Out today via Re:Mission Entertainment is the second album, “—-X—-“, in an ongoing collaboration between Dead Voices on Air and Snowbeasts. For this release the two bands took a slightly different approach during the recording. Most of the songs were passed back and forth via file transfer until the songs felt finished. “This resulted in a more composed, or thematic feel to the album, which features more lyrical content”, so the label emphasizes.

The release is out as a download and as a limited CD digipak (100 copies) via Bandcamp (where you can order it. A special T-shirt is also available for ordering.

Spybey’s lyrical content continues to be preoccupied by the political challenges of our time, believing that we have entered a new era of autocracy. He believes that we are in danger of being seduced by the incessant barrage of lies, half-truths, trolling and allegations. That we are being wilfully misled by petty tyrants, upper class twits, the filthy rich, pathological liars and narcissists.

The duo says: “We are oppressed through the weaponisation of fear, in a vain attempt to obscure the political and strategic ineptness of our politicians. The enemy is anyone who dares to think or act differently, or who challenges the kind of beliefs that have plagued mankind: hatred of others, hatred of minorities, hatred of those who seek to instil hope and compassion into our societies.”

Spybey specifies even further: “I’m 60 and I’m still pissed off. Perhaps more pissed off than ever. I confess I find it ever so hard to believe that with all of the advances that humans have made during my lifetime, all of the wonderful things we have achieved, that our countries (the USA and the UK) have ended up electing, being led and represented by people like Trump and Johnson. I can’t believe that anyone could be stupid enough to believe that the world is a safer and better place because of their contribution, or lack of it to the maintenance of peace, stability and wellness. To all of you who say that musicians shouldn’t get involved in politics, I have this to say. I make music because I am able to do it. It’s my right to create and by doing so I am afforded a voice and a platform. It’s one of the many privileges of living in a ‘free society,’ (whatever that means). I make music because I want to and if I didn’t think that by doing so that I couldn’t reach out to people and to respectfully challenge the status quo, in an attempt to make some kind of meaningful contribution to society, I’d quit tomorrow, pack up and go away. For Trump and Johnson, you can easily add another dozen or so ‘world’ leaders names to the list by the way. Politicians are not all the same, and if you think that, then I’d like to respectfully suggest that you might want to do something about it. We deserve better. So yeah, when I started to write lyrics for this record, I really couldn’t avoid mining some of these feelings and I’m kind of unapologetic about it. I don’t like to offend people but enough is enough folks, we deserve better.”

Simon Paul, a well known graphic artist from Toronto, Canada provided the artwork, which plays on a number of themes from the album. The CD was mastered by another member of the Dead Voices on Air family, Anatoly Tokee Grinberg from Moscow.

Here’s the album itself.

About Snowbeasts

Snowbeasts is the duo of Robert Galbraith and Elizabeth Virosa. The project was formed in 2014 in Providence RI after a series of heavy snowstorms. Earlier releases were cinematic modular landscapes and droning dark ambient while later tracks can be more beat oriented.

Snowbeasts has numerous releases scattered across their own Component Recordings and Paris’s MTronic. They have also recently completed a trio of albums with beat oriented noise artist, Solypsis including two for Ohm Resistance.

Along with Snowbeasts, Virosa and Galbraith produce techno under the name Obscure Formats and electronic dance as Pattern Behavior.

About Dead Voices on Air

Spybey started his career in the North-East of England with Zoviet France in the late eighties before moving to Vancouver. It was here that Dead Voices On Air were formed. Spybey also worked under the name Propeller and was an original member of Download, who included members of Skinny Puppy. Spybey was the voice of their 1996 release, “The Eyes of Stanley Pain”.

After leaving Download he started a series of collaborations, appearing on over 50 albums in a five-year period. Perhaps his most significant collaboration was being asked to be part of CAN guitarist Michael Karoli’s band Sofortkontakt! and appearing at the CAN 30th anniversary shows in 1999. Spybey was a close friend of Michael Karoli prior to his death in 2001 and had toured with him as part of legendary CAN vocalist Damo Suzuki’s Network in 1998 in North America, appearing in the German TV film by Peter Braatz, “On the Air”.

Spybey has recorded, toured and played live with numerous collaborators including Faust, Michael Rother (Neu!) and Dieter Moebius (Cluster), members of The Legendary Pink Dots, Mick Harris (Scorn, Painkiller), Jarboe (Swans), Simon Fisher-Turner, Richard Sanderson, James Plotkin (Flux, Old, Scorn), Robert Hampson (Loop/Main), Jochen Arbeit (Einzturzende Neubaten), Darryl Neudorf and Sugarpill (Abintra), Not Breathing, Pigface and Martin Atkins.

He has worked with a number of record companies, including Kranky, Nettwerk, Invisible, Cold Spring, U.M.P and Soleilmoon. Spybey was part of the band Beehatch with the late Phil Western of Download, who released three albums and toured Europe. In 2004 he formed Reformed Faction, a duo with founding member of Zoviet France and Rapoon mainstay Robin Storey. The band have released a number of albums and have played live in both Europe and North America. He now resides in his native Yorkshire, in the UK.

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!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: IDM, Minimal-Electro, Industrial, Ambient-Electro, Experimental.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Twenty seven tracks to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the French label M-Tronic. As the title indicates, it also is the fifth volume in the Compilation series “Table Of Elements” which started in 2004 with ten tracks.

Artists: C.H.District, Cathode Ray Tube, Alpturer, Amantra, An Hedonia, Plaster, Mono Peninsula, Valance Drakes, Nearfield, Syl Kougaï, Tineidae + Comforting Darkness, EKS Center, DEF, Obscure Formats, Snowbeasts, Martin Dupont & Philippe Petit, Xorcist, Flint Glass, Ermanspeed, Shizuka, Leitmotiv Rainbow, Lith, Cruise [ctrl], NSP.

Content: The impressive tracklist perfectly stands for the particular and minimal-driven sound of the M-Tronic roster. It’s an avant-garde vision of the Electronic underground scene featuring an intelligent, sophisticated and complex approach of Electronic music. Most bands are familiar names from the label roster although you’ll discover other bands as well.

+ + + : M-Tronic is a label I’ve always respected for its visionary approach. Electronic music is much more than artists repeating each other and music genres without innovation. M-Tronic brings visionary music and always have dared to sign unknown bands with an intelligent sound. But intelligent music often stands for a rather restricted number of fans. I however remain an adherent of this label and this compilation simply confirms the good taste of the French label. And when you realize the label also released albums of bands like Millimetric, Mlada Fronta, Ex_Tension, Displacer, Geomatic ao, which aren’t featured on this compilation, you only, but have to agree this label stands for high tech productions.

– – – : A few more explicit Experimental passages aren’t my favorites one, but you don’t hear me to complaining.

Conclusion: Electronic music with an uppercase E!

Best bands: Tineidae + Comforting Darkness, Ermanspeed, S.H.I.Z.U.K.A., Lith, C.H. District, Leitmotiv Rainbow.

Rate: 8½.

Label: www.m-tronic.com / www.facebook.com/mtroniclabel

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

“Dead Voices On Air : Snowbeasts” is the newest album by the dark ambient acts Dead Voices On Air and Snowbeasts. For those who might have forgotten, Dead Voices on Air is Mark Spybey’s experimental and industrial project formed after his departure from Zoviet France. Dead Voices on Air has collaborated with artists such as Not Breathing and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy.

But back to the joined effort which started out when Dead Voices On Air’s Mark Spybey – who played at a festival in Providence RI – was helped out by Rob Galbraith from the band Snowbeasts. He drove Mark back to Boston to catch his flight home. It resulted in Rob and Mark eventually talking about working together.

During the first Covid lockdown, in the summer of 2020, the duo started working on a new Dead Voices on Air album. Rob and his partner Beth sent so much music to Mark that when he started to assemble the finished project, he worked out that it was at least a double album’s worth of material. He suggested that the bulk of the work that Rob and Beth had contributed might work as a Dead Voices on Air and Snowbeasts joint CD.

Even the artwork seems to have been a collaborative effort as the band’s artwork guy Marco Roberti assembled the sleeve for the CD from photographs by Rob, Beth and Mark. The CD was mastered by another member of the Dead Voices on Air family, Anatoly Grinberg from Moscow.

The album is out now via Re:Mission (inlcuding as a limited CD edition of just 100 copies), you can check it below.

About Snowbeasts

Snowbeasts is the duo of Robert Galbraith and Elizabeth Virosa. The project was formed in 2014 in Providence RI. Earlier releases were cinematic modular landscapes and droning dark ambient while later tracks can be more beat oriented.

Snowbeasts has numerous releases scattered across their own Component Recordings and the fine Paris based label M-Tronic. They have also recently completed a trio of albums with beat oriented noise artist, Solypsis including two for Ohm Resistance.

Along with Snowbeasts, Virosa and Galbraith produce techno under the name Obscure Formats and electronic dance as Pattern Behavior.

About Dead Voices On Air

Spybey started his career in the North-East of England with Zoviet France in the late eighties before moving to Vancouver. It was here that Dead Voices On Air were formed. Spybey also worked under the name Propeller and was an original member of Download, which included members of Skinny Puppy. Spybey was the voice of “The Eyes of Stanley Pain” in 1996.

After leaving Download he started a series of collaborations, appearing on over 50 albums in a five-year period including that of CAN guitarist Michael Karoli’s band Sofortkontakt!. Spybey was a close friend of Michael Karoli prior to his death in 2001 and toured with him as part of legendary CAN vocalist Damo Suzuki’s Network in 1998 in North America, appearing in the German TV film by Peter Braatz, “On the
Air”.

Spybey was part of the band Beehatch with the late Phil Western of Download, who released three albums and toured Europe. In 2004 he formed Reformed Faction, a duo with founding member of Zoviet France and Rapoon mainstay Robin Storey. The band has released a number of albums and have played live in both Europe and North America.

He now resides in his native Yorkshire, in the UK.

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!

side-line.com

Hailing from New England (USA) Rob Galbraith (aka ‘Raab Codec’) and Elizabeth Virosa are now active for several years as SNOWBEASTS. They already released an impressive number of productions and last year unleashed their newest opus “Energy”. The album was released on M-Tronic, revealing an impressive mix of influences; from IDM and Techno to Minimal-Electro, Trance and Electro-Industrial the album is characterized by a very personal approach. “Energy” is an absolute masterpiece and definitely one of my favorites from 2020. I’d a chat with Rob and Elizabeth.

(Picture credit by Lüke Haughwøut / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You guys are involved with different music projects like MON<O>TAUR, PATTERN BEHAVIOR, OBSCURE FORMATS and of course SNOWBEATS. Which projects are still active today? How do you make the difference between the projects and is there a different approach? 

Rob: Right now SNOWBEASTS is our primary project and outlet for musical creativity. SNOWBEASTS is spread across several different directions so it can be a bit hard to pin down. Typically we start with an overall concept when we start a new album -is it going to be more atmospheric? Is it going to be more dance oriented? And then go from there. “Energy” was an attempt to bring more of the Dark-Techno that we play live into our recorded works. With SNOWBEASTS we try to bring more organic elements in to the music and use more acoustic  sound sources like waterphone, bone trumpet, and zithers. 

OBSCURE FORMATS is the other active project and the scope is more narrow and Techno-oriented. The three OBSCURE FORMATS albums that came out last year were all done in a very short period of time (a couple weeks each for the first two). For that project I try to keep things a bit more raw and really try to avoid overthinking. 

We are talking about doing some new PATTERN BEHAVIOR tracks in 2021, but that is really just in the planning stages right now. MON<O>TAUR is a bit different in that we were working with our friend, David Dodson, on it so it brings his personality and influence in the mix as well. We have talked about doing more tracks together but nothing yet. 

Q: SNOWBEASTS is now active for several years and has already released an impressive discography. Where does this creativity comes from and how would you analyze the evolution from the early work till the newest album “Energy”?

Rob: For me the creativity comes from all over the place. I really try to keep my ears open to both the music I love and the things that I’m not so into. It could be just a matter of hearing the way a drum loop is processed or a simple click in a sound that gets me thinking about a new track. Emotion also plays into what I put into music. It may not always be completely articulated, but it definitely plays a huge role. 

I think the evolution may be in part due to my short attention span. I get bored easily and as a result, I don’t want to be doing the same thing over and over again. I sort of see three distinct evolutionary points in SNOWBEASTS starting with the Dark-Ambient of the first album, and then moving to the Down-Tempo beats of “Instincts”, and then the third being the more dance oriented tracks on “Energy”. That being said, I totally feel comfortable moving back and forth within those realms.

Q: “Energy” has been released nearly one year ago now. How do you look back at the writing and production process of the album and can you give us more details about the concept, sound and influences? 

Elizabeth: Before working on the album we discussed trying to attempt to create a dark atmospheric sound at a faster BPM and seeing if we could accomplish that. The time it took us to complete the album was a bit slower than it typically takes us to complete albums in the past as this took us about a year to complete. There are a few tracks with lyrics. Those I would write after adding more indistinguishable vocalizations just to come up with a melody or rhythm to go with the drums or other sounds Rob added. Sometimes we kept those if they worked.       

Rob: For influences, I don’t think we can particularly pin it to particular artists, but I was definitely listening to a lot of Techno while writing “Energy”. I wanted to fuse that with more organic elements and the moods and atmospheres we explore with SNOWBEASTS.

Q: How do you guys work together? What makes the complementarity between you both? 

Elizabeth: In general Rob is behind the computer using the daw while I’ll contribute and record vocals or record instrument samples or drones or pads from synths although sometimes I take over while he records drums or baselines or other sounds from Eurorack equipment. We pretty much both work on the arrangements together. I might start it or he will until one of us finishes it.

Typically most tracks begin with a sound from an instrument we might have acquired say a bone trumpet, field  recordings or maybe a Eurorack instrument. Something that is typically new for us to explore and has the characteristics and color we are looking for. 

Where I complement his approach and style is typically in the process of slowing things down enough to analyze things, but without paralysis. Basically, I ask questions and give a lot of feedback while we are working unless it does not need it and sounds amazing. 

Q: I noticed more and more artists are getting back to modular- and analog gear to write their music. What makes the magic of vintage equipment and what did it add to your work? 

Rob: For me analog synths provide a sense of immediacy and tactile interaction. I love to be able to twist and modulate sounds in real time without having to map a controller. With modular, it comes down to the absolute freedom of things and being able to made something new and predictable every time I turn on my modular cabinets. I am by no means an analog purist and mix a fair amount of drum samples and VSTs in to the mix. It really comes down to what works best for you and your workflow. I have heard  people do amazing things with very minimal  computer based setups-so you don’t necessarily need a wall of modular gear to make interesting music. 

Elizabeth: Rob introduced me to Eurorack systems a few years back when we first started working on SNOWBEASTS, when working with these types of tools what I suppose seemed magical was when we created sounds that were unexpected and powerful while playing in the studio. Sometimes the way modules patched together did not seem to fully explain its sound and  that way it seems as if there is something else influencing the final outcome. 

Q: Next to “Energy” you also released 2 albums together with SOLYPSIS. How did this collaboration happened? Was there a specific focus and/or concept in this collaborative work? 

Rob: SOLYPSIS had originally reached out to have Elizabeth’s voice on one of his tracks. We were all really happy with the results and decided to work on the first SNOWBEASTS & SOLYPSIS album together. The first album was written mostly while I was on furlough from my last job. James and I would bounce ideas and files back and forth  during the day and then Elizabeth would add to the tracks when she finished up with work in the evenings. James and I work really well together and he brings a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm to the project. The first album felt like an artistic success and we got a really good response from it so it seemed only natural to do a second album which brought us to “Fever Dream”.  Right now we are compiling a remix album of the track on “Fever Dream” and have some amazing remixers on board. 

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-Techno, Techno-Body.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Obscure Formats is a side-project of Snowbeasts and mainly of Raab Codec. An impressive number of productions have been released in a very short lapse of time, “Cryptid” being the third album of Obscure Formats for 2020. The title of the work deals about ‘a creature of legend’.

Content: I expected something totally different when I knew what the title of the album is all about; something more Ambient or ritual-like. But Obscure Formats deals with the dark side of Techno music! The songs are driven by heavy beats while the electronic composition is characterized by EBM-inspired bass lines and dark atmospheres. The work has something linear, but that’s what Techno music stands for.

+ + + : “Cryptid” is a powerful production; a dark and perverted Techno format for parties in dark cellars. Pure underground! I like this approach, which is comparable to some Berliner productions in the genre and yet, this is also different. It’s more obscure and underground-like. “Basilisk” and “Ahool” both are very efficient compositions to understand the approach of this artist. I also have to mention “Tatzelwurm” driven by a phenomenal, cold tune and carried by a strong bass line. The repetitive sequences have something exciting creating a trance effect.

– – – : Some passages are a little bit too repetitive creating an unaccomplished effect, but in the end that’s often what Techno reflects.

Conclusion: If you think you’ve already heard the darkest formats of Techno music, Obscure Formats will open a forbidden door to an unknown dimension!

Best songs: “Basilisk”, “Ahool”, “Tatzelwurm”, “Mothman”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/snowbeasts

Label: www.m-tronic.com / www.facebook.com/mtroniclabel

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: IDM, Electro-Industrial, Trance, Minimal-Electronics.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Raab Codec and Elizabeth Virosa are now active for several years as Snowbeasts. Bothg American artists are still involved with other common projects such as Obscure Formats, Pattern Behavior and Mon >O< Taur. The band’s discography is already quite impressive while they this year added a new album “Energy” released on M-Tronic.

Content: “Energy” takes off with a rather wafting and mysterious track featuring female chants reminding me of the imaginary call of sirens. Quite progressively the work becomes sophisticated and into pure IDM. Industrial sound treatments and slow rhythms joined by other female chants and spoken-like vocals are noticeable elements of the album. But there also is an explicit Trance-approach, which is created by dark, repetitive sequences and bouncing beats. The work becomes cold and ending a more minimal-like way.

+ + + : “Energy” is an album that took me by surprise leaving me sometimes breathless. The tracklist is meticulously built up, taking off with mysterious spheres, but slowly reaching in the midst of the album a total state of Trance; a pure sonic orgasm emerging at “Rebirth”. This song is a true masterpiece, one of the best tracks I’ve heard this year. The deep, resonating sound blasts, which sound like a horn, create a Trance/Ritual effect. A somewhat similar impression is also reached on the next song “At Least I Have My Heart”. Elizabeth Virosa’s spoken-like and sterile kind of singing accentuate the global sensation of mystery, trance and rite. After these both amazing songs the album moves towards more minimal-like impressions, which are still intelligently written by great vintage sound treatments.

– – – : There are no minus points about this album; it’s just regrettable this project remains pretty unknown for a wider audience.

Conclusion: “Energy” is a fully accomplished piece of intelligent Electronic music composed by artists who still take care to create their own sound and style.

Best songs: “Rebirth”,“At Least I Have My Heart”, “Kanashibari”, “Glass Souls”, “Entity”, “The Storm Inside”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/snowbeasts

Label: www.m-tronic.com / www.facebook.com/mtroniclabel

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