The Avignon, France based label Unknown Pleasures Records announces that Phil Von will release his all new album “Von Magnet” on September 1st via its imprint. A rather bold choice since Phil Von is part of the Von Magnet collective.

This is his 7th solo album. His first was “L’Autre Nuit” (2001) with Gnawa music and the musicians of Fès (Prikosnovénie records), followed by the “Deadline Now” (2006) soundtrack of performance for the Portuguese company Persona (Thisco records) and in 2015 the more intimate “Blind Ballet” on Ant-Zen Records. A selection of his best soundtracks written for the street theatre company Underclouds, entitled “Made Underclouds”, was released in February 2019 on Zona Music (LT) and Ant-Zen. In 2019 Phil Von self-released the album “Imagerie”. The album holds a selection of experimental & abstract soundscapes written for art projects and visual environments. His concert collaboration “Eiti Ramyben” with classical piano musician Rokas Zubovas revisiting electronically some piano works of famous Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis was released on vinyl in 2021 on Zona Music.

With his latest solo album “Von Magnet”, a way of closing this artistic life chapter as well as giving another token of his love for intertwined flamenco and electronic music, he again combines electronics with Arabo-Andalusian music. On the album we find contributions from such musicians as Hugues Villette, Tit’o, Flore Magnet, Def, Hugues Vincent, Dani Barba, Yana Maizel and Algirdas Klova. The mastering was executed by Norscq while Svetlana Batura covered the photo work. The design was in the hands of Karim Gabou.

You can already check a few tracks below.

About Phil Von

Parallel to his work with Von Magnet Phil Von is composing as well as performing for different dance-theatre and street-theatre companies. He worked together with Norscq on the “Atlas Project”, wrote the piece “Compass” for Art Zoyd and the Musiques Nouvelles Ensemble of Jean Paul Dessy which was performed in Brussels. With Mimetic he created “Groundspace” for the GRM (Group of Musical Research) and the Radio France festival.

He was also a musician and performer with the Russian/German company Do Theatre (Anatomy of Fantasy), French performance company Materia Prima (Body Without Wings, Insomnia, Eternal, Batailles, Choir, Cabaret Rouge), Street Theatre companies Entre Terre et Ciel (Neige de Feu, Physalis, Alma, Envol) and Underclouds (Funambus, Petites Histoires sans Gravité, VerSant) & U-Structure Nouvelle (Strip-Tease Forain, Melankholia).

In 2016. together with Somekilos from 2 kilos & More, he created the tribal electro project Meta Meat and released the album “Metameat” on Ant-Zen and Audiotrauma.

In 2017/18 he wrote and performed the music of the theatre play Medea written with rage in London for François Testory (DV8 Physical theatre, Gecko, etc.) which they toured in Great Britain. He worked with butoh choreographer Sakurako in Paris for her company Re-United Now-Here (Banzaï 2.0, Corsonor, Not a Love Story) and in Lithuania he was composing for Sakurako and her new Baltic butoh dance-theatre company Okarukas (Now-Here, Voyager, Dolls, Spells, Here-After, Birds).

In 2019, he created in Lithuania his first solo dance-music performance “Human, Lost and Found” which was performed in MO Museum Vilnius, Post Gallery Kaunas and Menu Spaustuvè Vilnius. In 2020, he produced the solo album of Lithuanian folk musician Algirdas Klova.

About Von Magnet

Von Magnet is a theatre music band originated from the post-industrial musical current from the 1980s. Founded in 1985 in London, the group gathered around Flore Magnet (stage direction, actions, vocals) and Phil Von (composition, feet percussion, vocals) initiating a style of their own which they named “Electroflamenco”. Becoming rapidly well known in the underground because of their new approach to electronic music, firstly by incorporating the bases of flamenco (rhythms, dances and melodies) then later adding influences of Middle Eastern music.

Their compositions, either instrumental or vocal melodramas, poetic, lyrical, cabaret crooning are sung or spoken in different languages; English, Spanish, French, and also in Arabic, German, Turkish or Russian. Since 1985, even before the “Computer music” era, they experimented within the likes of the post-industrial musical movement (Greater Than One, Cabaret Voltaire, SPK, Coil…) using intensive sound collage and sampling techniques. This work would give birth to their motto: “Sample us as we have already sampled you”.

After a collaboration with Robert Rental with whom they prepared their first demo tapes, Von Magnet, helped by Hugh Griffiths at the Remaximum studios, composed their first auto-produced E.P : “I”.

The band’s last release was the 2012 album “Archipielagos”.

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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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Mirko Hentrich last year celebrated the twenty fifth anniversary of his sonic brainchild SPHERICAL DISRUPTED. Better than unleashing a ‘best of’ he released a totally new album plus two extra discs featuring remixes and previously unreleased material. The box has been released on Mirko’s own label Audiophob and is a new sonic exploration and mix of different Electronic styles. With this interview I want to pay homage to a talented and visionary artist who released numerous great productions.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You last year celebrated the 25^th anniversary of your main music project SPHERICAL DISRUPTED. What comes directly into mind when evoking these 25 years of commitment and what have been the main facts and best memories?

Mirko: 25 years ago the first public release came out. I’d started to make music a couple of years earlier. It is a pretty long journey so far and the beginning is really far away. But on the other hand me and all the other contributors on the release are thinking that the time went by really fast. Yes, it’s very ambivalent. So, all the thoughts about the past time of making music and the past of the project is the main thing that comes to my mind regarding the anniversary.

Of course every new release was an important moment for me and the founding of my label Audiophob with Carsten Stiller, which is already 17 years ago as well. But the best memories are mostly all the great live experiences, especially the ones at “Maschinenfest”-festival or the journey to Moscow and so on. It’s always great playing live and getting the reactions by the audience immediately.

Q: Do you notice main changes/evolutions in your approach of composing music between 1995 and today?

Mirko: The way I’m producing my music evolved not that much. Of course the gear and software have changed from time to time, which brings some changes in workflow naturally. But the main approach and even the master keyboard is still the same than over 25 years ago.

Q: You celebrated this 25^th anniversary by the release of a very special album featuring new work, but also remixes. Tell us a bit more about the new songs and the entire concept of “25”?

Mirko: The concept itself changed during production process. The initial plan was to release a double CD compilation with only a couple of new tracks plus some of my remixes for other artists, which are very important to me. There are some tracks I’m still liking a lot, but they weren’t available anymore or were even unreleased, like the remixes for THE_EMPATH and MIMETIC or for my own band from the 90s, EXPERIMENTUM CRUCIS.

But due to some serious health issues I wasn’t able to go to work in my regular job for several months last year and so there was the time for more new music and for more research in the archive, which resulted in a lot more tracks I originally wanted to put on “25”. Finally I decided that the box will contain a completely new album plus the two CD compilations.

For the first time there were two tracks with vocal contributions. This idea came before the whole box thing. I had to do a remix for the project PHASENMENSCH and I liked the music I had done for it, but something was missing to make this remix complete. So I had the idea to add some vocals by Jana Komaritsa from DARKRAD. We both liked the result a lot and so we wanted to do a completely new track in this combination as well.

The other vocal track was first planned as an instrumental for which I liked to have a remix by Tino Claus from TC75, AMNISTIA etc.. But when I’d asked him, he said, that he would rather do vocals for it instead. And yes, it worked very well.

Q: SPHERICAL DISRUPTED has been always a kind of ‘sonic enigma’ to me; a true fusion between different influences. How do you perceive your own music and the ‘sound’ you create? What kind of musician/producer are you?

Mirko: I’m very open minded to much kinds of music and all of them are influencing the music of SPHERICAL DISRUPTED. Besides these influences I’m experimenting with and trying to find new sounds or a unique combination of them. But the main aim with this project is to create dark and cold atmospheres, sometimes in a quieter more Ambient style, sometimes more rhythmic or noisier.

It’s an Electronic project and so it should sound like this, influenced by the machines themselves or astrophysics themes, in which I’m personally into.

Q: I can imagine you would have liked to celebrate this anniversary by doing live performances, which due to Covid-19 hasn’t been possible so far. How do you experience the artistic restrictions due to the pandemic and how do you see things evolving for your own activities and the music scene?

Mirko: Yes, there was planned a very nice event at the venue where the very first SPHERICAL DISRUPTED live appearance took place in 2000 with some other projects who had played back then as well plus other live shows, which all had to be cancelled. I’m missing a lot to play live and of course all the nice festivals where our other label bands should have played.

I really hope that all these events can be held very soon when we all got our vaccination. But due to the mentioned health problems I personally would have had to cancel most of the events last year anyway. And so I was able to concentrate more on creating music and doing label work and so on.

Q: You are still active as DJ and busy with other music projects. But you are also together with Carsten Stiller running Audiophob. Do you still have time for non-music related activities and what means music and these different projects to you? 

Mirko: Yes, sometimes I’m pretty busy, but never that much that there is no time for other things. But of course music is an extremely important part in my life: Making music, running two labels (Audiophob and its sub label Krater Recordings), DJing, some sound engineer jobs. Besides that I’m a manic music collector and this needs a lot of time as well. A life without music is simply unthinkable!

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: Electro-Ambient, IDM, Industrial, Cinematographic, Minimal-Electro.

Format: Digital, 3CD Box.

Background/Info: Mirko Hentrich set up Spherical Disrupted in 1995. He later on became co-owner of Audiophob and moved on releasing new works as Spherical Disrupted, but also still with side-projects like Sick En For and Capsular. “25” is celebration record featuring a new album plus two more discs with remixes and songs that are now released on CD for the very first time.

Content: The first disc “25 (Future)” features 11 new songs, which clearly expose the project’s diversity. There’s a constant mix between genres; moving from freaky Ambient-Electronics to Klinik-al Electro sequences to cinematographic passages to pure Electro-Minimalism to some groovy parts. The major innovation consists of 2 songs featuring guest singers. Tino Claus (TC75, Amnistia, MRDTC) and Jana Komaritsa (Darkrad) have been invited to join in.

The two other discs are titled, “25 (The Past)” bring us back to 25 years of history although a few songs have been previously unreleased (mainly live versions). You’ll also (re)discover songs spherical disrupted has remixed for other artists such as Bloody Dead And Sexy, Experimnetum Crucis, Yipotash, The Trial, Kiew, Mimetic Dancing, The_Empath, Xabec, Mandelbrot and Still Patient?

+ + + : The new album, which stands for “Future” reveals Mirko Hentrich in a good light. The work is accomplished with an impressive arsenal of influences, which I think is pretty characteristic for this project. Spherical Disrupted is not easy to seize and often resulted from a true sonic symbiosis of multiple ideas. I like the haunting atmospheres and icy, ‘klinik-al’ sequences emerging at “Basalt” featuring Tino Claus. “Transneptunian Objects” featuring whispering vocals by Jana Komaritsa is another successful collaboration. I here especially like the atmospheric side of the song. The remixes by Disharmony and especially Wesenberg at the end of the first disc are worthy of examination.

The 2^nd disc features several attention grabbers, but here again I like the variety of influences. From the cold-like and Industrial sounding “Monasteria” to the metallic sound treatments of “Yderligere Oplysninger”, this disc brings some essential –although often forgotten and unknown, pieces back to life. I’m especially fascinated by the icy, analogue sound treatments supported with an anguished sphere.

The 3^rd disc is more diversified and that’s because of the many bands Spherical Disrupted has accomplished remixes for. If there’s one song I would recommend (re)discovering is the Cinematographic rework of Mimetic Dancing’s “Small Spherical”.

– – – : Referring to the new tracks from this album I have to admit I already heard more convincing works from Spherical Disrupted. But as a celebration release this album is a real must have as it’s not a ‘best of’, but a true gift for the fans.

Conclusion: Spherical Disrupted probably is the kind of project you can label as ‘difficult music’ and that’s maybe the reason why this German artist never got a wider recognition. I can only express my respect for 25 years of great music!

Best songs: “Basalt”, “25”, “Basalt – Wesenberg Rework” + “Monasteria”, “Yderligere Oplysninger”, “Cavity block (Not The :W: Master)”, “Solar Luminosity – Terminal Mix” + Mimetic Dancing: “Small Spherical – Extended Nova Stella Mix”, “Kiew: “Zentrifuge – Inertia Mix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.disrupted.de / www.facebook.com/sphericaldisrupted

Label: www.audiophob.de / www.facebook.com/audiophob

About Spherical Disrupted

Spherical Disrupted is the electronic project of German musician Mirko Hentrich, set up in 1995. Hentrich later co-founded the label Audiophob with Carsten Stiller, and also records as Sick En For and Capsular. Spherical Disrupted gave its first live performance in 2000 and has built a catalog spanning Ambient, Industrial and Minimal-Electro influences. “25” marks the project’s 25th anniversary, combining a new album with two discs of remixes and previously unreleased tracks, released on Audiophob.

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

Jérôme Soudan is one of those artists I personally consider as a ‘visionary’ artist. His Mimetic project is the best exposure to realize the constant avant-garde approach he tries to inject in his work. He belongs to the ‘pioneers’ who incorporated techno music in the industrial scene, but he later on moved on with elements of IDM. Mimetic is a kind of reference, but still a project that has the power to entertain different scenes: techno and industrial! He this year released the compilation-album “RVSTD1:1998-2019” on Les Arts Minis, which is an opportunity to seize the evolution of the artist and his strong connection with techno music. Jérôme Soudan is a fascinating man, but still an essential artist from the electronic-underground scene.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You this year released the compilation-album “RVSTD1:1998-2019”, which covers more than 20 years of Mimetic, but especially the ‘techno-driven’ tracks. How do you look back at more than 20 years of Mimetic and tell us a bit more about the main purpose of this album?

Jérôme: At the beginning I wanted to create a solo-project as I was involved in a lot of diverse collectives such as Von Magnet for instance, but after a few years I knew I wanted to keep that project alive no matter what direction I’ll take. During these 20 years I guess I was an alien on many different scenes. Right now I’m more into the techno scene as a DJ, but even here I’m not a typical one since I’m not that young DJ still at school, but more like a veteran who’s using his background in every set. I got a classical music education, but quite rapidly during my studies I got more interested into the experimental-, electro-acoustic- and at the same time rock- scene…

Mimetic is actually born in Berlin, but not from the techno scene. I was more into industrial-experimental. I was one of the members from the Berliner act Column One. But from the first Mimetic-album on I already incorporated some techno sounds or rhythms. Other productions were more into electronica or IDM, but still featuring techno-industrial elements. What I see nowadays is a lot of good techno-industrial acts such as Perc for instance or even Paula Temple who are directly influenced by those indus-techno sound we used to do in the beginning of the 2000’s…

The main purpose of this album was to show to the young generation what Mimetic was doing in the past, a  kind of hybrid techno that they don’t know since some of the releases were not available in digital format. And it was also important to me to release it with a common thread so everybody can feel the links between the years.

Q: Speaking about all these influences, I however noticed an evolution in sound/influences throughout the ‘Mimetic-years’. Right in the beginning your music was more into industrial/experimental and ambient music, but quite progressively techno- & IDM elements joined in. How do you analyze this evolution and the impact of techno music globally speaking?

Jérôme: Actually the German post-industrial movement leading by labels such as Ant-Zen, Hymen or Hands has a strong influence in the techno scene, but it’s a bit involuntarily unfortunately. Most of the strong techno artists of today never heard of “Maschinenfest” while actually when I play in a techno event I can play exactly the same sound than if I was in the merche area of “Maschinenfest”…. There are some people from that industrial scene who say to me that they have the feeling I get lost from their scene. I don’t think so, I actually think every movement has got their artists who tend to repeat their formulas while actually the style is moving quicker than artists who are representing that style…. Techno is like other styles, stealing from others. And besides, techno is not all the time a hype style… Every decade it’s coming back, with a young generation seeking to know more, but I remember times where only house-music was the hype, and techno was considered as a non-respectable genre.

I consider techno as really dynamic and a strong music style; a kind of political atmosphere close to punk-music. I know that Iggy Pop hates techno music. But I think he was never in a rave party so far, because he could have seen the same energy. For me DAF was more important than others in that way, they played basically on the punk scene for years while actually their sound is still really present in nowadays techno, in that sense, industrial-punk was maybe more involved in the future than they pretend to be! I’m not surprised to see DAF playing in a lot of techno festivals since 10 years now.

Q: You were one of the ‘pioneers’ to mix industrial- and techno music while today most of the industrial artists are adding techno music to their compositions. This evolution is quite interesting while at the other hand the ‘real’ industrial sound and spirit have been a bit lost. What makes the link between industrial- and techno music and what do you expect for the coming years?

Jérôme: Right at the beginning industrial-music was a music for and coming from the cities (‘industrial music for industrial people’). This movement was born with artists such as Throbbing Grristle in the UK and Einstürzende Neubauten in Germany, and it was during the same years of punk-music, because the attitude was punk, not the music of course. But those artists were using electronic sounds in a very creative way while in parallel in Detroit (USA) a few artists started to use electronic music, but more in a rhythmical way. If you take the song “Yü Gung Fütter Mein Ego” there is the techno energy in it, it is repetitive and strong as hell.

For me there is the link between industrial to techno; it’s definitely the city, the sounds of the city, the power and the violence of the city. The ‘real’ industrial sound and spirit, like you say, is still here, but actually more into a scene of ‘niche’. This is something you can maybe relate to contemporary art, there is a language you have to understand in order to feel that music and it’s actually not easy for everybody. Since life is becoming more and more an everyday fight, people feel more attract by a music which is talking directly to their body, with a strong bass and a strong repetitive rhythm. Instead of what people are usually thinking, techno is a cathartic music for every-day hard-worker, and not simple party music. It’s definitely not a surprise to me to see that techno music is going stronger and stronger in South-America or Asia as well. It’s very important for me to keep an urgency in the music, something that stays strong, powerful and alive. You can listen to Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre Du Printemps” or The Young Gods’  “Skinflower” or “Surgeon” and feel the same power!

Q: Over now to the writing of your songs. Can you give us a bit more details about the different stages you’ve to go through to compose a song/album and do you’ve special criteria/references when speaking about the global production process?

Jérôme: First there’s a long process of  prospection; listening to sounds, travelling, walking in a city, recording maybe etc… Next comes a long process again; working on a few sounds for days, experimenting, transforming the sounds etc.. Then, I’ve to build a track, a kind of montage like a film, with a ‘scenario’. Then I move on adding effects and giving a ‘heart’ to the whole track and doing a kind of pre-mixing. Then comes the mixing, which can be quite long. A track is never finished! And then I let it to the mastering experts. For me the global production has to include a good balance between frequencies, this is the only way. I love when you hear every details, for instance if you listen to a Max Cooper track, which is amazing…

Q: You also did an impressive number of remixes for other artists and among them Björk. What do you try to achieve when working on a remix and are there some remixes (maybe like the one for Björk) you kept in mind?

Jérôme: Well a remix is usually a very interesting operation, because you have to dive into somebody else’s universe and make it your own track without altering the original sense of the track. But sometimes it’s delicate to do, because you cannot adapt yourself to every style, so now I’m really choosing the artists with who I work on that remixing aspect. I usually keep only half of the sounds the artist gives me and re-write a few lines and create new sounds, and I basically change the structure too. At the beginning I listen and listen to the original track, trying to find in which direction I would have been if I was the composer and when I find my own focus then I can go on and re-create a new structure.

Q: I think to remember you lived a few years in Berlin, which is often considered as the ‘place to be’ when it comes to techno music. What has been the impact of your ‘Berliner years’ on your creation and your evolution as musician/producer and are there other places/people which/who had an important impact?

Jérôme: Yes Berlin was important, especially because it was right after the end of the Wall. I left berlin in 2000, and before that it was such a field of experimentation, it was a great time there, not only for techno-music, but also for experimental-music, architecture etc. There were so many unofficial clubs and parties, bars, events in some destroyed buildings… I was usually going out in Tresor Club and in E-Werk which was a few meters beside. But I was playing in the same time in Komische Oper and some experimental places such Podewill, NBI or Grüne Salon (VolksBühne).

Another aspect that was really important to me, is that I met a lot of people from East-Germany. They usually didn’t speak English very well, but they had another way to create and it was really interesting. Nowadays those artists usually left Berlin as it became after a while too hype and too expensive for them. A lot of those artists are now living in Poland or Praha or even Baltic Countries… Today I think Berlin is still interesting for techno-music, especially because there’re hundreds of clubs and it’s a good thing for music, but if you look for some good emergent artists and scenes, I think Europe has to check a bit more outside. Africa is bringing now some good electronic music, Asia and South-America are becoming strong. There are still wonderful events in Europe, especially in the Eastern countries, but the business is coming quick and even the underground events in countries such as Croatia are little by little leaded by West-European business men. Speaking about West-Europe, an important impact I don’t have to forget is the venue itself, and especially the ephemeral squats which are given an important place to experimentation. In the 90’s there were still a lot of squats in Europe and I knew a lot especially in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. Those places are more and more rare of course and it’s a pity as they were a teaming with great emergent artists….

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: Industrial, industrial-techno, IDM.

Background/Info: Operating from Geneva (Switzerland) Jérome Soudan will always be remembered as one of the members (drummer) active in Von Magnet. Later on he became involved with different projects while gaining recognition as the instigator of Mimetic. This album is a fine selection of 21 songs he wrote over the past 21 years.

Content: 21 songs for a  21 career! Mimetic rapidly became a kind of visionary artist who was mixing industrial-, tribal- and experimental music with his growing interest in techno music. This overview is an opportunity to get back to some of his finest compositions. The sound intelligence mixed with danceable rhythms brings Mimetic to restricted area of renowned IDM artists. From pure industrial sound treatments to alluring, but minimal EBM to experimental passages to pure techno this work is a fine selection of Mimetic’s work. Notice one of the songs (cf. “Dust Reality”) is a song by Spies that has been remixed by Mimetic.

+ + + : I’ve always considered Jérome Soudan as visionary artist who dare to break the codes. He has been one of the firsts to experiment with techno music merged with darker styles such as industrial- and tribal music. This work is an interesting summary of the man’s genius. From the pure minimal- and 80s like “The Ethnical Years (Live)” to IDM driven “The Half Way” to the dark and definitely underground sounding “Blast Off” to the ultra-technoid “Deepfakes” (2019) this work also reveals Mimetic’s great eclecticism. I like this work for its minimalism, the sound treatments featuring alluring bass lines and the danceable vibes.

– – – : I think it’s rather normal when listening to a song featuring 21 songs some pieces are less convincing. “Sparking Love” (2019) is the only song I would not have selected for this work.

Conclusion: If you’re not familiar with Mimetic this album is a great way to discover a unique artist! I think it could be time to release a new full length…

Best songs: “The Ethnical Years (Live)”, “The Half Way”, “Blast Off”, “Deepfakes”, “Maidenhead”, “Gone”, “Autre Vision”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/mimeticofficial

Label: www.facebook.com/lesartsminis

About Mimetic

Mimetic is the solo project of percussionist Jérôme Soudan, who has said the project originated in Berlin rather than from the techno scene it is now closely associated with. Soudan was previously a member of the French collective Von Magnet before developing Mimetic into a long-running outlet, using the plain “Mimetic” name for live shows and a changing second word for different release types, such as “Mimetic Fake” for remixes and collaborations.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Soudan has released on the label Les Arts Minis, including the EPs “Maidenhead” (2017) and “Deepfakes” (2019), the latter arriving nine days before “RVSTD1:1998-2019”, a 21-track overview of material written across two decades. Soudan discussed the album and his career in a Side-Line interview published the following month.

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: Dark-techno, IDM.

Background/Info: Once he was involved with Von Magnet, but Jérôme Soudan mainly gained his recognition as Mimetic. For more than 20 years he’s unleashing his work under this moniker. “Deepfakes” is his latest exposure released earlier this year and featuring three songs.

Content: The title song takes off with a dark-techno sound. The track features multiple effects and a dark canvas of noises. We next get another new song entitled “When We Were YπY” featuring Ah-Cama Sotz. This is another technoid-driven cut characterized by a hard kick, a dry snare and a flat bass line. The last song “Gone” gets us back to the EP “Maidenhead” and has been remixed by ManuHeme (who’s a name which doesn’t ring a bell).

+ + + : Jérôme Soudan remains a real reference when it comes to sophisticated electronic music. Throughout the years his creation became more techno-inspired, and also touched by true sound intelligence. The title song is a cool illustration of the artist’s evolution in sound. I especially like the dark technoid approach. The song featuring Ah-Cama Sotz is another cool exposure and it’s an interesting collaboration between two industrial veterans who moved on techno territories.

– – – : Speaking for myself Mimetic is maybe and progressively becoming a little bit too techno-driven.

Conclusion: This EP is not the best work I’ve heard from this inspiring artist, but it remains a fascinating experience.

Best songs: “Deepfakes”, “When We Were YπY featuring Ah-Cama Sotz”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/mimeticofficial

Label: www.facebook.com/lesartsminis

About Mimetic

Mimetic is the long-running solo outlet of French-born, Berlin-based artist Jérôme Soudan. Soudan was previously a member of the Berlin collective Column One and separately involved with Von Magnet before continuing alone under the Mimetic name for more than 20 years, as stated in this review. In a Click Interview published the following month, Soudan said Mimetic “is actually born in Berlin” out of an industrial-experimental background rather than the techno scene, and traced his training to a classical music education before moving into experimental, electro-acoustic and rock circles. “Deepfakes” preceded the retrospective “RVSTD1:1998-2019” (2019, Les Arts Minis), the subject of that same Click Interview.

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: Minimal-techno, IDM.

Background/Info: Jérôme Soudan has been active under the Mimetic moniker since 1998. He released a considerable number of productions and is now back on track with this new EP featuring 3 new songs.

Content: The sound of Mimetic has seriously evolved all over the years, but always hold on a truly fascination for sound creation. The project moved towards more technoid areas, but it first of all remains a creative sound process, which is partly experimental and definitely minimalistic.

The unpolished production sounds raw and a bit dark although focused with refined sequences.

+ + + : Mimetic remains faithful to his familiar sound formula revealing a creative technoid approach based upon great sound treatments. I like the solid bass lines while there’s also a noticeable, blasting tone running through “Sweet Agony”. “Maidenhead” is atypical technoid experiment, which will appeal for lovers of minimalism and dark, danceable electro vibes.

– – – : I can’t say that “Maidenhead” is the best work I’ve heard from Jérôme Soudan. I remember more creative releases, which were more into IDM while this EP sometimes knocks a bit too hard on the door of techno music.

Conclusion: When techno music is revisited by a true sound architect, it becomes a fascinating genre.

Best songs: “Gone”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.mimetic.ch / www.facebook.com/mimeticofficial

Label: www.lesartsminis.com / www.facebook.com/lesartsminis

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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