(Edited by Katrin Diekhof / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries) In just over 20 years, Rotersand have built a serious reputation. When Gun and Rascal—soon joined by producer/DJ Krischan J.E. Wesenberg—launched Rotersand in 2002, they were often associated with Future-Pop artists. Over the years and across the albums they released, however, their music proved far more difficult to categorize. I prefer to describe it as a blend of influences: from Electro-Pop to EBM, at times extremely danceable and club-oriented, at others more floating and atmospheric.

From album to album, Rotersand have consistently confirmed that they possess a distinctive sound of their own, while always maintaining a strong focus on intelligent lyrics and a critical reflection on the world around us. Their latest album, “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated”, released last year on Trisol and Metropolis Records, is yet another testament to the German group’s talent and flair for composition and grand sound production. I spoke with the musical mastermind Krischan J.E. Wesenberg.

Rotersand interview

Q: Rotersand doen’t seem like the kind of band that releases an album every year, but rather one that takes its time between releases. I imagine this is partly a conscious choice and part of your creative process — but how does that feel for you personally? And what ultimately inspired you to start working on this new album?

Krischan: Actually we are kinda constantly working on Rotersand songs. For us it just needs time and especially breaks and pauses to finally come to a point at which we think that we don’t just have a collection of suitable songs but also have an album that works on different levels and feels balanced and coherent and is still expanding our sonic cosmos. We tend to rearrange and reproduce songs, alter it structurally and musically till each song and all together do please us. Yes, we make it sometimes difficult for ourselves, but this has been the modus operandi for Rotersand ever since.

Q: The new Rotersand album has been out for about five months now. How do you view the result today, and how critically do you approach your own work? Were there any aspects or influences in your collaboration or compositional and technical approach that evolved or changed during the process?

Krischan: Surprisingly we are still happy with how the album turned out as whole. That hasn’t been like this with every record. Actually “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated” contains a lot of songs that went through massive changes. Some of them over a large amount of time. I guess it was I:Die:You:Die’s Bruce Lord who pointed out that he felt that “Heaven” had something which reminded him of “Random Is Resistance” and he was totally right about this. I don’t know what tickled this impression… this song was actually part of the song-pool for “Random Is Resistance” – if i remember it correctly it has been originally a ballad. Over the time it went through at least 4 stages. there was a slower abstract dancy version, another midtempo moody club-interpretation, another ballad’s approach…

Q: From the outset, there’s been a lot of discussion about the album’s title — but especially about the idea behind it. It’s a very profound and critical reflection, clearly shaped by the zeitgeist we live in. Can you elaborate on this concept, and what your own experiences are with this phenomenon?

Krischan: To be honest “Truth Is Fanatic” or “Random Is Resistance” as album titles could still be also aligned in the current ‘zeitgeist’-debates. To cut a long thought fairly short it’s about the question whether the methods to react to or change something you oppose aligns with what you want to achieve. To fight authoritarianism you can’t use authoritarian means, like ‘forbid’ something. To ensure freedom of expression you can’t silence those who fight against it. Yes, the tolerance paradox is a tricky and complex thing even if it looks fairly simple.

For us “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated” became kind of a mantra, a question we ask ourselves before we react impulsively, a hick up of self-reflexion and an anchor telling us that we aren’t perfect or coherent at all.

Q: The title’s message is certainly thought-provoking, but I’ve also been wondering about its impact on artistic expression in general — whether in music, visual art, or beyond. What role do you think music can play in today’s rapidly evolving world, marked by division, unrest, uncertainty, and alienation? How do you see that evolving?

Krischan: First of all, I don’t have a problem with division at all. Flipping the coin ‘division’ means different, colorful, individual, pluralistic… to me it feels strange that I grew up in times in which individuality and freedom to express yourself and be and become who you want to be weren’t a given but got achieved more and more. And now it seems that this kind of complexity and diverseness isn’t handleable and a lot of debates reduce people to members of one group. In fact everyone is part of a lot of groups and even most of the groups have far more than two sides and those are overlapping in a person’s character and shapes the individuality or special character.

To twist it back to the album title it means that I need to accept the complexity and insecureness and alienation to ensure my individuality and individual freedom. Technically I’m an ‘old white man’ but I’ve never been put in this archetypical social group. Its more about ‘and’ than ‘or’.

Q: Were the themes you address already present before you started composing for this new Rotersand album, and how did they influence the music? In other words, did they shape the sound design or the atmosphere you wanted to create and vice versa?

Krischan: Yes. It’s a back and forth. Some songs lead to and inspired the album title which then kinda send a feedback to other songs and especially the album as a whole. Once we found the album working title, which isn’t necessarily always the final album title it starts to bind and hold songs together and gives a bit of a guideline at which the songs unfold and stick.

Q: Musically, I still find Rotersand quite a unique band. It’s difficult to categorize the Rotersand sound within a specific genre — it feels more like a blend of different influences, with a balance between ethereal and harder, danceable tracks. What drives that diversity, and what influences your sound and compositional process?

Krischan: Unlike most other projects in this blend of genres Rotersand still works as a band with 3.5 members, Rascal and Krischan plus Rotersand as a character itself and especially Gun, who isn’t technically part of the band anymore but still is around for feedback, input and critical mind. Every musical idea floats between us

Q: I believe two tracks — “It Was Night” and “Train” — are exclusive to the CD version. Why were these songs chosen for that format, and how do they fit within the overall concept of the album?

Krischan: Actually it’s mostly a marketing driven decision. “Train” stands out as a very personal song for Rascal so it qualified for a special feature.

Q: What’s next on Rotersand‘s agenda for the coming months? Are there other projects or collaborations in the pipeline?

Krischan: We will definitely get back to our routine of doing some reworks of album tracks. Evaluation never ends and creation is doubt, so we are already revisiting some album tunes in which we found some aspects to stretch and different angles to look at them.

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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Meanwhile, it’s been over 20 years since Rotersand made their debut. More than two decades later, Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg and Rascal Nikov can look back on a rich discography filled with numerous hits and highlights. Their new album took five years to achieve and offers a critical reflection on humanity, exploring how people ultimately give in to the very things they once disapproved of.

Musically, this theme is translated into the familiar yet ever-evolving sound of the German duo. Wesenberg remains a true wizard when it comes to crafting original and efficient Electronic soundscapes. The style is difficult to define precisely, drawing on various influences that could best be described as a harder form of Electro-Pop. Many tracks build gradually, often culminating in an absolute apotheosis. The first part of the album feels rather calm and controlled, while the second half reveals the harder, more danceable pieces. Deep basslines and menacing sequences are driven by powerful, club-ready rhythms. At times, the music evolves into a trance-like experience, which has always been a hallmark of Rotersand’s sound. Layered on top is the experienced voice of Rasc Nikov, perfectly complementing the compositions.

It may have taken a while for Rotersand to deliver their new album, but it was worth the wait. This is intelligent Electro of the highest order, enriched with thought-provoking lyrics. (Rating:9).

Listen to “Sexiness Of Slow”:

https://rotersand.bandcamp.com/track/sexiness-of-slow

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

German dark electro-pop duo Rotersand have released their new album “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated” via Metropolis Records in North America and Trisol Music Group for the rest of the world. The release follows the singles “Private Firmament (I Fell For You)” and “Sexiness Of Slow“.

“Don’t Become the Thing You Hated” arrives as Rotersand’s seventh studio album and their first since “How Do You Feel Today?” from early 2020. According to the release notes, the album “melds sonic sophistication with visceral emotional impact,” delivering a sound that is “dark yet resolutely hopeful,” ranging from electro beats and industrial textures to almost dreamlike interlude.

The album is available in digital and CD formats, with the CD edition including two exclusive tracks, “It Was Night” and “Train”.

The album blends rhythmic electro beats with melodic hooks, combining intricate sound design with dancefloor-driven energy. Reviews highlight its mix of thoughtful lyricism and club appeal, with Orkus stating it “strikes the perfect balance between thoughtful melancholy and exuberant dancefloor beats”.

About Rotersand

Formed in 2002 in Germany, Rotersand consists of Rascal Nikov (vocals, electronics) and Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg (electronics). The band launched on the electronic scene with a sound fusing EBM, synthpop, and industrial.

Their debut album “Truth Is Fanatic” was released in 2003, followed by “Welcome To Goodbye” (2005). Over the years, they signed with labels including Dependent, Metropolis, and Trisol, releasing albums such as “1023” (2007), “Random Is Resistance” (2009), and “Capitalism TM” (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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The German dark electro-pop duo Rotersand have today released “Sexiness Of Slow“, a new single issued through Metropolis Records in North America and Trisol Music Group for the rest of the world. The track is the second single from the duo’s forthcoming album “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated”, set for release on 8th August 2025.

“Sexiness Of Slow” is a slow-burning electronic track blending dense beats and atmospheric synths. The band characterizes the track as “an exploration of desire and tension in an electronic framework, designed for the dancefloor.”

The duo, consisting of Rascal Nikov and Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg, first announced their new album with the single “Private Firmament (I Fell For You)” earlier in 2025. The upcoming album, titled “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated”, marks their return with what the band describes as “a cultural critique wrapped in dark, danceable electronics.”

The full tracklist for “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated” includes the following songs:

1. All Tomorrows
2. Higher Ground
3. Father Ocean
4. Watch Me
5. I Will Find You
6. Don’t Stop Believing
7. It Was Night *
8. Heaven
9. Sexiness Of Slow
10. Private Firmament (I Fell For You)
11. 16 Devils (Hell Deep Down)
12. Click Scroll Tap Believe
13. Forgotten Daydreams (They Live At Night)
14. Train *

*Tracks marked with an asterisk are exclusive to the CD format.

About Rotersand

Rotersand was formed in Hamburg, Germany in 2002 by vocalist Rascal Nikov and producer Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg. The band originally combined industrial and electro-pop influences with a socially conscious lyrical focus.

They signed with Dependent Records in the early 2000s, where they released albums such as “Truth is Fanatic” (2003) and “Welcome To Goodbye” (2005).

After several years of sporadic releases, they signed with Trisol Music Group for Europe and Metropolis Records for North America. The duo’s 2016 album “Capitalism TM” explored political and societal themes.

As of 2025, Rotersand consists of its founding members Rascal Nikov (vocals) and Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg (programming, production).

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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German dark electro-pop duo Rotersand have released a new single, “Private Firmament (I Fell For You)”, out now via Metropolis Records (North America) and Trisol (rest of world). The track is the first to be unveiled from their upcoming full-length album “Don’t Become the Thing You Hated”, set for release on August 8, 2025. The album will hold 14 tracks, with 2 of them (“It Was Night” and “Train”) only available on CD.

Speaking about the track, the band says: “Human nature is not binary, but algorhythm induced communication forces us to choose virtual sides to stimulate emotions and click rates. Yes or no, black or white, for or against, one or the other. Ultimately, we sit in our post-fact, post-science, post-truth private firmaments with nothing in common other than the cold light of screens pretending to shine for us. We say, leave the private firmaments and dance with us, with real faces under real stars.”

About Rotersand

Rotersand was formed in 2002 in Hamburg, Germany, by Rascal Nikov and Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg. The duo emerged from the dark electronic and futurepop scenes. Dependent Records released their debut album “Truth Is Fanatic” in 2003, followed by a series of full-lengths including “Welcome to Goodbye” (2005), “1023” (2007), and “Random Is Resistance” (2009).

After a hiatus, they returned in 2016 with “Capitalism TM”, followed by “How Do You Feel Today?” in March 2020. “Don’t Become the Thing You Hated” is their sixth studio album and marks their return after a five-year gap.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: EBM, Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Together with Repo Records Funker Vogt moved on revisiting the band’s back catalogue. “Blutzoll” was originally released in 2010 by Synthetic Symphony and Metropolis records (for the USA). The “Collector’s Edition” features all original songs plus bonus disc with remixes and the EP “Arising Hero”. Three previously unreleased remixes have been featured as well. Back in time master mind and ‘machine man’ Gerrit Thomas was still accompanied by Jens Kästel on vocals -and the band’s original singer.

Content: No true surprises for the fans of the band but a remastered edition getting us back to this album. “Blutzoll” was the tenth studio album by Funker Vogt revealing a band in good shape, mixing EBM and Dark-Electro with the easy-recognizable bass lines, sequences, rhythms and arrangements of Gerrit Thomas and the harsh vocals of Jens Kästel. The first disc features next to the original “Blutzoll”-album the EP “Arising Hero”. The bonus disc brings us back to an impressive list of remixes and extra songs. Remixes were accomplished by FGFC820, Rotersand, Dopestars Inc, Vigilante, Eric Van Wonterghem (Monolith), Faderhead, Die Krupps, Punto Omega,  Noblesse Oblige, Komor Kommando and Mortiis. One of the previously unreleased songs is a “2021”-version of “Terroristen”. 

+ + + : Thirteen years after the original release this album still kicks ass. It sounds in the purest power tradition of Funker Vogt and featured great songs like “Arising Hero”, “Genozid”, “Terroristen” and “Bloodthirst”. Among the remixes I especially want to mention the diversity of the versions but as main attention grabbers the Komor Commando-remix of “Arising Hero” and the totally EBM adapted “Fire And Forget” by Die Krupps. The song “Urban War” was a cool bonus at this bonus disc and the song still kicks today.

– – – : From a very personal view I would say “Blutzoll” wasn’t exactly the best Funker Vogt-album in history and probably one with the least ‘hits’.

Conclusion: This is a great work for the world wide fan basis of this legendary formation.

Best songs: “Genozid”, “Arising Hero – Club Mix”, “Terroristen”, “Ariusing Hero” + “Arising Hero – Factory Mix by Komor Kommando”, “Fire And Forget – Die Krupps Remix”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.funkervogt.de / www.facebook.com/officialfunkervogt

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo-Records/119590774857404

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

Funker Vogt’s 8th longplayer “Blutzoll” (October 2010) is available again as a new collector’s edition via Repo Records from June 2nd on. The double digipak contains all the tracks and bonus tracks of the original CD, as well as the maxi CD “Arising Hero”. As a special extra there are 3 previously unreleased, exclusive remixes. Everything was remastered personally by Funker Vogt mastermind Gerrit Thomas.

Check out “Arising Hero” (Faderhead remix) right below.

Here’s the tracklist.

Tracks CD1:

1. Arising Hero
2. Genozid
3. The State Within
4. Fire and Forget
5. Robots
6. Hold my Ground
7. Terroristen
8. Krieger
9. My Innermost
10. Bloodthirst
11. Black Waters
12. Arising Hero – Forgiven
13. Arising Hero – Club Mix
14. Arising Hero – Redemption
15. Arising Hero – Revolution
16. My Innermost – Loop Mix

Tracks CD2:

1. Genozid (FGFC820 Remix)
2. Arising Hero (rotersand rework)
3. Fire and Forget (Remix by Dopestars Inc)
4. The State Within (Vigilante Remix)
5. Wake up
6. Genozid (Goldremix by Eric Van Wonterghem)
7. Arising Hero (Faderhead Remix)
8. Fire and Forget (Die Krupps Remix)
9. The State Within (Revolution Mix by Punto Omega)
10. Urban War
11. My Innermost (Noblesse Oblige Remix)
12. Arising Hero (Factory mix by Komor Kommando)
13. Fire and Forget (Mortiis Remix)
14. From the Flames
15. Terroristen (2021)
16. My Innermost (Demoversion)
17. Arising Hero (Minimix)

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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Rotersand have released a new track entitled “Higher Ground” on Metropolis Records, a year to the day of the release of their
last single.

“Higher Ground” is a taste of what is to come on Rotersand’s next album and features a remix by Evendorff. Additionally, the band has a series of European festival appearances planned for 2023. “Higher Ground” is available on all digital and streaming platforms from Metropolis Records.

Rotersand is a German electronic music act, formed in September 2002 by musician/producer Gun and singer Rascal with dance music producer/DJ Krischan J.E. Wesenberg joining them shortly after. Rotersand’s music can generally be described as futurepop; the band themselves refer to it as industrial pop.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: IDM, Techno, Experimental.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Krischan Wesenberg will be always linked to Rotersand  but the German sound guru is involved in an impressive list of projects. One of them is the solo-project Wesenberg. After the debut album “Third Places” he last year struck back with “Counterclockwise”. This new opus is directly inspired by the idea ‘that every experience from the past reflects and modulates the present as well as the future’.

Content: The new opus features 13 songs and has been achieved by the addition of a few guests. Yuma Hampejs, Eli Van Vegas, Sola Plexus, Stolzenfelz and Liss Eulenherz contributed to this album. “Counterclockwise” sounds a bit like a ‘free-style’ album covering an impressive sound canvas. There’s a strong Techno-direction carried by groovy sequences and built up with Industrial sound treatments.  Wesenberg experiments with Rap vocals (featuring Stolzenfelz), Psychedelic Cinematic passages and even Yiddish atmospheres.

+ + + : The free style of this album reveals the eclectic and creative spirit of the artist which simply confirms to be not driven by established standards. Wesenberg’s work sounds out of the box but remains characterized by terrific sound treatments. Krischan Wesenberg is a talented sound-architect and this album is an imaginary sound lab for dance floors.

– – – : Diversity is cool but the album goes in all directions. I’m missing the cohesion of the debut album.

Conclusion: If you like Krischan Wesenberg for the phenomenal works he already did you definitely have to discover this new work but it’s not his best work to date.

Best songs: “Fan Fiction”, “Salz”, “Digging In Clouds”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/krischanwesenberg

Label: www.audiophob.de / www.facebook.com/audiophob

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

US based electropop / noire futurepop artist David Chamberlin strikes back with the 3rd full length album by Entrzelle. The release is available now from Bandcamp and on CD via the Alfa Matrix webstore, and of course from all other digital music services.

David explains the concept: “The songs deal with subjects ranging from personal conflict to social commentary, from loss to euphoria. This is an album about hope and perseverance, letting go and moving on. Writing these songs has helped me in my own life, and I hope that listening to them can help someone else too.”

The experimentation on this album has been kept to a minimum, instead focusing on songwriting and production. The tone is darker and the songs are more direct. Expect a mix of upbeat electro sequences and addictive noisy synth pop melodies.

Next to the 12 new songs you also get 4 bonus remixes by label companions in the likes of Psy’Aviah, Reichsfeind, Elektrostaub and DJ Simon Carter. Advised for fans of Rotersand, Covenant, Seabound, Imperative Reaction, Aesthetic Perfection, VNV Nation, Etc.

Check out all the new tracks below plus the album teaser.

Here’s the videoteaser.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro-Pop, Industrial-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Jay Taylor -known as the live drummer for  Tactical Sekt, Tyske Ludder and Harmjoy, strikes back with a new production of his own J:Dead project. “Vision Of Time” features six songs while the CD format includes seven more songs (remixes).

Content: J:Dead remains an artist with his own approach in sound. Some might call it Electro-Pop but the harder and harsher approach rather sounds like a Dark- and/or Industrial Pop format. The vocals are switching from clear, powerful passages to harsh parts. The choruses are melodic.

Remixes have been provided by Teknovore, Lights Of Euphoria, Nature Of Wires, Rotersand, The Saint Paul, Station Echo and Life Cried.

+ + + : I especially like the atypical ‘Pop’ format of this artist. Dark, Industrial and even a bit Punkish mixing enraged sound- and vocal parts together with melodic, carrying, choruses. My favorite cuts are “A Little Time” and “Afraid” both driven by an angry production. Among the remixes I especially want to mention the extra boosting remix of “I’ll wait” by Teknovore.

– – – : I expected a bit more out of the remixes.

Conclusion: J:Dead seems to be one of last months ‘hot’ artists from Infacted Recordings and this rough approach of Electro-Pop shows you why it is.

Best songs: “A Little Time”, “Afraid”, “I’ll Wait – Teknovore Remix”, “Afraid – Nature Of Wires Remix”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/jdeadband

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

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

Mari Kattman has joined COP International. “Is It Really That Bad” will be the first EP on COP International and will be released on the 13th of May and will feature remixes by Neuroticfish, Rotersand and John Fryer.

Christian Petke / Founder COP International: “Mari brings incredible talent and drive to the table. I absolutely adore the fact that she is not just the singer but the principal songwriter and visionary in this project. She is a force to be reckoned with!”

Mari Kattman has been self-recording, writing, composing, and live performing music since 2012. Currently, she operates under the Mari Kattman name as a solo artist and works with Tom Shear, of Assemblage 23, on a project called Helix. In the past she has collaborated with many artists, including Assemblage 23, Mesh, Ivardensphere, Jean-Marc Lederman, Psy’Aviah, Aesthetiche, Neuroticfish BlackCarBurning, Cassetter, This Morn Omina, Solitary Experiments, Mephisto Walz, Aiboforcen, Interface and Comaduster.

She has worked on many label releases including ones for Metropolis Records, Alfa Matrix, FiXT and now she will call COP International her new home for her solo work.

Here’s the track “Objectified”.

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

Today we see the release of the new album by the London based UK dark industrial act MATT HART, who you will know from our most recent free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 7”. “Below The Terra Pt.1” follows the first single from the album, “To The Core”, which was released late last year.

Here’s a video promo clip.

The release is a move away from the guitar driven “Terra 3808” and offers a more electronic direction through the 9 tracks and should please fans of ESA, 3TEETH, Hocico etc.. The release was mixed by Adi Calef of DNA Studios, mastered by Krischan Wesenberg of Rotersand with artwork by Vlad McNealy of Kallistidesign.

You can download the album below or order the CD right here from Bandcamp.

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: Dark-Wave, Neo-Classic, Cinematic.

Format: Digital, 3CD.

Background/Info: “In Tiefem Fall” is the first new album in four years by the Austrian duo Thomas Rainer – Sonja Kraushofer aka L’âme Immortelle. The new work has been produced by Jan-Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand). The work is also available as a hardcover book 3CD edition featuring two additional full-length discs.  

Content: L’Âme Immortelle remains faithful to their familiar sound formula; a melodic composition with a melancholic mood on top mixed with the heavenly and passionate vocals of Sonja Kraushofer at one side and the harsher singing of Thomas Rainer at the other side. I also noticed a surprising Dance-driven song (cf. “Catch My Fall”).

The ‘Book Edition’ presents the band’s entire visual and musical world in relation to their album. It has been adapted into sound by a Soundtrack (cf. “Portrait Of A Shattered Mind”) released on the second disc and written by Clemens Wijers (Carach Angren) and Patrick Damiani (Sopor Aeternus). The third disc features the audiobook “Das Königreich Der Schwarzen Farbe”, which is written and read by Lukas Materzok-Lavishly.

+ + + : The fans of L’Âme Immortelle will not be disappointed, their favorites having released a new work in the sound tradition of the band. The Austrian formation remains inspired by melancholia, which Rainer masterly adapted into melodic passages. The passionate, heavenly vocals of Sonja Kraushofer create an elevating effect during the choruses while Thomas Rainer injects a darker touch to his vocals. “Everything Just Falls Apart” is my favorite track for its deeply melancholic mood, but it still is an elaborated piece of music.

If you like Cinematic music I recommend listening to the second disc “Portrait Of A Shattered Mind”. It’s surprising and has less in common with the ‘familiar’ sound of the band, but it’s a poignant and achieved composition for Cinematic lovers. The songs are instrumental edits, which are created by violin sounds. I like the few epic arrangements running through some of the songs. It’s a great and refined composition inspired by movies.

– – – : I can’t get away from the feeling that L’Âme Immortelle is a bit stagnating in their own sound formula. There’s nothing wrong with that, but using this formula I’ve already better work from this band. The more commercially driven “Catch My Fall” might become a true successful piece, but it sounds a bit ‘cheap’ to me. The audiobook featured on the last disc is mainly suited for the die-hard fans of the band, but without a true interest for non-German speaking people.

Conclusion: I have some mixed feelings with this new work of L’Âme Immortelle; they hold on to their initial spirit, but the accomplishment left me more unmoved.

Best songs: “Everything Just Falls Apart”, “Der Fluch”, “Still” + “La Folie Des Grandeur”, “Locked In”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/LAI.official

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471

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

Out today is the all new EP, “Vision of time”, by the electro act j:dead aka Jay Taylor. “Vision of time” comes after the release of the album “A Complicated Genocide” in early 2021. The EP holds 6 tracks and includes the single “I’ll wait” plus remixes by Lights of Euphoria and TeknoVore.

“Vision of time” will be released both digitally and physically with the physical edition featuring an additional 7 remixes from acts such as Rotersand, The Saint Paul, Nature of wires, Life Cried and Station Echo.

j:dead explains the concept around the EP: “It covers a range of situations and perspectives on time being the only thing we cannot change. Time itself can change things for the better, worse or for change’s sake.”

As “Vision of time” is released j:dead will already be in the final production stages of their 3rd release, expected to hit the streets in late 2022.

Jay Taylor created j:dead in 2019. After the first release of their song “Haunt” the project got signed to Infacted Recordings and released 2 further singles (“Feeding on me” and “A complicated genocide”) as well as a full length feature album (“A complicated genocide”).

You can check the release below.

Here’s the video for “I’ll wait”

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: Future-Pop, Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Twenty years ago Assemblage 23 released the successful opus “Failure”. Today this legendary album by Tom Shear got a new mix and mastering plus an extra disc featuring remixes.

Content: “Failure” has to be considered as an album that was originally released in the early years of Future-Pop. I know Tom Shear doesn’t care that much attention about the label of his music, but he was often linked with VNV Nation, Neuroticfish and co. With some recoil this album was a hard-banging Pop format, a kind of evil Electro-Pop sound infused with Industrial components, but still melodic and ultra danceable.

The second disc features exactly the same tracklist, but all of the tracks have been remixed in chronological order by DTSR, Interface, Antiscion, Mari Kattman, Rotersand, Clan Of Xymox, The Gentry, Suicide Commando, Patrick Codenys and Assemblage 23.

+ + + : “Failure” remains a ‘great’ piece of music. The original magic of songs like “Naked”, “House On Fire”, “Disappoint”, “Divide” and “Awake” hasn’t really changed. It’s even a wonder to see how songs of twenty years old still have this effect. It simply reveals the talent and genius of Tom Shear who’s not only a great musician, but also an artist who is writing intelligent and touching lyrics. I think a band like Assemblage 23 brought us a different kind of Electro-Pop, miles away from the established standards and Depeche Mode-clones. “Failure” can be easily seen as a true reference in this genre.

Among the remixes there’re not only great names, but also a very diversified number of artists. It’s also cool to see Tom’s wife (cf. Mari Kattman) remixing one of the songs. My personal favorite is the most unknown project from the list; UK project Antiscion boosting “House On Fire”. Tom Shear did also a great job remixing “King Of Insects”, which sounds definitely better than the original version.

– – – : I’m not sure this remixed and remastered edition will have a similar effect and impact than 20 years ago, but it’s a homage to a great artist and an essential work in his career.

Conclusion: “Failure” has been brought back to life and it still sounds up to date!

Best songs: “House On Fire”, “Naked”, “Disappoint”, “Awake” + “House On Fire – Antiscion Remix”, “King Of Insects – Assemblage 23 Remix”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.assemblage23.com / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044546464584

Label: www.accession-records.de / www.facebook.com/accessionrecords

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: EBM, Body-Pop, Industrial-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Four years have passed since Super Dragon Punch!!’s debut-EP “Shatter”. The Belgian based project driven by Jérémie Venganza is now back on track, unleashing the official debut album “Feral”. The work features twelve songs, which have been mixed and mastered by Racso Agroyam (Hocico) while one song has been mixed by Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand).

Content: This project remains inspired by retro video games and 80s synths. It’s an element clearly emerging throughout the entire album, but the real sound of Venganza is hard to define. It has something EBM-driven, but still refined with Poppier passages although this Pop-element sounds pretty naughty and a bit Industrial-like. Most of the vocals have been mixed in the background.

+ + + : Super Dragon Punch!! sounds definitely Electro-like, but clearly mixes different influences together. From EBM to Electro/Industrial-Pop to a few Techno aspects, the work has an open-minded approach. It’s a kind of ‘free-style’ of Electronic underground music. I like the opening part of the work where the vintage sound treatments are cool. It’s a dynamic composition accentuated by pumping kicks and rough vocals. But this heavier side has been masterly mixed with a more melodic approach. The songs are well-crafted and here again I especially refer to the opening part of the album.

– – – : I’m a bit wondered about the mix of this album. The vocals are somewhat in the background while the sound has something buzzing. It clearly has something old-school reminding me of 90s productions so I guess it’s intentional –especially when the mix is made by an experienced artist, but I’m not totally convinced. The final part of the album is less convincing, the tracks becoming less cohesive.

Conclusion: Super Dragon Punch!! is a project with its own sound, which is hard to describe. But it’s definitely something different and personal!

Best songs: “Distance”, “Wire”, “Sutura”, “Inhale”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.superdragonpunch.com / www.facebook.com/superdragonpunch

Label: www.scent-air.com / www.facebook.com/ScentairRecords

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: Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: After the cool debut-album “Crash”, released last year and referring to the car crash of protagonist Sascha G, the Italian artist strikes back with a new opus featuring –just as for the debut album, several guests. Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand) did the mixing of most songs.

Content: “Werk Zwei” clearly doesn’t sound as a copy-paste of “Crash”. The songs are still into Electro-Pop, but this album is more diversified and also revealing a kind of very soft Electronic ballads. Next to Sascha’s vocals, you again will here a few songs featuring female singers. The work also features cover versions of Chris Isaac (cf. “Wicked Game”), Duran Duran (cf. “The Chaffeur”) and Iron Maiden (cf. “Run To The Hills”) plus remixes by Rotersand, Rroyce, Pacoussa and Monotronic.

+ + + : I especially like the sensitive touch supporting most of the songs. It’s a part of melancholia, but also a noticeable, emotive aspect. The songs remain well-crafted –which confirms the writing skills of the artist, and reveals a great progression in song structures. “What She Could Not Tell” is a noticeable cut illustrating this maturity. The songs featuring female vocals inject a hot, sensual touch to the album. Last, but not least the cover version of Iron Maiden’s “Run To The Hills” sounds pretty cool.

– – – : “Werk Zwei” left me more skeptical than the promising “Crash”. Even if the songs are well-crafted, they’re too often missing a kind of climax. Too many songs are rather flat while the covers of Chris Isaak and Duran Duran are lacking in depth. Even the remixes left me unmoved. 

Conclusion: “Werk Zwei” sounds a bit like a disillusion, which is rather painful after the promising debut album.

Best songs: “I Cannot Breathe”, “What She Could Not Tell”, “Nemesis”, “Run To The Hills”.

Rate: 6.

Artist: www.beatnoirdeluxe.com / www.facebook.com/beatnoirdeluxe

Label: www.echozone.de / www.facebook.com/EchozoneMusic

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

Out via Trisol on January 7th 2022 is the all new album by Thomas Rainer and Sonja Kraushofer aka L’âme Immortelle. Produced by Jan-Krischan Wesenberg of Rotersand fame, the new album also gets some visual support by Oliver Schlemmer and Torsten Geyer.

The new album will also be released in a hardcover book 3CD edition featuring two additional full length discs presenting the duo’s visual and musical world in relation to their album “In tiefem Fall”.

Here’s what this 3CD set holds:

• Opulent illustrated book containing 3 CDs
• 27 tracks – over 2 hours’ playing time
• CD #1: regular album, produced by Jan-Eric Wesenberg (Rotersand)
• CD #2: soundtrack ‘Portrait of a Shattered Mind’, composed by Clemens Wijers (Carach Angren and others) and Patrick Damiani (Sopor Aeternus and others)
• CD #3: audiobook ‘Das Königreich der schwarzen Farbe’ (‘The Kingdom of the Colour Black’), written and read (in German) by the young, up-and-coming author Lukas Materzok
• The book holds paintings by Oliver Schlemmer (Janus and others) and holds 36 pages including all album lyrics

And here’s an idea how the band sounds nowadays.

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

20 years ago, Assemblage 23 released the album “Failure” which was the band’s international breakthrough back then. For this release all of the tracks got a fresh new mix. The extra mixes for the bonus CD were executed by Daniel Myer, Interface, Antiscion, Mari Kattman, Rotersand, Clan of Xymox, The Gentry, Suicide Commando, P. Codenys and Assemblage 23 itself.

While the CD will be out on September 17th, the limited edition double-vinyl is expected around Christmas with no definite release date known so far. The vinyl holds 2 additional remixes, the ones by Rotersand and by Assemblage 23.

Check out the Teaser 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

German future pop act Rotersand will reissue their 2003 debut full-length “Truth Is Fanatic” and the sophomore album “Welcome to Goodbye” (2005) as 2CD artbook editions and for the first time on gatefold 180g double vinyl. Both re-releases will hit stores on October 29, 2021.

The bonus tracks for “Truth Is Fanatic”:

1. Lifelight (demo version)
2. Merging Oceans (demo version)
3. Logic Supreme (demo version)
4. One Thousand Beats
5. The Spirit of Dark Raver (original)
6. The Spirit of Dark Raver (Long Ride)

The bonus tracks for “Welcome to Goodbye”:

1. Preparations
2. Intro/Truth Is Fanatic/Almost Violent (live)
3. The Last Ship Pt.1 (live)
4. Merging Oceans (live)
5. Exterminate Annihilate Destroy (live)
6. Undone (live)
7. Aftermath (live)
8. Exterminate Annihilate Destroy (reclubbed)
9. Last Ship (rearranged)
10. Caustic Greed
11. Exterminate Annihilate Destroy (re-noised with Config.Sys)

About Rotersand

Rotersand were formed in 2002 by former The Fair Sex bassist Rascal aka Rasc, who has meanwhile dropped his former pseudonym Rascal Nikov. The frontman joined forces with multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Gunther ‘Gun’ Gerl. The duo’s first 4-track demo, simply called “Summer 02”, soon circulated widely within underground electro circles and even found its way into the clubs.

Soon after the demo release, Krischan J. E. Wesenberg joined the band. A label was quickly procured and only one year later, their debut full-length “Truth Is Fanatic” (2003) hit the stores and clubs.

The rest is history.

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

After her work with Chiasm and John Fryer’s album ” Missed the Noise”, Emileigh Rohn has jumped right into her next adventure with Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen / Fad Gadget / Front242 / Ghost & Writer with Frank Spinath from Seabound) to launch a new band: Rohn-Lederman.

Their first offering is an EP named “Watch Out!” Which comes in 4 reworked versions on the EP. Remixers on duty include Claus Larsen (Leaether Strip), Tom Shear (Assemblage 23), Mark Hockings (Mesh, Black Car Burning) and an own Rohn-Lederman remix. Also Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg (Rotersand) made a remix which will be released later this year.

Here’s the video for the remixed version of “Watch Out!”.

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

Out now is “Split”,the first in five thematically connected EPs by Newark, New Jersey based industrial act Panic Lift. The release cycle will span into 2022. “Split” is the follow-up to 2018’s “End Process”. On “Split” Panic Lift presents two new songs, “Tribute” and “Nowhere Fast”, plus 2 remixes respectively by Grendel and Wesenberg (Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg from Rotersand).

Each EP in the five-part series will feature two original tracks and two remixes from different artists.

Each new release will be accompanied by a limited-edition physical product, which will change with each release. “Split” is released as a limited-edition physical cassette tape limited to 50 copies worldwide.

Panic Lift is James Francis, Dan Platt, Ben Tourkantonis and Cristian Carver. For this string of EP releases, the band works with longtime friends and collaborators Primordial Music.

Check the video for “Tribute”.

You can download/stream the first EP right below on Bandcamp.

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

Out now via Echozone is the remix single “What She Could Not Tell – Remix Edition” by the Bolzano (Italy) based act Beat Noir Deluxe. The remix single contains two remixes of the recently published 4th single release of the upcoming second Album “Werk 2”. Especially the Rotersand rework is excellent.

The song has been written, recorded and produced more than 20 years ago by Sascha Giacomuzzi, together with Veronika Prossliner and Ulrich Rabanser. The actual release comes with a complete rework and new production of the track. The first remix is made by Rotersand, the second remix is made by Pacoussa, a successful, young producer from Germany, who gave the remix some house and progressive elements.

Beat Noir Deluxe is an alternative electronic music project led by singer, songwriter/composer and producer Sascha G. With Beat Noir Deluxe, Sascha G. performs on drums, keyboards and guitar. He made his first musical steps in the 1990s and he has since participated in several alternative music projects. After a long break away from music, in 2019 he formed Beat Noir Deluxe. This decision was heavily influenced by a serious 2017 car crash in which he almost lost his life.

You can check the remix single below.

Here’s the video for “What She Could Not Tell (Rotersand Remix)”.

Here’s the video for “What She Could Not Tell (Pacoussa Remix)”

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

Stefan Herwig once started Kugelblitz Records and moved on with Off Beat. He set up Dependent Records in 1998. The label got an instant success thanks to famous bands like  VNV Nation, Covenant, Mesh, Velvet, Acid Christ And Suicide Commando. Dependent became a great home for intelligent Electronic artists. Other ‘big’ names like Pride And Fall, Seabound, Mind.In.A.Box, Rotersand, Click Click, Front Line Assembly, Decoded Feedback, Fïx8:Sëd8 ao joined in.

(Stéphane Froidcoeur / Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Was there a kind of ‘philosophy’ when you set up your label and did it evolve over the years? How would you define your label activities today?

Stefan: Yes, absolutely, there was a ‘label philosophy’ and it did evolve over the years quite a bit, it did actually evolve 3 times and it continues to evolve right now. When we founded Dependent we only had the plan to sign with 5 artists (hence the hand as a logo, originally) and work very intensively with those artists. We signed the artists for short-term deals, brought some of them to quite a big status and then found out that they used the first option to hop out of deals and sign with Major label companies for bigger advances. That was disappointing. Also, some artists developed a real problematic persona, when they became successful, and we struggled to deal with that as well.

So, as hard as it sounds: we had to ‘ditch’ the idealistic approach. On top of that came the industry crisis in the early 2000s, which made life as a record label very difficult. Well, to put it short: we learned a lot since then.

Q: I can imagine you must have specific and explicit criteria to sign an artist/band. Can you give us more details about this aspect and how important is it for you to know the person(s) hiding behind the ‘artist(s)’?

Stefan: Well, we are always looking for good vocals and a decisive artistic vision at first. The project has got to ‘make sense’ to us, not only the music, but everything. Sometimes we receive good demos, but they are all over the board stylistically, and then we will struggle to market this kind of stuff properly. But then again: GOOD VOCALS are one of our prime conditions. And yes, the dealings with the artists have to be smooth. If you dislike artists from the get-go, it will end up being a difficult collaboration, so if artists appear ‘difficult’ during the first talks, we will think twice.

Q: You are already active for numerous years now so you must have seen a lot of things changing and evolving; think about social media, streaming platforms, Youtube channels… but also economic crisis etc. What are the pros and cons of these changes/evolutions and in, which way did you had to adapt/change your strategy and activities?

Stefan: Well, all the promotion strategies, the timings, the ideas behind it, the distribution channels, etc… have changed -drastically. The music industry from 20, from 10 or even from just 5 years ago has little in common with what we do now. Be available on very channel, digital and physical. The one thing that has not changed is that we are being committed to great artists and releases in the long run.

Dependent has an own fanbase from people that have recognized this, this makes us very proud. But we also stick to physical release, vinyls and special editions. It is a better form to release music.

Q: The ongoing pandemic has affected all artistic life and activities so what’s the true impact on your label activities and do you think it will also affect your long term objectives?

Stefan: Well, people stay more at home, so they also listen to more music. They buy a better stereo, buy albums on vinyl, etc. Also the shortfall of festivals means that some people have more money in their budget to spend on recorded music. It is kind of ironic, but the shortfall of concerts gives the labels and the recording artists a little boost. Obviously for everybody who is in the live performance and booking business, this situation is entirely catastrophic, and I sincerely hope that it will evolve soon.

Q: Do you think media (magazines, online platforms etc…) still have an impact and a role to play today? What’s your relationship with ‘journalists’ and how important is their work?

Stefan: Well, it’s been a tough place for music magazines, especially printed ones for years now, and we have seen many big print magazines go under, that is no secret. I do have a soft spot for good journalism & good reviews that bring good music recommendations to the people. But I see that for instance streaming recommendation algorithms have become so good, that the air gets even thinner for music magazines. I hope the magazines and print people will evolve and survive. One step would be to curate own playlists on Spotify, to keep the magazine identity and recommendation function alive. But also better reviews would be helpful; some reviews are being too optimistic and not critical enough.

Q: What do you consider as your biggest accomplishment(s)? Do you have specific goals/dreams you want to achieve and how do you prepare and see the future of the label(s)? And what are your biggest regret(s)?

Stefan: Well, we have had our fair share of chart successes, and this is nice (and keeps us afloat, obviously), but the real accomplishment is to ‘develop’ artists to enable them to have a successful career and have a good input on the music scene, instead of watering it down. I think some labels are in the process of watering down the scenes’ identity instead of strengthening it. Artist development is STILL the goal, after all, we still love Electronic music. The moment from when you get a REALLY good demo is almost like the moment you fall in love with someone: your hair starts to stand up, the heartbeat is rising, you have this big smile on your face. It is amazing that music can do this to us still.

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 our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange)
Norwegian industrial synth rockers Zeromancer follow up their February release ‘Damned le Monde’ with the new track titled ‘Mourners’. The release comes as a digital EP with three remixes in addition to the original – and they’re all great! This time around we also contacted the remixers to get their thoughts about the band and this release –  it’s always interesting to hear what someone who’s both a professional and a fan have to say about their remix work.

Zeromancer core members Kim Ljung and Alex Møklebust were very happy about the end result:

Side-Line: ‘Mourners’ and the first lines indicates someone sad, but becomes increasingly uplifting – will things get better is one find someone to share it with?

Kim Ljung: That is pretty spot on I would say! Mourners is a message for the lonely. Lonely in life or lonely at heart. Never give up. There is always a twin soul out there somewhere!

Alex Møklebust: Songwriting is about expressing yourself. The last 3 years has been pretty rough on a personal level and making music becomes kind of a treatment. «Mourners» became that song for me.

S-L: Musically it’s a bit softer than usual, almost synthpop, and the singing made me think about Alex’ guest vocals on the Bermuda Triangle album ‘33RPM’, and it also made me wanna listen to ‘ZZYZX’ again – a new direction or just keeping it varied?

AM: Trying to recreate a demo is always a challenge, but with Mourners it was impossible. The demo had parts that didn’t sound great and the performance was quite bad, but had a really good feeling to it. If we removed the demo ideas or tried to replace it with new recordings, the song fell apart. It’s all about the feeling of a song. We just chased that feeling all the way until the end and. Imperfection elevated the track. It was the right decision. You can hear the the demo tracks clearly in the Rotersand remix. Love that they decided to represent the demo tracks so clearly in the remix.

KL: When you write a song, you don’t think what genre would be best suitable. You make the choices that fits that particular song the best. Mourners were meant to be exactly like this. I remember starting out with the verse on an acoustic. I never play acoustic guitar with normal chords and full notes. Never. It’s all riffs, basslines and weird shit.

The verses are quite dark. It’s the chorus that has this uplift feel that great choruses have. However the term synthpop is not so accurate I feel, at least not to me, since my idea of synthpop is a happy thing. We don’t do happy. 🙂
When you get to hear the full album, you will get the picture. It’s a classic Zeromancer album. With all the elements present. A gift from us to our devoted, loyal fans.

S-L: You also got a good, varied bunch of remixes this time too, even by Norwegians – what about their versions did you like?

AM: The remixes compliments the EP 100%. Love it. A beautiful balance. Electro Spectre with a superb version, Sebastian Komor with his awesome mid tempo hard hitting remix and the lovely moody Rotersand version. They all put in a lot of effort to make this EP as good as it can be. How they interpreted our song blows my mind. Respect to them all!!

KL: Couldn’t agree more. What amazes me the most, is how they all understood the core of the song. I’m dead serious when I say those three remixes makes the song a better song. Not that their versions top the original. That’s not the issue. It’s what they add to that song, that makes Mourners a longer lasting piece. At least that’s how I feel! So much passion and a whole lot of “fingerspitzgefühl”!

S-L: This started with ‘Damned le Monde’, and you will get it every time now – who’s in the cover picture?! 😉

KL: My mom 🙂
Holding the white lilies. A symbolic flower, often used in funerals. Perfect for Mourners.

S-L: Other upcoming highlights fans can look forward to during these slow-moving days until more restrictions are lifted?

AM: Yes, there will be more releases and a full new album. It’s important for us to promote an album release with live shows. As for now that’s impossible, but we have to keep believing that it’s happening soon.

KL: The fans are in for a treat. A lot is happening in the shadows. New label that will help out regarding issues with previous albums hard to get, both digital and analog. At this moment I can’t reveal more than that. But in the end, there’s definitely a reward for everybody!

As mentioned we also reached out to the remixers who contributed to this EP, and also asked if they had remixes of their own to share. First to reply were Isak Rypdal from Electro Spectre:

S-L: What’s your relation to Zeromancer before this remix?

Isak Rypdal: I was a big fan early on, and two major favorites from nearly 20 years ago is ‘New Madonna’ and ‘Famous Last Words’,  I think they only were included on a maxi-single or something then. In 2013 Electro Spectre supported Zeromancer on their ‘Bye-Bye Borderline’ tour at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo – that was a lovely event.
Alex Møklebust, aka SnifferGod, has also been so kind remixing the Electro Spectre single ‘The Way You Love‘ just a few years ago, which became a great remix.  

S-L: How did you like the new song ‘Mourners’?

IR: Personally I think it is admirable to deliver one of their very best singles to date. In my opinion not all bands only get better and better in what they’re doing as the years go by. The previous single ‘Damned le Monde’ is that kind of caliber as well! 

S-L: What was your main idea with your remix?

IR: Actually, I think it was one of the easiest songs I have ever remixed. The reason is simple; when you get a remix-kit from a major band, who delivers pure quality elements it is a lot more inspiring. Although not to say I took the challenge lightly, I spent several few weeks on the remix, adding all of what I think is my very best production techniques into the remix to get it as punchy and well sounding as possible. It was a pure joy, and I am very happy I had the time to spend that many hours on the remix process. In the end, Alex from Electro Spectre also delivered some additional spice to the final mix. I hope the Mancerheads enjoy the remix!

Across the Atlantic, in Canada, the Polish/Norwegian expat Sebastian Komor elaborated about his involvement:

S-L:  What’s your relation to Zeromancer before this remix?

Sebastian Komor:  I know the guys more as Seigmen, the Norwegian Alt Rock band. In fact, a time and place long ago I booked Seigmen to play at a venue I was working at, during their Radiowaves album tour.  Always loved their music.

S-L: How did you like the new song ‘Mourners’?

SK:  It is a beautiful song. I dig the electronic approach in this.

S-L: What was your main idea with your remix?

SK: I really dig the snare sound in the original and def wanted to make that a big element of this mix. My approach to remixes is to use as few original sounds as possible vs. making it sound like an extended 12″ mix of the original. I am really happy with the result. It promotes the emotions in the original song while taking it for a ride through my mind.

Check Sebastians playlist with a lot of his work, remixes included!

Final remixer was from Germany, Krischan Wesenberg of Rotersand:

S-L: What’s your relation to Zeromancer before this remix?

Krischan Wesenberg: Zeromancer and Rotersand are signed to the same label, work with the same booking agency and love our live-sound-engineer (which is the same person). Surprisingly it took rather long to meet in person, which luckily happened during an epic meal in Oslo while I was there as sound-engineer for Nitzer Ebb.

S-L: How did you like the new song ‘Mourners’?

KW: I really loved the depth and flow of the song instantly; its melancholic mood and I am addicted to melancholy in music anyway.

S-L: What was your main idea with your remix?

KW: Obviously with Rotersand attached to it expectations went towards a more club-orientated vibe. As there aren’t any clubs open I took the chance to search for a very electronic vibe and flow that kept a lot of the original recordings, and added some space to let the melancholy breathe and enjoy its special magic.

Listen to and buy the EP from Spotify, Apple music and other services – click here!

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Genre/Influences: EBM, Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Three years after the debut-album “The Worst Dream” (2018) Rebirth strikes back with a double album featuring twelve new songs and eleven remixes. Rebirth is Bruno Ruch (Sleepwalk) and singer Olivier Moser.

Content: The main disc reveals solid EBM bass lines, powerful rhythms, carrying choruses and harsh-spooky   vocals. “System:Error” reflects a cold production, which is mainly created by icy sequences and –atmospheres. The vocals are in German and English. There’s one instrumental song somewhere in the midst of the work, which appears to be a break.

The second disc reveals remixes by Atropine, Rotersand, Oldschool Union, Covenant, Struck9, Frozen Plasma, Pyrroline, AD:Key, KIFOTH, Deadly Injection and Onenine.

+ + + : I was not a huge fan of Rebirth’s debut album, but this new work sounds definitely more convincing. Bruno Ruch improved most aspects of the production, but the song writing is just better. The album features several great songs, but I especially recommend listening to “Ultimate Sin”, “Teufel In Mir” and “Streets Of The Damned”. The sound treatments reveal a professional approach. I especially like the fusion between power and haunting atmospheres on top.

The bonus disc reveals great names, but also great remixes. I especially want to mention Rotersand, Oldschool Union, Struck9, Pyrroline and KIFOTH as the most inspired cuts. Onenine is a noticeable feature as this is a solo-project of Axel Kleintjes (formerly involved with Page 12, Cyber Axis, Cycloon, Mindware).

 Last, but not least I also want to say a word about the great and artistic digipak format of this work.

– – – : This work is just missing an absolute hit to speak about a real masterpiece, but we get a real great number of songs instead. I expected a bit more from the Covenant remix.

Conclusion: “System:Error” is a work I fully recommend to all lovers of sophisticated dark EBM.

Best songs: “Ultimate Sin”, “Teufel In Mir”, “Streets Of The Damned”, “Letzte Schlacht”, “R.I.P.” + “Streets Of The Damned – Rotersand Rework”, “Teufel In Mir – Struck9 Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: http://rebirth-music.ch / www.facebook.com/Dr.Tinitus

Label: www.ekproduct.com / www.facebook.com/EKProduct

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: Electro-Wave, Wave-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Love + Revenge is the meeting between two experienced German artists. Rascal Hueppe (Rotersand) and Axel Ermes (Cassandra Complex, Girls Under Glass ao) joined hands together and unleashed their debut-EP featuring four songs.

Content: The title song opening the EP sounds as a mature and pure Electro/Wave-pop song. Rascal’s vocals are for sure reminding me of Rotersand, but this project clearly sounds different. The other songs left are not as danceable, but mixing different elements wherein the artists are still getting back to 80s influences. The guitar sounds featured on the dreamy “Talking Silence” sound pretty 80s-driven. 

+ + + : This debut-EP already got a very positive response in Germany. The title song is a cool piece of Electronics. It sounds danceable, but also well-crafted and with Rascal’s charismatic vocals on top. The EP features 4 different songs (not one single remix here!), which gives us a better idea about the band’s potential. I think the songs are perfectly summarizing the different bands both artists have been involved with. It’s somewhere linked with early Future-Pop while connected with good-old 80s-wave music. It’s not pure Electro-Pop and yet hard to label as a different genre.

– – – : Next to the great title song, the other songs left sound a bit as B-side cuts. It means that the true climax is right at the beginning.

Conclusion: “Angel” is a promising debut for Love + Revenge and I can only hope this duo will move on achieving a full length opus.

Best songs: “Angel”, “Stranger Chasing Dream”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/LoveAndRevengeMusic

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471

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: EBM, Body-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Greek duo George Sofianos – Nick Von Karma last year released their debut album “Karma Reloaded”. It was an honest debut work featuring a fusion between EBM and Electro-Pop. Prometheus Flame is now back with this EP featuring the title-song “Magic Spell” originally released on their album. The work has been released in different formats featuring a limited 7” Vinyl with only two songs. The CD and Digital formats are featuring two extra songs.

Content: “Magic Spell” was not exactly my favorite song from “Karma Reloaded”. It has something EBM driven, but there’s also something more evasive and Pop-like running through it. The way of singing reminds me of Jean-Luc Demeyer (Front 242). We next get a “Club Mix” plus remixes by Rotersand and Massive Ego

+ + + : Quite honestly “Magic Spell” caught more my attention than on the album. It’s maybe because of the different versions/remixes while the essence remains the same. It’s a cool track for the natural osmosis between EBM and Electro-Pop. The song is well-crafted and clearly inspiring Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand) and Scot Collins (Massive Ego) who both did a great remix. The Rotersand-remix has something icy-like while Massive Ego injected cool, refreshing bleeps to the song.

– – – : I expected a bit more punch and power from the “Club Mix”, which is a bit disappointing.

Conclusion: This EP is a nice addendum to the debut album “Karma Reloaded” and once more revealing a Greek band we better keep an eye on.

Best songs: “Magic Spell – Massive Ego Remix”, “Magic Spell”, “Magic spell – Rotersand Rework”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.prometheusflame.eu / www.facebook.com/Prometheus-Flame-402883157167543

Label: www.digitalworld.audio /   www.facebook.com/DigitalWorldAudio

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

Rotersand’s new album “How Do You Feel Today?” has been released by Trisol and Metropolis Records. The new opus features all ingredients we’re used to hearing from the duo Rascal Hüppe – Krischan Wesenberg; strong melody lines, solid bass lines, impressive sound treatments and great vocals. After having heard their new work I asked myself which Rotersand album is my favorite one? I’m not sure to have a favorite one, but this new work is for sure one of the most accomplished and best produced albums in their discography. You can call it Future-Pop or EBM or Industrial-Pop; the songs however reflect the great chemistry between both members. Rasc kindly answered a few questions about this brilliant work.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: My first question deals with the title of your album “How Do You Feel Today?”. Living in Corona-times this title has something cynical or we can also understand it as a rhetorical question! So what is it all about?

Rasc: It may not sound like that at first glance, and yet “How Do You Feel Today?” is so much more than a question asked in polite small-talk. It’s pure social dynamite in a world where emotions become moods and moods suddenly turn into opinions, uncorrectable creeds and breath taking brutalization. Truth is not holding on to facts anymore. Truth is truly becoming fanatic.

We feel our civilisatory crust breaking and we hear a grinding sound of violence. This record is the soundtrack of both: the grinding sound of brutalization and the strong feelings of love, respect and humanity as a strong answer.

Q: I personally experienced this new album as your most accomplished work to date! It feels like inspired by mathematics; everything sounds right, every single note put at the right place and a perfect harmony between sound and vocals! Where does it come from? Is it just maturity or are you guys perfectionists or wizards?

Rasc: Thank you! I also have the feeling it is well balanced. In my view it is about the time spent on song writing before production. Production and song writing went most of the times hand in hand. This time –just my feeling, songs were much clearer and much longer written before production. That could be true for all the ways, ROTERSAND songs come to life: the songs we wrote together in a real band feeling, the songs I wrote and pre-produced in Hamburg, the music Krischan wrote more on his own.

Q: When did you start the composing of this new work? Was there a kind of click to start writing new songs? Did you need some preparation, eventually research etc? How did it happen?

Rasc: The process of composing does never stop. I am writing a song almost every day. In most of the times it starts with a melody in my head, a synth line, a vocal line and then I look for chords or basslines, search for a harmonic atmosphere to carry the melody, to set the ´tone´. That doesn´t necessarily mean that this atmosphere remains. Krischan sometimes likes to take things apart that I come with. A ballad can turn into an Industrial track that way. Krischan often describes himself as an alchemist, putting things together that are already there, changing some ingredients or contexts. He describes me as a magician who usually creates something out of nothing as for me everything starts with melodies, new atmospheres, chord progressions, words.

In fact, it is a kind of magic to write songs. I do not know how it happens, it just happens, often enough in moments you do not expect it or moments that should not be interrupted. My wife is very much used to it that we can´t watch movies without me interrupting and grabbing my guitar to try out something and record it on my phone to remember it. I think these two approaches of us coming to new songs are the two main engines that drive the creative power of ROTERSAND and help to explain the uniqueness and surprises in our universe.

Q: I’m also wondered about the ultimate point of a song (and an album),  the point where you decide to say it’s finished! Can you tell us a bit more about this ‘ultimate point’ and do you handle some criteria to say the song/album is finished?

Rasc. Just deadlines & pragmatism. Songs are never finished. That´s why we like reworks as “Reloaded” now. And live shows have an impact. Songs change over their life time of course.

Q: Back to the Covid-19 pandemic, which for artists is a real tragedy; no Summer festivals, no tour, nothing… expect live streams. But you guys seem to have found an opportunity to play together with Noyce™. Tell us a bit more about this concept? Don’t you think this terrible pandemic is also inciting artists –and the entire scene, to become more creative and develop new ideas?

Rasc: Obviously yes. We wouldn´t play in a circus arena on October 2^nd with no Covid-19 in the world. I wouldn´t say ‘tragedy’. I prefer being alive and nobody is starving in our country due to Covid-19. In my case it has an impact on song writing. It´s a bit more ´blue´ what comes out in the moment. I miss meeting and hugging certain people, I miss gym halls, I miss  touring, shows on several nights in a row. I know what was at stake so I am really happy to live in Germany in the moment, but please Covid-19, please leave us soon.

Q: Rotersand is now busy for nearly twenty years. How did you see this band evolving all over the time and do you still have some new challenges, dreams?  

Rasc: We grew an incredible ROTERSAND family all over the world. Nobody can take this ever away until the end of our lives. We are rich men, we are really rich men. I know from all these occasions, meetings, talks and hugs that we reach people. That some of our songs gain an incredible power in some people. That they are able to stand up in the morning, drive to work, can fall asleep in tough times of their lives with the help and some say with only the help of our music. In dark times of life. Knowing about these moments, having looked in pairs of eyes telling you incredible stories related to your songs give me the feeling my life is not wasted. I can use my pain, I can use my joy to reach people. In some of the lyrics and atmosphere I lay my heart in the hands of our listeners. And they give it back to me in a kind of tenderness you can´t imagine if you are nota songwriter.  God gave us talent for a reason.

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: EBM, techno-body, electro-pop, IDM.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: After nearly seven years of silence, the recently self-released “Thanatosis”-EP put Blank back on the EBM map. Mastermind Davide Mazza accomplished the fourth full length album of the project resulting in eleven songs featuring a very special collaboration on one of the songs.

Content: “Thanatosis” revealed a mix of harder, danceable cuts and softer, elaborated cuts. The album moves on a similar formula featuring intelligent electronics mixing elements of EBM, techno, pop and even IDM. Elena Alice Fossi (Kirlian Camera) contributed here with a very unique and sensual way of singing to one of the –softer, cuts. This album has the power to make you dance, but still enough passages driven by down tempo rhythms to cool down. I don’t want to compare Blank and this new opus to another formation, but I’m sure it will appeal for fans of Rotersand and Mind.In.A.Box.

+ + + : “Thanatosis”-EP revealed a few great passages, but some didn’t totally convince me. “Drifting Slowly” left me breathless! This album stands for a sophisticated writing featuring intelligent sound treatments, danceable club-songs and softer breaks. I was impressed by the polished sound production and dance energy from the harder cuts such as “Hypnonaut”, “Nouronihar”, “Axiomatic” and “Struggle between Death And Night”. Davide Mazza is not only putting Blank again on the map of great electro productions, but he reveals himself as a brilliant sound architect. This album stands for an impressive sonic welfare. From space-like sounds to solid bass lines to meticulous sound arrangements and a somewhat spooky way of singing this work has a lot to offer.

– – – : Just as for “Thanatosis” I’m not a huge fan of the softer cuts and the EP-title song is one of the few songs that can’t totally convince me.

Conclusion: Blank strikes back with a bang! This Italian project already caught my attention in the past, but this album simply reveals the true potential of the band! The song with Elena Alice Fossi is cool, but unfortunately not a high light!

Best songs: “Axiomatic”, “Struggle Between Death And Night”, Hypnonaut”, “Nouronihar”, Faultlines”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/blankinyourmind

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

Alphamay is first of all the story of two friends. Cris Frickenschmidt and  Henning Hammoor were already playing music together before a terrible car accident. Both friends survived the crash, but Cris is living in a wheelchair since this terrible drama. But he never lost the will to move on. Both mates went on making music together and set up Alphamay in 2013. They this year strike back with the sixth full length album entitled “Conformity” (Battersea) revealing thirteen new songs. Alphamay deals with an eclectic electronic style, but which is mainly driven by electro-pop and body-pop influences. Here’s an interview with Cris Frickenschmidt

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Alphamay is already active for a couple of years now. This year you released your sixth full length album “Conformity”, but how do you look back at the past years and previous albums? How did you see your band evolving throughout the years? 

Cris: The last seven years have been quite a journey for us. We never planned the sound of an album before we work on it. It was always a surprise for us to hear how the individual albums turned out.

It is also incredible to think back to our first live shows. In the first years we played very small and very few shows. Our equipment went through a lot of evolution before we were able to deliver the shows we intended. In the past three years we played a lot more and bigger shows and started to play different countries. Last year, for example, we played Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Russia.

Q: Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 is a terrible year to release a new album. How do you feel about the situation and how do you try to face the situation as artists/band? 

Cris: I don’t know if I would call 2020 a bad year to release an album. Of course it is terrible not to be able to play live shows to promote our new stuff. But on the other hand we feel that the listeners have a huge demand for new music. After all we make music for the people.

But we also suffer from the situation that our music is very danceable and clubs are closed. This put us in the strange position that we have just been ranked eight weeks in the top ten of the German Alternative Charts (DAC), which is a DJ Chart -but we still could not profit from it…

We believe that we can still enjoy performing this new release at live shows as soon as this is possible again. 

Q: What were the plans about live concerts this year? Tell us a bit more about this essential part of Alphamay? 

Cris: We had more than 20 shows confirmed for 2020 and most of the dates have already been cancelled or postponed. It might turn out  we won’t be able to play live shows in 2020 at all. This seriously hurts like hell. We would have played in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Russia and had even more international shows planned. For a self-managed band, booking shows is a seriously, tedious business that takes a lot of time, money and efforts. It is a tragedy to lose it all and epecially with the fact that we are now entering a completely new age for live music. Lots of clubs will not be around when cultural life restarts. Each and every band is dying to play live so there will be more competition for shows and even less places to do so. 

Q: Over now to “Conformity”! What is the album all about and what were the initial ideas –and eventually influences, when you started with the writing? What are the different stages you’d to go through to achieve this opus? 

Cris: The main difference with all our prior albums was that we took a lot more time to write and to finish it. All Alphamay music starts in the same manner. I constantly compose songs and share these concepts with Henning who can always listen to them and decide to further develop a specific song. Once a song is chosen we move on to the next stage where we both sing to the music. Then we take a look at our takes and discuss which approach is the one we like the most. From this point on we write the lyrics, finish up the musical arrangements and then record the vocals.

The entire recording- and production process of the “Conformity”-album took 10-12 weeks. “Conformity“ was done over a period of 13 months. There are a lot of different reasons why it took so long this time. For example we decided to do a remix album (cf. “Trans/Fusion”) and then we later on had to prepare for our Russian shows. For these we needed to prepare a much smaller equipment to be able to travel by airplane. Finally we decided to release a double CD ‘best of’ for the Russian market (Ретрография). The reason was that we wanted our Russian fans (who’re earning less money) to get the maximum value for money with the two CD’s that are packed to the brim with songs from all of our previous albums.

But let’s get back to “Conformity“. After we finally finished recording we decided to move on a new way and worked with an external producer. We had the pleasure to work with Hilger Tintel (motel-music.de) for this album. After this highly interesting collaboration, “Conformity“ received a final polish when mastering was done by Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand). We must say we are highly pleased with the result and fans from all over the world have given us very positive feedback.

Q: Alphamay has been always linked with electro-pop music, but I experience your sound –and especially “Conformity”, as much more than ‘classical’ electro-pop music. What are your main sources of inspiration, references and eventually criteria to know when a song is achieved or not? 

Cris: The question about music style is always the hardest one for an artist to answer. As I mentioned before we do not set an aim for the sound (or style) of a new album. We never sit down and talk about what kind of style to do next. A lot of artists have influenced us throughout all the years. Both of us are heavily influenced by the electronic sounds of the 80s and contemporary mainstream music.  This is quite simply the music we literally grew up with. Later on, in the 90s we got influenced by wonderful ‘dark’ electronic bands like the early works of Deine Lakaien. I guess you can hear in our music that we have always embraced many different styles of music, electronic or not. There is always so much amazing music around to draw inspiration from, and it is a great feeling to be able to contribute to the music world with your own compositions and sound.

Q: The name of your band refers to one of the most dramatic and horrible events you both had in life. How did you recover from such a drama and in, which way music has been the perfect cure to recover and to move on? What’s next on Alphamay ‘bucket list’? 

Cris: Alphamay was started after the accident. It was the result of my decision to pursue dreams instead of just dreaming about them. I always wanted to make electronic music, but never got around to it. By the time the accident happened I already made music with Henning for 20 years, and it is great that we were able to step into this whole new realm together. Alphamay has been an amazing experience ever since. We met great people from many different places. We have spent countless hours traveling from and to shows and constantly share thoughts.

When we look at the Alphamay bucket list, there is one entry we would have checked of this year: a full two week tour with consecutive shows. Next month would have been the “Luxfeste”-tour with three bands that are friends of ours. This is such a shame that we had to cancel this one. So yes, this one is back on the bucket list. 

Also we had plans to cross the Atlantic Ocean and play the US. This also has to wait. All in all we have a goal that will always be there, no matter what we achieve: To play more shows!

We love the interaction with our fans, many of them became friends by now. Nothing can replace a live show and we can only hope we all get through this pandemic safely. 

Please, everybody, take this seriously, protect yourself and the people around you. We will only pull through this one together. 

See you on a stage near you, hopefully rather soon!

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: Future-pop, EBM, body-pop.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: German duo Rascal Hüppe (vocals) and Krischan Wesenberg (music & production) have been active as Rotersand since the early Millennium years. They earlier this year struck back with the seventh studio album “How Do You Feel Today?”, which also is the first one since 2016. 

Content: We have to agree the title of this work sounds like a pure rhetorical question. Rotersand remains interested in social criticism, but it first of all also remains an intelligent electronic project driven by the creative spirit of Krischan Wesenberg and the captivating vocals of Rascal. The album doesn’t sound that different from previous releases. There’s a fine twist between slower, dreamy cuts and harder, danceable pieces. It injects diversity into the work. The songs are once more elaborated and accomplished with great sound treatments and carrying leads and especially the second part of the album reveals efficient songs.

+ + + : What is the best Rotersand album in history? Maybe the first one “Truth Is Fanatic” or the second one “Welcome to Goodbye”? Or “Random Is Resistance”? I’m afraid we all have our favorite one, but this new opus will be for sure nominated to win the ward. There are several outstanding songs featured here; songs that are elaborated, sophisticated with brilliant sound arrangements and transcendental passages, but still accomplished with catchy tones and carrying choruses. On top of it all you’ll hear the charisma of Rascal Hüppe. “When You Go” is according to me one of the best Rotersand songs in history, but I also have to mention “Whatever” as other potential hit. But there also is “Hot Ashes” and “I Feel, You Don’t” and “X”. Rotersand strikes back with a bang and the dancefloors gone know it!

– – – : Some songs in the beginning of the CD are nice, but without a similar climax as the aforementioned pieces.

Conclusion: Seven is a magical number in alchemy and “How Do You Feel Today?” sounds as the work of a true sound alchemist!

Best songs: “When You Go”, “Whatever”, “Hot Ashes”,  “I Feel, You Don’t”, “X”, “Who Are We Now?”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/rotersand Labels: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471 / www.metropolis-records.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

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, body-pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This German duo saw the light of day in 2000 and self-released the album “Interemontional” in 2008. They split one year after and reactivated the band in 2014. They self-released a few singles and finally joined hands together with Infacted to unleash their official debut album.

Content: The album features 10 songs plus 3 remixes. The previous singles have been featured. After a somewhat Kraftwerk-ian intro cut, “Trust” (their last self-released single) reveals an overwhelming sound production mixing elements of EBM and electro-pop together. This song sounds a bit like the imaginary offspring between Covenant and Rotersand. It’s however not representative of the album, which is rapidly moving into evasive electro-pop compositions. The songs remain danceable and sometimes melancholic while the influence of Depeche Mode is easily recognizable. One of the last songs (cf. “Disease” is getting back to EBM elements.

Remixes have been accomplished by ES23, Outsized and Kaos!.

+ + + : The work takes off an impressive way by the outstanding “Trust”. This song stands for pure electronic sound intelligence, driven by aggressive sequences and great sound treatments while the clear, but charismatic vocals are the cherry on the pie. I also recommend the other ‘harder’ cut “Disease”, which might appeal to early And One fans. So Digital Energy clearly has potential, but they’ll mainly appeal to synth-pop lovers. “Mirror” is for sure their best song in the genre.

– – – : The Depeche Mode inspiration is too much at the forefront and that’s a pity as this band clearly has much more to offer. I expected a bit more out of the remixes.

Conclusion: Digital Energy is a band showing two faces. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think they better have to leave the Depeche Mode inspiration a bit more behind.

Best songs: “Trust”, “Disease”, “Mirror”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/digitalenergymusic

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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: Industrial-pop, EBM, dark-electro.

Background/Info: Daniel Graves and his creative exposure Aesthetic Perfection are back on track unleashing a new album, which the fans were waiting 4-5 years for.

Content: Is there a better way to open your album by featuring one of the Rammstein members? Richard Z. Kruspe has been invited to play guitar on “Gods & Gold”, which is a song also characterized by the charismatic and heavy vocals of Daniel Graves, which have been alternated by clear and softer passages. Aesthetic Perfection always has had something ‘schizophrenic’ in its sound; it’s a mix of different influences, which you can describe as the offspring between industrial-pop, EBM and dark-electro. Another important guest is Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg (Rotersand) while 4 songs feature ‘Jinxx’ (real name Jeremy Ferguson).

The songs reflect power and rage; furious and raw electronics with some pop arrangements on top.

+ + + : What I especially like in the work of Aesthetic Perfection is the originality. It’s not exactly about innovation, but a band with a proper sound mixing multiple influences. So in the end it’s nearly impossible to define, but it sounds powerful, enraged and accomplished with great sound treatments. There are some irresistible bass lines running through the album, but also brilliant, rough sequences and overwhelming leads. The guitar parts add some extra power to the work. There are several songs to mention, but I have a preference for “Saint Peter” where the sound treatments are just excelling.

– – – : I noticed a few songs, which couldn’t totally convince, especially the last one “Mourning Doves” with a more prominent guitar part..

Conclusion: If you never heard of Aesthetic Perfection before you might imagine hearing a hybrid between early Combichrist and IAMX. But in the end you’ll have to agree this is just Aesthetic Perfection and nothing else!

Best songs: “Saint Peter”, “Wickedness”, “No Boys Allowed”, “Echoes”.

Rate: (8).

Artist & Label: www.aesthetic–perfection.net / www.facebook.com/aestheticperfection

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: Electro-pop.

Background/Info: This is the next EP/single released by Patrik Hansson (Vanguard) and another song that will get featured on Uncreated’s debut album “Eternal”.

Content: The title song is totally devoted to electro-pop music. It sounds catchy and just like on the “Evolve”-EP driven by dance beats. “Not Your Soldier” has been remixed by Machinista, Rotersand, DNTR and Random Starlight. The B-side track “At The Front” will not be featured on the full length and is another danceable and melodic song.

+ + + : “Not Your Soldier” features the requested elements to speak about a successful electro-pop song; it’s catchy, melodic, dance and featuring a talented vocalist. I like the remix made by Machinista while the one by Rotersand will for sure catch wider attention. The B-side track sounds definitely more than simple filler.

– – – : Compared to the “Evolve”-EP this one is less ‘sexy’ and convincing although it remains an honest EP. I also expected a bit more from the remixes.

Conclusion: “Not Your Soldier” is a cool song, but it’s not that evident to release a new potential ‘master hit’ after the phenomenal “Evolve”!

Best songs: “Not Your Soldier – Machinista Remix”, “Not Your Soldier”, “Not Your Soldier – Rotersand Remake”. 

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/uncreatedofficial

Label: www.conzoomrecords.de / www.facebook.com/conzoomofficial

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: Electronic, cinematographic, down-tempo.

Background/Info: If I say Jean-Marc Lederman you quite spontaneously will think about bands such as The Weathermen, Polyphonic Size, Fad Gadget, Ghost & Writer and more recently Lederman / De Meyer. And there were much more bands and projects this Belgian electro pioneer has been involved with. One of his latest projects took me by surprise, revealing a more ambient and experimental sound he released under his own name on Wool-E-Discs. I expected this new work in the continuation of this experimental exploration, but it already became something different. The artist started from the question what would you do if you came back to earth one day as ghost.

Content: This surreal project/question has been answered by guest singers and a real impressive list of great artists contributed to the work. In order of appearance you’ll recognize Christer Hermodsson (Biomekkanik, SPOCK..), Louise Fraser, Stefan Netschio (Beborn Beton), Juliette Bosse (Arther, Rive), Jenna Fearon, Agi Taralas, Elena Alice Fossi (Kirlian Camera, Spectra*Paris), The Acapella Robotic Association, Yvette Winkler, Mark Hockings (Mesh), Natasha A Twentyone (Ambassador 21, Suicide Inside), Alice Gift (Liste Noire, Velvet Condom) and Christa Jérôme.

Jean-Marc Lederman has accomplished a surprising work, which are miles away from what we’re used to hearing from him. There’s a mix between down-tempo and sometimes trip-pop driven influences, but also a cinematographic approach with refined arrangements and other evasive sound atmospheres. There’s a heavenly fusion between at one side the composer who gives us the impression to have written each song for one specific singer and at the other side the vocalists who’re really into the project of the ‘ghost stories’.   

+ + + : Concepts are a quite familiar thing in music. At first sight this one is not that different from the others and yet, when you carefully pay attention you’ll notice the symbiosis between the musician and his singers. It has something fragile and poignant, refined and subtle, dreamy and sometimes funny. Jean-Marc Lederman also appears to be a real chameleon. It’s unbelievable to see him in less than two years moving back to the roots of EBM with Lederman / De Meyer, experimenting with sounds and noises on both Wool-E-Discs productions and now unleashing this “13 Ghost Stories”. I also have to say a word about some great vocals’ performances like the charismatic appearance of Christer Hermodsson, the angelic voice of Louise Fraser, the fragility shown by Juliette Bosse, the bewitching performance by Christa Jérôme and of course the excellence emerging from Mark Hockings.

Notice by the way the album is also available as double disc featuring extra singers Rascal (Rotersand), Julianne Regan (All about Eve), Darrin Huss (Psyche), Rexx Arkana, JP Aston (Gene Loves Jezebel), Louise Love (Parralox) and Nicola Testa.

– – – : This is of course more of an album for listening instead of dancing!

Conclusion: What I like in the work and career of Jean-Marc Lederman is that he never avoids any new –and sometimes crazy, challenge. If there’s one artist who never repeats himself, it for sure is Jean-Marc Lederman! On “13 Ghost Stories he has maybe accomplished one of his greatest productions in history!

Best songs: “Watch Them Dance”, “Nuages A L’Envers”, “The Dead Still Scream”, “Maybe”, “Ball And Chain”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: http://www.jmlederman.com /

www.facebook.com/jeanmarc.kollector

Label: www.dependent.de / www.facebook.com/dependent.records

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: Body-pop, electro-pop.

Background/Info: German duo Krischan Wesenberg – Rascal Hueppe is back on track, getting us back to their last full length album “Capitalism TM”. Six tracks plus one from the EP featured at the limited edition of the work have been picked up, reworked and remixed.

Content: “Hey You” is not what I should call a ‘classical’ EP. Six songs from the “Capitalism TM” have been exposed to the skills of remixers while Rotersand reworked “Hey You” and “Not Alone”. They also added alternative edits like extended versions and a club edit.

“Hey You” has been seriously reworked and still features a noticeable and somewhat happy sounding chorus. “Not Alone” reveals an interesting progression towards a truly climax. The common element between both songs is you get the impression they compose the songs with a real bass guitar.

Remixes have been accomplished by Consumer Junkie, Assemblage 23, Mehr Licht and Chris Count. Last, but not least the “12” Version” of “Welcome Home” is featuring female vocals by Layn.

+ + + : This is an original EP for the reworked songs, alternative edits and remixes, but it also reveals a varied work. From indie-pop to body-pop to technoid passages and trance breaks “Hey You” clearly reveals elements I didn’t hear on the album. Krischan Wesenberg remains a genius composer/producer with great melodic skills while Rascal Hueppe is a talented and charismatic singer. There’s a lot to experience on “Hey You”, but I’ve a preference for the harder, more danceable and club-friendly “12” Club version” of “You’re Nothing” and the “Original 12” Version” of “Monkeys In A Tree”.

– – – : Some leads are a bit too cliché and dance-like. I’m also not really a fan of the “12” Version” of “Welcome Home”, which is long during without real apotheosis. I also expected a bit more from some remixes.

Conclusion: Even if this EP has something unique for Rotersand, it still features pure Rotersand passages.

Best songs: “Monkeys In A Tree – Original 12” Version”, “You’re Nothing – 12” Club Version”, “Welcome Home – 12” Version feat. Vocals by Layn”, “Monkeys In A Tree – Chris Count Remix”, “Überload – 12” Extended Version”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.rotersand.net / www.facebook.com/rotersand

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol–Music–Group/104166526285471

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: Electro-pop.

Background/Info: Set up in 2017 by Keith Trigwell, Mark Bebb (Shelter) and producer Rob Dust, Form last year released the successful EP “Poison”. By the end of 2018 they released their official debut album “Defiance + Entropy”.

Content: If you already discovered the “Poison”-EP you for sure got an idea about this band’s potential. The songs are clearly inspired by electro-pop music, but it also moves from power-pop towards bombastic passages to vague future-pop reminiscences. There also is a nice match between vintage sound treatments and modern dance music. Another noticeable aspect is the production of the vocals. Form not only has a talented singer, but the different ways of singing add extra diversity to the work.

+ + + : From a pure technical point of view this is a high-tech production work. Music and vocals are fully complementary. The songs are driven by carrying leads and an obvious melodic touch. The EP-title song “Poison” remains the absolute hit of the work; it’s the kind of song that will appeal to fans of Rotersand. If you’re more into the ‘classical’ electro-pop format I recommend “Everlasting” while songs like “Fire” and “Sugar” both have this typical British dance-pop touch.

– – – : From a very personal point of view I regret there are no more songs in the vein of “Poison”; a kind of electro-power pop with a dark touch. Some songs are maybe a bit too far in the ‘commercial’ dance-direction.

Conclusion: Electro-pop music is such as numerous other electro-related genres quite similar and without real innovation. I can’t say Form is totally innovative, but their approach is for sure somewhat different. That’s what I like.

Best songs: “Poison”, “Fire”, “Sugar”, “Everlasting”, “Addict”, “Surrender”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/rob.dust.72

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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 all know Krischan Eric-Jan Wesenberg as the creative force behind Rotersand. We also know him from his recent involvement with Future Lied To Us and Radioaktivists. Krischan Wesenberg was already busy with numerous other projects before he got some name in the electro-underground scene. Most of this music was released in the 90s and was inspired by techno-related music. Last year the German composer/producer/DJ released the solo-album “Third Places” under his own name ‘Wesenberg’. The work released on Audiophob is a rather eclectic electronic production, but once more revealing the great skills of this unique artist. It also is a conceptual work around ‘a social concept defining the home as the first and work as the second place, while places of social interaction comprise as third places’.

(Picture credits: Frank Güthoff – Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You’ve just released the (solo)-album “Third Places” as ‘Wesenberg’. The work clearly reveals an impressive spectrum of influences, but I can imagine also a more personal approach than what you’re doing in Rotersand and co? What is it all about?

Krischan: Before 2003 I usually wasn’t busy with production and/or mixing of my different projects. Since 2003 I’ve been mainly working in band constellations focusing on sound design… or being active as producer for other bands. During the last 15 years I improved myself in all the technical aspects of music-creation. When last year in March I’d had some days off I started composing some stuff just for fun. I realized that I’d reached a state of consciousness and happiness with my technical skills so I no longer had to worry about it and just  could focus on the vibe and flow of the music I’d created. It made me feel so good and free that I started to collect some musical pieces which ended up as “Third Places”.

Q: Did you try to accomplish some particular with “Third Places” and did you discover new ideas/elements in your work?

Krischan: I tried to refer to states of emotion; certain kind of atmospheres that I felt when I was spinning in different clubs (the song names are referring to clubs) from todays perspective, mainly rooms I’ve been to in 90s. The special vibe of each room and crowd is a bit like a memorized-footprint, which I’ve tried to put into the music.

Q: “Third Places” sounds very eclectic so where does this eclecticism comes from and do you have very specific artists and/or albums that made you become the artist you are today?

Krischan: “Third Places” is obviously connected to the different styles of music I’ve listened to and I’ve DJ-ed throughout the years. Quite recently a magazine asked me for my top-5-albums so those are some specials which I listen to from time to time with ongoing pleasure, but I don’t know how they shaped my work: Kenny Larkin: “Metaphor”, Miles Davis: “Bitches Brew”, Philip Glass: “Solo Piano”, A Tribe Called Quest: “Low End Theory” and Basic Channel: “Bcd1”.

Q: How do we have to imagine Krischan Wesenberg working in his studio? Do you’ve a specific way of working, a kind of structure, favorite gear, eventually tricks?

Krischan: Not at all, I try to stay open as open as possible for different approaches and ways to create and produce music, but of course I’ve some tools I’m often using and specific ways to do things I often fall back into. Nearly everyone visiting ‘Studio-600’ points out that my studio it is built to be used while standing and not sitting. It keeps me moving and dancing, somehow more active while working. I still adore my Roland TB-303.

The only trick I’ve to offer is more a tip or recommendation: don’t stop exploring music, listen to stuff outside the box instead of the clichés you usually like. If you just listen to the bands you are a fan of, the music you’ll create will be most likely bound to that style.

Q: You’ve released an impressive number of productions as ‘Wesenberg’ and worked together with numerous artists. What are according to you the ‘major’ releases from this discography and, which ones are the best ‘ambassadors’ from your personal sound perception?

Krischan: Nowadays Rotersand definitely is my main band; it’s the band that not only brought me into this scene, it also was and is my first real band-experience (including touring, live-performances…). Consequently I think “Welcome To Goodbye” would be Rotersand’s major release in my books although I more like “1023” from today’s point of view. As ‘ambassadors’ I would like to point out the the Homewreckers-albums “American Ruhr” and “Machine Kiss”. Homewreckers has always been a safe-spot for my soul.

Q: To me you are a real ‘sound wizard’, which stands for a musician/producer who strives for unique sound treatments, a perfect mix and an accomplished production. It all sounds like pure passion, but still striving for perfection! How do you see yourself as producer and what are the main elements you’re focalizing on?

Krischan: First of all thank you. As a producer I’m mainly trying to honor each band I’m involved with or I’m working for as an artistic entity or person with its own spirit and soul, clichés, style and history. So before I start working I take the time for a longer chat to get an idea what either band/artist or album or song is all about and should be about.

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 forthcoming release on Dependent Records by Jean-Marc Lederman Experience will be the album “13 Ghost Stories”. For the occasion Jean-Marc Lederman asked 20 singers and novelists to answer a simple question: “You come back to Earth, as a ghost, for 24 hours. What do you do ?” on music he created for them.

Jean-Marc: “They all replied with lyrics and vocals and the result was emotionally overwhelming at times. Sometimes they come back for revenge, sometimes for seeing their loved one a last time, sometimes they just float, sometimes they look to change something they did wrong…”

This album, out on March 1, will be released as a single CD edition with 17 tracks and a 300 limited edition with 2CD holding 23 tracks and a 36 page hardcover book. You can order the album right here.

The singers are: Christer Hermodsson from SPARK! (which song you can hear on the video below), Louise Fraser, Stefan Netschio from Beborn Beton, Juliette Bossé from Rive • Botanique, Jenna Fearon, Agi Taralas from Our Banshee, Elena Alice Fossi from Kirlian Camera and SPECTRA*paris, Yvette Winkler from Vaselyne, Mark Hockings from mesh, Natasha A Twentyone from Ambassador21, Alice Gift from Velvet Condom and Liste Noire, Christa Jerôme, Rascal Hueppe from Rotersand, Julianne Regan from All About Eve, Darrin C Huss from Psyche, Rexx Arkana from FGFC820 and Bruderschaft, JP Aston from Gene Loves Jezebel with Jay Aston and Ugly Buggs), Nicola Testa and Louise Love from Parallox. And Rodney Orpheus from The Cassandra Complex, Christina Zun from Witchblade comics fame and Julianne Regan have added 3 novels.

Here’s the track featuring Christer Hermodsson from SPARK!.

Jean-Marc Lederman was not only JimmyJoe-Snark III of the Belgian EBM cult formation “The Weathermen”, he also played live keyboards for various cult projects like Fad Gadget, or had published projects with Prof. Frank Spinath or Jean-Luc De Meyer (Ghost & Writer, Lederman/De Meyer).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: IDM, experimental, electro-ambient.

Background/Info: We all know Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg as a truly sound wizard involved with bands such as Rotersand and more recently Future Lied To Us and Radioaktivists. But before his involvement with ‘dark’ electronics he was mainly dealing with more danceable and technoid music. He released numerous EP’s as Wesenberg (among other nicknames) and now strikes back with the debut full length of Wesenberg.

The work has something conceptual ‘defining the home as the first and work as the second place, while places of social interaction comprise as third places’.

Content: The concept inspired Wesenberg to achieve a diversified opus, which moves from fragmented, experimental music to IDM to technoid passages and even a kind of lounge parts. The common element between all tracks remains the exceptional sound treatments of this artist.

+ + + : “Third Places” reveals a different side of Krischan Wesenberg; an approach in sound, which sounds miles away from the previously mentioned bands. But he clearly remains a brilliant sound architect, manipulating and creating unique sound treatments. The production is sophisticated, especially the more into IDM-driven cuts (cf. “Everything Nothing”, “Planet”) are the real attention grabbers. The songs are instrumentals, but the diversity of the work makes it all fascinating to explore.

– – – : “Third Places” can’t be compared to the other EBM/future-pop/electro-pop projects of the artist. The music is less accessible or I better should say accessible for another audience.

Conclusion: This work reveals another side of Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg, which is perfectly matching with the sound and approach of Audiophob. More than the other bands Wesenberg is involved with, “Third Places” illustrates the composing- and production skills of this great artist.

Best songs: “Everything Nothing”, “Base”, “Planet”, “Hotel Drake”, “Temple”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/krischanwesenberg

Label: www.audiophob.de / www.facebook.com/audiophob

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: Electro-pop, wave-pop.

Background/Info: While you maybe heard of this ‘new’ band before (being featured on a label compilation “Dependence 2012”) “Radioakt One” is the debut full length of Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand, Future Lied To Us ao), Frank Spinath (Seabound, Lionhearts, Edge Of Dawn, Ghost & Writer ao), Daniel Myer (Haujobb, Architect ao) and Sascha Lange (who seems to make his first steps as a band member). Notice by the way the album is also available as double CD format featuring extra songs and remixes.

Content: When some of the most genius artists from this scene come together with one of the most praised singers you only, but can expect a masterpiece. “Radioakt One” is a record on, which you can hear the input of the ‘three’ big names from the band. Some arrangements and sound treatments are clearly reminding to Rotersand while more evasive atmospheres sound like the trademark of Daniel Myer while Frank Spinath has this unique timbre of voice. The songs sound like a very personal and somewhat future-like vision of electro-pop.

+ + + : Radioaktivists clearly is the meeting between some of the biggest names active at the wider German fields of electro-underground music. And the good thing is that they clearly have injected their very own touch to the work, which resulted in a harmonious and accomplished work. The album sounds as a sonic exploration moving from evasive passages towards a few harder cuts. But in the end it all remains an album, which is more made to listen to instead of music for the dancefloor. I personally like the darker and even anguished parts such as the last track “Leere”. I also have to recommend “Radioactive” for the osmosis of Haujobb and Rotersand plus “I Want You”, which is the most accomplished and artistic piece of the work.

– – – : No doubt about it, this album will get a great response and especially in Germany, but it also is a rather complex piece of music. It’s not exactly the most accessible music, which also is hard to label.

Conclusion: The good thing is that Radioaktivists are playing live so this album might be more than a one-shot project. Let’s now hope that there’ll be a harmony between those artists instead of an ego-clash.

Best songs: “I Want You”, “Radioactive”, “Sinner”, “Leere”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Radioaktivists

Label: www.dependent.de / www.facebook.com/dependent.records

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: Future-pop, electro-pop.

Background/Info: The German trio Tom Lesczenski ([:SITD:]), Vasi Vallis (Frozen Plasma, Reaper, NamNamBulu) and Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand) took us by surprise in early 2018 with the great “Presence”-album released on Infacted Recordings. The trio is already back now with a 5-songs mini-album released on Trisol.

Content: This production is quite easy to review; you get 2 impressive songs, 1 cool track and 2 B-side cuts. Sound-wise this mature and talented trio is once again mixing elements of high-danceable and well-crafted future-pop with rather classical electro-pop tracks. Some songs are pretty Rotersand-like and I especially refer to the sound treatments and some arrangements.

+ + + : I first of all like the format of this record; mini-albums are somewhat forgotten productions, which according to me are far more interesting than EP’s with an endless number of remixes. We here get 5 new songs and especially “Second Lies” and “Blaze In The Dark” both are intelligent and sophisticated cuts. The strength of this music is all about the sound treatments, but still the high degree of dance-ability. The global production process (music and vocals) is totally accomplished and sound high-tech!

– – – : There’s no real reason to complain. After a brilliant debut album, this mini-album simply confirms the endless potential of this formation. The “Fear And Hope”-song is maybe my single regret about this work for being less inspired.

Conclusion: When you bring little geniuses together you only, but can expect a little sonic jewel. I’m really wondering where those sound architects will end!?

Best songs: “Second Lies”, “Blaze In The Dark”, “Break Me Into Pieces”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/futureliedtous

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol–Music–Group/104166526285471

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: EBM.

Background/Info: After the promising debut album “Eleven Grinding Sounds” the duo Lean-Marc Lederman – Jean-Luc De Meyer released a second EP taken from this opus.

Content: The title song of this EP “Atoms In Fury” has been remixed by Mark Hockings (Mesh). Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand, Future Lied To Us…) remixed “Flowers And Birds And Bees” and “Not Really There” while Belgian techno talent/producer Glenn Keteleer (Radical G) remixed “Back To Nature”. The last song is the album-version of “Atoms In Fury”.

+ + + : The most noticeable element and fact of this EP is the short, but qualitative list of artists who made a remix. I have a preference for the minimal-like and aggressive EBM-driven remix of “Back To Nature”. The original song (which is a cover version of Fad Gadget) has been transposed into something completely different. The bass line is absolutely amazing.

– – – : I can imagine Fad Gadget fans could have been shocked when they discovered the Lederman / De Meyer-cover version of the album, but they really gone die when discovering Radical G’s adaptation. I honestly expected bit more out of the other remixes.

Conclusion: This EP is definitely interesting for its remixers although big names don’t always bring the greatest remixes…

Best songs: “Back To Nature – Radical G Remix”, “Atoms In Fury – Mark From Mesh / Block All cookies Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Ledermandemeyer

Label: www.alfa–matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

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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Lederman / De Meyer, the artistic fusion of two strong-minded icons from the cult Belgian electronic music scene, launch a second single EP, “Atoms in Fury”.

This second EP is taken from their full length album “Eleven Grinding Songs” (out on vinyl, 2CD and CD) and features remixes by giants from the electro industrial music scene: Mark Hockings from Mesh, Rotersand, Radical G and Krischan Wesenberg, also from Rotersand.

You can preview the single EP right below and download it from Bandcamp.

The band also launched a teaser video:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Future-pop, electro-pop.

Background/Info: Future Lied To Us is a project driven by Krischan Jan-Eric Wesenberg (Rotersand), Vasi Vallis (NamNamBulu, Reaper, Frozen Plasma) and Thomas Lesczenski (SITD). After 2 digital singles released in 2017, here comes the debut album of this trio.

Content: When you bring talented and visionary artists together you can only expect something ‘amazing’. Future Lied To Us isn’t reinventing future-pop music, but “Presence” clearly sounds as they bring this music style back on the map of electronic music. “Presence” is a well-crafted album carried by impressive production skills. Some songs might remind Rotersand, but globally speaking the work is not a cheapo copy from one of the member’s bands they’re involved with. The songs are powerful, melodic, and emotional and a real lust for all lovers of professional electronic music.

+ + + : I’m not that surprised the album gets a great response in their homeland. It’s an intelligent and sophisticated electro-pop production, which sometimes evoke a sonic hybrid between Rotersand and Haujobb. Let’s not forget Wesenberg and Vallis both are recognized electro-pop artists. The originality is maybe far to find, but the elaboration of the songs is absolutely phenomenal. The production stands for a high-tech approach. The first- and last songs are more emotional pieces and still beautiful songs.

– – – : I maybe expected more originality from this trio, but in the end they simply composed a meaningful piece of music where there’s no real single song to throw away.

Conclusion: Future Lied To us doesn’t sound at all as a beginning band. I’m just wondering if they’ll go on composing new songs or if “Presence” is just a one-shot experience.

Best songs: “Suffocate”, “Embrace A World”, “Faded Faces”, “Falling”, “Drops Of Silver”, “Born In Silence”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/futureliedtous

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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

On 11th and 12th August 2018 the annual M’era-Luna festival takes place in the area of Hildesheim-Drispenstedt, Germany. M’era Luna exists since 2000 and is one of the biggest Gothic festivals in the European scene. Gothic, new wave, electro, EBM, industrial and medieval bands are featured on 2 stages.

Besides watching concerts you can also visit parties, markets, artist signing events, gothic fashion shows, readings by David Grashoff, Markus Heitz and Christian von Aster. The Gothic Garden, an oasis of calm right in front of the festival infield, offers demanding festival-goers comfort, space and conveniences to make your stay more exclusive, pleasant and more relaxing. At the M’era Luna Academy you can follow special workshops which will be announced soon on the official website.

The last years the festival was every time sold out and had about 25.000 visitors. This year some of the confirmed artists are: The Prodigy, Front 242, Ministry, Eisbrecher, In Extremo, Saltatio Mortis, Apoptygma Berzerk, Peter Heppner, L’Ame Immortelle, London After Midnight, Clan Of Xymox, Das Ich, Lord Of The Lost, Hocico, The 69 Eyes, Atari Teenage Riot, In Strict Confidence, Rotersand, Nachtmahr, Tanzwut, …

The interactive M’era Luna app can be downloaded here and tickets can be ordered here.

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, EBM.

Background/Info: “Schmerzmaschine” is the third album accomplished by the Leipziger (Germany) duo Bastian Polak – Andreas Engleitner. The fans of the band previously discovered the EP “Eclipse” which featured two songs that have been mixed for this album.

Content: If you never heard of this band before you quickly will recognize a sound reminding you of some famous German bands such as Project Pitchfork (for the bombastic arrangements), In Strict Confidence (for the complexity and charisma of the vocals) and Rotersand (still for the complexity, but also for the more refined approach). “Schmerzmaschine” doesn’t sound at all like a copyists, but simply composed an intelligent although somewhat ‘classical’ work featuring several great cuts. Notice by the way there’s a song featuring guest vocals by Chris L (Agonoize, Funker Vogt, Sexorcist ao).

+ + + : This is a real mature production for the writing of the songs and the great sound production. The songs have been accomplished by great sound treatments and carried by a talented singer. The song featuring Chris L is not my favorite cut although a nice little extra. The sound and influences might be familiar ones, but I really believe Intent:Outtake has achieved a great work, which is without a shadow of a doubt their most successful album to date. I don’t want to compare them to In Strict Confidence, but there’s a similar approach in sound with earlier releases of this band. Last, but not least the album features a few potential hits or at least club killers.

– – – : Despite of some potential hits, the album doesn’t have ‘the’ hit that would be recognized by all music lovers.

Conclusion: I’ve been positively surprised by this album and the progression of Intent:Outtake. I’m not affirming that they could become the ‘big next thing’ in dark-electro land and the world of EBM, but they clearly have the potential to grow to the top!

Best songs: “Eclipse – Album Edit”, “Masks”, “Fossils Of Anger”, “Raum Und Zeit”, “Schmerzmaschine”.

Rate: (8½).

Band: www.intentouttake.de / www.facebook.com/INTENTOUTTAKE

Label: www.sonic–x.de / www.myspace.com/sonicxrecords / www.facebook.com/pages/Sonic–X/223123321069481

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 biggest distributor for the industrial electro scene, Audioglobe, has announced its Top 10 in best selling industrial music labels. The numbers were already out there for the labels to look at it, but here they are also for the regular fans. Note that with 2018, Audioglobe also enters it’s 25th year of existance as the distributor set up shop on 6 December 1993. We will of course have a big extended interview and more with Sebastian Koch regarding this great achievement in a very tough market.

But now the numbers many of you have been waiting for!

The Top 3

First the Top 3. The number 1 label in sales is Trisol which has bands such as Clan of Xymox, Rome, Project Pitchfork, Sopor Aeternus, Nachtmahr, Rotersand, Asp, Mantus etc. under contract. The second label in the list is the Belgian based Alfa Matrix which nurtures the talent of Front 242, Underviewer, Daniel B Prothèse, Metroland, Alien Vampires, Ayria, Leatherstrip, Psy’Aviah, Kant Kino and so many other acts. Note that this label also has a very strong e-shop presence (direct sales are not included in this Top 10 list). The 3rd label is Out Of Line with Blutengel, Combichrist, Hocico, Solar Fake, Heimataerde, Unzucht, Solitary Experiments. Also this label has an own e-shop.

The rest of the Top 10

The 4th label is Fabrika/Dead Scarlet (She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, M!R!M, Doric…) followed by ArtOfFact (Legend, Frontline Assembly, Haujobb, Psyche, Noise Unit, Dead When I found her, Pankow…) and Metropolis (Birthday Massacre, Aesthetic Perfection, God Module, Lords of Acid, Skinny Puppy, Delerium…). The 7th place is occupied by Rustblade (Morricone, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin, Leaether Strip, Lydia Lunch, Legendary Pink Dots, Merzbow…). Also Dependent is still in the Top 10, namely on spot 8 with their label roster (Covenant, Mesh, Pride & Fall, Beborn Beton, Seabound, Encephalon, Frontline Assembly, Clicks..). Place 9 and 10 finally are for Manic Depression (Winter Severity Index, Ash Code, Schonwald, Box and the Twins, Sjoblom, Dear Deer…) and Undo (Marsheaux, Girl One and the Grease Guns, Mesh, Fotonovela, OMD, Nikonn, Mikro, Vienna, Liebe…).

And on spot 11 and 12…

2 labels didn’t make the Top 10, namely Hall Of Sermon (Lacrimosa, Snakeskin, Black Moon Secret, Eyes Shut Tight) and Infacted (NamNamBulu, Grendel, Torul, Reaper, Frozen Plasma, Ruined Conflict, Orange Sector, Syntec…). Both labels ended on place 11 and 12.

Here’s the complete list again. The bands next to the label are listed in order of sales results/total turnover per band in 2017 via Audioglobe.

01 TRISOL (Clan of Xymox, Rome, Project Pitchfork, Sopor Aeternus, Nachtmahr, Rotersand, Asp, Mantus…)
02 ALFA MATRIX (Front 242, Underviewer, Daniel B Prothèse, Metroland, Alien Vampires, Ayria, Leatherstrip…)
03 OUT OF LINE (Blutengel, Combichrist, Hocico, Solar Fake, Heimataerde, Unzucht, Solitary Experiments …)
04 FABRIKA/DEAD SCARLET (She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, M!R!M, Doric…)
05 ARTOFFACT (Legend, Frontline Assembly, Haujobb, Psyche, Noise Unit, Dead When I found her, Pankow…)
06 METROPOLIS (Birthday Massacre, Aesthetic Perfection, God Module, Lords of Acid, Skinny Puppy, Delerium…)
07 RUSTBLADE (Morricone, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin, Leaether Strip, Lydia Lunch, Legendary Pink Dots, Merzbow…)
08 DEPENDENT (Covenant, Mesh, Pride & Fall, Beborn Beton, Seabound, Encephalon, Frontline Assembly, Clicks..)
09 MANIC DEPRESSION (Winter Severity Index, Ash Code, Schonwald, Box and the Twins, Sjoblom, Dear Deer…)
10 UNDO (Marsheaux, Girl One and the Grease Guns, Mesh, Fotonovela, OMD, Nikonn, Mikro, Vienna, Liebe…)
11 HALL OF SERMON (Lacrimosa, Snakeskin, Black Moon Secret, Eyes Shut Tight)
12 INFACTED (NamNamBulu, Grendel, Torul, Reaper, Frozen Plasma, Ruined Conflict, Orange Sector, Syntec…)

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