Loyal Side-Line readers will remember that we always have had a soft spot for the now defunct idm, electro label Tympanik Audio which launched in September 2007. The Chicago-based electronic music label closed in March of 2016 and as a result its back catalogue ceased being distributed… until now!

The fine people from Storming The Base have taken over the complete back catalogue stocks and are selling it now at rock bottom prices (US,98 per CD album) via this hidden link.

Attention: For the US-readers, keep in mind that Storming The Base is offering free shipping from US$100 on, so you might want to take advantage of this by filling your basket with plenty of goodies. The same goes for overseas fans as the shipping diminishes a lot per item once you buy in bulk.

Tympanik Audio’s artist roster includes: Totakeke, Displacer, Ad·ver·sary, Stendeck, ESA, Unterm Rad, Pneumatic Detach, Broken Fabiola, Integral, Atiq & EnK, Geomatic, Flint Glass, Haujobb, Erode, Tangent, Normotone, Disharmony, Anklebiter, Comaduster, Tineidae, Known Rebel, C.H.District, MultiColor, Subheim, [Haven], Fractional, c.db.sn, EyeScream, Zentriert ins Antlitz, SE, Black Lung, Worms Of The Earth, r.roo, Access To Arasaka, Ex_tension, Candle Nine, Tapage, Zinovia, Meander, Dirk Geiger, Endif, Zeller, Lucidstatic, Undermathic, Autoclav1.1, Opposite Exhale, Pandora’s Black Book, Famine, and Aphorism.

Recommended!

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: IDM, electro-ambient, glitch.

Background/Info: Ingo Lindmeier earned some fame during the 90s as a member of the dark-electro and sophisticated sounding Mortal Constraint. He got involved into different projects and Polygon has been his newest creative exposure. He released the excellent “Sein Lernen”-album by Aliens Production. This album features 15 tracks (3 more than the CD-format).

Content: This album features some interesting names, which all are renowned for their sophisticated and intelligent approach in electronic music as well. Polygon invited names like Flint Glass, Ab Ovo, Huron, Normotone, Headdreamer and a few less familiar names like RecFrag and Klangarchies while this digital edition also features label mates Ish, Headdreamer plus LPF 12. I also have to mention 3 remixes made by Polygon.

There’s an interesting twist of influences running through this work, with all the remixers trying to inject their own touch to the original songs. I was impressed by the bombast and reverie of RecFrag and the complexity of Huron.

Other attention grabbers were accomplished by Flint Glass and LPF 12. I expected a bit more out of the Polygon remixes although I’ve to mention a great and improved version of “Der Träumer”.

The sound universe of the original songs remains pretty faithful, and definitely diverse. The songs remain minimalism, bombast, reverie, but most of all into beautiful sound manipulations.

↑↑↑: I especially like the selection of bands for this remix concept I especially like the selection of bands for this remix concept while it’s also cool to get remixes from Polygon as well.

↓↓↓ : I can’t say that this album is really adding a bonus to the original album, which remains the one to discover first! It would have been cool to get one or two ‘new’ songs on it.

Conclusion: If you enjoyed the original full length “Sein Lernen” you for sure will appreciate this “Remixes”-version.

Best songs: “Kalter Fleck – Huron”, “Tag Ohne Gestern – RecFrag”, “Tag Ohne Gestern- LPF12”.

Rate: (DP:7)DP.

Band: www.sein-lernen.net / www.facebook.com/polygon-music-863946540311247

Label: www.label.aliens.sk / www.facebook.com/pages/Aliens-production-label/200028820052578

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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Genre/Influences: Experimental, neo-folk, industrial, ambient.

Content: Bruno Laborde is a French artist who maybe doesn’t make ring a bell. Fans of electronic music will for sure remember great French bands like Axonal Warfare and Neon Cage Experiment, which both are projects Laborde got involved in. He finally set up his own solo-project releasing a debut album (cf. “Inward Structures”) on the great Canadian label Tympanik Audio.

Four years have passed and Normotone is finally back on track unleashing a new album of 12 songs. “Hiraeth” has been released by Unknown Pleasures Records, which clearly reveals to be a label with an open-minded vision. This album is not exactly the most accessible piece of music although a creative outburst of a musician exorcising multiple sonic ideas.

I think we can easily speak about an experimental approach especially because of the multiple influences. It all starts a rather ambient-like way constructed with overwhelming sound blasts. It next moves into a more industrial approach carried by bombastic rhythms and ghost-like vocals. The work sounds mysterious and that’s an essential element, which is also noticeable in the vocal parts.

Different guest artists contributed to this album. Corina Nenuphar is one among the list and she sings with her sexy timbre of voice to the ambient-industrial driven “Sickest Truth”, which is one of the main attention grabbers of the album. This artist also contributed to some work of Black Egg, which is another band Laborde got involved in and, which contributed to “Hiraeth” as well. It’s such a small world…

Another main influence running through this album is neo-folk music. This music genre can be heard in different songs and I here especially recommend “The Surollen Silences”, which has been empowered by some industrial elements as well.

But the best is yet to come. I here refer to ambient driven cuts like “Abandon” featuring Sonic Area and the more soundtrack-inspired “From The Mouth To The Heart”. The last mentioned song makes me think of a song composed for a visual performance while its experimental approach reminds me a bit to the newest solo-album of Phil Von.

The last few songs explore new experimental paths, which have been mixed with industrial- and neo-folk music. “Personal Predatories” even moves on the edge of glitch, which simply confirms the eclectic approach of this band.

Conclusion: The diversity of “Hiraeth” for sure appears to be its most exciting element. This artist is maybe covering too many influences, which makes it hard to qualify Normotone as one established music genre.

Best songs: “Abandon”,” From The Mouth to The Earth”, “Procession Grotesque”, “Sickest Truth”.

Rate: (Elise Din:7)Elise Din.

Band: www.facebook.com/Normotone

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