(Photo by Marta Ruly) Sunroof (Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones) have announced details of a new album, “Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3”, set for release on vinyl, CD and digitally via the Parallel Series of Mute on 29 November 2024.

“Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3” holds nine improvised tracks, recorded using the duo’s Eurorack modular systems, and builds upon the self-imposed parameters laid out on their 2021 debut. With nothing pre-planned or rehearsed, each of the nine tracks were recorded using four channels (two each) with no overdubs.

Note that “Splendid” was recorded using the original 4-track TEAC that Miller picked up second hand in the late 70s and used to record The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” 7”.

Out now are two remixes of the track “Ensnare” by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones. You can check out the original and the two remixes below.

This is the original version of “Ensnare”.

This is the Daniel Miller remix of “Ensnare”.

And here is the ElectroGenetic remix by Gareth Jones of “Ensnare”.

Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have been collaborating for four decades. Their collaboration began in 1982 when Miller asked Jones to work with him on what became Depeche Mode’s “Construction Time Again”. After Depeche Mode had gone home for the day, the two would stay on to work on their own sessions, a practise that continues to this day. By the mid-nineties Sunroof had become a remix project, reworking the likes of Can, MGMT, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler and Goldfrapp, amongst others, and their first recordings appeared on a compilation paying tribute to Neu!

Sunroof album discography

• Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1 (2021)
• Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 2 (2023)
• Electronic Music Improvisations Live in London and Frankfurt (2023)
• Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 3 (2024)

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.

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(Photo by Alice d25) “Moebius Strips” is a brand new tribute to sound pioneer Dieter Moebius, put together by longtime friend and collaborator Tim Story.

The project includes contributions from Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Beak), Sarah Davachi, Jean-Benoît Dunckel (Air), Eve Maret, Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Phew, Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia), Michael Rother (Harmonia, NEU!) and Yuri Suzuki. The project includes a limited edition CD/digital release on October 1st with a limited edition vinyl to come in spring 2022.

For the recordings, Story has been using Moebius’ sounds and loops and he has been working closely with Moebius’ widow Irene. The result is a combination of hundreds of sounds, motifs and riffs from the artist’s archive with raw material from the many Moebius collaborations that Story himself had been a part of over the years.

About Dieter Moebius

Dieter Moebius (16 January 1944 – 20 July 2015) was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia.

Moebius was studying art at Berlin’s Akademie Grafik and working as a restaurant cook when he met Conrad Schnitzler, founder of the Zodiak Free Arts Lab with Hans-Joachim Roedelius. The trio founded the improvisation group Kluster in 1969. After the departure of Schnitzler, the duo changed their name to Cluster and relocated to the countryside village of Forst, releasing influential albums such as “Zuckerzeit” (1974) and “Sowiesoso” (1976). Moebius would also draw on his graphic design training create the cover artwork for various Cluster albums and related collaborations.

Meanwhile, Moebius and Roedelius founded the band Harmonia with Michael Rother of Neu!, releasing the albums “Musik von Harmonia” (1974) and “Deluxe” (1975). Admirer Brian Eno would subsequently collaborate with both groups. Moebius began recording solo works in the 1970s and was later involved in numerous side-projects with such musicians as Conny Plank and Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru), including the influential 1983 album “Zero Set”.

Moebius died of cancer on 20 July 2015.

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.

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The German city of Düsseldorf has always been seen as the mecca for electronic music since the early 1970s, when Kraftwerk released their first albums and morphed into robotic aliases. Düsseldorf was also the home of other cult-bands like Neu!, La Düsseldorf, DAF and of course Die Krupps. It’s the city where Juergen Engler and Ralf Dörper grew up.

When Bodo Staiger of Rheingold passed away in December 2019, the time had come to pay homage to one of Düsseldorf’s legends with their song “FanFanFanatisch”. Engler decided that this should be released under their electronic-only project Die Robo Sapiens signed to Alfa Matrix. Although Kraftwerk never were a direct influence to Jürgen Engler, the track “Düsseldorf” pays tribute to the city that brought us that unmistakable sound that made the city famous.

The tracks come in their original version next to additional remixes by label mates Kant Kino, Aesthetische, Implant and 808 DOT POP. prove that even newer generations of musicians are still influenced by it today and put all their (he)art and craft into this tribute to the electronic school cradle.

This “Duesseldorf EP” is past, present and future… and its homage to electronic music is even more significant today with the recent additional loss of Florian Schneider (KRAFTWERK) and Gabi Delgado (DAF).in 2020.

The EP is available exclusively via Bandcamp. Check it out 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.

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Viviankrist is a minimal electro/power-noise project set up by Japanese female artist Eri Isaka. Around 1997-1999 she was member of the industrial-noise project called Vivian Krist. People started to call her Vivian. She got involved with other bands and became member of the female project Gallhammer. It also was her last band before she set up her solo-project Viviankrist. Eri Isaka is now living in Oslo (Norway) and has released her official CD-album debut entitled  “Morgenrøde” on Cold Spring Records. The production is electro-minimal like, but still spiced with heavier power-noise influences. It’s a bit atypical, refreshing and definitely worthy of examination.

Credits picture: Mark Swaffield / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: How did you come to set up Viviankrist, which sounds rather different and definitely more electronic/experimental than Gallhammer?

Eri: I stopped making music in 2011. In 2017 I just wanted to do some noise with my bass, but it didn’t go well. Then I found an old MS-10 and Micro Korg, which my husband just put in a closet. It was something very interesting and I just made my first demo in 3 days with those synths.

Q: I read you’ve been inspired by numerous ‘metal’ bands/music when you were involved with Gallhammer, but what do you consider as your main sources of inspiration for Viviankrist and how do you try to put them into sound?

Eri: Ah. There is a lot to mention. I liked the early work of Klaus Schulze, the period of “Irrlicht”. And these days I’m into the work of artists like Prurient, Pete Swanson, and Trap Music, but also some hiphop. I’m still a bit into ‘Japanoise’; when I was in Japan I especially liked Painjerk and Keiji Haino. I also like some German formations like Kraftwerk, Neu! etc.

Q: You set up Viviankrist in 2017 and have already released an impressive number of -mainly digital, productions. Where does this creativity comes from and what makes you first CD-album “Morgenrøde” maybe different from the rest?

Eri: I just kept on making something; maybe just from boredom, but “Mørgenrode” was a little bit different. I considered to release it as physical material when I was busy with the recording of the album.

Q: The first and last track from “Morgenrøde” reveal a heavy power-electronics/noise approach while the other songs are more into electronic experimentation. Tell us a bit more about these different sides in your composing process?

Eri: I grown up with ‘Japanoise’ so the ‘noise’ approach is natural for me. And I really like Klaus Shulze and Ash Ra type of music. So I just did what I wanted to do in that period, dealing with different influences.

Q: Do you’ve some specific criteria when composing your sound?

Eri: Not really. It’s almost just improvising. Equipment gives me inspiration.

Q: I’ve been always intrigued why the kind of music you’re dealing with is nearly all the time composed by male artists. Is there an explanation to this phenomenon and how do you see yourself evolving with Viviankrist?

Eri: I don’t know and I never have cared about gender. But you can find a lot of female artists in electronics and extreme metal! I’m just one of them.

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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Out now under the Daniel.B.Prothese moniker is the (self-released) double CD “HollEKtroKraut​/​HellEctroKraut” (you can get it here on Bandcamp). As the title suggests, Daniel B. has been exploring his Kraut electro side this time.

We got in touch with Daniel B. for a small chat on this new release.

SL: The title of the double album, and the music, refers clearly to the Krautrock era which Can, early Kraftwerk, Neu!, Amon Düül II, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, and Faust made popular. Which band jumped out the most for you back then?

DB: Well, all of them , but Can and Faust where probably and still are favourites when it comes to the more rhythmic feel in Krautrock for me. Amon Düül represented the more psychedelic side as an evolution of US and UK psychedelia. I also quite like an almost pop band incursion from some of those guys ( Neu!) called “la dusseldorf”…. and I did think of them while making some of the material of Hollektrokraut. The motorik (dingerbeat) rhythm as been an influence since my early beginnings as a drummer.

SL: How come you end up producing the material right now? Revisiting your youth or…?

DB: As you know under the protheses name I like to explore many horizons, and some of the ideas / bass lines are recent others I just had filed away and now found the opportunity, to use them on this project, to make a coherent ensemble. When I compose , even when I did for front 242, I had no real limitations music wise, it is just that I never used a lot of the stuff I did when working under the 242 name.

SL: The Daniel B. Prothèse umbrella has a lot of different sounds under it, from noise to industrial, now Krautrock. There isn’t really one tag you can put on your music. It’s a clear outlet for your personal taste, not what the market would expect from you.

DB: That is why I reused and pirated the EBM thing : Electronic .B. music (smiles).

SL: What’s next?

DB: In the works, something harder like “CHZWaaR+ZMe+aaL” (editor’s note: out via Bandcamp and on vinyl via Alfa Matrix), but also more structured, and more on one line, concept wise as an album…. also shorter… I think. Then I also have plans for super dark “doomy” ambient and of course there will be a new nothingbutnoise cd also by the end of the year.

You can check out the double CD album right 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.

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange, w/inputs from John-Erik Bye Johansen. Photos by Tarjei Krogh and Jan Ronald Stange)
After releasing three 12” EPs of instrumental tracks the last couple of years, the new Apoptygma Berzerk album “Exit Popularity Contest” compile these alongside a couple of new versions of the Apop staple “Until The End Of The World”.
The idea for the album came together when working on the third EP “Xenogenesis”, as they realised these tracks somehow belonged together. Some minor changes later, it has come together as a wholeness, solid and thorough.

The press bio states: “Groth pays homage to his roots through emulating the analogue soundscapes of innovators like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Klaus Schulze, and the driving motorik Krautrock rhythms of Neu!, Cluster and La Duesseldorf, all filtered through his own unique Scandinavian sensibility.” When listening to this album much of this rings true, as this concept draws heavily on the inspiration of Stephan Groth’s musical heroes. It is not far-fetched to claim there is also some early Recoil/Depeche Mode influence in “For Now We See Through A Glass, Darkly” along with John Carpenter, Jarre, Vangelis and – surprise: Apoptygma Berzerk anno 1993 with some “Burnin’ Hertic” samples.
For those who miss Stephan’s voice there’s also an extra gem on the album – “U.T.E.O.T.W. (Extended Version)” – a downtempo and stripped version of “Until The End Of The World” from 2002 (also featured as a shorter version on the flexi-disc accompanying the “Xenogenesis” 12”).

After a long career ranging from EBM via future-pop and trance to a more rock-influenced electronica, Groth has taken a long glance backwards to what really ignited his musical fire and done a reboot of the type of music he wants to make as well as how to make it. Like the music that inspired Apoptygma Berzerk, this album also passes inspiration on to another generation of artists, something that has been evident since other musicians have approached asking about hardware and methods.

For the rest of us, the listeners, many will be using this album as an inspirational guide to the electronic past, and also for the future.
Conclusion: Highly recommended – and let’s hope ♠TP continues the exploration of his synth origins!

As the album won’t be available via digital outlets, we suggest you get a copy of the very limited cassette, CD or vinyl!

jrstange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

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As we reported a few weeks ago, Apoptygma Berzerk’s Stephan Groth is reinventing his sound on the new 10-track album “Exit Popularity Contest” (a fix-up of the 12″ EPs “Stop Feeding The Beast”, “Videodrome” and “Xenogenesis”) which brings instrumental music back into the spotlight.

On the album Groth pays homage to his roots through emulating the analogue soundscapes of innovators like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Klaus Schulze plus adding some Krautrock rhythms of the likes of Neu!, Cluster and La Düsseldorf.

The release will be out as a very limited cassette release (which you can order now), on CD (available here) and on vinyl (available here)!

And right below is already a very sweet sounding video 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.

side-line.com

Apoptygma Berzerk is reinventing its sound which is different from, but complementary to, the electro rock future pop stylings of the previous releases. As a result the new 10-track album “Exit Popularity Contest” (a fix-up of the 12″ EPs “Stop Feeding The Beast”, “Videodrome” and “Xenogenesis”) brings instrumental music back into the spotlight.

On the album Groth pays homage to his roots through emulating the analogue soundscapes of innovators like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Klaus Schulze plus adding some Krautrock rhythms of the likes of Neu!, Cluster and La Düsseldorf.

The release will be out as a very limited cassette release (which you can order now), on CD (available here) and on vinyl (available 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.

side-line.com