The German electronic-pop act Blind Passenger has released their new album, “Teamwork”, last week. For this album Nik Page and Sebastian Arp invited quite a few friends from the dark scene, such as Dennis Schober (Solitary Experiments), Leæther Strip, Rob Dust, Outsized and Syntec.

Recently released was the new single from the album: “Hello Destiny”.

Blind Passenger is the follow-up band of Blind Passengers (mark the plural) and was the solo project of Nik Page soon joined by Sebastian Arp.

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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Gulvøss is a brand new one-person electropop act based in the Nordics and in Berlin. Pushed by Nik Page (Blind Passenger) to release the first material, a first album by Gulvøss aka Sven Wittmiß will be out later in August: “Sinners vs. Saints”.

For the occasion Sven Wittmiß was assisted by producer Thommy Hein who we know from his work with Zeraphine, Peter Heppner, Corvus Corax, Tanzwut, Nina Hagen, Extrabreit, Blind Passengers, Nick Cave, Extrabreit and many others.

A 3rd official videoclip is out now for the track “Walking On Water”.

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: Electro-pop, synth-pop.

Background/Info: This is another surprising comeback! Syntec is a band I perfectly remember from their early work, which takes us back in the early 90s and the great label Machinery Records. EP’s like “It Takes A Word”, “Puppets” and “Angel” plus the albums “The Total Immersion” and “Upper World” definitely belong to the collective memory of the 90s synth-pop music.

The band was only active for a few years and now strikes back after a hiatus of 21 years unleashing this new song featuring Blind Passenger (Nik Page).

Content: Uwe Kallenbach (music & production) and Tobias Hartwig (vocals) didn’t really change their ‘old’ influences, which instantly bring us back to the essence of electro-pop music. “Catch My Fall” is a cool song composed with great sound treatments and a real enjoyable chorus. You don’t get the impression that 21 years are separating this song from their last work (1995). It sounds mature and well-produced while the vocals of Tobias Hartwig are still efficient and totally appropriated to this kind of music. The song has been sung in English although features a few German passages as well.

We next get 3 remixes taking off with a cool space-pop remix by Enter And Fall. My personal favorite remix is the one by Versus (signed on Trisol) while there also is a final remix by Scott Bells.

+ + + : The main and maybe only challenge was to know if Syntec ano 2016 still sounds credible!? The answer is YES, “Catch My Fall” is a well-crafted electro-pop song carried by danceable vibes, poppy sound arrangements and cool vocals. It clearly appears that Syntec hasn’t lost their original potential and creative mind to compose alluring pop music.

– – – : One single song and a few remixes by other bands is not enough to speak about a fully, successful comeback so let’s wait for more new songs to get a more objective point of view. “Catch My Fall” sounds cool and fully enjoyable although I don’t find the early magic from songs and hits back in the day like “It Takes A Word”, “Puppets” and “Angel”.

Conclusion: More than simply a comeback, this is a resurrection from one of the hottest synth-pop formations of the 90s, which illustrated the leading status of Machinery Records and the rise of German electronics. “Catch My Fall” is a cool song, but let’s waits for their full length “The Beginning” to see if they’ll get back to a place at the top.

Best songs: “Catch My Fall”, “Catch My Fall – Ahoi Pop Rework by Versus”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.syntec–band.de / www.facebook.com/syntec.official

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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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