“Black And Blue” is the fourth instalment between Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm) and Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer, Lederman / De Meyer ao). “Black” brings a more danceable side of Electro/Industrial-Pop with the sensual vocals of Emileigh on top. There are also minimal passages and bombastic arrangements that you can hear in this original and atypical Electro-Pop style. “Blue” completely breaks with the danceable character of “Black” and brings an atmospheric, refined, and Cinematic approach with still sexy vocals. I personally prefer “Black” instead of “Blue”. (Rate: 7½).

Listen to “Faces Pretend”:

About Rohn – Lederman

Rohn-Lederman began in 2019, when Jean-Marc Lederman invited Emileigh Rohn of Chiasm to contribute vocals to his album “Letters To Gods And Fallen Angels.” The collaboration, encouraged further by the COVID-19 lockdowns, grew into the Belgian-American duo’s own project, releasing albums on Lederman’s own label, Les Disques De La Pantoufle, with “Black And Blue” continuing that partnership.

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

Russian exiles VEiiLA have shared a new music video for “Do You Hear Me” from their latest album “Sentimental Craving For Beauty”, out on Projekt Records. The video is compiled of various bits of footage taken by the band while touring in Armenia, as well as fan-made concert-videos shared on the internet.

This is what VEiiLA themselves have to say about this video: “We always have a camera with us. Every time we climb a mountain pass, or ride through a snowy fog-covered plain, or check in the hotel room that looks nothing like a hotel room, but more like a photo studio, or crush somebody’s couch and try to gain trust of their scared dog in the wee hours of the morning, before you need to pack up and move on, or see the venue hosts hurriedly trying to heat up the stone cold room, because no one could expect that winter, with snow and razor sharp cold wind would start exactly today (not the weathermen at least), or play a show at the tiny wine cellar, even though yesterday it was a huge echo-y warehouse, or pass through the same town 6 times and each time it is completely different… This is the time when the chaos exposes itself, when one sees life for what it is – a stream of orderly absurd, meaningful nonsense and presupposed accidents. This is also when life finally makes sense… This road movie collage of random impressions is our homage to the life of a musician, a chaotic rambling of the modern gypsies, which we crave, love and miss when it’s over”

VEiiLA, who call themselves “a band without a country”, had left their home in Russia in March 2022, in protest of the war with Ukraine and the atrocities of the horrible autocratic regime. After finding temporary sanctuary in Armenia, they recorded their second full-length album “Sentimental Craving For Beauty”, which was released in September 2023 on Projekt Records (Portland, Oregon, USA).

You can our interview with VEiiLA for extra information.

“Sentimental Craving For Beauty” is Name-Your-Price at Bandcamp and available at all major streaming platforms.

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

With the Long Beach, California-based synth punk duo Intrusive Pinky, Les Disques De La Pantoufle announces its vey first signing. Out on April 5 is the duo’s “I Hate You, Patriarch Fuck!” EP.

Les Disques De La Pantoufle is a partnership between Jean-Marc Lederman and Christian Petke’s COP International label.

Christian Petke explains the collaboration as follows: “Running an indie label has always been a labor of love, especially in today’s challenging environment. Now, more than ever, we need individuals willing to support and nurture artists. It is with immense pride that we unveil Jean-Marc Lederman’s venture into the world of boutique labels with Les Disques De La Pantoufle. Few individuals are as well-equipped for this endeavor as Jean-Marc Lederman, who has dedicated a lifetime to the music industry. He collaborated with some of the most iconic figures in electronic music history: Fad Gadget, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen, Front 242, Karl Bartos, Rohn – Lederman and many more. His extensive experience provides him with an intimate understanding of the intricacies of our industry, having navigated both sides of the table.”

Cop International will provide A&R and logistical support to the new label.

Jean-Marc Lederman adds: “I’m very happy Christian has understood my need to be able to release my works sooner than it could on a label with more acts and Les Disques De La Pantoufle being partnered with COP will provide me with the guerilla-label tactics that could work well with my relentless schedule. We have a busy year ahead as we are releasing “Intrusive Pinky” in April the brand new Rohn-Lederman double CD album “Black And Bleu” in May and, who knows, some exciting bands whose songs I love so much that LDP will release them within weeks.”

Here’s the first release which you can already pre-order on Bandcamp.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Cinematic, Experimental, Electro.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer, Gene Loves Jezebel ao)is back on track with a new and already conceptual work. The album title speaks for itself. The Belgian Electro pioneer has been assisted by Tom Shear (Assemblage 23), Christina Z, Jim Semonik (Red Lokust), Mari Kattman, Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm), Ken Magerman, Daz Sharp, Julianne Regan, Jim Marcus (Die Warzau) and Sapphira Vee.

Content: Lederman composed the music for the impressive list of guest singers. The music is filled with explicit astral sound treatments and -atmospheres. The slow rhythms together with the different singers make it more accessible while a few passages are more into Electro-Pop and danceable passages. The main characteristic of the work is the narrating format of the singers interpreting extracts of sci-fi stories.

+ + + : Jean-Marc Lederman moves on exorcizing his endless creative thoughts and concepts with one of his most creative and ambitious works ever. It’s not only about music -which totally stands for the concept of the album revealing a ‘space’-like dimension but also the accomplishment of a wider- and higher artistic goal. There’s a kind of cyber-puzzle wherein the listener/visitor has to unlock every single track.You really have to experience it on your own to realize what it’s all about.

– – – : The importance of the concept is maybe undermining a tiny bit the music itself.

Conclusion: Jean-Marc Lederman revisited sci-fi themes which must have been a piece of cake as he’s for sure the one and only sci-fi musician from the Electronic scene.

Best songs: “The Eyes Have It​!​ Feat. Ken Magerman”, “Titanium Aegis feat. Christina Z”.

Rate: 7½. 

Artist: www.jmlederman.com / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100056370733178

Label: www.facebook.com/copint

Side-Line previously covered “Sci-Fi Revisited”, an audiobook and puzzle-game package accompanying the album, released via COP International.

Listen to “Sci-Fi Revisited”:

About Jean-Marc Lederman

Jean-Marc Lederman is a Belgian electronic musician known for his work with Fad Gadget, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer with Frank Spinath of Seabound, and Rohn-Lederman with Emileigh Rohn of Chiasm. Released under the Jean-Marc Lederman Experience name via COP International, “Sci-Fi Revisited” was produced, arranged and played by Lederman and features Tom Shear, Christina Z, Jim Semonik, Mari Kattman, Emileigh Rohn, Ken Magerman, Daz Sharp, Julianne Regan, Jim Marcus and Sapphira Vee, accompanied by a 12-page micro comic book and a computer puzzle game.

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

Jean-Marc Lederman, known for his work with Fad Gadget, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer (with Frank Spinath from Seabound), and Rohn-Lederman with Emileigh from Chiasm, presents an audiobook of short sci-fi tales, “Sci-Fi Revisited”. The book is narrated by various singers and musicians, and it is accompanied by a computer puzzle game. The package also includes a 12-page micro book with 11 pulp covers.

Released under the The Jean-Marc Lederman Experience moniker, “Sci-Fi Revisited” features Tom Shear (Assemblage 23), Christina Z, Jim Semonik (Red Lokust), Mari Kattman, Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm), Ken Magerman, Daz Sharp, Julianne Regan, Jim Marcus (Die Warzau), and Sapphira Vee.

This release is a co-production between Les Disques De La Pantoufle and COP International. It was produced, arranged, and played by Jean-Marc Lederman. The images for the website and cover were prompted by Kevin B. Lederman. The lab/vault website and video game were developed by Kevin B. Lederman, courtesy of https://blackfoot.io/.

The album is available through COP International and on their Bandcamp page. Note that the CD version comes in a limited edition of just 100 hand numbered copies. It holds a 12-page micro book on 230 gram paper. You also get access to a puzzle game to unlock the tracks.

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

(Photos from the personal archives of Jean-Marc Lederman) This article draws from various updates posted by Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Kid Montana, Jules et Jim, Ghost & Writer, Lederman / De Meyer, Rohn-Lederman…) on his Facebook profile, which we’ve consolidated into a comprehensive piece. This compilation offers a profound understanding of the workings of the indie music industry during its ‘golden era’. Additionally, it provides specific insights into Mute Records, the label of Daniel Miller, as numerous individuals, including Fad Gadget, mentioned in this article have significant associations with the iconic UK label.

Digital Dance (1978-1979) / Daniel Miller

The year was 1979 and I had just quit, well I was sacked tbh, from Digital Dance , the first band I was in.

We were doing post punk/cold wave/new wave stuff and it was really exciting. I started doing bass with them on a..ARP 2600 whci I had bought working on building sites, yeah, far too much of an overkill I agree. We were rehearsing here and there but did a time at the famous Plan K where we supported Joy Division. Actually, that day I went to pick up Ian and Bernard Summers at the very seedy hotel they were in and I drove them to the gig.

They were laughing like kids, you know, young musicians being happy to play abroad. It was such a cold day, everyone was freezing and Ian even came close to Stefan Barbery (Digital Dance guitar player) who was close to an electric heater to tell him “Well, I guess this is why they call it Cold Wave…”

We also opened to Magazine and Fisher-Z and it was becoming too much of a routine for me: the Brussels band that does all the new wave support slots but hasn’t even got a decent recording contract…

Oh, we had one, and they made us record our very fast cover version of Kraftwerk’s “RadioActivity”. At the end of the session, they made me do some terrible sound effects, hoping to catch on the fad of the moment, and it just ruined the whole song. Tells you that if a thing sounds bad and contrived and cheesy on monday, still sounds the same the day after and 40 years later. Sorry Stefan, my fault.

Then Phil Wauquaire (whom I had met from Streets, the punk band he was in and I actually played with them live on a couple of songs with a…AKS, another overkill) joined us and I played synth with a Korg MS20 then with a Yamaha CS50M who weighted like half an olifant after a drinking binge.

Anyway, after a couple of gigs with Digital Dance at the Gibus in Paris, i was let go (which was fine, really). Two days later, I call Daniel Miller whom I had met in London a few months ago. Digital Dance had been foolish and crazy enough to believe that if you go to London you can pretty much be sure you’ll find a gig. All we did was rehearsing (below Beggar’s Banquet where I met Peter Kent from the future 4AD label) and waiting in our hotel off Kings Road. Anyway, we were trying to get Geoff Travis from Rough Trade to listen to our demo and he stopped it 20 seconds in and tell us: if you go to “Better Badges” now, you’ll see a man called Daniel Miller (from label MUTE RECORDS) and maybe he’ll like your stuff….

So, off we went to Better Badges and there we met Daniel, with a green basket full of The Normal badges.

Daniel and I hit directly like if it was an “International Conference Of Synths Fanatics”. I mean: synths weren’t as known or popular then as they were then. It was still a relatively rare sight on stage or in gigs or in bands that weren’t poppy or progrock. No, we’re talking new industrial scene in the UK: noisy and determined, not minimoogs played by long haired musos…

So, Daniel and I exchanged phone numbers and we traded letters and phone calls here and there. So, remember, I’m sacked from Digital Dance and I then realize that if I wanted to really go anywhere in music, Brussels isn’t the place to be and I must move to where things are happening. At that time, London was THE center of music in Europe and I decide that I want to try my luck and the two major chords I know there. I pick up the phone and call Daniel, asking him if he knew any musician that would be interested in moi ?

Yeah, I know someone, he’s on my label now, he’s looking for musicians, call him… His name is Frank Tovey….

Frank Tovey / Fad Gadget #1 (part 1)

The audition was simple: we didn’t even play a note or try to do a song, we just sat and drank coffee and laughed a lot. But there was no try-out, no keyboard or synths tickering… And that’s how Philippe Wauquaire and I became members of Fad Gadget #1 for a few months in 1980: a simple coffee cup meeting and an unmistakable good chemical feeling between us. Frank had played a few gigs on his own but wanted musicians around him so he could concentrate a bit more on being a little bit less concentrated if you know what I mean.

There was Frank: clever, astute, open, funny, with a lot of wit doubled with a good dose of sarcasm: totally my alley. But he knew what he wanted musically, there was no doubt about what he wanted to sound like. The plan was: rehearse at my place in Brussels, a first gig here, then play a few gigs as support for Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft in Germany and going to tour the UK as support for The Monochrome Set.

So, we start rehearsing in my attic: Frank on vocals, Pearl Syncussion and distorted electric piano, Phil on Fender bass and Korg MS 20 and myself on handling the cassette player (each song had its drums/rhythmic parts on a single cassette and I would feed the machine with a new cassette every song) and my 4 notes polyphonic, Yamaha CS 50M. Again, an overkill.

After a few hours of rehearsals, we have our first gig: support-act for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. We are all extremely nervous but the gig goes well: Frank doesn’t go into the mad behaviours he’s known for yet but you can see he’s holding up something big inside, something is boiling there. After the gig, we proceed to the German border and sleep in a motel there. In the morning, I’m being handed an envelope with my per diem (every day allowance a musician gets when on tour): it is the first time someone hands me money for doing something I love doing: playing music. I couldn’t believe it and I took a second piece of bacon and refilled my coffee cup. We are about to go to Dusseldorf to play The Ratinger Off as support for Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft.

Something started to happen at the Ratinger Hof: maybe it was the roughness of the place, the German lager (naaaaah) or the history of the place but this thing Frank had inside him but it slightly came out at that gig. See, there was an animal inside Frank, and that animal was as extrovert as Frank was introvert: Frank was then frontal and loud and, yes, obnoxious but in a gentle and friendly way but he wasn’t the shy Frank. In response to Frank’s changing live attitudes, Phil and I started to play loser and noisier and wilder (and there were far more bump notes on my part) but the band started to make sense.

The crowd wasn’t there for us, they were there for what would later become DAF, but the reaction was good and people liked us. I recall Frank and I going out in front of the place and that guy comes out dressed as a mod, full parka mode with a patch “Remember Brighton” which made Frank laughed a lot, people were out there with their beer and… Omg what am I saying: IT JUST FELT GREAT.

Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft at the time was a five piece band and they were fun and chaotic. You couldn’t miss Chris Haas, the synth guy, who was classy and special. He had a very specific body language when playing live: he would stand back, have a smile and just come here and there to play a few notes…He is the real grandfather of EBM as he introduced the famous 1/16th bass line (Korg MS 20 and SQ 10 sequencer) that will be the bone of so many records later on.

The morning after, we went out to the next gig. Daniel, Phil, Chris and myself embarked in my mum’s yellow Civic and we went down the motorway, singing loudly “Fahn Fahn Fahn Auf Der Autobahn” laughing and laughing… I guess Chris must have done that thousand of times before but, for Daniel, Phil and I it meant something different: we were doing it. We were travelling in Kraftwerk’s motherland and going to play electronic music there: it was immense.

We only played one more gig in Germany and then the whole tour was somehow cancelled… Roland Beelen: I saw the animal in Frank I guess a few months later at the Paasfestival in Koninfshooikt (organized by my friend Guy Vanwoensel) I was a stagehand there. Frank smashed a crucifix that was hanging above stage in the hall (parochiezaal)with his magic stick. The whole village was in shock when the news spread the next morning. The vicar organized a special service the next day to please the smashed fallen Christ ! they say he resurrected a few weeks later! All end, good end !

Frank Tovey / Fad Gadget 1980 (part 2)

Something had clicked in Frank after a few gigs: it’s like he had been showed by practice that it could work, that the songs were good, the voice was good but even more than that his FG personnae and ideas had an impact on the crowd. He would go out, do his thing, see people respond to his songs, lyrics and theatrics and then he would retrieve after the gig in the gentle and shy Frank Tovey. Phil and I were providing a background that wasn’t perfect but for Frank it was a great practice for FG future.

When we toured as support for The Monochrome Set, we were sometimes in fire and I could really feel people’s amazement at that born-to-be showman. He would play with the crowd and slowly take them into the show. Our sound might not have been very sophisticated but with Frank’s distorted piano, the CS50 brutal in and out sounds, Phil’s impeccable swirling bass, we were like The Stooges with synths and Frank was a perfect bionic Iggy Pop….I began to be very proud of us, we were quite something indeed and I was going on stage with a mission: to show people the songs and to let them fall in Frank’s performance.

I also remember that after the last show of the tour, possibly at the YMCA gig, one of the roadie came at the CS 50 and started to play some Bach’s prelude. I was stunned and shameful of the snobiness i may have shown the roadies on that tour, or before tbh. I learned a lesson that night and never again would I be feeling above anyone on a stage, or in studio, be them multiple charts success artists or simple roadie.

Something wild happened after our gig at the 100 club. Jock Mac Donalds (from the future Bollock Brothers) was very drunk and he started to look for a fight with us and being extremely aggressive, a bottle in his hand, waving it at us. Phil, FG’s bass player, was a karate black belt and he was looking very calm, coming closer to Jock inch by inch. Suddenly he jumped at Jock, put two fingers on his Adam’s apple and said with a slow voice: “OK, let’s kill”, his eyes deep into Mac Donald’s eyes.

The bottle instantly fell on the ground and the guy just ran out the club swearing loud and clear… Phil and I were sleeping at Daniel’s mom place for a few days and we were making music late at night. One of these nights, Daniel was on Phil’s MS 20, I was trying Daniel’s infamous Korg 700S (the one that was on TVOD and Warm Leatherette) and Phil was on the CS 50M but it was visibly too loud and too late as Daniel’s mum came down and asked us to PLEASE STOP !

Next gig to come was going to be the Clarendon, but we were told this would be our last gig with Frank as he wanted a full band behind him to totally free him from any other duties but vocals. I was devastated…

Frank Tovey / Fad Gadget #1 (part 3)

So, we were invited to headline Stevo’s kinda festival at the Clarendon, on June 27 1980. Stevo was a very colourful character who will make himself known later when managing bands like Soft Cell and The The. The bill was very symptomatic of the time: DAF, Naked Lunch, B.Movie, Vice Versa, Clock DVA,…

So, Fad Gadget #1 had started touring as a relative unknown a few months ago and we were by now talk of the town and headline this festival. It felt good and it felt also important and I was nervous. Everybody was. Frank had a song by Georges Folmby playing before we would go on. Folmby was a Lancarshire working class comedian and he was famous for playing double entendre ukulélé songs. It was a known and safe thing for British people and Frank used it as contrast as chaos would start when we would cut Folmby and go straight into “State Of The Nation” and follow that with most of what is on the album Fireside Favourites.

• State Of The Nation
• Back To Nature
• The Box
• Fireside Favourite
• Newsreel
• Pedestrian
• Coitus Interruptus
• Ricky’s Hand
• Back To Nature

Yes, Frank wanted shock and chaos, and he got that except that at the Clarendon it went a bit further than expected. During one of the early songs, Fad had already taken over Frank, he smashed up his face with one of the two Syncussion drums and it started pouring blood. Phil and I looked at him and he made us understand it was fine and let’s continue…So we continued until someone took Frank off stage as it was just like a fountain of blood by now. The gig was stopped.

We went backstage and Frank was adamant he was fine but Babra (his wife) disinfected the wound and placed a cloth on it. We went back on stage.

The crowd went MAD. Frank was standing there, his white clothes with red blood all over it, singing to the public that was all won. It was an incredible sight, and being on stage, playing the songs with a singer that went beyond the call of duty was something unexplainable. After the gig, we had to take the 5 am ferry. I was sitting on the stairs of the Clarendon and, yes, I was crying, letting all the tension, the fears of the gig off my system but also the sadness I felt after having lived some incredible times with
Frank, as synth player in Fad Gadget. I saw Frank playing with Fad Gadget #2 a few months later and he invited me to play in the encore: we were cool.

Still, I wasn’t done with London and would come back later…

Side-Line also covered Jean-Marc Lederman’s ‘Sci-Fi Revisited’.

About Fad Gadget

Frank Tovey (8 September 1956 – 3 April 2002), an English electronic musician and performance artist, recorded as Fad Gadget, becoming the first artist signed to Daniel Miller’s Mute Records after the two met at the Rough Trade shop in London. His recorded work combined synthesizers with found-object sounds and dark, comic lyrics. Studio albums as Fad Gadget include “Fireside Favourites” (1980), “Incontinent” (1981), “Under the Flag” (1982) and “Gag” (1984), after which he continued recording under his own name, releasing six further albums on Mute between 1985 and 1992. He died of a heart attack at his London home in 2002.

Belgian musician Jean-Marc Lederman played with Fad Gadget in the band’s touring lineup during the early-to-mid 1980s and has recounted memories of touring with Tovey, Daniel Miller and DAF’s Chrislo Haas in interviews, describing Tovey as bringing something unheard in electronic music at the time. Lederman has credited Daniel Miller and Fad Gadget’s early-1980s touring band, including Chrislo Haas of DAF, as formative to his own career.

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

Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer, Lederman/ De Meyer ao) and Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm) got in touch for Jean-Marc’s conceptual album “Letters To Gods And Fallen Angels” (2019). It became a praised album and a successful collaboration inciting the Belgian-American duo to move on working together. Rohn-Lederman was born and a first album “Venus Chariot” was released in 2021. One year later the duo strikes back unleashing “Rage!”. Both albums released by COP International reveal a very own approach in sound, mixing different styles resulting in an atypical Electro-Pop production. “Rage!” sounds darker and harsher than its predecessor but also is a sophisticated piece of music. This is what both artists have to say about their common project.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What motivated you to work together on a full length album and what makes the chemistry between both of you?

Jean-Marc: We kinda hooked up really from the beginning. I had provided Emileigh a song but ended up having to recreate the entire instrumental part beyond her voice. And she loved it. And I was so surprised as usually singers hate that, they’ll often get very self-conscious when the music changes too much. And I think Emileigh liked that I went as far as redoing a whole new music backing behind her. So we kind of got impressed by how each other was ready to alter course for making the end song shine through: commitment to the art.

Emileigh:  We began in 2019 with a song featured at Jean-Marc’s album “Letters To Gods And Fallen Angels” and realized the potential of continuing to try more.  So, we created an EP which eventually became an album and really haven’t stopped since. I think at last count, we have over 50 tracks released together at this point.  It’s been an incredibly dynamic partnership.

Q: Was there something like a consensus about the music, lyrical themes and global approach when setting up the project?

Jean-Marc: We just went straight in and got to discover things happening when they did and follow the rabbit down the music hole…

Emileigh:I recall, when we first began, having a discussion around Tom Waits quote regarding beautiful music saying terrible things. I think that intense emotional edge, especially with our recent “Rage!”-album, has only continued to sharpen. We knew well from our individual projects that our mindsets were similar and wanted to create music that continues to move and hold interest. I think we both have a fiery opposition to stagnancy.

Q: Jean-Marc, you already worked with numerous singers and artists so what makes the experience with Emileigh Rohn maybe different or that particular? What did she brought you never experienced before and in which way did she stimulates your artistic creativity and –skills in the production of this work?

Jean-Marc: I have been lucky enough to share a great music experience with amazing singers like Bruce Geduldig with The Weathermen and Frank Spinath with Ghost & Writer. Here, Emileigh brings in her amazing lyrical talent, her great voice, her ability to embrace changes and a genuine curiosity for bold and new things. The differences are multiples but I think it is also her natural attitude towards musical experiments.

Q: I often get the feeling Jean-Marc is one of the very few artists active at this scene who’s able to write the right music for the singers he’s working with… the singers becoming his muse? Do you recognize it or is it totally different? What’s your experience about it? 

Emileigh: I write from my own interpretations, but there’s no question that we inspire each other. Our tracks begin with a skeleton composed by Jean-Marc, and I create my songs around that.  Then he arranges the sounds around what I’ve provided, so there is indeed a chance for each of us to adjust what we’ve created.  It’s been an incredibly creative experience overall.

Q: Sound-wise Rohn-Lederman sounds driven by Electro-Pop influences and yet it sounds to me as an antidote to ‘classical’ Electro-Pop standards which are only but repeating themselves. What makes the inspiration for Rohn-Lederman and what’s your perception of Electro-Pop productions who nearly all sound the same?

Jean-Marc: We are both very open to many different music styles and we aren’t afraid of trying mixing things we’ve heard, be it in a Top Ten hit or an obscure sound in a song penned by an unknown Moldavian band from the seventies (lol). So, no real influences but many of them. Luckily enough, they get draft in and mix themselves with all the others and it makes up for something rather different. Electro-pop productions are most often amazing sound wise and terrible inspiration and novelty wise.

Q: I guess you didn’t record the album together in studio but did everything over the net. Don’t you think working together in the same room/studio would result in a different production? What’s your opinion about it? And what’s the next step now for this project?

Jean-Marc: Sure it would sound different: what we get today is the result of that studio isolation and geographical distance. Being together in the studio would allow us to refine certain parts for sure but still we would go in the same area: putting together elements that aren’t supposed to be seen together.
It would be amazing to record in the same studio and very probably would lead to even more research and musical melting pot.

Next step? We have already kinda define where we want Rohn-Lederman 3 to go and lazily get going lol. But first Emileigh gets to work on her own Chiasm album and then we’ll regroup for our next one.

Emileigh: I’ve always preferred to work alone in my studio because it allows me to experiment with different sounds and techniques without the fear of judgement, the opportunity to self-edit in my own space. I think although we are comfortable sharing with each other mid-progress, we’re still giving ourselves this chance to branch out and create content that’s extra memorable for the listeners. As far as what’s next, yes, I’m constructing my new Chiasm-album and I’m sure that will have some influence on how we approach our next ROHN-LEDERMAN-album together.  It’s going to be wild!! 🙂

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Out on the 2nd of September via COP International is the Rohn – Lederman album “Rage!”.

Behind Rohn – Lederman we find Jean-Marc Lederman (Fad Gadget, The Weathermen, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, Ghost & Writer + numerous solo records) and Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm) who started this project to bring catchy electropop. More recently, Emileigh Rohn recently also completed an album with John Fryer titled “Missed The Noise”, and since has been working with Jean-Marc Lederman on this project.

Here’s a first preview of the Porno For Pyros track “Pets” by Rohn – Lederma. Read the review of ‘Rage’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Out now is the all new album “Aerial Human” by Sapphira Vee. This is already the 5th album by Sapphira Vee and her second release on the Distortion Productions label. You can expect a darkwave / trip-hop sound evoking 4AD acts like Lush . You will equally hear EBM touches recalling classic Chris & Cosey on for instance the first single “What Is This”.

For the album Sapphira joined forces with Houston hip-hop artist Pee Wee P on “Fools”, Blue Eyed Christ’s John Norten on “Let the Arrow Break”, and Veronica Tam on the opening “White Aura” which was written by Jean-Marc Ledermen of The Weathermen. Also included are the three original tracks from last year’s “Duet” EP, featuring Chris Connelly (Ministry / Pigface / Revolting Cocks / Cocksure, etc.), Mike Reidy (W.O.R.M. / The Joy Thieves /Dogtablet), and Jim Semonik (Jimmy Semtex / Red Lokust / Rein(Forced) / creator of Electronic Saviors). In addition, Roger Ebner (Roger Ebner Band / Bitter Elixir / Yeti Rain) played the saxophone on “This Gift Was Not Meant For Me”.

New York native Sapphira Vee has been active since 2018.

You can check out the full album right 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

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

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

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

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Out via COP International on March 5 is the Chiasm & John Fryer debut album “Missed The Noise” for which a new single has been released: “Intertwined”. The full-length – available here for pre-ordering – will include 11 tracks including the previously released singles “Away” and “Are You Okay?”.

“Missed The Noise” comes on the heels of a busy 2020 for Chiasm, which saw her release the “Away” EP in June and the “Are You Okay?” single and remix EP in August, which also featured John Fryer and contributions from label mates Stabbing Westward and Jean-Marc Lederman (Front 242, The Weathermen, Lederman / De Meyer) as well as Third Realm and Glass Apple Bonzai.

But for now check the new single “Intertwined”.

For more on John Fryer, see COP International Records announces signing of Stoneburner (aka… on Side-Line.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Out since last month but still worth checking out today is the new electronic project formed by two talents in the leftfield electronic music: Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, The The, Fad Gadget, Ghost & Writer,…) and Erik Stein (Cult With No Name). The duo formed Lederman * Stein and have released their debut with the “Textbooks for Tomorrow” EP.

Each of the 8 tracks on the digital only EP explores a very different sonic and melodic territory, from warm analogue and modular electronics, over synth pop and atmospheric sounds, to jazz riffs infested structures.

You can check out the EP below.

Side-Line also covered Jean-Marc Lederman’s ‘The Mysterious Manuscript of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’.

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

(Photo by Erica Hinyot) COP International has announced the signing to their artist roster of Jean-Marc Lederman. COP International will release a full album with Emileigh Rohn (of the electronic-industrial project Chiasm). The two most recently worked together on a series of remixes for Chiasm’s “Away” EP as you could read here on Side-Line. Lederman will also be teaming up with opera singer Diva Marisa Winter for a series of genre-bending tracks. Information on both releases will be announced soon.

Says Lederman of the label signing: “It’s a pleasure to work with COP International and I really look forward to exciting releases and synergies.”

Says COP International founder Christian Petke: “I first noticed Jean-Marc’s work when he did remixes for our artist Chiasm. Our mastering guy put it perfectly: ‘Every note had its place and the sound was perfect.’ After doing a bit of research, I had come to realize he’s an electronic music bedrock and came highly recommended by our in-house producer John Fryer who had worked with him on The Weathermen. After having a series of long conversations about life and music, it became obvious that we needed to work together. COP International is not just looking for raw talent, but also people that understand and embrace the culture of community that we are creating with the label. Jean-Marc is a perfect fit for that and we are incredibly excited to have him on board. We decided that we will create a band around his skill and talents deeply rooted in electronic music with a cinematic and epic feel. We found an exceptional vocalist in Diva Marisa Winter who is equally comfortable on a stage in the world of opera as she is belting it out in the pit of the Thunderdome at Burning Man and Wasteland. The first demo is on the way and it sounds incredible. He will also write a new album with Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm) that allows both of them to explore a more tender/fragile side of their respective music. The first tracks are fantastic and we anticipate a release next year.”

From Fad Gadget to Front 242

Best known for his work with iconic alternative and industrial bands such as The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, Fad Gadget and The Weathermen, as well as collaborations with Front 242 and French rocker Alain Bashung, Lederman’s storied career has also included lush sonic compositions for both film and video games. Lederman’s recent scoring work can be heard on the 2017 full feature movie “Doubleplusonegood” and he was also second composer to Ramin Djawadi (“Games of Thrones,” “Westworld”) on a full feature.

Lederman has also released exclusive double CD/artbooks under the name Jean-Marc Lederman Experience (and with artwork by Erica Hinyot) in which he gathers singers from all over the music worlds to contribute voices to a common musical theme—the most recent including 13 Ghost Stories in 2019 and Letters To Gods (And Fallen Angels) in 2020.

He also worked together with Jean-Luc De Meyer from Front 242 in the Ledermann / De Meyer project which released 2 EP’s and a full album “Eleven grinding songs” on vinyl and limited 2CD.

Side-Line also covered Jean-Marc Lederman’s ‘Textbooks for Tomorrow’.

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

Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Fad Gadget, The The, Ghost & Writer, Lederman-Demeyer) has released a new release under the Jean-Marc Lederman Experience moniker. With this project he calls up singers from different niches and countries to write lyrics and sing them on a common theme. The end result is then being packaged in a 2CD 36 pages hardcover art book with artwork and pictures by Erica Hinyot.

2019 saw the release of “13 Ghost Stories”, and now he offers “Letters To Gods (and fallen angels)” including performances from 21 different singers, from the USA to Italy, Mexico or Wales. The concept this time is very topical in this strange reset time: “You can write a letter to a God, or a fallen angel. What do you say?”

This time, the artists are:

• Agi Taralas (Our Banshee, Greece)
• Emma Barson (Promenade Cinema, UK)
• Ghost & Writer with cello by Jo Quail (Germany/Belgium UK)
• Mari Kattman (Helix, USA)
• JP Aston with backing vocals by Julianne Regan (Gene Loves Jezebel/Wales All About Eve/UK
• Coline Wauters (Atome, Belgium)
• Christina Z (comics Witchblade writer, Magnesium Burn/USA)
• Das Vintage (Mexico)
• Lucia Fairfull (Lusca And The Best Boys/ Scotland)
• Stefan Netschio (Beborn Beton/Germany)
• Hunter S. Thompson (Writer, USA)
• Elena Alice Fossi (Kirlian Camera/Stalingrad Valkyrie Italy)
• Tom Shear (Assemblage 23/ Helix USA)
• Mark Hockings (MESH/ UK)
• Jenna Fearon (USA)
• Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm/USA)
• Miriam Christina (The Other Side Of Who, 580 Miles/ Germany)
• Haydn Park-Patterson (The Ninth Wave/ Scotland)
• Rodney Orpheus (The Cassandra Complex/ EU)
• Louise Fraser (USA)
• Lis van den Akker (Holland)
• Claus Larsen (Leaether Strip/ Denmark)
• Friedrich Nietzsche (Patrimonia Universal de la Humanidad)
• With 3 novels by:
• Christina Z. (comics Witchblade writer, Magnesium Burn/USA)
• Ceratomia (USA)
• Philippe Genion (à;GRUMH /Belgium)

Check the previews below. Read the review of ‘Letters To Gods [And Fallen Angels]’.

For more on Jean-Marc Lederman, see COP International has announced the signing to their artist roster of… on Side-Line.

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.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Athan Maroulis will be always linked to Spahn Ranch and Black Tape For A Blue Girl, but the past few years he got involved with a new project called Noir. The album “Darkly Near” (2013) was a cool introduction to the dark-romantic pop style of the project. A few more EP’s were released while “A Pleasure” (released by the end of 2019) is the newest production. Athan Maroulis got some help from programmer/producer Erik Gustafson (Adoration Destroyed, Grendel), keyboardist/vocalist Kai Irina Hahn (The Sedona Effect), keyboardist/vocalist Demetra Songs and cello player Tracey Moth (Antidote For Annie).

Content: The title song (cf. “A Pleasure To Burn”) is a dark, bombastic outburst with a carrying chorus and featuring the charismatic vocals of Athan Maroulis. The song was remixed by Fires and Seeming.

We next get another new song (cf. “Luxury”), which has been written by Athan Maroulis, Erik Gustafson and Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen ao). This song is more evasive. The last song of the EP is a “Reprise” of “Luxury”, which rather sounds as a short outro. Last, but not least you also will discover a cover version of the famous Fad Gadget song “Back To Nature”.

+ + + : Athan Maroulis remains a brilliant, charismatic singer. His unique timbre of voice injects a true spirit into the music. And the music of the title song is quite interesting for the mixing of bombast and refinement. Among the remixes I especially recommend the up-tempo edit by Fires. Covering “Back To Nature” is not that original, but the way the song has been adapted into the bombastic ‘style-noir’ is absolutely remarkable.

– – – : I didn’t experience “A Pleasure” as an absolute ‘hit’, but Noir isn’t exactly the kind of band achieving poppy-hits!

Conclusion: We can’t speak about a come-back, but “A Pleasure” is a good way to put Noir back on the map!

Best songs: “A Pleasure To Burn”, “A Pleasure To Burn – Fires Remix”, “Back To Nature – Radio Edit”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/NOIRmetropolis

Label: www.metropolis–records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords

About Nøir

Noir is a revolving-lineup project conceived and fronted by vocalist Athan Maroulis, also known for his work with Spahn Ranch and Black Tape for a Blue Girl. The project released its debut album, “Darkly Near”, in 2013 on Metropolis Records, featuring Maroulis alongside Jamie Parganos and Kai Irina Hahn. This “A Pleasure” EP includes a cover of Fad Gadget’s “Back To Nature” and remixes by Fires and Seeming, and was followed in 2023 by the “Fallen” EP, dedicated to the late Metropolis Records co-founder Dave Heckman.

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 New York City-based dark electronic act NØIR will be releasing a 6-song EP entitled “A Pleasure”. It will be the band’s first new material since 2017. NØIR consists of vocalist Athan Maroulis (Spahn Ranch, Black Tape for a Blue Girl) and features programmer/producer Erik Gustafson (Adoration Destroyed, Grendel), keyboardist/vocalist Kai Irina Hahn (The Sedona Effect) and keyboardist/vocalist Demetra Songs.

“A Pleasure” includes the lead song “A Pleasure to Burn” with remixes by Fires as well as the band Seeming along with a new song entitled “Luxury”, co-written by Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen) and features cellist Tracey Moth (Antidote for Annie).

Dedicated to famed English actress Julie Christie, this release also features a cover of Fad Gadget’s “Back To Nature”. “A Pleasure” will be released digitally by Metropolis Records on November 15th and will be supported by a string of select NØIR live dates.

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: EBM, electro-pop, new-beat.

Background/Info: The Belgian duo The Weathermen belong to the collective memory of all EBM heads. Set up in the 80s by Jean-Marc Lederman and singer Bruce Geduldig (who passed away in 2016) they’ve been responsible for some legendary hits such “Poison” and “Berlin”. This double disc features instrumental ‘backing tapes’ recorded in between 1988 and 2009 plus a live concert recorded in 2006. The album has been released on Dans Les Profondeurs, which is a new sub-division of the Belgian label Wool-E Discs.

Content: The instrumental disc will give you the music, but not the vocals. It’s the kind of ‘backing tapes’ bands often used when playing live. It’s a bit strange to get these songs as instrumentals, but it’s a way to focus only on the music. The songs were originally released in between 1988 and 2009 and will bring good old memories alive; from EBM inspired cuts to electro-pop to the unavoidable “Poison”, which even became a new-beat hit.

The second disc is a live recording that took place in Hoogstraten (Belgium) featuring 14 songs and some of the unavoidable hits such as “Poison”, “Berlin”, “Bang!”, “Punishment Park” ao. It also is an opportunity to rediscover the live spirit of the band, which had something funny, but also danceable.

+ + + : This album is mainly meant to please the die-hard fans of The Weathermen. The live disc is an opportunity to rediscover some of the band’s most famous hits in history, as well as the most eclectic. The Weathermen were hard to label as one specific genre and that’s probably why they’ve been linked with EBM, new-beat and even techno. Some tracks had a pretty pop-touch with groovy sequences (cf. “Transit”). The album has been packed in a cool digipak format with a very informative booklet inside.

– – – : You really have to be a fan to buy this album, but that’s why it’s a limited release and only featuring ‘rare’ material.

Conclusion: This work is not exactly an anthology, but a rarity! I’m sure there’ll be a kind of ‘best of’ album with some rarities and remixes as a bonus.

Best songs: “Posion”, “Berlin”, “Transit”, “Bang” + “Berlin”, “Bang!”, “Poison”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/THE–WEATHERMEN-6188693590

Label: www.wool–e–discs.be / www.facebook.com/woolediscs

About The Weathermen

The Weathermen formed in Belgium in 1985 as a tongue-in-cheek duo built around Jean-Marc Lederman, also known for his work with Fad Gadget and Kid Montana, and Bruce Geduldig of Tuxedomoon. The duo released hits including “Poison!” (1987) and “Punishment Park” (1988) before splitting in the early 1990s, then reunited in 2003 for the album “Deeper With The Weathermen”. Geduldig died in March 2016. Lederman has continued recording, including the Wool-E Discs album “Music for Dinosaurs” (2021) and, more recently, “Electronic Slipper Music” (2025) on his own label Les Disques De La Pantoufle.

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: Cinematographic, experimental.

Background/Info: Belgian electro-veteran Jean-Marc Lederman has no limits when it comes to releasing new music. Mainly known for his early involvement with The Weathermen and during the past few years for being part of Ghost & Writer and Lederman/De Meyer, this new release is again something special. “Ode A La Pluie” (translated “Ode To The Rain”) originally is an exhibition created by Jean-Marc’s wife Erica Hinyot. The conceptual theme was about rain featuring texts, drawings and paintings. Lederman got the idea to compose music around the theme resulting in five pieces. This work is part of the label’s series “Belgian NeuMusik”.

Content: The tracks are simply numbered from one to five. Sound-wise this is a pure cinematographic composition, which is not the first experience in the genre for the artist. The ambient aspect comes directly through creating an impression of solitude, but still reminding me of passages of the legendary movie “Le Grand Bleu”. It’s an abyssal sensation composed by electronics, but where you often get the sensation real instruments (like a harp or a piano) have been used.

+ + + : The more time passes by,  the more Jean-Marc Lederman creates real intimate compositions. I already had this sensation on his brilliant “13 Ghost Stories”-album, but this work is even more intimate. It has strong visual passages, which you also have to discover by using headphones. The work is a marvelous and truly artistic symbiosis between different artistic formats while it also symbolizes the eclecticism of the musician. It’s definitely not the most accessible kind of music, but it’s a new genius exposure from this workaholic. I also have to say a word about the great and artistic box format of this release. 

– – – : The tracks are rather long during so there’re a few –and unavoidable, monotonous passages, but you don’t hear me complaining.

Conclusion: Jean-Marc Lederman never stops to take me by surprise and this conceptual work again is a totally accomplished and arty exposure of his talent.

Best songs: “Ode A La Pluie 2”,  “Ode A La Pluie 1”.  

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.jmlederman.com / www.facebook.com/jeanmarc.kollector / www.facebook.com/Music–composer–Jean–Marc–Lederman-1585277635023000

Label: www.wool–e–discs.be / www.facebook.com/woolediscs

About Jean-Marc Lederman

Jean-Marc Lederman is a Belgian electronic musician whose first release came with the punk band Streets in 1977. He went on to work with Digital Dance before moving to London, where he played with Fad Gadget, Matt Johnson and Gene Loves Jezebel, and led his own project Kid Montana. His best-known outlet became The Weathermen, formed with Tuxedomoon’s Bruce Geduldig under the aliases Patricia Hearst and Jimmyjoe Snark III. The duo split in 1992, reformed in 2003, and released “Deeper” (2004) and “Embedded With The Weathermen” (2006) before Geduldig’s death in 2016. Lederman also recorded with Front 242, formed La Femme Verte in 2010 with singers including Julianne Regan, released “Romania” as Leatherman with Jacques Duvall in 2012, and launched Ghost & Writer with Frank Spinath in 2011. “Ode A La Pluie” places him back on Wool-E Discs’ “Belgian NeuMusik” series; he returned to the label again for “Electronic Slipper Music” in 2025.

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

Jean-Marc Lederman is an artist who didn’t really need any further introduction. He belongs to the (Belgian) pioneers of electronic music and can look back at an impressive discography. He this year released a very special work under the moniker ‘Jean-Marc Lederman Experience’. The album “13 Ghost Stories” released on Dependent Records is an original concept featuring an impressive list of guest singers. The music has something pretty cinematic-like, but still revealing danceable passages and elements of pop. I’d a chat with the ‘leatherman’ and also asked Louise Fraser and Christer Hermodsson about their experience.

(Picture credits by Michel Clair / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Your newest album “13 Ghost Stories” is definitely one of the most surprising ones you’ve accomplished and I even dare to affirm your ‘opus magnum’, but do you know how many albums you’ve released?

Jean-Marc: I think I’ve released about 20 albums of my own compositions and bands if you count Kid Montana (1 mini LP, 1 album), The Weathermen (8 albums + a couple of compilations), 1 album with Ether (DJ Moens from La Muerte + Luc Dufourmont), 1 with Jules & Jim (Julianne Regan from All About Eve), 1 ambient album with Man-Dello, 2 with Ghost & Writer (with Frank Spinath from Seabound), 1 with La Femme Verte (cover versions with many singers), 1 with Leatherman (cover versions with Jacques Duvall), 2 x Jean-Marc Lederman Experience (many singers) plus some I may forget… (www.jmlederman.com).

Q: What can you tell us about the idea behind this work, its concept, the influences and the writing and what does this work mean to you?

Jean-Marc: I was looking for a new challenging and exciting idea after the demise of Ghost & Writer(name chose by Frank where he’s ‘Writer’ and I’m ‘Ghost’)  in 2017 as I didn’t know where to go musically. I was having a lunch with a friend and he asked me ‘so, how is the ghost going to come back?’ and the morning after I had the concept of the album: asking multiple singers how they would behave if they could come back… to Earth as ghosts, for 24 hours….

I had no special influences for this album but, as ever, the multiple styles music I like doing (from dark ambient to future-pop to more experimental sounds or cinematic music) got me into this direction or that direction and I didn’t want to stay on a single simple trajectory so I worked with thinking of the impact of having songs going in different directions instead of trying to stay within one genre. I didn’t care if people wouldn’t understand as I wanted to have no stop for my creativity. So, every song is a little world in itself but also serves as cement for the whole recording.

This album means a lot because I think it’s indeed a personal ‘opus magnum’, a place where I could gather all the things I liked expressing musically,  with very talented partners (which makes my work really easy). It has also a very strong image with the artwork of my wife Erica Hinyot and the novels added to the limited, and sold-out, edition.

Q: Do you believe in ghosts?

Jean-Marc: I believe in alternate relativities sometimes collapsing with each others, like a Venn diagram between different worlds.

Q: I see you as an artist who’s always ready to experiment with new ideas and music styles. You the past few years moved from electro-pop top EBM to experimental music while “13 Ghost Stories” sounds more as a soundtrack/electro-ambient composition. What does this eclecticism reveal about the person hiding behind the musician and how is it for you working on different styles and with different people?

Jean-Marc: It reveals that I’m a person interested in many things and many different aspects of life: I’m very curious of everything. It’s a great asset to be able to work in diverse areas as I rarely get bored. Plus you’re getting inspired by the people you work with as you want to serve them with a musical environment that will enhance what you like about their own work.

Q: I sometimes get the impression you composed the music after having read the lyrics while I can imagine it happened the other way round? It really sounds you’ve carefully written each song for each singer; the match or symbiosis between music and vocalists is totally accomplished. How did it really happened and what has been the main focus in the writing of this album?

Jean-Marc: Yes, the music was created before I get to read the lyrics, just after the singer said she/he wants to be on board. I contacted the people I’d like to work with, if they’re on board I sometimes send them directly a song penned with them in mind or I ask them what kind of direction they’d like me to work in: sometimes people want to do something really wild, sometimes they need to stay in their comfort zone. Sometimes I also had sketches of songs I reworked with the specific singer in mind.

Once I get their vocals, I mix the track and refine the mix until we’re both happy with the end result.

The main focus was to provide exciting moments that pleased both the singer and me. I have what I believe is a constant dictatorial quality control on my own work and I delete every attempt at a song if it bores me.

Q: I think you mainly worked with artists you know and you like for their work and voices. I can’t imagine it has been the single criteria to work with all those singers. Tell us a bit more about criteria and eventually surprises in the lyrical content and/or vocal performance?

Jean-Marc: Actually, no, I didn’t know personally most of the singers involved.
I just look for interesting tones in their voice and their lyrical talent and then I contacted them. Most of them were on board quickly cos they liked the concept and they know I do quality work. Plus I have a bit of a (good) reputation so they jump in rather quickly. Some didn’t, but it’s fine.
The criteria are there: interesting voice and good lyricist.

Q: Do you have further plans/ideas for this project? Live? Maybe a next, similar concept?  

Jean-Marc: This is a rather impossible project to take on a stage as some singers are from the USA and some from Australia…Plus I don’t like to play live: too stressful for me and the end result is never as good as when I can fine-tune details at my own speed in my studio.

Yes, I have started working on a new JML E. It’s not the same theme of course, but the same axe: providing a strong and coherent record that will surprise the listeners and me/my partners when all assembled (or on a track per track basis).

Q: Louise Fraser, what did you think when Jean-Marc came up with his idea of “13 Ghost Stories” and what’s your impression when you heard the final song and the album?

Louise: Straight off I thought this was a great idea. I mean who doesn’t love a ghost story? Moreover, beyond creating a really unique unifying concept, the question inevitably draws some really personal insights out of each singer. I thought that was very clever of Jean-Marc, who is also such a terrific guy to work with that I would have written on any theme he gave me.

I personally love the collection because it’s both unified and diverse. Jean-Marc’s musicianship weaves together some very unique, and often stunning vocal performances. As such the project really holds my attention, which is not an easy feat! I also think Jean-Marc deserves credit for his mixing skills. When he played me the first mix of our track, I didn’t have a single mix comment, and believe me, that is super rare! He just nailed it off the bat.

Q: Christer Hermodsson, how did you get in touch with Jean-Marc Lederman and what kind of artist is he to you?

Christer:  Jean-Marc simply contacted me. What kind of an artist? Hmm, talented and odd/weird/strange, but in a good way!

Side-Line also covered Jean-Marc Lederman’s ‘The Helpless Voyage Of The Titanic’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electronic, cinematographic, down-tempo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rate: (8½).

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

www.facebook.com/jeanmarc.kollector

Label: www.dependent.de / www.facebook.com/dependent.records Read the news on ‘13 Ghost Stories’.

About Jean-Marc Lederman

Jean-Marc Lederman is a Belgian electronic musician whose discography spans close to twenty albums across numerous projects, among them Kid Montana, eight albums with The Weathermen, Ether (with DJ Moens of La Muerte and Luc Dufourmont), Jules & Jim (with Julianne Regan of All About Eve), the ambient Man-Dello project, two albums with Seabound‘s Frank Spinath as Ghost & Writer, La Femme Verte and Leatherman. He launched the Jean-Marc Lederman Experience in 2015 with “The Last Broadcast On Earth”, an album featuring 13 singers from 8 countries in 4 languages. “13 Ghost Stories”, reviewed here, is the second Jean-Marc Lederman Experience album, released on Dependent in 2019 following the demise of Ghost & Writer in 2017.

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

A few days ago Jean-Marc Lederman – the man who worked with numerous bands including Fad Gadget, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen, Front 242, Julianne Regan, Jacques Duvall and Alain Bashung – posted the above picture about him playing with The The. We asked Jean-Marc how that happened.

SL: How did Jean-Marc Lederman end up with The The at The The Marquee gigs in 1982?

JM: The year was 1982 and I was living in London, tired of the belgian music scene. I had moved there shortly after my service in the Belgian Army, gee talk about a waste of time (do you see me as good proctection against the Russians ? Case closed).

Matt had heard my EP “Statistics Mean Nothing When On The Wrong Plane” and he reached out to me through a mutual friend. He told me about the residencey gigs The The had planned 4 thurdays in a row at the Marquee, the legendary London club.

So, I went to a rehearsal and it was real anarchy: everybody banging on petrol tanks à la Einsturzende Neubauten. Jim Thirlwell was there, Zeke Manyaka was playing the drums and Thomas Leer was playing some synths. We both had a Roland Jupiter 4 so we ended up using his. I remember telling them to stop banging the drums and start working the songs…

SL: And how did the gigs itself go?

The gigs were well announced and The The was quite the talk in London so the place was really packed. I was very nervous, I hate playing live as this is definitively not one of my strong points, and waiting backstage was tense. We had a set cut in several parts with some guests. I was starting the show, we all head to wear balaclavas and an early version of “Giant” was the first song, if I recall correctly . Marc Almond was a guest on the first concert, and so was Richard Kirk from Cabaret Voltaire (or was it Malinder ? It’s so long ago…).

We had more or less the same set for the 4 thursday residency shows and it was a bit strange to have to come back to the same place but it was quite common in the UK for bands to have a serie of shows week in week out at the time apparently.

SL: So all in all, how would you describe it?

JM: A great experience. Next week, I’ll tell you how and when Matt and Johnny Marr beat me at soccer-table but I won a Depeche Mode silver disc in the process (laughs).

Side-Line also covered Jean-Marc Lederman’s ‘13 Ghost Stories’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

side-line.com

Background/Info:

About Lederman / De Meyer

Lederman / De Meyer paired Jean-Marc Lederman with Jean-Luc De Meyer of Front 242 for their first joint project, following the earlier 2018 EP “A Tribe Of My Own” with the full-length “Eleven Grinding Songs” on Alfa Matrix.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Read the review of ‘Atoms In Fury’.

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

The recently released “Eleven Grinding Songs”, the debut album by Lederman / De Meyer (a new project between 2 electronic music legends Jean-Marc Lederman and Jean-Luc De Meyer) is one of the best EBM releases which have been released this year so far. “Eleven Grinding Songs” is released in 4 versions. Besides the regular CD album (available here), there is also the 2CD set (with an 11-track bonus disc with 4 exclusive additional songs plus 7 remixes or alternative versions) (available here) and a deluxe download (available here) plus also a black vinyl edition (including a carton sleeve CD edition with the same track-list) (available here).

Side-Line decided to go to the roots of the project together with Jean-Marc Lederman. In today’s article Jean-Marc Lederman gives us a few musical tips and composing advice. Jean-Marc: “We composers are always trying to better ourselves and make compositions that will excite us and, hopefully, excite others too. Here are a few tips and some advice. Take it or leave it, they work for me but they may not work for you.”

1. Start a new song with something unexpected.

Let say you usually start with a beat, or a bass line, or some chords or a simple melody: don’t do it now, begin your song from an angle you rarely use.

2. Don’t tunnel vision on a sound or a melody.

If you have been working that bass line for the last two hours and it’s not happening, chances are that the sound you’re using, or the melody it plays, just isn’t the right one. How do you know that ? If it bores you, it may very well bore the listener. So, scrap it or only use a part of it, the one you prefer.

3. Don’t expect your friends to know more than you do.

Doesn’t matter if your friends love or hate your new song, they are biased and probably far more lenient on a bland song that people you don’t know. Only consider your point of view to start with and introduce people to your song far later in the process.

4. Stop looking at synth pOrn and work, work, work.

Don’t procrastinate: you very, very probably have enough equipment to take you to sonic places you want and while the latest synth XYZ might be incredible please don’t wait for you to have it to work with what you already have. If you are bored with your equipment, use it in a different matter than usual and break your habits.

5. Don’t be stopped by what the other bands are doing.

Be responsible of your own musical development: it doesn’t matter what others are doing, what is important is how far you can take your own imagination.

6. Don’t ever think business when working on art.

First do the art, finish it, don’t think of the business side before the music is done. Don’t mix the two and don’t let commercial aspects enter the creative moments.

7. Don’t copy others, develop your own sound.

It really doesn’t matter what the others are doing: you can inspire yourself from a piece of work but being a replica of another band will just feel lame and boring. Go to the end of your own musical universe and own it to the world.

8. Be sincere.

It’s very tiring to be faking, go for the truth, always. Don’t pretend to be what you’re not but defend what you are, no matter how lonely you may think you are in your own genre. Always, always be true to what you really want in your music, whether it’s trendy or not, whether it’s today sound or yesterday sound or too modern to even fit anywhere.

9. Don’t spend weeks on a song.

You’re on that sorry song for one week and it still isn’t done ? The song is probably a turd. Give yourself deadlines and respect them. If you usually do a song in 4 days, use that as a benchmark to tell you if the song is happening or on the contrary goes nowhere.

10. Not a good day for composing ? Do something else !

It’s normal to be inspired some days and being not able to compose on others: don’t overdo it if it feels it’s not the right day. It doesn’t mean you’re done as a composer, inspiration will come back later.

For more on Jean-Marc Lederman, see How did Jean-Marc Lederman end up with The The at The The Marquee… on Side-Line.

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: EBM, body-pop.

Background/Info: This project is the surprising meeting between two Belgian electronic pioneers and ‘Godfathers’ of EBM. Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer, Polyphonic size ao) and singer Jean-Luc De Meyer (Front 242, Under Viewer, 32 Crash, Cobalt 60, Modern Cubism ao) joined hands for a new sonic experience. This is the debut EP from the duo.

Content: First of all don’t expect to discover a sonic hybrid between The Weathermen and Front 242. You for sure will directly recognize Jean-Luc Demeyer’s unique timbre of voice and some typical Jean-Marc Lederman arrangements, but the sound became a new challenge instead of a ‘cheap’ EBM format.

The title song mixes elements of EBM and electro-pop. It’s a rather ‘soft’ song carried by a noticeable melodic aspect. The 4 songs left are remixes made by other formations. Next to a hard remix of the title song by Sebastian Komor you’ll discover remixes of “Back To nature” (a cover of the legendary Fad Gadget song) by Edge Of Dawn and Coldkill plus a remix of another song by Rob Dust.

+ + + : This is a fascinating project for seeing 2 electronic veterans joining hands for a new sonic challenge. It simply reveals their love and passion for music while holding on the EBM roots. Even if both versions of “Back To Nature” are remixes, I think it’s an interesting cover version. The title song has some potential, but I think Lederman / De Meyer can do better and that’s what I expect from their debut album. Last, but not least Jean-Luc De Meyer once again reveals to be a talented singer, as well as with writing intelligent lyrics. The remixes by Sebastian Komor and Coldkill both are terrific songs.

– – – : The title song is missing a truly apotheosis, which has been reached on Seb Komor’s version. But my single regret is that this EP only features one original song by Lederman / De Meyer as all other tracks are remixes.

Conclusion: I can’t say that  I was totally convinced by the single, original song featured on this EP, but I’m really wondering what the album of this legendary duo will sound-like.

Best songs: “A Tribe Of My Own – Sebastian Komor Remix”, “Back To Nature – Coldkill Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Ledermandemeyer

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

Read the news on ‘A Tribe Of My Own’.

About Lederman / De Meyer

Lederman / De Meyer pairs two Belgian electronic veterans: Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer) and vocalist Jean-Luc De Meyer (Front 242, Cobalt 60). In a Click Interview with Side-Line, Lederman recalled how the project began: “It actually started with an English label wanting to do a Fad Gadget covers album. They contacted me and I thought I should try this. I thought about a singer and it seemed to me Jean-Luc De Meyer would be great at that.”

The debut EP “A Tribe Of My Own” (2018, Alfa Matrix) was followed that same year by “Atoms In Fury” and the full-length “Eleven Grinding Songs”.

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

Lederman / De Meyer, the brand new very promising project between 2 electronic music legends (Jean-Marc Lederman and Jean-Luc De Meyer) have launched the pre-sales of their upcoming debut album “Eleven Grinding Songs”.

Released via the Belgian label Alfa Matrix “Eleven Grinding Songs” will be released in 4 versions. Besides the regular CD album (available here), there is also the 2CD set (with an 11-track bonus disc with 4 exclusive additional songs plus 7 remixes or alternative versions) (available here) and deluxe download (available here) plus – and this is something many fans asked for since the release of the project’s first EP “A Tribe Of My Own” – also a black vinyl edition (including a carton sleeve CD edition with the same track-list) (available here).

The black vinyl version is strictly limited to 300 copies worldwide, so make sure to place your order asap via the Alfa Matrix webstore.

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

Read the review of ‘A Tribe Of My Own’.

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

The announcement of Die Krupp’s EBM-only side project Die Robo Sapiens wasn’t the only surprise on EBM-day this weekend. A few hours later the official Front 242 facebook page also saw a live videocast of the brand new project Lederman / De Meyer uniting the talents of musician and producer, Jean-Marc Lederman (Fad Gadget, Gene Loves Jezebel, Kid Montana, The Wheathermen, …) and Front 242’s very own Jean-Luc De Meyer.

The project can now be reached on Facebook.

The project announced not only a forthcoming EP and album (“Eleven Grinding Songs”) but also that they equally signed to the Belgian label Alfa Matrix, just like Die Robo Sapiens did. The new project will offer ‘eclectic and uncompromising song arrangements‘ matched with De Meyer’s trademark dense vocals. Darkwave with sensible lyrics, duly noted!

You can watch the video below, and also get a glimpse of a first preview of an album track.

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, abstract, cinematographic, ambient.

Background/Info: Jean-Marc Lederman is one of those Belgian electronic pioneers belonging to the collective memory. We all remember him for his involvement in The Weathermen while more recently he took the electro community by surprise being part of Ghost & Writer. Lederman now gets back to solo-experiments under his own name. It’s the second full length, which has been released 2 years after “The Last Broadcast On Earth”.

Content: Forget about all electro-pop and other early EBM and electro-wave experiments this artist has been involved with. “The Space Between Worlds” reveals another side of this musician. “The Space Between Worlds” moves on there where “The Last Broadcast On Earth” stopped. The music is definitely experimental, but also on the edge of cinematographic music.

+ + + : This is a side of Lederman’s talent we’re not used to hearing. Experimental music always is more ‘difficult’ to understand, but what I’ve understood or just felt is the fascination of the artist for sound- and noise creation. It sounds abstract, but features refined treatments and crystalline bleeps. It also is a diversified work, which also features orchestral arrangements and even some jazzy influences. If you don’t know it’s Jean-Marc Lederman, I can assure you it’s quite difficult to recognize who’s hiding behind this work. It simply reveals the open-minded vision of the musician.

– – – : This album is not the most accessible piece of Jean-Marc Lederman. I don’t have the feeling he did it to conquer a wider audience, but just for the pleasure of exorcising some old sonic demons.

Conclusion: I can’t say I’m wild of this album and I’m not sure this album would get a lot attention if it was not Jean-Marc Lederman operating behind the machines. But it’s an artist of many talents and dealing with multiple influences. Let’s say this is the abstract side of his music genius.

Best songs: “The Man From Oslo”, “Enter The Dragonette”, “The dark Frontier”.

Rate: (6).

Band: www.jmlederman.com / www.facebook.com/jeanmarc.kollector

Label: www.wool–e–shop.be / www.facebook.com/woolediscs

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

Jean-Marc Lederman posted a rather funny story on his Facebook profile relating some of the early story of his band The Weathermen. We were given his ok to make an article out of it.

After releasing “Ten Deadly Kisses”, things were looking good for The Weathermen. The band’s release schedule (a 12″ single every 4 of 5 months) since “Old Friend Sam” was paying off as both the band’s profile and their sales were picking up steadily. Not only that says Jean-Marc Lederman: “It was a rhythm that was perfect on an artistic point of view: quick enough so we would always have new stuff out to keep shops, the press and the fans excited and slow enough so we could go to the studio with fresh ears.”

Use whatever you find

The band didn’t have any equipment at the time, except a new Ensoniq ESQ-1 bought thanks to Jonas Van Espen, their manager at the time, and Herman van Laar (Jean-Marc’s publisher at Les Disques du Crepuscule as Kid Montana was still going on). Jean-Marc recalls: “We were dependent on going to the studio to record, something that was pleasing me a lot as the tactic was to use whatever we found there, especially if it was some new (to us) drum machine or synth.”

The studio was Ludo Camberlin’s, one of Belgium’s finest producer ever. Jean-Marc: “A man with great ears, not always easy to go along with, but so was/am I so it was a good fit. The place was in PIAS’ early Cureghem office, it was in the basement and pretty much a dump to be honest. But it felt good to be making music just below our record company as it made us feel part of a family with a common desire: making good music known.”

“As usual, we had nearly nothing when going into the studio,” Jean-Marc notes. “I had brought my Ensoniq and Bruce Geduldig a copy of The New York Times. We hooked up the Esq-1 to Ludo’s system (a Commodore sequencer driving a DX7) and Ludo made fun of the lone two midi slots in the american synth: ‘What?! No thru slot?!’.” You can hear it in Poison in the chorus brass sound and the bass drum, mainly. Jean-Marc also brought a 7″ to the studio, one that had made a great impression on him at the time: “Human”, by The Human League.

The track had a great drum beat and Lederman wanted to start from that: “Ludo programmed the sequencer which was driving an RX7 drum machine, I think. So, we got a drum beat going, of course it was weathermenized, and it had not a lot in common with what The Human League had. One can hear it in the toms playing in “Poison”, it’s the low drum hit that is going as a back beat. We hooked up the DX7 and worked out a real nasty bass sound starting from one Ludo had and then I played around for a while until we found a good groove which pleased us all. Once we had that, it was really fast, we sequenced a few ringing sounds and there was the skeleton of “Poison”. It was all written before the voice, as usual.”

Using the desk as an instrument and the arrival of Susanna

Ludo was also playing at the desk, using it as an instrument, not only as a mixing device. He would process lots of the channels through different effects, his favourite tool of the time being the Yamaha SPX90. Jean-Marc: “After a few hours of hard work and many, many laughs, we came up with a track that was ready for vocals. As usual, Bruce would open a carnet with bits and pieces of scribbling he had done and we were going through them. He wanted to tell a story about pollution, any kind of pollution, be it in the air or in the news or in human relationships, so it was very large. That is one part of the lyrics: the serious content embedded in a humorous song. The other part is, well, Susanna Stammer, Bruce’s alter ego and somehow the representation of a groupie going awol.”

Susanna was with the band since “Deep Down South”, it was the perfect Californian blonde in love with a bleek-and-far-too-serious electronic band. Jean-Marc: “She was dear to us and somehow fighting patriarchy and male clichés as much as showing how vain being in a band can be. Let’s not forget The Weathermen did came along a little bit because we found the electronic bands of the time so fucking grey and whining. She would also be our reality check meter, balancing our ideas and how we implemented them in the songs. Here, she found her way into the lyrics and into the track as she would appear as a pitched-up Bruce, switched on and off as explained below.”

As usual the band were trying to have a laugh and Susanna would in this song take the upper hand, making them look miserable and herself like a goddess-like creature that would go after the band members, after the drummer, after all the myths of being in a band, the groupies, etc.. Jean-Marc: “So, there you are: a very serious political stab at everything toxic in our life watered down by the story of Susanna. Finding the right vocal melody however wasn’t going to be easy, but eventually Bruce found something pleasing all of us. Now, you have to remember this was 1987 and Ludo had only an eight track tape machine and we had such need for all the effects that we had to “rehearse” all the mixes as all the effects had to be played “live” and be injected in the song in real time. It took us a long day to be able to coordinate it all and make no mistakes as the three of us were on the desk, switching channels on and off, going through the SPX90 as we prepared them. Ludo exercised more of his magic touch and there we were: on the second evening (I never work at night), “Poison” was on the tape.”

The release

Jean-Marc: “I recall going up to Kenny the day after and all excited I gave him the final tape. It was released a few weeks later and immediately rocketed up: people loved it, PIAS’ salesmen loved it, we loved it and there you go it started to sell real solid. It actually was doing so well that Kenny wanted it to be remixed, something I never liked, but we were ok with it. Finally, three 12″ came out, the original version, one version I remixed with Ludo and the Snap remix (Ancilloti remix).”

And this is the story of Poison, the song that walked by itself. The 8-track tape itself was lost and never to be found again.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Out via Wool-E Discs is the brand new album by Jean-Marc Lederman: “The Space Between Worlds Label”. This 14-track album is available now straight from Wool-E Discs as a nicely layouted box and is subject wise loosely based on a strange event Lederman experienced at the Wimbledon Common, back in the early 80’s, and no, it’s not his attempt to join Roxy Music.

Jean-Marc Lederman: “While I was relaxing, laying on the grass, I could hear a bird singing on my left, and another bird replying on the right. I somehow concentrated on that. After a few seconds, the “stereo signal” seemed to rush to the center, becoming one signal, and suddenly I heard a gigantic noise, like the world was opening and ready to plunge into something very different. It scared me and I forced myself to ‘wake up’. It was probably only self hypnosis but it still made quite an impression on me. This album kinda mimics that experience by offering hard, abrasive sounds alternating with lighter moments. See it as a kind of experiment where the listener bounces from heavy soundscapes to light repetitive ambiances.”

If you want to know what this experience resulted in sonically, then check out the album trailer below!

Jean-Marc Lederman has worked with numerous bands including Fad Gadget, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen, Belgian rock band Streets, and Front 242, and with other artists including Julianne Regan, Jacques Duvall and Alain Bashung.

For more on Jean-Marc Lederman, see 10 tips and composing advice from Jean-Marc Lederman (Lederman / De… on Side-Line.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Belgian keyboard player, producer and EBM pioneer Jean-Marc Lederman has revealed an interesting story earlier today on his Facebook page from the time he was living in London back in the early 80s.

Here’s what happened: “It’s a funny little story… which i share 1% for ego massage and 99% because it’s a fun story. Back in the days, I passed an audition to get in Roxy Music. It was around the time they had recorded Avalon. I went down to Phil Manzanera’s studio where I had a rendez-vous with the engineer in charge of scrutinising the candidates. After a few minutes talking with him, his reply still has me laughing decades later: ‘The last thing Bryan Ferry wants is another Eno in the band.'”

After that the young Lederman (on the left a picture from that era) went on to play with The The and Gene Loves Jezebel. During his entire career he would work with numerous bands, including Fad Gadget, The Weathermen, Belgian rock band Streets, and Front 242 to name just a few. Roxy Music from its side was dissolved in 1983 by Bryan Ferry and the band members devoted themselves full-time to solo careers.

But who knows how the band could have sounded if that EBM guy from Brussels had been part of it…

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Aidan Casserly (Empire State Human & KuBO) has just released an album called “Spoken”, which contains 15 new poems of Aidan’s, spoken by several artists, which Aidan then put to electronic/organic music backing.

Among those featured are Martin Bowes (Attrition), Monica Brito (poet, artist), Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Fad Gadget), Maggie K. DeMonde (Scarlet Fantastic), Kriistal Ann (Paradox Obscur), Brian O’Malley (director of “Let Us Prey”, starring Liam Cunningham from “Game of Thrones”), Caesar Gergess (jazz singer and member of Billie Ray Martin’s live band), Clayton Littlewood (writer of “Dirty White Boy” & “Goodbye to Soho”), Ginnie Watson (actor) and Ruby Lorcan (model).

Aidan Casserly says: “Working in such a unique area and with such a diverse group of friends really brought something fresh to my working method. Having to create, to a voice only, was a wonderful opportunity to serve the words only, as opposed to a vocal melody and chord, song structure. I am deeply passionate about the written word, and discovering ways of making something beautiful with them. I hope I did justice to each amazing artist and friend of mine, who gave of the time, talent and expression. I will be forever in their debt”

You can preview the release right below and order your copy right here on iTunes.

The album was mastered by Martin Bowes at The Cage, with artwork by Monica Brito.

For more on Jean-Marc Lederman, see Brand new album by Jean-Marc Lederman available now on Side-Line.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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In July we announced that Ghost & Writer (the project by Frank M. Spinath from Seabound / Edge Of Dawn and Jean-Marc Lederman from The Weathermen) would make their live debut with selected dates in 2016.

During the selected dates in Europe the band will play both albums and also new material.

Here’s a preview of the background video which they will use.

The duo so far released 2 – excellent – albums (available here for ordering): “Shipwrecks” in 2011 and “Red Flags” in 2013 via Dependent Records (Europe) and Metropolis (USA). Ghost & Writer is currently working on a new album due to be released in the near future.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Ghost & Writer, the band created by Frank Spinath (Seabound) and Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen) will play a very rare gig at Fort II Wommelgem (Antwerp/Belgium) this Saturday August 13th 2016, with True Zebra as support.

For the occasion, an exclusive and strictly limited CD, “Girls Rejected”, will be on sale at the merch stand: an eight tracks CDR with various collaborations. You’ll find collaborations with Edward Ka-Spel from The Legendary Pink Dots who sings “on Never Take Fire”; Miss FD who remixes and sings on “Quit” plus you’ll get an unreleased rarity, some remixes (“Never take Fire” remixed by Mark B from Decay Inc) and a couple of demos, all mastered by Krischan from Rotersand.

An exclusive Ghost & Writer t-shirt will also be available at the merch table. See you in Antwerp !

Below is the sleeve of the strictly limited CD:

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

Read the review of ‘Still Believe’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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A long long time ago, there was this ridiculous – but hugely popular – TV-series called “Baywatch”. Baywatch was an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff (as the character Mitch Buchannon) and the cute Pamela Anderson (as C. J. Parker).

Although the show was canceled after its first season on NBC, it survived and later became one of the most watched television shows in the world. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, from 1999 to 2001 it continued with a setting change and large cast overhaul, and was known as “Baywatch Hawaii”.

But did you know that a track by The Weathermen was used during the “Ironman Buchannon” episode in 1993? The track was called “You Want It All” and was taken from the 1992 album “Global 851”. You can watch a video below mixing images from the series with the track.

The Weathermen consisted of the late Bruce Geduldig (aka Chuck B) together with producer Jean-Marc Lederman (aka Jimmy-Joe Snark III). It was Jean-Marc who actually reminded Side-Line of this ‘did-you-know’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Very sad news reached us via Jean-Marc Lederman. Bruce Geduldig (aka Chuck B), singer of the Americano-Belgian cult act The Weathermen together with producer Jean-Marc Lederman (aka Jimmy-Joe Snark III), passed away in his Sacramento house on March7th, his 63rd birthday. Bruce, is the one on the left on the 1989 promo picture you can see above.

Apart from being known as the singer of The Weathermen, he was also a member of the San Francisco atc Tuxedomoon. Says an emotional Jean-Marc to Side-Line: “He’ll be remembered as a great fun guy, witty, clever, astute and very sharp. A swimmer too, he loved swimming. Godspeed Bruce.”

After The Weathermen were signed to Play It Again Sam (PIAS) Records the band recruited the assistance of Tuxedomoon’s visual specialist Bruce Geduldig who adopted the alias of Chuck B, a debauched playboy vocalist. He brought even more humour and satire to the already amused Weathermen. Later on the group slimmed down to Chuck B and Jimmy-Joe Snark III.

Singer and lyricist of The Weathermen, Geduldig penned the classic industrial songs “Poison”, “Bang” and “Punishment Park” which you can listen to below. For the non-dutch speaking readers, ‘geduldig’ stands for ‘patiently’. Which may also be the best description for this great artist.

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

Read the reviews of ‘Re-Design’ and ‘Re-Design / Spacious Edition’.

Side-Line also covered Metroland’s ‘Things Will Never Sound The Same Again’.

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

Read the review of ‘Happy Valentine’.

For more on Eurorock, see Lovelorn Dolls release complete liveset at Eurorock 2015 on YouTube on Side-Line.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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