Out via VUZ Records is “Words Sword Words”, a book about the Belgian electro band Parade Ground. The English written book counts 336 pages filled with more than 300 rare and unseen pictures, concerts posters, memorabilia, complete lyrics, biographical text and liner notes.

It comes printed on heavy, glossy, 135g artpaper, full color, hardcover with soft touch finish, thread stitching and bookmark. Measuring 17 cm x 24 cm in size, it weighs a little more than 1 kilogram. The book comes with a free CD (“Orange Et Labora”) with unreleased rehearsal tracks from the Rosary era.

Published by VUZ Records, the book was written by the band themselves.

Parade Ground says this about this publication: “And now the book , an autobiography. 1981, the hidden life of the band Parade Ground. The cursed brothers of the scene. 42 years, more than 2000 concerts. Pierre and Jean-Marc Pauly speak to you: overwhelming. A dive into an era, a thousand encounters, never had a band witnessed so closely, so intimately, the process of creation and the rise of another band: Front 242. A style like scalpel blows. One doesn’t ask a corpse what it is doing in its coffin. End so on. You will never be able to forget them again.”

You can order your copy now via VUZ Records.

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 VUZ Records and Bastets Kittens is the all new Inception in Black EP, “Voyeur”. On the 4-track EP you’ll find remixes by the Finish band Kraut-Tamer TimV, the Belgian act Radiolegend JL Marchal and the French avantgarde artist Julien Ash.

Inception In Black are an avant-garde synth pop duo (Black Marine (Serbia) and Morgan King (UK)) who formed in 2020 after an experimental concert in Vienna from which they found a shared musical common ground. Their music is a mix of sound arching from classical-synth-avant garde-dance with a pop sensibility. Besides being members of the Lene Lovich Band, they are both busy with their solo-projects.

Besides the download version there is also a limited edition of 50 copies on 3″ CD-R (white print on black paper cover).

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

“Into The Light” is the second single of Symphonic Noise Cult’s forthcoming (Summer 2023) debut album “Behind the Curtain” and is out on the Duisburg based record label VUZ Records.

Behind this melancholic dark pop band we find Winus Rilinger (The Eternal Afflict, Sara Noxx, Inside (TEA & Psyche), Form Follows Function, Stücker & Benecke and Neue Jugend), Scott Mick (Panic Or Pain, Theatre Of Shock Therapy, Dark State) and pianist and soundtrack composer Ulrich A. Beutgen.

Besides the album version the 6-track single contains remixes by Rodney Orpheus (Cassandra Complex), Tim V. (Shade Factory, Two Witches) and JL Marchal (I Love 80ies), a special “The Eternal Afflict” mix plus the non-album track “Dreaming”.

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

Duisburg-based label VUZ Records and the dark pop act Symphonic Noise Cult present “My Figment”, the first single from Symphonic Noise Cult’s debut album “Behind the Curtain”. The group comprises Winus Rilinger, Scott Mick, and Ulrich A. Beutgen.

Winus Rilinger, the primary instrumentalist and producer, is a well-known figure in Germany’s dark wave scene. His credits include being a member or producing acts such as The Eternal Afflict, Sara Noxx, Inside (TEA & Psyche), Form Follows Function, Stücker & Benecke, and Neue Jugend. Scott Mick, lead vocalist and songwriter, was already active in the USA with his band Panic Or Pain when he visited Germany with his project Theatre Of Shock Therapy. After permanently relocating to Germany, he co-founded Symphonic Noise Cult and Dark State. Ulrich A. Beutgen, a pianist and soundtrack composer (Industrie-Ikonen), completes the band and adds an additional layer to Symphonic Noise Cult’s music.

The band describes “My Figment” as a story of deception and disappointment, highlighting the bewilderment caused by new technology and providing a subtle look at the dangers of fakes and A.I. in the media. “Look twice and trust nobody,” they advise.

In addition to the album version and an extended mix, the single features remixes by Julien Ash (Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites), Morgan King (Lene Lovich Band, Inception In Black), and Eihwar, as well as the non-album track “The Beast Inside”.

“My Figment” is available for download, followed in May by the second digital single “Into The Light” and the album (CD) “Behind the Curtain” in the summer.

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

In 2011 Gitane DeMone, together with her tour management, released a very limited CD-R compilation with unreleased demo tracks for her tour in Europe.

It was sold at concerts of this tour only and thus quickly became sold out. On the disc you would find otherwise unavailable tracks including demos of songs that saw the light in different versions on regular releases, including one track written by the late Rozz Williams.

Bastet Recordings (a sublabel of VUZ Records) in collaboration with Mother Dance have now re-released a really limited edition of “Gitane DeMone – Autumn Tour 2011” on CD-r which you can order here.

While using the original cover prints, the CDR label looks different to distinguish it from the original. The release is exclusive for Europe and will not to sold outside of Europe.

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 VUZ Records and Maneki Neko Tapes is “Dissolve Plus” by Portion Control. As you might remember, Portion Control released the “Dissolve” CD-Rom in 2004. This was a special release as it was a software that, 66 days after its installation, simply stopped working.

With the release of “Dissolve Plus”, these tracks are finally available again on CD, cassette (with a different track order) and as download.

Also added are some tracks from various releases, all out of print for quite some time, namely from the split CD-R “Solar Enemy vs. Portion Control”, the “Belgian Independent Music Compilation 3” CD, the “Stansted” EPCD and the download release “Continued Violence Download”. All in all 21 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

Out via Maneki Neko Tapes, a sub-label of VUZ Records, are two limited edition live tapes from Psyche, “Live at Belvedere Hall 1983” and “Live at Bar Centre​-​Ville, Montréal 1986”. Limited to 50 copies each these releases capture two early concerts of the Canadian dark synthpop act.

“Live at Belvedere Hall 1983” is the first recorded concert of the duo, including also some covers and an early version of “The Brain Collapses”. The tape is rounded off with 5 demo tracks. Experience the
early raw synth beginnings!

“Live at Bar Centre​-​Ville, Montréal 1986” showcases their early repertoire in a more worked out shape with tracks like “Thundershowers”, “Prisoner To Desire” and “The Brain Collapses”. The two bonus tracks from 1987 were recorded at L’Heure Bleue in Avigny, France. The cover photo is from this location as there are no pictures from Bar Centre-Ville.

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

2021 marks the 40th anniversary of Belgium’s pioneering electro act Parade Ground. This should have been celebrated with a string of concerts and festival appearences but of course fate had other plans.

Instead of playing live the band and its label VUZ Records planned the re-release of their long lost second album fort the first time on CD: “The 15th Floor”.

“The 15th Floor” was recorded in 1989 after their groundbreaking debut album (which was preceded by a string of well received 12″ releases). But this 2nd album got shelved and only a few tracks of these recordings showed up, until 2012 when the main album “The 15th Floor” was finally released on vinyl. In the same year “A Room With
A View” was released (on vinyl, tape and CD), which contained 4 tracks from these sessions not included on the “The 15th Floor” vinyl.

With the release of the “The 15th Floor” CD finally all tracks from these recordings are available on CD (most for the first time), including one unreleased mix of “A Day At The Park”. All tracks have been re-mastered
for 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

Genre/Influences: EBM, wave-pop.

Background/Info: Belgian brothers Jean-Marc and Pierre Pauly are back on track releasing their first live album ever. The tracklist features a fine selection of some ‘classical’ songs plus 5 new songs taken from their upcoming new album. The songs have been reworked with the help of good-old mate Patrick Codenys (Front 242, Under Viewer, Male Or Female) and were recorded during a gig in Frankfurt (Germany).

Content: “Life” is exactly what you might expect from a live performance; a mix of hits and new material. You don’t really feel there’s an important hiatus of time between some classical songs and the new ones. Parade Ground still has this good-old EBM and wave-pop influence, which together with the timbre of voice, make the particularity of the band.

+ + + : A live album remains an item for the die-hard fans, but it also is an opportunity to get an idea about the spirit a band can create on stage. That’s an aspect that comes through at this work where you’ll notice the interaction between the band and the audience. It also is an opportunity to (re)discover the retro style of Parade Ground characterized by the typical string parts and the EBM touch. Classical songs/hits such as “Gold Rush” and “Strange World”. Among the new songs I especially recommend “Stand”, which appears to be one of the band’s hardest songs ever.

– – – : I’m still convinced there could be more passion in the vocals.

Conclusion: Parade Ground is part of the early EBM story, but the band is still active, creative and successful today.

Best songs: “Stand”, “Gold Rush”, “Strange World”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.parade–ground.net / www.facebook.com/Parade–Ground-128962277159973

Labels: http://vuzrecords.de / www.facebook.com/VuzRecords / www.othervoicesrecords.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Other–Voices–Records/196767663702999 Read the news on ‘Life’.

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

Kneel In Front Of The Hangman, later on renamed into Kneel In Front Of The Executioner is already active since 1993. Set up by K-head (music) and mirColon (vocals) the Slovakian duo rapidly caught the attention of the international EBM community. After self-released albums, 2 albums released on Out Of Line and 2 more full lengths released on Vendetta Music, KIFOTH is back on track releasing “Extensive Report” on EK Product. That is what they’ve to say about it.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Can you remind us how K.I.F.O.T.H. saw the daylight and what have been your sources of inspiration?

K-head: It all happened on a hot Friday in the Summer of 1994 when the festival “Young Apollo” featured amateur bands. Two teenagers put on their Amigas doing their first live show. Some people couldn’t believe what they heard. But a few enthusiastic people started to dance on the last songs. Nevertheless, the show finished the fans wanted more songs. So after the official end of the festival at 10PM both guys again expand their system. Youthful blond mirColon began to sing the songs again as it was the first time. When they started the song “Ježiš Kristus” (Jesus Chirst), the lyrics start with ‘heaven is crying …’, the storm has been started.

mirColon: We launched the first recording tracks somewhere during Spring 1993. We were classmates. We had different ways to attract, amuse and express ourselves. Firstly, we talked about improvisation. After a time, the song arose spontaneously thoughtfully. At that moment some famous albums resonated in our minds: “Last Rights”, “Too Dark Park”, “Tactical Neural Implant”, “Caustic Grip”, “Tyranny For You”. We lived for concerts of local groups like The Dark, Morbid Fancy, Vanessa, Ocean. The philosophy of KIFOTH is not a mainstream one, but it is direct and very rough. Therefore the choice of the EBM style sat very properly.

Q: There’s a hiatus of 7 years between your previous album (cf. “Violence Corporation”) and the new work “Extensive Report”. What happened in the meantime and what does this new album mean to you?

K-head: We’d to go through different phases during that break. The last album was released in 2010 and the next 2 years we played mainly live gigs, however in parallel more changes started to happen in our private lives and we both became fathers. mirColon moved from Slovakia to Czech Republic, where his leaving now. As we are not a professional band, you can imagine what happened; work, family, concerts… there was not so much time for a creative process. That was the first phase.

At 2012 started the next phase, the creative one. We composed 8 tracks from the new album until the end of 2013. The 3 tracks left were achieved in 2014 and then all material landed in the shelf for one year. Even if the style remains the same, the new tracks had far different sound from previous work and we got the idea to rework old tracks to make them fit for the next live shows.

KIFOTH played several gigs in 2015 to test how the new set list works. It worked perfect and to be honest with you during that time we also recorded material for an entire live CD, which we plan to release after “Extensive Report” as there are included tracks from that album. At 2015 we added some new layers to the tracks to get a more common sound and recorded the vocals as well. Honestly, we struggled with the final mix during an entire year because each of us had a different idea about the mixing. Once we finally finished our work our label had stopped their activities. Luckily for us we have very good friends who put us in touch with EK Product, which is a very flexible label. So, the new alum has been released on March 3rd 2017.

Q: “Extensive Report” sounds to me as your post accomplished and sophisticated work to date. Tell us a bit more about the composition of the album and how do you see this work in the long career of K.I.F.O.T.H.?

K-head: This is the album on, which I put the most efforts in production and mixing. Maybe that’s why it took so much time to get released. It’s something special to me as l had the complete sound in my head since the first day I composed the first song “Proxy War”. I had a clear image about the mood and sound of the album.

mirColon: “Extensive Report“ is clearly a shifting; desired shift. I’m talking about shifts in our sound bank. Developments in sound engineering, recording, mixing and working together. Similarly, the shift in the main concept of the album. “Extensive Report” is a call to use new methods of writing, designs, programming. The album is written in journalistic style and with a view to processing the summary report on the state of the world. It deals with the topic of overpopulation of the planet, depletion of resources necessary for our civilization. The album tells the story of manipulation, coercion, enslavement, but also the mad devastation of the planet Earth.

And back to the previous question. What means to me this album? Today, it is satisfaction. Feedback from fans, reviewers, professionals in the industry proclaims that this step didn’t work sick at the same time, it’s not a step towards the mainstream. I am happy to get notes from fans telling “I was expecting this …”. I am satisfied that there is a debate of the songs and I am pleased that despite 7 years processing of the topic, the subjects are recorded to date.

Q: I’ve been impressed by all synths and equipment you’ve collected over the years. Tell us a bit more your studio, favorite gear and global production of your work?

K-head: To be honest with you I like to buy just a few synths to get a good sound especially for the bass & strings and now I realized I got 22 synths! Bob from Samhain is currently abroad, so he brought over some equipment to my studio. We have currently around 50 PCs, so it all looks like we became collectors. On one side it’s nice to have such a variety of sounds, but on the other hand it’s disturbing in creativity. Many times when I’m in the studio I’m spending just 1-2 hours to play with sounds. It’s lot of time. I’m not composing on piano, but I just need some interesting sounds which can inspire me. Next comes a melody line and I’m already thinking about arrangements. I’m often spending a few hours to create just a loop, but sometimes when I get a good sound I can compose an entire song just in 2 days.

Usually before we release an album I create around 50 short tracks from 2-3 minutes, but in the end the album will maybe feature 12 songs from the list. I previously made more music on computer, except for “Fundamentum Divisionis“. Now all samples are made on hardware synths and I use Cubase just as sequencer.

About favorite gear I have some typical patterns, which are probably used by other musicians dealing with EBM. I like the Moog, Virus B and Nordlead for the bass lines and Yamaha, Roland plus some VST to be more complex for the strings. Aggressive synth leads are mainly taken form Waldorf or DSI and of course drums are from any gear supported with samples. To put a bit of old-school elements it’s cool to use Proteus or Ensoniq and than mixing and layering. For analogue sound effects, which I’m doing all live, there is no real programming, but just recording by turning knobs from the MS20 though Moog and Waldorf up to Novation. On the new album 16 different synths were used and some VST’s, what need a lot of effort in mixing to get a consistent sound.

Q: You’ve worked with multiple labels (VUZ Records, Out Of Line, Vendetta Music and now EK Product) so what have been your experiences so far and what do you expect from a label?

mirColon: I would take the opportunity to thank them all to have ever got the chance to get in touch with all those great label owners. I highly appreciate all of their efforts. KIFOTH is not the band in search of a full time activity (I mean we are not professional musicians). So far, we maybe have disappointed some labels, but our experiences remain positive. Fact is that KIFOTH and the label both are one team. We support each other, we spend and share energy, we love and hate as well.

About expectations: cooperation is important, positive influences, the music is made by KIFOTH, design by the team, marketing by the label; the will to make it next time different but better.

Q: A last word about the side-projects you’ve been involved to. Is there anything new in the pipeline and what will be the next steps for K.I.F.O.T.H.?

K-head: There are few: Eclipsed, Baphomet, Mindscape, but I have not that much time and I’m also doing some remix works for friends active in different groups while I’m also doing some technical support for The Dark which would like to publish some unreleased 90s tracks.

I can tell you Eclipsed, which I’m doing together with Solo  (Samhain, Last Influence Of Brain) is planning an album for next year.

I hope Baphomet will finally release some material later on this year, but I first have to see if one other member will join in; I can’t say who right now, but it will be announced soon.

For Mindscape (has been never released, but played many times live) which I’m doing together with Bop and Solo, we have tons of sessions recorded, but no idea how to use it now. We don’t know if we would just release a kind of ‘archive’ or mixing new ideas.

We plan to do a short live tour in Autumn with KIFOTH and maybe also a few gigs in Spring 2018. Then we will work on the next album. I already have some ideas in mind. It will be for sure different than “Extensive Report”; at least I will try to make as much sound design as possible.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com