Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave, Post-Punk, Minimal-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Legendary French 80s formation Norma Loy are back on track. Seven years have passed since the previous album “Baphomet” which already was a come-back album. Core members ‘Usher’ and ‘Chelsea’ joined hands together with a few guests to bring us twelve cover versions.

Content: You’ll discover cover versions of very famous artists like the unavoidable Suicide but also Minimal Compact, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Nico, The Velvet Underground, Tuxedomoon, Throbbing Gristle, Factrix, David Lynch, Coil and… Norma Loy. The songs have been meticulously transposed into the dark, haunting, and sometimes minimal style of Norma Loy. You easily recognize most of the songs and their original sound but they’ve been recovered with a darker touch mixing guitar and electronics.

+ + + : I mostly have reservations about cover albums but the way this opus has been accomplished is absolutely great and magical. You easily recognize songs from artists like Suicide, Throbbing Gristle and even Leonard Cohen but Norma Loy adapted the songs in their own, obscure, interpretation. From pure Post-Punk and Dark-Wave to Minimal-Wave the work is versatile and yet compact. Most of the songs are fully accomplished featuring porcelain sound treatments on top but I especially recommend listening to the subdued “Saeta” (Nico), the rough and minimal driven “Touch Me” (Suicide), the harder, Dark-Wave sounding “Romance” (which is a 2022 version from an older Norma Loy song), the good-old Dark/Cold-Wave like “A Night To Forget” (Factrix) and the somewhat Ritual-orientated “Ritual Of The Mind” (Coil).

– – – : The single cut which couldn’t convince me is the Bowie-cover “Some Are”.

Conclusion: Cover albums always are a bit of a challenge but “Ouroboros” sounds as a refreshing Dark-Wave / Post-Punk piece of music.

Best songs: “A Night To Forget”, “Touch Me”, “Ritual Of The Mind”, “Saeta”, “Romance”, “Venus In Furs”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/NormaLoyOfficiel

Label: www.manicdepressionrecords.com / www.facebook.com/manicdepressionrecords

About Norma Loy

Norma Loy is a French formation led by Usher and vocalist Chelsea, among the most prominent French bands of the 1980s. The group stopped activity in the early 1990s, reunited for live shows in 2006 and returned to the studio with “Un/Real” (Infrastition, 2009) and “Baphomet” (Unknown Pleasures Records, 2016). “Ouroboros” follows seven years later on Manic Depression Records, an all-covers album reinterpreting Suicide, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Nico, The Velvet Underground, Tuxedomoon, Throbbing Gristle, Factrix, David Lynch, Coil and Norma Loy’s own back catalogue.

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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The French label Unknown Pleasures Records, run by Pedro Peñas y Roble aka HIV+, stops its activities this summer. They are currently emptying their last stocks before closing for good. The label which started in 2013 was based in the south of France was dedicated to the production of material from the post-punk, minimal wave and EBM scene. Their final release is a Tribute to Death In June.

In the past the label has released albums of bands like Norma Loy, David Carretta, Blind Delon, Adan & Ilse, Hausfrau, Black Egg, European Ghost, Ono Scream, Antipole, Kill Shelter, Vogue Noir, Ohota, Wendy Bevan, Alek Drive, Art Kinder Industrie, Baroque, Maman Küsters, Japan Suicide, Follow Me Not, Der Himmel über Berlin, Dave Inox, Mr Nô, None, Velvet Kills, Selfishadows, Container 47, The Shyness Of Strangers, Secret Sight, La Main, Fluxus, Grand((Ø))Signal, Neon Electronics, Hardlab, Judith Juillerat, Monolog and Love In Prague.

The label has also worked and collaborated with several musicians such as Alan Vega, Gabi Delgado, Dirk Da Davo, Eric Van Wonterghem, Jurgen Engler, Richard 23, Patrick Codenys, Marc Hurtado, Arturo Lanz, The Hacker, Dirk Ivens, The Horrorist, Haujobb, Position Parallèle, John Lord Fonda, Dominique Nicolas, Marc Collin, Michaël Theis, Radical G, Növö, Millimetric, In Death It Ends, In Aeternam Vale, Sonic Area, Adriano Canzian, Alice Botte, Versari and many more.

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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“Groupe 8​/​2 – Vertical” is the new download single (out now via Bandcamp) by the veteran electronic music artist Laurent Boudic aka Növö. The 7-track (!) download single is the follow-up to the already impressive 5th full length album “The Shortwaves”.

Next to the LP version of the title track, we get a remix by Flood Veyor, a rework by Commuter and Black Egg (Norma Loy) plus an extended remix executed by Növö. The whole is topped with an extended version of “Whisky Tango Romeo” and the exclusive non-album track entitled “115”.

Judge for yourself!

A trailer for the EP is also available:

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: Post-punk, new-wave, experimental, EBM.

Background/Info: “Baphomet” is the first new studio album of Norma Loy since 2009. This French band driven by the artistic spirit of ’Usher’ and the vocals of ‘Chelsea’ became one of the most successful French bands during the 80s. The band finally stopped all activities during the early 90s, but came back to life in 2006 to make a few live shows. They were back on track and finally released the album “Un/Real” in 2009 on Infrastition.

Content: “Baphomet” is a real weird opus where you rapidly get the impression that Norma Loy is revisiting different music genres and I guess bands they like and respect. I’m not only referring to cover versions of Suicide (cf. “Je Me Rappelle”) and the evergreen/jazzy song from Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart (cf. “Blue Moon”), but still to some more electro-vintage driven cuts reminding me of early Front 242, pure new-wave/cold-wave passages à la Sisters Of Mercy and the song “Strangers In The Dark”, which sounds like the offspring between The Doors and Echo And The Bunnymen. There also is a more electro-industrial cut (cf. “I Hate Your Heroin”) which sounds like a wink to Psychic TV.

Another and totally different song is the minimal-like “13 Novembre” revealing French lyrics, which have been clearly inspired from the terrible terrorist attack in Paris on the 13^th of November 2015. Chelsea sings in French, but the main part of the songs were sung in English.

The album features different guest musicians who played guitar, bass or did some extra programming.

+ + + : “Baphomet” is a real versatile album, which feels like a voyage throughout the time and different music genres, which have been reinvented or re-interpreted by Norma Loy. It’s a real versatile production, which sounds a bit complex, but well-crafted and totally accomplished. It all feels like the band is comfortable playing different genres. Speaking for myself I like the more electronic-driven cuts and the minimal parts.

The album is packed in a somber, but artistic digipak featuring a booklet with all the lyrics.

– – – : It’s not that easy to seize the diversity running through this work. I don’t have anything against diversity, but “Baphomet’ rather sounds like a compilation instead of an album. Moving from EBM to new-wave to apocalyptic ballad parts to electro-minimalism to psychedelic-rock to a cover version of an Evergreen song is not very common, and especially not exactly accessible.

Conclusion: I’ve understood “Baphomet” as a kind of music exorcism from different music genres and some specific songs adapted into the Norma Loy sound.

Best songs: “(The Sound Of) Apocalypse”, “Je Me Rappelle”, “Strangers In The Dark”, “Golden Fish”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.facebook.com/NormaLoyOfficiel

Label: www.unknown–pleasures–records.com /  www.facebook.com/Unknown–Pleasures–Records-566180440115465

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-pop.

Background/Info: My first feeling was that this band was the logical new project of Pedro Peñas Robles after the end of Adan & Ilse. The band name clearly appears to be inspired from his previous band he was involved with Usher (Norma Loy).  A★I was set up in 2015 by Pedro (vocals) and Philippe Merry aka Phllox (producer). The band claims to be inspired by dark-pop artists and refers to Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Laiback and even Lassigue Bendthaus.

Content: The sound is a bit different from the body-pop minimalism of Adan & Ilse although there clearly is a link in the global sound approach. There indeed is a link with some aforementioned bands –and especially Depeche Mode, but still with Kraftwerk and even Vangelis. This work mixes good-old standards with a unique sound production, which clearly experiments with new ideas.

“Le Chant Du Cygne Noir” sounds vintage-like, but still ambient-like. The production reveals phenomenal, deep resonating bass lines and haunting atmospheres. Cold sequences and sterile vocals reactivate the good-old 80s spirit while the surprising cover version of “Ashes To Ashes” featuring Dan Söderqvist on guitar (known from Twice A Man) has been remarkably transposed into the sonic universe of A★I. I know that Pedro Peñas Robles is a fan of David Bowie so in the end this cover version is not totally surprising, but the way the song has been reworked and adapted is really worthy of examination.

+ + + : You really have to listen a few time to this album to fully seize the judicious mix of influences which will remind you of Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk on one side and the personal sound input on the other. It’s an efficient balance resulting in an open-minded work, which clearly appears the start of a new adventure for Unknown Pleasures Records owner Pedro Peñas Robles.

– – – : This album clearly is not the most accessible electro-pop release. It even makes me think to a reaction against familiar electro-pop standards, which are constantly repeating themselves. So in the end I would say that the main strength of this work also is the main point and reason for classical electro-pop lovers to turn their back on this band.

Conclusion: A★I clearly sounds like a challenge when it comes to convince electro-pop lovers, but it more sounds like a nice addition and alternative to electro-pop for all of those who are bored with endless emulations of Depeche Mode and co.

Best songs: “We Are One Nation”, “Sin Of Sin”, “Goodbye Lady Red”, “A Secret”, “Dark Stars”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/havoc2027

Label: www.unknown–pleasures–records.com /  www.facebook.com/Unknown–Pleasures–Records-566180440115465

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