Celebrating its 30th year, Audioglobe, the most important distributor in the darkwave scene, just shared a statistical review, revealing the shifts and trends in the darkwave (and related) music genre.

Our readers will surely remember that we have reported on these stats for years, until 2018, the first year that Audioglobe didn’t communicate these stats. Sebastian Koch from Audioglobe explains: “Some customers never really cared that much about these, as they have better things to do than reading boring mails from the undersigned. But… Surprisingly there are quite a high number of customers, that sort of ‘complained’ about the fact, that no stats were being done any longer… The reason is: I was simply always far too busy in past years. Anyway: Here we go with the first new stats since 2017!”

So here are some export facts.

Top 10 Bestselling Labels of 2023 (export)

1. FABRIKA/DEAD SCARLET
   • She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, M!R!M, Doric…
2. METROPOLIS
   • Birthday Massacre, Delerium, Front Line Assembly, A Projection, KMFDM, Legendary P.D…
3. ICY COLD/MANIC DEPR.
   • Twin Tribes, Je T’aime, Traitrs, Kill Shelter, Closed Mouth, Talk to Her, Schonwald…
4. ALFA MATRIX
   • Alien Vampires, Front 242, Metroland, Die Robo Sapiens, Elm, 808 Dot Pop, Helalyn Flowers…
5. RUSTBLADE
   • Claudio Simonetti, Ennio Morricone, Lycia Lunch, Spiritual Front, Ketvector, Legendary Pink D…
6. OUT OF LINE
   • Blutengel, Hocico, Solitary Experiments, Suicide Commando, Signal Aout42, Erdling…
7. TRISOL
   • Sopor Aeternus, Rome, Clan of Xymox, Asp, Ostara, Skinflicks, Nachtmahr, Mantus, Soman…
8. DEPENDENT
   • Kirlian Camera, Girls Under Glass, Spectra*Paris, Mildreda, Black Nail Cabaret, Beborn Beton…
9. ARTOFFACT
   • Actors, Noise Unit, cEvin Key, Kaelan Mikla, Ploho, Sacred Skin, Kauan, Ken Mode, Spectres…
10. AUERBACH
    • Spiritual Front, Sol Invictus, Tenhi, Moon and the Night Spirit, Haavard, Hekate, Orplid…

Best Export Territories of 2023

If we look at the Audioglobe stats, we notice that Germany and Greece remain the company’s strongest markets, continuing a trend that has been consistent for ages. However, the 2023 statistics reveal some notable shifts.

Canada, once a prominent market for Audioglobe, has surprisingly disappeared from the export landscape. In contrast, the United States and the United Kingdom have re-emerged as significant territories, marking their return to prominence in the darkwave music scene after several years.

The most unexpected development in 2023 is the rise of Australia as a key market. This growth stands in stark contrast to Switzerland, which, despite its affluence, has seen a sharp decline in sales. Sebastian Koch adds: “The (by far!) lowest sales of all countries where we export to, was to Switzerland… The rich Swiss don’t buy records! Since I left the country (1990), something is wrong back home!”

Here is the top 10 list of export territories:

1. Germany
2. Greece
3. Netherlands
4. Portugal
5. USA
6. United Kingdom
7. Australia
8. Spain
9. Russia
10. Poland

Not in the top 10, but France, Japan, Malta, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, and Perù are also good export territories for Audioglobe.

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: Electro-Wave, Dark-Wave, Dark-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl, Cassette.

Background/Info: The Italian duoLuca Bandini –
Alessandra Gismondi  is mainly known for their involvement with Shoegaze/Dream-Pop formation Schonwald, but they’re also active since 2014 in Shad Shadows. Their common love for obscure Electronics brought them to set up this band, which has now released their fourth album. The CD is available via Silver Veins while last year Young & Cold Records released a vinyl and Wave Tension Records a cassette. “Toxic Behaviours” is a somewhat conceptual work inspired by ‘the fundamental issue whether ritual is a necessary part of all societies. Ritual does not really exist in modern Western society but some rituals became as “Toxic Behaviours” in unexpected areas of the modern life’. 

Content: The songs are clearly evoking some retro Electro-Wave influences, but sometimes also a kind of electronic transposition of Shoegaze. The songs are diversified, but always recovered with vintage-like synths. It creates a dark and somewhat depressed atmosphere, which totally fits with the band’s passion for ‘obscure Electronic music’. Both protagonists, but mainly Luca, are singing, the production of the vocals having something misty, mysterious and sterile. The album features 10 songs plus 3 remixes (only for the digital and CD versions) by Andrea 20Hz, Curses and an “Alternative Version” of “Leader”.

+ + + : Shad Shadows has accomplished an interesting retro-styled and yet personal work. The misty sphere supporting the work makes me think of an Electronic version of Shoegaze, but it definitely will appeal to lovers of good-old Electro-Wave. The songs aren’t into complexity, but the simple power of retro-like sound treatments with excellent, cold strings on top. The ghost-like production of Luca Bandini’s vocals are fitting with the retro Electro style. Alessandra Gismondi is more active as backing vocalist, but her sweet ‘ice-queen’ way of singing remains a little extra. There are several cool songs, but “Fight The Dragon” definitely sounds like a masterpiece.

– – – : The remix of “Sad Bodies” by Andrea 20Hz sounds pretty cool and definitely ‘clubby’, but is quite different from the original edit.

Conclusion: After the great Shonwald album released last year, Luca Bandini –
Alessandra Gismondi found more great ideas to accomplish this intriguing and great new work by Shad shadows.

Best songs: “Fight The Dragon”, “Sad Bodies”, “Catch Fear”, “The Grace”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/shadshadowsmusic

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

SCHONWALD is an Italian duo based in Ravenna. Ale Gismondi and Luca Bandini are now active under the SCHONWALD moniker for several years. They last year released their fourth full length album entitled “Abstraction”. The album has been released on Manic Depression and reveals a fascinating mix between Dark-Wave, Dream-Pop, Post-Punk and Shoegaze. I think it’s one of the best productions from the past year. So here’s an interview with Ale and Luca.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Italy has been badly touched by Covid-19 so how did you experience this situation and in, which way did you feel your artistic activities impacted by the pandemic?

Luca: The situation in Italy has been very difficult from the beginning of the pandemic. We were struck not as musicians only, but also regarding our new adventure, we are running for 2 years now a B&B.
Ravenna our hometown is rich of history and art;  because of the closing of the boundary, museums, restaurants we had to stop with the B&B and cancel all our  gigs in Europe. I can’t hide it was really hard to face this situation. We hope to come-back to normality as soon as possible. 

Q: 2020 was also a special year for SCHONWALD as you released your new album “Abstraction”. What can you say about it and how do you look back at the composition and production?

Ale: The process of writing/composition of the new album took a long time. We started working on the first songs at the end of 2018. First Luca started as usual with the structure of drums and rhythmic loops then the bass lines made by synths followed. At that point Luca did a strong work with the guitar lines because at the end of Summer 2019 I got sick and suffered of pneumonia. For this reason we had to stop for several months in order to recovery at best.  Finally when I was getting better I decided to record the bass lines and a lot of synths were deleted; we wanted to get a Post-Punk sound that could fit the most as possible to the actual attitude. January 2020 I was able to sing again, but it was really hard for me singing after the illness, that’s why it took so long.

Q: Abstraction” is inspired ‘by esoteric hymns, aesthetic mantras, echoes of savage human nature. It’s called ‘a voyage through introspection of the 21th century’s utopian hopes’. Can you give us more details about the theme(s) and do you see a connection with the dystopian year 2020?

Ale: The main theme is probably the situation I was experiencing or rather the physical and mental disease caused me a serious stress. All of this has left me away from the daily routine for months. The impossibility to go out and have a life. This forced loneliness has brought to the surface a primordial side of my personality that I didn’t know before. As we say here in Italy I had  ‘an epiphany’.

Now I only can say that through the pain something unreal can happen, which luckily inspired me; not through a rational way of creating a song, but pushed by an unknown inner strength; something absolutely beautiful though.  To me the word abstraction is now a different way of thinking and see things without limits. I let my mind wander freely.

Q: Abstraction” clearly sounds as your darkest opus. What explains and inspires this darkness and what does it say about you own vision and perception of life?

Ale: I definitely agree with you, “Abstraction” is the saddest and darkest album we ever did. In my personal opinion I’m just a little disillusioned about ‘humans’. We realized that we are surrounded by few people who really matter to us.

Lately we prefer spending time with our cat staying at home or in our garden, being immersed among the trees deeply in contact with the heart of nature. Nature has purified minds and souls during the pandemic. 

Q: The song “Passion Of Lover” sounds as a wink to BAUHAUS, but was it all about? Do you have favorite songs and are there songs you now would have produced a different way?

Ale: I often wondered  if it was appropriate to name the song as the almost homonymous of BAUHAUS. But in the end, I realized, we’d to call it this way because this is our tribute to passion. 

Of course we have favorite ones; mine are: “Desert”, “Polar”, “Reflex” and “Echo’s Dream”.
Luca’s favorites are: “No Return” and “Fall Apart”.
Every time we find something that we would have liked to change.

Q: How do you see SCHONWALD evolving as band throughout the years? Do you notice important changes and evolutions and how do you look back at previous releases?  

Luca: Looking back from our first album to this late work I can see a progressive change that leads to a greater compositional awareness without changing too much our artistic identity.

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: Dream-Pop, Dark-Pop, Cold-Wave, Shoegaze.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Alessandra Gismondi and Luca Bandini are now active under the Schonwald moniker for several years. The Italian duo never stopped gaining new fans and more recognition. “Abstraction” is the band’s fourth album, which is inspired by esoteric hymns, aesthetic mantras, echoes of savage human nature.

Content: If you’re familiar with the work of this band you for sure will immediately recognize their passion for 80s music. The work is a nice fusion between pure darker Dream-Pop, Cold-Wave and Shoegaze. The global work makes me think to an imaginary hybrid between Bauhaus, The Cure and Suicide. Dark and melancholic, Alessandra Gismondi empowers the mood by her sterile way of singing, which here again is pretty 80s like.

+ + + : I’ve always liked the work of this band and Schonwald hasn’t change this sound formula. It seems that they took more care for the technical aspect of the work, but they didn’t lose their skills to write great songs. There’s a true symbiosis between the guitar playing and the electronic arrangements. The album is supported with a dark and desperate mood; it’s the kind of music that will make you dream away, but it’s not what I would call a relaxing experience. Schonwald will bring you to dance on the magic effect of their icy, elevating melodies and the deep, vibrating bass lines. The album is a constant succession of noticeable songs, but “Passion Of Lover” is definitely my favorite one. The title reminds me of Bauhaus and with some imagination you might consider Schonwald as the contemporary and female fronted heritor of Bauhaus. The album is a great and professional production revealing one of the best artists in this genre today.

– – – : Schonwald avoids innovation; it must be voluntary, but I honestly don’t care as this is one of the best productions from the year.

Conclusion: Schonwald confirms to be one of the most talented ‘Post-Punk’ formations of the past years. This is an album I can only but highly recommend!

Best songs: “Passion Of Lover”, “Desert”, “Polar”, “No Return”, “Reflex”, “Violet”, “Fire Fire”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/schonwald.music

Label: www.manicdepressionrecords.com / www.facebook.com/manicdepressionrecords

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

Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘Cultural Bleeding’.

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

Alessandra Gismondi and Luca Bandini is the Italian duo behind Schonwald. Their music is inspired by the 80s and more especially by shoegaze and post-punk while appealing for fans of the 4AD label. A few months ago now they released their third opus “Between Parallel Lights” on The French labels Anywave and Manic Depression Records. This album confirms their fine taste for dark music.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Can you briefly introduce yourself by telling us the way you met and set up Schonwald?

Alessandra : We met a way back when Luca was still attending the school of  Fine Arts and I got involved as musician in another band. We fell in love and then Luca started playing guitar to finally become a member of the band I was involved in. Later on we decided to create the project Schonwald,  which is our main project now.

Q: It all sounds like you guys are inspired by some legendary 4AD bands, creating a mix between shoegaze, dream-pop, post-punk and new-wave. How would you analyze your sources of inspiration and tell us a bit more about the ‘sound’ of Schonwald?

Alessandra : Of course we are big fans of the legendary 4AD bands and we grown up listening to Cocteau Twins, Clan of Xymox, Bauhaus, Lush and many others. Trying to analyze our sources of inspiration we could say that it’s  strongly influenced from our own town. We live in Ravenna, which is a small and beautiful town full of history located near the Adriatic Sea. It’s characterized by churches, marshes, swamps and fog. These places especially in Winter are very suggestive and rich of gloomy atmospheres. So it’s very easy to get inspiration to create our music.

Q: How do you look back at your latest full length “Between Parallel Lights” and what have been the main changes/evolution compared to previous albums?

Luca: Our previous album “Dream For The Fall” is more into deep and dark atmospheres. “Between Parallel Lights” is basically focused on hypnotic melodies mixed with tribal rhythms, sick noise synths and cold guitar riffs.

Q: I noticed all of your albums have been released on CD format, but still on vinyl. Is it all about 80s nostalgia? And what does it mean to you to get your work released on vinyl format?

Luca: Vinyl is the format we prefer so for this reason we feel very proud and lucky that Anywave and Manic Depression Records mainly release their bands on this beautiful format!

Q: You clearly seem to be a successful live band so what makes the magic of Schonwald on stage and what has been your best live memory so far?

Alessandra: Playing live is an emotional waterfall. Playing together on stage is an intimate situation between us and even people can get involved with this passion. The best live memory so far was at the ‘Wave Gothic Treffen’ 2015 because it was the last show of 50 gigs from the “Dream For The Fall” tour.

Q: What might we expect from Schonwald during the next few months and are you already working on new songs?

Luca: During the next few months we’ll play through Europe and we are very excited to play in Moskow and Saint Petersburg for the very first time in July. At the moment we are working on new songs which will be recorded very soon.

 Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dream-pop, shoegaze, post-punk.

Background/Info: Driven by the creative mind of Alessandra Gismondi and Luca Bandini, the Schonwald duo is a kind of hidden treasure from Italy. After their debut album (cf. “Amplified Nature”) we had to wait 5 years to welcome their next album (cf. “Dream For The Fall”). “Between Parallel Lights” has been released a few months ago and is their 2^nd work released on Anywave Records/Manic Depression Records.

Content: The sound of Schonwald clearly reminds me of some legendary 4AD bands like Cocteau Twins, but it also seems to find its inspiration in the realms of shoegaze music. There’s an interesting osmosis between dream-pop and shoegaze while we can imagine a sonic intercourse between The Jesus And Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins and even Suicide.

The songs have been written with low and deep resonating bass lines plus impressive, mewing guitar playing and cold electronic treatments. The tempo is pretty danceable and on top of the production you’ll be touched by the sensual and ghost-like vocals of Alessandra.

+ + + : This is an album with a perfect balance between dream-pop and shoegaze while carried by a great danceable tempo. The guitar playing is absolutely great and evoking the true spirit of the 80s. I also like the vocals, which inject a sexy, but cold impression. Last, but not least this album reveals an impressive number of great songs.

– – – : The artwork and especially available information is pretty sober, which for sure is another link with the 80s, but maybe not the best trick to catch a wider audience.

Conclusion: Schonwald has been contaminated by a real resistant 80s electro-wave virus and I hope there’s no vaccine available against this plague! This album sounds brilliant.

Best songs: “Victory”, “Venice”, “Directions”, “Silver Veins”, “Fury”.

Rate: (8½).

Band: www.facebook.com/schonwald.music

Label: www.anywaverecords.com / www.facebook.com/anywave.recs / www.manicdepressionrecords.com / www.facebook.com/manicdepressionrecords

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 Anywave label is prepping the imminent re-release of Schonwald’s “Dream for the fall” on vinyl.

The first vinyl edition from 2014 was sold out immediately, the re-release will come in a new red edition with cover and in a red & black sleeve.

Schonwald is an Italian duo formed by Alessandra Gismondi (vocals, bass) and Luca Bandini (guitar, synth and drum machine). And if you like the 4AD sound from the Cocteau Twins, then this should be your thing for sure.

You can order this vinyl right here.

Below are 2 videos showcasing their work.

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