Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, body-pop.

Background/Info: Neonsol is a Danish-Canadian trio, which is already active for a couple of years now. They haven’t been that prolific however released a well-crafted debut-album (cf. “Ecliptic”) in 2014. They’re now back on track unleashing 4 new cuts plus 4 remixes.

Content: The new work reveals a fresh electro-pop style mixed with some danceable vibes. The songs sound happy-like, somewhat evasive, but still featuring harder body-pop ingredients. The band takes particular care to create great sound effects and some irresistible bass lines.

The remixes have been made by Rotersand, ESA and Gelting while you’ll also discover a new version of “Lights Out” (which was originally released on the debut full length).

+ + + : I already mentioned the great sound effects, but Neonsol accomplished a noticeable production. The sound treatments are great and finding a good balance between solid bass lines and carrying choruses. “Heat” is a great song in the genre driven by passionate and even somewhat enraged female vocals. Neonsol strikes back with power and pop elegance. They aren’t reinventing the electro-pop music, but definitely belong to the refreshing and contemporary bands dealing with electro-pop.

– – – : I was a little bit disappointed by the remixes. Rotersand and ESA both are great names, but I expected a bit more out of their contribution. The most convincing remix (another song from the debut album) is the one by Gelting. Band member Frédèric Scarfone contributed to the production of this song so in the end it’s maybe not coincidental if this is my favorite one. I also expected a bit more from the title song, which is not my favorite one.

Conclusion: An EP remains the best teaser to welcome a new full length so let’s wait for more new music, but this is a successful return.

Best songs: “Heat”, “Forever”, “Another Day”, “Manipulation – Gelting Remix”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/Neonsol

Label: www.analoguetrash.co.uk / www.facebook.com/analoguetrashofficial

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

(By Johannes Gordan) A year ago the Norwegian electro-rock-dance act Essence Of Mind released the album “The Break Up!” (check here to listen to it), and now a teaser has turned up for what could well be a new album or single. Sure thing is that something is coming up in the next days or weeks after watching the teaser.

Keep an eye on the official Essence Of Mind page, and sign up for their newsletter, for extra info.

But before that Essence Of Mind are taking the stage at Åbne Scene in Aarhus, Denmark during the SPOT Festival 2016 – M’era Luna night.Other bands playing are Les Fleurs Du Mal (SE) and Neonsol (DK). For those who have seen Essence Of Mind at work, you know what to expect: high energy and great songs. At least one of the bands will also be chosen for the M’era Luna Festival in Hildesheim on the 14th of August 2016. It’s about time Essence Of Mind get offered concerts in Germany.

Here’s already the brand new teaser:

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: Industrial-rave, breakbeats.

Content: Operating from Manchester (UK) Syd.31 unleashed its 2nd EP to the world. The least I can say is that this formation set up by Dr Magic can be simply one of the hottest new sensations in electro land.

“Drowning In Air” features 4 new songs plus a surprising cover version. One of the main sources of inspiration clearly appears to be The Prodigy. Syd.31 experiments with breakbeats injecting a great dynamic and power into the songs, but also some of the sound treatments remind me of the raw and techno-industrial style of The Prodigy. Some other technoid elements remind me to Ultraviolence, which is a somewhat forgotten British master of electronic underground. All those elements have been mixed with a hard industrial-rave style creating a merciless and exciting sound.

It’s not really a surprise that Noisuf-X did the mastering of this EP while contributing to the most surprising song of the EP. The cover version of “Mr. Vain” (originally performed by Culture Beat) is not exactly the kind of song you expect to be covered by a dark-electro formation. It’s fun, it’s totally weird, but ultra danceable and you clearly ill recognize the hard and dry, stumping kick of Noisuf-X.

But this is of course not the main song of this EP. The songs “Disorder” and “Hate” are more appropriated to get an idea about this formation. It all reassembles the aforementioned influences resulting in a dangerous sonic bomb. “Hate” appears to be a potential hit, perfectly illustrating the modern technological approach of this band.

But there’s more to enjoy and I here refer to the song “No Fear”, which is driven by d’n’b inspired rhythms while the sound treatments remain pretty raw and technoid-minded. The song “Revolution” is the one that reminds me a bit to the sometimes hard-core driven Ultraviolence.

Notice by the way that multiple guest artists have been invited to accomplish this EP. I already mentioned Jan L (Noisuf-X), but you’ll also discover names like Kommand + Kontrol and Paresis & Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand while Grendel’s J.D. Tucker produced 4 from the 5 songs (“Mr. Vain” being produced by Jan L).

A last element consists of the vocals, which mix numerous samplings and a rather harsh way of singing.

Conclusion: AnalogueTrash Records already have a few cool bands like Machinista, Atomzero, Advance, Neonsol ao, but Syd.31 could rapidly become their biggest sensation. This is a real astonishing release.

Best songs: “Hate”, “Disorder”, “Revolution”.

Rate: (DP:9)DP.

Band: www.facebook.com/Syd31

Label: www.analoguetrash.co.uk / www.facebook.com/analoguetrashofficial

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