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

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl, Cassette.

Background/Info: Dirk Ivens (Dive, Klinik, Sonar, Motor!k ao) and Eric Van Wonterghem (Monolith, Sonar, Insekt ao) have known each other for quite a long time and began making music together in 1980 as Absolute Body Control. The Belgian band hasn’t released that much new stuff in quite a long time, but are now back on track unleashing six new tracks, which have been released in different formats by different labels.

Content: “Waving Goodbye” is the opening track, which reminds me of the early years and probably the biggest hit of the duo, “Is There An Exit?”. There’s a similar icy sphere and vintage sound treatments with Ivens’ very own timbre of voice on top. This is Electro-Wave from the good-old days and both artists perfectly know how to bring this unique atmosphere alive. The songs are short, dark and evasive, but sometimes also pretty Experimental. There also is a short instrumental cut.

+ + + : Absolute Body Control takes us back in time, like bringing the 80s back to life and no one else but Absolute Body Control knows how to emulate this unique sphere. The typical sound of the good-old rhythm box and cold strings are pure 80s like. The main strength of the production hides in its simplicity. “Waving Goodbye” is a really great song, but I also have to mention “Earth Takes A Break”.

– – – : Some of the tracks are more Experimental and aren’t exactly my favorites. If you buy the vinyl you’ll hear a great A side and 3 less convincing cuts on the B side.

Conclusion: It’s good to see Absolute Body Control striking back with their pure retro driven Minimal-Electro-Wave style.

Best songs: “Waving Goodbye”, “Earth Takes A Break”, “Empty Cities”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/AbsoluteBodyControl

Labels: www.facebook.com/Wool.E.Tapes / www.mecanica-records.com / www.facebook.com/mecanicarecords / www.noisedemocracyrecords.com / www.facebook.com/NoiseDemocracyRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

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Genre/Influences: Experimental, industrial, abstract-electronics.

Background/Info: Daniel Bressanutti aka Daniel B. is a kind of living legend from the electronic scene. We of course all know him as one of the Front 242 core members, but we sometimes forget before he set up the EBM cult-act he was experimenting with electronics as Prothèse. Since a few couple of years the early project has been reactivated and several productions saw the light of day. This new opus is available in different formats; vinyl, CD and limited DCD box while Wool-E Tapes released a limited cassette format.

Content: The early work of Daniel B. as Prothèse was really experimental and even into noises. The approach behind this new cryptic title hasn’t really changed, but the tracks became more accessible. The artist clearly experiments with noises, turning the knobs, filtering bleeps, adding tons of effects and adding some rhythmics. The sound treatments are pretty dark and industrial-like. But a few cuts also reveal a mysterious atmosphere while other passages reveal some EBM sequences.

+ + + : Prothèse has been never that accessible although it remains an extreme sonic travel. The main characteristic and strength of the album remain the impressive sound production resulting in overwhelming sound layers and heavy, blasting tones. It sounds a bit like improvisation; there’s no real structure and yet it sounds cohesive. I was impressed by some bass lines (sometimes on the edge of EBM), the dark atmospheric layers, the industrial noises and the cadence, which makes this sonic mayhem more accessible. The bonus disc featuring 8 extra cuts is absolutely essential as the best cuts of the album are right there.

– – – : Even if Prothèse has been never that accessible it however remains an extreme electronic creation, which will not necessarily please the Front 242-fans. This is something completely different and probably revealing a more personal side of Daniel B.

Conclusion: Prothèse sounds a bit like the secret laboratory of sonic alchemist Daniel B. He decomposed and recomposed sounds and noises having accomplished one of his major works under the Prothèse moniker.

Best songs: “9Blakskull9”, “Elec+rOharmonie<>Kraf+”, “EchOlO+ung 3”, “EchOlO+ung 2”, “EchOlO+ung 1<>PhaseEin”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/DanielBProthese-498107323916078

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

For Record Store Day on 22 April the Wool-E tapes shop (Emiel Lossystraat 17, 9040 Gent) will release the 4th instalment of the exclusive Music For Muted TV series curated by Daniel B. of Front 242.

4 years after part one, the 10″ vinyl “MFMTV1”, part four will once again be a Record Store Day release, partly exclusively available at Wool-E Shop.For this special release Daniel B. reworked 4 songs from the new upcoming Nothing But Noise cd (20 May, Wool-E Discs) under his pseudonym Prothese. 160 Pieces were made from this tape, 60 distributed by the band to members of the Nothing But Noise mailing list, 100 will be set for sale to the public (50 online, 50 exclusively at Wool-E Shop) in four different colours on 22 April.

The 50 online tapes are clear prison tapes with yellow hubs, the 50 Wool-E Shop tapes are green, red and orange and will be distributed at random to the customers. There’s only one catch: both online and in the shop only one tape per customer and no putting on the side. The sales of both online and shop stock starts at noon when the shop doors open.

The shop will be open from 12:00 till 19:00 with the following activities taking place for this occasion:

• 14:00 Onsturicheit (one man psychedelic band, releasegig of the second Wool-E tape)
• 15:30 The Arch (legendary postpunk/EBM/goth band from Breendonk, putting the spotlight on their latest cd “Fates” released last year)
• 17:00 The Breath Of Life (even more legendary Walloon goth band with a heavenly voiced singer, who will present their new upcoming cd “Under The Falling Stars”, a coproduction with Wool-E Discs.

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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Genre/Influences: Soundscape, abstract, experimental.

Background/Info: This album is something really unique. It’s a split album between recognized and established dark-ambient, tribal and experimental artist Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe (aka Sal-Ocin) better known as Empusae and Klankdal, which is another Belgian formation consisting of Glenn Dick and Sebastien Crusener. It also is a collaboration between Belgian labels Consouling Sounds and Wool-E Disc. We already know Wool-E Tapes (cassette label), but this is the debut CD of Wool-E Discs. The common element between artists and labels is that they’re all from Ghent. This album got officially presented during the opening day of a big annual town festival that happens in Ghent.

Content: Empusae has been featured with 3 tracks revealing a kind of soundscape approach composed by evasive guitar playing and a few percussion parts. A few sounds have been used, but it creates an anguishing and somewhat paranoid atmosphere with some drones resonating in the background. Sal-Ocin also invites the listener to join in for a Halloween-like trip created by piano playing and progressively joined by somewhat industrial-dubby rhythms.

Klankdal is definitely more experimental and into the purest soundscape genre. Their composed a single piece (that was recorded live) that will hold you in its grip for nearly 30 minutes. It’s pretty abstract and accomplished by numerous field recordings. The sound remains dark and is supported with an ominous atmosphere.

+ + + : I like the concept of this release featuring people from the same town. It also is an opportunity to discover the rather unknown Klankdal (which previously released a cassette on Wool-E Tapes) while Empusae takes his fans by surprise unleashing a quite diversified piece of music. I especially like the last cut “The Woods Have Eyes” driven by a great cadence and a mysterious piano playing.

– – – : This is definitely not the best work I’ve heard from Empusae while this single cut of Klankdal is not exactly setting the world on fire.

Conclusion: You probably will be intrigued to discover new work by Empusae, which will also give you the opportunity to discover a new band from the Belgian experimental music fields.

Best songs: “The Woods Have Eyes”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.empusae.com / www.facebook.com/empusaemusic

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

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

Front 242’s Daniel B. has released material he recorded in the period 2006-2010 under his Prothese moniker on tape, via Wool-E Tapes. The album, “MusicForMutedTV 3”, is limited to just 111 copies, which makes it a really hard to get item.

You can listen below! Note that more Prothese news is in the making, this time via Alfa Matrix.

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 right now is the Psyche/Luminance collaborative single “Left Out / Passenger Seat”. The single is being released as a 7″ vinyl single in 2 colours. The Brussels-based Luminance already has several cassette releases on Wool-E Tapes, as well as an 7″ on the Weyrd Son label, plus they recently announced an upcoming release on Die Blinden Records.

The two tracks on this limited 7″ vinyl are written and produced by Luminance, and Darrin Huss from Psyche provides lyric and vocal contributions. The A Side “Left Out” is a hybrid between classic Belgian EBM and dance floor Electro while the B Side “Passenger Seat” adds some Italo-Disco blood to the whole.

100 copies are available now on kinda oozy green, 233 copies on less oozy grey.

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