Genre/Influences: EBM, Dark-Electro, Minimal-Electro, Dark-Pop. 

Format: Digital, CD.  

Background/Info: This compilation features seventeen Electro-underground projects from the Hungarian scene. The album has been mastered by one of the most famous artists from this scene: Istvan Gazdag from First Aid 4 Souls.

Artists: Planetdamage, Stahlgeist, Re-Infection, Techno Pop, Grip, Empelde + Planetdamage, 3.N.D., Man-Machine, Worker, Celina, RTFXX, CMC, Vacuum(X), Tief Larm, Livingtotem, Calm T, Aras Focum.

Content: Hungarian Electronics by different more familiar- and totally unknown artists. The selection is quite diversified but often carried by EBM and Minimal Electronics while also walking on darker paths of Electro-Pop, Trance, Industrial ao. You’ll notice several projects singing in their Mother tongue while others prefer the English language.

+ + + : I like this kind of compilation, giving us the opportunity to get more familiarized with less familiar Electro scenes. We of course know Hungarian projects like First Aid 4 Souls and Black Nail cabaret (both aren’t featured here) but also Stahlgeist, Planetdamage, Man-Machine or the great LivingTotem but most of the artists were discoveries. From these artists I like the somewhat Shamen sounding Techno Pop, the EBM driven Grip which is empowered by guitar, the darker electro side of Man-Machine and the Dark-Pop inspired Celina -which reminds me of Ayria. But most significant cuts are the ones by Stahlgeist -revealing alluring EBM and the Minimal-EBM/IDM Planetdamage.

– – – : I regret the compilation doesn’t feature a booklet with more information about the bands and the Hungazrian scene.

Conclusion: Hungary is a small Electro scene but featuring real great artists so I hope we’ll get the opportunity to discover more stuff from these bands.

Best bands: Stahlgeist, Planetdamage, LivingTotem, Techno Pop, Grip.

Rate: 8.

About New Horizon

“New Horizon: A Hungarian Electro-Industrial Compilation” is a various-artists release gathering seventeen tracks from the Hungarian electro-industrial and EBM underground. It was released on 7 September 2023 in digital and CD formats.

The compilation was mastered by Istvan Gazdag of First Aid 4 Souls, with photography by Dóri Hrisztu-Pazonyi and design by Kollektiva. It brings together Planetdamage, Stahlgeist, Re-Infection, Techno Pop, Grip, Empelde + Planetdamage, 3.N.D., Man-Machine, Worker, Celina, RTFXX, CMC, Vacuum(X), Tief Larm, Livingtotem, Calm T, and Aras Focum.

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

“Digital Outcast” is the third album by German formation Darkness On Demand which is available now on Bandcamp and on CD via the Alfa Matrix webstore. After having released two albums on Repo Records ‘Falgalas’ and Gary Wagner signed to Alfa Matrix where they released the “Final Way” EP, the “Hang On (Winterhart remix)” and the “White Clouds” EP. The former Dance Or Die-members now strike back with “Digital Outcast”, a powerful, sophisticated and engaged EBM work. I talked about the album and other things with front man Gary Wagner.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: After a successful career as Dance Or Die you guys are now busy for a couple of years under the moniker Darkness On Demand. Do you perceive significant changes and/or evolutions between both bands or is just a natural evolution? And do you sometimes miss Dance Or Die?

Gary: We actually don’t miss anything of our former career with Dance Or Die. Falgalas and me played together since 1993 and the old producer and composer, who did not go on stage, had not enough material for new songs anymore… that’s why we decided to continue our story under the new flag Darkness On Demand.

The idea was to leave Dance Or Die as a Cult to start with the new material Falgalas had composed. The new songs are more Industrial and EBM and got much more melodies than before. The development of the new tracks started with our first longplayer “Post Stoneage Technology” continues the near future items. Just like the second one “Detoxination” which is concerned with man-machine themes we march on in that genre to keep Science Fiction alive. The astonishing thing was that the old fans expected the new start straight away. We still are the guys they know from stage and the short logo DOD is still up to date.

Q: I was surprised you signed to a Belgian label –Alfa Matrix. Why this move from a German label to a Belgian one and are there also plans for your side-projects?

Gary: Well the main reason for signing abroad was that Belgium is the Walhalla of Electronic Body Music. We are definitely inspired by Front 242, Klinik and A Split Second which come from Belgium. We planned to get the thing more international.

The former label was more concerned with Germany which was pretty all right for the start. But the fact that we were popular in countries such as Sweden, Mexico, USA and the European East pushed us forward to be promoted worldwide. There were music colleges who recommended Alfa Matrix to start that enterprise. We are very happy about that and we know that the label believes in our work.

By the way we still work on our other project Winterhart which is Martial, Industrial and Dark-Folk orientated.

Q: Over now to “Digital Outcast” which is the third full length by Darkness On Demand. The lyrical themes are –once more, very engaged and introduced as an ‘ invitation to reconnect with nature and reality, to escape from that digital world dominated by artificial social medias and credit card consumption’ is really interesting to me. I can imagine it’s a very personal reflection but can you give us more details? And how do you see it regarding the digital world and social media which is that important today for labels, bands  etc…?

Gary: “Digital Outcast” is the digital answer to the digitalized world. We fight fire with fire, like we use Electronix for creating our answer to Goth-Rock. Real life turns into a cyberworld which is mankind created and has nothing to do with the real world outside.

In Kraftwerk’s “Computerwelt” you heard the warning of observation and a transparent mankind. The more data they get the more you are controlled by them. The problem in Germany is that they consider you as a conspiracy freak when you know and talk about this. You can have an attitude but the mass medias tell you what your attitude has to be. Quite complicated for bands that came from Punk-Rock .

This moment I feel much more free to communicate with you in Belgium than in Germany.

Q: How do you look back to the writing and production of “Digital Outcast”? Do you’ve any experiences and/or anecdotes you encountered that come directly into mind?

Gary: During the lockdown we found ourselves in ghost towns. Everything was closed, life stood still people were ill and lots of people died. It was a terrible time, we hope it won’t repeat. But in somehow it changed the attitude towards the government. Some were absolutely into the rules of authority, the others questioned it like they did before. Feelings such as loneliness and depressions came to our mind and that influenced our album conception.

One day during that period they closed Schleswig Holstein after we finished our singing recording and I had to leave this Bundesland for a return to Berlin. What a strange situation…

The EP “White Clouds” exactly describes this time I mentioned before.

Q: “White Clouds” sounds as a solid addendum to “Digital Outcast”. Is there anything more you want to say about the EP?

Gary:The EP “White Clouds” exactly describes this time I mentioned before. In some of these happy pills you find a little picture of grey clouds turning to white to take the medicine regularly. Sometimes pretty necessary to avoid a serious illness. Anyway… we still stand for the idea to make great Clubmixes on our EP’s. The dancefloor is still an important fact to communicate with the fans, besides the live activities.

Q: Gary and Heiko, I think you’re now working together for thirty years –or even more. What makes the chemistry between both of you and how do you perceive each other as ‘artist’ and the person behind the artistic creation?

Gary:As I already mentioned we both played the Dance Or Die shows since 1993. After a long break in the early 20th we decided to make new music together. Falgalas created lots of material with Classic sounds and instruments. We added real acoustic guitars and trumpets to form Winterhart. We released our albums on Danse Macabre Records. But then, once upon a time we were a little frustrated that Dance Or Die stood still. Therefore we found Darkness On Demand to return to Body and Industrial music.

Those days Falgalas lived in the middle of Berlin and we worked together at new songs every afternoon. Then he moved to Tönning near the North-Sea und built-up a New Studio he calls Dreiklangstudio. So I got to travel to the North  for singing recordings. Less helter skelter than in Berlin. Silence enough for our future stories to keep the Dark Side alive. We turn Future into Reality

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

Out via Bureau B on February 9th is the all new Karl Bartos (former member Kraftwerk) soundtrack “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” which includes narrative film music and sound design for Robert Wiene’s classic 1920 psychological thriller. The film comes digitally restored in 4K by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation.

Musician and writer Karl Bartos has long been an admirer of Weimar-era culture. During his time in Kraftwerk, he helped create the stunning track ‘Metropolis’, directly inspired by a band viewing of the classic 1927 Fritz Lang film of the same name. The original orchestral music composed for “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” by Giuseppe Becce had long been lost and in 2005, after watching the film, Bartos imagined what it would be like, to create an entirely new one in the 21st Century in his home studios in Hamburg.

“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is his first piece of film music and sound design. The release is planned on double vinyl and digipak CD.

Now with crystal clear images, digitally restored by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation, the film is visually the best quality it has ever been, and now comes with Bartos’ soundtrack.

About Karl Bartos

Born in Germany in 1952, sound, music and culture have been a lifelong fascination for Karl. He studied at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Düsseldorf, played at the Deutsche Oper and was in several experimental bands before he joined Kraftwerk for their Autobahn tour of the US in 1975. He co-composed tracks and performed with the band until 1990 and is featured on the seminal albums “Radio-Activity” (1975), “Trans-Europe Express” (1977), “The Man-Machine” (1978), “Computer World” (1981), “Electric Café” (1986) and “The Mix” (1991).

After leaving Kraftwerk, he first formed the band Elektric Music (2 albums in 1993+1998), collaborated with Bernard Sumner (New Order), Johnny Marr (The Smiths) for their Electronic band project and with Andy McCluskey (OMD), and released two well-regarded solo albums (2003 & 2013).

In 2021, Karl Bartos was awarded the Early Influence Award / Kraftwerk as a member of the ‘classic line-up’ and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His autobiography “The Sound of the Machine – My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond” was published in 2022 worldwide.

Below is the original film, albeit in less good quality for reference.

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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It’s International EBM-day tomorrow and the Belgian label is celebrating this all week long. From today on everyone using the EBM242 coupon code on the label’s online webstore and the label’s Bandcamp page will get 25% off the normal price.

In the label’s CD/DVD webstore the discount applies from a minimum order of 20 Euro and does not include products released in 2016 (not that this should be a problem since it includes hundreds of other new releases, from Alien Vampires, The Psychic Force, over Star Industry to Front 242 and Acylum). In the Bandcamp store it counts on all products.

International EBM-day refers to the date of 24/2 (February 24th) which has a clear Front 242 connotation. Since Front 242 is considered as THE cult EBM band, 24/2 has quickly been adopted as such.

Electronic body music, EBM or Industrial dance emerged in the early 1980s. The genre’s early influences range from industrial music (Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire), European synthpunk (DAF, Liaisons Dangereuses, Portion Control), and pop-oriented electronic music (Kraftwerk). The style is characterised by hard and often sparse danceable electronic beats, clear undistorted vocals, shouts or growls with reverberation and echo effects, and repetitive sequencer lines. Typical EBM rhythms are based on 4/4 beats, mainly with some minor syncopation to suggest a rock music rhythm structure.

Although EBM is mainly linked to Front 242 the term electronic body music was coined by Ralf Hütter of the German electronic band Kraftwerk in 1978 to explain the more physical sound of their album “The Man-Machine”.

Oh, and expect a special announcement tomorrow…

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