Industrial pioneers SPK have returned as The SPKtR, a collaboration between Graeme Revell and his son Robert J. Revell. The new project launched with the digital single and video “The Last of Men“. The single has two cuts: “The Last of Men” and “The Last of Men (video edit).”

“The Last of Men” is an industrial/electronic statement about AI, power, and the collapse of human centrality. Revell says: “AI is simply the contemporary coal face. It isn’t a shortcut or a replacement for artists. It’s an instrument.” He also describes the track as dealing with “the end of human centrality” rather than human extinction.

A video has also been produced, you can watch it below. The SPKtR will make their live debut at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig on May 25, 2026.

About The SPKtR / SPK

SPK was founded in Sydney in 1978 by Graeme Revell and Neil Hill. The project moved to the UK in 1980, and released the “Meat Processing Section” EP, the 1981 debut album “Information Overload Unit” on Side Effects, and the 1981 live cassette “At the Crypt” on Sterile Records.

SPK followed with “Leichenschrei” in 1982/1983 and the compilation “Auto-Da-Fé” in 1983. In 1984, “Machine Age Voodoo” marked a clear shift toward a more electronic and dance-oriented sound, with Sinan Leong joining as lead vocalist.

SPK continued with “Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers” in 1986 on Side Effects, followed by “Digitalis Ambigua: Gold & Poison” in 1987 and “Oceania Live” in 1988.

After SPK’s original run, Revell built a long career in film and game scoring including song credits for “The Crow”, “The Craft”, “From Dusk till Dawn”, “Sin City”, “Blow”, “Call of Duty”, and “Dune”.

Formed in Summer 2025 The SPKtR lineup consists of Graeme Revell and Robert J. Revell, now based in Auckland, New Zealand. A first single, “The Last of Men”, is out now.

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.

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Graeme Revell is inseparably linked to his musical alter ego, SPK, and stands as one of the true pioneers of Industrial music. Alongside other groundbreaking acts such as Test Department, Einstürzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, Z’ev, Monte Cazazza, Bourbonese Qualk ao he helped shape a movement that redefined the boundaries of sound, performance, and provocation.

Emerging from the late 1970s underground and reaching its peak in the 1980s, this scene produced a legacy whose impact still resonates across Experimental and Industrial music today. While several of those early visionaries are no longer with us, others—Graeme Revell among them—continue to create, adapt, and inspire. Speaking with him was both an honor and a revelation. From the outset, I was told that Graeme Revell prefers not to dwell on the past but to focus instead on the present. My initial plan for a retrospective, SPK anthology-style interview quickly shifted toward the here and now—a conversation about SPK’s new plans and Graeme Revell’s book, “The Ineffable Geometry Of Light”.

What emerged was a portrait of an artist whose creative drive remains undiminished. Decades after SPK’s early eruptions of sonic chaos, Graeme Revell’s passion for exploration and transformation still burns with remarkable intensity. This interview with Graeme Revell (SPK) was a glimpse into the restless mind of a true innovator. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

SPK interview

Q: Graeme Revell, at the time of this interview, you’re not quite 70 yet. Apparently, you don’t like to dwell on the past but prefer to talk about the future. Most people—especially these days—experience the future as uncertain. How do you perceive that? And isn’t the past a source of experience and wisdom for moving forward?

Graeme: The future is probably more uncertain than almost any time in human history. But I always take a dialectical viewpoint. Yes, there are clear and present dangers but there are also utopian possibilities that I try to write about. My book, “The Ineffable Geometry Of Light”, is a braided novel that first looks at the human experience of a young man encountering the seismic epistemological shift that Darwin unleashed on the western world, how he processes the removal of intentionality from the universe and immediately conceives of the rise of machines as an evolutionary inevitability. So that’s the past and present. And I do juxtapose that with two people facing the epistemological rupture of the near future, the rise of embodied artificial intelligence and the demotion of man from the center of the universe.

So, yes, there are broad currents from the past to learn from here, but they are different qualitative orders of magnitude apart.

Q: In many cultures, aging symbolizes experience and, above all, wisdom. Using that wisdom, what would you say today to a young Graeme Revell taking his first artistic steps in the 1970s? And do you think that same young man would have listened to any advice?

Graeme: I have been very fortunate to make most of the right moves and have been quite good at turning failures into positives. There is nothing I would change except that I was (and still am) a very isolated person stemming from my childhood. If anything, I wish I had been able to be more outgoing and more trusting in certain situations. The young man may have listened but his personality would probably not have allowed him to change. My project: to be continually changing styles, hindered my audience somewhat, but I am pleased in retrospect that I stuck to it.

Q: Between past and future, we shouldn’t forget the present. And in this present, SPK seems to be very much ‘alive and kicking’. It also feels like a very special—and perhaps even emotional—thing, since your son Robert is now involved. Could you elaborate on that, and especially on how the father–son relationship might evolve into an artistic one?

Graeme: Yes, a big part of my re-emergence is the opportunity to perform with Robert who really enjoyed the recent European shows. He’s a very talented musician. And I hired him from the age of 16 to play on several movie scores. So we’ve always had the relationship. 

Q: I read that new live shows are planned and that new material is also in the works, incorporating ‘new’ or ‘different’ musical influences beyond what we know from the early SPK. Could you tell us more about SPK’s live plans and musical evolution, as well as Robert’s contribution?

Graeme: Without divulging much about the future sound, he will be bringing his different influences into my mix. Overall, the aim is to enjoy ourselves, as always. Live, he will probably be mostly playing guitar and maybe some ethnic string instruments. I will be handling the electronics and there will be a special guest vocalist.

Q: If live shows are coming, I can hardly imagine you not playing some old songs. Doesn’t that bother someone who doesn’t like to look back on the past—or is that different?

Graeme: I will probably make some call-backs by sampling and including earlier SPK just for fans who are in the know. It’s a kind of thank you to them for all the support they have shown for so long. But I am done with the old material on the whole. As I said, I think I adequately established right from the beginning that no-one should have any expectations of what I am going to do. In fact, it often comes as a surprise to me;))

Q: You’re already mentioned your book “The Ineffable Geometry Of Light” that has been just published. I haven’t managed to get my hands on it yet, but the themes—despite the story being set in the Victorian era—seem profound and relevant. Humanity is central, especially its relationship to evolution, the emotional world, and sexuality. How do you want to present this story, and what does its content mean to you personally?

Graeme: In addition to what I said above, the story takes place in 2 eras: the 1860s, and ‘the 4^th decade of the 21^st century’. I suppose that I am proposing a reevaluation of what humanity, emotion, sexuality, language, intelligence, the unconscious and consciousness really are in the context of contemporary discoveries in neuroscience and deep learning. It is a presentation of huge amounts of information that would take years of reading dry academic papers to cover. That’s what I did. I have also grown disgusted by the stupidity and hubris of humans to think we are the crowning peak of evolution as we go about destroying everything in our path. So it’s a love story at heart that’s much bigger than ourselves.

Q: Do you recognize autobiographical elements in the characters, and what does the book reveal about you—and by that I mean primarily the person, not the artist?

Graeme: It’s also deeply personal at the same time. There are 3 main characters and I have thought since I completed it over 5 years that if I combined those three, it would be an autobiography. Not necessarily of me, but of the contemporary human on the cusp of being superseded.

What it reveals about me? I am fundamentally a materialist – I just thought of a term. Perhaps a micro-materialist in Daniel Dennett’s sense of us as ‘a collection of individual neural responses too fine-grained to capture with language’. I am of the opinion that the ineffability we ascribe to certain human experience is predicated on either ignorance or this inability to see into the minutia of ourselves. This is personal, cultural and historical – it gradually changes over time. I’m not sure if this is what you meant but it is how I see this temporary mutable entity that I, only for convenience and linguistic conformity, call myself. I can find no evidence or need for either self-awareness or even consciousness to describe any personal or universal phenomena.

I think, along with Susan Blackmore, that we are merely reproducers of replicating memes with their source in replicant RNA and probably earlier. We have had the status of best reproducer for a couple of hundred thousand years but within 10 years that status will be no more. What then? That is the question but we are not helpless here.

Q: I imagine it’s no coincidence that half your story takes place during the Victorian era—a time that also witnessed the Industrial Revolution and the idea of evolution. This period provided fertile ground at the end of the 19th century for Symbolism, an artistic movement that emerged in countries like France, Belgium, and Austria. I imagine that connection with art must resonate with you in some way, but how do you see that potential link between Symbolism and your own work, both today and in the future?

Graeme: You are right. The Symbolist period was partly a reaction against Darwinism. The hero of the 19^th Century section – Samuel Butler – correctly senses the inadequacy of the theory of variations to describe how the variations actually arise. He is really the progenitor of the theory of the Unconscious which is of course the territory of Symbolism. I trace the genealogy of symbols back through proto-Indo-European etymology to corporeal gesture (prehuman). And I find myself quoting the poetry of Rilke and Proust, both heavily influenced by the Symbolists. So it is a ‘raprochement’ of emotion to materiality that interests me.

Q: Evolution is clearly a theme that fascinates you. When we think about evolution today, AI inevitably comes to mind—something you’ve also been focusing on for years. Should we see this evolution as a blessing or a curse? And what does it mean for humanity in the 21st century?

Graeme: AI contains both outcomes. Every new technology is a small-p Political struggle. In this case it is evolutionary and we can’t stop its emergence, but the behaviour of the prior species is always reflected in the successor species’ genotype. (Baldwinian evolution). So, it is incumbent upon us, artists and dreamers to fight this political struggle against the powers of destruction and ignorance. Humanity will inevitably take a different shape in embodied Ai but my thesis  is that AI is very, very human having been trained on language with all its metaphorical conceptual basis rather than code (as in the old days). We are not separate species but a hybrid. None of this is binary. It is dialectical.

Q: Your studies have given you considerable knowledge of psychiatry, and I find the relationship between artificial intelligence and human beings especially intriguing. Don’t these developments—along with social media and other technologies—risk alienating people from one another, even to the point of losing all real connection? How do you see this, and can it be managed effectively?

Graeme: Yes, the learning networks of both species are converging but the downside is exactly as you describe. The old social ties between people are fragmenting so quickly and being replaced by vastly distributed, rapid velocity, truncated communication that we are struggling to adjust. People are certainly becoming alienated which gives power every chance to insert itself into agentic AI and relace deepfakes with even more dangerous DeepFeels (my term).

Information can be delivered through an intimacy pipeline with embedded erotic content via the agent. In psychology we know that an emotional connection takes a mere 6-8 half-hour sessions, and behaviour modification through suggestion in this erotically charged environment, only a few hours longer (12 hours or so). In contrast human-human contact is messy, often conflictual and can be boring. The uptake of sites like Replika and Xiaoice is enormous and can’t be stopped. I am on the cusp of publishing about how an alternative to these could be structured with necessary boundaries relating more to real human interaction. Check out Medium soon.

Q: What are your thoughts on the use of AI in the arts—particularly in music, visual art, and poetry?

Graeme: They are all at an early stage but getting ‘better’ rapidly. Just this week I have encountered 2 really interesting uses of AI. Firstly KK-Null’s work and also Somnambulists reworkings. My most controversial opinion is the one that AI somehow plagiarises and spits it out. I have two responses. Speaking as someone who has been plagiarized more often than I could say, I think humans with their ‘inspired by’ and ‘paying homage to’ excuses – if they even bother to do that much – are much better plagiarists than AI.

AI samples a much bigger database, taking a minute number of bits from each source and we inevitably borrow because of our relatively limited databases. Secondly, I believe that almost all ‘creativity’ is the combination of existing ideas. If you’re ‘very creative’ it’s because you combine and reinterpret quite different sets of information. AI can do this. I ran an experiment in the last few days on my FB page and around 90% or respondents were positive to my ideas. About 10% were still of the opinion that AI has nothing to offer which opinion I respect but predict this will change as the transformers are fine-tuned to produce more interesting output. I have proposed calling these NLMs (niche learning models) rather than the LLMs.

Q: The connection between evolution and art seems seriously disrupted in the current zeitgeist. I’m thinking of algorithms censoring a great deal of artistic work, but also of world leaders and governments allocating less funding to the arts. Should we, as art lovers, be worried—and what have been your personal experiences with this?

Graeme: Speaking as someone who lives off copyright royalties, I am concerned for future generations. The recent controversy with Spotify being a case in point. Its possible that copyright in the arts may disappear. The only reason it is 75 years is because the big entertainment companies had enough power to secure that (where inventions generally have only a 20-year period). However, if your copyright is not shared with a major corporation, good luck. The solution is for a ‘United Artists’ equivalent platform to emerge with fair trade principles.

I am a representative for composers, sound recordists and mixers in my home country, New Zealand, and funding is almost impossible to come by.  I run an AI Creative film competition here which teaches how to make ethical AI films because they can be done on a fraction of the budget even of a conventional short film.

We just have to find work-arounds. In this sense independent music, since sampling, has been solving similar problems since the 80s.

Q: Last year, I visited a powerful exhibition in Vienna about “Entartete Kunst” (“Degenerate Art”), a term coined during the rise of the Nazis to describe works that supposedly didn’t conform to the norms and values of that regime. It immediately made me think of today’s algorithms, which also censor quite a lot. How do you view this reality, and how do you think it will evolve?

Graeme: The Nazi campaign against so-called ‘degenerate art’ sought to purify cultural expression by erasing what it deemed morally, politically, or racially subversive—modernist forms that threatened a state-approved conservatism of beauty, order, and obedience. The censors disguised ideology as aesthetics, claiming to defend public virtue while in fact eliminating dissenting visions of the human.

Today’s algorithmic censorship by AI systems often operates under the banner of ‘community safety’ or ‘brand suitability’, yet it similarly enforces invisible norms that suppress ambiguity, eroticism, gender diversity and political dissent. In both cases, a machinery of exclusion—once bureaucratic, now computational—narrows the field of human expression to what can be categorized as acceptable. Where the Reich hung forbidden canvases in mockery, our digital platforms quietly bury them beneath opaque layers of algorithmic invisibility.

Whereas I have expressed optimism for non-American platforms to arise to break their monopoly, I certainly wouldn’t expect less censorship from the likes of DeepSeek. I can’t see things improving in the foreseeable future.

Q: I mentioned your psychiatric background, which brings me back to the link between people with psychological burdens and artistic expression—sometimes called ‘Art Brut’ or ‘Outsider Art’. How do you view this kind of expression? And do you think it’s given far too little space and recognition by a certain ‘artistic elite’?

Graeme: I used to talk about this a lot. Since the demise of the institution of the asylum, opportunities for people with severe psychological burdens to produce art have actually declined. It is very difficult to gather materials and allocate time when struggling on the street with food deficit and drug proliferation. At the same time, contemporary art has become more and more expensive to produce.

Q: Could your book be adapted into a film—and if so, would you write the soundtrack? What might it sound like?

Graeme: It could possibly be done but I think it would be best in an experimental style like Darren Aronofsky meets Tarkovsky. The book has very long dialog passages so the screenplay would have to be much different.  I would like to try it and would certainly write the Soundtrack. It would be quite Ambient and a mix of the entire sonic history of man as if heard in a slipstream. I have already composed it in my head.

Q: You were one of the pioneers of Industrial music. Back then, the scene felt interconnected and deeply engaged—there was a real spirit. Is that a feeling or sense of connection you still experience today? How does it manifest itself now?

Graeme: For me, because of my isolation, I was not really connected to anyone except one close friend was Nocturnal Emissions and we were quite friendly with many others at a distance. Over the years I have met many others like Clock DVA, The Legendary Pink Dots, Nurse With Wound, Skinny Puppy, Laibach but I relocated to Australia in ’85, then went straight to Hollywood in ’90. At that point our trajectories diverged. It was very nice to catch up with them all at VOD this summer where it was a lovefest. It was also nice to meet and chat with so many fans in a relaxed setting. The scene has exploded beyond recognition however, and I know only a tiny fraction of the acts.

Q: To what extent do you recognize yourself, especially artistically, in your son Robert? And finally, what’s still on your to-do list?

Graeme: He has a different trajectory but we may have arrived in a hybrid room together. He is an instrumentalist/composer where I am just a composer. What’s still on the to-do list? How long do we have? I will tell you that the to-do list far exceeds my available time on this earth.

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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“Cute” is the fourth album by British duo Kevin Tomkins and Paul Taylor, also known as Sutcliffe No More (formerly Sutcliffe Jugend). The album evokes the raw energy of early ’80s Industrial music, blending it with more abrasive Noise elements, often categorized as Power-Electronics. The sound feels Experimental, at times even improvised, but that uncompromising approach is what makes it so engaging. The standout tracks recall the early works of Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and their contemporaries. The vocals are delivered in a possessed, intense manner, adding to the album’s distinct, idiosyncratic style. “Cute” is strange, unsettling, and a must-listen for fans of Industrial music. (Rate:8).

Listen to “Unholy Poem”:

https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/track/unholy-poem

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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Schröttersburg is a Polish music project that was originally set up in 2008. The band kept experimenting with new influences and music styles, resulting in a lot of albums, but at the same time more explicit Industrial influences mixed with Trance/Tribal elements. Their last album “Kosmogonia” was released at the end of 2023 on Zoharum -and also on DIY Kolo, Bat Cave and N.I.C. Records, is a continuation of the previous work. But above all it is a feast for the ears for all fans of early Industrial music and it is not without reason that names like SPK and Test Department came to mind. I talked about it all with 2 members of the band: Krzysiek and Michał. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Schröttersburg has been around for a few years now. How did the band saw the light of day and what brought you together in terms of music, influences and life experiences?

Krzysiek: The band as a musical creation came into being around 2008, but in its current form since 2010. The starting point was Punk/Post-Punk, but over time there was a desire to further explore and exploit other musical regions. Hence, we have evolved from Punk roots (“Krew”), through Post-Punk melancholy (“Ciało”, “Melancholia”), fascination with the orient and Industrial (“Om Shanti Om”) to Tribal rhythms (“Kosmogonia”). Everyone listens to a variety of music. The guys in the rhythm session tend to be fascinated by heavier sounds, while Michał seems to listen to everything from Free-Jazz, Experimental and Electronic music to Black-Metal or Industrial.

For me personally, the musical form/style doesn’t matter that much. I treat music as a form of expression of what lies somewhere under my skin, and which is difficult to express through words. My experience of battling with inner demons certainly has a significant impact on the sounds I generate. Powerlessness, hopelessness, emptiness, inner screaming and anxiety are certainly hidden between the words and sounds in our songs. That is why our songs have a rather Trance-like, Psychedelic and neurotic structure.

Michał: Actually, Schröttersburg has been around for more than a decade. We were brought together by the desire to play, to express ourselves in a sonic language, to experience sonic transcendence during concerts, to create in general. At the very beginning we were mainly inspired by music from the 80s, New-Wave, Cold-Wave, Post-Punk, but Noise-Rock, Industrial, Kraut-Rock, Dub were also important, which later became evident on our next albums.

Q: I understand that the band’s name refers to your hometown, Plock, which was renamed Schröttersburg by the Germans during World War II. This seems somewhat controversial. Why did you choose this name and is there any deeper meaning behind it?

Krzysiek: For me, as a resident of Plock, the very name Schröttersburg has a pejorative connotation. When I hear this name, I sense anxiety, pain, hopelessness and suffering, and I imagine what the inhabitants of our town must have felt when they had to live at that terrible moment in history. I would like to remind you that 30% of the inhabitants of Plock were thrown out of their homes, deported to concentration camps and mostly murdered there. Many of our town inhabitants are unaware of the gehenna which the people of Płock endured during the years of occupation. By naming the band under this name, we wanted to pay tribute to those inhabitants who were not able to survive the end of the war, and somehow make the locals aware that apart from the good periods in the history of our city, there were also those, about which there is silence.

Q: Your albums show a variety of influences, with a noticeable Industrial feel, especially on the new release “Kosmogonia”. How do you assess the musical evolution of Schröttersburg, especially on the latest album?

Michal: We set ourselves from the very beginning to draw from different sources and combine musical genres. We have never been able to stand in one place and lock ourselves into ‘one sound’. Maybe it’s because we listen to a lot of different sounds, we try to get to know new artists, new records. To find something interesting in the world of music, both old and modern. I see our evolution as developing and going even further, expanding on what we started with breaking down our boundaries that we sometimes set for ourselves.

Q: Can you talk more about the origins of “Kosmogonia”? What is the album about and what stages did you go through to create it?

Michal: When we started working on “Kosmogonia” a certain common thing emerged that set the tone for this album. It was the rhythm. A Tribal, Trance-like, blunt rhythm that gives the hallmarks of urban shamanism. When creating this album, we thought of something primal and raw, something that could take us back to the place of the Beginning, the birthplace of… everything.

Q: How do you see the evolution of Schröttersburg over the years and what elements from your earlier work are still present in “Kosmogonia”? Do you think that the latest album is always the best?

Michal: I don’t think so, in fact I try not to go back to the past. I’m interested in creating rather than analyzing. The evolution of Schröttersburg is of course audible. The Trance and mixing of different musical currents is still present here. Anyway, we never assumed beforehand that a particular album should sound a certain way. It always came from interaction, improvisation, new sound sources, new instruments and how we influence each other when playing.

Q: How do you take your music from the studio to the stage and how would you describe Schröttersburg as a live band?

Krzysiek: In our case, working in the studio is similar to playing live gigs. We record on a set basis, so we use exactly the same instrumentation as in a live show. We don’t play around with recording separate tracks and adding instruments one by one, because we think it sounds artificial and lacks the authenticity and energy we produce when playing together. Only the vocals are recorded at the very end, so that Michal can concentrate fully on his instrument.

Michal: During the recording process we use a lot of instruments, machines, scrap metal and effects. We take all of this with us to the concerts in order to accurately capture the sense of the Schröttersburg sound. It wasn’t easy, but now we have mastered it. For me, every concert is about going into a trance. Entering an inner or transcendental dimension and passing it on to the audience. Our live performances have a beginning and an end, they are concise and blunt. Even when we sound rather atonal or noisy, everything has a structure and a meaning.

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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The Polish Schröttersburg has been experimenting with old-school Industrial for several years, but this new work is without a doubt the most faithful to the early Industrial style. The metal percussion takes the listener back to the early experiments of 80s Industrial legends such as Test Department and to a lesser extent SPK. The work also features Epic arrangements, vocals that sound like exclamations and a certain melancholic atmosphere. The album features 7 songs that sound like sonic gems, piece after piece. A real great work! (Rate:9).

Listen to “Djab”:

https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/track/djab

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: Minimal-Electro, Experimental, Industrial.

Format: Digital, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Matthias Schuster (also known from Bal Paré, Das Institut, Geisterfahrer, Lichtjahr ao) broke the silence unleashing his first new Im Namen Des Volkes-work in years. It also is the first work he released by Ant-Zen. This EP features four songs.

Content: This project remains driven by good-old influences from 80s Electro/Industrial pioneers. It definitely sounds Experimental but is still into the typical ‘analogue’ 80s approach of Electronic music. This work reminds me of the glorious days of SPK.

+ + + : Great comeback for this artist which remains inspired and devoted to the sound and magic of the 80s. This is great old-school Electro/Industrial music featuring heavy, blasting passages composed by an artist who was already active during the 80s. You’ll discover great sound treatments with spoken-like vocal parts on top.

– – – : I regret the tracks are pretty short -which however often was quite 80s-minded as well.

Conclusion: Im Namen Des Volkes bring us back to the past and will for sure evoke great souvenirs.

Best songs: “Wellengenerator”, “Welt An Die Wand”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.thegeisterfahrer.de /  www.facebook.com/ImNamenDesVolkes

Label: www.ant-zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official

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 on September 8th is a brand new label sampler from the fine Cold Spring label. “Arise – A Cold Spring Sampler” is being released as a 2CD in gatefold ecopak and holds 33 tracks.

“Arise” is the first sampler in this 20+ years old label sampler series since the “Earthen”, which was released in November 2018. Included is material from Cold Spring’s current and forthcoming releases covering industrial, esoteric, dark ambient, noise, ritual, drone, doom metal, experimental, electronica, or yet dark soundtracks.

Included is work from Kollaps, Llyn Y Cwn, Khost, Jagath, Trepaneringsritualen, Coil, Merzbow, She Spread Sorrow, Frank Hall, Dead Voices On Air feat. Cevin Key, Lull, Mz.412 , The Circular Ruins And Mystified, Common Eider, King Eider, Colossloth, We Be Echo, George Fenton, Kristian Eidnes Andersen / Lars Von Trier, , Himukalt, Sonologyst, Satøri , 400 Lonely Things, Tunnels Of Ah, Sleep Research Facility, Burial Hex, Tenhornedbeast, Fm Einheit / Lee Ranaldo, Spk, Oleg Karpachov, Drew Daniel / John Wiese, La Breiche,
Neil Chaney, Gp-Orridge & Dave Ball.

Check out the tracks below. Warmly recommended!

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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial, Experimental, Ritual.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Abbildungen Vareté was a Slovenian collective active between 1983 and 1984. They released the self-titled album “Abbildungen Varieté” on Galerija ŠKUC Izdaja -this label also released works from Laiback, Last few Days, Borghesia ao. The original album was released on cassette and is now available for the very first time on CD.

Content: This band brings us directly into the early spirit of 80s Industrial/Experimental music. Industrial sound treatments and noises plus Ritual like elements like chants are moving on crescendo till an imaginary sonic climax happens. The work is also featuring heavy shouting passages.

+ + + : This band brings the early Industrial spirit alive. This work reminds me of bands like Test Department, SPK and Last Few Days. This reissue is a great opportunity (thanks to FinalMuzik) to (re)discover a band which never gained a great reputation or recognition. I should say it’s an essential piece of music and it’s a pity this collective didn’t get a deserved recognition. This is a great Industrial production revealing a mature sound production and great mix.

– – – : It’s unbelievable to discover such forgotten sonic treasures from the past especially because Abbildungen Varieté had a true potential.

Conclusion: Thanks to FinalMuzik and the reissue of “Abbildungen Varieté” we get the opportunity to expand our knowledge of ‘early’ Industrial music. This work is a must have!

Best songs: “Kader Urbanosti”, “Republikanski Marš”, “Babilon”, “Max Ludwig – Insert”.

Rate: 8

Label: www.finalmuzik.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Final-Muzik/85814529244

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, Minimal-Electro.

Format: Digital, Vinyl.

Background/Info: This work by the Belgian solo-project The Orphanage Committee was released by the end of 2022. It features ten songs composed by Orphan S.C. Wallace.

Content: This work is mixing Experimental sound treatments with Minimal-Electro. Parts of the work remind me of the early 80s Electro-experiments of Throbbing Gristle and SPK. Sound collages, field recordings and spoken samplings are inviting the listener to visit the very own sound universe by this artist.

+ + + : This work is quite different to other albums I heard from the artist and which were all released in a short lapse of time. I like the Electro minimalism of this opus which reminds me of the ‘anti-music’ approach of the aforementioned Experimental pioneers. Especially the first side of the vinyl reveals a few outstanding cuts like “Factory Solicitant” and “Agnostic Ballad”. The second side takes off with another great piece of minimalism entitled “The Good Things We Do”.

– – – : The least I can say is that The Orphanage Committee is a little bit versatile; every single work sounds different and there’re even different influences featured at one album.

Conclusion: This is a cool album which I’m sure will appeal for addicts of the early 80s Electronics and -Experimental music.

Best songs: “The Good Things We Do”, “Factory Solicitant”, “Agnostic Ballad”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088677280058

Label: www.eetapes.be / www.facebook.com/eriek.vanhavere

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 Avignon, France based label Unknown Pleasures Records announces that Phil Von will release his all new album “Von Magnet” on September 1st via its imprint. A rather bold choice since Phil Von is part of the Von Magnet collective.

This is his 7th solo album. His first was “L’Autre Nuit” (2001) with Gnawa music and the musicians of Fès (Prikosnovénie records), followed by the “Deadline Now” (2006) soundtrack of performance for the Portuguese company Persona (Thisco records) and in 2015 the more intimate “Blind Ballet” on Ant-Zen Records. A selection of his best soundtracks written for the street theatre company Underclouds, entitled “Made Underclouds”, was released in February 2019 on Zona Music (LT) and Ant-Zen. In 2019 Phil Von self-released the album “Imagerie”. The album holds a selection of experimental & abstract soundscapes written for art projects and visual environments. His concert collaboration “Eiti Ramyben” with classical piano musician Rokas Zubovas revisiting electronically some piano works of famous Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis was released on vinyl in 2021 on Zona Music.

With his latest solo album “Von Magnet”, a way of closing this artistic life chapter as well as giving another token of his love for intertwined flamenco and electronic music, he again combines electronics with Arabo-Andalusian music. On the album we find contributions from such musicians as Hugues Villette, Tit’o, Flore Magnet, Def, Hugues Vincent, Dani Barba, Yana Maizel and Algirdas Klova. The mastering was executed by Norscq while Svetlana Batura covered the photo work. The design was in the hands of Karim Gabou.

You can already check a few tracks below.

About Phil Von

Parallel to his work with Von Magnet Phil Von is composing as well as performing for different dance-theatre and street-theatre companies. He worked together with Norscq on the “Atlas Project”, wrote the piece “Compass” for Art Zoyd and the Musiques Nouvelles Ensemble of Jean Paul Dessy which was performed in Brussels. With Mimetic he created “Groundspace” for the GRM (Group of Musical Research) and the Radio France festival.

He was also a musician and performer with the Russian/German company Do Theatre (Anatomy of Fantasy), French performance company Materia Prima (Body Without Wings, Insomnia, Eternal, Batailles, Choir, Cabaret Rouge), Street Theatre companies Entre Terre et Ciel (Neige de Feu, Physalis, Alma, Envol) and Underclouds (Funambus, Petites Histoires sans Gravité, VerSant) & U-Structure Nouvelle (Strip-Tease Forain, Melankholia).

In 2016. together with Somekilos from 2 kilos & More, he created the tribal electro project Meta Meat and released the album “Metameat” on Ant-Zen and Audiotrauma.

In 2017/18 he wrote and performed the music of the theatre play Medea written with rage in London for François Testory (DV8 Physical theatre, Gecko, etc.) which they toured in Great Britain. He worked with butoh choreographer Sakurako in Paris for her company Re-United Now-Here (Banzaï 2.0, Corsonor, Not a Love Story) and in Lithuania he was composing for Sakurako and her new Baltic butoh dance-theatre company Okarukas (Now-Here, Voyager, Dolls, Spells, Here-After, Birds).

In 2019, he created in Lithuania his first solo dance-music performance “Human, Lost and Found” which was performed in MO Museum Vilnius, Post Gallery Kaunas and Menu Spaustuvè Vilnius. In 2020, he produced the solo album of Lithuanian folk musician Algirdas Klova.

About Von Magnet

Von Magnet is a theatre music band originated from the post-industrial musical current from the 1980s. Founded in 1985 in London, the group gathered around Flore Magnet (stage direction, actions, vocals) and Phil Von (composition, feet percussion, vocals) initiating a style of their own which they named “Electroflamenco”. Becoming rapidly well known in the underground because of their new approach to electronic music, firstly by incorporating the bases of flamenco (rhythms, dances and melodies) then later adding influences of Middle Eastern music.

Their compositions, either instrumental or vocal melodramas, poetic, lyrical, cabaret crooning are sung or spoken in different languages; English, Spanish, French, and also in Arabic, German, Turkish or Russian. Since 1985, even before the “Computer music” era, they experimented within the likes of the post-industrial musical movement (Greater Than One, Cabaret Voltaire, SPK, Coil…) using intensive sound collage and sampling techniques. This work would give birth to their motto: “Sample us as we have already sampled you”.

After a collaboration with Robert Rental with whom they prepared their first demo tapes, Von Magnet, helped by Hugh Griffiths at the Remaximum studios, composed their first auto-produced E.P : “I”.

The band’s last release was the 2012 album “Archipielagos”.

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.

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KlangGalerie, the label from Vienna run by Walter Robotka, will release a new CD by the German industrial act Non Toxique Lost, named “VLUS” in August 2022. The 11-track album is right now available as a digital download pre-order on Bandcamp with a CD version also to be released via KlangGalerie later this year.

The band was featured on our most recent “Face The Beat: Session 7” with the track “Aschekreuz” taken from this brand new album.

Below are already a few tracks already to check out on Bandcamp.

About Non Toxique Lost

Non Toxique Lost was founded in the beginning of the 80s in Mainz, Germany. Although the band has often been labelled as part of the Neue deutsche Welle the band itself considers it part of the industrial movement significantly inspired by industrial pioneers like Throbbing Gristle, SPK and Whitehouse. Similarities could also be drawn with bands like Pacific 231 (from France) or Esplendor Geometrico (from Spain).

In 1982, the first recordings were published on the DIY cassettes only label CAN CAN followed by circa 30 further releases. The first vinyl release “Wanton”, a strictly limited edition, was released in 1986 and held a selection of material, which had been published earlier on compact-cassettes.

It was the beginning of a long list of releases on various labels.

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.

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Genre/influences: Industrial, Experimental, Electronic.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/info:  Parisian (France) duo Frederic Sacri – Mani Ann-Sitar are active under the P.H.O.B.O.S. moniker for more than twenty years now. They by the end of 2021 released their newest opus “Bleaker Beater”.

Content: The main disc reveals an Industrial sound, which sometimes reminds me of the 80s Industrial years. Percussion passages together with the global, hostile atmosphere evoke to me the magic universe of SPK. It’s an Electronic composition featuring heavy, blasting sound treatments with vocals on top. Other songs are more Experimental-sounding and into Noise, which might appeal for early Orphx lovers.

The second disc reveals the same tracks, but without vocals. There’s just a few seconds of difference in the duration of the cuts.

+ + + : “Bleaker Beater” is a great Industrial driven composition. It reminds me of legendary Industrial projects, but with an extra contemporary touch on top. This is a judicious mix between retro-Industrial elements, Power-Noise and Experimental music. The beginning of the work is mind-blowing. I also want to say a word about the great digipak artwork.

– – – : The second disc doesn’t really bring a bonus. I think there could be better things to do than simply releasing instrumental edits.

Conclusion: “Bleaker Beater” sounds in the good-old tradition of Industrial music and is an album I recommend to all fans of the genre.

Best songs: “Haemophiliac Stomp”, “Pyrocene Antibodies”, “Basalt Ganglia”, “Granulahar Toxin”

Rate: 8.

Artist & label: www.phobosdrone.org / www.facebook.com/phobosindustrial

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, Noise, Industrial.

Format: Digital, Cassette.

Background/Info: Orphx moves back in time unleashing a live recording from tracks recorded in 1994 and 1995. These songs were released right before the official debut album “Fragmentation” (1996). The work was released on Rich Oddie’s own label Ekstasis.

Content: Orphx became renowned for their Industrial-Techno approach mixed with some Minimal-electro and even IDM, but this work reminds us of the way it all started. The sound is more improvised, but into experimentation. It sounds a bit like a Post-Industrial composition, a follow-up to early SPK. The songs are mixing Industrial- and Noise elements, now and then carried by rhythms and sometimes featuring vocal effects. 

+ + + : This is a cool production for the early Orphx lovers, but it also reminds us where this Canadian project comes from. It’s interesting to realize the way Orphx has evolved towards a more sophisticated and Technoid driven composition. But this work sounds like the ‘roots’ and even the basis of their sound, which they’ve always held on, but just elaborated and infused with different new elements throughout the years.

– – – : Speaking for myself, I’ve always been more convinced by their compositions from the past few years instead of the early years, which were sometimes too Experimental to my taste.

Conclusion: Back to the roots of Orphx, but still a cool Experimental/Noise live experience.

Best songs: “Ekstasis”, “Excruciate”, “Samsara”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.orphx.com / www.facebook.com/orphx

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

(Photo by Chris Carter) Out on 28 January 2022 via The Grey Area (Mute) is the reissue of the 1979 album “The Bridge” by Thomas Leer And Robert Rental. This new reissue will be available on limited edition white vinyl and CD, both featuring new sleevenotes.

The reissue of Leer and Rental’s sole collaboration will coincide with “From The Port To The Bridge”, an exhibition detailing the duo’s work and legacy, due to run at The Horse Hospital in London from 21 January through to 10 February 2022.

Discovered by Throbbing Gristle

Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, both from Port Glasgow in Scotland, were at the vanguard of a DIY electronic scene that went on to influence and inform the 80s synth-pop movement. After self-releasing two solo 7” singles, they came to the attention of Throbbing Gristle and signed to their label, Industrial Records. Their one and only collaboration, “The Bridge”, was originally released in 1979, the first non-TG / associated release for the label.

Recorded at Rental’s home over two intense weeks using equipment provided by Throbbing Gristle (with only rudimentary explanation of how to use it), their album was cited by a number of electronic musicians at the time, including John Foxx, Matt Johnson (The The) and ABC.

Listen to “Monochrome Days”.

The late Robert Rental retired from the music industry

Robert Rental (who sadly died in 2000), went on to collaborate with The Normal – Daniel Miller and Rental’s live album, “Live at West Runton Pavilion, 6-3-79”, was released in 1980 by Rough Trade. Rental also released a single on Mute, “Double Heart” / “On Location” in 1980 and produced music for the Comic Strip’s “A Fistful of Traveller’s Cheques”, before retiring from the industry.

Thomas Leer continued to release music

Thomas Leer went on to release albums on Cherry Red and Arista, formed Act with Claudia Brücken (formerly of Propaganda) in the late 80s who released on Trevor Horn’s ZTT label. After a hiatus, he re-emerged with a series of releases from 2001, and currently lives in Greenock.

About The Grey Area

The Grey Area was founded in 1990 to restore and reissue albums by important and influential artists, initiated by catalogue deals between Mute and Throbbing Gristle, Can and Cabaret Voltaire.

The label went on to be the home for the catalogues of DAF, Virgin Prunes, SPK, Swell Maps, Dome, The Radiophonic Workshop and The Hafler Trio as well as key early works by Wire, Buzzcocks and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Dormant for a few years during the 2000s, The Grey Area emerged again quietly in 2013 with the re-release of Cabaret Voltaire’s Virgin period work, Richard H. Kirk’s solo work, the Sandoz catalogue and a new agreement with Throbbing Gristle.

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.

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Out via Old Europa Café in 2 weeks from now is the debut album from the collaborative electro industrial project Scopophilia. The album “Violent for being sexually desired” comes in a 6-panel digipak and 12 pages booklet.

Behind this project we find Harriet Kate Morgan (aka Military Position) and Ester Kärkkäinen (aka Himukalt). Although leading different lives in separate countries, the two share a number of similar influences: S.P.K., Atrax Morgue, Brainbombs, Lustmord, Vatican Shadow and so on.

Both Morgan and Kärkkäinen have a past experiences as sex workers, and they believe this album could be their own private soundtrack to a strip club or a dungeon.

Below is a NSFW video for the track “I Would Die For You”.

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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, Industrial.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Behind Nyctalllz is hiding Iranian artist Morego Dimmer who’s involved with multiple projects, Xerxes The Dark being for sure the most familiar and renowned one. Nyctalllz is a project you might know from compilations or previous works. “Persian Trip” is a new work featuring seven tracks and inspired by fantasy about ‘A guy in modern Persia has been intoxicated by an odd & unknown essence. Soon his mind creates noises and closed-eye visuals. The journey has begun, but the guy has no idea what’s really going on. It seems his empty-industrialized soul can fly through time…’

Content: The content of this work also has something of a fly… an imaginary walk through abstract sonic compositions, which are mixing total Experimentalism and Electro-Industrial passages. It has something of a free-Industrial interpretation, creating a sonic mayhem. But you’ll also notice more inhibited passages with repetitive Electro sequences.

+ + + : Nyctalllz sounds a bit as loose cannon. It’s an unpredictable sonic experience built up with a mishmash of sounds and noises. I like some old-school elements reminding me of the Electro-Industrial work of SPK. I also like rhythmic patterns making the work more accessible.

– – – : The Experimental format of the work makes it not very accessible for a wider audience.

Conclusion: “Persian Trip” sounds like assisting to sonic surgery; decomposing and recomposing sounds and noises!

Best songs: “Maguy”, “To Ke Az”, “Ku Zeh Gar”.  

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/Nyctalllz

Label: www.facebook.com/zaalrecords

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 in a little more than a week is the collaborative project between Nordic electropop diva Karin Park (Årabrot) and legendary electronic pioneer Lustmord. “Alter” is the pair’s first collaborative work and holds nine tracks.

You can already check out a first track “Hiraeth” right below. And for those unaware who these two excellent artists are, below we added some extra info.

About Karin Park

Karin Park made her debut in 2003 with the single “Superworldunknown”. After the release of her second album “Change Your Mind” (2006), the music developed in a new, darker and more synth-based direction. The third album, “Ashes To Gold” (2009), was produced by Fredrik Saroea, frontman of the Norwegian band Datarock.

Following this record, Karin has continued to develop a more experimental, beat-oriented sound. Karin Park is also a well known producer, who has done remixes for other bands and co-produced the latest Årabrot record “Who do you love” with her husband Kjetil Nernes, frontman in Årabrot.

Together with her brother David Park, Portsmouth based producer Barry Barnet and the Swedish producer Christoffer Berg (known for his work with The Knife, Fever Ray, Massive Attack and Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano), she made her fourth album, “Highwire Poetry” (2012). In 2015, she released her fifth studio album “Apocalypse Pop”.

Her new band project Pandora Drive is London based and released their first EP “Albino Heart” in 2018.

Aside from her musical career, Karin Park occasionally works as a model and an actress. She starred in the Norwegian horror film Hidden (2009) and her song “Out of the Cage” was the theme track to the film.

About Lustmord

Brian Williams is a Welsh industrial musician, sound designer and film score composer. He is often credited for creating the dark ambient genre with albums recorded under the name Lustmord.

Williams was raised in rural Wales, before relocating to London in his late teens where he befriended Throbbing Gristle members Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter, who urged him to make his own music. He started recording as Lustmord in 1980 before joining SPK in 1982.

Some of Lustmord’s most notable collaborations include Robert Rich on “Stalker”, Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Monte Cazazza, Clock DVA, Chris & Cosey, Paul Haslinger, and Melvins on “Pigs of the Roman Empire”.

In short, an electronic music pioneer.

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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial, Experimental, Industrial-Trance.

Format: Digital, Cassette.

Background/Info: We all know Richard Oddie for his involvement with Orphx, but he’s also busy with other projects. He together with Dave Foster (Huren, Teste ao) set up Ontario Hospital (O/H). They did some live performances and released a few EP’s. This album features live tracks recorded between 2011 and 2019 in Japan, Russia, Holland and Canada. Notice by the way Richard Oddie released this work on his own label, which is meant for his different projects and friends.

Content: O/H is clearly driven by good-old Industrial music and retro Electro experiments. There’s an 80s touch running through the work, but still a more contemporary Trance/Techno aspect emerging during the last part of the album. The tracks have been progressively built up and are often ending into a sonic climax of Electro-Noise. The songs are mixed with harsh, disturbing vocals injecting an extra dose of terror to the composition.

+ + + : This project stands for intelligent Industrial music. It feels like O/H creates a sonic bridge between the past –sometimes reminiscent of SPK, and more contemporary Industrial sounds. A few songs are musically pretty Dive-like, but globally speaking this project has a very own sound and approach. I like the progression in the tracklist, which is definitely important when playing live. The songs progressively evolve until reaching hard Industrial dance passages with some extra Trance structures on top. O/H sounds like controlled chaos or simply transposing a sonic mayhem into dark, danceable stuff. The vocals are adding a little extra on top.

– – – : I don’t see any minus point, but simply regret I wasn’t that familiar with O/H before.

Conclusion: This project is meticulously mixing old- and modern Industrial influences together creating a rough although intelligent Industrial sound dimension. It’s a true masterpiece!

Best songs: “Supply / Demand”, “Generic Expectations”, “Worthless Scam”, “Safety Net”, “Power Starved / Human Waste”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/ontariohospital

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, electro, industrial.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This album is a re-release and for the very first time on CD format of a split album between Attrition (UK) and Alu (Germany). The work was originally released in 1983 on cassette format by IRRE Tapes. For both of the projects this split work was one of their first releases.

Content: This work features 6 songs by Attrition and 5 songs by Alu. It’s an opportunity to (re)discover the first steps and especially experiments of Martin Bowes, but still a somewhat forgotten –or rather unknown project like Alu. You’ve to imagine this work in the context of the early 80s when artists such as Throbbing Gristle, SPK, Monte Cazzazza, Nocturnal Emissions ao revealed their first experiments to the world. It’s a mix of industrial- and experimental music. It’s hard to hear what’s improvised and what not. Creating and manipulating noises appeared to be more interesting than composing ‘songs’. It was a period of ‘anti-music’. 

+ + + : It’s just great to get back to this forgotten record and especially (re)discovering the work of Attrition. This composition has nothing in common with the later electro style of Martin Bowes. No, this is total experiment and improvisation although resulting in a few little jewels like “Day I Was Born” –which might be considered with a little bit of imagination as the basis for the later sound of the project while “You Will Remember Nothing” is pure Throbbing Gristle-music. Alu is comparable to the work of Attrition and yet it sounds more diversified. Sometimes industrial with a funky touch on top and next total improvisation. The fans of Throbbing Gristle will like these songs as well.

– – – : The extremely experimental approach and impro style both made it hardly accessible for a wider audience.

Conclusion: This album belongs to the history of industrial/experimental music and it’s really great it has been recovered from dust to get now released on CD format. 

Best songs: Attrition: “You Will Remember Nothing”, “Day I Was Born”, “Onslaught” + Alu: “Vendetta”, “Unaba”.

Rate: (7).

Artists: www.attrition.co.uk / www.facebook.com/ATTRITIONMUSIC /  www.alugenerator.de

Label: www.peripheralminimal.com / www.facebook.com/PeripheralMinimal

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, experimental, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Australian formation SPK remains one of the uncontested pioneers and leaders of the so-called experimental- and industrial music movement. Driven by the genius of Graeme Revell the project released core albums such as “Information Overload Unit” (1981) and “Leichenschrei” (1982). “Zamia Lehmanni” brings us back to 1986; this album is a re-release of this work originally released by Side Effects. It has been remastered while Graeme Revell added some essential notes referring to his influences. It’s also interesting to realize he considered this work as the debut of the post-industrial era. Notice by the way the album is also available on vinyl.

Content: You clearly hear SPK took some distances from their electro-industrial- & noise-like experiments. This album was touched by elements of world music and cinematic compositions. It’s interesting to rediscover the song “In Flagrante Delicto”, which later on was used on the soundtrack of the film “Dead Calm” (1989). From cinematic music featuring industrial sound treatments to epic arrangements to the reinterpretation of neo-classic music, the work remains first of all an experimental legacy from the work of SPK.

+ + + : The sound production is absolutely noticeable. SPK has a rather unpolished sound and yet it sounds powerful and professional. From a purely artistic point of view, this work is diversified and original. I can understand why Revell called it ‘post-industrial’ as it doesn’t follow the steps of the ‘classical’ industrial releases from that period. The artist also felt comfortable experimenting with all styles.

– – – : You sometimes get the impression listening to a compilation instead of an album properly speaking. It feels like a sonic exorcism of too many ideas.

Conclusion: Speaking for me this album didn’t get a similar impact as the aforementioned “Information Overload Unit” and “Leichenschrei”, but it clearly sounds as an album announcing a new direction for SPK.

Best songs: “In Flagrante Delicto”, “Invocation (To Secular Heresies)”, “The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice”, “Palms Crossed In Sorrow”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/SozialistischesPatientenKollektiv

Label: www.coldspring.co.uk / www.facebook.com/coldspringhq

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

Originally released by Side Effects in 1986, “Zamia Lehmanni (Songs of Byzantine Flowers)” was the third (and final) core SPK
album and was Graeme Revell’s first truly solo project. On the day before this album was first released, this style of music, now ubiquitous (especially in soundtracks), did not exist.

The reissue now also has a mastering as it was originally intended, something quite noticeable on the track “In Flagrante Delicto” which was later used by Revell for his work on the soundtrack for the 1989 film “Dead Calm”, which won him Best Original Score from the Australian Film Institute.

Unavailable in any format since Mute’s 1992 CD edition, Cold Spring now presents this landmark album on newly remastered CD in a 6-panel digipak. The track “The Doctrine of eternal Ice” appears on CD only, but is included on the digital download for vinyl (limited gold and black).

Origins of the band

SPK were an Australian industrial music and noise music group formed in 1978. They were fronted by mainstay member, Graeme Revell on keyboards and percussion. In 1980 the group travelled to the United Kingdom where they issued their debut album, “Information Overload Unit”. In 1983 Sinan Leong joined on lead vocals. The group disbanded in 1988. Two years later Revell and Leong relocated to the United States, where Revell works as a Hollywood film score composer.

SPK stands for?

The meaning of the SPK abbreviation is deliberately unclear; the album covers suggest several different alternatives. The most well known is Sozialistisches PatientenKollektiv, but there are also others, such as Surgical Penis Klinik, Suave Poronga Kinoto, System Planning Korporation, SePuKku, Selective Pornography Kontrol, Special Programming Korps and SoliPsiK.

On Facebook the band has SozialistischesPatientenKollektiv in it’s url, so we guess that’s the most official interpretation.

New layouted artwork

Below is the cover artwork of the 1992 CD version. And below that the new layouts.

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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Neo-folk, chanson, industrial, dark-ambient, ritual.

Background/Info: This compilation was already released a few years ago, but lately promoted. And it’s a real special compilation featuring a tribute to John Murphy. Born in Australia and living in the UK he passed away in 2015. He left an impressive artistic legacy, being involved in great bands such as The Associates, SPK… working together with Death In June, Lustmord ao. “All My Sins Remembered” also is a charity project with all proceeds from the sales going to John’ widow. 

Artists: Of The Wand And The Moon, David E. Williams, Shining Vril, Nikolas Schreck, KnifeLadder, Blood Axis, Naevus, Foresta Di Ferro, Die Weisse Rose, Andrew King, Zeena Schreck, Last Dominion Lost.

Content: The list of contributors is mainly projects/artists John Murphy has been involved with. Several songs are live cuts featuring John Murphy, which makes this sampler really special. It’s a diversified list of artists and music genres, which also shows the eclecticism of the artist. From neo-folk to ritual to dark-ambient to industrial chanson and martial, this album is a remarkable summary of John Murphy’s involvement.

+ + + : The idea and concept is not just original, but a way to remember an influential artist who has been active for years in different although related music scenes. It clearly is an homage testified by numerous live songs. It also is a way to re-discover some great names such as Blood axis, KnifeLadder, Naevus, Of The Wand And The Moon, Last Dominion Lost. One of my personal favorite cuts is Knifeladder’s “Long March”. This album is a must have for the fans featuring rarities, but still a great arty box.

– – – : Like all compilations there’re always a few cuts which can’t fully convince, but you definitely have to be a fan of John Murphy and the different music styles he has been involved with to like this sampler.

Conclusion: Even heroes are not eternal, but their work will remain in the collective minds for years even after their loss.

Best bands: KnifeLadder, Blood Axis, Shining Vril, Zeena Schreck, David E. Williams.

Rate: (7½).

Label: www.the–epicurean–transformed.de / www.facebook.com/epicureanescapism

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

Did you ever heard of Beinhaus? I didn’t it! Set up in 1994 by core members Robert Glück and Marko Schröder, this German formation got joined by a few extra members and self-released all of their work. They this year signed a label deal with Krater Recordings (subdivision from Audiophob) unleashing the album “Zaehne”. This work sounds retro-industrial like and yet still modern. It for sure sounds different from the average industrial productions. Robert Glück brings us an introduction to Beinhaus, which I highly recommend to all industrial music lovers.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Beinhaus saw the daylight in 1994, but I get the impression you first of all remain one of the best hidden secrets from the industrial scene. Tell us a bit more about Beinhaus considering elements such as influences, sound, recognition and the main facts in the band’s history?

Robert: Yes, Beinhaus has actually been around since 1994 -with some ups and downs and always times in which we did almost nothing for months. The last motivation boost came in 2015 when we started working with the Native Instruments machine, which characterizes our today’s background sound. In 2016 David joined Beinhaus as a multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer. He has brought our sound to the front and has just shaped our last album “Zaehne (Teeth)”.

In the years before, Marko and I made music together with a guitarist (1994-2000) and a female singer (2002-2007). With each change of personnel, our sound has changed as well. But we still play the same tracks -so they had to change over the years too.

Our influences are very wide and only partially obvious. Of course bands like Einstürzende Neubauten or Test Dept. have really inspired us. The biggest influence was the band Babyland from the USA. This is much closer to our sound we wanted to create: electronic-punk with industrial drums.Modern and retro at the same time.

Q: You are definitely one of the few industrial bands inspired by the early industrial sound; a sound composed with electronics, but also with self-made metal instruments. Can you give us more details about it?

Robert: Our sound is definitely sequencer-driven. In that way, we do not differ from many other electronic acts. The tracks follows a song structure and arrangement, which is based on beats and bass sounds. But as we do the live drumming, they can be very reduced. What we do on the metal drums forms another layer on top of it. For me, the performance and the visual is actually much more important than the sound… we could make it sound better and more brilliant with samples. But it just makes more fun beating the equipment without compromise -and this is what makes our live performance really outstanding.

Q: I’ve been always wondered why the truly industrial spirit from pioneers like Einstürzende Neubauten, Test Dept., SPK ao has been progressively replaced by power-noise artists composing music with their laptops. Beinhaus tries to be a little bit different and your new work even sounds as an antidote to the current industrial music. How comes and how do you see this evolution in industrial music?

Robert: I see industrial in the tradition defined by bands like Throbbing Gristle: extra-musical elements and performance, shock tactics, anti-music, information and self-organization. This is what industrial really means to me…

Many of these elements have guided us through the years… and still do today. This is the first time we have had a label (Krater Recordings) in 25 years. Before, we always did everything by ourselves… which was also a reason why we did not have a very long reach.

I have a bit of a feeling industrial concerts today are rather hard-techno parties. By the way, that’s not bad at all. I like that too. But it lacks a bit of the thrill that something unexpected, maybe dangerous or disturbing could happen. Meanwhile, we do not use elements such as masks or video images on stage. That’s what so many do… and I’m sure it’s much more effective to look people in the eyes -and again… it’s more fun!

Q: Tell us a bit more about the new album “Zaehne”? What has been the main focus in the writing process and how do you look back at the global composition?

Robert: As in all CDs so far we have some new and also very old tracks. “Dldeng” is one of our first songs ever and was the opening track of our demo “Zorn” of 1998. Tracks like “Zähne” or “Ich Weiss Alles” have been created in the last years. For example, “Abriss” is so new that we have never played it live -but we will do. We work very slowly and like to recycle our own material. Mostly we just rehearse and play our tracks.

We publish some songs again and again, but they’re always different. The tracks are in a permanent metamorphosis. We have almost no songs that have fallen out of our tracklist over the years, so we do not play them anymore. But actually a maximum of 2-3 really new tracks are created each year.

Q: I can imagine it’s not that easy recording and mixing metal percussions. How did that happen and do you’ve specific criteria to get the sound production you like?

Robert: Since Dave joined in, he does our sound engineering. It’s actually not easy to transfer the energy of the raw metal sounds to CD. There is a lack of visual impression which is very important for us. I have also been very inclined to mix the metal sounds very fat -so they took up a lot of room in the mix… But the mix also loses sharpness and dynamics.

Dave is trained to do that much finer. With many layers of different sounds that are not so much in the foreground. That makes a much more professional sound you can hear on “Zaehne” -although we did not record in a studio, but in our rehearsal room. But we, especially Dave, spent a lot of time on the recordings and the mix.

Q: You already mentioned the live performances of Beinhaus, which I guess must be something special. How does Beinhaus on stage looks like?

Robert: Beinhaus is absolutely a live band. Of course, the performance sets us apart from many current industrial bands. There is no table between us and the audience. It creates a lot of energy from the interaction with the audience. It feels very good, at the end of the concert, when we drum together on metal plates with the people in the front row.

I think people are very grateful for a real hard sweaty performance. And we enjoy the total anarchy on stage. It’s always very exhausting, we have to transport a lot, have a long build-up and cut-down times, but for the 60 minutes on stage that’s absolutely worth it. We always give 100% from ourselves and the audience see and feel that. Therefore, we can probably never do a tour. We can’t deliver this intensity night after night. We do about 6-7 concerts a year. That’s perfect. So we make each concert an experience -for us and hopefully for the audience. So thanks to all that joined our show.

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

For the first time on CD is a fully authorised re-edition of the very first album by the legendary S.P.K. project, originally released as a tape on Sterile Records (the label run by Nigel Ayers / Nocturnal Emissions) in 1981. The recording for this live album was made in London on April 25 1981.

You can order the CD right here.

All sound on this CD was re-mastered by Nigel Ayers himself, from the original tapes. S.P.K. was one of the very first industrial projects, formed in 1978 by Greame Revell in Sydney – Australia. S.P.K. together with Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and few others gave birth to what is today known as industrial music.

The group disbanded in 1988. Two years later Revell and Leong relocated to the United States, where Revell works as a Hollywood film score composer.

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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial, experimental.

Background/Info: We here welcome new work by the legendary Last Dominion Lost. The project is now driven by core members Jon Evans, John Murphy (SPK, Death In June…) and Julian Percy (Helaas) and on this album assisted by numerous guest artists/singers.

Content: Since Last Dominion Lost has been reactivated a few years ago now, this collective can’t really get away from their early industrial influences. “Abomination Of Desolation” is an industrial release with numerous experimental passages and especially sound treatments. The decomposition and recomposition of sounds and noises both seem to be more important than getting a real structure of songs. But can we speak about ‘songs’ properly? This is the work of sonic architects although taking care to create dark atmospheres joined by hard screams while they’re not using spoken samplings.

+ + + : The industrial aspect of the work is quite present and easy recognizable throughout the numerous percussion parts and heavy crashes. The dark and tormented atmosphere supporting the tracks creates an uncomfortable sensation. The numerous effects and studio tricks are one of the main characteristics this work has been made by. This is the kind of music that can become tormenting when you’re a newbie. The digipak format of the album is a nice, little extra.

– – – : The experimental approach and constant sound manipulations a true reflection of sound writing, but here again I think it’s not the main aim of this obscure collective. This is the kind of opus reminding me of some ‘anti-music’ approach of early 80s industrial pioneers.

Conclusion: There are two different ways to discover this work: you don’t like industrial- and related music genres and you’ll experience this work as pure mind torture or you’re a trained and experienced industrial music lover and you’ll feel some nostalgia getting you back to the early hours of industrial- and experimental music.

Best songs: “Devil’s Park”, “Beyond The Valley Of The Flies”, “Overture To Desolation”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/LastDominionLost

Label: www.the–epicurean–transformed.de / www.facebook.com/epicureanescapism

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

SPK founder David Virgin has a new album out: the duet focussed “The Beautiful Album”. “The Beautiful Album” is a selection of mainly duets by David Virgin with what he calls “some of Ireland best female vocalists” featuring Leslie Dowdall (In Tua Nua), Leila Jane, Kate Dineen, Klara McDonnell and Elga Fox.

The songs on the album were backed instrumentally by the Dublin City Rounders, Rohan Healy on guitar, Al Quiff on double bass, Adam Byrne on drums and Caoimhe O’Farrell on Irish harp. You can stream the album below.

Born in Dublin, 1962, David has had a life full of music, leading successful bands such as the industrial music pioneers SPK and Sekret Sekret, as well as producing and mentoring acts. Just to give you an idea, Virgin has written over 2,000 (!) original compositions.

Music video for “The Weir” featuring Leslie Dowdall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSdKS-cQTtU 

Music video for “Everything I Ever Wanted” featuring Leila Jane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx4kVGoWxY4 

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.

side-line.com

The 4th track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by ARS​​​. The track “Commitment” is an instrumental track mixing old school electro / EBM with modern sounds, a very ecclectic piece that will fits the dance floors really well.

We asked ARS aka Pierre Ars some more info regarding the project: “I grew up with influences like Depeche Mode, Front 242, DAF, SPK, Cabaret Voltaire and I played as a drummer in a New-Wave band in the 80’s and then made my own music with synthesizers. ARS is my solo project where I like to mix old school electro / EBM with modern sounds and some melodic elements.” You can find out more about ARS on this Soundcloud page.

Here’s the track “Commitment” which can be downloaded on Bandcamp for free.

And just for your streaming pleasure, ARS’ take on Front 242’s “Take One”:

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial, experimental.

Background/Info: “The Sound Of Progress” is a documentary, which was originally released in 1988 on VHS format by Marc van der Bijl. It featured 4 pioneers and influential artists from the ‘industrial’ and ‘experimental’ scene. This legendary documentary has been now remastered and released for the very first time on DVD by Cold Spring Records. It’s a very informative documentary featuring interviews, studio rehearsals and live extracts.

Bands: Coil, Current 93, Foetus and Test Department.

Content: you’ve to replace this documentary in the right context; we’re getting back to the midst of the 80s when industrial music was a kind of answer (and reaction) against commercial music. The 80s were also characterized by the end of the cold-war and growing unemployment so we can’t really say there was a stable political system while England was also under the influence of the conflict in the Falklands.

Bands like Test Department and Current 93 were concerned about politics, which is an aspect that comes through in this movie. Coil has been filmed at the home of Peter Christopherson and definitely remains the craziest bands from the list. Multiple extracts of live concerts from all those artists are bringing the 80s spirit to life. You also get a great selection of pictures from all the bands.

+ + + : It’s an essential documentary getting us back to the early work of those great artists. It also is an opportunity to get a bit more familiar with the early wave of industrial artists, which is totally different from the contemporary music. The live performances of Test Department were really impressive and in the true spirit of industrial music. Foetus was more into a kind of industrial-punk attitude while it also interesting to see Coil at work in their studio. Industrial music also was a real creative process of artists building some of their own ‘instruments’.

– – – : My only regret is that the documentary is maybe a little bit short and maybe missing some information like why did the producer choose those bands rather than others (think about SPK, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Swans, Non, Monte Cazazza, Z’ev ao…).

Conclusion: “The Sound Of Progress” stands for the true spirit of industrial music, which had something intelligent although even a bit elitist.

Rate: (8).

Label: www.coldspring.co.uk / www.facebook.com/coldspringhq

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, minimal-electronics.

Background/Info: Oggy Records is a small underground label devoted to experimental electronic formats. This split-tape features Bert van Beek aka Scheerling who already released previous work on Oggy Records and Thaumaturgist (which you maybe discovered on earlier work released on Barreuh Records). Scheerling takes off with 4 tracks while the B-side reveals 2 cuts from Thaumaturgist. The release is digitally available as well.

Content: Scheerling definitely is the most experimental project from the release. There’s a slow and meticulous progression revealing multiple sound manipulations and effects. The sound is raw and dark although resulting in serene passages. It sounds like a sonic puzzle, which now and then reaches a climax.

Thaumaturgist is more into early electronic experiments reminding me of the vintage electro-industrial approach of SPK. This band clearly reminds me of good-old 80s experiments in electronic- and industrial music. There also is a noticeable progression in the song structure, which has been accomplished by an impressive arsenal of studio tricks and effects.

+ + + : This split tape reveals pure underground projects, but still fascinating experiments in sounds. I have a preference for the more accessible Thaumaturgist, but both projects are worthy of examination. This is an original release with a great sonic approach and revealing the renewed interest for cassette releases.

– – – : I have never been a huge addict of split-releases and I would have preferred to get separate work from both artists. The main difficulty for both bands will be for sure to get some attention as I really believe they deserve it.

Conclusion: Vintage music released on a lost (cassette) format; it will please the biggest underground freaks, but it also is an interesting discovery for experimental heads.

Best songs: “Schemmer” + “Mysteries Van De Droom #1”.

Rate: (7).

Bands: www.facebook.com/scheerlingband / www.facebook.com/thaumaturgistband

Label: http://oggyrecords.blogspot.be / www.facebook.com/OggyRecords

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

Laurent Boudic is a kind of pioneer in electronic music although he’s not the most famous and recognized artist at the wider fields of EBM. While he was mainly dealing with different forms of techno music Növö definitely sounds more into good-old vintage EBM. It still sounds quite minimal and accomplished with a technoid flavor on top. I discovered this artist by some productions released on the American digital label Black Montanas. Növö finally joined the established Alfa Matrix to releases the latest albums. The newest brainchild is the album “The Shortwaves”, which will definitely appeal for lovers of analogue gear and the magic of old-styled electronics.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Can you briefly remind us the main facts from your artistic background and how did you get contaminated by the electronic-music virus?

Laurent: I started in the early 80’s by experimenting industrial electronic & concrete music, first in Belgium & then in France under different nicknames & collaborations. During the whole 90’s I got into intelligent techno & ambient music with projects such as Genetik System & x2Proton. Since year 2000 I’m essentially working on Növö.

I’ve been contaminated to the avant-garde electronic & industrial music essentially with bands such as Severed Heads, Throbbing Gristle, SPK or Suicide.

Q: You’re one of those artists with a real passion for analogue equipment. Where does this fascination comes from and what makes the magic of analogue equipment?

Laurent: From my childhood. In the 70’s, electronic music was already almost everywhere. On TV advertising, news & documentaries, movie soundtracks etc. This analogue sound really fascinated me forever.

But it’s not only the way how it sounds, it is also how do you interact with it. Working with vintage analogue equipment and its limitations is something that definitely opens the creativity.

There’s also something of magic in that sound. It is alive, warm and organic, the total opposite of the digital sound which is interesting in terms of sound synthesis but very cold and clinical in sound.

Q: What’s your opinion about the huge mass of bands using software and composing nearly all the same sound?

Laurent: To be frank I find it pretty sterile & boring. The same beats, almost the same sounds everywhere & the same way to create. I personally can’t conceive to create a musical piece with a mouse and a controller. I’m a musician so I must feel and play with the instrument, the equipment.

The music & creativity from today is pretty poor in general but it’s not necessary due to the technology, you know it’s just a tool. The main factor is the lack of audacity from these artists even though they doesn’t bear the entire responsibility. Indeed, the narrow-minded people buying the same records again & again without other interests are also responsible.

It’s becoming very hard to find artists that breaks the rules nowadays. Fortunately, there’s still some interesting people with interesting minds but not too many.

Q: You recently released your new album “The Shortwaves”. I experienced this album as more experimental than some of your previous work. What kind of album did you’ve in mind and how do we have to understand the result?

Laurent: You definitely right, “The Shortwaves” is more experimental, dark & lo-fi than the previous ones, except maybe for “Architecture & Severity”. I have to thanks Alfa-Matrix for taking risks. It’s definitely not a commercial album nor for people looking for standard electronic music even though some songs are more affordable (“Radio Peking”, “Operator”) & catchy (“Whisky Tango Romeo”, “The News” & “Groupe 8/2”).

I didn’t have and never had an album in mind during the process, it’s not the way I conceive creativity but rather a concept: to create a whole musical album entirely devoted to shortwave radio and spy numbers stations.

With “The Shortwaves”, the aim was not to use conventional structures but rather to break the rules & explore something else, something that first reflect the main concept, vocals included since they are used & treated as samples, then to form a kind of ‘musique concrete style’-soundscape all the way.

Q: The Alfa Matrix releases usually feature next to the regular album a limited edition (box) with an extra album. Why is it “The Shortwaves”-album has been only released as a ‘regular’ disc?

Laurent: Well, you have to know that the process was a bit long and painful. Two full years of very hard work, first by selecting and treating the huge material (AM Radio/noises/interferences samples) and then by creating the structures & sequences. After these 2 years I was very tired by the process and I couldn’t create anymore. As a result there was not enough material to fill a limited edition box. But now and after some rest I recently did some new tracks for the forthcoming EP’s…

Q: So you already have new plans and music in mind? What brings the future?

Laurent: For the moment I’m working exclusively on the videos & single EP’s. For a solo-project it’s a hard work as you guess, then I will see what the future brings to Növö.

You’ll get more news at http://www.gencomprodukts.com

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

Fredrik Djurfeldt is a musician of multiple talents. The EBM community know him as the front man of Severe Illusion while he’s also involved in Instans. The Swedish artist also has a darker and obscure side, which he fully exposed into bands like Knös and Analfabetism. I get in touch with Fredrik to get more details about his dark-ambient and noise-minded work. He recently released a poignant album entitled “Av Hjord Är Du Kommen” on Tumor/Malignant Records.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Your involvement in electronic & EBM driven bands like Instans and Severe Illusion at one side and more dark-ambient & industrial inspired bands like Knös and Analfabetism at the other side reveal a great eclecticism. Where does this diversity comes from and what are the main differences moving from one style to another?

Fredrik: I have been into electronic music since I was very young. Me and a friend started experimenting with old tape recorders and anything else we could get hold of when we were about six years old. Later I got into machine language programming on 8-bit computers, and started tweaking the SID chip like to may others back then. So partly I come from an SPK type mind set, partly from a heavily Rob Hubbard influenced culture.

I have been trying to combine the two from time to time, something I believe is evident in some of the more experiential parts of Severe Illusion. The DSBP years are a good example of that.

I have been making some Ambient Noise from time to time for well over twenty years as well, but it was first when Peter Nyström from Megaptera and Negru Voda suggested we release a split together a few years ago that I decided to go all in with that as well.

Then again, the distinction between the projects is not always obvious. Not even to me. The new Instans album “Derailed” is fairly close to some of our early works from Severe Illusion. There are two Ambient Noise tracks on the last Severe Illusion album. I would expect this to happen even more in the future.

Q: What are your main ambient/industrial references and criteria about the composition when focalizing on Analfabetism?

Fredrik: I like working with a more complex rhythm structure and atonality than is really possible in EBM and Dark Electro. Sometimes. I have made extensive use of modular synths on the one hand, and home-made metal percussion on the other. I am not listening so much to what contemporary musicians within the genre do, even though it happens.

Q: Can you explain the so-called ‘correlation between western drug culture and mental illness, and applied quantum physics’, which you seem to fuse and transpose  into one musical concept?

Fredrik: Mental illness is in itself a misconception. It is a failure to see the individual as part of a profoundly sick society. So when the individual is starting to malfunction, it is commonly drugged back into compliance. It should be done the other way around. I have been working within psychiatry for quite a few years, and so I have been studying this from a very close distance. Endless conversations will the so called insane have served as a foundation for how I structure the music of Analfabetism.

Q: What have been your main ideas when starting the writing of “Av Hjord Är Du Kommen” and how do you look back at the result right now?

Fredrik: It actually goes back to Severe Illusion and the year 2006. We went to play at the ‘Deti Nochi’ festival in Kiev, Ukraine. We spent a few days in the city, and had a truly amazing time there. I personally liked Ukraine so much I came back a couple of times just to travel around the country. This took me to the beautiful city of Donetsk just before the Western backed Nazi coup in Kiev. Now the war is raging on and people I’ve met are throwing bombs and stuff at each other.

The title of the album is a play on words. What it is saying is, that people who follow the herd and mentally dead. People going to war just because their leaders told them to do so, are mentally dead. Human society is insanity played out on a macro scale, and with Analfabetism I am trying to express that with sound, with rhythm and without distinguishable words.

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: Electro-industrial.

Content: When I discovered this album I first thought that Siechtum had been awakened after a hibernation of 14 years! The electro-industrial project that was set up by Thomas Rainer (L’Âme Immortelle, Nachtmahr) and Joachim Sobczak (Schattenschlag) was active right after the millennium during a rather short lapse of time.
“Zeiten:Wende” is just a re-release of their 3 full length albums (cf. “Gesellschaft:Mord”, “Kreuz:X:Feuer” and “Diagnose:Zeit”), which have been placed on 2 discs. Siechtum has been considered as a pioneer in the genre, which I think is an interesting statement.

I remember industrial music during the 80s, which was composed with an impressive arsenal of hand-made equipment resulting in a kind of ‘art-brut’ sound. Bands like Test Department, SPK and Einstürzende Neubauten were absolute masters in the genre, but there were many less famous and recognized projects dealing with a similar taste. The industrial music progressively evolved towards electro-driven compositions where the sounds got manipulated by monstrous studio effects creating this typical distorted-electro format. Esplendor Geometrico probably was one of the most famous pioneers in the genre, which would rapidly contaminate numerous other bands.

The ‘industrial’ style of Siechtum moved a bit further getting us to the point where dark-electronics and electro-industrial music merged together. I’ll not start a controversy about who really was the first one in the genre, but Siechtum were one of the precursors.
“Gesellschaft:Mord” (2000) brings us back to this early years revealing a typical electro-industrial sound carried by bombastic rhythms and haunting atmospheres. The work remains rather elementary, instrumental and repetitive. A few samplings injected some diversity, but globally speaking this album really suffers from the weight of time. It sometimes starts a bit like an improvised jam session of industrial-inspired music. This is the kind of work, which left me rather skeptical today, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it back in time.

“Kreuz:X:Feuer” (2001) sounds more diverse and sometimes reveals unexpected influences like acid bleeps (cf. “Gegenschlag”) and a kind of technoid-industrial style (cf. “Wiederstand”). The album even explores passages of cinematographic-industrial music (cf. “Die Ruhe Nach Den Sturm”) and other parts carried by metal (sampled) guitar riffs (cf. “Chaos”).

“Diagnose:Zeit” (2001) finally appears to be the most convincing album (today), but the least industrial minded. Siechtum now added real vocal parts to the work, which makes it more dark-electro driven with industrial flavors on top. It definitely is not a classical dark-electro production but rather a band exorcizing some ideas.

We again notice different influences running through the work, which move into epic passages (cf. “Follow Me”) to a kind of ritual approach (cf. “Winterstahl”). This album appears to be the most accomplished and for sure the most elaborated one. The title song remains the best example in the genre.

Notice by the way that the original albums of Siechtum were released by Matrix Tube, which was an earlier subdivision of Trisol.

Conclusion: This album is available in a beautiful digipak format while there also is a box-edition for the biggest fans of the band. I think this work is mainly meant for the fans of Siechtum and Thomas Rainer in particular.

Best songs: “Diagnose:Zeit”, “New Breed”, “Judas Ischariot”, “Gedankengift”, “Atomkernspaltung”, “Wiederstand”.

Rate: (DP:7)DP.

Band: www.facebook.com/siechtum.official

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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Death In June have informed that their longstanding percussionist John Murphy passed away, aged 56. He died on October 11. Murphy will be best known as the percussionist of Death in June and he was – as Kirlian Camera’s Maurizio Moscarelli puts it – “for at least the past 35 years, involved in many interesting bands and projects such as ‘9.3’Current’9.3′ SPK, Death In June, N0N, Sword Volcano Complex, Blood Axis, Of The Wand And The Moon, and many more.”

Death In June’s Douglas P. posted a video in remembrance of his former bandmate, namely Scorpion Wind – “The Cruelty Of The Heavens” featuring Death In June, Boyd Rice and John Murphy.

But like many other videos, that one has been pulled offline.

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.

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