Genre/Influences: Industrial, Experimental.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Spanish project strikes back with a new album which in a way has something conceptual. The title of the work is taken from Pink Floyd when they disbanded in 1975 and had already become strangers to each other.

Content: The album sounds versatile, definitely Experimental, but still spiced with Industrial sound treatments and overwhelming Electro passages. The Industrial rhythm is rather slow which is fitting with some of the cuts revealing intelligent Industrial-Electro. The work slowly evolves towards an Experimental/Cinematic final.

+ + + : The work isn’t easy to catch but features impressive, great songs. I especially recommend listening to “Nauseating – Parts I, V, MIX & MMMDCCCLXXXVIII” and “Eve’s Insane Swan” both revealing this kind of ‘intelligent industrial music’.

– – – : The last part of the album sounds like getting lost in less inspired Experimental- and Cinematic music.

Conclusion: Escupemetralla remains a very unique project in modern Experimental/Industrial music. They’ve been inspired by a weird theme to accomplish a few great tracks.

Best songs: “Nauseating – Parts I, V, MIX & MMMDCCCLXXXVIII”, “Eve’s Insane Swan”, “Green And Submarine”, “The Nihil song”.

Rate: 7½.

Label: www.novak.es / www.facebook.com/novakrecs

About Escupemetralla

Escupemetralla is an electronic music project from Barcelona, Spain. The band records for the Spanish label Nøvak, working in an Industrial and Experimental style that moves between slow, intelligent Industrial-Electro passages and Cinematic-leaning closing sections, as heard on this album, whose title references Pink Floyd’s 1975 breakup.

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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Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber have been working together since the late 80s. They got international recognition in the EBM scene with Front Line Assembly. Next to other side-projects they also worked together as Delerium. The first album bring us back to 1988. I remember “Faces, Forms, And Illusions” as a kind of Industrial-Ambient work which also was the band’s main source of inspiration for the next few years. “Semantic Spaces” (1994) and “Karma” (1997) both revealed a different sound becoming more Downtempo-like while driven by sensual, female vocals. “Silence” became a word-wide famous hit while Delerium never stopped releasing new works in a similar style. They this year strike back with “Signs” (Metropolis Records) which is the duo’s first album in seven years. Sensual, mysterious and refined Ambient-Electronics featuring a few new potential hits. I asked a few questions to Bill Leeb.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Signs” is your first new Delerium album in seven years. Why did it take so long to release a new opus and what was the spark to start writing “Signs”?

Bill: We were taking a little breather from Delerium when the complications of Covid extended the giant gap between releases. What ultimately made a difference is that Rhys moved back to Vancouver, Canada, so with him being close by, we were able to start working again. Being in the same room creating together is what provided the spark that we needed.

Q: What are these “Signs” all about and how did you transpose it into songs?

Bill: Well, the title of the album alludes to the sign of the times. So much has happened in the world since we released the last Delerium album “Mythologie” in 2016. Yet with “Signs” the title came last. When we were on tour Front Line Assembly, we were talking about titles for the album, our guitarist Tim Skold threw the title at us and Rhys and I both liked it so it stuck. We gave Tim Skold an actual credit for the title on the album.

Q: What have been the different stages in writing, recording and production of “Signs” you’d to go through? And what have been the main challenges and difficulties you encountered?

Bill: When Rhys moved back to Vancouver (about 40 minutes from my house), it was great to be able to get together in a room and start writing. After 35 years of doing Delerium, that is still the best way. Ideas came up and we were able to the kick them around and work on them with consistency.

It is always a challenge to find the right people to work with. Many artists are working on their own bands and projects, collaborating is a different game these days and many are doing their own thing. I think we found the right balance. Rhys had worked with Kanga in the past, some of the other great vocalists on “Signs,” we’ve worked with before including Emily Haines (from Metric), Mimi Page and Phidel.

Q: That brings me to ask if you handle specific criteria to work with vocalists? And what’s their real input and impact in the lyrical themes and singing?

Bill: I think the thing that differentiates FLA from Delerium is that when we write the music, we think in terms of what voice would work on this or that song. The singers themselves write the lyrics, the magical part is that the instrumental music often drives the vocalists to lean heavily on atmospheric vocals and that is what Delerium is all about. It is collaboration in the truest sense. Mimi Page, contributes in a different way as she often presents song ideas as well.

In general, we always know when we hear something if it is going to work. This is the zone and kind of environment we like Delerium to work in. On “Signs” we found that perfect balance with all of the songs and the singers.

Q: I’m always wondering if you handle specific criteria and/or references when you’re composing your music? Are you perfectionists?

Bill: I definitely hear music and voices that influence the compositions. In the past, I’ve heard singers that I myself have contacted to collaborate on songs.

As for being a perfectionist? When we write something and it’s done, later, I always think I could have done that better or change that. Music is never ending, like painting. Even when it’s done, I think at the end of the day you have to know when to walk away and let other people hear it and hope for the best.

Q: Did you both need a special and/or different mindset when working on Delerium than on one of your other music projects like Frontline Assembly for example? How does it happen?

Bill: That’s really easy, most artists, painters or musicians have two sides. I find when tour with FLA, afterwards, we want to turn off that side of ourselves and become someone else for a while. Delerium is a healing process, a perfect escape from the aggression in the world. Delerium opens the door for us to diversity and brings us to the Trance, Ambient side of things and remix possibilities. That Dance world has created a whole new platform for us to exist on that is very separate from the world of Industrial music. It’s like a great escape.

Q: What does the front cover of “Signs” stand for and how important is the artwork -especially in times people are more into streaming than physical productions?

Bill: Dave McKean created the artwork for “Signs.” We’ve been working with him since the Front Line Assembly album “Millennium“ In 1994. Dave’s first Delerium-album cover was “Mythologie” in 2016 and it blew us away, so it was a no brainer for us to have him do this cover. Dave is somewhat like the singers in Delerium, he collaborates with us. We give him the title, send him some songs to listen to and he sends us image ideas. It is a real collaboration, he then sends us art and it ends up being the ideal cover. Dave does his artwork from scratch. It’s not an AI thing, it is real voices with real art. The bird on the cover of “Signs,” is like a phoenix rising in the face of the way things are in the world these days.

Q: Early Delerium-albums were remastered and re-released in 2022. There’s a gap of nearly thirty five years between your debut album “Faces, Forms, And Illusions” and “Signs” but is there still a deeper sound-connection between both periods? How do you perceive this impressive evolution?

Bill: Well, I wanted to give a shout out to the late Dave Heckman for rereleasing these on Metropolis and presenting them exactly as an artist would want. As far as the evolution of Delerium from those early years, many things came into play. During the first album I was still in Skinny Puppy, so it was really a side project. I was bouncing off things like Ofra Haza, The Orb and even Pink Floyd. I started experimenting with ideas, much of it was organic and made by hand, perhaps using some cassette recorders for sampling. We’ve evolved so much with technology, it was a natural evolution for Delerium.

“Semantic Spaces” in 1994, was the first time we would write songs like that and brought in Kristy Thirsk to sing. We received legitimate radio play and it was quite an evolution from our earlier material. We were able to bridge the two parts later with monks, angelic voices and classical influences with “Silence”, featuring Sarah McLachlan, and evolved even further. Now, with “Signs” it has quickly become one my personal favorite Delerium albums. And the flow continues even after 35 years. If it all ended today with this album I’d be ok with it, full circle, old meets new, keeping all of the elements and the sincerity of the project intact.

Q: What are the plans for Delerium in the next few months?

Bill: As of now, the album is only a few weeks old and we have just released the video with Kanga. We are working on another video, this time for “Coast To Coast” featuring Phildel. Then looking at possible remixes. There’s a lot to work with.

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

Denuit is a French male-female duo which last year released their second album “Inferno” on different formats (digital, CD, vinyl and cassette) by Manic Depression Records and No Need Name. The year before they released their debut album “Black Sun”. They’re actually busy working at the next album planned for Autumn 2023. The duo clearly is a prolific band finding their main sources of inspiration in the 80s Cold-Wave and Post-Punk scene. Time to discover a promising formation so I got in touch with both members: ‘Ivi Topp’ and ‘Liss Araignée’.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Tell us a bit more about the origins and set up of Denuit? What have been potential sources of inspiration and influences? 

IVI: DENUIT started on a cold night, surrounded by synthesizers and the warm voice of Lis. My influences range from Minimal-Techno to Arcade Fire, from Prodigy to Nirvana, from The Doors to Pink Floyd. 

LIS: I’m a big fan of The Cramps and The Doors. They were the first bands that made me want to perform on stage. At the moment I’m listening to a lot of Cyber-Punk/Dark-Techno, especially Sierra and Swarm. It’s really my favorite style of music. I’m a big fan of Rebeka Warrior and all her projects, Mansfield.Tya, Kompromat, Sexy Sushi.  I am also very much influenced by literature, as a lyricist. I read a lot of poetry and fantasy. I love Edgar Allan Poe and Vladimir Maïakovski.

Q: What means music to you and what does Denuit stand for? 

IVI: Music for me is a way to express and communicate raw emotions. To connect and share with everyone around me. Denuit is my life, it’s an energy that has always been inside me. Denuit is ‘de nuit’, which literally means ‘by night’.

LIS: Denuit is my reason for being, it’s the breath that makes my lungs rise, it’s the blood that runs through my veins, it’s the cry of my soul. We want to bring poetry into this harsh world, to find the beauty of life.

Q: Every single aspect -like bandname, album- and song titles but also the music, sounds pretty dark and tormented. What did you try to express by darkness and in which way do the dark times we’re going through have an impact on the global production? 

IVI: We always express with our music what we experience around us, in this sense Denuit is like our personal diary. If our music is dark, we always put hope and light in it. We are very optimistic in our everyday life 🙂 

LIS: I think when I see the darkness, I feel at home in a way. I’m not afraid because I know I have the light inside me to light my way. 

Q: You’ve been very prolific; releasing a first album “Black Sun” in 2021 and next “Inferno” in 2022. How did the switch from one album towards the other happened? Were there significant aspects of the production you wanted to improve and/or change? 

LIS: It’s funny you say that because we’re recording our third album right now. In fact I can let you in on a secret, it will be out in October and the first single will be out in June. The transition from one album to another is natural, we follow our cycles, our phases. We always want to progress and to do that we always push our limits, in terms of production and work. As beings, we learn and evolve all our lives. 

IVI: We are constantly writing and working on new material. We have a need to express the important moments in our lives. With each album we try to push our limits and explore new territories musically. Colour is also important to us, as well as the visual aspect. “Black Sun” is = black, “Inferno” is = red, our next album is = purple.  

Q: And how do you look back at your latest album “Inferno”? What did you keep in mind from the writing process and the way it all took shape? 

LIS: “Inferno” contains a lot of anger, it’s born from a constant frustration, from the oppression of the society at that time. Now we see the world differently, there is so much beauty around us and in the end the most important thing is love. Love for yourself and for others. With “Inferno” we were able to overcome this anger and be reborn in a very positive way. We have hope for the future. 

IVI: “Inferno” is an important step. We had to go into this red, dry land to come out the other side.

Q: It all looks like the video clips clearly are a very important part of Denuit. What did you try to express by the clips and this other creative side of the band? Do you think clips still make sense in a world where streaming became the standard? 

LIS: Video is a complete art because it includes music, photography, acting and writing. For us it is a way to illustrate our music, to show it to people the way we want them to see it. 

IVI: I love films! I think the relationship and the fusion between moving images and music elevates the music and the films at the same time. For us, it is very important to extend our artistic expression to clips. 

Q: Another important part of the band seems to be the stage. How do you transpose the songs from studio towards the stage? And how do you see yourself as a live band? 

LIS: The stage is the performance of our music. When we are with our audience, we feel free and at the right place. We prepare our shows in residences with our technicians and before we play a new set, we check all our scenography and sound to give our audience the best possible experience. 

IVI: The stage is our home. When we play, everything else disappears. There is no past, there is no future, only the present counts. That is why we make music, to play it live! Read the review of ‘Inferno’.

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

Pink Floyd’s 50th Anniversary of “The Dark Side of the Moon” has been commemorated with a deluxe box set on 24th March 2023. This iconic album, one of the best-selling records of all time, has sold over 50 million copies worldwide.

The new box set includes a CD and gatefold vinyl of the 2023 remastered studio album, Blu-Ray and DVD audio featuring the original 5.1 mix and remastered stereo versions, an additional Blu-ray disc of Atmos mix, and CD and LP of “The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974”. That live album was also released seperately.

A 50th Anniversary book, “Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon: 50th Anniversary” has been released by Thames & Hudson as well. The LP-sized volume, curated by photographer Jill Furmanovsky and art directed by Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey Powell, showcases rare and previously unseen photographs from the album’s tours.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of former band member Syd Barrett, who departed the group in 1968.

In a 2013 interview with BBC’s HARDtalk, Waters discussed the departure of Syd Barrett from the band: “Syd was a very sweet guy, but he was the first casualty. The rest of us had to get on with it. We had to survive, and the only way to survive was to work.”

New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London.

15-minute documentary

The below 15-minute documentary accompanying Pink Floyd’s 50th anniversary reissue of “Dark Side Of The Moon” offers a welcome break from the ongoing drama surrounding former member Roger Waters’ upcoming re-recording of the 1973 album. Archive footage features Waters, the late Rick Wright, and other significant figures, providing a nostalgic insight into the band’s history.

Roger Waters records own version for a 2023 release

In early 2023, Waters announced that he had recorded a new version of “The Dark Side of the Moon”, set for release later in the year. This rendition features spoken-word sections and excludes guitar solos to “bring out the heart and soul of the album musically and spiritually”. In a Daily Telegraph interview, Waters maintained that although other Pink Floyd members contributed to the original album, it was ultimately his project, stating, “It’s my project and I wrote it… Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ nonsense!” He went on to claim that the other members were not capable of writing songs, had “nothing to say”, and were “not artists”.

Weird, at least Gilmour was artistically involved according to a 2013 interview by Roger Waters with The Guardian: “When we were doing Dark Side, we’d work together in the evenings, and then during the day, everyone would go away and do their own thing. I would sit in a room with a 12-string guitar and write, and Dave [Gilmour] would be in another room working on a solo.”

In a 2017 interview with The Guardian, Waters again discussed the collaborative effort behind Pink Floyd’s music and then said this: “We were all involved in the writing of the music at that time, and that’s what made it so special. It was a collaborative effort, and that’s what made it great.”

But let’s wait and see what Waters will come up with.

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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Roger Waters, the legendary member of Pink Floyd, has had his concert in Frankfurt cancelled by the city’s government due to his “continuing anti-Israeli stance.” Frankfurt officials view Waters as one of the world’s most influential anti-Semites due to his repeated calls for a cultural boycott of Israel, his comparisons to South Africa’s apartheid regime, and his pressure on artists to cancel events in Israel.

Waters – already often referred to as being the Leni Riefenstahl of rock ‘n’ roll – has also been known for promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and featuring a pig-shaped balloon with the Star of David during a previous tour as you can see above. Fans who love his music but are critical of his political views are directed by Waters to the bar during his performance under the guise of “fuck off.”

Despite this controversy, Live Nation, Mojo and other organizers will keep his concerts maintained. Some say that they do not endorse Waters’ political views, but they will continue with the concerts (for the sake of money of course).

The cancellation in Frankfurt was due not only to Waters’ political views but also because of the sensitivity surrounding the Festhalle, where the concert was to be held. During the Kristallnacht in 1938, 3,000 Jewish men were taken to the Festhalle, where they were mistreated and later deported to concentration camps. The venue has a plaque urging people to take a stand against anti-Semitism and hate speech.

It’s highly possible that Berlin, Munich, and Cologne will also cancel the Roger Waters concerts.

More than one incident

There have been several instances where Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd band member, has been accused of making anti-Semitic comments.

In a 2010 interview with CounterPunch, Waters compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid South Africa and said, “The parallels with what went on in the 1930s in Germany are so crushingly obvious.”

In a 2012 interview with Electronic Intifada, Waters stated, “I think that the Israeli government has been playing the Holocaust card, and it is disgusting. They have been blackmailing the world with it for years.”

In a 2013 interview with CounterPunch, Waters criticized what he called the “Jewish lobby” in the US and accused it of controlling the media and the government’s foreign policy. He later apologized for using the term “Jewish lobby” but maintained his criticism of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians.

In a 2017 interview with BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) activist Frank Barat, Waters compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews during the Holocaust, saying, “The situation in Israel/Palestine, with the occupation, the ethnic cleansing, and the systematic racist apartheid Israeli regime is unacceptable.”

In 2018, Waters published an open letter urging fellow musicians to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest, which was being held in Israel. In the letter, Waters accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and “dispossession” of the Palestinian people, and called for a cultural boycott of the country.

It’s worth noting that Waters has denied being anti-Semitic and has stated that his criticisms are aimed at the Israeli government’s policies, not the Jewish people as a whole. However, his comments have been seen by many as crossing the line into anti-Semitic territory.

A true Putin lover?

Waters has been known for his criticism of Western governments, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, and has been vocal in his support of political causes such as the BDS movement and the anti-war movement, and has more recently been used by Putin’s Russia to spread the bogus claim that the Russian invasion in Ukraine was provoked by the NATO countries.

He ended up speaking at the United Nations Security Council – at Russia’s request – in early February. While he denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine as illegal, he also claimed it was “provoked,” drawing sharp criticism from the Ukrainian UN ambassador, who accused him of aiding Russian propaganda. In addition, Waters criticized his former Pink Floyd bandmates for releasing a charity single, arguing that it would only encourage the continuation of the war.

As a result of his controversial statements, two concerts that Waters was due to perform in Krakow, Poland in April were canceled. This followed an open letter in which Waters strongly criticized Ukraine and the West for their actions in the conflict with Russia.

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

Pink Floyd’s co-founder Roger Waters is starting to feel the backlash of his pro-Putin comments. His planned concerts at Tauron Arena in Krakow in April have all been canceled.

Waters published a controversial open letter on his website in early September to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska. In the letter, Waters wrote that he opposed the West sending weapons to Ukraine to aid the country in its war against agressor Russia. In the same letter he attacks her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, by using wording which is in line of the Kremlin’s excuse for attacking Ukraine.

In a reaction Waters says: “It is true that a town councilor in Krakow, a Mr Łukasz Wantuch has threatened to hold a meeting asking the council to declare me ‘Persona non grata’ because of my public efforts to encourage all involved in the disastrous war in Ukraine, especially the governments of the USA and Russia, to work towards a negotiated peace, rather than escalate matters towards a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet.”

And he adds: “Not withstanding that this chap Łukasz Wantuch seems to know nothing of my history of working, all my life, at some personal cost, in the service of human rights, he, in an article in a local newspaper urged the good people of Krakow not to buy tickets to my show (…) If Wantuch achieves his aim it will be a sad loss for me as well as for Krakow residents.”

Wantuch’s called the musician “an open supporter of Putin” and his planned performances in Krakow “a shame for our city.” And he finished by saying: “Let him sing in Moscow.”

“Stalin was the big saviour in World War II”

It’s not the first time that Waters gets into trouble with his pro-Kremlin beliefs. In an interview on CNN with Michael Smerconish he falsely claims that NATO promised they wouldn’t approach the Russian border when Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the USSR occupation troupes from the whole of Eastern Europe. Such deal never existed and when asked about it the Russian government was unable to publish any document supporting the claim.

Waters also claims in the interview that “Stalin was the big saviour in World War II”, a war which Stalin himself helped to start in 1939 together with Nazi Germany.

A little historical reminder for Waters. After Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 Stalin ordered the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September. The ensuing Soviet campaign included political murders and other forms of repression, targeting Polish figures of authority such as military officers, police and priests. A wave of arrests and summary executions followed and Stalin’s NKVD sent hundreds of thousands of people from eastern Poland to Siberia and other remote parts of the Soviet Union in four major waves of deportation between 1939 and 1941. After the war the Soviet-Union occupied a large part of Europe installing a terror regime which costs the lives of millions of people. Sounds like something we also see Putin doing indeed.

His fellow colleagues of Pink Floyd released a single called “Hey Hey Rise Up” – with Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk from Boombox – to raise funds for humanitarian relief in Ukraine and have distanced themselves from Waters’ comments. Waters, who departed the band in 1984, did not contribute to song.

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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I discovered Danish musician/producer John R. Mirland by the IDM project Holm/Mirland. That was a way back and he never stopped getting involved with new- and very different projects. Together with Claus Larsen het set up the Electro-Pop formation AM Tierpark, but they’re also releasing productions as Mirland/Larsen and Gusten. Other projects like M73, Negant and Emergency Sequence are more into EBM. Eisenwolf is dealing with Metal and Bitter Distrust has something Punkish. This interview is more focalized on the last Mirland-album “Compromise Is Defeat”. The work sounds more Industrial-like while featuring Trance/Techno influences. The album has been released on Læbel, which is driven by John Mirland and Claus Larsen.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Tell us a bit more about your music background and how did you finally start to compose your own music and getting involved with all different kinds of projects?

John: I grew up in a home where music was always playing and my parents spooned me everything from The Beatles to Pink Floyd over southern blues to classical masterpieces. So I was brought up with a very broad interest in music. However for many years I didn’t play an instrument myself since I wanted to be a painter or illustrator. In high school I began playing the drums.

In 1994 I met a guy called Zwoo who was part of the C64/Amiga demo scene. He was deep into sampling and sound design and he taught me a lot. We recorded for years as an experimental noise outfit called VHS and released a demo tape at some point.

Time moved on with more bands and in 2010 I finally pulled myself together and recorded my first mini-album “Cerebral Reducing Valve”. Shortly after that I met Kim Holm (currently of Crackdown) and we recorded a series of EPs and an album as Holm/Mirland.

Since then things have been going really fast working with my close friend Claus Larsen of Leæther Strip and a ton of other projects.

Q: How do you make the difference between the numerous projects/bands you’re involved with? And how do you explain your eclecticism, moving from Electro-Pop to IDM to EBM to Electro-Industrial to Metal to Punk…?

John: I’m no musical snob haha! If it moves me it moves me.

I compose in a lot of styles and genres because that’s how I’m programmed. I love obscure Underground-Metal as much as Space-Disco, Industrial-Techno, Psy-Trance or Classical. This is reflected in the music I compose for myself or others. If I feel there’s something I could express in a certain way outside of my ‘home’ genre then I’ll try it out. That’s why I even made a Black-Metal mini-album as Udpint last year. I had an idea and a guitar so why not? But as Mirland I’m mostly in the Rhyhtmic-Noise territory.

Q: What kind of musician/producer are you? Are there specific items in the writing- and production process you put the focus on? And do you have particular references and criteria when composing songs?

John: I’m a restless person and artist. I want to evolve and try new ideas and approaches. I get bored easily, don’t like staying in one place creatively and I’m not dogmatic.

These last 10-15 years I’ve written, produced or remixed more than 200 tracks of which at least 150 have been released. I don’t search for inspiration or wait for a divine intervention. I just sit down at the keyboard or with the guitar and compose a track. I don’t waste time trying to save a bad track since it’s much easier just to compose another one.

My focus is always on the energy within a track. It could be upfront Rhythmic-Noise blasting your ears off or it could be the repressed energy of a moody track slowly evolving. But I hate tracks without a theme, an interesting beat or production. There just need to be something dragging me into the track. A lot of commercial music seem to have forgotten the instrumental part and just focus on the vocals which is incredibly boring.

Q: I should think Mirland must be your most personal project to date. What does it stand for referring to sound & influences and the global evolution of the project?

John: mirland is uncompromising and where I experiment with sound design and different textures and structures. I never have an exact plan for a Mirland track but I know immediately when it is one. It needs to work without vocals and pound the listener into the ground at best. I guess that’s why Mirland is not pure ‘Techno’ but a rhythmic noise hybrid. It started out very minimal and moody but over the years evolved to this machine-like animal.

As for influences I guess that’s a bit hard to state ‘this and that’ but of course since I’ve listened to music for decades the inspiration will always be there as a foundation. I may however be equally inspired by Techno or Metal or even Classical.

Q:  What did you try to express by the title of the album “Compromise Is Defeat” and how did you transpose the ideas behind this title into music?

John:The phrase ‘compromise is defeat’ is both an artistic ideal and a provocative statement since nothing good comes from not being able to compromise. I do believe the artist must try to never compromise on the artistic product however some compromises are often needed to actually finish and move on. The phrase is also reflected in Læbel’s credo ‘Total freedom or fuck off’.

The album is my personal vision for a hybrid of Rhythmic-Noise fused with Dark-Trance that is uncompromisingly brutal in some parts while retaining the melodic qualities of Trance in other parts. In my live sets I’m live remixing and reconstructing my own tracks on stage and I discovered I was constantly using more and more percussion and heavy beats with the melodies from the different tracks.

I’m actually not a great fan of vocals especially not in the more brutal styles of Electronic music. Too many tracks are marred by lacklustre vocals with cringy lyrics and lack space in the composition. So as Mirland I don’t use vocals except a few samples here and there. In the future I might compose a track as Mirland with vocals but they would not be the focus of the track. It would still be the music and the beat.

I like my music to be inhuman and distanced. I don’t need a face or to be a character.

Q: Since the ongoing pandemic you have been more prolific and creative than ever before. In which way do the lockdowns have been a ‘bless’ for musicians to compose new music? And what’s the importance of composing- and listening to music  in times like these? What brings 2022? 

John: I don’t believe the lockdowns have been anything but a terrible mess for musicians and other artists.

It’s been made painfully clear that society views art as a commodity or even a personal luxury for supposedly maladjusted citizens. It says a lot about the lack of cultural understanding at the political level and it says a lot about the current values of society.

Fortunately for me I’ve always kept my daytime job since I believe that not being economically dependent of the music sets me free creatively. But my heart bleeds for those who’ve tried not to compromise.

You see? It’s all about this: to compromise or not and the understanding of the consequences.

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

Set up in 1985 by Alexander Veljanov and Ernst Horn, Deine Lakaien can be easily considered as a phenomenon. The band has always exposed a true artistic approach in their global sound- and vocal production. Deine Lakaien can’t be compared to any other band because they’ve always created a very own sound. The style might be linked to established genres, but in the end it always remains a very unique experience in sound with the charismatic vocals of Alexander Veljanov on top. After a hiatus of seven years, Deine Lakaien this year unleashed two new albums on Chrom Records and Prophecy Productions. “Dual” and “Dual+” both reveal an interesting selection of cover songs and new songs inspired by their covers. The approach is not new and ‘great’ bands often like to release an album with cover versions one in their career. But what I especially like and deeply respect in the approach of Deine Lakaien is that their covers sound a bit like it are original Deine Lakaien songs. They put their own sound and spirit into it, which finally resulted in two great productions.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I get the feeling 2021 has been a very special year for Deine Lakaien as you released two new-,  conceptual studio albums. Tell us a bit more about what has triggered you to release both albums and especially the cover songs? And how did it progressively took shape?

Alexander: In 2019 we have been on tour with the ‘Acoustica’-line-up, combining Deine Lakaien, Helium Vola and Veljanov, each with acoustic performances. Having finished the tour in November 2019, we started recording sessions for a new Deine Lakaien-album. For the first time in our career, we decided to focus on cover versions, but we decided that it would be much more interesting to combine them with new original songs inspired by the covers we choose.

Q: You already released very special albums like acoustic works and also this phenomenal production together with Die Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt, but I honestly never expected to see you releasing cover versions from a very wide range of artists; from Jacques Brel to Linkin Park to Devo to Pink Floyd etc… What do the songs and especially those artists mean to you? And how was it working on songs from others?

Ernst: We deliberately wanted to present a wide range of styles: songs that we value personally, those, that had a certain meaning for us, especially in our youth, and of course music, that Alexander likes to sing and that I can do well with my instruments. Since we rarely dealt with songs in the past, that were not written by us, it was of course an adventure. Fortunately, we soon found out that this also meant a learning process for us and, as a result, a great enrichment. The world of music is wide, it showed us that we are only a small part of it, and that is a good thing!

Q: I can imagine working on covers is somewhat different than composing your own songs. Do you notice significant differences and what has been your global approach to achieve the songs?

Ernst: That was, of course, a completely new approach. We didn’t have to look for new words, melodies, chords and sounds, we just had to listen to the songs first and try to preserve the emotions that the music gave us for our work. We also respected the structure, melodies and chords of the songs and adopted them unchanged. Of course, we had to transpose the music into the key that suits Alexander’s voice. From then on, it was a pure pleasure to introduce these very different styles of music and their poetry into our world of sound.

Q: I’ve been touched by the cover you made of Jacques Brel who according to me remains one of the most passionate, delicate and authentic artists in history, but still a great and subtle poet. In which way do you feel connected with the work of Brel and what does he –but also other artists/composers, mean in your personal development as musicians/artists?

Alexander: Jacques Brel’s music and voice touched my life when I still was a little child. I was absolutely caught by songs like “Ne Me Quitte Pas”, “Mon Dernier Repas”, “Orly” , “La Ville S’endormait”, etc. At the time when we started with Deine Lakaien, in the mid 80s, the Post-Punk movement and -music certainly had a bigger impact on my first steps into professional work, but the French postwar existentialism and Classical music from Baroque to Late-Romantic were also important influences.

Q: The diversity of the artists you covered attempt to prove you’ve a very eclectic taste when it comes to music, which I think is also a very noticeable element in the sound and genre of Deine Lakaien. What is mainly catching your attention when you’re listening to music? And how do you explain this eclecticism?

Alexander: If you love music because you need to, because you are thankful to discover and enjoy what it can give you, you don’t ask why and how. Music is and always has been the most beautiful and powerful companion of my life. Friendship and love will always be connected to music, and if it will disappear, we all will.

Q: I noticed there’re already numerous live shows planned for 2022. What do you expect from these shows in pandemic-times? And what might we expect from the shows properly speaking?

Ernst: We can’t ‘speak properly’ about this matter, because the virus is driving us. We can only hope that we might be able to organize our concerts with our band like before the pandemic. This year we performed three gigs ‘acoustic’, with a reduced number of visitors, which worked well, but of course we also have to make sure that we cover our costs in this way and that our listeners can get involved in the music as a collective and will not be distracted from it through the Corona rules. Fortunately, our audience is more interested in feeling the music than in partying.

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 Wave-Pop, Cinematographic-Pop. 

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Set up in 1985, Deine Lakaien rapidly became a renowned name in the wider fields of Dark Wave-Pop and Gothic music. Alexander Veljanov and
Ernst Horn are a totally complementary duo. They released multiple albums and songs, which became history. Early this year they struck back with the “Dual” album, which was the first new studio work in seven years. A special album on which Deine Lakaien presented cover versions. By the end of this year we now get “Dual+” featuring ten new songs and more cover versions. 

Content: The album is not just a ‘classic’ cover album, but also a way to adapt some of the band’s influences into their own songs. Cover versions have been made of Pink Floyd, REM and DEVO while there’s also a personal interpretation/adaptation of Michail Iwanowitsch Glinka. Just listen to “Losing My Religion” –originally written by REM, to realize the work the duo accomplished. “Dual+” is a very personal and intimate work, moving from reverie and delicate sound arrangements to more bombastic and harder passages. The album features Neo-Classic piano arrangements, but still more nervous passages with on top of the creation, the charismatic vocals of Veljanov. 

+ + + : “Dual+” sounds to me like a true intimate work and also a very personal interpretation of some influential artists and covers. “Run 2^nd Version” is a really beautiful piece; an artistic exposure transposed into sonic reverie. I also want to mention the brilliant transformation of “Losing My Religion”, which sounds just like Deine Lakaien would have been the original composers. I also like the delicacy emerging from the opening track “Cradle Song” and the cover version of Pink Floyd’s “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun”, which reveals less sound layers to reach a maximum effect. A last cut I want to mention is the more bombastic “Fork”.  

– – – : “Dual+” is maybe not the most accessible album of Deine Lakaien, but it has to be seen as an album, which means a lot to the artists.

Conclusion: I think I might say that I missed Deine Lakaien, this band remains a very unique experience in sound and impossible to compare with another formation. 

Best songs: . “Run 2^nd Version”,  “Losing My Religion”, “Cradle Song”, “Set the Controls For The Heart Of The Sun”, “Fork”, “Wiegenlied”.  

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.deine-lakaien.com / www.facebook.com/DeineLakaien 

Labels: https://www.chrom.de/en  / https://en.prophecy.de /  www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions  Read the news on ‘Dual+’.

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

The American industrial duo Collide have a new album coming up on February 22, 2022: “Notes from The Universe”.

“Notes from the Universe” will be released as a special edition digipak with 11 songs, as well as a strictly limited edition (250 copies) 2CD version with a bonus instrumental CD which will only be available on the band’s website. They will also have 2 new limited run T-shirt designs to go with the release.

More info and sound in the next weeks! Here’s already the artwork for the album.

About Collide

Collide was formed in 1992, in Los Angeles, California, United States by singer kaRIN and musician Statik. Their sound incorporates elements of trip hop, synthpop and music from the Middle East.

Collide’s debut album, “Beneath the Skin”, was released in 1996 followed by a remix album, “Distort” in 1998. Dissatisfied with the music industry, Collide started their own record label, Noiseplus Music, and in 2000, they released their second studio album, “Chasing the Ghost”.

Three years later, they released their third studio album, “Some Kind of Strange”. The following year, the band released another remix album, “Vortex”, containing remixes by numerous remix artists, including Charlie Clouser.

In 2005, Collide released a DVD, entitled “Like the Hunted”, along with a live CD. Then they recorded with Curve’s Dean Garcia in a project called The Secret Meeting. The album, “Ultrashiver”, was released under their Noiseplus label on June 26, 2007. On September 23, 2008, the band released their fourth studio album “Two Headed Monster”. Special guests on the album included Danny Carey from Tool and Dean Garcia from Curve.

At Halloween 2009, the album “These Eyes Before” was released. It was a 10-song album of cover versions of well-known songs by artists such as The Beatles, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd. This album was followed by “Counting to Zero” in 2011, “Color of Nothing” in 2017 and “Mind & Matter” in 2018.

To date, the duo have released 11 full length CDs and a DVD. In 2020 they re-released their albums “Chasing the Ghost” and “Some Kind of Strange” as 2 disc Blu-Ray/CD special editions. Read the review of ‘Notes From The Universe’.

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

The German darkwave act Deine Lakaien (Alexander Veljanov and Ernst Horn) have released a lyric video for their take on the Pink Floyd classic “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” as the second single taken from their forthcoming new album “Dual +”. “Dual +” is scheduled for release on November 26, 2021.

“When I was 18 years old, I got very much hooked on psychedelic music”, recalls Ernst Horn. “The rage of the day was beat, which was quite tame and still very much influenced by rock and roll. Along came young acts such as Pink Floyd, Cream, and of course Jimi Hendrix that opened the gates wide. They all had been influenced by the experiments of The Beatles producer George Martin. ‘Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun’ is a very psychedelic song and forever a part of my world. It was a great experience for me to work with these sounds that have always been with me and to bring them to the environment of my studio. As I see, this song is a subtle ode to the sun gifting life and most of all love to this planet. We should recognize and turn towards it.”

You can watch the video 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. 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

Deine Lakaien (Alexander Veljanov and Ernst Horn) have released the lyric video “Nightfall” as the first single taken from their forthcoming new album “Dual +”. “Dual +” is scheduled for release on November 26, 2021.

The previous album “Dual” was strictly following a principle of one cover version on the first album with a new song that was inspired by it on the second record, on “Dual +” the band keeps the basic formula.

“While creating ‘Dual’, we had already considered to have each new track directly following or preceding the cover version that it relates too”, explains Ernst Horn. “This idea was dropped when we recorded more and more songs, which finally led us to create a double album. Now we saw a good opportunity to bring the immediate contrast back on “Dual +” as ‘Nightfall’ is musically clearly connected to Pink Floyd’s classic “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”. Lyrically, there is a different type of contrast as “Nightfall” represents the beginning of a journey into the night, to travel through the infinite expanse of space to the stars, which symbolises our longing for home far away.”

Here’s the first track, “Nightfall”.

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

By the end of 2020 Transmission unleashed the debut album “Cosmos” on Wave Records. The French solo-project is driven by Sandrine Deville. She’s dealing with a rather Minimal-Electro/Wave style with some violin tunes on top. It’s a fascinating- and accomplished experiment revealing an artist with a very own and creative approach. Here’s what Sandrine has to say about Transmission.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: How did you get contaminated by the music virus and finally come to set up your own music project?

Sandrine: I began to learn how to play violin at the Ferney-Voltaire regional conservatorium of music, in France, when I was ten years old, during four years. And, this was the time I listened to bands like A-Ha, Alphaville, U2, Pink Floyd, The Cure at the junior high school of my city, and, maybe one of the most influent band that led me to practice guitar, Dire Straits and the song “Money For Nothing”, for which I recorded a tape with this same only track, that I listened to for hours, showing me the power of music to immerse myself in a very special universe, at a high noise levels of my headphones.

I could define for Dire Straits a word that I will use to define my own music project: ‘soundscape’, when you discover landscapes from beautiful sounds. There also was Depeche Mode with the track “Never Let Me Down Again”, and, of course, Joy Division with the incredible bassline of “She’s Lost Control” were offering beautiful soundscapes to my ears when I was a teenager. Today I feel the same, but with other bands like Massive Attack, Bauhaus, Bowie, Linea Aspera, The Soft Moon, Kraftwerk, PJ Harvey, Nine Inch Nails, Kas Product.

On one hand, I wanted to play guitar in a band when I was teenager, but on the other hand, there were a lot of excellent guitarists and I was not, so, I decided to learn playing bass guitar. First, I was a bass player in a Funk/Folk /Psyche band called Hopupu and later on in between 2011 and 2016 in a Cold-Wave duo called Rive Droite Rive Gauche.

Then, I wanted to create my own music project and, after a few years of involvement with various bands, from Post-Punk to Punk, I decided to create the Electro/Dark-Wave solo-project called Transmission, recording first the track “Cosmos”.

Q: The name of your project is clearly reminding one of Joy Division’s legendary songs. Is it just a coincidence or clearly a link with some of your main sources of inspiration? What kind of sound did you’ve in mind when setting up Transmission?

Sandrine: Joy Division is one of my favorite bands. I adore all their songs and the atmosphere of “Shadowplay” gives me goosebumps each time I listen to this track. As I passed my bachelor in design in Toulouse (France) in 2018, I presented “Transmission”, the all white 3D printed Electro-Acoustic violin I created, inspired by pulsars shape, those mysterious white lines that we can see on the artwork of the LP “Unknown Pleasures” from Joy Division, and designed by Peter Saville. So, in this way, I could say that the name of my project is inspired by Joy Division, but mainly the white lines of the artwork of “Unknown Pleasures”. We can discover more about my violin called ‘Transmission’ on my own artist website here:

https://www.bluefactoriz.com/transmission

And we can discover more about my violin too, from pages 277 to 286 of the book of Pedro Peñas y Robles called “Joy Division, Paroles De Fans”, Editions Camion Blanc, 2018, here:

http://www.camionblanc.com/detail-livre-joy-division-paroles-de-fans-1216.php

Regarding the sound of my project, the effects are allusion to any effects used by the brilliant Martin Hanett for the soundscape of Joy Division, but, the kind of sound, the essence of the sound, come from a lot of references, as Kraftwerk, Nitzer Ebb, Covenant, Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Linea Aspera, Boy Harsher, Buzz Kull, Minuit Machine, Years Of Denial, Kas Product.

Q: You last year released your debut album “Cosmos”. Tell us a bit more about the writing- and production process of this opus and what did you try to express lyrical wise?

Sandrine:The process of the composition was the same for all the tracks; I switched on my Korg Minilogue, synchronized with the little Korg Volca Sampler for the drums, and I tried to play live with this set up, recording a bass line using the Minilogue when I thought I could have something interesting. Then, recording this on my PC using Ableton software, I began to look for a structure, and sing the violin line, and the melody, or writing the words for the future track. Many times, I wasn’t able to record the exact bassline I wanted on the synth, and then, I tried to do my best with this new sound. Tracks like “Cosmos” and “Désuétude” both are like soflty spoken words; tracks like “De Stijl” or “Echouées” both are using punchy spoken words. As a reference, I could say that “Désuétude” is inspired by the way Anne Clark is ‘screaming’; “Cloud 9” and “Illusion” are both mixing spoken words, and a melodic chorus. I was very happy, too, in the way I used different languages: French, English, German, and Spanish too. For the lyrics, sometimes, first, I wrote them, and sometimes, they came after the soundscape, it depended of the feeling I had at the moment of the creation phase.

Q: I’m always wondered why there’re no more female artists composing Electronic underground music? Do you’ve an explanation and what have been your experiences as female artist in this scene so far?

Sandrine: I really don’t know why there are no more female artists composing Electronic underground music. Well, one of the most iconic is Anne Clarke, but today, we have the excellent solo-project of Alison Lewis called Zanias who’s also involved with the excellent duo Linea Aspera and Keluar. In France we have the excellent female duo from Paris, called Oktober Lieber. And there is also the excellent female solo-project called Hante from Hélène De Thoury who’s also member of the female duo Minuit Machine.  In the USA, even if it is a mixed duo, there is the excellent Boy Harsher. And I recently discovered the solo-undergound artist from New-York called Ani Klang. I also think to the excellent first LP “Push” from the L.A based Iranian producer and DJ Maral. In Germany there is in a dark, clubby style Ellen Allien.

So even if there are less female artists involved, I think that there will be more and more female Electronic underground artists. As I am beginning in this scene, I don’t have yet a lot of experience, the only thing I could write, is that I think that maybe women have to forget their shyness (if they are), and to prove by themselves that they can make Electronic underground music as well as male artists.

Q: Transmission has been introduced as a solo-project although you got some help to achieve “Cosmos”. Tell us a bit more about this collaboration and what has been the impact and bonus on the final result?

Sandrine: At the beginning of the year of 2019, I had a first demo of the track “Cosmos”, and I was wondering how to go on with this project. Thanks to my duo Rive Droite Rive Gauche I met a lot of people of the Gothic scene of Bordeaux who became good friends. In January, I went with two friends to the Nitzer Ebb gig in Bordeaux, and, then, we met a lot of friends of the Gothic scene of the city like Jean-Philippe Torres who has his Drone Studio. He is also one of the musicians of the excellent duo Dark Line Spectrum; Speaking with him, it became to me an evidence that he could be the most appropriate friend to achieve “Cosmos”. I sent him the demo of “Cosmos”, “Désuétude” and “Echouées” in order to know if this project could have an interest for him, and, as he was enthusiastic about this, then, we began a very friendly and productive collaboration.

The process was for each track the same; I sent to Jean-Philippe the ‘pre-mixed tracks’ by wetransfer, and then, he added his additional synths and old-school rhythm box, made the sound design and the arrangements, and the mix and mastering. It was perfect! I am used to comparing him to Martin Hanett. Martin Hanett defined the special soundscape of Joy Division, and Jean-Philippe defined the special soundscape of “Cosmos” and I think that he made my dream come true: having my debut LP realized on a good label.

Q: It’s probably a bit risky and also a true challenge to release a debut album during the ongoing pandemic. How do you –and Wave Records, manage this aspect and how do you expect things evolving considering live performances, further releases and  plans?

Sandrine: I really thanks so much Alex from Wave Records. I know that, in this special context of this long pandemic, the action of releasing albums for new artists, is a very risky business for the labels, moreover, for independents labels, as they don’t know how they can sell the albums and if people will buy or not a debut work.  Alex is doing his best for the promotion of the album with a large number of contacts, with an effective sharing on the social network, on Youtube too for the videoclips of various tracks I realized myself.

I gave my first gig on the 2^nd of July, thanks to the association Distopia Mutante of San Sebastian in Spain, and it was an unbelievable good moment as there was a good interaction between the public and me. It is since January that Distopia Mutante tried to organize a gig for my project. But finally we did it, at the beginning of July, and we hope that there will be others. I hope I will be able to perform at other places and in other countries, even if we don’t know what the future will be.

Thinking about the second album of Transmission, I will not change the way I am using to create the sounds, and I am thinking about around ten tracks that could explain a lot of feelings that we are facing to in a whole life, using various BPM’s.

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

Waterloo, Iowa based electro-Industrial band Microwaved has just unleashed their new EP, “Save Me”. The video for the title track featuring Kimberley of Bow Ever Down can be seen below.

The EP contains 16 tracks, 14 of which will be available on streaming platforms June 12th. The Bandcamp release – which you can check out right below – will contain two bonus tracks: a collaboration with Liebchen on a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and an additional remix from the remix artist Steven Olaf.

The Ep sees the band collaborating with Kimberley of Bow Ever Down as we said earlier but also with Nathan of Milkfixer and Mitch of Doomslayer. Save Me also has many different remixes from varying artists starting with PilgrimOmega (keyboard player for Monster Voodoo Machine) to I Ya Toyah and SpankTheNun plus many of the friends that founder Gabe Wilkinson has made through the years.

“Save Me” refers to the album’s theme of loss. Gabe Wilkinson, the founder of Microwaved says: “All of my songs seem to be about loss, addiction or monsters. These songs fall into the loss of love category. This record for me is also about taking these songs and expanding my musical vocabulary. It’s about stretching some mental muscles and playing with ideas I may not have been very comfortable with.”

Here’s the video for “Save Me”.

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

Die Krupps have just released a brand new single from their upcoming cover album “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven”. Out now is their version of Gang Of Four’s “To Hell With Poverty” featuring a special guest appearance from Killing Joke co-founder and drummer Big Paul Ferguson. You can check it out below.

The cover album will be out on May 28th and holds reworks of those tracks that influenced them over the years. Included on this album which sees a vinyl and CD release are covers from Sparks, The Neon Judgement, Devo, Blue Öyster Cult, Gang Of Four, The Stranglers, Queen, B-Movie, Fad Gadget, Herringer & Siciliano.

The album also holds special guest appearances by – as mentioned above – Killing Joke’s Big Paul Ferguson, The Stooges’ James Williamson, The 69 Eyes’ Jyrki 69 and The Dictators’/Manowar’s Ross The Boss.

The artwork is of course a clear reference to Pink Floyd’s 1973 album “The Dark Side of the Moon” as created by George Hardie which depicts the light refracting from a triangular prism.

Tracks (same for CD and Vinyl):

1. The Number One Song in Heaven (originally by Sparks)
2. Chinese Black feat. Jyrki 69 (originally by The Neon Judgement)
3. Whip it (originally by Devo)
4. (Don’t fear) The Reaper feat. James Williamson (originally by Blue Öyster Cult)
5. To Hell with Poverty! feat. Big Paul Ferguson (originally by Gang Of Four)
6. No more Heroes feat. Ross The Boss (originally by The Stranglers)
7. Another One bites the Dust (originally by Queen)
8. Marilyn Dreams (originally by B-Movie)
9. Collapsing New People (originally by Fad Gadget)
10. New York (Version 9/11) (originally by Herringer & Siciliano)

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: Psychedelic-Rock, Ambient, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Frankfurter (Germany) based musician Thorsten Sudler-Mainz strikes back with the fifth album of his sonic alter-ego project Deep Imagination. A few songs were already released as singles. “My Silent Celebration” has been achieved with numerous guest musicians and – singers, featuring a total of eight songs.

Content: This album moves on where previous productions stopped; a deeper exploration of the Psychedelic- and Ambient influences of the band. The guitar playing together with the astral atmospheres creates this particular Psychedelic impression. The album is also characterized by the use of percussions like a frame drum adding an authentic touch to the work. The vocals and chants feature male- and female singers which all together bring a graceful, ethereal element. 

+ + + : Deep Imagination remains a very particular experience, the artist touching ground with different influences. It might appeal for lovers of Pink Floyd, but the album is definitely accessible for a wider audience of open-minded music lovers. This production also reflects an impressive maturity where multiple guests contributed to the writing under the watchful eye of conductor Thorsten Sudler-Mainz. There’s a strong authentic feeling emerging at the surface, which is carried and empowered with Electronic arrangements. Deep Imagination clearly is an ambitious project, which didn’t spare any effort to achieve a professional production and promotion.

– – – : Deep Imagination is not what I would call a master key; it remains a specific experiment covering different influences. It’s therefore not easy to label, but will mainly catch the attention of Ambient music lovers.

Conclusion: “My Silent Celebration” sounds like the artistic apotheosis of Deep Imagination so far and I’m really wondering how this project will evolve.

Best songs: “Longing For Peace”, “Entering The Temple”, “Burning Sun”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.deep-imagination.com / www.facebook.com/deep.imagination.music

Label: www.bscmusic.com / www.facebook.com/BSCMusicWorld

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

“Synthagma” is the new album by Ivan Iusco, the Italian composer based in Los Angeles and author of numerous soundtracks for feature films, TV shows and new media.

“Synthagma” includes 12 tracks of which 3 are co-written with the Greek singer and musician Kid Moxie (“Head On Fire”, “Fly’s Heart” and “The Other Side”). You might remember her from her past collaboration with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch Foundation. Iusco also engaged the Russian soprano Maria Bochmanova and Leo Gadaleta, the violinist from Bari, who has played with such musicians as Ennio Morricone and Antony and the Johnsons.

The recordings were made between 2018 and 2019 in Los Angeles, with the exception of the title track, for which vocals were recorded at the historic PRS Studio in St. Petersburg, Russia.

“For some time I had been planning to compose an album starting from a precise historical period of my path, in which electronic music began to have a powerful impact on a global level, interacting on different fronts, including the cyberpunk cultural movement. I am of course referring to the 90s. I had the feeling of having left unwritten a chapter linked to those times. In 2018 this thought popped up once again and so I decided to conceive an album that looked through the eyes of that period at the materialization of our fragile post-human contemporaneity”, says Iusco.

The cover image “Untitled”, is taken from the “When Light Casts no Shadow” photo series (2008) by Portuguese photographer Edgar Martins and portrays one of the runways of the Santa Maria airport located on the archipelago of the Azores. Edgar Martins is a former NY Times collaborator and he released covers and portraits for Pink Floyd, Madonna and The Streets.

“Synthagma” will be released by Minus Habens.

The music videos for “Head On Fire” and “Sabotage” are available on YouTube, two songs that preceded the release of “Synthagma” by a few months.

Head On Fire (Official Music Video)

Sabotage (Official Music Video)

About Ivan Iusco

Ivan Iusco is an Italian award-winning film music composer based in Santa Monica, California.

He has composed diverse and evocative scores for feature films, TV shows, documentaries, video art, choreographies and art exhibitions. He debuted in the film industry in 1999, scoring the Italian cult movie “LaCapaGira” directed by Alessandro Piva that won Best Soundtrack at the Valencia Film Festival (Spain, 2000).

His scoring career also includes the Italian blockbuster “Ho Voglia Di Te” (2007) by the Spanish director Luis Prieto. In 1987, he founded the pioneering music label Minus Habens (involving international artists such as Brian Eno, Angelo Badalamenti, Aphex Twin and Depeche Mode) through which he explores and publishes avant-garde and cutting-edge music.

Ivan Iusco’s forthcoming projects include two original soundtracks for films currently under development and two original songs for one of the most anticipated video game of 2020.

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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Out now is “P-Songx, the hidden path”, an album that was recorded & mixed back in 1989-1993 (except for the track “M15 – She a threat?” which was re-recorded in June 2020) by Andreas Meyer we all know from Forma Tadre.

The genesis of the songs on this release is quite an interesting one as the musician explains.

Andreas Meyer: “Until the early 90s everything Forma Tadre did was recorded and mixed on tape. The very common analogue cassette tape to be precise, cause we had no money to buy better stuff. The tapes were numbered (50-60 still exist), but there have always been, right from the start, two different kinds of tapes. One type was labeled “Forma Tadre”, the other one was labeled “P-Songs”. P-Songs stands for “personal songs”, songs that I wrote and recorded without the help of the other two band members. These songs were set apart from the regular recordings and they also differed stylistically from the official Forma Tadre output – they were much more electronic in nature than what we did as a trio (or later, until 1994, as a duo).”

The band’s earliest recordings (like “Brightful Times”) had been post-punk, dark wave and NDW, while the P-Songx tracks were mainly EBM, electro-industrial, soundtrack and experimental electronica.

Andreas: “The two kinds of recordings were like two paths leading through a forest (this is a crooked analogy but I can’t think of a better one right now). Both paths went into the same direction. They were parallel, but only one was open to the public – the other one was hidden. That hidden path was the P-Songx path.”

The electronic tapes never saw the light of day. Back then, Forma Tadre was ruled by a certain formula as Andreas puts it: “Me writing the songs plus at least one other band member performing the vocals and/or writing the lyrics and/or playing the guitar. As a result, solo works or P-Songx could not become part of Forma Tadre. I could have, of course, released the P-Songs under a different band name. But that idea somehow never occured to me.”

When in 1994 Forma Tadre split up, with the last remaining member of the original trio leaving the band, it was “Plasmasleep” (the demo version published on “Travelogue”) that had been the turning point in all this.

Andreas: “Despite its definition as a solo work and therefore originally filed under “P-Songx”, I released the song on a local tape compilation as “written by Forma Tadre”. This eventually led to the final break-up – but it also led to a record deal, because the German record label Offbeat became aware of the compilation and contacted me.”

Golem 100 luckily didn’t make it as a band name

After the break-up Meyer started to work on “Navigator” – using a lot of the P-Songs he had written before. He signed the contract with OffBeat and thought about renaming the project – to mark a fresh start. The alternative and brandnew band name would have been “Golem 100” (after a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester).

Andreas: “I thought about this for a very long time but finally dismissed the idea – at the last moment – before the official release of “Navigator”. Everybody at OffBeat was relieved, I still remember their faces. After all, “Forma Tadre” (the original band name) was my own creation: I remember having read Pink Floyd’s biography years before. Until then I had always thought that “pink” stood for the colour only but found out, that Pink was the just the given name of a blues musician called Pink Anderson. And Floyd was the given name of another blues musician called Floyd Council. So, Syd Barrett created the name “Pink Floyd” by combining two names of musicians he adored. This idea appealed to me. But instead of taking the names of two other musicians I took just one name of another band (Tangerine Dream) and an album I adored at that time (Force Majeure). To make it even more complicated and to give the name a little bit of mystery I dissected the words. The result was “Forma Tadre”. I still think that this is the way the name was created, but to be fair – a former band member claims otherwise.”

Check out the songs 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. 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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US dark wave act Collide are doing a collectors item special re-release of “Chasing The Ghost” (20 year anniversary) and “Some Kind of Strange”. Each release contains and Blu Ray disc, and a CD, and has:

• 5.1 Surround Mixes
• New (2020) Sterio Mixes
• New (2020) Instrumental Mixes
• Unreleased Early Versions
• Unreleased Bonus Songs

If you order the items straight from the band you also get a signed card and original folded poster. Pre-sales are available now and it will ship in October. Each release gets a limited release of 500 copies each. The release is available only through the Collide website.

Darkwave since 1992

Collide is an American music duo founded in 1992, in Los Angeles, California, United States, that has incorporated elements of trip hop, synthpop and music from the Middle East into their sound. Collide’s debut album, “Beneath the Skin”, was released in 1996, followed by a remix album, “Distort”, in 1998 containing remixes by artists such as Kneel Cohn of the bands Spirits In Sin and The Dead Stars On Hollywood.

Dissatisfied with the music industry, Collide started their own record label, Noiseplus Music, and in 2000, they released their second studio album, “Chasing the Ghost”. Three years later, they released their third studio album, “Some Kind of Strange”. The following year, the band released another remix album, “Vortex”, containing remixes by numerous remix artists, including Charlie Clouser.

In 2005 Collide released a DVD, entitled “Like the Hunted”, along with a live CD. Together with Curve’s Dean Garcia they recorded and album for a new project, The Secret Meeting. The album, “Ultrashiver”, was released under their Noiseplus label on June 26, 2007. On September 23, 2008, the band released their fourth studio album “Two Headed Monster”. Special guests on the album included Danny Carey from Tool and Dean Garcia from Curve.

Halloween 2009 saw the album “These Eyes Before”. It was a 10-song album of cover versions of well-known songs by artists such as The Beatles, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd.

Since then they released “Counting To Zero” in 2011, “Color Of Nothing” in 2017 and “Mind & Matter” in 2018. The band is currently working on new material.

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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Like many other music lovers, I discovered Mohamad Reza Govahi aka ‘Morego Dimmer’ as the great instigator behind the dark-ambient project Xerxes The Dark. But the artist is also involved with other projects. One of them is Morego, which is more influences by styles like IDM, psy-trance, ambient and experimental music. A Few months ago now Morego released its third full length album on Ovnimoon Records. The work sounds as a truely sonic fusion between different genres while carried by a slow cadence. The work is an absolute masterpiece and a good reason talking with Morego Dimmer.  

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: We mainly know you from your work under the Xerxes The Dark moniker, but you’re still active as Morego for a few years now. What was the main idea and eventually concept to set up Morego?

Morego: The reason can be divided into two parts: logically and emotionally! Logically I wanted to experience music in different styles and genres, for example I was also involved with some metal- & electronic bands during the past decade. Emotionally when you make music you are transferring energy from a sort to another sort. Simply, converting emotions into sonic and music mediums.

My long-time interest in progressive and rhythmic electronic music forced me to start Morego project. Morego is something groovy, energetic, modern and rhythm oriented. Xerxes The Dark is subtle, creepy and atmosphere oriented. Through these different portals, I can transform more different sorts of energy to another.

Q: I’m always fascinated by artists being involved with different projects. How do you transpose yourself from one project till the other? What are the differences when it comes to your way of working, the sound research and –production, equipment etc?

Morego: The production approaches are different; for Xerxes The Dark I use field recordings, my own sfx, I’m using analog synths to make pads, combine different lines to reach the desired sound experience. Usually I used specific tempos and notations. It’s a contrast with the Morego project, in which I’m using analogue synths to make arpeggios, sequences, etc. I used drum machines to make the basic drum/beat lines, then manipulate them with analogue/digital effects to the way that satisfy my taste.

The mixing process is also completely different. For Xerxes The Dark I use several, own created techniques based on the dark-ambient styles I’m working on (ex: space-ambient, experimental, industrial or ritual/drone). For Morego I use modern, mixing techniques, which follow the standards (but I add my own spices to the standards (lol).

Q: I noticed an interesting evolution in sound from your previous album “Solivagant” towards your new work “Astrophile”, which has something more psychedelic-minded. The album is also carried by an impressive sound production. Where does this evolution comes from and what kind of album did you wanted to achieve?

Morego: Haha, I think evolution is something natural, don’t you think? Sure, I’m educating myself in every aspects I can, music production techniques and modern electronic music mixing are evolving, you can mix different techniques to make a new unique one, so studying and practicing, researching, experiencing are always welcome to me. I love new ideas, I love to manipulate old techniques and tricks to make ‘new things’. But the new things are not necessary ‘correct things’ so they need to be evaluated, and sometimes I use them on my music and wait for feedback.

Another important parameter is upgrading gears and devices. A good studio can make the magic happen. My studio is not a  very top and expensive one, but it is standard and I can access basic and important options on my sessions, the more I have, the more I can use and improve my skills.

On “Solivagant” I wanted to compose short songs with a minimal approach and  a maximum rhythmic to create an optimum standard. “Solivagant” is a short trip for self-motivating everyday people who think different and they love their environment, they love nature as well as themselves.

“Astrophile” is a further step featuring the mix between more complex rhythms and deep emotions emerging at the surface. It’s all about nostalgic feelings and somehow uncertain feelings about the future are lurking behind each opus. “Astrophile” is not as happy as “Solivagant”, because when I started to produce “Astrophile” I was just informed that I’d a kind of rare cancer and it was bitter to me, so ‘trauma’ is dedicated to this bitterness. Hopefully, the situation is under control and not deadly at this phase, but it totally affected my mood and my life. So it feels that “Solivagant” is an intro for “Astrophile”.

Q: I can’t get away from the idea you’re definitely a freak when it comes to sound creation and –treatments. What’s your way of working and do you’ve specific references and criteria –or maybe artists, when it comes to sound?

Morego: I think it goes back to my taste of music, I love metal- and rock music since my childhood. Gradually I listened to other good genres like classic, jazz, blues, new age, folk and eventually electronic music. When I listen to music my mind starts to analysis music, the notes, the bars, melodies, rhythms, beats, ideas, intro and outro of songs, transitions, instrumentations, the way energy drops and how it rises ect. Many times I ask myself how they made that specific effect or technique, and how can I possibly made that with my low-budged instrumentation and studio?

Quite recently I started to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) for some lines of my music; it’s fun and I’ll consider it as a good assistance in my studio in the near future.

It’s really hard to mention specific bands or musicians, because there are too many, from classic rock bands like Pink Floyd to metal bands like Death, Esoteric, Void Of Silence, and from great electronic artists like Shpongle, Infected Mushroom, to Aes Dana, Carbon Based Lifeforms and Asura; Massive Attack, Archive, Portishead to Aphex Twin, Moderat to Jon Hopkins, Crippled Black Phoenix to Mono, Long Distance Calling and… are my favorite artists and their sound design and sound signatures are always magnificent and impressive to me and surely influenced my thinking.

Q: You also released a new EP “Blessed Seed”, which is even more psychedelic-minded. How did the title song saw the daylight and what is it all about?

Morego: Well the EP supposed to be released under my other side project Ostanes; but Amir HP who set up this project together with me left the project quite suddenly. So as this project no longer exists, I decided to polish those songs which were originally written and partially recorded during Summer 2016. So while I was working on them I decided to add more psybient/psydub elements to the mixes, also I made a new remix for our previous song and released it.

The EP is named after the first song entitled “Blessed Seed” and the name just presented the vibes, for blessing you need to catharsis and then ‘hemelvaart’ happens (lol).

Q: I guess it’s not a coincidence that the new album has been signed on Ovnimoon Records, which is clearly dealing with psy-trance artists. How did you get in touch with this label and what do you as an artist expect today from labels?

Morego: Firstly, I must thank Ovnimoon Records and parent label Geomagnetic Records for their supports and well-managed teamwork. I knew Ovnimoon for a while now and some of my friends worked together with them before, so I sent a demo to them and they said to love my album and to want it in their ‘chill out’ catalogue.

Generally speaking, finding a proper label is a serious thing for all musicians. Labels can be more supportive, and more innovative, they can promote in more effective ways, can help artists to book festivals and live shows.. But if you are from Iran things can be very weird or even crazy. That’s all because of the risk for sanctions; artists can’t breathe! There are no royalties as long as we are living in Iran, and you need a Paypal account for direct selling in music websites like Bandcamp.. I’m almost tired of being stuck in this situation (after 15 years of making music), most of my royalties are in hands of labels that can’t transfer money to an Iranian artist! On the other hand, many labels and many music providers and magazines are somehow afraid of Iranian musicians because of sanctions. Can you imagine I know some great record labels that didn’t work with me just because I’m from Iran… The only option I (and many other artists like me) have, is to be patient and earn money from other skills and invest this money for our music .

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: Cinematographic, ambient, psychedelic.

Format: Digital, CD, vinyl.

Background/Info: This is the debut album of a so-called enigmatic solo-artist, who achieved a conceptual album as a kind of imaginary soundtrack ‘based around the end of the world and a zombie takeover’. However it has been introduced as a solo-work, some famous artists like Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Simon Hinkler (The Mission), Julianne Reagan (All About Eve) ao contributed to this work.

Content: The dystopian and somewhat SI/FI theme of the work resulted in a deeply, cinematic inspired work. From vintage electronic sounds to psychedelic guitar play, this work sounds a bit like the offspring between Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd. There are numerous, noticeable piano arrangements. While most of the songs are instrumentals edits, you also will notice a few tracks with vocals and/or chants.

+ + + : The music has been conceived as a soundtrack and it clearly sounds that way. I like the vintage electronics and multiple effects while the psychedelic passages inject an exciting 60’/70’ touch. One of my favorite cuts is the extra elaborated “Don’t Look Now”. This song is more melodic as well. The contribution of all the guest musicians for sure is an extra attention grabber.

– – – : The album is easily enjoyable, but there’s no truly climax. It’s an ambitious work, but without becoming a real soundtrack it might get lost in anonymity.

Conclusion: This album will appeal for lovers of dark soundtrack music and psychedelic experiences.

Best songs: “Don’t Look Now”, “Inferno”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: www.lecygnenoir.co.uk / www.facebook.com/lecygnenoirmusic

Label: www.cherryred.co.uk / www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords

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

The Ritualists is a New-York (USA) based combo and one of the latest signings on Out Of Line. “Painted People” is the band’s debut full length, which in a way sounds a bit atypical when you know the taste of the German label. The Ritualists claim to be inspired by various artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex, Velvet Underground, Suede, The Kinks, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Duran Duran ao. Their debut album became a kind of indie like pop-rock exposure revealing the talented singer and front man Christian Dryden. I got in touch with him to know a bit more about this new formation.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: How did you come to set up The Ritualists? What inspired you to find the band name and the sound? 

Christian:I’ve been doing music my whole life. I wanted to find band members that shared my vision & concepts. I am lucky enough to have done so. I came up with the band name, partly inspired by a friend who commented to me after seeing a particularly good concert that ‘great rock shows were like a different type of church ceremony. Where like-minded people come together and celebrate something they believe in, love and take inspiration from.’ So, after thinking about this, it dawned on me that music for me was so sacred, the practicing of it, became a type of ritual, hence, The Ritualists!

Q: The sound is something interesting as it sounds as the offspring between different genres and diversified influences. Can you give us more details about the writing process, sound treatments and production? 

Christian: You are correct about the different genres. I like to believe that we have created something somewhat unique in blending my love of glam, post punk & British music in general. I usually write the songs and present them to the band in various forms of completeness. They add the cherries & toppings to make it a fine cake for consumption. With the production, Jeff Binder & I co-produced with Kris Sampson on most tracks and David Sisko on two others, and we wanted something that didn’t conform to a lot of modern Rock standards.  With the mix we tried to break away from the drum-heavy, dry stuff we were hearing and we opted for a variety of effects and dynamic bass/treble relationships in the mix that we believe enhanced the vibe of the songs.

Q: Tell us a bit more about your background as singer and the importance of the vocals, which definitely is one of the album’s main strengths and characteristics? 

Christian: Thank you! I’ve been singing my whole life and with the vocals for these songs we definitely embraced some vocal gymnastics and pyrotechnics.  However, the true focus for me has always been on the melody. The melody is my first priority. In my opinion, a song can have wonderful singing and incredible musicianship, but if there is no melody that grabs you, it is an exercise in futility.  

Q: What kind of album did you want to accomplish with “Painted People”? were the other main focuses, eventually challenges and are there some aspects you aren’t totally satisfied with? 

Christian: With the album, I wanted something with a defined focus, a recurrent vibe, but songs that also displayed some interesting diversity. For me, the challenge with recording anything is always getting the recorded versions of the song to sound like the ‘version’ I’m hearing inside my own head! This is often-times a near-impossible task!  LOL.  I would say the first song on the record that nearly accomplishes this Herculean feat is “Rattles.”  So, if you want an idea of what is inside my head, reference “Rattles.”

Q: What do you try to express by the lyrical content and what’s the link with the title of the album and the artwork? 

Christian: I love writing lyrics. In these particular songs, I contemplate love, war, death, mythology, Romance Poetry and the idea of belonging to something bigger than myself. 

Q: You’re based in New York, which is often considered as a very inspiring and ‘arty’ town when it comes to music. How does that feel from the inside and what’s your perception about the European scene considering you’ve been singed to Out Of Line?

Christian: It certainly can be ‘arty.’ NYC has its moments and has been instrumental in shaping our musical growth/development. The freedom it allows and the struggling artists are such an inspiration. 

As you can probably guess from listening to the record, I have  quite a fondness for European music, particularly UK bands. I really can’t comment on the scene, per se, as I have had no experience of it. I do know that these rather tiny countries (in comparison to the USA), have produced a ridiculous number of genius musicians of which I am in awe! 

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: Pop-rock

Background/Info: The Ritualists is a New-York (USA) based combo and one of the latest signings on Out Of Line. “Painted People” is the band’s debut full length. They claim to be inspired by various artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex, Velvet Underground, Suede, The Kinks, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Duran Duran ao. You might have discovered the band at the label compilation “Awake The Machines Vol.8” with their single “Ice Flower”. 

Content: The Ritualists is definitely an atypical formation on the label roster. Out Of Line is no longer the ‘classical’ electro label, but became open minded for different kinds of music. The Ritualists experiments with different styles, sometimes reminding me to the imaginary offspring between Echo & The Bunnymen and Suede. The guitar play is dominant in their music and literally injects a truly spirit in the songs while the vocals reflect a professionalism and maturity.

+ + + : The Ritualists is already enlarging Out Of Line’s sonic horizon. This is pure pop-rock mixed with some good-old 80s influences. Some call it post-punk, but whatever the label, it’s a rather eclectic composition carried by an impressive guitar playing, which can be psychedelic and especially elevating during the choruses. I also have to make a special mention for singer Christian Dryden who’s a real nature talent! This guy can switch from high- towards lower keys in the same song and brings a real charisma to the music.

– – – : The Ritualists is an interesting discovery, but I can imagine for numerous Out Of Line fans from the early electronic period it’s the kind of record, which is ‘undone’!

Conclusion: I didn’t know what to expect when listening to this work, but it’s a successful debut revealing a band with a huge potential.

Best songs: “Ice Flower”, “Sunset”, “Darling”, “She’s The Sun”, “Starry Night”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.theritualists.com / www.facebook.com/theritualists

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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

Peter Moorkens is a Belgian artist born in 1965. He started playing acoustic guitar and got later on interested by modular synthesizers. He became involved with different projects dealing with different kinds of music. Onsturicheit is a solo-project, which is mainly driven by the magic of modular synths. Wool-E Discs recently released five albums of Onsturicheit, which are available as a boxset and separately. The work will appeal lovers of ‘krautrock’ and the so-called ‘Berliner school’.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Peter, you seem to be involved with very different music projects for years now. Can you briefly give us a summary and how do you explain this eclecticism? 

Peter: I’ve been collecting music since I was 10 years old. Mostly Beatles, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. Then Idiscovered Klaus Schulze and my dream was to do that sort of music. My mother had an organ and my sister played piano, so I exorcised my ideas on those tools, but nothing seriously. Then my mom bought a Roland JX-3P, but she couldn’t handle it so she gave it to me. I was moving into other areas at that time. I became a singer in a band called Smeurebreud (demo here: https://soundcloud.com/electric-loopstation/my-doggys-gone-111984) which was into folk stuff with English and Dutch lyrics. We had a lot of fun, did a lot of jamming and improvising.

Moving from Antwerp to Ghent changed a lot of thing. I joined hands together with Jeroen Saegeman to set The Moonfolks, which was a vehicle for experimental rock were you could play any instrument you wanted. I sang, learned to play guitar, tenor sax, synthesizer, harp, etc. At some point I bought a 4-track cassette recorder and set up Electric Loopstation. It was a solo-project with special guests, very cinematic music and definitely spacy (music here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=electric%20loopstation   Jeroen from The Moonfolks moved on with Groom (Dublin psychedelic band) and his own Walpurgis Family and I became the singer of Daisy And The Diving Duck; a psychedelic blues band who jammed like hell. I sang and played sax and occasionally some synths. The two splendid guitarists started their own projects, now leading Mother T And The Chicks and The Golden Showers.

Electric Loopstation still exists, but actually there’s nothing new in the pipeline. So to make it short, I jammed a lot with bands and I jammed on my own; it was all the same. You record a jam, you overdub a jam and in the end you got a track or a song. Sometimes everything was live, using loops etc.

Q: How did you finally come to set up Onsturicheit and what have been the initial purpose(s) to experiment with this solo-project?

Peter: At some point I wasn’t playing in any band, but I wanted to be able to play live on my own. I gathered so much gear that I used for Electric Loopstation and was progressively moving towards more and more electronic music with less guitar and no vocals. I slimmed things down and made a practical setup that I could take on the road to play live on my own. Onsturicheit was born.

Q: Tell us a bit more about your way of composing and the sound properly speaking, which is mainly driven by modular synthesizers?

Peter: Modular synthesizers perfectly fit to the name Onsturicheit because in medieval Dutch it means something that is untamable, something with a will of his own, something wild and that’s exactly what it is. For every gig I reconstruct my modular system. This way I have to rethink which voices I will be using, how to modulate them, etc. I make patches, see how the voices fit -or not fit together. Then a week or so before the gig I try out new melodies, record samples, etc. I write the ideas in a little book. Those ideas turn into scenes. A scene is mostly an introduction (soundscapes you make live or samples) followed by  2 or 3 sequences that will be the key melody. Then I program some Korg Volca’s. I use Kick and two Samples (you can have up to 8 different preprogrammed drumloops). I write down suggestions for building up the soundscapes using samples, the key it is in, the beats per minute, which programs on the Volca’s that fit in, some tricks, etc. At some point I play and recorded the live set at home. I listen to it the day after and change some bits here and there. Sometimes I decide the evening before the gig to bring in a guitar or something completely different (https://soundcloud.com/littlantenna/postx250519-onsturicheit) and hope that everything works out fine. It never is, but that’s modular and some experience to take different roads or just jam when you’ve ran out of scene’s you have prepared.

Q: You last year (re)-released five (!) albums on Wool-E Discs, which are available as limited box format! Can we speak about a conceptual work? Can you give us a bit more details about the concept, composition and recording of the works?

Peter: Dimitri from Wool-E-Discs is a sort of Maecenas for us creative people. When he hears something he likes, he will give it a physical release. In my case a cassette called “Waan”. It was a very limited edition, but enough to get some attention from the underground press. I was lucky to get a very good review from Gonzo Circus. So a second cassette was released and I again got good reviews. I also moved on recording every jam prior to gigs. So I had plenty of material. Dimitri came with the idea to release the two tapes plus 3 new discs in a CD box. The CD’s are also available without the box.

“Waan” was a jam of 53 minutes with 6 Korg Volca’s. I didn’t like it a lot, but something special was hidden. I left it alone for a year before I heard it again. I liked the vocal samples a lot. I used them in the Volca Sample, a drum sequencer. I reworked the original piece. Extra synthesizers, some guitar, more samples, etc were added. The result is still the best thing I ever did.

After that there was “Angstzweet”. The second album is always a difficult one. It can’t be the same and it must be better. Hence the title. It was more dark in a way, more unsure and the beginning of the my modular adventure. Angst is a bit a tribute to Suzanne Ciani. You can hear sounds that come close the Buchla Synth she uses. These tracks were all live jams. The track “Rilling” was recorded for my Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qEJrkG9Yzo). “Zweet” is back to the Korg Volca’s and the microbrute. This track was a live preparation for a gig at the annual BBQ of The Blue Room (gathering of artists and record shop holders, etc.). In fact thanks to the platform the Blue Room gave me things started to happen outside the living room.

On Record Store Day 2017, Wool_E-Shop invited me to play a short live set. I recorded it and named it “Denkbeeldig Tentenkamp” because I played under something resembling a tent and in Brussels there were tents full of refugees. Also the words ‘denkbeeldig’, ‘illusie’ and ‘hondsdol’ were used in my Volca sampler.  The music I played was a mix of both cassette releases. I already had the melodies and improvised around them. The other tracks on the album are from Joost Carpentier, a Blue Room visitor and artist (see DREUN box https://belgianneumusik.be/album/wed022-bnm007-10111-ambient-darkambient-drone-soundscapes) who also did the mastering. I asked him to vivisect and reconstruct the live track and make them his own. Something different and beautiful came out. More from us will come in the future. Hence the title Impressions.

The fourth album ‘In De Nevelen’ was a result of a collaboration with Glenn Dick (Find Hope In Darkness). We recorded some jam sessions, sort of modular against guitar loops. At a certain point I took my baritone guitar and we played a track of 50 minutes with just guitars and some samples. Unfortunately the guitar parts of Glenn were not recorded. When I listened to the recording I found it very calm and spacy so I added some minimal drums and modular synths. I like the end result enough to present it at Dimitri. There are also some hints to the other albums in the samples I used.

The fifth album was a rehearsal for the “Splinter”-sessions at Villa Bota Bruges. I had to make a piece of one hour. I rehearsed it a few times and recorded the jams. The tracks on the album came from two of these sessions. When I played it live, time is relative in my head, so I moved quicker thru all the scene’s that I prepared and doing so reduced the piece to 30 minutes. Since I always make a film to accompany the live music I noticed the movie wasn’t finished so I had to improvise the rest of the set. Patrick Baele filmed the whole set (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyHybA7zYrU&t=1624s). The tracks on the album develop more slowly and give you time to absorb the music.

Q: The title of the box “Wanneer De Herder Doolt, Zo Dolen De Schapen”, but also the different album- and song titles are pretty intriguing. What’s the hidden meaning behind the titles and is there a link between the titles and music you composed for each of them?

Peter: Translated “When The Shepherd Wanders, So The Sheep Will Wander”. The shepherd is Dimitri from Wool-E-Shop and we are the sheeps and the album tells the story of the flock. Onsturicheit is Dutch, so are all the titles. Since they’re all instrumentals it’s the mood of the piece that influences the tittle. I’m also interested in the  history of mentalities and especially old pagan rituals from peasant in the medieval and modern times. Lot of these rituals deal with invisible forces and with the changes of the seasons. I’m very sensitive to those and it directly influences the mood of my live jams (which is the only way to record modular synthesizer music). Afterwards I look for a fitting title.

“Waan” was easy. I had the voice samples and I wrote a story to accompany the tracks. “Angstzweet” was conceived in Autumn, I tend to be more dark and melancholic and fear was/is ruling the world at that moment with all the terrorist assaults going on. There are also quotes from the apocalypse in the music.

“In De Nevelen” is a bit like the mists of Avalon. The music was hidden and almost forgotten so it was cloaked in mist. So every title has got ‘nevel’ in it and associations to other albums as well like “Angstzweet” that keeps on repeating in one of the tracks. So yes there is a link with the other albums. It’s all a state of mind.

The “Splinter”-album is off course named after the “Splintersessies”. But the word ‘splinter’ is a fantastic word (shard, fragment). I also use fragments of readings from old Dutch books. “Een Deur Op Een Kier Intrappen” comes from such a fragment. Or “Splinter In De Ziel” (translated “Splinter In The Soul”). Do we have a soul? I have an  agnostic approach to live  and believe that music is keeping it all together some way. Every molecule vibrates and vibration is sound and sound can be music.

As for musical moods, sometimes it is something I hear on the news like all the unnecessary chopping of trees in Belgium and the climate changes and all the hot summers and no trees to chill out under, we burn ourselves “Verbrande Dode Bomen” (translated “Burned Dead Trees”). It’s like a splinter in our soul cause what kind of future do we give to our children. “De Gespleten Hoef” refers to the Devil, in this case someone making a profit from those illegal cuttings. “Stapsvoets afdalende” (translated “Going Down Step By Step”) to the end of civilisation as it is. A happy tune, aren’t we all happy in this paradise called the Western World. But we still can’t kick open a closed door and were back with “Angstzweet” (cold sweat) when the end of the world is near, which brings back the apocalypse and the insanity.

Do not worry, I’m not depressed, although I know people who are. I also realise we are all living in a bubble. With all the technology of today, our health insurance, money for the unemployed,  TV, smartphones, cars, etc. We think it is our right to have all this. But never in history we had a society that was living on this high standard and if there was such a society, it didn’t survive (Romans, Aztecs, ….). Look 50 years back and it was a different planet.

Q: How do you transpose your studio work on stage and what kind of performances do you try to accomplish –where visual input must be important? 

Peter: Visuals are always important. I make all the artwork. In every cover there is an old building, even in my digital releases on Modular404. History and the past is important to me. We can still learn from our mistakes, or be happy with what we have achieved. Don’t take everything for granted. Things were harder back then.

For the live acts I always make a film to go along with the set. It’s a mix of different stuff, some of it with me in action. There’re always shadows in the movies. I’m fascinated by the shadows they make on walls. Also road movies filmed in a car or on a train, fauna moving with the wind, old black and white films or pictures of old buildings flashing rapidly on the screen. I also use short movies made by my son Milo which are very humoristic.

My live act or studio recordings are exactly the same. I make sketches of ideas that work. When I’m ready I hit the record button and of we go. In the studio I can do overdubs or cut things out or develop ideas into something new. Live it is more a struggle, a taming of the beast (the modular). It never goes like planned and you have to take alternate routes. Live experience is always something new for me and the public. I can’t repeat the same concert twice. The sounds will always be different. The melodies of the sequences will or could be the same if they work at that moment with the flow I’m in. Mostly I play for one hour, which is very long to keep it interesting. That is also why I use films and I also play with my instruments turned to the public so they rather can see what I’m doing instead of seeing my face and the back of the monstercase.

My last gig at Post X was a very intense. I did not even had the chance to look at the screen. Playing with the guitar thru the modular was a good decision and I use pickup microphones to pick up sounds of things that I can hit and process thru the modular system. At the end of this everyone was applauding and screaming YES. It was a victory for me and the audience. I hope It will be released on Wool-E-Discs.

The next concert will be at AntennA festival 22/02/2020 (https://www.facebook.com/AntennA-Festival-2020-2409448922451521/) but other concerts could cross my way. This time I won’t be making the visuals. I leave them to Patrick Baele, a visual artist from Ghent (Digitale Beeldende Kunst – Medialab – Academie voor Beeldende Kunst Gent). You can find him on the social media.

Also The Moonfolks are back together and we are planning a concert in January 2020. We will perform the soundtrack to a silent movie. Read the review of ‘Splinter’.

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: Dark-rock, goth-rock.

Background/Info: Norwegian formation Long Night has already been active for a few years now. There was a first work released in 2016, but “Barren Land” is the band’s official debut album featuring nine songs.

Content: Long Night is clearly driven by dark-rock music, but also by 80s cold-wave influences and other more psychedelic-rock music. I sometimes get the impression of hearing an offspring between The Cult and Pink Floyd. The guitar playing is a very important element from the album and especially because it injects a truly spirit in the songs.

+ + + : The guitar parts have something elevating, even transcendental. The song “Black River” is a fully accomplished dark song with such a great hypnotic feeling. It’s maybe somewhat different from the other songs, but it’s a brilliant composition. Long Night also reflects such an impressive maturity in the songwriting. The songs are well crafted and all influences together create an efficient and homogenous result. There also is a noticeable psychedelic touch emerging from some songs, which will definitely please guitar freaks.  Last, but not least I also want to say a word about the great artwork (digipak) of the album.

– – – : From a very personal point of view I would have liked to hear more darker influences running through the songs or to hear more songs in the style of “Black River”. The title track is definitely not my favorite one, being maybe too psychedelic-like.

Conclusion: “Barren Land” is a delicious crossover between different influences resulting in something personal and promising.

Best songs: “Black River”, “It’s All Gone”, “The Rain Still Falls”, “The Night’s Ablaze”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: https://longnight.no / www.facebook.com/Long.Night.Tau

Label: www.facebook.com/SwissDarkNights

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: Psychedelic, ethereal, cinematographic, ambient.

Background/Info: “Carefully Kept Secrets” is the fourth full length by Deep Imagination. This German solo-project is driven by the creative spirit of Thorsten Sudler-Mainz.

Content: I already had the opportunity to discover previous work of Deep Imagination. This opus sounds in the logical continuation of this work and moves on exploring a psychedelic electro-rock universe, which sometimes appears to be the natural child of Pink Floyd and Enigma.

Some female vocals parts remind me of the ethereal style of Enya, but I can mention Delerium on a few of the other cuts. There are many elements running through this album, which features somewhat ethereal chants, slow tribal like rhythms, spoken evasive male vocals and angelic female ones.

+ + + : Deep Imagination remains a fascinating sound experience, which will appeal to a wider audience. The progression running through “ Wings To Fly” is absolutely fascinating, revealing a sonic voyage. But I also have to mention the beautiful “Album Version” of “Dancing With Ghosts” – previously released as single title track. “Carefully Kept Secrets” is an artistic and beautiful piece of work bringing you a kind of relaxation effect.

– – – : I regret a few cuts are maybe a bit too short and I’m especially referring to “Paradise In Space”, which also is one of the most beautiful cuts of the work. It could be an idea to compose an extended version of this song!

Conclusion: Deep Imagination is a band taking you by the hand on a mysterious, but prosper music journey. It will give you a real good feeling sensation.

Best songs: “Wings To Fly”, “Dancing With Ghosts (Album Version)”, “Deeper Than France”, “Paradise In Space”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.deep–imagination.de / www.facebook.com/deep.imagination.music

Label: www.bscmusic.com / www.facebook.com/BSCMusicWorld

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

To celebrate the release of “Is This The Life We Really Want”, the newest album by Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) in 25 years, the Belgian artist ‘NOIR Artist’ (real name Lucien Gilson) was asked to create a mural painting (see above) which is based on the artwork of the album. That painting will be shown to the public at the Brussels-South station on june 2 en 3 (via the entrance located at the Horta Square).

It’s not the first that that Sony Music België works with the Liège based mural painter NOIR Artist. He also made one for the release of Leonard Cohen’s last release “You want it darker”.

“Is This The Life We Really Want?” was mixed and produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Beck, U2) and holds 12 new tracks. You can already listen to the first track 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. 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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Berliner formation Golden Apes saw the daylight in 1998. Nearly 20 years after their creation the band has released an impressive number of productions on labels such as Shadowplay Release, Echozone and AFmusic. They recently released their newest opus “MALVS”, which according to me maybe sounds as their best work in history. The sound of the band is hard to define, but clearly inspired by darker new-wave and rock influences from the 80s. I’ve been in touch with singer Peer Lebrecht for an interesting chat.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Do you see main changes/evolutions in the original goal of Golden Apes and today?

Peer: So what was our goal when we started the band some 20 years ago? I think it was about making music, which had to be ‘absorber’ and ‘reflector’ at the same time. That mixture of external musical influences and passions, and internal creative impulses and restless unsubduedness. We started with no template, no route, neither musically nor conceptually and I think this was and is the best condition for doing something substantial (at least in your own perception, what is the only one important).

We´ve never intended to do this whole Goth/Wave thing without objection, we just came all from that musical background. We´ve never thought about the idea to become a part of something like an economical machinery, roaring and disgorging rates and decimal places (and we failed in that moment when we got close to this), we just wanted to do songs, play them and stick them in a sonic diary now and then.

And we never wanted to fit any schemes or serve expectations. From the very first tune on that left our amplifiers, we created music with gut instincts, guided by the aspiration to feel right with it, to have it stirring the own soul.

And in this light it seems that there was no change at all during the years. It is still the same (maybe naïve) fervent idealism that keeps us running, that keeps us curious and restless.

Q: It’s maybe because of this thought to ‘never become a part of something’ that it has been always difficult to define your music as a particular genre! Can you give me a definition and tell me something more about potential sources of inspiration throughout the years?

Peer: You are so right; defining music is always a hell of job, especially if it´s your own. As mentioned above we all have a similar socializing musical background, lined with names like Joy Division, The Cure, The Psychedelic Furs, Fields, Sisters, Nick Cave and so on and consequently you can find traces of those all over our work. But apart from this common nucleus our musical passions are widely scattered, linking Bowie to Beethoven, New Model Army to Amon Düül and Pink Floyd to John Cage. And those with eyes to see can find shades of these too.

So how to frame all this? And why? In the end we never cared about stylistic drawers and templates and for a flawless classification we don’t possess enough historico-cultural knowledge. For us it was and is important how it feels, how close it comes and how well we feel in its waters.

Q: Referring to your influences, I experienced your new work as a move back to the 80s for the new-wave inspiration while mixed with darker rock elements. What is it all about?

Peer: As I said – there is no conceptual layout we muse about before we start writing music and I would be a liar if I would say “MALVS” sounds the way we intended it to sound – because there was no intention! Between the albums first finished song (“Verity”) and the last one (“Halving Moons”) are stylistic light years and every incident, every condition and every mood swing has an influence on the atmosphere under which the things inside your head are coming into life. And how many mood swings you may face in a period of four years! So there was no way to presage the albums final atmosphere and to be honest –it is always so exciting to see it grow, changing shapes and colors, names and places. I think we even would get bored quickly if everything would be predictable.

And of course it is no surprise that there are palpable traces of the 80s sprinkled on our songs. That was the decade that saw us grew up, that shaped us musically and culturally. Take a look above at some of our musical influences! We can´t hide them and we never tried to do. One dogma while doing the record was to let “MALVS” become what it wants to be, to let it be the sum of our sentiments, perceptions, experiences and souls. And finally we all are not much more –the sum of our sentiments, perceptions and experiences

Q: What else can you tell us about the new album “MALVS”, which I think has been written and conceived far away from external involvement? How comes?

Peer: ‘MALVS was the moment when we stopped our way down the ladder for the first time for realizing the mirrored surfaces below, the grandeur of a hollowed veracity and the echoing falsities hidden under sticky clouds so far…

MALVS was the wrong word in our mouths, the huge, black stone, blocking our throats from swallowing the poison of a rushing moment, the toxic essence of a creed that brushed our eyes…

MALVS was the page we tore apart when the anvil hit the ground, the cloth of skin inscribed with the names of lovers and deities, with histories and heresies…with all the atrocities we failed to forget…memories of days bygone…

MALVS was the bundle of bones we danced around on open fields. Disengaged from leaden verities and the burden of doubts. Snow-white smoke and the cathartic fires of a past contrived…

MALVS was the desert we wandered through with our hearts full of hope and our faces turned away from heaven. And we ate the dark and we drank the ignorance, welling from a shiny moment, when we stopped our way down the ladder for the very first time…’

These were my thoughts when I was listening to the album in its entirety for the first time and even if this sounds quite confusing, it bears the core of the meaning for me. “MALVS” is the album we worked towards for 4 years, without any pressure, without any need to do something by anything else than the own intuition, waiting for the moments that just feel right. And so “MALVS” became not just an collection of 13 songs, but a fabric of all the things that left an imprint on us. Musically, emotionally, intellectually.

But it was not only a musical unleashing, because its creating was also a kind of a ritual, binding together interpersonally. After the release of “Riot”, our last studio album in 2012, there was an odd figure of changes within the bands structure. Our drummer left, our guitar player Eric, one of the founding members left and with Aris Zarakas we found a guy, who was more than a substitute, for he contributed new impulses and new ways of dealing with sounds and textures. And when the “Langsyne Litanies”, our acoustic album from 2014, became a kind of musically getting acquainted, then it was “MALVS”, what was our fire ordeal. And the time in the rehearsal room and in the studio makes me confidently state that at no time before the band was more bound together, had more self-conception of the things we do and more creative output that in the here and now.

And so “MALVS” was a catharsis also – the first five letters on a blank page.

Q: what can you tell us about the artwork of “MALVS”, which sounds a bit different from past releases?

Peer: The artwork is closely related to the album’s title, what is a pity now because I had and have no intention to reveal the meaning of it. ´Asshole´ you may think, but I like the fact when not every possible semantic level is unveiled for free, when some veils may be lifted by help of the context, by coincidence or even never. Maybe it is no random choice then that the title track is an instrumental! Or that there are these 5 pieces of wood on the cover.

By doing the artwork, I enjoyed to play with metaphors and ciphers, reflecting the lyrical landscape visually. I just want to say that the riddles solution is not that complicated, but will cast light on some contextual meanings. But this is just one of the keys….

Q: How will you transpose the songs of the album on stage and what do you expect from the new performances and places you’ll play?

Peer: We were never one of those bands who felt comfortable with a certain kind of studied show on stage. I think the main ingredient is the music and this is where our focus rests, but I agree that a proper atmospheric habitat can support the effect of the music. That´s why we like to play with the setting now and then, adding details, softening the topography of the stage. Recently we worked on some projections, some visual subtitles, which act as an additional layer of perception.

But the last shows have proved that the new songs are strong enough to work on stage, to keep some of your senses busy for a while.

According to the upcoming shows we hope that the well-being continues that we feel on playing “MALVS”. It is really special to invoke the songs on stage, to feel them blazing their trail through our veins every time anew. In other words -it just feels good!

And we hope of course that the people will like what they get. It is always the biggest reward to reach places beyond the edge of the stage and getting echoes from there is more than just a touching experience…

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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

We have again found some real gems in the list of releases especially produced for the upcoming Record Store Day on April 22. We put them in a list below.

For those unfamiliar with the phenomena, Record Store Day (aka RSD) was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1400 independently owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally. The first Record Store Day took place on April 19, 2008. A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a stand alone brick and mortar retailer whose main primary business focuses on a physical store location, whose product line consists of at least 50% music retail, whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70% located in the state of operation. In other words, we’re dealing with real, live, physical, indie record stores—not online retailers or corporate behemoths.

So what items did we find in the list of planned releases?

PANKOW – “TIMES”
Format: Grey Color 10″ / Quantity: 175

The two earliest Pankow recordings to see a release were “We Are the Joy” on one of the first Italian new wave compilations (Gathered), and following that “Wither” on a split 7” which was enclosed in the “Free8212” fanzine from Florence. Two other tracks that have never before been released appear together on Times, a gorgeous 10″ vinyl coming courtesy Toronto-based Artoffact Records. This 10″ features spectacular new artwork created by Pankow’s own fm, and is fully authorized by the band. An essential document of one of Italy’s most important electronic artists. The black vinyl version can be bought right here already.

ALICE IN CHAINS – “Get Born”
Format: 2 x 7″ / Quantity: 4000

This special Alice in Chains 45 RPM double 7” single collects four hard-hitting tracks remastered and available on vinyl for the first time. “What the Hell Have I” and “A Little Bitter,” released on the soundtrack to the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero in 1993, were the first to feature new bassist Mike Inez, who’d played with Ozzy Osbourne for five years. “Get Born Again” and “Died,” released on the box set Music Bank in 1999, were the band’s final recordings with original vocalist Layne Staley.

THE CURE – “Greatest Hits”
Format: 2 x LP Picture Disc / Quantity: 3250

Limited edition double picture discs of The Cure’s Greatest Hits. Featuring their best known tracks, including “Love Song”, “Friday I’m In Love” “Never Enough”, “Mint Car” and many more. Curated and remastered by Robert Smith. On vinyl for the very first time for Record Store Day 2017.

THE CURE – “Greatest Hits Acoustic”
Format: 2 x LP Picture Disc / Quantity: 3250

Limited edition double picture discs of The Cure’s Greatest Hits performed acoustically. Featuring their best known tracks, including “Love Song”, “Friday I’m In Love” “Never Enough”, “Mint Car” and many more. Curated and remastered by Robert Smith. On vinyl for the very first time for Record Store Day 2017.

JANE’S ADDICTION – “Been Caught Stealing”
Format: 12″ / Quantity: 3500

Originally released in 1990 in conjunction with the Ritual De Lo Habitual album, “Been Caught Stealing” was a massive hit for Jane’s Addiction. This 4 track replicates the original European 12″ release and contains the album version and a remix of “Been Caught Stealing” plus “L.A. Medley” which includes Woman” (The Doors), “Nausea” (X) and “Lexicon Devil” (The Germs).

MOTORHEAD – “Clean Your Clock”
Format: 2 x LP Picture Disc / Quantity: 1500

Motorhead are immortalized one more time in “Clean Your Clock”, the superb live album recorded at the Zenith in Munich, Germany during the Winter 2015 Bad Magic Tour. The indomitable cocktail of power, purpose and head-crunching volume that Lemmy Kilmister, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee always succeeded in producing is captured superbly by long-time producer Cameron Webb’s mix,giving this landmark Motorhead release the warmth, curve and punch which helped the band achieve international acclaim during a career which saw the Grammy-winning icons sell over 15 million albums and play to millions worldwide.

PINK FLOYD – “Interstellar Overdrive”
Format: 12″ Vinyl / Quantity: 4000

A previously unreleased 14:57 minute recording from 1966, released in mono at 33 1/3 for Record Store Day.

RAMONES – “76-’79 Singles Box”
Format: 7″ boxset / Quantity: 3500

A box of pre-1980 US 7″ singles by the Ramones, authentically reproduced with Sire labels, picture covers where applicable and a selection of great punk rock tracks that changed the course of rock ‘n’ roll. All packaged in a unique cigarette-style outer box, with an insert and individually foil-stamped numbered global edition of 6500. Wall-to-wall Ramones classics including “Blitzkrieg Bop”, “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”, “Swallow My Pride”, “Rock ‘N’ Roll High School” and a special mono/stereo promo edition of “I Wanna Be Sedated”, all presented the way punk rock should be–as 45 RPM slabs of wax.

THE SMITHS – “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side”
Format: 7″ Vinyl / Quantity: 5000

A 7″ single featuring previously unreleased versions of “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side” and “Rubber Ring”. Includes new artwork featuring Salford actor Albert Finney.

U2 – “Red Hill Mining Town”
Format: 12″ Picture Disc / Quantity: 7000

To coincide with the 30th anniversary of U2’s iconic album “The Joshua Tree”, Island Records will release a 2017 mix of ‘Red Hill Mining Town’ on limited edition 12” picture disc, featuring the classic photography of Anton Corbijn in colour. The previously unreleased mix is by Steve Lillywhite, who produced the band’s critically acclaimed debut, ‘Boy’. ‘Red Hill Mining Town’ is famously “the single that never was”, originally discussed as the second single from The Joshua Tree but then put to one side at the last minute in favour of ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’.

VANGELIS – “Blade Runner” Original Soundtrack
Format: LP Picture Disc / Quantity: 3500

2017 sees the 35th anniversary of the original release of Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult film Blade Runner. The original soundtrack, composed by Vangelis will be released on picture disc for the first time, housed within a die-cut single sleeve jacket. (Limited worldwide release of 7500.)

CONJURE ONE – “Conjure One”
Format: 2 x LP / Quantity: 900

Originally released on CD in 2002, Conjure One was the brainchild of Front Line Assembly and Delerium co-founder Rhys Fulber. The debut set a new standard in world electronica and went on to sell over 50,000 CDs globally. The album features guest vocals by Sinead O’Connor, Poe, Marie-Claire D’Ubaldo and Chemda as well as mixes by electronica pioneers Junkie XL and Carmen Rizzo. It’s being released on double 45 RPM 180g colored vinyl for the first time, and includes a download card with three new bonus tracks.

PINK FLOYD – “London 1966 – 1967”
Format: 12″ Picture Disc / Quantity: 650

The first studio recordings from the classic ’60s Pink Floyd line up released for Record Store Day on limited edition 12″ picture disc vinyl.

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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LLUMEN is the newest Belgian formation that joined the Alfa Matrix stable. It all started as a real band featuring several members, but throughout the years Pieter Coussement remained the single member on board. His debut album “The Memory Institute” took me by surprise for its complexity in sound writing, maturity in the global production process and efficiency when it comes to club-friendly music. It’s hard to define the style LLUMEN is dealing with, but you for sure will recognize elements of EBM, future-pop, IDM. According to me LLUMEN is one of the hottest newcomers from the moment so I wanted to know a bit more about this project.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: How did you get contaminated by the electronic-music virus and tell us a bit more about the set up of Llumen?

Pieter: I guess it must be somewhere around 1985. Back then my older brother was a DJ playing a lot of punk and new-wave. A lot of Cure, Sisters Of Mercy, The Smiths and so on. I remember hearing Fad Gadget’s “Back To Nature” on one of those parties and I was instantly hooked. While my high school friends were really into Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones and so one, I was the oddball out and spent every waking hour getting infected by electronic music.

I played in a few rock bands in my teens and even then I explored the possibilities of electronic instruments. Finally one of those bands grew out to be my first electronic project. Life caught up to it, as the other members had found new priorities. I however kept involved with electronic music and sound art throughout my studies and early professional career.  In the end, LLUMEN became the more mainstream outlet of what I was doing, since everything else was (and is) very experimental, even though I can’t seem to stop experimenting even when making music for LLUMEN.

Q: “The Memory Institute” is your official debut album, so what does it mean to you and what is the album all about?

Pieter: Because of my previous job “The Memory Institute” has become the result of a very lengthy process, even if I hoped to get everything finished way sooner. In that respect, I think every debut album is a reflection of a search for a certain (musical) identity, and all songs represent part of that search. The release is a moment in time where I can reflect upon the path that I took and look forward to where it can lead.

“The Memory Institute” touches a variety of themes or better points of view but all are orbiting a central theme. While many would agree that my music is rather dark, the songs are almost always love songs. The different points of view towards love, for me, blur the autobiographic or fictional aspects of what I’m writing about.

Q: I think there clearly is a link between your daily job and the music you’re composing. What is it all about?

Pieter: Today I work at the faculty of Architecture in Ghent. You probably refer to my job at IPEM. I finished my PhD research at The Institute of Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music some years ago. Early on in the inception of LLUMEN, when I was still working for IPEM, I was constantly surrounded by technology you can normally only dream about and way better musicians than me. Two of them became very good friends and keep on pushing me in bettering the music I make.

My PhD was about interactivity and music and I’ve been making a lot of Interactive and Responsive sound installations, experimenting with generative music, virtual reality elaborate surround systems, sensors and 3D tracking systems. I even wrote a synthesizer for deaf people at one point. Having the luxury to experiment daily with what you love is great, but it does slow other things down a bit too.  I hold my time at IPEM very dear and the experimental part of it can still be found in the way I work on LLUMEN songs and how to visually represent my music.

Q: It’s clear that you really share a passion for ‘sounds’ this way creating a kind of very own sound-DNA. How do you work on the compositions and do you have some referential artists?

Pieter: Thank you for this, I regard this as a big compliment! I’m massively interested in creating sound pallet with which I can paint my musical ideas and obviously spend too much time on it.  When I go clubbing, I often find myself standing still on the dance floor mid song trying to figure out how a certain sound has been made or incorporated in a song. Artists that trigger me in that aspect can always count on my respect, even when their music doesn’t always find a one-to-one translation in my music. Apart from the obvious like Klinik, Suicide Commando, F242, Covenant and basically everything Daniel Meyer does, there are many things that very much influence me. A lot of martial music like The Protagonist or In Slaughter Natives, but also bands like Ordo Equilibrio or Rome. Completely out of the scope of EBM or industrial I find a lot of the Raster Noton  projects sonically and visually very intriguing. People should really check out Kangding Ray, Emptyset, Atom TM and Ryoji Ikeda for 21^st century way out there electronic music.

Q: You just mentioned Daniel Meyer (Haujobb) and I’ve to say your album makes me think to a kind of sonic hybrid between Haujobb and Covenant! I would say not that bad, but what are the elements in their sound you recognize in Llumen?

Pieter: As said, I have a profound respect for what Daniel Meyer does, even if it took me until the release of Haujobb’s “Ninetynine” to become a complete fanboy. With Covenant it is probably the other way around, “Dreams Of A Cryotank” and “Sequencer” instantly became two of my favorite albums. Because of this, I can’t argue with calling LLUMEN a hybrid between two of my all-time favorite bands, even if I never intended it. I do recognize some of their elements in my music, like their attention to detail, but I strive to make LLUMEN very much my own.

Q: The live performances reveal an important visual aspect, which in a way is another aspect of your work. What do you try to express on stage?

Pieter: I think there is a lot you can do on stage with visuals and light. I’m a big fan of the audiovisual performances that seem all the rage these days and I am a firm advocate of the synergy this can create. In a side-project we work with audiovisual synths, where the visuals generate the sound and visa versa. We are currently working on some new stuff to tell the LLUMEN story better that incorporates ideas from the audiovisual world even more. As such, we work with a lot of responsive visuals, stuff that we program from scratch and we always try to find new ways of controlling those visuals. We are however a bit dependent from the venues where we play, but plan to expand the visual show with DMX controlled lights so we can get some extra atmosphere that does not rely on the quality of the venues projection capabilities. I believe that working this way, rather then having someone faking on a keyboard can work way better. This is why you always see my brother completely stressed out on stage.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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

Good news for the Pink Floyd fans living near the US-Mexico border. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters is planning a concert on the US-Mexico border in protest of President Donald Trump’s planned completion of wall that is already partially separating the southern border between the US and Mexico.

Waters isn’t a fan of Trump and he previously likened Donald Trump’s candidacy to the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1930s Germany (which caused an uproar with the Jewish community because it made Waters look like he was downplaying the suffering of the Jewish people under the nazi-regime). More recently Waters has been mocking Trump by depicting him as a dildo-loving Nazi with a micro-penis. Yup, Waters sure has a beef with Trump.

It’s not the first time Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is being performed near a wall (or what was left of it). In July 1990, Waters performed the album in Berlin, Germany to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall 8 months earlier.

After Sisters Of Mercy’s promise to record and release a new album, this is yet another good news (at least for the locals fans there) thanks to the not so well digested outcome of US presidential elections by the music world one could say.

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

Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘COW / Chill Out, World!’.

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

(By Fiona K.) Looming on the summer horizon is the UK’s premier electronic music festival, Infest, on 26th – 28th August in Bradford, near Leeds in northern England. Now in it’s 18th year, Infest’s now fully-announced 2016 line-up is 3 glorious days of heavyweights of the electronic music genre, old and new.

Playing are Pop Will Eat Itself, Atari Teenage Riot, 3Teeth, Dead When I Found Her, Leaether Strip, Vigilante. to name but a few; and you’ll also get 3 days of top quality DJ’s to add to the fun.

Last year’s festival continued Infest’s long-standing reputation of impeccably-chosen line-ups of musically interesting and entertaining bands. Some of the highlights from last year included:

• a beautifully messed-up and rowdy electronic assault by ex-Ministry/Revolting Cocks’ frontman’s current incarnation, COCKSURE;
• a darkly-twisted techno set by the electronic trailblazers EMPIRION;
• an introduction to the primal industrial sound of CHANT all the way from Texas (which was a festival highlight);
• a sojourn in the incredibly polished theatrical-gothic niche that Germany’s L’Ame Immortelle dominate;
• the intense, emotive and diverse sound of KLANGSTABIL;
• the Pink Floyd of dark electronica, MIND IN A BOX, delighted with an intelligent, diverse and musically-rich performance.

And then there was the karaoke (yes, your read that correctly!), the dance-floor shenanigans and the after-parties and mayhem.

Here’s the thing about Infest though. It’s human-scale. It’s one stage. There’s no running around from venue to venue; no having to chose which of your bands you are prepared to miss because of cross-over scheduling. The staff are super-friendly; there’s food stalls and shots and outdoor seating and a general welcoming party atmosphere. If you haven’t been, go. It’s not one to miss.

Additional info on the official website. Tickets can be purchased right here. You can already watch here what to expect!

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

It probably never happened that Pink Floyd fans were so glad and so disappointed in a matter of minutes. But first the happiness ingredient. To mark the 50th anniversary since the tracks were recorded, Pink Floyd have – without any publicity – released a limited edition set of two 7″ singles, containing the band’s first recordings. The set, entitled “Pink Floyd 1965 – Their First Recordings”, holds unreleased material, including the Syd Barrett compositions “Lucy Leave”, “Double O Bo”, “Remember Me”, and “Butterfly”, coupled with Roger Waters’ “Walk With Me Sydney” and a cover of “I’m A King Bee” originally by Slim Harpo.

At the time of recording these tracks the band consisted of Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright, Rado Klose and Juliette Gale on backing vocals on “Walk With Me Sydney”. The audio was mastered from the original mono analogue tapes by Andy Jackson of Tube Mastering and Ray Staff of AIR Studios.

The less funny thing, only a 1000 copies were made, and they sold out in record time of course after which they popped up right here on eBay at hefty prices. Not surprising that many fans are disappointed.

The reason why the release was distributed in such a low profile way – and in a very limited run – can be found in the ‘Use It or Lose It’ provision in European copyright law dating from 2012. In that year the European Union said that all copyrighted recordings had to be released within 50 years or else it would become public domain. As a result we have already seen low profile releases popping up from The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys. And now it’s Pink Floyd’s turn to release some recordings in order to extend their copyrights for another 20 years.

For those who missed these items, don’t despair, Pink Floyd has plans to make them available in some physical form towards the end of next year.

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

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Dario Argento’s cult-movie “Profondo Rosso”, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin recorded an all new version of the famous soundtrack in 2015. Along with “Suspiria”, “Profondo Rosso” is Argento’s most celebrated film and a classic of the Italian giallo horror subgenre in its own right. The release holds unreleased and rare songs and comes in 2 formats, a CD version and a vinyl version which are both available for pre-ordering.

“Profondo Rosso” (“Deep Red” and also known as “The Hatchet Murders”) is a 1975 Italian giallo film, directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Bernardino Zapponi. It was released on 7 March 1975 and was produced by Claudio and Salvatore Argento. The film’s score was composed and performed by Goblin. It stars Macha Meril as a medium and David Hemmings as a man who investigates a series of murders performed by a mysterious figure wearing black leather gloves. The film was a commercial success internationally.

Argento originally contacted jazz pianist and composer Giorgio Gaslini to score the film; however, he was unhappy with Gaslini’s output. After failing to get Pink Floyd to replace Gaslini, Argento turned back to Italy and found Goblin, a local progressive rock band. Their leader Claudio Simonetti produced two compositions within just one night. Argento signed them immediately, and they ended up composing most of the film’s musical score (3 Gaslini compositions were retained in the final version). Subsequently, Goblin composed music for several other films by Dario Argento.

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: Goth-rock, rock-metal, hard-rock.

Content: Behind this new band is hiding Lacrimosa’s guitarist JP Genkel. This artist has worked and produced some real famous names in the goth-metal scene while he was ‘secretly’ busy composing songs for his own project during the past few years.

With the input of extra artists featuring his Lacrimosa’s mates Manne Uhlig and Julien Schmidt plus Henrik Flyman and singer Olaf Senkbeil the album was finally achieved. I didn’t know what to expect, but for some reasons I was sure “Another World” would not sound like ‘another Lacrimosa’. Black Moon Secret sounds definitely different –although you here and then will possibly notice a little flavor of Lacrimosa.

This band sounds more inspired by a mix of metal- and rock music with an extra dark, gothic touch on top. Some of the songs sound a bit like the hybrid between The Scorpions and Pink Floyd. The impressive guitar solos will definitely please lovers of this instrument.

The tracks were accomplished by background electronic arrangements while other piano passages can be heard as well. I also notice different symphonic traces like at “See” and “Feel” which move more into electronic symphonic arrangements.

The debut part of the CD can’t fully convince, but right in the midst of the tracklist we get the attention grabbers “Eyes” and “Falling”. Both songs sound harder and are carried by solid guitar riffs. I personally prefer this tough side, which still reveal a real outburst at the chorus of “Falling” plus a great and symphonic apotheosis.

The tracklist finally moves towards some delicate passages (cf. “Fly”) while the last song (cf. “Pictures”) makes me think of the hard-rock style of Scorpions. So in the end I would say there’s a lot to experience on this album, which is mixing different genres.

Conclusion: Black Moon Secret clearly exorcized different musical ghosts, which become more convincing during the harder songs.

Best songs: “Falling”, “Eyes”.

Rate: (Elise Din:6½)Elise Din.

Band: www.blackmoonsecret.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Moon-Secret/168641059834515

Label: http://www.lacrimosa.ch / www.facebook.com/LacrimosaOfficial

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: Experimental, abstract, psychedelic.

Content: If you’re familiar with the Frank Mark Arts roster you for sure have already heard many collaborations between artists and especially between Roman Leykam and Frank Mark. For the “Hex”-album both music mates invited Frank Meyer to join in.

“Hex” reveals a true passion for sounds and noises. The composition is more based upon the decomposition of sounds played by guitar, bass and synths to manipulate them by studio effects to create something new. It results in a rather abstract and definitely experimental way, but “Hex” is an accessible album.

The trio took care to compose slow rhythms, which have been mixed with different influences like jazz, tribal- and mainly psychedelic elements. Some passion for Pink Floyd is not really a surprise, but “Hex” sounds totally different although based upon multiple psychedelic ingredients mainly created by guitar parts. Some of the songs are a little less cinematographic as well and I mainly refer to “Figments Of The Imagination”, which is a rather appropriated title. This cut also reveals impressive sound manipulations.

Another cinematographic-orientated passage comes through on “Bracing”, which I also like for the mix of lounge- and dub influences. But the psychedelic input remains the most important. I have a little preference for songs like, “The Function Of Dreaming” and “Dead Room”.

Conclusion: “Hex” sounds like the offspring between psychedelic music and pure experimentation. It’s pretty minimal and abstract, but still pretty accessible in sound.

Best songs: “Figments Of The Imagination”, “Dead Room”, “The Function Of Dreaming”.

Rate: (DP:7)DP.

Band: www.facebook.com/FrankMeyerAndRomanLeykam

Label: www.frank-mark-arts.com

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