Genre/Influences: IDM, Minimal-Electro, Industrial, Ambient-Electro, Experimental.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Twenty seven tracks to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the French label M-Tronic. As the title indicates, it also is the fifth volume in the Compilation series “Table Of Elements” which started in 2004 with ten tracks.

Artists: C.H.District, Cathode Ray Tube, Alpturer, Amantra, An Hedonia, Plaster, Mono Peninsula, Valance Drakes, Nearfield, Syl Kougaï, Tineidae + Comforting Darkness, EKS Center, DEF, Obscure Formats, Snowbeasts, Martin Dupont & Philippe Petit, Xorcist, Flint Glass, Ermanspeed, Shizuka, Leitmotiv Rainbow, Lith, Cruise [ctrl], NSP.

Content: The impressive tracklist perfectly stands for the particular and minimal-driven sound of the M-Tronic roster. It’s an avant-garde vision of the Electronic underground scene featuring an intelligent, sophisticated and complex approach of Electronic music. Most bands are familiar names from the label roster although you’ll discover other bands as well.

+ + + : M-Tronic is a label I’ve always respected for its visionary approach. Electronic music is much more than artists repeating each other and music genres without innovation. M-Tronic brings visionary music and always have dared to sign unknown bands with an intelligent sound. But intelligent music often stands for a rather restricted number of fans. I however remain an adherent of this label and this compilation simply confirms the good taste of the French label. And when you realize the label also released albums of bands like Millimetric, Mlada Fronta, Ex_Tension, Displacer, Geomatic ao, which aren’t featured on this compilation, you only, but have to agree this label stands for high tech productions.

– – – : A few more explicit Experimental passages aren’t my favorites one, but you don’t hear me to complaining.

Conclusion: Electronic music with an uppercase E!

Best bands: Tineidae + Comforting Darkness, Ermanspeed, S.H.I.Z.U.K.A., Lith, C.H. District, Leitmotiv Rainbow.

Rate: 8½.

Label: www.m-tronic.com / www.facebook.com/mtroniclabel

About M-Tronic

M-Tronic is a Paris-based electronic label active since July 2001. Its catalogue numbers follow the periodic table of elements, which is also where the “Table Of Elements” compilation series takes its name.

“Table Of Elements Volume 5.0” was released on 16 March 2021 to mark the label’s twentieth anniversary. The Bandcamp listing describes it as a 25-track compilation running more than 145 minutes, while the review above counts twenty seven tracks. Cover photography is credited to N.S.P. and the design to Element.

The label roster represented here includes Lith and Tineidae. The first of those gave Side-Line an interview in June 2022, published as the Click Interview with Lith.

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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The first band who officially released its album on the legendary 21st Circuitry Records is back. Xorcist has just released the album “God”, blending ‘new world sounds and compositions with hard hitting electronics‘.

Composed of Bat, aka Peter Stone, Xorcist became a forerunner in the electro-goth circuit throughout the ’80s and ’90s (especially through the use of the Waldorf PPG Waveterm-A sound systems), releasing six albums and a handful of singles between 1991 and 1999. He was eventually joined by Evoltwin.8, who also provided cover art for several releases. Notorious was the band’s mix of various industrial and goth rock threads.

Bat also delved into a side project called Xenon and went on to have some of his material sampled in several films and multimedia productions, most notably working production on MTV’s Aeon Flux and the CD-ROM games. Xorcist was signed to Metropolis as of early 2000.

Check out the new album 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!

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