(Photo by Babiracki) Out today is the brand new video from I Ya Toyah, “Fraud”. The industrial darkwave track “Fraud” is taken from the upcoming full-length album, “Drama”, due out on October 4th.

I Ya Toyah says this about the new video: “Fraud is a dance-floor anthem with a dark twist. It blends soft vocals, intense screams, synthwave, alt rock and dubstep, creating a unique clash of upbeat rhythms and serious lyrics. This track will have you dancing away your imposter syndrome!”

“Drama” is co-produced with/mixed by Stabbing Westward’s Walter Flakus and features new material as well as a few previously available tracks from her recently-released EP, “I Am The Fire”.

In other news, I Ya Toyah has been confirmed for a run of tour dates in Europe as support for Front Line Assembly. Prior to these dates she will play as part of the premier United States darkwave event of the year, the Cold Waves Festival (XII) on September 29th in her hometown of Chicago at Metro.

Here are the tour dates of I Ya Toyah’s European tour supporting Front Line Assembly.

November

• 26 Prague, Czech Republic – MeetFactory
• 27 Budapest, Hungary – A38 Hajo
• 29 Leipzig, Germany – Hellraiser

December

• 01 Oberhausen, Germany – Kulttempel
• 02 Berlin, Germany – Gretchen

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Glis, the electronic music project founded by Shaun Frandsen in 2001, made an unexpected triumphant comeback with the release of the “Gateway To Oblivion” album, a manifestation of the artist’s DNA, blending the raw energy of industrial music with the infectious melodies of future pop. The new album was produced by Sebastian Komor and also features guest vocals by his good old friend AYRIA, and is a strong candidate to be the best future pop album of the year… We did not resist call Seattle for a chat with Shaun…

The album is out now as download and streaming, including from Bandcamp, and on CD, available via the Alfa Matrix webstore.

SL: “Gateway To Oblivion” marks your unexpected return after many years. What motivated you to revive GLIS, and what themes or messages did you want to convey with this new album?

S. It’s partly the 20-25 year anniversary syndrome. I was feeling like I should do something to commemorate the passing of time. The main spark was last summer during a family vacation in Mexico. I was drinking margaritas and talking to my brother-in-law (who’s also a musician in the folk rock scene) about how music is the language of the cosmos and how important it is to create new things. When I returned home I finished “Sunrise v3.0” and then started working on brand new music.

SL:  The album blends industrial music with future pop, showcasing your versatility as a producer, vocalist, songwriter, and instrumentalist. Can you describe your creative process in developing such a diverse and spontaneous sound?

S. I feel like GLIS has always been a blend of different electronic sub-genres. Some albums more than others, but on this one I wanted to kind of showcase the overall aesthetic of the sound throughout the years. I feel you can get a reflection of each of the previous albums on this new album.

SL: Tracks like “Into the Flames” nod to influences such as NIN and DEPECHE MODE. How did these influences shape the mood and direction of “Gateway To Oblivion”?

S. Those are two bands that have been huge influences on me throughout the years (and both still making great music to this day). “Into the Flames” is a kind of intro track that I imagined would also be the intro to the live gig as well. Yes, we want to play live again too! I think you can definitely hear both NIN and DM influences in this track. A bit of “Songs of Faith and Devotion” and “The Fragile”…

SL: Songs like “Ascension” and “Mexico” evoke a straight-up early 2000s synth pop vibe. How do you balance nostalgic elements with contemporary sounds to create something fresh and relevant?

S. Well, I don’t tend hide my influences. “Ascension” is a straight up ode to ICON OF COIL. I met them in 2001 while supporting them in Seattle during their tour with VNV NATION. That’s when I first met Sebastian who helped produce this album and Andy who I worked with a lot in COMBICHRIST. Mexico” is simply supposed to invoke the party vacation vibe in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico). That’s where I decided I was going to bring back GLIS again. Sebastian Komor had a heavy hand in the production of that track. My original demo was more DEPECHE MODE sounding. He made it a lot groovier.

SL: “Cut Away the Demons” and “Damaged” dive into oppressive industrial noise and powerful EBM. What inspired these tracks, and how do they fit into the overall narrative of the album?

G. “Cut Away the Demons” is supposed to be a track that could have been on the “Nemesis” album. Its lyrics and cadence are inspired by Jean-Luc De Meyer’s vocal contribution to that album. It’s about someone who’s overcome by the darkness of addiction and their resolve to conquer it. “Damaged” is a kind of protest track and a musical nod to late 90’s electro-industrial bands such as :WUMPSCUT: and LEATHER STRIP. Two bands I listened to a lot back in the late 90s.

SL: The album features a unique guest appearance by Jennifer Parkin of AYRIA on “Dream Chaser.” How did this collaboration come about, and what was it like working together again?

G. Jenn and I have always kept in touch throughout the years after I produced her first album. We had an amazing time touring together. We even brought her along when I was in COMBICHRIST. We’ve always tried to catch up when she came to town with AYRIA. Last time she was here (in Seattle) in October I told her I was making new music and she said she would love to collaborate again. It was like old times. A full circle moment as she contributed guest vocals on one of my first releases in 2003, which turned into the first AYRIA album soon after.

SL: Like you mentioned it, Sebastian Komor played a pivotal role in shaping the album’s sound. How did his involvement influence the final production, and what elements did he bring to the table?

S. Sebastian went above and beyond what I thought was going to happen when I gave him my original versions of the tracks. He created sounds that we’re begging to evolve from the music. He added a lot of beat elements as well as melodic harmonies. I can’t tell you how happy I am with his work on this album. He took a lot of my tracks and completely boosted their sound quality. He’s a great producer.

SL: “Gateway To Oblivion” tackles themes around the ascension of mankind and the challenges posed by technology. Can you elaborate on these themes and how they reflect both personal and societal struggles?

S. I mean we can all see it happening before us each day. This merging of technologies with everyday life. We’ve basically become part machine by always having smartphones with us everywhere we go. And with the recent emergence of A.I. we’re facing all new challenges and problems as musicians. We’re at the point where we can choose to embrace it all or find some reason to hold back. Will we soon have to validate the fact that we’re human? We seem to be at another turning point in our existence and that’s the overall theme of “Gateway to Oblivion.” It’s a theme commonly addressed on the Industrial music genre, but more than ever it seems these days. We’re moving close to big changes. Are they all for the greater good? We’ll take a dive in and see.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

Out on March 22 is the new album from the electropop act Kraftman, “Chernobyl”. The physical edition is limited to 300 hand-numbered copies and comes in a jewel case holding an 8-pages booklet.

Based in Manchester, UK, this is the music project of Gary Hunter who now offers his 3rd studio album, the follow-up to “Giro d’Italia” (2022) and the debut “Electrique Fabrique” (2021). Musically this should appeal to fans of Metroland, 808 Dot Pop or Kraftwerk.

This time Gary produced an album centered around the Chernobyl disaster, that occured in 1986. The album touches on subjects such as “Radiation”, “Anatoly Dyatlov” (Chief Engineer on duty in Reactor 4, on the night of the incident), “Uranium-235”, “Acute Radiation Syndrome” and more.

The CD edition not only includes the 10 main tracks, recorded for the project, it also includes a special 39 minute “Concept Version” of the album, that features all the main CD tracks, with additional recorded elements, so the listener, can immerse himself into the events that occurred at Chernobyl on that fateful night, as well as, the aftermath and consequences of the disaster.

Check out the album teaser below.

And this is the videoclip for “AZ-5”.

To get an idea what to expect you might also want to check out the “Meltdown To The Core” EP relased in November last year.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

(Picture by SJ Manns) Manchester-based synthwave artist Richard Evans is back with a new retro-futuristic EP (and video) “Dream of the World”, out tomorrow via Cold Star Media. Recorded at Cold Star Studios in July 2023, the title track is about remaining positive even in the darkest times.

This 3-track EP, out tomorrow and available via Bandcamp as well, follows Evans’ 2022 debut record “Sentinel”, an electro-pop concept album exploring micro-plastics, gene editing, stardust, technogenic disasters, human evolution, among other themes.

Also included are the tracks “2084” (about those who deny science and convince others of a different reality) and “Motherlode”, a previously unreleased track, recorded during the “Sentinel” sessions in 2021.

Here’s the video for the title track.

“‘Dream Of The World’ is a call to action in the face of an unrelenting climate crisis and, on a personal level, it reflects on a health situation that affected me in late 2022. I was diagnosed with Miller Fisher Syndrome, a rare auto-immune disorder that impacts around one in a million people each year and is a variant of Guillain-Barre Syndrome. I found parallels between the life-threatening aspects of the climate crisis and a condition which decimated nearly all of my body’s functions,” says Richard Evans.

“I literally woke up one morning in the midst of losing all muscle control. Over the course of a single day, I became unable to open my eyes, to sit, stand or walk, even to eat or swallow food. I was hospitalised for a month and for the first 10 days of this stay, there was a real risk of respiratory failure. Alongside a treatment plan, I kept going with positive visualisations, mentally depicting future times when I would be well again. If nothing else, this practice helped me find the strength to endure the most challenging experience of my life.”

Evans adds, “Once I was released from hospital, music became an important part of my recovery – learning to sing and play keyboards again helped me regain control of my arms, hands and facial muscles. For a long time I had double vision and didn’t have the concentration to work on a computer. However I could play piano for short periods and was able to resume some vocal work after a couple of months. This phase created an unexpected change in my writing process, which previously was built around riffs and sequences developed on a computer. ‘Dream Of The World’ was composed entirely with piano and voice.”

A British-Irish electronic musician, writer and digital media artist, Evans was previously keyboardist in UK cult band James, with whom he also co-wrote and recorded material. Previous to that, he was also guitarist and songwriter for St. Vitus Dancers.

On Thursday, November 23, Richard will perform extracts from “Sentinel” at the Prism Winter Festival at Waterside, Sale, Manchester. Recordings of the live performance will then feature throughout the festival on November 24 and 25. This first outdoor presentation of “Sentinel” involves the visuals being projected onto the exterior of the Waterside building.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Industrial bass act SINthetik Messiah returns with a brand new single, “Know Your Enemy,” a song that takes a strong anti-communist stance. The track delves into the United States grappling with the threat of communism, highlighting that contemporary communist regimes engage in a psychological war, rather than a battle fought with bullets. This war on minds is portrayed as the greatest threat to the USA.

The artist points out the current definition of “Communism” in the Oxford Dictionary as an example of this psychological battle taking place in the US. The dictionary defines communism as “a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.”

In the press release for the track SINthetik Messiah elaborates on the actual definition of modern-day communism as a type of government and economic system that often follows an atheist system: “In a communist system, individuals do not own land, factories, machinery, or capitalist businesses; instead, the government owns these assets. In theory, everyone shares the wealth they create. However, the people in communist countries lack freedom and rights, and they are described as modern-day slaves who have been brainwashed to love their government – a situation akin to a population-level Stockholm syndrome.”

The lyrics video for the Anthony H remix of the song can be found below. The original music for “Know Your Enemy” was written and mixed by Bug Gigabyte, with remixes by Anthony (H) and SpankTheNun. The entire project was mastered by David Villalta.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

French Dark-Wave / Post-Punk trio Je T’aime became a recognized formation in a rather short lapse of time. Dany Boy (programming, synth, bass, guitar & vocal), Tall Bastard (bass & guitar) and Crazy Z (guitar) last year accomplished two great new albums “Passive” and “Aggressive”. The albums reveal a passionate work mixing carrying, dark and powerful, guitar play together with elevating electronic parts. Albums were released on Manic Depression Records and Icy Cold Records (France) and will appeal for fans of The Cure, The Smiths ao. This band has an impressive potential and I would be not surprised to see them gaining a word-wide recognition in their music style. I’d a chat with the band.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I don’t exactly expect a Post-Punk / Dark-Wave band called Je T’aime. Where does this name come from and tell us a bit more about the set up and influences of the band?

Crazy Z: In the end, the name probably has nothing to do with the style of music we make, and everything to do with the romance we embody.

We want to reintroduce this French romanticism, after all anyone knows the meaning of the words “Je T’aime” around the world, and all the Parisian Love they suggest immediately explodes in your mind.

Tall Bastard:After spending the all night writing and recording our first song “The Sound”, being very tired and very drunk, we were so happy to have done it that we kept on saying : ‘I love you man, I love you’ so it stayed.

dBoy:The truth is that I don’t agree with your starting point. On the contrary, when I listen to Post-Punk, and even more so to Dark-Wave, I very often hear the singer talking about his love affairs. What I find strange is that this band name did not exist before we chose it. Je T’aime is such a perfect band name.

Q: Things went really fast for Je T’aime. In a rather short lapse of time you released three studio albums plus a live one. How do you look back on this fast evolution and what’s the input of each member in the writing process?

Crazy Z:In fact, we didn’t realize that. The self-titled debut album was released in 2019, and while we were enjoying it on the road, we were suddenly put on a forced hiatus by the pandemic.

Then the situation gave us plenty of time to write, compose, produce, and polish this new double album “Passive/Aggressive”. Moreover we cheated a little bit, as you might think we’ve released a lot of albums this year, but it’s really two parts of a double album. In any case, we didn’t feel like we were forcing the pace, we just go at our own pace.

dBoy:We are still a long way from artists like Saez who are able to release nine albums in a single year.

Tall Bastard: And now begins what this band was really build for: going on stage and meeting our audience  hitting the road.

Q: You last year released a kind of twins albums; first “Passive” and later on the year “Aggressive”. Each opus features ten songs while the artwork also is a noticeable element. What are these albums all about and what is it about the ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’?

dBoy:‘Passive-aggressive’ behavior is a set of so-called passive attitudes that indirectly express a hidden hostility that is not openly assumed or remains unconscious to the subject. The eponymous first album as well as this double album tells the story of a man who is a very bad lover, husband and father. His life is entirely defined by his fear of growing up, the famous Peter Pan complex. The passive-aggressive attitude is that of his daughter, who eventually hates him.

Q: What have been the different stages in the writing, recording and production of both albums? What have been the main challenges and difficulties you encountered?

Crazy Z:Generally, we take the equipment of our Parisian studios, we load it in a truck, and we leave on the Brittany coast, where we lock ourselves in a big house near the sea. Behind those closed doors, anything can happen. Lots of discussions, about music or not, big parties just between the 3 of us, and of course, lots of work. This is where the ideas for our lyrics, music, and album concepts are born. The hardest thing to manage?  I can think of two things. The fatigue because we chain the days and the nights without counting them. And the second one is the hysterical rhythm of dBoy which is unwavering when he has an idea in mind. We have just released a small documentary of 10 minutes relating all this on our Youtube channel. Go check it out!

dBoy:The biggest difficulty I see when composing is when Tall Bastard doesn’t have enough to make us Pina Coladas.

Q: You last year also released several video clips. What did you try to express by the clips and why are clips that important?

Crazy Z: Besides being the most used support by the public to discover and be interested in a new music band, we are also personally very interested in the power of the films, and in how to film something. So we take a lot of pleasure in imagining what we will produce as the next video material. As much pleasure as when we build a new album. There is no more music on one side, and video on the other. Both are expressions of our art and our stories, one like the other.

dBoy:We are lucky to be very well surrounded, especially by the team that Anaïs Novembre and Jean-François Verganti form within their video production company Albert & Marion, or the photographer and video maker Quentin Caffier.

Q: Je T’aime definitely appears to be a live band and I was really impressed you already played in different countries in such a short lapse of time. What means live shows to the band and what did you try to express on stage?

Crazy Z: So we were right to choose such a universal name from the start! (laughs). Simply, that was the very first and only rule of the band before we started anything in 2018: to make dance all the dark scenes all over Europe. And to make them dance, you have to gather them in one place. So in the end, live is what Je T’aime is all about.

Tall Bastard:Yeah, make our audience dance and smile listening to those old sounds we all like! We travel light to be able to go everywhere and play in almost any conditions!

dBoy:I always liked to compare the stage as a big pirate ship. It always pitches very dangerously in the face of the storm but must never, ever sink. If I had been a pirate captain I would have played very dangerously with my crew because I am an adrenaline fanatic, I always need more.

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 Paris based post-punk / coldwave trio Je T’aime has a brand new video available, “Blood on fire”. The track is taken from the double album “Passive/Agressive”. The first part “Passive” was released on Valentine’s day February 14th, 2022, while the second part “Agressive” will follow next October.

Frontman dBoy says this about the all new double album: “Our new double album ‘Passive / Agressive’, as well as the first album, talks about the Peter Pan syndrome and the difficulty of growing up. Our main character is constantly caught up in the past, repeats the same mistakes over and over again and ends up not being able to move forward in his life. It is no mystery that the band’s music constantly looks for influences in the past 80’s for that reason. This double album forced us to think a lot more about the musical direction to follow, as the three of us have very different influences. So, on this record, we felt the need to find how to mix our 3 personnalities but keeping it coherent. That gives a more complex sound, but still catchy, dark and open at the same time, to bring life to the lyrics based on our own stories.”

Here’s the video for “Blood on fire”.

About Je t’Aime

Je t’Aime consists of dBoy, Tall Bastard and Crazy Z. Merging electro-clash, new-wave, and post-punk, they founded Je t’Aime in 2018 and released a first eponymous album via both Icy Cold Records and Manic Depression Records. A live album called “Live At Gibus”, recorded in Paris, followed immediately.

In 2021, the silence of the three men reached a point where their labels began to wonder whether they were a real band and musicians capable of writing other records, or another one-hit wonder talent. But it appeared they had secluded themselves on the Brittany coast recording “Passive/Agressive”, a double-album. The first part “Passive” was released on Valentine’s day February 14th, 2022, while the second part “Agressive” will follow next October.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Wave-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This is the second full length by German composer Ulf Müller. Three years after the debut album “By Train Through Countries” the artist renewed the collaboration with international guest singers.

Content: The album features an interesting list of singers. Catrine Christensen (SoftWave), Marcus Mokuso (Rename, Mindmodvl), Michael Draw (Otto Dix),  Oleg Degtiarev (Lilith My Mother), René & Susan Mußbach (Analogue-X), Martin Johansson (Electric City Cowboys), David B Roundsley (Munich Syndrome), Magdalena Herfurtner (Madil Hardis), Aidan Casserly (Sebastian And The Dream), Dasha Larks (Pulse Lab), Thierry Noritop (Stereo In Solo), Marcelo Andrea (Expreso Maniquí), Anna (ELL WATERS), Ralf Lorenz (Faltenhall), Richard Pustina and Ade Stocker (Stocksnskins) have been invited to join this new adventure. There were also guest musicians who played saxophone and guitar.

Sound-wise “Freedom For All” is a diversified piece of music -not only for the singers, but also for the varied Electro/Wave-approach. It feels a bit like Müller adapted himself to each singer moving from sweet Electro-Pop to smooth Electro-Wave to a few ‘heavier’ cuts.

+ + + : This album is doing great in Germany and that’s not really a surprise. Projekt Ich has accomplished his work with passion and sensibility while there are numerous talented vocalists. I have a preference for the more 80s-driven songs and more precisely “Sexy Silly Girl” featuring Thierry Noritop (Stereo In Solo) is a cool song. The vocals are sung in French while the chorus is in English. Another attention grabber is “You Can It” which sounds darker and into Electro-Wave.

– – – : The main point -if it’s really one (?) is that you feel like listening to a compilation.

Conclusion: A new sonic travel throughout the wider fields of Electro-Pop music.

Best songs: “Sexy Silly girl – Special Edit” feat. Stereo In Solo, “You Can It”, “We Are The First” feat. Electric City Cowboys.

Rate: 7½ .

Artist: http://projektich-musik.de /  www.facebook.com/ProjektIchMusik

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Set up in Paris (France) Je T’Aime released their debut single “The Sound” in 2018. This song also was the opening track of their self-titled debut album released in 2019 by Manic Depression Records and Icy Cold Records. It was a successful work featuring explicit 80s Cold-Wave elements. Early this year the band released the new album “Passive” again by the same French labels. Dany Boy, Tall Bastard and Crazy Z confirmed their strong potential achieving a work which will appeal for lovers of 80s icons such as The Cure and The Smiths.

(Picture credits by Anaïs Novembre / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Let’s take off by the origins of Je T’Aime. How did you guys meet and what brought you to set up JE T’Aime? And why this band name?

dBoy: With Tall Bastard we met in 2014 when he was the bassist for the band Saigon Blue Rain. I was doing their live sound (among other joys). The plan to make the Goths of Europe dance came after a dinner together. After a few glasses of red wine, we went to my studio to have some fun and that’s how “The Sound” came to be, in the early morning. We kept telling each other: I love you man! That’s why we’re called JE T’Aime.

Tall Bastard: The song was written in emergency and fun. We’ve always tried to keep this spirit for the next sessions.

Q: Your sound is clearly evoking good-old 80s Dark-Wave bands. Tell us a bit more about your sources of inspiration and what made the 80s that special to you?

dBoy: The 80’s remind me of my childhood so it’s quite natural for me to go back to it. Having lived in Atlanta (USA) as a child from 1984 onwards I was overwhelmed by this New-Wave culture. It was a given that I would end up singing this genre of music at some point.

Tall Bastard: The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Sisters Of Mercy, And Also The Trees and Joy Division are the bands I used to listen when I was a teenager. I’ve learned playing music with their songs. I was playing in the Cold-Wave band Saigon Blue Rain before forming JE T’Aime. New-Wave is definitely in my DNA.

Q: How did the transition happened from your self-titled debut album towards “Passive”? Did you try to improve and/or change specific elements of the production and how did the album come true?

dBoy: First of all, we selected everything we liked in the first album, we wanted to keep certain sounds to find a certain artistic coherence. With Crazy Z. we really like a lot of different musical styles, it’s impossible for us to restrict ourselves to one musical style. So, the idea was to modernize our sound without betraying the first album and its musical purpose. I also wrote the first lyrics very quickly, which told the story of the adventures of this guy who is completely lost in life, whom we meet on the first album. So, it quickly became clear to us that we wanted to write a sequel to this first album.

Tall Bastard: For the first album, we were creating our sound. So in fact there were not so much questions. The songs were coming naturally. For “Passive” almost each song came with a question mark : Is this where we want to go? Is it not too close to what we’ve already done? …

Q: Tell us a bit more about the writing process of “Passive”? What’s the input of each member and how was it working composing an album in times of lockdown and this ongoing pandemic?

dBoy: As for the first album, we went to write this double album in Brittany, in Tall Bastard’s holiday home. It’s a very nice place, quiet, and far from the noise and fury of the city. It helps us to stay focused. The first album was written together with Tall and me. On this double album “Passive/Aggressive”, Crazy Z. was part of the writing process, so it took a bit of time to get everyone to understand each other and move in the same direction. But in reality, it went very fast. The songs went together very quickly. We usually write and record two or three songs a day, music and lyrics.

Tall Bastard: Most of the time, we start a new song by defining the mood and the rhythm.  As soon as we have the drum and the bass, everything is going nice and easy. We often have to make a choice between all the ideas that we can have.

Q: What does the title of the album refers to and what are your main sources of inspiration for the lyrical content of “Passive”?

dBoy: Passive-aggressive behavior is a set of so-called passive attitudes that indirectly express a hidden hostility that is not openly assumed or remains unconscious to the subject.

This double album tells the continuation of the adventures of the hero of the first album. A lost guy, suffering from Peter Pan syndrome, separated from his wife and father of a young girl who hates him. Our music is full of ‘joie de vivre’.

Q: In between both studio albums you also self-released a live album which makes me say live shows are very important for JE T’Aime. What are your favorite aspects in live shows and what might we expect to see when JE T’Aime is on stage?

dBoy: Oh yes, for me the stage is a bit like a big pirate ship. It goes through a thousand storms and never has to sink. It must always be cherished and cared for. The stage is an exciting thing, it’s a place to let off steam but also a place full of philosophy and even science. The science of movement, the science of communication, the science of sound and light. In 2005, I had the chance to work with the French scenographer Philippe Albaret, a well of science on the subject of concerts and the attitude to have on stage. It was a real shock in my head. The world of the Music Hall hides thousands of little secrets to be beautiful on stage. A real magic that takes years to master.

Tall Bastard: Our first purpose was to play live as much as we can and meet our audience. So we give everything we have at each concert. We just love it. And those night when the audience is giving us back this energy, for me this is pure joy. I feel completely empty and full at the same time. Intense.

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 Ukrainian dark electro act Blazerjacket has a new video out, “Get Out”m which handles a parasitic society. The video and and single featuring Dirty Bird 13 is out now.

“The song addresses the ease of being drawn into Stockholm Syndrome and the severity of the consequences, you have to get out of the abusive and parasitic society, by just noticing the first signals, you will feel better,” says the band.

Blazerjacket is a duo who have constantly been experimenting with their sound. You can expect danceable beats, a powerful bass, and hooky synths. With “Get Out”, the duo offers a mix of dark electro and EBM, this time together with Dirty Bird 13, another dark electro act from Ukraine.

Check out the video below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Ten years after the band’s last album, Asseptic Room strikes back with their third full length. Carlos Ruiz –previously involved with Dioxyde, has been joined now by Mario González.

Content: This double album clearly has two sides. The main album features 15 songs, which are clearly driven by good-old Electronic standards. Several songs will definitely appeal for fans of :Wumpscut:. There’s a similar tormented sphere mixed with powerful sequences and overwhelming strings. The enraged vocals –mainly sung in Spanish, only accentuate the aggressive approach of Asseptic Room. The last 3 songs are remixes by Acylum, Hiotcan and Nano Infect.

The second album is something totally different. The atmosphere remains pretty dark and you easily recognize the Dark-Electro influence in the song writing, but this album is clearly meant as an imaginary Soundtrack. Most of the songs are instrumental edits –although you’ll notice spoken samplings and a few vocal lines. The songs are sometimes achieved with epic arrangements and constantly driven by rhythms.

+ + + : This work stands for the comeback of Asseptic Room. The first new full length in ten years sounds a bit like a new start and I can assure you the Spanish duo didn’t miss a step. I especially like the darkest and most tormented cuts of the work, which are easily reminding me of the glorious days of :Wumpscut:, but also of Acylum. It’s not of a coincidence Acylum has been asked for a remix and it definitely is one of the best songs of the album. I like the icy sound treatments this album has been made by.

The second disc is different, but Asseptic Room also reveals to have great skills to compose a Dark-Electronic soundtrack. Especially “Syndrome Of Decay” is an impressive piece of music for its epic arrangements; kind of In Slaughter Natives in a more Electronic way.

– – – : The tracklist of both albums could have been a bit shorter; all songs can’t convince me in the same way.

Conclusion: Asseptic Room strikes back with its best album to date: freaky Dark-Electronics for the dancefloors, but still to freak out alone at home.

Best songs: “Extinction Or Reawaken – Redemption”, “Insomnia – Acylum Remix”, “The Rise Of Doom”, “Extinction Or Reawaken” + “Syndrome Of Decay”, “The Destroyer Of Worlds”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/assepticroom.official

Label: www.advoxya-records.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Advoxya-Records/265765706059

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

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. ‘Journalists’ have to remain neutral, but it doesn’t take a way we all have our own favorite artists. Juno Reactor is one of my all-time favorites. Instigator Ben Watkins is an artist who each time again takes me by surprise. His work is mixing influences like Psy-Trance, Tribal and Cinematographic music. The Juno Reactor sound has something special featuring elements you directly recognize; a true sound-DNA. I already got the opportunity to interview Ben Watkins before, but I’ve been deeply touched he accepted to answer questions for this special interview. Great artists aren’t only composing great music; they’re still accessible and humble persons. I’d an endless number of questions to ask. Ben took his time to answer and it finally resulted in one of the most informative and complete Juno Reactor interviews ever. Thanks Ben and respect!

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

‘I Was Smitten By Girls And Rock’

Q: What have been your first experiments as a musician? What have been the triggers and, which were your favorite bands as a teenager? 

Ben: I was born into a family of five kids, I was the second, my parents had both been actor’s. When I was between 5 and 6 years old I would wait for my brother in my classroom to finish his school -I would have about an hour, so about 10 of us kids and a teacher would do drawing, games etc. One day I suggested we do a “Top Of The Pops” (a popular TV show); I formed a band with air-minus-everything, sat my mate Jason down on drums as he had the biggest nose like Ringo Star, can’t remember the others; we would make what surely was a cacophony of made-up words and stamping to the beat. “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah” must have rung out beyond the classroom as the headmaster, a demonstrative man, with a liking for beating kids with his sports shoe would appear at the window looking very irritated. As it was not the first time I had had the unwarranted shoe across my backside, a shiver would go down my back as his eyes and Hitler moustache bobbed above the door partition. 

These pleasant heady afternoons were soon banned due to the repetition of “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah”. I noticed the rather large female teacher was pretty good at the piano, So I asked if I could have lessons, even her non-stop smoking didn’t not put me off. 

The headmaster had too much of a liking for giving me a sore ass, so I asked my parents if I could move school. I had joined the parish choir, the choirmaster was a man named Roy Massey. Roy Massey was cool and pushed me as he liked my voice. He suggested I go to a Cathedral Choir school and apply for a scholarship. 

First I went to audition at St Pauls Cathedral in London. It was a bleak audition, I didn’t prepare enough, and glad I escaped what reminded me of a Charles Dickens movie. Next was Chichester. I could breathe in this atmosphere, I passed the audition of 200 kids for one place and felt very puffed up with myself, knowing my parents didn’t have to pay for my education. 

Violin followed, along with daily practise -7 am wake up, 30 minutes piano or violin practise. 8 am breakfast, 8:30 practise piano violin, 9 am going to the classroom, 12:00 choir practise, lunch then school, sports, choir practise, choir service, dinner, do homework, play free games, practise then bed. This went on for 4 years along with a new disciplinary teacher who equally enjoyed punishment -this time a cane, up the wide massive stairs of the bishops palace, down a long dark corridor, knock, explain my crime, ‘Ben-d over Watkins’, a leather chair which when bent over lifted my behind into the perfect position. 6 whacks later, my hands firmly on my butt, dark bruises would appear later in the night. I had been born again to the boy I should have been in the first place. 

Music school and punishment always seemed interlinked. Even now it annoys me that the first headmaster refused to put my name on the scholarship board, what a cunt. His name was Mr. Sandford.

 I survived Chichester, I became the head of House, by this time I was no longer beaten, and had a champion in Mr. Ross, the disciplinary teacher, sports freak alto in the choir with a certain eye for pubescent males. I was good at winning in Rugby, as we had the biggest 13-year-old god or whoever made him, like a superhero he would destroy other schools and me riding on his coattails basked in his glory. Mr. Ross showed me how to take down a man, so we did with as much aggression as possible when he joined in. 

I left Chichester, a remnant from the stone age of how not to teach a dyslexic kid like me through corporal punishment on how to learn -I didn’t. My choirmaster at Chichester I must say was equally odd, looking like Eric Malcombe (a British comedian). He again had a draconian delight in making sure the boys of the choir feared him, his eyes would hover over you like the follow spots of a prison camp from high above us in the organ loft. He had two mirrors focused on us, and if you looked up, the Vampire of Bela Lugosi would be there. I can’t say I cried when he died a few years ago, as I still hold a dagger that was thrown too many times my way. 

So Wells Cathedral school was next, my introduction to the female sex… well, bye bye learning, OK practise the violin, do all the rest, then focus on bands, Led Zep, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Alice Cooper, Queen, glam rock. I was smitten by girls and rock. My mate Simon Baggs was older and had a car, we would venture out of the school across to Glastonbury plateaus, a labyrinthian set of roads through old mash lands, country pubs to drink cider, smoke John Players Special fags, and listen to his 8 tracks (?) as the beams of his car entered the mists of the backcountry lanes. Alice Cooper’s “Love It To Death” album never sounded so sweet. I continued exploring musical possibilities by experimenting with my first band Spiritual Sky, influenced by David Bowie, whose concerts was the first I went to, the Aladdin Sane tour at the Earls Court Stadium.

‘I Was Listening To D.A.F. And I Realised This Is The Future’

Q: Hailing from London (UK) I can imagine the late 70s and 80s have been fascinating years when it comes to music and the (r)evolution of Electronic music. What did these years mean to you and do you still feel an impact today? 

Ben: I left school when I was 16/17 with the intent of going to a music college. At that time I played classical guitar, and would practise 8 hours a day, and got quite OK on it. I flunked the first audition as I didn’t present a second instrument. This depressing point changed the course of my life, I was so annoyed by myself, I stopped playing classical guitar and got more into songs of Dylan and people like John Martin. Smoked a ton of dope, started busking, went off to Paris with a semi pyscho guy called Lynn, a man with an addiction to Valium and a crushing right hand as a rhythm guitarist, and spent the summer playing on the streets of Saint Michelle and the Champs Elysée. After months of being arrested (and sometimes put into prison -the police were quite nice and would give me beers to play) I had had enough. I wanted to form a band! Due to my parents lengthily separation and all the conflicts attached to it, starting since I was 9, and final divorce shortly after my return home from Paris, life diverted and I ended up establishing a rehearsal room in the now deserted parental house, where I and my older brother would continue living alone, experiencing the newly found peace and evolving musical projects while rehearsing with my first band Panther. I started gigging, Punk-Rock was kicking off! I was playing, now with my band Rainstorm, the same pubs as the Sex Pistols, Japan, The Stranglers amongst others, we did a tour withThe Frankie Miller Band. A Glasgow singer that should have been born in Memphis -a great singer, wild and very much a Glaswegian. Back then I was booking shows from a red phone box -coins every 30 seconds. Rainstorm turning into I.O.U., we played pretty much every music pub in the country. I really wish I’d kept my bass player from I.O.U. for my next musical project, a guy named Ian Taylor, who I had a natural affinity with.

I was bored of being skint and driving up and down the country for 2 years in our Box Transit with 6 aircraft seats, a PA we had on HP (higher purchase/credit) and going nowhere, fun but nowhere. One time we had to be rescued by the police near Shropshire in Winter, heavy snow blocked the roads at midnight, and the Transit was stranded and being snowed in, the guitarist, also called Ben, had icicles forming on his moustache. I remember crossing fields alone to find a house, first one wouldn’t help us, onto another who did ring the rescue, six of us stuff into a police car -never felt so good.

I partnered up with some musicians an A&R man from CBS suggested. The A&R man was a guy called Chas de Whalley, the brother of a friend of mine from back in the days of the headmaster with a penchant for corporal punishment. We, The Hitmen, went on to be signed to CBS after a year of rehearsals and songs that sounded like a primitive AI had made for a pop audience. Much to the chagrin of CBS, the management and the band, we were incredibly unsuccessful despite all the money and machinery CBS provide. I hated it, the mentality of playing the same notes, in-jokes and seriously underwhelming emotions. I had to leave as I couldn’t stomach The Hitmen any more, the characters in the band were the antithesis of my mental state or desire. Luckily the second album decided to shoot itself in the head, due to too much fighting, no focus and CBS’s realisation The Hitmen were doomed.  

Phil Manzanero’s studio (the guitarist of Roxy Music) was a white circular house -I had never seen anything like it! The engineer was a guy called Ian Little. We had made the last Hitmen record there, and I got on with him well. We talked nearly the same language, as opposed to the disconnect with the band. He wanted to make an avant-garde album, free of doctrine -just do what you want. So for a few tracks I threw away all concern and I was to be David Bowie, imagining myself on an alternative “Lodger”-album. Nothing was written, all just improvised. The band was called New Asia… This set my brain off into new ways of writing, like Brian Eno, as studios were expensive and this gave me a chance to experiment. 

So in the ’70s and ’80s it felt like I was always playing catch up with what other people were doing. I had had the band signed to CBS – it sounded like another band (Elvis Costello mix), or my previous bands -we didn’t sound particularly individual. It was only when I was sick enough of all the ego’s, bullshit or the hatred that you got from possibly jealous band members, that when I got introduced to a drum machine and a sequencer I realised I could get rid of half the band. I was listening to D.A.F. -it was a two-piece and I realised this is the future.

I met Youth (the bass player of Killing Joke) in ’82, around the time when he had just left Killing Joke and was looking to start a new band, which became Brilliant. I was the only guy he knew with a sequencer so for a short time I joined. Toured UK and Spain. We went on to record under the Name The Youth & Ben Watkins on the “The Empty Quarter”-album and “The Empty Quarter” on the “Delirium” album. Both albums were extremely quick in making;  first album -the official soundtrack to Jonathan Moore’s stage play “Street Captives” -2 days. Written, recorded and mixed with predominantly pulsating bass lines, drums, early Greengate samplers and synthesizers. Second album -5 days. We recorded “Delirium”, focusing more on rhythms and Electronic elements with still some instrumental aspect, ranging from Tribal to Industrial to Gothic-Funk. So many funny stories with Youth -the time in Spain on the evacuation of the tour, as it all fell apart after Barcelona; we took all our equipment back on the train, decided to eat all of our dope before the French border. By the time we arrived at midnight, the French border police wanted to play games with this group of English stoners. ‘Who is this woman’ they said, referring to a passport. We all looked and couldn’t identify her? ‘Go find her…’ so we all went looking on the train platform, bewildered and laughing, about an hour later we returned to their pigeon hole and asked to look again, as no way was she still on the platform. Upon second look we realised it was me they were referring to… Ha. Ha.

I heard DAF and Suicide around this time, I was saved! This music spoke to me. My grandmother died and left me 200£ which I immediately spent on a Roland MC 202, a sequencer with one monophonic synth. On HP I bought a cheap drum machine and a Moog Rogue. I formed The Flowerpot Men with Adam Peters, a classical cellist, who later became Echo And The Bunnymen’s orchestrator. 

 Our first single sold well for an underground track. We toured with Dead Or Alive and Siouxsie And The Banshees. Steven Severin of the Banshee’s produced the first “Single Joe’s So Mean to Josephine”, a dark murderous story I had read in the papers. The police knew who had killed the woman in bed, but couldn’t work out how Joe had managed to tie himself up. For the track I expanded on the story a bit. The 202 was driving this with the added influences of T.Rex, sort of a suicide inspired track. It charted in the indie charts and you could hear it being played by John Peel on BBC Radio 1 and loads of underground Gothic Dj’s. “Jo’s So Mean (to Josephine)” was also on our own independent record label, Compost Records.

In 1985 we recorded a cover of Dr Johns “Walk On Gilded Splinters” with Dr John on guest vocals, at Run DMC’s Studio In Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn NY. The B side featured a track called “Melting Down On Motor Angel” which was an elongation of the new drug MDMA, which we sampled on a roof garden on 8th Street watching a shoot-out down below. “Melting Down On Motor Angel” was also the album title to Sunsonic’s only album.

Around this time also, Sigue Sigue Sputnik started turning up to our gigs in full dress, noting down all we were doing, later to make their own version of our madness. A single a year, then along came Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986 completely out of the blue.

Another EP “Alligator Bait”, four songs inspired again by the time in New York… what wasn’t great about New York at that time? So much vibe, parties, gigs, the Danceteria, hanging out with artists, musicians, actors, painters, just walking down the street was like being in a Kojak episode, I loved it!

We were building a nice audience when Adam decided to go produce a Punk band in Denmark instead of headlining the Temple of Gothic achievement -the Camden Palace. The Flowerpot Men were no more.

 Yello had come into my life with the “80 – 85”-remix album, it never left the record player, Sonic Youth, Front 242, most of the Mute Records catalogue, Beggars Banquet label, ZTT were making records I could only dream of creating…

So rethink time, 9 months of thinking, writing; rave music came in 86/87, early parties hanging out with KLF in their squat. Sometimes engineering their remixes, or going on the highland adventures with the KLF, making a copy of “The Wicker Man” for all KLF’s licencees, flown onto a small island on the Western Isles (the same place they burnt a million pounds in the name of art and cocaine), so like a twat, as again I was skint I did the opposite of good, and tried and succeed in going and signing with another major label, this time Polydor Records and with my Flowerpot partner, I started Sunsonic. Part of the deal was they build us a studio to save on costs, so what seemed a cool idea -and was in some ways -was us investing into learning how (and not) to become an engineer, an album that should have taken a few months turned into two years and sounded like it: over thought under inspired.

I worked with Alex Paterson (The Orb) again and formed a short-lived band called Peace In The Middle East, same name as the track we created, a sort of goodwill floppy dance sounding workout, nothing special.

 When there was so much great quick music being made we were in creative limbo. So the impact changed. Find a new way to present a band, no longer did I want the ego of one partner, I wanted a collective or collaborators and keep the vibe and atmosphere good and exciting. 

Adam left for the USA, I stayed and started Juno Reactor.

‘Juno Reactor Was Set Up As An Art Collective’

Q: I think Juno Reactor was originally set up as an art collective/gallery, right? Who was involved? What was it all about and how did it finally become a music collective centred around you? 

Ben:  Juno Reactor was set up as an art collective, with writers, installation artists, filmmakers, etc. Norma Fetcher, my girlfriend, took a surface to air missile and we drove it around London down past Parliament Square, Big Ben, Whitehall on a flatbed truck, with armoured personal carriers front and back whilst dressed as Arabs -an anti Gulf War protest, and installed it into an art Gallery, the Diorama, that was owned by the Queen and had a perfect silo shape in the middle where the rocket was newly erected. For this, I wrote “Luciana” -really Juno Reactor’s first album, which was also a suggestion of Jimmy Cauty (KLF) that I should do an hour mix as he had just done, as an experiment. The trouble with art was funding and much easier for me to get musical backing so it folded as soon as it began. Although R&S Records did sponsor that show as I had released a track called “I Love You” under the name of Electrotete with future JR musician Stephan Holweck (who later became Total Eclipse), a crazy French guy and brilliant bass player who also lived in the Benio squat with Jimmy.

The main people in the first two Juno Reactor albums were: Mike Maquire, a great guy I met at the distribution company Greyhound, when releasing a self-released title “Pycho SlapHead”, a brutal rave track with a sense of murderous humour. Mike was great, he had been in India many times and loved the early scene where DJ’s were already playing my tracks. I had to find out more, so we went into my studio in Bowl Court and Mike turned me on to the current sound of India. As it was so close to my Electronic sound it was an easy hop onto a train – Sci-Fi Landscapes, my 202 still purring like a train, we made the track “High Energy Protons”. Mike took it to India and immediately it became a big track there and abroad: Japan, Greece, France, Germany and UK. Tracks kept on hoping out in two or three days, with Stephan Holweck and Mike and soon we had about nine or ten tracks, so I took them up to Mute Records, intending to only perhaps sell one track. They loved it and wanted the album!

No one knew what this music was, so they called it intelligent Techno, albums were selling, gigs were happening, I was feeling more comfortable about the debts of Sunsonic being paid off. 

‘For Me It Was A Sci-Fi Scene For Acid Party People’

Q: The singles “Laughing Gas” and “High Energy Protons” plus the debut album “Transmissions” (1993) were into Goa-Trance. Back in time this genre was something totally new and often introduced as ‘Electronics for hippies’. What did you keep in mind from this album and how did you see the Goa-Trance movement evolving? 

Ben: Well, I never saw it as music for hippies -for me it was a Sci-fi scene for acid party people, hippies were still listening to Dylan in my mind. I had come from the Industrial-Rock routes, with heavy sense or brutal Electronica, which was also being played out in India, so for me, it was not much of a diversion, more like an extension of what I had already been doing. So I hooked up with Mike and Johann Bley, a great writer and drummer, who lived in Goa for 6 months of the year whilst I stayed in the UK and carried on writing tracks. Youth by this time was also indulging in holidays out there. It was a great way to write with no commercial interest, and just get what was great feedback from India and the parties. Essentially it was a very positive way of producing after what was a rather grim time whilst with Sunsonic. 

“Transmissions” was the first real beginning of something special, Mike Maguire – Stephan Holweck – Johann Bley even Turnip the Swede Jens Walderbeck, had an important part to play in the new playground. Mike and Johann would go to Goa and live there for 6 months of the year, send feedback on tracks, that even in these days of fire hilltop communication, managed to pass on the vibe of the parties, as I worked on new tracks to send out, or wait for their return. I had no idea of the lazy days on the beaches, rented houses year round, with cleaners and cooks, small or large jungle parties where monkeys would be interactive with the monkeys our tracks (“Jungle High”) -I have sampled a lot of monkey sounds.

These new Cyber-Punks would network in the blessed out Goa sun, to return to their homelands, far away from paradise and the free love of this un-celebrated underground unknown music, their generation accepting of all ages, colours race. Would telegraph their passion, create parties in on hidden mountains in Japan, sex clubs in L.A, warehouse London, gymnasiums in Paris, disused airports in Germany, Outback volcanos in Australia. We were invisible to the industry of wannabe stars and bankrupt music.

This kinetic energy of knowing you were onto something new was the drug, like a secret society that anyone could join, if you had digested the shared psychedelic values.

Our new world was fresh, driven, invited around the world, “Transmissions” was transmitting on a global level, that music magazines and house DJs couldn’t fathom.

 The studio building was from the time of Jack the Ripper, a 3 story warehouse used for  god knows what, the atmosphere had not left it, along with some of the rather back street people you might expect in that area of London. Prostitutes would use the car park at the back, working their trade. Sometime city guys in suits would be aggressive and attack the women, so we kept a baseball bat by the door and if we heard their screams we would run out in the name of protection.

Q: Your next album “Luciana” (1994) was something totally different and not exactly the most familiar album from your discography. But I think there’re a few interesting things to say about this work; it revealed your interest in Soundtracks while it got released on Alex Paterson’s (The Orb) own label Inter-Modo. What brought you to write this album and how did you get in touch with Alex Paterson? 

Ben: This goes back to the Missile Project and the involvement in installation art. Alex (THE ORB) heard the album and loved it, he said ‘Can I release it?’, why not I thought, so I spent an afternoon with Alex in the studio, he added some elements over the stereo track and that became the album. I met Alex in 1986, as he is Youth oldest and best friend, an ex roadie of Killing Joke with an amazing record collection, a massive ability to smoke more than London can produce and speak in a way you need a hearing aid to listen. 

Q: I’ve always linked Juno Reactor with solid bass lines and transcendental drums. “Beyond The Infinite” (1995) perfectly symbolizes these elements, but also your interest to explore new ideas like Tribal drums. What did this work say about your perception of ‘sound’ and eventually your passion for drums? 

Ben: “Beyond The Infinite”, by this time Mute and cool London were not fans of Goa or Trance anymore, and decided to call it ‘Tarquin Techno’ in the media, because of the image that rich kids were behind the scene, which -looking at myself, was obviously bollocks, but in Goa there certainly were a few, and maybe the other scenes sensing danger, ridiculed it. They were about to steal the name of trance. Paul Oakenfold(like ‘Sique Sique Sputnick’) was hanging out at parties, listening, collecting ideas and tracks, the house was moving to Trance. Clever, to take this and add all the crap vocals and sell it off to the sheep… Their power and media savvy then became ‘Trance’. Not sure what our scene was, Psychedelic-Trance? Along come all these pigeon holes. Name it, sell it. We didn’t give a shit and stayed as far away from the cliché as possible. Mike was so great at this time, he had the best tunes of anyone, and was in great demand as an international DJ, from the USA to Japan and sometimes we would join him as a live three-piece. Brilliant days, we were a family. 

Q: I think you’re an artist with a very unique sound DNA! What I’m trying to say is that I instantly can recognize your work by the bass lines, the orchestral arrangements, the hypnotic drum sections… What makes this DNA and where does it come from? 

Ben: I have no idea. Like all musicians, I have collected and been inspired by what I needed and wanted. I love all types of music, still do, these DNA strands are unique, the hard part is how to lay them out for others to share and enjoy. I wanted to be a photographer when very young, my dad said it was too expensive, so film, TV, pictures, music all collided and formed whatever I am in my tastes for music.

‘I Decided To Become More Grounded In Earthly Sounds From The Percussion’

Q: It’s impossible not evoking “Bible Of Dreams” (1997), which revealed new ideas and collaborations. I consider this work as your magnum opus, which even today hasn’t lost its original magic. How do you look back at this work 24 years later and are there some aspects of the production you would do differently? 

Ben:  So the time of “Bible Of Dreams” came along. Robert Trunz, CEO of MELT2000 -the umbrella company which ran Blue Room, and Simon Ghahary, the managing director of Blue Room -a sub-label based in the UK specialising in Electronic music, had signed Juno Reactor to Blue Room/Melt 2000 for “Beyond The Infinite”, as Mute didn’t want it. Robert was a jazz freak, and he got me involved in his great love for African music. Robert and Simon were different, business was easy, as Robert was pretty loaded and loved to invest in his artists. He took over my shabby warehouse studio, put in a massive Raindurk Symphony Desk, massive monitors that would be anyone’s wet dream, 9 bass drivers aside, they blew the roof off. He took over landlord costs, God I was free of all these costs, and could make music without the fear of losing it all.  

I had been introduced to the African musicians on Melt 2000. All the scene was doing was still making chemical noises, and stick in an alien landscape for the acid heads. Although this is enjoyable, it became very repetitive. So I decided to become more grounded in earthly sounds from the percussion. The only percussionists I had been introduced to before Amampondo were generally white guys, flipping away on drums in a sloppy-sloppy fashion, or German-style timpani military way which I had found pretty useless and saw no advantage in it on a track. So my mind was blown away by Mabi -power, rhythmic complexity, fun, tradition, amazing rhythms that propelled the track! My eyes were opened and I felt stupid I had not seen what so many others had -say for example my favourite drummer Ginger Baker -why hadn’t I noticed African drumming that years before? Anyway, I was now awake to its potential in my world of cross over, not interested in world music in its pure form and wanted to create a fusion with electronic music and see what comes out. 

Working with Mabi was so instinctive, we both saw tracks in the same way as pictures and thoughts, I literally fell over him in a music studio corridor where he was asleep on the floor when I was producing a Zulu Band for Melt 2000 in South Africa. We got talking and I invited him and Amampondo to play all the percussion, so in a way, our future was laid out there.

I felt I knew what I was doing, none of my UK band wanted to tour the USA with Moby for just 30 minutes a night, so I called Mabi and Amampondo , did a few rehearsals and off on tour! This moment diverted the future of the project for the next 12 years where I would tour with Amampondo.

 “God Is God” could finally be added to a Juno Reactor album, as now JUNO RREACTOR was more interested in the earth sounds, leaving sci-fi behind. “God Is God” was written around the end of “Transmissions”, needed a better mix, but was ready. The album fell into place so easily. 

I wouldn’t touch “Bible Of Dreams” as it is a record of where I was musically at the time. I firmly believe people walk on our path for a reason, be it for a short or long period. How we interact with them is up to us. Some people unexpectedly turn out to be far more important than you could ever have imagined. Some you will love until you die, while other return to the mist of being.

Q: I read somewhere that after “Bible Of Dreams” you got the feeling to be done with Electronic music. What was it all about? Was it a kind of exhaustion or blank page syndrome?

Ben: It happens a lot to me, especially with Electronic music. Far too many people seem to be happy to create a platform. Be it Trance, Techno, Ambient, Drum’n’Bass, Bass music, whatever. It gets like an L.A motorway full of polluting gases all sounding the same. So I go left, maybe my mistake there, but as I am totally useless at being commercial, I prefer my way. And hope others enjoy it.

‘The Track Was Built Around My Love For Tarantino And Westerns, Clint Eastwood And “Once Upon A Time In The West”’

Q: The opening song “Pistolero” from the “Shango”-album (2000) probably became your biggest hit ever. It sounds differently because of this guitar play and yet it remains 100% Juno Reactor! I remember my reaction when I heard it for the very first time: ‘this guy is crazy’! Was this song a kind of antithesis to all what you’ve done before? And how did you imagine the future of the project right at the new millennium? 

Ben: On tour I met up with Steve Stevens. After speaking with him on the phone about the recent Traci Lords album that I produced, I invited him to play on a show in L.A, a great venue, like an old-fashioned sports hall with a running track above. Now, I think how freaked out he must have been, as I patched him into my desk, he would play, and I would cut him off at random, he kept on looking over as if to say ‘WHAT THE FUCK?!’, he must have thought I was crazy, he didn’t complain but you don’t do this to a Rock Legend. Anyway, we got on, he asked me to produce a track for his album – yep, “Pistolero”.

Steve wasn’t used to my regime of endless hours in the studio and I think after six days his eyes were somewhere down near his guitar swaying hips, exhausted he returned to the USA. He wasn’t that impressed, so I agreed to pay his costs, and I would release it. I worked on it a ton more, and out popped the track we know.

The track was built around my love for Tarantino and Westerns, Clint Eastwood and “Once Upon A Time In The West”. When it was released I named it the “Tarantino Radio Edit”. Quentin loved it and Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino then wrote “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” after being inspired by my “Pistolero” track, which they credited in the CD booklet.

Currently, I’m working on the new album, Steve Stevens, Sugizo and Amir Haddad will hopefully all on the same track.

Working with Amampondo was a dream, we never argued, just laughed a lot, after having lived in each other’s pockets on tour we got on well. I learnt more from them than they did of me. Their sense of rhythm, spontaneity, improvisation, the humour of dance, the humour of anything. We would do shows, stop the machines and go into full-on Tribal rhythms, songs of the Pondo’s. Every night was different. Mandla and Simpewe would perform acrobatics when we played “Feel The Universe”, crowds loved this, even though injuries happened, the next night they would do it again. I carried on working with them for 12 years until it became impossible to bring them from South Africa due to rising costs and falling promoters budgets. 

I should add that Traci Lords was also very cool to work with, and had several enjoyable sessions with her, which led to a top 5 USA billboard track titled “Control” and a number of movie syncs from these sessions.

‘“Matrix” Was Like Being Shot And Landing In Heaven With A Ticket Back To Earth’

Q: Your songs got more and more featured in movies and you wrote different songs for Soundtracks. I can imagine the “Matrix”-experiences must have been a kind of ultimate dream and accomplishment? But what has been the impact of all these experiences –and more especially “The Matrix”, on your career?

Ben: I love films, first of all, so for it to combine with my music is a dream job no matter what the film is. I will score a bug on a wall, and still enjoy it. “Matrix” was like being shot and landing in heaven with a ticket back to earth. After the initial meeting with the Wachowski’s I had to smash nails into my boots to keep me from flying off to the stars. Reality hit in a good way and was the toughest discipline mixed with the excitement of being able to please the directors and myself. What do I take away from it? A sense of achievement that I did something very special. I still get composers coming up to me and saying it is a landmark film for integration of Electronics and orchestra which is what the Wachowski’s wanted. It helped me believe in my writing al lot more, although confidence is like the wind, some days you have it others not.

The daily routine of waking up in heaven is not always as easy as it sounds, as even in my camp I would experience jealousy, I had brought with me a programmer (Stephan Holweck) an engineer (Greg Hunter) Singer (Taz) Stephan more turned into a cook and this frustrated his, as he wanted to be more involved, but the way out worked out there was no real room for him. Greg brought in his friend, which added to the annoyance of Greg; Greg would come in and say as I was working on “The Burly Brawl”, ‘that is a load of crap’ in-front of his friend as a light heated joke, which they all found very funny, I took Greg outside and suggested he return back to London as he wasn’t on my team, either buck up or go home. I should have sacked Greg as he would do things like after a mix was finished, he wanted to polish it more, so first time I agreed and I went back to the Paramore to sleep. I got a call from the dub stage early in the morning saying ‘what is this mix, it is horrible!!!’ I asked what time it was made they said 8 am, I replied please listen to mix from 1:00 am . They did and said thank you this is great.

Greg Hunter had in the hours between, added noises, effects I knew would be unwanted, and a rebalance uncalled for. He had become a liability to me, as now Warner were clocking his over times. I could not get rid of him as I didn’t know another great engineer in L.A. I would never use him again. These unexpected invasions add a colour I would have preferred had not happened, as these were not the only times he tried to unravel the job.

 Zig Gron (my Music Editor)  on the other hand, a man I did not know previously was my guardian angel. He walked me through all of the landmines, I asked him to teach me all he could, and I was in a 100 milesper hour world on information upload. Zig was funny, informative and such a bloody relief to have near me. God save Zig Gron and all who sail around him.

Q: The Soundtrack you composed for the “Brave Story”-animation film (2006) must have been something really special. For the very first time you composed the entire Soundtrack and here again I discovered some new aspects like the song “Juno Waltz”. How did you prepare and finally composed this work? 

Ben: This was composed under my name Ben Watkins rather than Juno Reactor. I had done another one, like “Beowulf”. I asked them why they wanted me to write for mainly orchestra, and they said we would like to hear how it sounds. So I sort of did my impression of ‘a man who knew what he was doing and what they were talking about’. There were a few production problems re-budget, as it wasn’t cheap for an Anime film. Once that was over, it was surprisingly easy, maybe a lot easier than writing for pure Electronics as the orchestra tone is defined by what you want, and once set, you have your pallet of sounds more or less. “Juno Waltz”, funny you mention that one, as it was the one I most feared to write, as again it has been so defined by other writers. I wrote it last, and it just popped out, it was also the one I felt the orchestra liked the most as they would tap their music stands like clapping. 

We recorded the Orchestra and choir in Bratislava, The Bratislavian Symphony Orchestra and a Vienna choir. I remember on the way to the massive radio sound stage all the older ladies at the bus stops had bright blue/purple hair. A hangover from communist times maybe, thought it looked great and definitely a way I wouldn’t mind my hair, like Quintan Crisp on acid.

Q: You also composed music for animation games. Does it need a different approach than for soundtracks? Any preference and/or favorite? 

Ben: “The Mark Of Kri” was a sort of nightmare, in as far as I had to create on each level two hours of non repeating music, on 0.5 MB, which now sounds insane huh. So you have an excitement engine, 0 – 100, fight mode is 50 plus. I had to build the macros to enable this. So deep learning curve, endless nights on the phone to Scott in San Francisco. This is a bit like the early beginning maybe of programs like WWise.com -which is a sampler on Crack, and hold so many possibilities for AI and VR, which makes me really excited for the future of music and sonic displacement for composers. My preference for games is really to write and hand over in stereo or 5.1. 

“PS4 Gran Turismo” -I made special mixes of tracks from the not so soon to be released album “The Mutant Theatre”, I didn’t have much involvement on this as they loved the tracks I presented and it was done.

Thanks of the Galaxy was a scored mobile game. Despite it being for mobile-only, I really enjoyed working with the team in Finland, in which I presented a Sci-fi industrial orchestral score made from orchestra libraries by George Strezov well worth checking out.

www.strezov.net  www.strezov-sampling.com

‘“Navras” Is The Biggest Track I Have Written’

Q: “Labyrinth” (2004), “Gods & Monsters” (2008), “Inside The Reactor” (2011), “The Golden Sun Of The Great East” (2013) and “The Mutant Theatre” (2018) are the studio-albums released after 2000. How would you analyze the evolution of these productions considering items like influences, technology vs. production and new collaborations? 

Ben: “Labyrinth” is “The Matrix”-album, and after the experience of the last track for “The Matrix Revolutions”, “Navras”, I couldn’t write a thing. “Navras” is the biggest track I have written, or been involved in with 120-piece orchestra, 80-piece choir, soloists, percussionists… So for three months after that I was bashing my head against a wall back in the UK. I think mainly as I was still missing the vibe of L.A, the people always around, the buzz. Until “Conquistador” Parts 1 & 2 came to save me along with guitarist Eduardo Niebla. I was mainly working very analogue, real drums, humans playing, and I still do, but now I am 75% out of the box and 25% in the box. Loads of new software have enabled me to make it more expansive. 

“Gods & Monsters”-I wanted it less epic than “Labyrinth”, write some songs that spoke to me at the time, and try a sort of Jazzy feel to some of it. Not very popular with the Juno Reactor dance crowd at the time, I still love certain tracks. A lot of artists musicians feel constrained by the genre they are in, main thing to me is to stand by what you write, and try it, it ain’t going to kill you. 

One track for example, “Tanta Pena” from “Gods & Monsters” -I was driving to the studio at Ridge Farm when a voice came on the BBC world music show, I had to stop and listen. A cross between a butterfly and a thunderstorm, it took the wind out of my lungs. As soon as the song was over I rang the station and asked who it was. Yasmin Levy! I contacted her husband who was also her agent/manager and asked if she would be interested in recording with me. 

Yasmin and the manager arrived on a beautiful Summer’s day. Ridge Farm is in the Surrey countryside, an Elizabethan Estate with grounds, a swimming pool, beautifully landscaped gardens, all made possible by Frank Andrews never-ending building work on his estate. 

I had moved into Ridge Farm after “The Matrix” films when I heard the studio on the estate was laying bare. I was able to bring my equipment and use one of Englands classic studio’s. Muse, Queen, Ozzie Osbourne and so many more had recorded here… 

Yasmin was shy, and maybe only 20yrs old when she visited the farm. I played her my idea’s, talked a little, not much really and went into record! With one take it was done on both tracks, no need to do any more, she had nailed it! It is quite amazing when this happens, like Lakshmi Shankar on “Navras”. 

I carried on working the track to bring it to her level, with an amazing Zook player from Arminia, Tigran Aleksanyan with the merciless drumming of Greg Ellis, who, when I started working with him in the studio, sounded a bit like a session player. His appearance was that of a typical tattoed L.A drummer, calm, spiritually balanced in appearance -and a very amiable personality.

I asked Greg to let his rage out for this track, really hit those fuckers! I unleashed a beast, a monster, his whole countenance changed, Fire and brimstone drumming, an apocalypse of anger and frustration came out! Drum skins didn’t last long, an inverted blister would appear on the snare within one take! Greg loved this approach, which you can also hear on “The Immaculate Crucifixion”. After this, “Tanta Pena” was complete. 

The original song dates back to the time when the Spanish ejected the Jewish population or made them convert to Christianity around 1492. It is sung in Ladino by Yasmin Levy whose father was a famous archivist of Ladino music, “No More Blood” –“Tanta Pena”.

 “Golden Sun Of The Great East” -I went to India to record a lot of the soloists, and this opened up my world to new horizons, as I found Bombay very “Blade Runner”-ish, ancient and modern all running parallel, crazy, mad, tragic and beautiful. 

Magical things happen, even when you are not looking, I was on a day trip around the studio’s of Mumbai with a potential agent for me in India. We entered a black and gold studio, very camp, I would expect Freddie Mercury of Queen to pop out and say ‘Hello darlings, welcome to my fuck fest!’ instead it was a wonderful Panjabi singer being recorded for a film. Our next appointment was with the Mozart of Indian film music, A R Rahmen. Excited I jumped in the taxi, horns blaring, rain falling, a bright night journey. Next to me in the taxi was the Panjabi singer, ‘Hey can you sing me a song into my zoom recorder, as we wait for my agent to say his goodbyes’. 4 minutes later, a song that never varied off its pitch, was in my data control. Leaving out the A R Rahmen meeting as it was nice, but nothing special, I returned to the hotel where eagles would fly high above in the morning light, I listened back, to the Mumbai traffic and the voice of a celestial being. I started writing “Invisible”, the second track on the album.

“The Mutant Theatre” was written for the show -a Sci-Fi extravaganza where choreographed performance really took over the direction. 

For me, the last two albums speak to me how I want to hear them, and possibly my favourite albums.

“The Mutant Theatre” was designed as a show album. In 2015 I was asked by the Ozora Festival to come back the next year with a new show, I had thought of a show to be called “The Mutant Theatre” 5 years before when in Russia and working with two amazing Performance groups, Agnivo, from Moscow, and Stigma Show from St.Petersburg. I presented this idea in pictures to Ozora, which they loved. It was expensive as it involved around 18 people.

Eyal Yankovich had been my agent for 5 years or so, also the head of Hommega Records. He was an OK agent, getting me the occasional gig or tour, what he was really good at was igniting my imagination with tunes, and suggest I listen to many great tracks, ‘How about a new “Pistolero” Ben?’

Eyal Hung himself before he could listen to the final “Return Of The Pistolero”-version or the album, which still a saddens me.

 Sanja Music, our tour manager, started to really help me, not only from a business perspective, but also from a listening view point. Despite being unable to discuss in a musical language, she would always hit it on the head, find a way to describe the best versions, enthusiasm, insights, referenced insights how fans can view it, how it might work on stage. Spend hours discussing and evolving ideas. I met Sanja many years before in Slovenia when we were playing with Laibach. A tall shiny girl in Japanese fashion appeared solo waiting for the doors to open, a Sugizo fan I believed. We stayed in contact through Myspace and later meeting up in Japan when I was having tours there. She came to the 2015 Ozora Festival and I’ve asked her to photograph Juno Reactor. After we went to Budapest to sight see the city, when I realised what a great addition she would me to Juno Reactor, little did I know how central to my thinking and the project she would become.

‘I Want To Give Something To The Audience That They Might Not Have Seen Before’

Q: You’ve always worked and composed your albums with guest musicians and –singers while going on tour with dance companies, drummers ao. It all feels a bit like the initial goal of creating a ‘collective’ has never changed. What did you learn from all these meetings, collaborations and exchanges? 

Ben: I want to give something to the audience that they might not have seen before. Maybe this goes back to my days of loving David Bowie, and his great performances, always looking for a new way. I feel a sense of family when we are on the road, not always possible with some people, but when it is good it is great. I am still learning how best to be, and how to navigate the waters of human interaction. I feel most comfortable in my studio along with all the other me’s talking.

Q: Your brother Simon Watkins has been often involved in the artwork of Juno Reactor. It all looks like arts is a family thing. Where does it come from and is there a next Watkins generation to hold on this artistic fire? 

Ben: Simon, my brother, helped me focus on art and how to look at it. He always had an unusual taste, a black comedy in his work that I loved. My parents were actors, and despite we were a family of 5 kids, and totally squint, I have no clue why our blood directs us to the arts, as it would be much simpler if we had just wanted a normal life. My parents gave up on their careers too early I always felt, and so I have to live with the musical sword in my hand.

Django, my younger son, is at film university learning the art of script writing and direction, Tim, my older son, is a great musician and records tracks I love. Scarlet and her friend wrote a track for a Japanese singer that was pretty successful. Scarlet at one time wanted to take over Juno Reactor, maybe she still does who knows, but she has chose marine photography for now.

‘AI, VR & AR Have So Much Potential For Young Musicians To Escape The Old Models Of Creation And Start A New Chapter In Music’

Q: A lot of things have changed/evolved since the early Juno Reactor years; think about technology, new equipment & music programs, streaming, social media etc… What have been the pros and cons? 

Ben: I started out on an MC 202 and now I have a museum, a laboratory, loads of instruments that I play. I miss the hangouts in the studio, as everyone has a studio, so we became moles. I love the independence of starting a Juno Reactor label, which I and Sanja Karin Music, who is my manager and for a number of years has also collaborated on artwork, future NFTs on knownorigin.io and other platforms, and a variety of creative projects and activities, which we will be rolling out in the coming year.

The new possibilities of NFT’s and blockchain, which might well help the independent musician into a new economic model. AI, VR & AR have so much potential for young musicians to escape the old models of creation and start a new chapter in music, independent from middlemen and greedy manipulators from the dark alleys of the old music industry. A new world awaits in the decade to come, and I am excited by it, and what it will become. This doesn’t in any way exclude the old ways, or purity of the orchestra, classical musicians, just a new voice in the galaxy.

Q: Covid-19 has seriously affected artistic activities all over the world. How did you keep yourself busy and what are you actually working on? 

Ben: I am learning the Viola, this has kept me in focus at times, writing new tracks with this has been very enjoyable, as well as testing, as I am still learning, and it will take me a long time to play the way I would like. I swim in the sea, this I love when I can afford the time -a sea swim now takes me about 2:30 hours compared to the pool of 1 hour. It blows all the cobwebs and bad thoughts away -of which there have been many through the past year, no question. I think a lot of artists had a very hard time, a lot of artists might have been forced to stop doing what they love, which is very sad. Like many others as well, I have been forced to look into the paperwork side of the project and face all the different misdemeanours and manipulations from a number of people I preferred not to face while gigs were still bringing in enough money to keep going.

‘Sooner Or Later An Autobiography Could Certainly Happen’

Q: I read in a post you got the idea to write an autobiography, which I think is a real interesting idea. Is it something concrete and are there some next ‘big’ dreams you want to accomplish?  

Ben: Well, it is odd, as I have lived long enough to tell stories other people find interesting, or so they say. Sometimes I get caught up in them, and it reminds me of talking to family members before they died. As you can ask them a historic question of how life was, and you can see their eyes glaze over as they reminisce as if they are walking the streets and cafes they used to. It is beautiful to see and hear. I don’t want to become a broken record and recite story after story, so maybe one time if I can write it OK, it might be interesting. My manager Sanja has been pushing me to write down or talk about times in my life and slowly collect all these to be turned into an entity at some point, so sooner or later an autobiography could certainly happen. It might have been silly of me to suggest I’m writing it on a simple social media travel picture that looked to me like a book cover, but perhaps having the public know and expect it will give me an extra boost to keep working on it, with my managers help, as an dyslexic person I was surprised to find that I’m really enjoying this process.

‘The Older I Get The More I Want To Do Music, Scuba, Swim, And Exploring New Horizons’

Q: An interesting item for the autobiography could be to know what you would have done in life without music? And do you have specific hobbies/passions next to music? 

Ben: I remember one day my father said ‘If you pass this exam, I will buy you a pony’. I tried my best, but still failed, and thus had to grow up pony-less. I wonder what would have happened had I passed the exam. Would I really have gotten a pony? Would I perhaps be in a completely different profession today? I should ring up my dad and ask if he actually planned to get that pony …

A lot of people through-out my life have mistook my dreamy exterior to think I am lazy, when in fact my brain has never stopped talking, the conversations I have in my mind seem to me to be more interesting than the ones outside, so I can be non responsive, come over as aloof. The reality is I have drifted off into my own world again. Where I might think I have answered a question asked by someone, just to realise it was only answered in my head. Dyslexia has strange traits, and for me it is this, I am word blinded sometimes that also raises my pulse to a train, panic. I envy people who can be logical, and competent in social exchanges. Stage is my way out, a sort of nether world between reality and dreams where I feel confident of its power.

Without music, I would be a shadow, maybe worked in a stable or farm all my life, something that didn’t need a searching brain. The older I get the more I want to do music, scuba, swim, and exploring new horizons.

Q: “Pistolero” is the Juno Reactor-song I make people listen to, who aren’t familiar with your work. Which one would you choose? 

Ben: At the moment, Ummm my latest one: “Coyote You Me And The Stars”. As it was written for a very special moment and one I will forever remember. I bought an amazing keyboard at the beginning of the crisis, which has been my main frame and primary sound source, the Quantum keyboard by Waldorf, it is such an unusual instrument. It is possible to create sonic textures I haven’t heard before, a 3D motion I have been looking for, this along with the viola.

I am more interested in how I can hold the sound in the stereo field to give depth and spatial pleasures. Political events don’t usually invade my thoughts yet this has been unavoidable.

Witten by: Ben Watkins

Co-editor: Sanja Karin Music (management & shrink services)

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

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. I met Johan Van Roy even before I wrote my first review. He was busy composing music under the SUICIDE COMMANDO moniker. I liked the dark and tormented atmosphere of his early demos, which were reminding me of THE KLINIK. I got the chance singing on one of his early songs and we even set up together a music project. SUICIDE COMMANDO became one of the absolute leading formations from the Dark-Electro scene, playing as headliner at big festivals, selling thousands of albums and having an impressive word-wide fan base. Beyond the successful career hides an humble person. No star attitude, but an accessible and kind man who simply remains himself.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Thirty five years ago now you started experimenting with Electronic music while setting up SUICIDE COMMANDO. What incited you back in 1986 to experiment with electro sounds and noises? How did that happened and what equipment did you use?

Johan: I grew up in the early 80s with the in that time booming New-Wave scene, listening to bands like THE CURE, SISTERS OF MERCY, but also more Electronic sounding bands like DEPECHE MODE or FAD GADGET … It was because of these bands that my love for Electronic music started. Not much later I discovered bands like THE NEON JUDGEMENT, FRONT 242 and THE KLINIK (in those days these bands even got airplay on national radio stations like BRT…).

These bands had such a big impact on me that I also wanted to start making Electronic music. And so I bought my first keyboard back in summer 1986, the now legendary Roland SH101, not much later added with 2 drum machines, the Boss DR110 Dr. Rhythm and the Boss DR220E.

Very limited gear, but in those days very expensive equipment, so it wasn’t that obvious to buy more equipment. For example samplers were extremely expensive and even with a sampler you only could record a few seconds of sound…

Q: People maybe don’t realize it took you years and a lot of patience plus perseverance to get some recognition. I get the impression you couldn’t maybe directly break through because of a lack of equipment. As you said, electronic equipment was very expensive and there weren’t the same facilities as today. How do you look back at this period regarding equipment, the multiple cassettes you released, the first compilation features etc?

Johan: It obviously were totally different times, not just only because of the cost and the lack of equipment, as I already mentioned before. But there also wasn’t any social media, so that means it took way longer to get your music spread around. Everything still had to be done by post, so things took much longer then nowadays.
Today’s possibilities are unlimited, but nonetheless I don’t regret I had to start this way. It gave you much more freedom and time to work on music. You also had to be way more innovative and inventive to create and write music. Today almost everything is already canned, get yourself a PC and some music software and in one day you can write yourself a complete album …

Many bands had to start like I did, writing music with very limited gear and releasing it on tape… bands like FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, NITZER EBB… all started this way.
It also gave me time to improve and create my own style, something I do lack in today’s music scene.
So I definitely look back at it with pleasure.

Q: You became involved with LESCURE 13, which in a way -and right in the beginning became more recognized than SUICIDE COMMANDO. I was even sure LESCURE 13 would even become the Belgian ‘next big thing’, but it finally didn’t happen that way. How comes and what do you keep in mind from the LESCURE 13 experience?

Johan:I don’t think that SUICIDE COMMANDO was less recognized, but it was much harder to get the same recognition if you don’t do live shows, and I think that was the main reason why LESCURE 13 got picked up faster. Initially I never really planned on doing live shows with SUICIDE COMMANDO, but as our first live show with LESCURE 13 at the legendary Side-Line festival at ‘VK’ in Brussels became such a success, it convinced me to start doing live shows with SUICIDE COMMANDO as well. So in a way Side-Line is to blame for that 🙂

It was fun doing LESCURE 13 with Stefan Bens (STIN SCATZOR), but since SUICIDE COMMANDO got more and more successful in the years after, I got less and less time to focus on LESCURE 13, so on the long run the combination became too difficult and stressful for me. I’ll never forget our very first live show with LESCURE 13 in Brussels.

Q: I got the privilege to start another project with you, which was TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME. How do you look back at this experience and a few other side-projects like DB.F and KOMBAT UNIT?

Johan:I enjoyed doing them all, but just like with LESCURE 13, time became the biggest problem. The combination of doing music with SUICIDE COMMANDO + work + family just became too time consuming and stressful.

But like I said, I enjoyed doing all these side projects. As SUICIDE COMMANDO was my solo-project I enjoyed working together with others from time to time, even though it requires a different approach.

With LESCURE 13 we still do some live shows now and then, and also KOMBAT UNIT with Jan (NOISUF-X, X-FUSION) never really stopped, but it’s all just a matter of time.

Doing TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME was fun too, but in the end you have to make choices and set priorities, but I look back at it with lots of pleasure.

Q: The split-album/compilation “Induktion, Varianz Und Deren Folgen” released by Stefan Herwig on his early label Kugelblitz in 1993 made things change! Suddenly more people were discovering SUICIDE COMMANDO! How important was this compilation in the career and development of SUICIDE COMMANDO? And how important was Stefan Herwig who finally brought you to join his Off Beat label?

Johan: Oh, for sure this was a career changer and I’m sure that without Stefan Herwig, SUICIDE COMMANDO never would have become as big as today. I already knew Stefan Herwig for a few years after he discovered SUICIDE COMMANDO through my tapes released on the German ZNS tapes label, so when Stefan started his own label with Kugelblitz Records he soon invited me to join on his “Induktion, Varianz Und Deren Folgen” split-CD.

Not much later Stefan started working for the rising Off Beat label and so he was able to get me in there as well… and the rest is history I guess.

I’m aware I was pretty lucky, being at the right place at the right time I guess… so yes, without Stefan my career would have looked totally different I guess.

Q: SUICIDE COMMANDO was often compared to THE KLINIK, which has been one of your main sources of inspiration. What has been the real impact of THE KLINIK and eventually other bands –and maybe music genres, in the development and evolution of SUICIDE COMMANDO till today?

Johan:Well, no need to deny that bands like KLINIK or yet FRONT 242 (and others like THE NEON JUDGEMENT, FAD GADGET, SKINNY PUPPY, NITZER EBB…) had a major impact on me and my music throughout the years. They not only were a major source of inspiration, these bands also were THE main reason why I started doing ‘Electronic’ music in the first place. My older brother was playing guitar so my first steps into the music scene were as a bass player, but when I discovered bands like KLINIK, FRONT 242… a whole new world opened before my eyes (and ears).
Still in 2021 a band like KLINIK remains probably my biggest influence.

Q: You last year celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the “Mindstrip”-album. This production probably became the most successful one in the band’s history, but how do you look back at this album and did it make specific things/aspects changing?

Johan: Not sure if it was my most successful album, but it sure had the biggest impact on my career. We already gained some recognition with the huge success of “See You In Hell” and to a lesser extent “Desire” and “Better Off Dead”, but the release of the “Mindstrip”-album and the “Hellraiser”-single taken from this album certainly brought us to the top of the scene. Again I think Stefan Herwig had a big part in this success as he just started his own division with Dependent Records, gathering bands like COVENANT or VNV NATION… I think SUICIDE COMMANDO certainly benefitted from their success as well.

On top of that I think “Mindstrip” filled a gap between the at that time trending Future- and Synth-Pop acts and the more harder side of the Electro scene which was at a decline at that moment, and therefore “Mindstrip” marked an important milestone in the entire scene. All of a sudden bands started to copy SUICIDE COMMANDO and harsh electro was born. In the next years many bands would jump onto the harsh ‘Electro/Endzeit’ train.

So it not only marked the start of a new subgenre in the Electro scene, it also changed the expectations of the media and the crowd.

My follow up album “Axis Of Evil” was 8 weeks at the top of the at that time highly acclaimed German Alternative Charts (DAC).

Q: You’re organizing an interesting annual ‘SUICIDE COMMANDO poll’ where the fans can choose their favorite songs. In which way is it representative for your personal favorites and what are your favorite songs? And do you’ve some songs, which remained underrated?

Johan: It’s a good representation of what the fans consider the best SUICIDE COMMANDO songs, but that’s about all. It surely doesn’t reflect my personal favorites, even though a few of my personal faves are also in the top 10 of this list.

I’ve always enjoyed doing the more slower and atmospheric songs. A few of them like “God Is In The Rain” or “The Devil” also gained club success, but personal favorites like “Euthanasia” (1998), “Body Count proceed” (2000), “Until We Die” (2010), “Severed Head” (2010), “Repent Or Perish” (2013)… remained under the radar.

Q: SUICIDE COMMANDO became the absolute leading formation from the Dark-Electro scene! I can imagine it’s a deserved recognition for hard work, but what does this ‘status’ really mean to you? What has been the impact of this success on the person hiding behind the artist? In which way did it change your life?

Johan: I don’t think it had that much impact on me personally. I always remained (probably too) humble and down to earth. Of course I’m flattered by this recognition, but compared to some others in this scene, I always kept both feet on the ground. And let’s face it, compared with the mainstream Beyoncé’s and Madonna’s of this world we’re just tiny little dwarfs…lol

Q: Do you know how much SUICIDE COMMANDO-albums have been sold today? What have been the best-sellers?

Johan: With the rise of digital downloads and sales I have no idea anymore of actual physical sales. The market completely changed in the last 2 decades. Physical sales of CD’s completely collapsed and the digital market is so diverse that it’s hard to give any concrete numbers.

On platforms like Spotify… people don’t listen to complete albums anymore, they just pick their favorite songs. Not even sure if complete albums still will be released in 10 years from now…

So it’s hard to compare, I know an album like “Mindstrip” sold over 25.000 physical copies, but it never even reached the official album charts, while my latest 2 albums even made it to a position in the top 20 of the official German album charts, even though their physical sales are way less than the original “Mindstrip”-album for example, simply because digital sales totally took over the market.

Q: Is it possible for an underground artist to earn a living with music? How important is money when you’re a renowned artist?

Johan: Yes, (in non-Covid times!) I think it’s possible for the bigger acts in the underground scene, if you do it properly, which means doing regular live touring + releasing music on a regular base.

But it takes a lot of work, time and devotion. I’m still one of the lucky few who can live from music, but since I have a responsibility towards my wife and kid, I deliberately choose to keep doing a half time job to remain financially safe.

Q: SUICIDE COMMANDO is also a live band with a solid reputation. How important is it for you to play live shows and feel the interaction with the fans?

Johan: I find it very important and I realize it even more at times like these today with the pandemic. I do miss this interaction with the fans and the crowd. It gives so much satisfaction and energy to be on stage and interact with your fans.

Q: Torben Schmidt and Mario Vaerewijck are your long-time live mates. How does it happen when you guys are on tour and what makes the chemistry between you all (and the entire crew)?

Johan: I think we all enjoy it very much to be on the road, in a way it’s also our escape from boring daily work ‘eat-sleep’ routine. A big advantage also is that we’re not a conventional band, I mean, basically SUICIDE COMMANDO is just me doing all the music, so Torben and Mario only join in on stage, so we don’t have to sleep with each other (which does happen sometimes being on tour haha…).

Usually it’s all very easy going when we’re on the road and that keeps things pleasant.

Q: You played at numerous festivals and in very different countries all over the world. Do you see noticeable differences between countries and continents and are there some specific places/venues you would ever like to play?

Johan: There certainly are differences. Not specifically because of the crowd, although we do notice a difference between playing in countries where people hardly ever get to see live bands from other continents (like Mexico or Brazil…) or countries where you can watch the same band every 2 weeks (like Germany …).

The gratitude is  bigger in countries where you don’t get to play every month or year. I do notice more differences on the technical level. Clubs and venues usually are much better equipped in Europe then across the ocean. It’s a much bigger challenge to do shows in the US for example, but what counts in the end is the response from the crowd. I can be more satisfied playing in front of 100 people in a dirty basement with a crappy sound system then playing in front of 5000 people, as long as the people had fun I’m happy.

Q: What has been your biggest satisfaction and deception so far?

Johan: I’m overall happy that I could make my biggest passion a big part of my job and life. Music has always been my passion, so I feel privileged that I could make my music my (part time) job and life. I feel privileged that I can share my music and my passion with my fans, that’s probably my biggest satisfaction.

My biggest deception? Hard to say, maybe the fact that it also takes a lot of sacrifices to combine all these things (my daily part time job + music + family + …), it already got me into a severe burn-out few years ago, my knee is fucked up after the accident on stage in the US, my ears are fucked up because of the often too loud music on stages …

Q: A lot of things have changed/evolved since you set up SUICIDE COMMANDO in 1985! What’s your perception about it all and how did you see the scene and entire music business evolving throughout the years?

Johan: Oh for sure many things have changed throughout the years, it’s really been a technological revolution… The technological possibilities became endless, maybe not all for the best though.

We’re living in an ever faster society and that’s even reflected in our music. In 1985 a song had to be 120 bpm maximum, today we’re living at a speed of 135 bpm or more… lol

The rise of the digital media totally killed the CD and vinyl market, but also brought new possibilities, so I also try to see the positive effects of it.
Social media became the new normal and brought music & bands closer to their fans, but also gave us a shallow and resentful society.

So it all has it’s pro and cons… and there’s no way back.

Q: Do you sometimes imagine the end of SUICIDE COMMANDO and are there other things in life you would like to accomplish?

Johan: I don’t think SUICIDE COMMANDO will ever stop. I tried to split several times, but it’s so hard being a one man project…lol. No seriously, I can’t imagine my life without music, so I probably will continue writing music till I drop dead. 

Q: What might we expect from SUICIDE COMMANDO for the next few months?

Johan: I’m currently working on a new album, but I don’t want to rush things, so no idea when it will be finished.

I certainly do hope we can start doing live shows again sometime this Summer, so I’m really looking forward to that.
And there might be some more surprises coming up, but wait and see…

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

Munich Syndrome has released its 11th album, “Bad Blood”, as a soundtrack / companion to the memoir David B. Roundsley (Munich Syndrome founding member) has written, “Bad Blood: A Life without Consequence”.

The book chronicles one adoptee’s search and journey to discover his birth parents and his roots in the new world of DNA testing, data aggregation, and social media. What began with a simple inquiry led him down a rabbit hole of intrigue, secrets, drug abuse, dark deeds, infidelity, attempted murder and organized crime.

The album features 8 new songs, including Munich Syndrome’s first cover song, “Out of the Blue”, originally by Alan Parsons. The album also features 5 remixes of songs from throughout Munich Syndrome’s 20-year career along with two key tracks from 2018’s “Electro Pop 2”.

The book and album are available on Bandcamp.

Munich Syndrome is also featured with the track “The Grind” on our “Face The Beat 6” compilation.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Earlier this week we launched a mega mix of “Face The Beat: Session 6”, once again executed by Seattle (United States) based DJ Shane Aungst who seems to have really fallen in love with the series. The 100 minutes and 4 seconds long mix features a total of 24 tracks all taken from the massive setlist of “Face The Beat: Session 6”, lots of samples and is available now on Bandcamp as a free download.

Time to call Seattle again and talk with Shane.

SL: Shane, you have realized two very different sides in the megamix, Side A is more laid back while Side B is more up tempo. Was that split in approach already pre-planned?

SA: I didn’t have a set plan going into the project, I spent a lot of time listening to all the tracks and just went with what had the right groove for me. There were a dizzying amount of songs to choose from and I felt terrible for having to pass on so many. My selection process came down to my headphones, a few joints, and a couple late nights listening to the tracks repeatedly

SL: You put quite some work in getting samples etc added. Can you explain how you exactly started on this megamix?

SA: I spent a number of days just sampling for this project. I then ran through my process as the mixes will normally have a number of edits, but I generally messed around with all the tracks in this project in some manner. I like to tell stories or go with a theme with mixes and or edits and I was working with a loose theme of the overall sampling on this mix as well.

I really enjoyed working on this project and have loved the variety of music that comes across these Face the Beat compilations and the sheer size of this volume 6 compilation was by far the largest compilation I have been a part of, even bigger than the 1995 RAS DVA There is No Time compilation.

SL: Besides this megamix, can you bring us up to speed with what you have been busy lately? Also what is in the planning for 2021?

SA: I’m always working on a mix of some type, I currently have two I’m working on to be posted to my Mixcloud account, I try and keep a new mix posted weekly. I have a livestream show for Temple 3 at the end of the month and I have done a few remixes as well as released my first solo track, an ambient track which you can check out below.

SL: Has the current health crisis had any impact on you as a musician?

SA: We have been under some type of shelter in place order since March here in Seattle, closing bars and clubs down. Jason Bangert (God Module) and myself both dj a large monthly fetish event at Kremwerk here in Seattle and I have really been missing the live shows and getting to see and interact with the crowd

I feel like 2021 is going to be a bit of a holding pattern with this pandemic, at least in the states, I don’t really see shows happening until late 2021 at the earliest so its been hard to plan. I had a couple invites for festivals in 2020 that obviously fell through and I’m hoping to get out of Seattle to play more (last show out of Seattle I played was in Brazil back in Dec of 2019).

The 2021 megamix

The megamix completed by Shane Aungst for the “Face The Beat: Session 6” compilation can be checked out right below.

The tracks featured are the following.

Side A

1. Cima Muta – Change The Color
2. Munich Syndrome – The Grind
3. White Cauldron – Emptytomb
4. Iris Manta – Inverted Aeons
5. Zauber – Sechs Krähen
6. Acylum – Sieg Oder Walhalla
7. Entrzelle – Feeling Heavy These Days
8. Amorphous – Confinamiento
9. Planetdamage – Form Follows Function
10. Llumen – Lifeline-Shibari
11. Sunao Inami – 2020-0814
12. Reichsfeind – Persona (Single Edit)

Side B

1. Blue Ant – Make Me Human
2. Last Activity – Neon
3. Modulo One – Gothenburg 2
4. Alien:Nation – Holographic Deathsphere
5. Binary Division – Zero Tolerance
6. Suppressor – Śūnyatā
7. Traumatize – Comatose (Remixed By Mas-Si-Osare)
8. Antibody – Sorrow
9. Synapsyche – Viva Insanity
10. Phil Stilles – Ordoliberal Final
11. LCM – Solitary Screamer
12. Epiphaneia – Unleash!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, Noise, Ambient.

Format: Digital, CDR.

Background/Info: Credo In Deum is a new project driven by Robert LaBarge. This American artist got some recognition with Buddhist On Fire, but got involved with multiple other projects. This is his debut work under the Credo In Deum moniker.

Content: The album clearly sounds like it’s into Experimental music, but reveals a diversified approach. Buzzing sound waves supported with manipulated vocal (sampled) parts, noises like hail, diversified field recordings, ghost-like passages and a final track turning into pure Noise are the essence of this sonic voyage.

+ + + : I like the work’s diversity and especially some of the Ambient parts have something pretty visual like. I was impressed with the heavy, monstrous sound treatment at “Path Of The Fierce Beast” and the overwhelming sounds mixed with field recordings at “Sodomized With Spikes”. “Blood Soaked Sand” is one of the most varied releases from the No Part Of It label, like taking some distance with the familiar, endless looping sequences from most productions.

– – – : Even if the album is more diversified, it however remains a very extreme sound experience, which will appeal for a restricted number of fans.

Conclusion: “Blood Soaked Sand” is a work that caught my attention for its accessible experimental format characterized by some great sound treatments.

Best songs: “Sodomized With Spikes”, “Battered Wife Syndrome”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/robert.e.labarge.II

Label: www.nopartofit.com / www.facebook.com/nopartofit

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

NAVIGATOR PROJECT is an Italian band based in Naples. The band was set up by Amir Sabljaković and joined by his son Daniel and Caroline Darko. They this year released the debut album “Follow The Light” on ScentAir Records, which is a successful mix between EBM, Electro-Pop and Electro-Wave music. The album features nine songs and will appeal for 80s lovers. NAVIGATOR PROJECT is a promising formation and I’m really wondering to see how this band will evolve.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I think for most of the readers NAVIGATOR PROJECT will be a new name so can you briefly tell us a bit more about your music background and how this project saw the daylight?

AMIR: Navigator Project was born about 2 years ago. After several collaborations I decided to put something together  that would totally reflect myself. I’m very inspired by the 80’s New-Wave, (Depeche Mode, Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division, Alphaville), but also some contemporary bands like Editors and White Lies.

Q: Amir, you’ve been involved with other music projects so what makes NAVIGATOR PROJECT different and maybe special to you? Did you’ve a specific sound in mind you wanted to accomplish?

AMIR: Surely the thing that makes this project special is the presence of my son Daniel who took care of the rhythmic part. I have never used schemes in composing, I have always been inspired by the reference bands trying to produce something original (which is very difficult these days).

Q: How did this debut album “Follow The Light” finally took shape? What did you keep in mind from the writing- and production process and what have been the main difficulties and challenges in the accomplishment of the album?

AMIR: In the realization of “Follow The Light” the decisive part were the special people who helped me. There were many difficulties. I have always had problems writing the lyrics and this time Caroline Darko (an integral part of the project now) came to my rescue. She immediately understood what I needed.

Dragan from X-MOUTH SYNDROME helped me with guitar arrangements and more. Last but not least, Mika Rossi put the final mark on the production.

Q: I experienced the songs as very diversified; from EBM influences to Dark-Wave arrangements to retro Electro-Pop. How do you explain this diversity and is there any specific genre you feel more comfortable with? Do you’ve already ideas in mind about the next album/work?

AMIR: Some songs were composed several years ago while I completed others during lockdown. That’s why each song seems to be in a different style. I prefer Electronics, but I don’t disdain guitars. We are already working on the second album. There is a lot of material to work on, but with the times we are living, we will have a lot of time working on it.

Q: You already mentioned Mika Rossi who co-produced the album? What has been his true impact in the production process and what did you eventually learn from him?

AMIR: I owe everything to Mika. In all honesty, everything I have learned over the years is thanks to him. Without his help and support I would never have been able to release this album. In addition to the musical collaboration we have a ten-year friendship.

Q: Reading the lyrics of the songs I got the impression the lyrical themes –which are mainly dark and existential, are really important. Can you tell us a bit more about it? What did you try to accentuate, maybe exorcize?

Caroline: Well, you’ve just got the point. My lyrics are so focused on an intimate perspective of the world, a sort of consideration on how the world is changed, and how much we’ve been influenced by this root-and-branch changing. How much this affected us. So, our interiority is in flux as well, and sometimes it is really difficult to accept it, and not being eaten by bitterness, distress and ourselves. It’s very hard to survive and ‘follow the light’ when we live in a darkened era and we would only change the timescale, but yet we can try; that’s the main core of our record. I tried to accentuate the existentialism of the human being.

At the beginning, Amir provided me some suggestions, and I just listened. The tracks spoke to me since the very first moment, and came out so naturally! I gave them life, sometimes through metaphorical- and dark keys. For example: “Spellbound” is based on the character of Susie Bannion in Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria”, which has an allegorical function in the song. “An Angel” is nearly related to a biblical and fantastical imagery to talk about inner struggles (the Shadows we feed on), or “Imago Noctis” -a poem of mine performed by me”, which is an ode to the Death (as opposed to the regained will to live in the last track, “Follow The Light”). The same dark existentialism attends in “What’s Left Of Us?” (the one track with melodies and lyrics wholly by my friend Amir), a more obsessive, psychedelic song written during the quarantine. The most existential and spiritual song is, without doubt, “In The Spiral”; deals with the fact that we should open our eyes, comprehend the sense of our life and enjoy it as long as we can because, no matter what we do, we live in a hurt, fake world, and we’ll keep being trapped in the illusion of hope (the ”Cemetery Of Despair”), as a limbo: a dog devouring its tail. So it is better to embrace and be brave to be Humans. We started with the abyss to reach, in the end, the light.

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

Moris Blak started in 2016 after almost a decade of experimenting with electronic music production, and performing in metal bands. The name is actually a reference to a true crime documentary. The American solo-project released a few EP’s on Blind Mice Productions. The official debut album “The Irregularity Of Being”, released by the end of 2019 on Negative Gain reveals a solid mix between EBM and industrial sound treatments. The work has been accomplished by the addition of guest singers: Pete Crane, Amelia Arsenic, Angel Metro, Slighter and Noire Antidote & Johnny E. Veil. This interview is an introduction to the sonic universe of Moris Blak.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What have been the main ideas and influences to set up Moris Blak and what kind of sound did you want to compose?

MB:Moris Blak combines modern bass music and the cold aggression of the industrial genre. A typical studio session draws from unnerving atmospheres of horror films, the mechanical opera of cyberpunk, and walls of heavy bass from the main stage of an EDM festival. I like to say that I create music for warehouse raves in towns run by esoteric cults.

Q: I noticed you define your music/sound as ‘industrial bass’. The bass lines clearly are solid, but what’s the deeper significance and your own quest when it comes to sound creation?

MB: Historically, industrial has been a fairly insular scene. It’s influenced in large part by the early days of experimental electronic music, and most modern artists in the field are still paying tribute to those pioneers of noise.

I discovered new gods in the bone-rattling frequencies of bass music. There is a dark energy and ‘Lovecraftian’ dread that brews below 100hz. I fully indulge in the headiness of that, and encourage my listeners to do the same.

Q: You released a few EP’s and other digital productions before your debut album “The Irregularity Of Being”. In which way is the album the apotheosis of your earlier work and/or a kind of consecration for all your efforts. How do you see the evolution from the early work towards the album?

MB: My early EP’s were very experimental in their sound design, till trying to find their footing. A new artist’s first release often evidences a desire to break all the rules while at the same time wearing their influences prominently…

Although I’m proud of those releases, it wasn’t until my EP “Femmes d’le Obscurite” that I learned to use the proper tools to create the sounds I had been hearing in my head. This began a shift to much more heavily-distorted modulating basslines, and started collaborations with some incredibly talented vocalists and producers that I had been a fan of for years. It’s been a real honor working with them.

Q: What did you keep in mind from the writing and recording of the album? Did you have specific criteria and/or references to work with the different guest singers on the album?

MB: I chose my singers based on their exceptional catalogs, giving each full creative control with the lyrics. I gave them a mostly completed track, and let it guide them in how to create a complimentary vocal part in their own style. This lack of initial oversight helped the track to develop and grow naturally. I wanted each piece to be a true collaboration, and I believe this approach creates a much richer and more immersive environment.

Q: How did the recording and production of the vocals happen? What can you say about the lyrical content and the deeper significance of the album title?

MB: As I mentioned, these talented artists recorded their parts at their preferred studio space with little direction from me. It was really about trusting them to bring their own style and talent to the table. I’d give some insight into what I was aiming for in terms of lyrical content, but each artist’s words were their own response to the bleak soundscapes I provided.

The title of this album, “The Irregularity Of Being”,is sort of an acknowledgement of my own personal battles on the road to producing and releasing it. Writing my first full album took a decade of battling imposter syndrome, and questioning a lot about myself and the world I found myself in. It takes a while to find your voice, creatively, and your twenties is when many people find that existential bearing that will guide them into the future. “The Irregularity Of Being” is a reference to the book “The Conspiracy Against The Human Race” by Thomas Ligotti, a collection of grim, pessimistic examinations that acknowledged my own reflections on the nature of being.

Q: Live shows have been cancelled due to the Corona lockdown. What do you expect about further live shows and what are you actually doing during the lockdown (artistic wise)?

MB: Despite all the negatives of this situation, the isolation of lockdown has actually been an opportunity for me to dig deeper into creating music. I have been hard at work on two new releases for Negative Gain Productions. Both releases will be a collection of collaborations, remixes, and originals -details coming soon. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be releasing some new remixes as well. This pandemic has allowed me to produce some of my heaviest material to date.

2020 was the year that I had planned several tours, and planned on playing several festivals during the summer. Like most artists, I was disheartened by the sudden cancellations and the prospect of live performances completely drying up, but I’m taking this as an opportunity to refine my stage presence, produce new material, and continue planning a full tour of the U.S. and beyond when this is all over.

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 Belgian producer/composer/musician Oliver Adams, known for his work for techno project Praga Khan and post-industrial/techno band Lords of Acid has released a complete remake of his Mortal Kombat movie theme song ‘Techno Syndrome’.

The song is called ‘Mortal Virus Techno Syndrome Covid-19’ and is, as the title already explains, a song about the actual Covid-19 corona-virus.

And here is the original version of ‘Techno Syndrome’ released under the artist-name ‘The Immortals’ in 1994.

“Dominant Paradigm” (feat. Charlie Bowes) is the brand new single by Industrial breakbeat act 3D Stas. With the single 3D Stas makes his FiXT label debut after signing a multi-album deal in late 2018. The track features vocal performances of Charlie Bowes, known as the front man of UK band Seething Akira.

With the release of “Dominant Paradigm”, composer/producer 3D Stas joins FiXT’s expanding roster of electronic-rock acts alongside Celldweller, The Anix, Raizer, Soul Extract, Comaduster, and Blue Stahli. The track marks the first in a series of singles from a full-length 3D Stas album coming later this year on FiXT, featuring a varied list of guest vocalists, including Charlie Bowes, Celldweller, The Qemists and more.

Check out the video for the new single.

Among having produced more than a dozen albums and EP’s since the mid-90’s, 3D Stas also garnered prestige in the breakbeat stratum and is classical trained as a guitarist and pianist. His first release was a CD album “404” released in 1999; the artist has since topped the chart Beatport Breaks Top 100 on separate occasions with the EPs “Syndrome” and “C.L.A.W.”, taking a 1st place with “Syndrome” in 2014 and another 1st place with “C.L.A.W.” later the same year. At the beginning of 2015, 3D Stas was nominated for “Track of the Year” at The 14th International Breakbeat Awards Breakspoll 2015 with the track “Dying Light”. In 2018, 3D Stas released his most recent EP “The Heat” with Arya Recordings and has since been working on remixes and singles until signing with FiXT in late 2018.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, EBM, new-wave, electro-punk, metal-rock.

Background/Info: Thee Flanders is a German psychobilly formation, which has already released several albums throughout the years. They sometimes seem to cover famous songs. This album features 20 remixes by an impressive list of mainly electro-underground formations.

Content: The main songs of this release are “You Spin Me Round” from Dead Or Alive and “Nightmares” from A Flock Of Seagulls. Both 80s new-wave hits have been covered by Thee Flanders, sung together with Bela B (Die Ärzte) and Markus Meyn (Camouflage) and remixes by Leather strip, Die Krupps, Blind Passenger, Robert Görl, Ad:Key, Beborn Beton, Scheuber feat. G. Thomas, Patenbrigade: Wolff, In Strict Confidence, Absurd Minds, Mirko Hirsch, Head-Less, White Trash Wankers, T.A.N.K., Sound Tessellated, Beyond Obsession, Tomas Tulpe, Modekay, Keller Technik and The Klaak Syndrome.

The result is a very diversified release, which mainly sounds electro-like, but moving from darker-electro remixes to EBM to electro-minimal, but also electro-punk, new-wave and somewhat metal-orientated work. Notice by the way that White Trash Wankers is the only band that remixed another song (cf. “Buried Alive”).

+ + + : This album definitely sounds like a challenge, but especially for the fans of the band who I can imagine aren’t used at all to hearing their favorite band remixed by electronic formations. It’s not only a challenge, but I like this originality and it could be fun to hear one of those famous electro-acts featured on the album getting remixed by psychobilly bands. Why not? But the main point is that especially the remixes of “You Spin Me Round” feature a few outstanding versions. I want to make a special mention for the originality and minimalism of Patenbrigade: Wolff, the groovy approach of Head-Less, the harder version of Die Krupps and into EBM transposed remix of AD:Key. Another noticeable remix is “Nightmares” from Leather Strip.

– – – : There are a few less inspired remixes featured, but that’s rather understandable when you get a total amount of 20 remixes. But the main point remains for sure the reaction of the Thee Flanders fans about this totally weird challenge.

Conclusion: Is it just for fun or a psychobilly formation that has found a way to enter electro clubs? Whatever it is, this work is DJ food and be sure you are going to dance to it!

Best songs: “You Spin Me Round – Patenbrigade: Wolff Mix”, “You Spin Me Round – Head-Less Mix”, “Nightmares – Leather Strip Mix”, “You Spin Me Round – Die Krupps Mix”, “You Spin Me Round – Mirko Hirsch Mix”, “You Spin Me Round – AD:Key Mix”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.theeflanders.de / www.facebook.com/theeflanders

Label: www.half7records.de /  www.facebook.com/Halb-7-Records-203287363058978

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

Suicide Commando is a long-time leading formation from the dark-electronic scene. The band is an important source of inspiration for numerous new bands. So I got the idea asking a question to artists who are or have been related to Johan Van Roy. What do they think about his music, about the man hiding behind the artist…

I got in touch with Torben Schmidt, Dirk Ivens, Jean-Luc De Meyer, Jan L., Nero Bellum, Markko Barientos and Sakis (aka SynthetiC).

Speaking for myself I got the opportunity to work with Johan on a common project called Toxic Shock Syndrome. That was quite a long time ago now, but all over the years Johan remained the same kind and accessible guy for which I can only express my admiration for the talented artist he is and my respect for the great person hiding behind the artist. There where some artists are ‘struggling’ with their egos, he simply remains himself…

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Torben Schmidt is the owner of Infacted Recordings, member of Lights Of Euphoria and Binnary Park plus long-time live member of Suicide Commando.

Q: We all know Johan Van Roy as an ‘artist’ and ‘performer’, but what kind of man is he behind the scenes?

Torben: I know Johan since more then 20 years now and I have to say that he is one of the most loyal and kind guys I ever met. In fact he turned from an artist I respect into a real friend. We experienced so many cool things in the last 17 years being a part of his band which really made us friends. I’m really happy that I got to know him and that we had the chance to expand our friendship.

Dirk Ivens is a living legend of the electronic underground scene, front man of The Klinik, but still involved with Dive, Sonar, Absolute Body Control… he also was a source of inspiration for Suicide Commando.

Q: The Klinik definitely was one of the main sources of inspiration for Suicide Commando. How much of The Klinik do you recognize in Suicide Commando?

Dirk: It looks like more than 30 years after the release of the first album of The Klinik that these songs are still very much alive and were a big inspiration for a lot of bands during the years.. including Suicide Commando. Johan was one of them and especially his early work before he developed and finally found his own musical touch.

Jean-Luc De Meyer is the singer of the pioneers of EBM, the one and only Front 242! He’s also involved with 32 Crash, Underviewer and Modern Cubism. Jean-Luc De Meyer did some guest vocals on the song “The Pain That You Liked”, which was originally released as EP and featured on the newest Suicide Commando album as well.

Q: Jean-Luc, you already sung in multiple projects and did multiple guest vocals, but I never expected you singing on a song of Suicide Commando. What kind of experience was it for you and what’s your perception of the Suicide Commando sound?  

Jean-Luc: I’m not that sociable you know so I lately met Johan, maybe 3 or 4 years ago now. But I’d seen numerous concerts of Suicide Commando before. Singing on “The Pain That You Like” was a rather easy job because music and lyrics both were already written and I only had to interpret the song. It was quite simple and a bit of an evidence for me as I felt like a fish in the water singing on this kind of music…

Jan L is for sure another leading artist from the electronic underground scene. From Noisuf-X to X-Fusion to Stoppenberg he ever ever set up Kombat Unit together with Johan Van Roy.

Q: You ever set up Kombat Unit together with Johan Van Roy. What did you keep in mind from this experience and what’s your perception of Johan Van Roy as an artist/performer?

Jan L: Yes, we started Kombat Unit some time ago.. and we had a lot of fun making music together. We both have very different ways of working.. but it worked very well in the end, even if we only finished 2 songs. Our problem was only our lack of time. That´s why we stopped with Kombat Unit.

You maybe know that we both know each other since a very long time and we are close friends. I respect Johan as a very nice person and as a great artist. I also love to work with him, when it comes to mixing/mastering his Suicide Commando stuff. His music inspired countless bands since a very long time and he is a very important person in our scene. Without him our scene would be very different.

Nero Bellum is the front man of Psyclon Nine and get featured on the opening song of the new album.

Q: How did you get in touch with Johan Van Roy and what kind of experience was it for you contributing to the opening song (cf. “The Gates Of Oblivion”) of the new album?

Nero: I believe that my first correspondence with Johan took place just as “Mindstrip” was being released. I had just formed my band Psyclon Nine and had just begun work on our first album. Suicide Commando was one of my biggest influences at the time and Johan was happy to give me advice.

“The Gates Of Oblivion” gave us an opportunity to collaborate in a much deeper way. While Johan had most of the music written when he approached me, I was able to bring live, modular synthesis into the picture as well as my lyrical contributions. Performing the track at ‘Wave Gotik Treffen’ 10 minutes before my shuttle arrived was something that I won’t soon forget.

Markko Barientos is without a shadow of a doubt one of the leading artists from the Mexican dark-electro scene, but he in the meantime became a word-wide recognized artist involved with C-Lekktor, Circuito Cerrado and Kromak.

Q: Do you remember the first time you’ve heard Suicide Commando and what did you think? What means this band to you?

Markko: Yeah I still remember that day, the first time I heard Suicide Commando here in Mexico city we have a ‘Music Market’ named “El  Chopo” and I got the “Critical Stage” CD by luck. At that time there wasn’t internet and to find original CDs was something that became a real pain in the ass, but fortunately I found it and it was so blasting that it changed my own panorama from what I was listening to those days. ‘COLD-VIOLENT AND CATCHY’ are my favorite 3 words when it comes to dark electronic music. I just wanted to get more and more from Suicide Commando.

Suicide Commando had already released the “Stored Images”-album around that time I found the “Critical Stage”-album (so you can see how hard it was to find music in Mexico during that time?) From that day I always knew that I was so engaged with his sound and after all these years I still consider it as one of my biggest pleasures and influences in my music. For me “Construct-Destruct” is and will be always one of the best albums. To keep it short, ‘I’M A SUICIDE COMMANDO ADDICT, aren’t you?

Sakis aka SynthetiC from Nano Infect is a Greek artist who definitely found his inspiration in the cold electro sound of Suicide Commando. Johan Van Roy was guest singer on the Nano Infect’s song “Lifeless”.

Q: Suicide Commando clearly sounds like a source of inspiration for numerous dark-electronic bands. What makes the sound of Suicide Commando that special and what specific elements in this sound do you like?

Sakis: What makes Suicide Commando so special to a point that, at least to me, literally everybody is inspired, is the man behind the project; Johan Van Roy himself. He’s a loyal and simple guy while his sound features a straight forward structure plus a melody that gets stuck in your head from the very first moment. Needless to mention the groovy bass lines and that super fat sounding signature snare!
As for the lyrics, you get to see that Johan Van Roy is an everyday normal guy with thoughts like yours and mine… Songs about depression, death, the way the mind works… simple thoughts of a man who feels he has to express them…

It has been an honor to know him and I would like to thank him in public again for everything.

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: Apocalyptic-rock, ambient, drones.

Background/Info: Set up and driven by Mathieu Vandekerckhove, Syndrome is a familiar name from the Consouling Sounds roster. This Belgian musician has already been active in numerous bands and especially into metal-driven projects like Amenra. “Forever And A Day” is a new opus featuring one single piece.

Content: The composition of Syndrome is pretty soundtrack-like inspired, but meant to please dark music lovers. You’ll immediately get the impression of being imprisoned in a dark-ambient cut carried by tormenting, buzzing tones till the guitar becomes more explicit. We this way reaches a transcendental universe of reverie and psychedelic passages.

The guitar playing is an essential element of this composition, but I also have to mention Vandekerckhove’s deep timbre of voice, which sounds cavernous and anguished.

+ + + : Syndrome reminds me a bit of Barst (another formation signed to Consouling Sounds). There’s a similar taste for dark-ambient & psychedelic sound creation with an explicit cinematographic appeal. The apotheosis of these single tracks is absolutely phenomenal and reminds me a bit of the tormented atmosphere of “The Virgin Suicides”-movie. This composition has been meticulously composed finally creating a disturbing feeling and that feels just great!

– – – : It’s a pity this work only features one single cut. I got an unsaturated feeling at the end, which also means it’s a quite efficient opus.

Conclusion: “Forever And A Day” could have been the perfect soundtrack for a ‘film-noir’ theme. Despair seems to be a great muse for tormented musicians so I don’t know if Mathieu Vandekerckhove will recognize himself by this association, but let’s elevate him to this status!

Best songs: “Forever And A Day”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.facebook.com/syndromechurch

Label: http://consouling.be / www.facebook.com/ConsoulingSounds

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

I recently made an interview about the Iranian industrial- & ambient scene, which I think was an interesting and informative read. It give me the idea to get in touch with Cedrik Fermont who I had the opportunity to meet years ago now in Belgium. I’ve been fascinated by this artist’s quest and efforts to discover unknown underground scenes in the most unexpected countries on earth. This is a real informative and fascinating read, which I highly recommend… and don’t hesitate to share with other music lovers.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: For all of those who are not familiar with you, can you please briefly introduce yourself by evoking the main facts of your career and projects you’ve been involved with?

C-drik: I’m a composer, musician, label manager, radio host, author, concert organiser from the DR Congo who mostly grew up in Belgium, now based in Berlin. I’ve been involved in the noise, industrial and alternative electronic scene since 1989 with projects like Crno Klank, Axiome, Ambre, Tetra Plok, Tasjiil Moujahed, Moonsanto to name a few. Labels such as Ant-Zen, Ad Noiseam, Hushush to speak about the main ones have published some of my records.

I run Syrphe which is not only a label but what I call a platform that publishes mostly CD’s and that I use to host a radio show, organise concerts and sometimes music documentary films screenings and now and then publish news on a blog/magazine. Syrphe’s main but not exclusive focus is to promote artists from Asia and Africa and at a lower extend from Latin America who compose so-called experimental music, electronica, noise, ambient, free improv, industrial and so on.

Q: Years ago now you got interested in electro/industrial/noise music from ‘other’ countries and places on earth. How did you get in touch with these scenes and what are the main differences with the familiar European- and American scenes?

C-drik: It started in the late 1980s. I took part of the DIY tape network and could not believe there were only artists in Western Europe, North America and Australia involved in this scene. So while swapping tapes, I started to print and spread some flyers explaining I was looking for electronic, noise, industrial and experimental artists all over the planet. I slowly got in touch with people in Brazil (Cri Du Chat Disques, Simbolo), in South Africa (Network 77, Sphinx), in Japan (K2, Yximalloo, etc.) and also discovered more from the Polish, Czechoslovak, East German, Yugoslavian and Soviet scenes that were also a bit out of the usual circuit due to the political problems between the so-called East and West and in many of those countries, repression and censorship too.

I then published a cassette in 1996 that included various artists from South Africa, Chile, Brazil, Malta, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Belgium, Australia, and so on – 25 countries in total. That was quite an achievement for me back then without the internet. Nevertheless many people were still convinced that I would find nothing in many Asian and African countries so as soon as I got the opportunity, I started to travel and contact local people to perform.

Thanks to the internet it became easier, in particular thanks to some forums, newsgroups and peer-to-peer networks like Soulseek, some of those internet platforms’ members were from China or Thailand for example. In 2003, I played in Istanbul and met some artists there and came back with a few tapes and CDr’s. In 2004, I performed in Bangkok and in January 2005 I started a six months tour in Laos, Vietnam, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, I performed at all sorts of events from harsh noise to breakcore parties, industrial, crust punk, grindcore and came back with about 70 CD’s, cassettes and vinyls, I had a definitive proof that there where things happening there; I then continued to tour in many other countries like Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Macau, Myanmar, India and so on to perform, archive, meet local artists and organisers and since 2007 I published various compilations that include artists from those countries, the last one coming along with our book “Not Your World Music: Noise In South East Asia”.

I think that there are more similarities than differences to be found, nonetheless in the case of Indonesia for example, people are not afraid to mix various scenes at an event: you may easily find some industrial, breakcore, punk, harsh noise and indie rock bands all performing one night at the same venue, it used to be so in Singapore and Malaysia too in the past. Another example that I find interesting is the case of China where more than once it happen that some people came to me to tell that they had never heard such music before, they came out of curiosity seeing a foreigner was playing and they usually didn’t run away, they tried to understand what I did and maybe why I did it, they are not jaded or totally closed-minded such as too many people can be in some other parts of the world.

Another difference is that while some scenes can be incredibly active, like the noise scene in Indonesia, some other scenes are almost non-existent: EBM and electro (I speak about the Detroit techno style) have never been widespread outside of Europe, the Americas and Australia. You can or could only find a handful of them in Japan, South Africa, China and Israel, even though it’s not totally unknown to other parts of Asia above all, culturally speaking, EBM and electro seem to really belong to a certain ‘Western’ identity, I can’t explain why.
In South East Asia, besides noise music, punk, grindcore, noisegrind and metal are incredibly active scenes too, I really think and I’m not the only one, that the most vivid punk and related genres scene on Earth is in Indonesia.

Q: I knew there was an underground scene in some Asian countries, but what about Africa?

C-drik: For Africa, I often see it divided in two very distinct parts: the North African scene in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and in a much smaller scale Algeria which are all interconnected countries, also together with Asian neighbours like Palestine, Lebanon and a few other Middle Eastern countries due to their common roots (languages and culture, religion). And the second part, the Sub-Saharan one which is not a especially a united part due to the size of the continent, variety of cultures and scarcity of musicians and composers in the field of underground electronic and experimental music.

So you can find artists in major cities like Casablanca, Rabat, Tunis, Alexandria, Cairo, Algiers I the North. The proximity of Europe, the continuous contact with the ex-colonisers and as previously mentioned, the contact with other Arab countries and the slightly better living standard level makes it easier for a scene to emerge. As for the rest of Africa, there are only few artists, often from the middle or upper class who are active with the exception of South Africa that has a very different context, partly due to the past apartheid time. That doesn’t mean that electronic music doesn’t exist at a large scale in Africa but it’s often more mainstream or closer to a certain tradition and then mostly not connected to experimental or industrial for example.

You can of course find many genres such as kuduro, kwaito, hip hop, shangaan electro, psy trance, etc. And as early as the 1970’s artists like Francis Bebey in Cameroon, William Onyeabor in Nigeria, Mammane Sanni Abdoulaye in Niger already performed some amazing electronic music, afro-beat for one; electro-funk, disco for another, minimal electronic for the latest, you can find a small goth/EBM scene in South Africa, there was ten years ago Syndrome-Corps, a dark-wave band in Senegal, in Cameroon today, Elsa M’bala also composes ambient, electronica mixed with field recordings, Kwerk in Mauritius composes some nice electronica too and a few artists from the Réunion island do play dark-wave or avant-garde/collage – some leave abroad by now as their future is not always very bright over there.

It has to be said that one of the pioneers of experimental and electro-acoustic music comes from Egypt: Halim El-Dabh composed his first piece already in 1944, four years before Pierre Schaeffer’s musique concrète.

Q: When we are talking about a ‘scene’ I’m still thinking of labels, magazines, radio broadcastings, festivals, clubs, promoters etc… Is it a common element everywhere?

C-drik: When there is a scene, yes of course, but in some cities or countries there are just a handle of people here and there like in Cameroon, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Iraq, etc., so I would not call it a scene. In countries like China, Indonesia, Lebanon (in Beirut, mostly), Vietnam, the Philippines, Hong Kong or Egypt for example, we can speak about a scene. In those places, you’ll find one or more festivals dedicated to sound art, noise, free improv, audio-visual art and so on, regular promoters, some (or a lot) of venues, sometimes radio stations, fanzines, workshops, labels. Public (sometimes private) school, academies or universities also provide electro-acoustic, electronic and experimental music courses in China, South Korea, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, Taiwan (…).

Sometimes the scene can be international, this is the case of Border Movement, a network that interconnect artists from the local independent scenes in Dhaka, Kabul, Lahore, Karachi, Pune, Colombo, New Delhi and so on from hip hop to electronica, techno, ambient and even experimental music.

Q: I can imagine there’s a link between underground music and the political regime of a country; I mean that some artists living in a totalitarian-minded regime are taking serious risks by dealing with this kind of music. What is it all about and what about censorship in some countries?

C-drik: Indeed this kind of music and other genres such as hip hop, punk, metal, oi or grindcore may be restricted, put under scrutiny or simply forbidden in some places but no need to go so far, not so long ago did England forbid parties (hear: raves) with repetitive beat (The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994) for example and mainstream media in the West who are promoting only commercial idiotic music are somehow censoring other artists too.

It is obvious that during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for example, any musician could be jailed, beaten up or killed, religious extremists in some countries do their best to ban alternative music events, Myanmar (Burma) until a few years ago banned music containing western influences, hence some musicians especially in the field of punk and hip hop as they can be political have been jailed, the same apply with Iran, Vietnam is still very suspicious regarding ‘modern’ music and art in general but in those last three countries, the situation has very well improved now, Nepal has during a long time also forbidden Western-influenced music.

Nevertheless, the list is very long, including censorship in the Western world, I would invite you to visit http://freemuse.org/ to get a better idea.

Q: I’ve in mind there’s no real trace of underground music in extremely poor countries like Burundi, Burkina Faso, Liberia… or is it maybe for a very restricted number of people like the elite?

C-drik: In some countries, not only those you mention, it is obviously an elite (upper class or middle class people when there is a middle class), in Burkina Faso, you can find the Afro-electro-pop band Burkina Electric, in Nigeria apart of aforementioned William Onyeabor who composed in the 1970s and 1980s, you can currently find audio-visual and sound artist Emeka Ogboh, in Angola, Victor Gama (who moved to Europe).

In extremely poor countries, people’s priority is obviously not often to try to experiment with sound (let’s put aside the technological aspect as one needs above all imagination, not technology to create experimental or new music) but I suspect that we are finding a small amount  of them because it is not well documented in most parts of Africa. Some friends who travelled a lot in Africa or lived in some western African countries heard some people experimenting in the street with tape for example but if nothing is archived and spread, only those who bump, sometimes by accident, on those artists can speak about them. A lot of work has still to be done to discover more from Africa.

Also, I realised that in some other parts of the world and this concerns many African countries, living under dictatorship or deep social inequality, the underground tends to be political and musically more accessible to reach a larger audience and gain more support, hence you can find a lot of hip hop, in some countries radical movement may emerge too like political death metal in Angola and Mozambique or a small punk and goth scene in Kenya, punk in South Africa has also always been political, since the 1970’s.

Q: In your recently published book “Not Your World Music / Noise In South-East Asia” you tried to explain what noise-music is all about. I’ve been always interested in the question: ‘is noise really music or is music not the result of noises’ and what do you think about some pioneers in industrial music talking about ‘anti-music’?

C-drik: Noise pleases my ears and emotionally attracts me hence it is music to me and it is intentionally produced to be listened to. Of course, it is hard to stick to one definition. If we stick to a simple definition of music: the art of assembling sounds, then noise music is music and not anti-music, to me, noise doesn’t destroy the concept of music, it is in any case a very subjective concept; in some societies, noises included in the music composition have never been seen as problematic while Western classical music until the late 19th century maybe sounded like a quest for purity and perfection – meanwhile, noises have been included in many compositions from Russolo to Stockhausen for example. I don’t agree with the anti-music concept, I’d rather call it anti-mainstream, above all since noise and industrial music became well established genres. I see the same problematic regarding anti-art, dada and all those who tried to break the rules of art ended up creating an art movement voluntary or not.

Q: I’ve been impressed by your book, which is something unique characterized by an impressive research and knowledge. What’s the background of this book?

C-drik: It is partly the result of a frustration and partly the result of many years of exploration, research, travels and discussions. It is a collaboration and this is an important fact about that book, it would neither exist without the work of Dimitri della Faille, nor would it exist without my part and the one of the people who met and interviewed.

I think that all my researches, travels, explorations, publications and releases about Asian and Africa come from the fact that I am tired to always hear the same non-sense: ‘There’s nothing there’ or ‘We – the West – invented everything before them’ or ‘They just copy music from the West’, etc. It also comes from a questions I often asked myself while I was a teenager and young adult: ‘Why am I one of the few Africans in this scene?’.

Dimitri and I with whom I co-wrote the book thought that we had to write it to finally have a real archive of South East Asian noise and experimental music as very very little has been written about it and nothing at such scale and we think we both had enough knowledge to make it happen and we are among the few persons who explored this region almost entirely, even though we don’t originate from there. It is also made to be a starting point; thanks to this book, we received many comments, mostly positive, not always – the book is not perfect, it is a first step and we hope it will push more local artists and organisers to speak about the scene(s), to write and archive or collaborate with each others as even between some of those countries, communication can be scarce or limited, now there is “Not Your World Music: Noise In South East Asia” and there is a database on Syrphe for many years, two important pillars I think.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-industrial, industrial-rave.

Background/Info: Pixelpussy is back on track and this after a hiatus of four years. Set up by ‘Sir Kitty Meow-Meow’ aka Daemon Chadeau, I discovered this American solo-project by his first two albums released on Moonslave Radio. Pixelpussy, which defines their sound as ‘meower noise’ joined hands with Wicked Wonderland Empire to unleash this third opus revealing 10 new songs plus 3 remixes.

Content: Pixelpussy remains pretty faithful to the ingredients used on both previous albums “This Is Meower Noise” and “Das Mewntz”. This is an old-fashioned minded electro-industrial sound carried by danceable rhythms and distorted sounds. It reminds me of some 90s projects, which were often inspired by the industrial sound of Dive, but with an extra danceable element on top.

The songs are made of repetitive loops and spoken samplings. However the music sounds more sophisticated and elaborate than the average production in the genre. There are several passages revealing manipulated sound treatments like somewhat acid-like filtered sounds and little bleeps.

The final part of the work features remixes by W.A.S.T.E., Satyr Co and Code OOO.

+ + + : Pixelpussy is not reinventing electro-industrial music, but accomplished a noticeable opus that will make you dance on the powerful and somewhat transcendental rhythms. The samplings add some diversity to the work and I especially like the Spanish samplings running through “Mr. Danger”. Another song I want to tip is “Irritable Broadcast Syndrome”, which is more elaborate with great sound handlings.

– – – : I didn’t get a similar surprise as on the debut-album “This Is Meower Noise” although it reminds a cool and well-crafted production. I’m just missing an absolute hit while I also expected a bit more from the remixes. They should have been remixed by Pow[d]er Pussy; this would have been fun!

Conclusion: Be careful and never buy a cat in a sack; it can be a dangerous and merciless kitty especially when it’s called Pixelpussy. This is a fully enjoyable electro-industrial release.

Best songs: “Irritable Broadcast Syndrome”, “Mr. Danger”, “Implanted, “Mewsik Whore”, “Austerity”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/meowernoise

Label: www.facebook.com/wickedwonderlandempire

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Set up and driven by the creative spirit of Yves Schelpe, Psy’Aviah is already active since 2004. The band has been inspired by numerous influences becoming a kind of sonic chameleon or simply a pure sonic ‘pop’ enigma. Electro-pop has been often the basis of their work while multiple influences like electro-clash, trance, electro-rock, trip-hop and even dance have been explored. The new opus “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars” again is a new sonic exorcism of new influences while featuring multiple and talented guest singers. Time for a chat with Yves Schelpe.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What were the main ideas and purposes when starting the writing of the new album “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”?

Yves: After writing the 6^th album “The Xenogamous Endeavour”, which came out in 2014, I was suffering from ‘blank-paper-syndrome’ or commonly known as writer’s block. I did make music, but I just had no connection emotionally to it. The turning point came after watching the movie “Interstellar”, the atmosphere really inspired me and kickstarted the first song “Alcubierre Drive” (look at our video), in which both the music and lyrics are my personal soundtrack for the movie. After that the process shifted gears, most of the other tracks are also loosely based on the movie, yet, if you don’t know it you won’t notice it – as every lyric can be translated to the ‘real world’. I like it that they have this double meaning.

Q: So what is this new album dealing with and what’s the deeper meaning behind the title?

Yves: The title refers to several things. The most obvious is that this is my seventh studio album. “Sorrows vs Stars” alludes to the fact that the songs are sometimes positive, and sometimes totally depressing, just like life. The album itself is of course inspired by the events and atmosphere of the movie “Interstellar” as I mentioned before – but each and every track can be interpreted as if it would happen in the ‘real world’.

“Alcubierre Drive” for example deals with lovers, people, friends, slowly growing apart – whilst “Stronger” is a song about rising again after a deep fall. Every song has each own unique story to share.

Q: You again worked with multiple guest singers (and a lot of male vocalists this time). I can’t imagine it’s possible to get a similar connection with a guest singer instead of a band singer so how did it happen and how did the recording and production of the vocals happened?

Yves: You’d think it isn’t easy to connect, but when recording and preparing to record I always have lengthy mails or sometimes skype or telephone calls with the vocalists so that we connect and understand each other. As I write most of the lyrics myself I do also explain what’s behind it, record a demo guide vocal for them to interpret.

This makes it so that the sound stays true to my songwriting ideas. It’s actually the very same way I worked before with a ‘fixed’ singer, the only upside now is that I have a lot more creative freedom and a range of talented vocalists who each have their unique strengths.

Q: I got the impression every new album by Psy’Aviah sounds like a new sonic travel where you explore different influences. How do you see this evolution as composer and master mind of the band?

Yves: It’s a deliberate choice from the inception of the band. I always wanted to incorporate styles and not pin myself down to just one genre, as it limits my songwriting and storytelling. I think it’s because of listening to bands like Faithless, Moby, The Chemical Brothers, Praga Khan and Soulwax – who showed that you don’t have to keep to just one genre. A mix of ambient, trip-hop, dance anthems, aggressive tunes is possible and keeps it fresh and more interesting for me as well. Whilst I do mix up the genres, I always try to keep that certain ‘Psy’Aviah’-sound though.

Q: You once posted an interesting quote about the reason(s) you stopped playing live with Psy’Aviah. I think it’s an interesting point to share with us and what’s your opinion about the subject right now?

Yves: I still think it’s true, there’s a lot of promoters that don’t take their job seriously. In the end it then always reflects on the band when the sound is off, the lights don’t work, the soundcheck settings weren’t recorded, or the PA just walks out… And there’s a lot more. You might argue it’s part of the job, but in all honesty, I loathe that part and it lacks of professionalism.

Mind, I’m not talking about all promoters, but it’s always a gamble what you’ll be facing. Hence we’re always double prepared with our own mixing engineer, etc… Part of the reason might also have been a lack of motivation of the previous ‘live band vocalist’ to continue to push and go for it.

But, surprise, surprise, after three years (our last gig was with Praga Khan at ‘Anciennce Belgique’), we’ll be back on stage on September 9^th, 2016 at ‘Kinky Star’ Ghent with a new live band: Marieke Lightband on vocals (winner of several singer/songwriter awards, and has massive experience outside the ‘scene’ as well), my favorite live guitarist Ben Van de Cruys and me behind the keys. Very much looking forward to this new journey! And bookings are open at http://www.psyaviah.com/contact/live-bookings/.

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