Good news from Argentina. At the end of 2020 Post Machinery Environment launched the singles “Ritual (Year 13)” and “Drugs Will Tear Us Apart” in all digital stores along with a video clip. They now plan the recording of two more singles for the following months of the year, in addition to a video clip, recorded during 2020 and 2021, with the special participation of the American violinist Lisa Miles.

Currently the band is preparing its participation in the online festivals “Electro Freak Show MMXXI” and “Festival Under Latinoamericano”, and evaluating the possibility of participating in more virtual festivals, due to the limitations that still exist for live performances.

Post Machinery Environment contributed the track “Drugs Will Tear Us Apart” to our “Face The Beat 6” compilation. Check out the track below.

Post Machinery Environment is a Darkwave / Industrial band established in 1997 and located on the eastern side of the Southern Andes. They were formerly known as Gotico, between 1997 and 2007.

Post Machinery Environment back catalogue

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, EBM.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: German-Swiss trio Nine Seconds announced their fourth full length album with the surprising EP “Love Will Tear Us Apart” featuring cover versions of legendary bands Joy Division, Bronski Beat, Trans-X and Starter. The new album moves on the same formula revealing a few more cover versions.

Content: Next to the already familiar cover versions from Joy Division, Bronski Beat and Trans-X the trio accomplished more cover versions from Fad Gadget, Propaganda, Fancy, Paul Hardcastle, Front 242, Depeche Mode and Mando Diao. This kind of experience is always fun for the band, but a challenge to convince the fans. Nine Seconds perfectly adapted most of the songs into a very own, Body-Pop approach sometimes adding female backing vocals next to Oliver Spring. Mind.In.A.Box made a remix of “Lie To Me” while the less familiar Membran 66 remixed “Living On Video”. 

+ + + : I’m always skeptical with this kind of releases and especially when it concerns legendary hits from the 80s like “Ricky’s Hand”, “Love will Tear Us Apart”, “Dr. Mabuse”, “Lie To Me”, “Living On Video” or “No Shuffle”. I must admit that the way they adapted Fad Gadget’s “Ricky’s Hand” is absolutely well done. But the most surprising and probably best song is the Italo-Disco hit “Slice Me Nice” from Fancy, which still sounds a bit Italo-Disco like, but with a naughty, evil and rough touch on top. Mind.In.A.Box did also a great job remixing Depeche Mode’s “Lie To Me” into something space-like and still danceable.

– – – : A few songs couldn’t convince me at all; the aforementioned “Lie To Me” and “Love will Tear Us Apart”. I’ve also some reservations about the impact of such a ‘conceptual’ work, but on the other side it’s also a way to pay tribute to bands and songs you like and bring young music lovers to discover legendary tracks from the Electronic scene.

Conclusion: I definitely prefer when Nine Seconds are composing their own music, but they for sure did an honest job covering such legendary bands.

Best songs: “Slice Me Nice”, “Ricky’s Hand”, “Dr. Mabuse”, “Hit That Perfect Beat”, “Lie To Me – Mind.In.A.Box Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.nineseconds.de / www.facebook.com/nineseconds

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Ambient, experimental, electronic.

Format: Digital, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Ireen Amnes is a British producer and founder of the collective Under My Feet. This album also is the first full length production by Ireen Amnes and also the first work released by Sonic Groove Experiments –which is the experimental sub-division of Sonic Groove.

Content: This album is pure electro-ambient like and totally devoted to the pure astral sound atmospheres. Some passages are reminding me of Jean-Michel Jarre if he would have started making music today… From overwhelming ambient sound waves to linear and minimal sequences to more orchestral arrangements, this music is clearly made to accompany a visual work.

+ + + : the atmosphere created by Ireen Amnes has something awe-inspiring; it all feels a bit like danger is hiding somewhere and can suddenly break through. I like the space sound treatments, but still the minimalism running through “Dissonance” and “Snow Of Tears”, which sounds as inspired by Jarre.

– – – : This work has nothing in common, with the ‘regular’ Sonic Groove productions so you better realize this is something totally different! I don’t have anything against this experimental side of the label although I’m missing a climax.

Conclusion: Ireen Amnes sounds like an ambient electro traveler, creating imaginary spaces with mysterious corners.

Best songs: “Dissonance”, “Snow Of Tears”, “Life will Tear Us Apart”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/ireenamnes

Label: www.sonicgroove.com / www.facebook.com/Sonicgrooverecords

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

Swans have announced a remastered reissue of “Children of God” on November 13, 2020 via Young God / Mute Records. The album, originally released on Product Inc. (a subsidiary of Mute) in 1987 will be available on vinyl in its original packaging for the first time since that release and both the CD and vinyl issues will include the live album, “Feel Good Now”, recorded on the 1987 Children of God European tour, in the CD version as an extra disc and in the vinyl version as a download card.

The remastered versions of “Children of God” and “Feel Good Now” will also be available separately on all digital services.

Not the first time the albums get reissued

“Children of God” was the fifth studio album by the American experimental rock band Swans. The album has already been reissued along with the “World of Skin” compilation (minus the covers) on CD in 1997 as “Children of God”/”World of Skin”. On this re-release, the original album version of “Our Love Lies” was replaced with the version included on the “Love Will Tear Us Apart” EP. Also, the re-release added “Damn You to Hell” and “I’ll Swallow You” (under one title as “I’ll Swallow You”) from the “New Mind” single as a bonus. Also, “Sex, God, Sex”, “Beautiful Child” and “Children of God” were shortened by several seconds with earlier fade-outs and “Trust Me” faded directly into the brief interlude at the end.

“Feel Good Now” is the second live album by Swans. It was recorded from shows on their 1987 ‘Children of God’ tour in Europe. The album was already reissued once by Atavistic Records in 2002, on CD, having been remastered. The track listing of the reissue was different from the original and counted less tracks.

It’s not sure what version Mute will release now.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. 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.

Background/Info: Three years after their third full length (cf. “Agent Provocateur”) Nine Seconds (the members of No Comment plus Ex-Sleepwalk singer Oliver Spring) are back on track unleashing this new EP as a teaser to their upcoming album “That Perfect Beat Will Tear Us Apart”.

Content: The title of the EP directly will ring a bell. Nine Seconds are going back in time, and accomplished cover versions from what probably are some of their favorite 80s songs. You for sure remember the most legendary Joy Division hit, which has been also remixed by Mind.In.A.Box and Ruined Conflict. Bronski Beat’s “Hit That Perfect Beat” has been covered as well, but you’ll discover the Nine Seconds version on the album. We here get a remix framework. Next comes another cover version, but a less famous one this time. “Victim” originally composed by Starter is also a 80s song. The version features disco effects. We next get a remix of “Living On Video”. The original cover edit will be featured on the album as well. The main- and most famous original songs are easily recognizable for their melody line. 

+ + + : Nine Seconds did a cool ode to some legendary artists and simply to songs they seem to love. The main strength of the songs is the melodic aspect, but No Comment and later on Nine Seconds have always been talented melody makers. I personally like the “Victim”-song, and the Italo-disco homage to Trans-X’ “Living On Video”. 

– – – : This kind of cover concept is pure fun, but it has no real effect of surprise. I think some songs would for sure have their impact during a live show, but aren’t always convincing when you have the original versions in mind. It remains a challenge and covering an iconic song such as “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is somewhat tricky.

Conclusion: This EP is a perfect teaser to the new Nine Seconds album, which will bring us only cover versions. It’s not exactly the best way to discover Nine Seconds, which has previously released their own and original electro-pop music.

Best songs: “Victim”, “Living In Video – Remix”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: www.nineseconds.de / www.facebook.com/nineseconds

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Band photo by Paal Ritter Schjerven).
During the past months the Norwegian duo Tear Us Apart have released their three first tracks on all major streaming platforms, sounding like homages to the sound of the 80’s and 90’s, but in an updated manner. As these tracks made a lot of sense to me, I had to know more.

Side Line: Give us the short bio of Tear Us Apart; who you are, where you come from – both geographically and musically, and how this project started? 

Lars Martin: The members of TUA is Jan Erik Kirkevold Nilsen and Lars Martin Kræmer, both originally from Tønsberg. Jan Erik works and lives in Oslo, while Lars Martin have moved back to Tønsberg and works there. Jan Erik works as an AD/Graphic Designer, Lars Martin as a TV and video producer.

We’ve been friends since playing football together when we were 11-12 year old, and we started out in high school around 1992, where we could borrow instruments and a rehearsal pace. Being a classic four piece band with two guitars, bass and drums, we made some songs and played a few concerts, most for fun, the quality being not top notch. A lot of guitar feedback, lousy equipment and not too structured songs, but fun! Looking back we could now say this was the start of TUA.
Music have always been a major part of our lives, and of course our idols and their music have also formed us as a band. Nevertheless, the most important for us is that the songs have good melodies and the right feeling. If someone else out there likes it – we’re happy!

After a long hiatus (1995 -2004) we started recording new tracks on a 8 track analogue recorder, making about 20 more or less finished tracks before it came to a halt in 2006. At a xmas party in 2018 we listened to some of our old songs, and were surprised how many that still sounded great. We decided to restart our band, upgraded the music software, dusted off the Juno-1 synth, gave the old Rickenbacker bass an overhaul, digitized the oldest recording and was back in business! Lars Martin took the role as producer and have re-recorded a lot of the old material.

S-L: Three songs released so far – take us through the tracks and the stories behind. 
LM: ‘Like a Fool’ is a song we started working on around 2004-2005, sounding very different at the time, and most of it is re-recorded now, including the vocals. It‘s a classic lyrics about being in love and even though you know she will mess you up, you keep going on. ‘End of Everything’ and ‘And Then’ are new songs, that I made during 2019. ‘End of Everything’ is another classic lyrics about how you feel after a break up. The lyrics for “And Then” is just a snapshot of an imaginary event.

I realize the lyrics can appear a bit heavy and gloomy, but I’m actually a pretty happy guy.

S-L: Inspirations – there seems to be a decade or two that’s singled out, maybe some bands too… but in an updated manner?
LM: We’re into groovy guitars, riveting drums and bass,  and nostalgic synths are also a major part of our musical preferences. Dynamic and pulsing. We’re fans of 80’s and 90’s synth and indie rock. There are hundreds of bands that we like but the ones that have inspired and influenced us the most is probably Depeche Mode, The Cure, Dinosaur Jr and Jesus And The Mary Chain.

The songs on our upcoming album will be a lovely mix of elements from these bans, both consciously and unconsciously.

S-L: … which was my next question: What’s the plans for future releases or an album?
LM:  There’s an album in the works to be released soon. No title and details yet, but the songs are almost finished. The singles we’ve already released will be a part of the album, and we think it’s really coming together now and something to be proud of. After some final adjustments and mixing, we’ll leave the final touch and mastering to the hands of Marius Egenes. There will be a couple of more single releases before the album, and in the meantime we’re looking for a publishing deal.

S-L: Will you be playing live?
LM: It’s a big dream of ours to play live again – it’s been 26 years since last time on a stage! As we’re a duo and many of our songs have multiple tracks, parts of the songs must be in a back track while we play selected instruments live. This will be new for us, and something we’re eager to try.

It’s also worth mentioning that the band do most of the work themselves; recording, some mixing, videos, web page, and all the art work. Lars Martin is also an artist, painting pictures, which Jan Erik uses when making the art work for the covers.

Tune in to their excellent songs on Spotify – my ears have had this playlist on heavy rotation the last months! 🙂 

 –

Jan Ronald Stange

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

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Genre/Influences: Wave-pop, dark-pop, body-pop.

Background/Info: In Good Faith was set up 20 years ago. The German band deals with electro-pop music and has joined hands together with Echozone after multiple self-released productions. “Trinity” has been positively received in their homeland, reaching the highest regions of the DAC (Deutsche Alternative Charts).

Content: The sound makes me think to an imaginary offspring between Days Of Fate (for the body-pop approach) and De/Vision for the more melancholic tunes. The songs have been perfectly worked out and driven by the charismatic vocals of their singer. The last part of the album reveals a remix by Terrolokaust and a cover version of Joy Division’s legendary “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.

+ + + : A good electro-pop band needs a great singer and that’s exactly what you can say about Kai Vincenz Németh. This guy sings with a natural charisma and definitely is one of the main strengths of In Good Faith. But the music is pretty well-crafted as well. There’s an interesting move in between traditional electro-pop songs, more melancholic wave-pop cuts and harder body-pop passages. The arrangements reflect a mature production process. I also have to mention the noticeable cover version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, which sounds a bit like it has been written by In Good Faith. They perfectly transposed the original song into their own sound approach.

– – – : I got the feeling this band is able to even do better than what they’ve shown here. Some choruses could be a little bit more transcendental although I’ve no reason to complain. The remix of Terrolokaust is not exactly adding an extra.

Conclusion: In Good Faith seems to be already ‘renowned’ in their homeland, but it definitely remains a band, which now has to go on mission for an international break through. I should say, why not!

Best songs: “Aberration”, “About Life”, “Choose Our Way”, “Shadows”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.ingoodfaith.de / www.facebook.com/ingoodfaith.de

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