselling vinyl in 2021 so far, the darkwave cult act Lycia returns with a follow-up to 2018’s “In Flickers” in 4 versions. “Casa Luna” will be released as a black, purple with black and as a galaxy pink with purple 10” (all in very limited quantities). The 4th version is a limited print of 500 digipak CD copies.

Casa Luna features re-recordings of a couple of John Fair and Mike VanPortfleet-written early synth-based songs (“Except” and “Galatea”) from 1989, previously only heard in rough demo form. The EP also revisits an interest in Spanish/Flamenco styles previously explored by Mike VanPortfleet and John Fair in 1983. The release comes via Avantgarde Music who also brought the 1991 debut full-length “Ionia” to a vinyl edition for the first time in early 2021.

The release was not planned at first so Mike VanPortfleet explains: “In Flickers and Casa Luna are Lycia’s purest releases. Originally planned as a split 7” with the song “A quiet Way to go”, as more songs were written they evolved to an EP.”

Formed in Tempe, Arizona (USA), in 1988 by Mike VanPortfleet, Lycia were pioneer in the darkwave genre. Lycia’s current lineup consists of John Fair, David Galas, Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet, who has been the only constant member since the band’s formation.

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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US pioneers Lycia have been a landmark for the whole darkwave and gothic scene since their inception in 1988 and releasing such cult albums like “A Day in the Stark Corner” (1993), “Cold” (1996) and many more.

And this year the band is re-releasing their first studio album, “Ionia”, celebrating its thirtieth birthday in 2021, on vinyl. Originally released on September 3rd 1991 on Projekt Records, “Ionia” has been out of print for almost a quarter of a century, until a CD re-release appeared in 2017 (current deleted, but soon available again on Projekt).

The album will now be released for the first time on double vinyl in two different colored versions. Recorded from February to June 1991 on 4 track cassette, this vinyl reissue will come to wax in a completely remastered version (courtesy Martin Bowes/Attrition), specifically thought for this 2LP edition.

The two versions will be a red & black 2LP (250 copies) and a 3-coloured red, black & white splattered vinyl (250 copies).

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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With “Tim, where are you now?” Projekt Records releases a tribute album to Timothy Leary who was born 100 years ago on October 22nd.

The album’s 13 tracks contain 4 spoken word trips with text excerpted and cut-up from Tim’s first LSD and DMT experiences chronicled in his 1968 book “High Priest”. The album features the music of: Sam Rosenthal, Steve Roach, Erik Wøllo, Mark Seelig, Forrest Fang, Byron Metcalf, Henrik Meierkord, Brian Parnham, theAdelaidean, Ryan Lum & Anji Bee (Love Spirals), Brian Viglione (The Dresden Dolls), Martin Bowes (Attrition), Jarguna, Nathan Youngblood and Mike VanPortfeet (Lycia).

The tracks:

Timothy… Who?

Most readers probably don’t have a clue who Timothy Leary was. So here’s a small round-up of his career.

Timothy Leary was an American psychologist and writer known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. As a clinical psychologist at Harvard University, Leary worked on the Harvard Psilocybin Project from 1960–62 (LSD and psilocybin were still legal in the United States at the time), resulting in the Concord Prison Experiment and the Marsh Chapel Experiment.

Leary believed that LSD showed potential for therapeutic use in psychiatry. He used LSD himself and developed a philosophy of mind expansion and personal truth through LSD.

The scientific legitimacy and ethics of his research were questioned by other Harvard faculties because he took psychedelics along with research subjects and pressured students to join in. As a result Leary and his colleague, Richard Alpert (who later became known as Ram Dass), were fired from Harvard University in May 1963.

After leaving Harvard, he continued to publicly promote the use of psychedelic drugs and became a well-known figure of the counterculture of the 1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was arrested often enough to see the inside of 36 prisons worldwide. Nevertheless he was embraced by people from the music scene and worked with several artists including German Krautrock act Ash Ra Tempel, and so on.

Leary continued to take drugs frequently in private, but stayed away from proselytizing psychedelics. Instead, he preached about space colonization and extension of the human lifespan. He died in May 1996.

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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For their upcoming release of the “Planet of Me” EP, Audra have covered the Depeche Mode song “Dreaming of me”, and the version is rather good to be honest. The EP is the band’s 3rd single from “Dear Tired Friends”. The title track comes along with 3 previously unreleased B-sides: the aforementioned cover of Depeche Mode’s 1981 single “Dreaming of Me” and 2 versions of “Falling” – one reimagined by Lycia and the other by Unto Ashes.

Note that the cover for “Dreaming of Me” was commissioned by Indiegogo supporter Greg Watkins-Colwell. Good choice Greg!

You can check the cover below.

Formed in 1991 by Chicago-raised brothers Bart and Bret Helm, the band released 2 albums with Projekt Records in the early 2000s. 2009 saw the release of “Everything Changes” while their 4th LP “Dear Tired Friends” hit the racks in Aug 2019.

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 now is “Wish No Harm”, the first new Audra song released in 10 years, and also the first single from the upcoming fourth album “Dear Tired Friends”.

“Dear Tired Friends” will feature 10 songs with a guest appearance by Mike VanPortfleet of Lycia on the song “Planet of Me”. The album was recorded and mixed by Joshua Rozenboom and mastered at The Cage Studios in Coventry, England by Martin Bowes of the band Attrition.

The tentative release date for Audra’s newest studio album is August 23, 2019 and will be available in the following formats: Black Vinyl, Clear Vinyl, CD and digitally.

Here’s the first single: “Wish No Harm “.

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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American darkwave pioneers Lycia (a Side-Line favourite for years already!) returns to Projekt for the 4th release of their second era. Side-Line can now exclusively premiere the track “The song is Autumn Into Winter”, which was originally prepped by David Galas for the band’s 1996 “Cold” album but never completed. Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet finished it off and it is the closing piece on the new album.

Lycia formed in 1988 and released 7 albums on Projekt between 1991-2002. After several lost and unproductive years, a second era began in 2010 with “Fifth Sun”, followed by “Quiet Moments” (2013), and “A Line That Connects (2015)”.

Mike began the album with a few solo acoustic tracks. Soon after, John Fair and David Galas brought in collaborative material that changed the direction of the project. “John approached me about adding guitar to some synth songs he was working on,” Mike comments.

“They took me back to the feel of our collaborations from the 80s and stirred up so much nostalgia. Even though they were stylistically very different from the ‘solo’ songs I was working on, the mood was a perfect fit, and I felt they needed to be part of what was coming together as the next album. Around the same time I started working with David on a couple of songs. I had him listen to a number of new bands before starting… curious as to how it would affect his writing. Like with my ‘solo’ songs, it did have a marked effect and really added a new feel to the established LYCIA sound. Plus he had a Cold outtake – “Autumn Into Winter” – which was magic when I first heard it. A true time capsule from 95/96.”

Mike VanPortfleet: “”In Flickers” is an emotionally charged album of deeply personal darkwave/post-rock. The ten tracks are intriguing meditations on forgotten paths, corrupted hopes, and faint memories of beauty. The open-ended melancholy captures a cold and desolate spirit, a sound as somber as the lyrics themselves.”

You can also already listen to the album’s title track “In Flickers”. The album itself will be out on October 26.

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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“Ionia” is the second studio album by the American dark wave band Lycia, and was initially released in 1991 by Projekt Records. The album offers a blending of intense cascading guitar, droning synths and deep, whispered vocals.

The album is now back in print for the first time in a decade, digitally remastered by Martin Bowes (Attrition) and can be ordered right here. The personnel at that time conistsed of Mike VanPortfleet with additional help from Susan Jennings, Sam Rosenthal (mixing) and Will Welch (sampling).

Here’s a preview of the title track, in case this band is all new to you.

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