On October 3rd Elsiane will release their 5th studio album, simply titled album “Elsiane”. The new album was again produced by David Bottrill. David Bottrill is a Canadian recordproducer who formerly owned the Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz. Bottrill’s credits include production work for Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian & Robert Fripp, Muse, Placebo, The Smashing Pumpkins, IAMX, etc.. In 2020 he also produced Elsiane’s “Sinai” album.

The new album will be out on vinyl (200 copies) and as download/streaming.

Elsiane is a Canadian band composed of Elsieanne Caplette and Stephane Sotto. Elsieanne grew up in Peru, became a singer in a group in Peru and then moved to Montreal in 1999, where she met Stephane Sotto. When Sotto, a self-taught musician, met Elsieanne, they decided to form the band Elsiane whose name is formed from the first four letters of the first name of the singer and the last three letters of the musician’s first name.

The duo began their collaboration in 2000 and published their first (excellent!) album entitled “Hybrid” on May 1. The album was released a little over a year later in the United States under the label Nettwerk. During the summer of 2011, Elsiane announced the release of a second album preceded by the first single “Underhelped”. The album “Mechanics of Emotion” was released on April 10, 2012. Because they were struggling with the music industry, their third album “Death of the Artist” was released independently. “Rin, Tongue and Dorner” followed in 2018, and was self-released, in collaboration with Rich ShaperoThey.

More on the new album and pre-order info on this website.

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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Pete Burns started playing guitar when he was nine years old and has always retained a passion for creating music. He was the outsider kid at school who listened to alternative music and didn’t conform even at that age. Some things never change. Pete was (and still is) a big fan of Modern Eon’s “Fiction Tales” and that album epitomises Post-Punk for him. Other notable and influential releases from that time included “Quiet Life” and “Gentlemen Take Polaroids” by Japan, “Systems Of Romance” by Ultravox, “JuJu” and “Peek-A-Boo” by Siouxsie And The Banshees, “Black Celebration”, “Music For The Masses” and “Violator” by Depeche Mode, and the early Sister Of Mercy singles as well as “First And Last And Always”. Laterally bands like She Past Away, Trentemøller, The Soft Moon,  Soft Kill, M!R!M and the now disbanded Ascetic have all, amongst many others, played a part in refueling Pete’s for the genre. Kill Shelter stands for pure Cold-Wave music. A first album “Damage” got released in 2018 by Unknown Pleasures Records. Four years later he strikes back with “Asylum” –released by Manic Depression Records for Europe and Metropolis for the US. Pete Burns worked together with guest singers and accomplished a true masterpiece. I talked about Kill Shelter with this genius Scottish multi-instrumentalist and producer.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You’re a so-called ‘multi-instrumentalist’ playing guitar, bass, e-bow, synths. Do you’ve a favourite instrument and is there a kind of hierarchy in the instruments when composing songs?

Pete: Definitely. I always start on the guitar. In some cases like “The Necklace”, it’s the bass but mainly my go-to instrument is the guitar. I’ll write the main riffs and themes first and once I’ve got those down, that forms the basis of the demo. In some cases those guitars will stay to the final edit or some may be completely removed. I’ll put down the bass after that and then start to work on the drums. Synths, guitar processing and textures come last. The vocals will always come in after the song has most of the parts written. I’ll then arrange the song around the vocals before doing final production work.

Q: I’m deeply impressed by your guitar play injecting a true, dark, spirit into your work. How do you see yourself as a guitarist? Who are your favorite guitar players and what do you especially like in their play?

Pete: Thank you so much. That really means a lot to me. I still see myself as a guitarist first but I think most people know me for my production work.

When it comes to guitar I will happily listen to a lot of stuff even if I don’t particularly like it from a style perspective. I’m always open to learning. I prefer guitarists who have tried to do something different like Christian Fennesz, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Robin Simon, Rob Dean, Tony Iommi, Mick Karn, Andy Summers and John McGeoch. Gary Marx wasn’t a technical guitarist but he had a wonderful sense of melody and he’s one of my favourite guitarists because of it.

I’ve been working on something that isn’t for Kill Shelter which is mainly guitars. I’ve developed Dupuytren’s disease and arthritis in my hands so I’m keen to get as much recorded as possible before playing becomes impossible. I already struggle on some days but, whatever happens, I’ll find a way to make a noise in one way or another.

Q: Your new album “Asylum” comes four years after the great debut album “Damage”. How do you look back at “Damage” and how did the transition in between both albums happen? Did you focus on new/different elements of the production?

Pete: I was extremely fortunate with “Damage” to have the support and buy-in from so many like-minded people from around the world. I am still very grateful that they agreed to work with me, especially as I was (and still am to some extent) a totally unknown artist. I think I was finding my feet with Kill Shelter through “Damage” and the early remixes but I’ve had a plan for the trilogy of multi-collaboration albums from the outset.

At the time, “Damage” focussed solely on emerging talent. In contrast, I wanted “Asylum” to reflect the last four decades of Dark-Wave. At first I thought “Asylum” was going to be a double album but the delivery was fraught with difficulties as people who were scheduled to appear could no longer commit for one reason or another. It wasn’t straightforward and that’s one of the reasons it was four years in the making.

I think I was more confident and determined tackling “Asylum”. Adding my own vocals and having a guitar-only track (“Time Will Come”) were very conscious decisions that pushed me out of my comfort zone. I think working with others always pushes my production skills but I find that harder to achieve when I’m working on my own, especially when it comes to gauging if it’s good or not. I am undoubtedly my harshest critic.

Q: “Asylum” sounds like a dark and tormented title which is also reflected in the lyrical themes. What did you, together with the guest singers, try to express and/or eventually externalize? What is it all about?

Pete: I always work with an overriding concept when I tackle albums be it “Damage”, “A Haunted Place” or “Asylum”. It makes the collaborations more cohesive. The core approach with “Asylum” was to explore the duality of the meaning of the word, highlight global humanitarian issues such as human trafficking, domestic violence, exploitation and the plight of asylum seekers, as well as exploring themes of personal disillusionment and mental health. For example, domestic abuse has risen by 33% and over 75,000 migrant deaths have been recorded globally – these numbers speak for themselves.
Remembering that “Asylum” was written with the backdrop of a global pandemic, Brexit here in the UK, destructive international politics, Black Lives Matter, Me Too, increased effects of global warming and, more recently, the war in Ukraine.

We’ve seen a lot of things happen in the last few years. It’s not an overtly political album but these threads run through the overall themes and narrative and, as with many of my lyrics, they can be interpreted in various ways.

Q: Kill Shelter is much more than simply a solo-project as you’re working with guest singers –and even very famous ones like Ronny Moorings. What are your main criteria to work with a guest singer and how do the collaborations happen? The most surprising name among the list is for sure Stefan Netschio so how did you come to work together?

Pete: The starting place for me is always people with outstanding vocals and that have written songs that I think ‘I wish I’d written that’. I’m not a great singer and I also like to work with other people – it always takes the material in an unexpected direction and I can listen more objectively when someone else is involved.

I write demos with specific people in mind and I think that really helps the process. I don’t just write a track for the sake of it then try to desperately find someone to sing on it. It’s far from that. I’ll either have the demo ready or float the idea with the artist first. I always ensure that they are part of the process and that they are totally happy with the way that they are represented.
Stefan has an incredible voice and “Daisy Cutter” is one of my all time favourite songs. He is very personable and professional and is a producer’s dream to work with. I was delighted he was so open-minded as he hadn’t heard of Kill Shelter when I originally spoke to him so there was a big leap of faith on his part to work with me. We got on really well through the process and I had the absolute pleasure of meeting up with him recently. They say never meet your idols but in this case I would say that definitely doesn’t apply.

I was absolutely delighted when “In This Place” reached number one in the Deutsche Alternative Charts and I really hope we can work together again soon.

Q: In between “Damage” and “Asylum” you also released an album together with Antipole. I noticed a true chemistry between both of you, but how do you look back at this experience, which I think was inspired by personal themes like loss, addiction, isolation and remorse? Can we expect a new album? Any other plans in the pipeline?

Pete: Karl has become a really good friend of mine. After sharing the same label (UPR) for our debut albums, working on remixes together then Karl appearing on “Damage” we have kept in touch for years now. We got the chance to meet at the Cold Transmission Festival in 2019 where I did a Rule of Three DJ set. We got on incredibly well over that weekend and decided there and then we should do an album together. We are very like-minded. Troubled and sensitive but determined at the same time. We share a lot of ideals and philosophies.

Karl really supported the idea of me doing vocals on “A Haunted Place” even though it was originally going to be an instrumental album featuring mainly guitars. Because it was entirely my voice on the album, the songs had to be very personal to me. I always wear my heart on my sleeve and, in a way, writing the songs on “A Haunted Place” was a very cathartic process for me.
We still chat most days and I’m looking forward to the day I either head to Norway or he visits here. We do have plans to do another album together but there’s no immediate rush or pressure on that. I have the working title and concept and we have a few demos already so the process has started. I want it to be different from our last album though. It needs to feel like a development not more of the same.

I contracted Covid in August and have had some ongoing issues following that so, unfortunately, I’m having to take some time away. Both my hearing and voice have been affected so I need that to settle down before I begin that journey again. I’ve had to pull quite a few things from my schedule and it’s never great to have to let people down but things aren’t great at the moment.
I’m looking forward to things getting better all round for all of us…

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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Out on May 6th is the re-release of the Steve Roach & Jeffrey Fayman album “Trance Spirits” which was originally released in 2002. This remastered version is again released via Projekt Records.

On the 7 tracks we find Steve Roach’s synthetic sound mixed with hybrid percussion, and textural guitar-based atmospheres overlays. Added is percussion from drummers Jeffrey Fayman and Momodou Kah which was recorded live in the studio. Roach and Fayman then shaped those initial recordings with Roach sculpting an overlay of electronics. On three tracks we find guitar tonalities from King Crimson’s Robert Fripp.

Below is the 2002 version.

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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Drummer Bill Rieflin, know for his work with such bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, died from cancer on Tuesday (March 24), aged 59. Besides working with Ministry and Nine Inch Nails he also played drums with the Revolting Cocks, Lard, KMFDM, Pigface, Swans, Chris Connelly, King Crimson, REM, among other projects.

Rieflin’s death was confirmed by Robert Fripp.

Born in Seattle, Bill Rieflin first joined The Telepaths and The Blackouts until he started working with Ministry, with whom he recorded albums like “The Land of Rape and Honey” (1988) and “In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up ” (1999). Over the years, he has been involved with several projects, especially industrial rock / metal related ones.

In the 2000s, Rieflin joined REM, recording albums like “Around the Sun” (2004) and “Collapse into Now” (2011). He then joined King Crimson, with whom he recorded live records and toured.

Rieflin was married to painter Francesca Sundsten until her death in 2019.

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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Very bad news, again, from the music world. Robert Stiles, birth name Roberto Concina, has lost his battle with cancer. He died yesterday (aged only 47 years old) in Ibiza, Spain, after a short battle with stage 4 metastatic cancer.

Roberto Concina was a Swiss-Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ who rose to worldwide fame in 1994 thanks to the beautiful trance/chill-out piece “Children”, which was later developed into a dream trance song featuring a piano theme on top as you can hear below (compare the Dream Version with the Original Version).

Miles’ next single was the equally delicious “Fable” which was loosely based – especially sound wise – on “Children”. Part of this song was used in the theatrical trailer for the U.S. movie “Ever After” starring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott.

His debut album “Dreamland” was released on 7 June 1996 in Europe, and released in the United States about a month later, including “One and One” of Polish pop diva Edyta Górniak. This cover also became very popular and was later released as a single in Europe and the U.S..

In November 1997, Miles released another track, “Freedom”, which was one of the key tracks on his second album “23am” featuring vocals provided by Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge. “23am” incorporated more lyrics-driven songs than its predecessor while maintaining Miles’ trademark piano sound from the first album.

After splitting from /deConstruction/BMG and his former management in London, he set up his own independent record label S:alt Records in 2001 and released his third album, “Organik”, featuring the new single “Paths” with vocals provided by Nina Miranda of Smoke City. Guests on the album included Trilok Gurtu, Bill Laswell and Nitin Sawhney.

His later career was less commercially successful but nevertheless quite an interesting one. In 2004, Miles released “Miles_Gurtu”, his fourth album, which was a collaboration with percussionist Trilok Gurtu and included jazz and electronica elements. Also guesting on the album were Nitin Sawhney, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Paul Falloon.

His fifth album entitled “Th1rt3en” was released worldwide on Salt Records in February 2011, and featured guests such as Robert Fripp, Dave Okumu, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Davide Giovannini. For this album, Miles produced a blend of alternative and progressive rock with ambient and electronic soundscapes.

In 2012 Miles finished working on the soundtrack for the movie documentary “The Turn of THIS Century”, directed by Peter Beyak and featuring the photography of Life Magazine. He also founded a new FM and online alternative radio station named Open Lab, broadcasting from Ibiza, a project bringing together culture, arts, media, technology and innovation.

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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