The Belgian dark pop act Psy’Aviah is now closing the “Bittersweet” album chapter in beauty with a collaboration with Tina Forlorn of Sorrow Stories. The new EP is called “Healing”, is available now in an exclusive format on Bandcamp and is one of the most representative songs from the band’s conceptual album “Bittersweet “.

For the occasion of this new EP release, both Yves Schelpe and Tina Forlorn recorded together an exclusive bonus song: “Heaven Is Not Enough”.

Yves Schelpe explains: “‘Heaven Is Not Enough’ mixes metaphorical lyrics, sorrowful atmospheres with more upbeat dark electronics. In the song we played with double meanings and questioning whether dreaming of death to feel alive makes any sense when ‘Heaven is not enough’ and might be your new Hell… a sort of beginning of the finale in a place where there is no conclusion because you need to recreate yourself altogether.”

On the new 15-track strong EP we find remixes from such bands as Aesthetische, People Theatre, Aiboforcen, Eric C. Powell, Eva X, Natures Of Wires, Enemy Infestation, 13th Angel and 11Grams.

Note that the Bandcamp release includes an exclusive booklet with lyrics plus 2 bonus remixes by Lectreau (Passenger A from Metroland) and Dynalectric Orchestra.

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.

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Out now is an all new 8-track EO by the Belgian dark electro pop act Psy’Aviah. On this new EP Yves Schelpe has put his live vocalist (and partner in crime for the last few albums) Marieke Lightband in the spotlight.

“My Secret” was co-written with Lightband and describes the perception duality she herself experienced when she suffered from a burnout and where the girl she pretended to be in front of others had nothing to do with the “real her” in the bathroom mirror.

“We all have our secrets and there is always a point in time we need and want to share them,” she says.

The track is originally taken from the “Bittersweet” album. Besides the exclusive radio edit of the song, the EP features additional exclusive bonus remixes by Rob Dust, Entrzelle, Junksista, Digital Factor and Rool. The EP is at the moment exclusively available via Bandcamp with other platforms to follow in the next two weeks.

Check the official music video for “My Secrets”.

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As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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(Photo by Gwenny Cooman of GNY Photography) On the recent “Bittersweet” album, the Belgian act Psy’Aviah revisited two of their biggest hit songs: “Tired” and “Ok”. Alfa Matrix now releases a new video clip and extended EP for the classic Psy’Aviah track, “OK”.

Originally released back in 2011, the new 2022 version features new vocal melodies sung by Huong Su with additional guitars and carrying violins by Irina Markevich turning the song into a more triphop / indie pop tune.

Yves Schelpe explains the meaning behind the track: “‘Ok’ questions the depth of that social question we use at almost every human encounter asking mechanically ‘how are you?’, expecting ‘Ok’ as automatic answer without really paying attention nor trying to find out what truth really lurks behind this or considering being empathic… ‘Everything is going Ok’ being nothing but a window-dressing expression, some kind of emotional mask.”

The essence of the tongue-in-cheek message of this song was translated into a slow-motion video clip, the result of Yves Schelpe’s collaboration with actress Gwendolin Harissa Van Jole and Gwenny Cooman of GNY Photography.

On the EP you get the new version of “Ok” with no less than 12 bonus remixes from all kinds of music genres from industrial-electro to pure club trance, to synthpop & Italo-disco inspired versions, to ambient and even old school jungle breakbeats. “It is a reflection of listening to other influences as well – so it ties nicely into the narrative of “Ok” and listening further…” explains Yves Schelpe.

You can download the EP right now from Bandcamp with other platforms to follow in the next weeks.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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Taken from “Bittersweet”, the newest album by the Belgian dark pop act Psy’Aviah, is the “The Wildness In Me” EP which highlights the more up-tempo electric pop side of the Belgian band. For this track (and the more trip-pop oriented B-side “The Book Of Life”) Yves Schelpe collaborated with female singer Eli Rho.

On remix duties we find a very versatile number of of bands offering remixes, radio and extended versions but also instrumental edits by such artists as Miss Suicide, 13th Angel, Cyborgdrive, Restriction 9, Cubic, Karl Roque, Outpost 11, Studio-X and many more. A full booklet is included as well for those who download it from Bandcamp.

You can check out the full EP below on Bandcamp (with other platforms to follow later on next month).

And here is the video for the main 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.

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Genre/Influences:  Electro-Pop, Dance-Pop, Indie-Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: “Bittersweet” is the final part of a trilogy which started with the album “Lightflare” (2018) followed by “Soul Searching” (2019). But the work is also meant to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Belgian project. There’s a bonus disc featuring fifteen surprising songs while the digital version  reveals fourteen extra tracks.

Content: The working formula of Psy’Aviah hasn’t really changed. Yves Schelpe composes the music while working with an impressive list of guest singers. The opening piece again features cavernous, spoken vocals by Dutch psychiatrist Dirk De Wachter. It’s a dark, dreamy intro followed by twelve, mainly, danceable cuts. The songs are meticulously elaborated and mainly Dance-driven, sometimes reminding me of the magic of Delerium. Olivya Nicole, Mari Kattman, Saydi Driggers, Lumi, Huong Su, Maysa, Marieke Lightband, Tina Forlorn, Eli Rho (2 songs), Rebecca Schneider and Addie Nicole contributed guest vocals while there also guest artists featured playing violin and cello. Notice by the way the tracklist features 2 ‘older’ reworked songs.

The bonus disc features Psy’Aviah songs taken from the wide discography of the band which have been all reworked -and in a way covered by an impressive list of artists. Madil Hardis, The Breath Of Life, Clairval, Your Life On Hold, IC434 (2 songs), Digital Factor, Aesthetische, KC Woong, Implant and Leather Strip contributed to this celebration while you’ll also hear collaborative tracks with Implant, Cat Hall and Bow Ever Down.

The digital format reveals extra songs featuring 808 Dot.Pop, Impulse Control Disorder, Fakzillity, Llumen, Miseram Mortem, Designer Violence, Hartung & Schleinitz, Y-Luk-O, Cosmic Armchair, Huilende Wolf, The Breath Of Life and Leather Strip plus 2 collaborative cuts together with Leather Strip and Implant.

+ + + : The main strength of “Bitter Sweet” is its ‘easy listening’ format. Psy’Aviah is nearly impossible to label -although hardly driven by a very personal approach of Dance music, but simply following its path. The project has seriously evolved throughout the years and the sound often appears a true challenge. The composition is well-crafted, styled, sensual for the slow rhythms and here again reveals an interesting and diversified list of talented singers. “Can we Make It Rhyme ” featuring Mari Kattman is a great piece of music reminding me a bit of Delerium. And I also want to mention “Tired” which is an older song that has been reworked and features passionate vocals by Addie Nicole (Hallocene).

I also have to salute the original concept of the bonus disc (and bonus songs for the digital edit) where the artists totally reworked the older Psy’Aviah songs while putting their own voice on it. The result is diversified but I especially recommend both cuts by IC434 and the one by Your Life On Hold.

– – – : The main strength of Psy’Aviah also appears to be its biggest weakness; hard to label and sometimes dangerously moving to the edge of pure ‘commercial’ Dance music. That’s why I often wonder if this is the right scene and label for this project? The bonus songs are a pretty cool commemoration although I’m missing Emélie Nicolaï who was the singer of the band during the first decade.

Conclusion: Psy’Aviah remains a true challenge although we can’t be unmoved by the creativity, ideas, concept and sound intelligence of this artist.

Best songs: “Can we Make It Rhyme”, “Tired – Rediscovered”, “Cold Summer Nights”, “The Wildness In Me” + “Broken Child” (IC 434), “Anger Management” (IC 434), “Our Common End” (Your Life On Hold), “The Worst In Me” (Leather Strip), “Wild Ride” (Llumen).

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.psyaviah.com / www.facebook.com/psyaviah

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.

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Out now is Psy’aviah’s “Can We Make It Rhyme”, a 10-track EP featuring Mari Kattman on vocals. The release is right now available via Bandcamp exclusively.

“Can We Make It Rhyme” is taken from the band’s very recent “Bittersweet” album. As an exclusive B-side, Mari Kattman and Yves Schelpe chose to cover their Soft Cell favorite song “Monoculture”. This 10-track EP features remixes that offer a wide electronic spectrum, two trance dance-driven anthems by Omniks and Karl Roque, whilst the ‘retro club’ edit of “Monoculture” and the Assemblage 23 remix of “Can We Make It Rhyme” will be more for the synthpop dancefloor. The versions of 13th Angel and Jen Draven then again focus more on the song’s core soundpallet.

You can check out the full EP right below and download it from Bandcamp.

Yves Schelpe interviewed Mari Kattman for this release, you can read their conversation right below.

YS: ‘Can We Make It Rhyme’, can you tell your perspective on it when you had the demo and lyrics in your hands? And in what way did it convince you to say, yes I want to collaborate on this song?

MARI: I think the main thing that really made me want to participate in the track, was the meaning of the song that you provided to me. It’s always an honor to try and help make an artist’s vision come into focus, but even better when there is a great meaning behind the music. You also had a friend participating in the demo vocal reel and I loved his vocal style and the way he was reaching for the notes. It was a little different than I was used to but it really inspired me to want to take it to the next level, so I saw it as a challenge.

YS: I remember brainstorming about the music video for this one, and I thought, I need the emotions of Mari on screen for this one. Of course, budget wise, I can’t fly you over, or I can’t come to the US… But how do you feel the music video turned out with these ‘tritone’ colours? As it were your original recordings of yourself performing the song that triggered me making the music video in this colour a lot more, and make it moody, atmospherical, and leave it with an ‘open ending’…

MARI: I was really shocked that you were able to pull off an entire music video concept JUST from the red and blue lights I used to record my part. On top of having the lighting on hand, I thought maybe it was a cool analogy, red and blue together make one of the most beautiful colors of all. So “Can we make it rhyme” seemed like the blending of two different parts harmoniously. I think it was really clever that you moved my takes to the TV and smartphone shots. I also think its insanely cool that you could hire a company to make a music video that was so on point and beautifully shot. It seemed like a lot of planning and work so props to them and however many times they had to listen to the original track while filming.

YS: I knew you since the work of Day Twelve, which I even remixed for… I loved your voice instantly, and then I guess the first track we worked on was ‘Sacrifices’ and ‘Our Common End’. What are your memories on those, and what drew you in to collaborating with me on these tracks?

MARI: Honestly, back during that time, 2012 or so, I was just learning to record myself properly. In my surrounding area, I worked with a lot of musicians growing up who ended up finding other paths in life and abandoned their music projects. I was really having a dry spell finding committed people to work with. I knew I had to build myself on my own, with no help, which was really intimidating. So I started building this portfolio of work and just reaching out to people that I admired to see if they would be interested in working with me. I can’t remember how we connected. I was working with Aesthetische on a few tracks for their album Hybridcore and I think through the Alfa Matrix channels that’s how we started talking.

It was such a breath of fresh air to work with you on those songs and really feel what it’s like to work with other people who have committed their lives to their art and have a firm vision for the things they want to see culminate song by song. I never really had the privilege of that before in my life and I look back fondly on those times and being able to hear my voice placed in a space where it was valued and produced appropriately.

YS: You’ve been growing every year, collaborating with a lot of people – up to the point you were producing your own songs which I so love (e.g. the eat EP). Up to the point now that you are now signed on COP Int. – a huge deal, and something I was waiting for – when will she be signed somewhere as I love your productions! Can you tell us how that went, and how this feels for you?

MARI: Yeah, I mean, I think I have worked with nearly all of my heroes at this point (except for you Peter Heppner!) it’s an incredible place to be when you have broken bread with people who you intensely respect and look up to as far as work ethic and artistry. I feel really honored for the time I have gotten to spend learning from those experiences. There is really something about stepping into another person’s world and having to fit to their working style. None of the collaborators I have ever worked with, work the same and to be versatile because of that is a gift for me.

Signing with COP for my solo music is SUCH a new experience for me. I’ve worked with a lot of record labels in the past but I have never officially been on one alone. I love the fact that these releases are all me, for good or bad, if you hate it there really isn’t anyone to blame but me, but if you LOVE it, well then i’m doing my job. It’s sort of strange to think that I would ever get to this point, it’s a long way to come from 2012 in my room, figuring out how to connect an interface to a microphone and cueing up a DAW. It holds a lot of importance for me and I am so happy to have the support backing this next release up.

YS: Diving a bit deeper into the song ‘OBJECTIFIED’, I love it so much. The hypnotizing pad and arpeggio in the background, a very triphop / hiphop beat that evolves throughout the track. And behind it a very soulful voice telling a compelling story. What triggered you writing the lyrics, and how important is this one for you?”

MARI: Objectified has a pretty clear meaning. I wrote it one day when I was feeling pretty down about the state of how things are for women. Sometimes you don’t feel like you are anything but a piece of meat, and then a “better” piece of meat comes along and it’s all a very shallow state of mind. Women are held to an unfair standard, we are pinned up against one another and compared. We are told “Thats just how it is.” and “Thats just guys being guys.” but it’s exhausting, to be sexualized for everything you do. Oftentimes the sexualization takes the seriousness out of anything you are trying to put meaning into. Its soul shattering when you are trying to use your brain and your passion, knowing that there will always be an element of judgement that has to do with your level of attractiveness.

YS: Can you tell us something about your production process on your solo work, how does your studio look like, and what are your favourite tools in songwriting (both software, and techniques)?

MARI: It’s funny I always feel like my creative process is evolving but oftentimes these days its very organic, like, i’m driving in the car and I just hear this bassline or this melody, I pull out my phone and record myself humming along to whatever is happening in my brain. Then when I get home I rush to my studio desk, take out my midi keyboard and try and hash it out in my DAW. Right now I’m using Bitwig for all of my musical composition but I also love Logic when it comes to recording vocals. I wish that Bitwig and Logic could come together and tighten the audio recording aspect on the Bitwig end. Vocally, I took a course from Berklee on vocal production and now I’m all about panning my voice. It’s very normal for me to take about 5 vocal takes singing the same exact thing and panning them around the stereo field and one phantom center. It makes for a much bigger vocal sound.

Synth wise, I’ve really been focusing on writing synth parts/choosing sounds that don’t overshadow each other and that play nice on top of each other, its a really delicate balance that takes a lot of skill and time to really hear what is going on. Drum wise, it’s all about choosing interesting snares for me right now and layering foley sounds into the snare hits. As far as software goes, I’m really loving Spire and Vital right now, I just love the user interface on that. Vital wins the award for me for easy usability and for ease in tweaking sounds. As far as Plugins goes, I’m always always ALWAYS loving FreshAir for vocals, MondoMod for modulation and Wider for finding places in the mix that instruments can sit where they don’t step on each other.

YS: On the single of ‘Can We Make It Rhyme’ we decided to do a b-side as well, ‘Monoculture’. I was triggered to do this song mainly because of its lyrics and how it has a link almost to the ‘Can We Make It Rhyme’ lyrics in a sense – everyone thinking in blind vision, not open to other views and therefore getting stuck in tunnel vision. In that sense I pulled the cover version into the EP in this context – how do you feel about that, is this world to ‘monoculture’ in its thinking?

MARI: You know, being a person who is starting a new full time career, sometimes I do feel like the world is just one big hamster wheel and there is a lot of pressure to stay in line. It’s tough for creative people to live in a world like that, I often think it is a curse not to be able to do what you love all the time. We are all expected to walk the path that was laid out for us (school, 40 hour a week job, marriage, kids, retire) and you are damned if you want to walk a little different. You get up for work and you fall into bed at night with exhaustion and the days just blend. Its pretty gnarly! Keep us busy enough not to have the energy to care. I think Soft Cell was right on point and I am glad to have been a part of the cover.

YS: Can you lift the veil, give a sneak peek, or tell us something about the upcoming work you will have out on COP Int.?

MARI: My newest EP is out now on COP. It’s a two song EP with some great remixes. It is truly exciting to be showcasing my solo work again. I can’t wait for you to hear 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.

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Brazilian duo Fabrício Viscardi – Guilhelme Pires are now active for ten years as Aesthetische. They both got previously involved with Aghast View and Biopsy. Aesthetische deals with a more danceable sound, mixing elements of EBM together with Techno stuff. It’s a tricky sonic fusion which they already reveal at their fourth full length album “RVPRTY” released early this year by Alfa Matrix. I talked about the new opus with Fabrício Viscardi.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Aesthetische is active since 2012. Can you draw up the balance sheet of the past ten years? And how much of Aghast View and Biopsy do you still recognize in Aesthetische?

Fabricio : Wow then years went by very fast. It were solid ten years where we consistently delivered at least one release a year.

Aesthetische definitely has solid influences from Aghast View and Biopsy but it is a more polished and with influences from Trance and Techno too. I would say it has a 25% of our older sound but who knows haha…

Q: What have been the triggers and influences to write the new album “RVPRTY”?

Fabricio: The triggers are very  much our own lives coping with the pandemic situation and waiting to get back to a more normal kind of life. It also talks about the political situation in our country and how the right wing got back into the scenario, making people’s lives worse than ever, except for the very rich.

Q: The title of the album speaks for itself, but what’s the deeper meaning and especially behind the ‘darker’ titles of this opus?

Fabricio: Well, rave party celebrates us getting back to partying and enjoying music altogether. Darker titles are about politics and isolation.

Q: How did you work together on this new album and what’s the input of each of you?

Fabricio: We worked virtually. I wrote some tracks and did some vox and all the remixes. Gui did 3 tracks and vocals of “Racing Backwards”. 

Q: You clearly seem to work with guest singers, but do you handle specific criteria to work with them? How did the collaboration with Lis Van den Akker happened? Are there specific singers you really want to work with in the future?

Fabricio: Well it happens very organically. Lis was introduced to us by Yves Schelpe (Psy’Aviah). I am not sure what the future will hold in terms of collabs but we are always quite open. We would love to have Douglas McCarthy or Jean Luc de Meyer doing vocals of a future track. 

Q: The ongoing pandemic clearly impacted the music industry. What’s your perception of the situation and did it had an impact on the new album and your way of working together? What are the further plans right now? 

Fabricio: Certainly it did for bands that tour. As we don’t cause we are in Brazil, not much change happened to us. We really hope that things resume to normal so that people can enjoy going to clubs and gigs again.

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

(Photo by Gwenny Coomand of GNY Photography) With “Sunbird”, Belgian artist Psy’Aviah reveals the second single from his forthcoming “Bittersweet” album “that seems to be heading towards intimate pop electronica realms with an up-tempo edge”. We couldn’t have described it better than the band’s label Alfa Matrix did.

For this quite autobiographical song revealing the extreme addictive side of passion and devotion, Yves Schelpe worked together with Oliviya Nicole (professional singer in the Bulgaria and finalist of “The Voice”) to mix her distinctive vocals with Moog bass & synth arrangements. Also invited to offer cello parts was Polina Faustova.

We asked Yves Schelpe how he got in touch with Oliviya Nicole. Yves: “Sunbird’s idea in theme & lyrics demanded for a super naïve voice with a high pitch, but keeping in mind that it had to sound warm as well… It was a long search which ended up trying out various vocalists, who were all great, but not ‘the voice’ of the track.”

And he continues: “I stumbled upon her via her instagram eventually scrolling along through past contenders of ‘The Voice’ in different countries, because I knew voices like these would always hit television screens. At that point I found her, being an established singer/songwriter herself and me explaining what I wanted she perfectly understood what to do and we set on finalizing my vocal demo, writing some additional lyrics. Social media and researching long and hard thus, but I’m happy I found her. Oliviya’s own music & her personality is awesome. Lovely to work with and really understands the value of good production.”

Throughout this 11-track EP, “Sunbird” gets quite a versatile treatment including a ‘stripped edit’ with cello, Wurlitzer piano and Ben Van de Cruys’ guitars next to dancefloor house mixes by James Beachen and 11GRAMS, through a more 80’s synthwave ‘retro club edit’, and other trance versions by Omniks and Restriction 9, or breakbeat dubstep mix by Deckos.

You can check out the full EP below on Bandcamp.

Video shot in Tenerife

The accompanying video features Daniela Diaz dancing in a production by Melani Luis. The video was conceptualized by Yves Schelpe and Jonathan Guttmann, and directed and shot in Tenerife, Canary Islands by Jonathan Guttmann.

We contacted Yves to know some more bout his collaboration with these artists: “I have a long working relationship with Jonathan Guttmann, a director of many of my videos. I sent him a basic script: a person who is walking home, writing in her diary, yet in her mind all kind of things are going on. The constant battle for perfection, the passion, the deep drive. I specifically wrote in the script ‘while she dances, she can’t make progress’, and that is how we ended up with such a complicated dance routine in fact. If you look closely, if she dance, she’ll never ‘move forward’ as she’s stuck, finding perfection, burning herself up.”

Daniela the star of the video is a real talent. Yves acknowledges: “In Daniela Diaz we found and exceptional performer whose moves are just excellent. We casted her because of her flexibility and graceful dance style combinations – she immediately knew the concept and understood what she needed to do. It’s a team effort really that starts with a song, a script and then Jonathan and Melani come in to really shape it further with me, and do casting and location scouting. It’s fun to work that way – shooting clips myself as well, but also working with people remotely to get the best talents from all around the world. Both in Oliviya Nicole the vocalist, Polina Faustova our cellist on the track as well as the film crew & dancer.”

Below is the video.

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.

side-line.com

In 2016 the Belgian electro pop act Psy’Aviah released the album “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”. On that album we also find the track “Not What I Expected” with Fallon Nieves on vocals. The very same year Douyin started, a Chinese video-sharing social networking service which would get a rebranded launch for the international market as TikTok in 2017.

Fast forward to 2021 when Yves Schelpe from Psy’Aviah suddenly sees videos popping up on TikTok, more specifically with the track “Not What I Expected” in combination with videos that indeed show an unexpected result…

Yves: “I was stunned. Music that I make here on my own, in my own little (head)space was interpreted in completely different ways, and I didn’t even know anything about it! I found out about it by accident as I was using the app to promote our new single “Pretender”. I was googling my profile name, a simple search term “Psy’Aviah TikTok” and it didn’t give my profile, but interpretations of songs like “Not What I Expected”. But also other tracks used in TikTok videos popped up such as a company using “Anger Management”, or “Infected”.”

The videos are hilarious and sometimes touching. Yves: “It’s weird to see we actually did connect with some fans we didn’t know before. The impact you have, unknowingly, on people when you make music – is something not to take for granted, so it is touching when it does happen and you find out about it. People used to write me letters, now it’s via TikTok apparantly 🙂. Without the platform, or the internet, I would never have met those people!”

“Not What I Expected” is not the only track being used from Psy’Aviah but it does result in some of the funniest videos around. Here’s the original track, below TikTok videos using the same or other tracks from Psy’Aviah.

Not what I expected, on TikTok

@lytrell.strayhorn

Not quite what I expected… 😑 #snowinmay #pleasedont #really #imcold

♬ Not What I Expected – Psy’Aviah

@kira_kfr

#goth #dark #schoolkillsartists

♬ Wild Ride – Girlflesh Remix – Psy’Aviah

@laurengraham9

♬ Not What I Expected – Psy’Aviah

@chagranbo

#angermanagement 🤯

♬ Anger Management – Psy’Aviah

@dennisthetennisball

Anger

♬ Anger Management – Psy’Aviah

@nalaandbenji

Still love you NalaNoo 😂💕 ##fyp ##americanstaff ##mygirl

♬ Not What I Expected – Psy’Aviah

@olgastrungari1

Under the rain ☔️

♬ Under the Rain – Psy’Aviah

@iamlanakaye

It is in fact, an arm. Scared not scared #part2 #river #oklahoma #paddleboard #outdoors #rivertime #maniquin

♬ Not What I Expected – Psy’Aviah

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.

side-line.com

A few weeks ago Psy’Aviah returned with a brand new EP, “City In Flames”, the last single taken from the band’s “Soul Searching” album. “City In Flames” handles the very current issue of psychological and physical isolation refugees are going through mixing human trauma and drama, which nowadays might even tend to be even more eclipsed by the global pandemic that keeps disrupting our society.

For this release Yves Schelpe collaborated with American artist Ellia Bisker, who is also the female singer of Sweet Soubrette and Charming Disaster.

We decided to talk with Yves Schelpe, Ellia Bisker and Bernice Van Dijck who works as a social worker in Filet Divers, an organization in Antwerp for people living in poverty. Yves met Bernice through the project “Samen Inburgeren” which matches newcomers with buddies to smoothen the integration.

A trio who clearly have a lot more to say on the subject. We threw them some questions!

SL: Can you briefly tell us what your background is and how you came to get in contact with Yves, Bernice as in meeting Yves – and Ellia as getting involved in this song. What attracted you to it?

YVES: Me and my girlfriend actually signed up for what is called “Samen Inburgeren” in the local Antwerp office, we were then matched to our “buddies” (newcomers who wanted to get someone who they can sort of explore the city with, get to learn the environment and build up a network). I met Bernice, I think, the first workshop we had together with out buddies, and later on at several other events!

BERNICE: I’m a social worker in Filet Divers, an organization in Antwerp for people living in poverty. I’m the projectleader of Samen Inburgeren. We match people who want to know the city (and its citizens) better and the language with people who wants to know what it ‘s like to be ‘new’ in Antwerp/people who want to help others with feeling good in this city. It ‘s my job to get people in touch with each other, to see if buddies are fine together, to organize multiple events a year to meet other buddies etc. Both Yves and his wife had someone who they met regularly within the project.

ELLIA: I’m an American singer/songwriter/musician based in New York City. Yves and I have never met in person, but we’ve been collaborating on and off since 2014, when he remixed a track that I had released with my project Sweet Soubrette, “Live Wire.” A little while later he asked if I would contribute vocals to one of his tracks, which I was excited about, but I also let him know I was interested in collaborating as a lyricist and he was open to that idea. Working with Yves has been great because I feel there is a lot of generosity and very little ego involved. It’s an exciting challenge to find the right words and convey a sense of meaning within another artist’s musical composition. We’ve now collaborated in this way on three Psy’Aviah tracks, with “City in Flames” the most recent. “City in Flames” was a bit different from the other two songs, as Yves had a really specific idea in mind for this one and some lyrics already written, so I had to channel his vision as well as the refugee story that he wanted the song to convey. I think the experience of people who are displaced by war or other circumstances is such an important issue, and it was an honor to try to capture it in this song in a way that would let listeners feel it for themselves.

SL: Integration is considered to be the way to get newcomers to become full citizens. However, we see it’s not a linear story where all goes as planned. What hurdles do you see?

YVES: Correct, I think people need to be aware that “integration” is a word that for me doesn’t really exist, or at least is very hard to define. When are you integrated? Even when living in Antwerp, my own city, I often wonder – am I integrated into the society as other people are? So this is where the problem starts, seeing “integration” from only one perspective (most of the time your own) is limiting the scope, and even essentially defining how a human would function as perfect or as normal in your idealized society. That’s one big hurdle I see, the tunnel vision where people get lost in. I always advice those people to visit the museum we have in Antwerp called “The Red Star Line Museum”, where you see that about 120 years ago mass immigration took place to the US and Canada from European countries – and how that affected things. It puts a lot in perspective, certainly because you see that immigration is something that has always existed, for the same reasons, and that it is a human thing to do. Most utter “integration” and “migration” without thinking about what they really mean with these words and concepts, or have no historical background – and often don’t reflect upon what it means for different people, as well as the “newcomers”. So, I’d say, creating awareness around the fact that “integration” comes in different shades of grey is the biggest hurdle, the biggest challenge when talking about this. Education thus, for everyone, is the biggest hurdle.

BERNICE: I mostly follow Yves’ ideas. You see, once we made an exercise about ‘integration’. What does it mean? What ‘s in it for the one who is integrating? What’s in it for society? Is someone who just like to sit at home and not joining the party’s in the street not integrated? Even we as professionals just got more questions instead of answers. And I think this shows how hard it can be to be new somewhere. You know you have to integrate, but what does it exactly mean? The most important thing I guess is that both society and newcomers are ready to meet eachother and respect eachother. When you can get in touch with and you are willing to learn from eachother, there can be a happy place for everyone.

ELLIA: As an American I’m not exactly qualified to answer this question, but I wanted to mention that immigration is of course an important issue here in the U.S. as well. Even though we are a nation of immigrants (my own ancestors were Jews fleeing oppression in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century), there is so much anti-immigrant rhetoric, particularly with respect to people coming from Mexico and Latin America, and so much racism (not to mention mistreatment and abuses at the border) in response to people who are often fleeing desperate situations to come here. As Yves mentioned, people migrating to find better circumstances is not a new phenomenon.

SL: In the past I have been giving extra Dutch courses to newcomers to speed up their integration. Those people were willing to integrate and did their best, but I think there is a blind spot of people which we never reached and which kinda disappeared from our radar. How do you see this?

YVES: It’s a point I wanted to touch upon in the song and music video, we often think giving materialistic & educational support is enough. The mental support often lacks in the trajectories people go through. Where within our own country we still have a big stigma talking about mental health, or giving people the much needed support – that is for me the most lacking part, and to come back upon the previous question; another hurdle. Mental issues, and gaining trust, dealing with these situations is a big step. When someone is depressed, or is struggling, it is hard to pick up & learn new things – for anyone, and especially someone who’s vulnerable and in a new country. Studies do also show that not everyone will ever be able to speak another language perfectly, or climb higher on the scale of knowing that language. Certainly the older you are, and the baggage you carry, but I’m sure Bernice can fill in the blanks more here…

BERNICE: I think as a society we still have a lot to learn. In Filet Divers – the organization where I work – I meet a lot of people who do not have a legit ID-card. Those people are extremely vulnerable. As I see it personally, those people may not even integrate: they may not volunteer nor work, they may not go to Dutch class, they may not have an entry pass for the library and so on. Even though they try their very best, life is rough on them. But even if you have a legit ID-card, life can be pretty hard. We see so many people struggling to find a proper job and a good place to live. We’re seeing every day that if your Dutch isn’t that good, the struggle is way more harder. Let me be clear: I think it’s good that you have a similar language to communicate. It makes living together much easier. But I think the focus on learning the language is too hard right now. Even research shows us that if you’re living in stress, learning new things is super hard. Just because your head is full of ‘surviving’, new things will not get in that easily.

SL: My wife who is from Mexico has been following language courses in mixed classes. She often told me that several male classmates showed no respect at all for the female fellow classmates and actually didn’t bother to listen to what the female teachers were saying or asking, because of their disdain for women. As a woman how do you cope with this?

BERNICE: Now, this is a hard one. This has something to do with preconceptions I think, from both ways. Of course, it’s not up me to say who’s wrong or right. Tough I think it must have been very challenging for both the teacher as for the classmates. In Filet Divers I’m most of the time see the opposite of what’s described here. For example: we see that in Samen Inburgeren a lot of young men are asking for a woman to be in buddy with. I never understood why, always explaining that we are not a place for dating or to find love. Ever since I started to really ask in several questions why they do prefer a man of woman, I start to understand better. Now I know that in many religions the woman is the one for the real conversations. They are the teachers, the ‘talkers’, the ones who will ‘help you out’ with psychological difficulties. Ever since I know that, it’s way more easy to have the proper conversation why man X would be much better company than woman X.

SL: In respect to that, the reaction towards LGBT fellow students was just abysmal. I doubt that pure talking will solve anything? Having said that, language is the power towards a good integration. What are the extras you pay attention to?

YVES: For me talking face to face is always the key point. Talking openly, about how I view the world and what ideas I have. But most importantly I learned to listen (even more), and to see where they’re coming from. I did not have an encounter where any of my buddies had problems with LGBTQI+ communities, so I can’t go deeper into that. But then again, the people migrating here that I worked and talked with, often are more open towards those subjects as one might initially think. I think it depends from person to person, as well as talking and getting a conversation going. I am an atheist, and in that sense we can talk about that for example. If you take the time and both parties are open to listen and form ideas, which to an extent works of course. The main part for me is, visiting places with them and showing them the world. Explaining the context. By explaining similarities we find a lot more common ground, enjoying experiences together forms a deeper bound than talking alone. So you have to combine it.

BERNICE: I totally agree with Yves! What I see, is ‘pure talking’ will never help. You also have to be able to listen properly. And that’s where it hurts a lot of the time. I’m not sure how to say it without hurting someone… You see, I am 100% supporting the LGBT movement. I truly believe that love is love. But the communication has to be ‘open’ all the time. We do not only have to talk to convince someone, but also to understand others, although they seem to think ‘wrong’. That‘s something I see a lot in the project Samen Inburgeren. Most of the people who are starting, they start from ‘the opposites’. They see someone who is new here, who doesn’t speak their language that good, who believes in (another) God(s),… After one year we do an evaluation. For me, it’s a magical moment. Almost everyone will tell me that they are not that different. In the end, they just want their kids to be happy or have a nice meal at the end of the day. Everyone likes to find a meaning in life or to love and be loved. But you see, it takes people one year to understand this. One year of talking and listening.

SL: You do book succes stories with the buddies but how do you feel about the failed stories?

BERNICE: I create the buddies, support them, bring the buddies together etc. The buddies who last a year or longer, are always the ones who are open to each other. If something doesn’t seem nice or strange, they dare to talk about it. It takes guts to do that. Sometimes it’s difficult to know if you may or may not ask about things. I know that a lot of starting buddies wonder why someone flees his or her country, if this person was a boat refugee, how long they had to walk, if they see their family,… I get a lot of questions when those kind of questions can get asked. My answer is always the same: as long as you are respectful, you can ask each other anything.

SL: Ellia, Is there any kind of buddy system like this you are aware of in the US? Where the focus on mental health + getting a “network of friends or people you can rely on” is setup for refugees, or newcomers?

ELLIA: I’m not aware of an individual buddy system like this in the US, although there are many organizations (from government agencies to nonprofit organizations to church groups) doing valuable work to help immigrants get settled, access legal and educational resources, and find a community.

BERNICE: In Belgium (and I guess in whole Europe) we have tons of buddy projects, in all kind of ways with all kinds of people. If you scroll through Google, it shows an amazing range of projects. If people reading this are interested, I would just suggest to open Google and start looking if there’s a project in your neighborhood!

SL: What is the key for succes for a good integration you think?

YVES: I think that it boils down to letting go of the word “integration”, I will likely be repeating myself, but if you think hard and deep about it, then where do you draw the line. When is someone integrated? Is it something measurable? (No). Does it change over time and generations? (Yes). So it is in constant flux, the big key to the kingdom of succes for me is that people talk and see the world from both sides. In essence, that’s the only way we will ever reach a type I civilization (or a global civilization) on the Kardashev scale, as Carl Sagan touched upon – which is both technological innovation but very much a psychological revolution as well for human race. And the implications of that, or the boundaries for reaching that I tried to describe in another song called “Our Common Future ft. Kyoko Baertsoen”, which many think is about global warming – but essentially it deals about the things or dangers that are holding us back to reach that planetary civilization (or Type I civilization). It is very cultural based, so hence why I always emphasize on education on every part of the world, and critical thinking. Without tearing apart cultural habits, or forms of theatre or music – those are two different things.

SL: Ellia and Yves, how do you feel music can make a difference in this?

ELLIA: Music — listening to it as well as making it — is an international language that rewards curiosity, collaboration, being open to new ideas as well as respecting traditions. Connecting through music is something that can happen whether or not you share a verbal language, it transcends age and ideology and national origin. I think opportunities to appreciate and participate in music are an incredibly powerful way to connect people, when those who might not have other obvious ways to connect.

BERNICE: As I see it, music connects. Some people like lyrics, others like sounds or beats, some people like dancing, others like listening or singing.. I barely know people who just do not like it at all. Just like Ellia said, it’s a language that everyone can speak in some kind of way.

YVES: For me it’s another form of talking about subjects and raising awareness. For some topics I write blogposts, for some topics I write songs and for others I do both. Music can, often without words, make us come closer together. With our buddies for example we had a lot of fun exploring flemish music, and even I discovered classic works I didn’t know or had forgotten. We go to concerts together, and just try to have fun. If then they have questions about things – we answer as we feel the world works, with as much context and differences we see. It also a means to broaden their network, bringing them out to concerts, or musea, sporting events – that’s where you meet new people.

SL: I have always thought, and am actually convinced that music can serve as a perfect medium to let people accept new ideas and cultures. For instance I have been checking out Sufism and its music because I discovered the music from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for instance. In Istanbul I visited a sufism school, watched their dances, and so on. Not that I got converted, but I tend to try and check out several different things. The same goes for world music thanks to Dead Can Dance, Yasmin Levy, Recoil or even Peter Murphy who has been incorporating lots of eastern elements in his solo material. And now the question :). What are your worldly influences Yves & Ellia?

ELLIA: I’ve been exposed to a lot of Balkan brass and choral music through the brass music scene (I sing with a 20-piece brass-punk band called Funkrust Brass Band), and have grown to love the complex time signatures, untempered vocals and strange (to me) harmonies. And I’ve recently been getting more into African music, especially West Africa — I know that’s a huge category but there’s a great show on Columbia University’s radio station, WKCR, that has introduced me to some incredible sounds and artists from all over the African continent — Amadou Balaké, Le Grand Kallé, TPOK Jazz, Fatoumata Diawara.

YVES: As Psy’Aviah fans are aware, we don’t shy away from any form of music… from classical and traditional music of different cultures, to deep and even forgotten or small communities. I can find gems everywhere. I try to listen and take whatever influence I can get. On “Soul Searching” it was apparent of course, but there are those ethnic or other-worldly influences which stood symbol of the journey a person makes on his quest of searching: soul searching, living your life, learning every day. Even learning why you don’t like something. For me the band(s) Moby and Faithless embody this the most, if you look at their catalogue – you’ll find very different influences over and over again. They don’t shy away from it, which I like, even though it’s not always a “hit” success with the fans.

SL: What hurdles do you encounter in order to have a succes story with a newcomer?

YVES: Let me say that a succes story doesn’t necessarily exist. Making a connection face to face from human to human and getting a basic understanding, even without as little as words, can be a connection and a success story for me. I can only talk about what I have experienced so far, and for me, thus the biggest hurdle can be language. But, that is only normal, so you get quite adapted to that yourself – talking slower is key, until they pick up, being patient… The biggest hurdle I had personally is not being “a teacher”, but rather being someone “to hang out with”, and that’s thus a thing that’s so important. You’re there to have fun with, to be trusted, draw your own lines, talk openly about it, and I must say that Bernice and her team do everything they can to guide that process in workshops with the buddies. Which is a great learning experience for both.

BERNICE: As I said before, we mainly have to learn that communication is not only talking. We have to try to be open, without losing your own beliefs (tough sometimes willing to adapt..). Success for me is that people are willing to meet each other. If they don’t know how to do it themselves, they can always join projects such as “Samen Inburgeren” ?.

SL: Where will the future lead us to according to you?

YVES: I’m not a futurist, but I touched upon it when talking about the hurdles for reaching a planetary civilization. The threats that face that, which can be found in the doomsday clock, are evidently there. Fundamentally I am a rather pessimistic person when I write my songs, or when you hear them I think. But these songs are there for a reason, to let people think critically about their own thoughts. It’s why I am a big fan of the work of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, who see a big rise and supporting those people leaving behind cruel rituals, cruel faiths. Next to that you have in Belgium voices like Maarten Boudry and Johan Braeckman, pleading for the same essence of critical thinking, moral philosophy etc.. Furthermore I must think of people like James Randi and Derren Brown, who can take you into a more edutainment world of your own critical thinking – some of their most profound stories and specials are worth watching as they teach on religion, (blind) faith, quackery, homeopathy or a perfectly working gambling systems that never fails (look up “The System” by Derren Brown). Combine that with the efforts of a lot of Humanists, for example prof. dr. Dirk De Wachter, who I worked with on the album, for a more humane approach and a not so self-centered universe we tend to fall in… I see the world as something we can improve, but we need to keep talking about it – and not on twitter or facebook, but face to face… to find solutions together.

BERNICE: This is a difficult question for me! When my thoughts are dark, I think that we are not learning from history. I see war, anger, complaining, … But on bright days (luckily, they are the majority) I do see that people create beautiful spots to live. People do come together and collaborate. They are willing to share what they have and like to see others smile. Learning (from history) is a never ending story and I believe we have challenging times coming. But we can do it, as long as we do it together.

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.

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Genre/Influences: Electro-Ambient, Soundtrack.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: The new Psy’Aviah album is a collaboration and conceptual work between the Belgian musician and photographer ‘GNY’ aka Gwenny Cooman (who’s also involved with Mildreda). Yves Schelpe got inspired by her work and composed a Soundtrack for the exhibition GNY under the conceptual title “Steden Schuilen Niet Wanneer Het Regent” (translated “Cities Don’t Seek Shelter When It Rains”).

Content: The album indeed is an original ambient soundtrack featuring 11 tracks. Psy’Aviah transposed his Electro-Pop-Dance-Trance style into pure reverie. The multiple strings accentuate the Ambient side of the work, but I also noticed numerous field recordings (or samplings) now creating a dreamy impression and then a kind of astral trip. Some cuts are more mysterious like while others feel like an Electronic ballad.

+ + + : Artists are often dreaming to compose a Soundtrack. I don’t know if it was part of Schelpe’s bucket list, but he remarkably transformed himself into that style. The work is achieved with poignant strings while the multiple astral passages only reinforce the Ambient impression. I also noticed great analogue-like sound effects, which are a cool wink to some famous pioneers in this music genre. I don’t want to compare this artist with others, but some elements make me think to a modern perception of J.M. Jarre. “Slow Motion Bright Flashing Neon Lights” is a great exposure of this resemblance. But my favorite song is “The Escalator” for its mysterious sphere, which however remains devoted to Ambient.

– – – : The work is missing an absolute ‘master’ song although there’s a real potential hiding behind this work. But what I’m really missing is the addition of some real acoustic instruments like a saxophone or even guitar ao.

Conclusion: This new Psy’Aviah album is definitely one out of the box, but it for sure opens new perspectives for the artist.

Best songs: “The Escalator”, “Slow Motion Bright Flashing Neon Lights”, “Clinical Nature”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.psyaviah.com / www.facebook.com/psyaviah

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.

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Belgian photographer GNY (aka Gwenny Cooman, also known for her work in the band Mildreda) recently organized an exhibition of her work under the conceptual title “Steden Schuilen Niet Wanneer Het Regent” (Cities don’t seek shelter when it rains) in Wetteren (B).

For this project she also collaborated with artist and musician Yves Schelpe of Psy’Aviah who wrote a dark ambient soundtrack inspired by her work that played during the exhibition, reinforcing the atmosphere of the photographs, adding a unique sonic dimension to the exhibition, giving tones of hope and peace, but also of darkness and melancholy highlighting the contrasting sides of city and nature.

That soundtrack, “The Earth Keeps Spinning, Without Being Noticed”, is out now on Alfa Matrix as a download album (via Bandcamp) or as streaming via Spotify. Good to know, the Belgian national radio broadcast Klara already took one track, namely “The Escalator”, from the album to be used in a show for which you can see a video below.

We had a talk with both artists regarding this special collaboration.

SL: You never released an instrumental let alone an ambient album before, how did this one come about?
 
Yves/Psy’Aviah: After my previous, more or less traditional, album “Soul Searching” I set my eyes on working more on theatre soundtracks or atmospherical pieces. I did that a lot more in the early stages, but now I felt a need to go back to supporting a story, to collaborating on a different level and letting the music be supportive instead of dominant. I loved her photography work, and so when Gwenny asked me to do something for her closing night, I of course jumped on the opportunity.

SL: I presume you also listen to ambient then, many preferences?
 
Yves/Psy’Aviah: My ears are open to anything I like, so ambient is in the collection too… Let me say that I’m hugely inspired by work from Moby: I love how he layers piano and a ton of strings and pads. His ambient work is something I was drawn to from the get go. Other artists I like a lot are Mark Isham (his work for Black Mirror’s “Arkangel” for example), Eric Serra, Inon Zur (his soundtracks and solowork, especially the Dragon Age works are very much my cup of tea) Deuter (certainly albums “Prana Yoga” and “Atmospheres”), the more poppy Enigma (but check out his less beat-driven tracks like “The Dream Of The Dolphin”), Dirk Veulemans, Vangelis, and I could go on and on…

SL: I was actually quite surprised by this album, ambient tends to go nowhere in a lot of cases, but this one really has a true destination with tracks that develop nicely, I guess that your dream pop heart lays enough structures in there?
 
Yves/Psy’Aviah: Well, I think ambient is such a big umbrella term that people don’t find their way anymore in the vast amount of work and variety that exist in the genre, let alone what it means, or can mean, and end up listening to ambient music that isn’t their cup of tea… Just like every music genre ambient has so many genres, it’s impossible to describe them all.

There are indeed a few big broad distinctions: either you have a clear study of sound and sound patterns, in which it isn’t really music but a research project of what can be done. Then there’s the very experimental electro-acoustic work I know of Dirk Veulemans for example (he’s a fellow Belgian talent and well known for his work) – and apologies Dirk if I’d describe it wrong – but I feel their storytelling in the work is a big focus as well as experimentation – finding the boundaries of what music is. And then I think we have the more chill-out or soundtrack synthesizer music. We all know Vangelis and JMJ did pioneering work, it is a lot more focused on melodic elements. For me personally the storytelling is present, but also creating a kind of mood is important, certainly because it was written based upon existing photography work.

SL: How did you start on this one? Did you get to see Gwenny’s material on forehand?
 
Yves/Psy’Aviah: One can’t write music for an exhibition (unless that is the experiment of course) if you don’t know what the source material is, and if you don’t understand what the artist wants to evoke in terms of emotions. All this music is driven by Gwenny’s photography, by her vision and talking about her work. I do need to be drawn to something before it can inspire me, so it goes without saying that the emotions I experienced with the selected photography work of Gwenny on that exhibition were really strong, and very relatable. I could imagine certain things right off the bat. It’s in subtle ways such as the angles the photos are taken at, as well as the general subjects and the stories one can see behind them.

Gwenny Cooman: I think I saw Psy’Aviah’s first gig, and I was immediately overwhelmed. I remember thinking ‘okay, the new Praga Khan is born’. Psy’Aviah evolved and made their own sound and story, and I always liked the look and feel of the artwork and the content of the songs. Also, I noticed Yves carrying out street experiments and having other original crossover ideas. So I knew something exciting could be done.
 
SL: Did you use any specific techniques as far as the sound collages go?

Yves/Psy’Aviah: When I knew what the themes were I knew I had to incorporate a lot of field recordings – which meant going outdoors and recording sounds in train stations, elevators, nature, fields, underwater, on the bus, in supermarkets etc… As they’d be an underlying tone in either rhythmic elements (such as an electric escalator with its clicks and clacks tuned to a nice clock as if it were a drum machine, or train tracks repeating over and over, water streams that have a natural tendency to emulate a sort of repeating vibe, yet always with a little tonal difference…).

Those natural rhythms of nature and city were a perfect match and were for me personally the technique I had to use to get in tune with the photography of Gwenny.

Of course that is not everything, using those sounds and creating a compelling storyline in a track, using my background of chord progressions I like and basslines (either slowed down very much, or sped up a lot), to evoke emotions and contrast them to the sometimes dull machinal sounds, is what the motivation (or technique) was in the end.

SL: Gwenny, I know you have been busy with photography for quite a few years, but it’s the first time you are in the spotlights yourself with that expo. How different do you consider the material for this expo compared to what you did in the past?
 
Gwenny Cooman: I guess the way I look at things, and the stuff that draws my attention has not changed. But the last couple of years I’m more focussed and spending more time and effort to enhance my work. I discovered how different a picture can be in its digital form from one in printed media. The printing process was really a search for pictures with printing results that matched my expectations, and same for the framing.

SL: Did you select the pictures for the expo or were they made with the intention to organise an expo?
 
Gwenny Cooman: My partner convinced me to have an exposition now instead of postponing things until, say, the year 2080 (I tend to keep thinking I can improve something). Most pictures were not made especially for the expo, they were selected to fit the idea I had under the title ‘cities don’t take shelter when it rains’.
 
I am currently working on a new expo (aiming to exhibit summer 2021 in Ostend) which will have a different setup. I have a concept in mind and all pictures will fit that new story and concept and will be made with that purpose. I can’t reveal yet what I have in mind, but I can say it will involve topics such as science and superstition, some astronomy and astrology so to speak. 

SL: What subjects do attract you the most? I see a few with buildings, but it’s the stray dog that has triggered quite some feedback from our readers on Facebook. Care to explain?
 
Gwenny Cooman: I guess it’s about the questions that come to mind. Is it an abandoned dog? Are there houses in the neighbourhood where he could find a home? What kind of life has he had?
 
The expo showed pictures of abandoned places and the less attractive aspects of citylife in black and white. In contrast to these pictures, there were colourful pictures of nature (this use of black and white versus colours is reflected in the movie Yves made).

I was very lucky to have been able to do some travelling, and especially to visit some weird or abandoned places in the United States. The Salton Sea for example is one of those places where I can just sit and watch the emptiness, the leftovers of thrilling lives and expectations that place once held. So afterwards, when people look at a picture from that kind of abandoned place, they also start making up their own stories and interpretations of what happened.   

SL: Every photo artists probably dreams to have his/her pictures released in a photo book. A dream or something you might want to materialize in the nearby future?
 
Gwenny Cooman: Indeed! Working with Yves/Psy’Aviah really added value to everything. We inspired each other and that really is the most joyful feeling. If I make a picture and then look at it once I’m home and if it’s a good one, it makes me smile. But if someone else feels that way about my work, or even better, if they are inspired by it, that beats it all. So the movie and soundtrack that resulted out of our collaboration was really a very nice piece of art. Of course, a book would also be great. For my next project, I have some ideas on a catalogue which should be a crossover between photographs, poetry and literature. Still dreaming…

SL: What’s your favorite setup and why?
 
Gwenny Cooman:  I try to take silent, subdued pictures. Most of the time unintended. So I don’t go out thinking ‘now I will photograph this place or that person’, but the subjects are more or less random encounters. Of course I tend to go places where these encounters are more likely. But that means I travel with a wonderful and compact Leica camera so that I can always capture the moment.

You can check out the complete 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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, dance-pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: The song “Hope” is taken from Psy’Aviah’s latest album “Soul searching”. This work released late 2019 by Yves Schelpe and featuring numerous guest singers probably was the best full length ever released by the project. “Hope” featuring Addie Nicole was not exactly my favorite song from the album. It has been featured as different edits while there’s also an exclusive song featured.

Content: The basis of “Hope” is a mix between electro-pop, trip-pop and dance music. It has something of ‘Delerium made in Belgium’. The songs featured 3 remixes by the Israel based KGProject. They bring us a “Radio”-, “Club”- and “Dub” edit. The main characteristic is that these versions have been seriously uplifted into harder dance projects. Last, but not least the exclusive song “Rain In The City” featuring Lis van den Akker sounds more like a mysterious, wafting song.

+ + + : Psy’Aviah moves back into dance and that’s for sure an aspect club- and dance lovers gone like. The songs –bit especially the remixes by KGProject, have something ultra dance and trance-minded. If you’re not afraid of more ‘commercial’ tricks and tunes, this is for sure something you gone like. My favorite version is the “Club Remix”.

– – – : I think the “Dub Version” is the wrong title for the last remix -as it doesn’t sound dub at all. I personally prefer the songs I heard on “Soul Searcher”, which had something intelligent and mature while this EP is something completely different and only suited for the dancefloor. In the end that’s also the goal of EP’s…

Conclusion: “Hope” is a song with a message while the music is just ‘dance’. I think this EP is meant for a different audience than the album.

Best songs: “Hope – KGProject Club Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.psyaviah.com        / www.facebook.com/psyaviah

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

Belgian Psy’Aviah is driven by the creative spirit of Yves Schelpe. The project is already busy for several years now and this year unleashed its seventh full length album. “Soul Searching” –released on Alfa Matrix, can be easily considered as a conceptual album for its lyrical content, but still for the renewed experience with multiple guest singers. Sound-wise the work remains a truly sonic enigma, which might be simply called ‘electro-pop’, but when you listen more carefully you’ll notice an amazing amount of influences. But more than the result of multiple influences, Yves Schelpe has for sure released his most mature work to date, which might appeal for lovers of Delerium, Conjure One, Lunascape and related bands. On stage Yves Schelpe (electronics) has been joined by singer Marieke Lighband  and guitarist Ben Van de Cruys. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: When you’ve a new album out, do you consider it as the best one you’ve ever released? Where do you place “Soul Searching” in your growing discography?

Yves: Honestly rating your own work, I think most musicians will tell their latest is the best as it sounds fresher to their ears, because as a musician you grow in technique, songwriting and taste. Hence why most musicians would rate their latest work as either their best or among the best if they’d had to choose. But in the end it comes down to the listener, I do my thing in my small bedroom studio, try to learn every day, try to bring new ideas, fuse genres and create stories.

As for where I place it in my discography, that’s an interesting one. I think it’s on the list of albums between 2013-present vs 2007-2012. As of 2013 with “Future Past” I radically changed in both style and wanted to bring the EBM and electro into different genres from jazz, to trip-hop, to classical, to pop.. Always with a dark hint and with a wink to the past. And that’s why I split my discography in those two ‘eras’ internally in my head. Since 2013 it’s also more focused in stories per album, as well as inviting guests to sing instead of just one lead vocalist.

Honestly maybe this could be the start of a third era in Psy’Aviah’s discography, where I go even further and incorporate even more other sounds and songwriting styles. Who knows, an artist always evolves… That’s so fascinating about music.

Q: What have been the influences and challenges to write and accomplish “Soul Searching”?

Yves: Writing the basic songs wasn’t the biggest challenge -as I always write the basic chords and melodies on piano first. You have to know that with “Soul Searching” it was the intention to create a soundscape that is radically different and alienates the listener from the daily Western sounds they hear -both so the sound from song to song is coherent, even if ‘styles’ change, and as well to transport the listener in a different ‘space’. Pull them out of the traditional Western sounds they’re so familiar with, I wanted to introduce something fresh. So finding those right instruments to tell the story was a big challenge. We have all the tools available: samplers, effects, digital instruments…

But I went for a radical approach to use real instruments, either pre-recorded or played by real people.

Q: I can imagine finding the right match between the songs and guest singers must be one of these challenges, but how did the final selection happened? Is there something like a cast? Are there specific criteria to choose a singer? What about the lyrics and how did the recording with The guests happened?

Yves: I always write the songs first on piano sounds, then the search for the ‘sound’ begins. Once I have a rough demo then I send either one or more demos to the singer I think they match with. About 90% of the time I have a strong feeling of how the melody of the lead vocals and backings should sound and I prerecord those with my own voice. But some guests do write their own lyrics -I do always give them pointers how I want it to sound or what lyrics need to deal with to match the story and to inject my ideas as well. But for Mark Bebb and Lis van den Akker they wrote their lyrics, vocal melodies and harmonies. Sometimes I co-write, as with Roeland van der Velde and Ellia Bisker -exchanging lyrical notes and adapting them.

The fact is that for each song I know the tone of the vocalist, and know what they can bring to the table by listening to their work and -with most of them -knowing them already for a long time. It’s a collaboration in the end, of course I do have my veto, as do they if they’re not happy. I always brief them of the concept of the album, the intent of the song -it’s maybe very over the top micromanagement sometimes, and maybe taken too seriously, but when you’re that passionate about what you do, you can’t help it (lol).

As for recording, most people record at their own home studio, or the studio of the band they play in. We exchange via the internet, and I give my feedback whether I want some extra adlibs, or extra shouts or harmonies… I once did a video with Mari Kattman on how we collaborate: [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_NMFZZ9a-A ] -it’s explained how she works, and how I work -it’s generally 95% the same for each song…

Q: Sound-wise, I don’t know if “Soul Searching” is my favorite Psy’Aviah album, but it for sure sounds as the most mature one! I get the feeling you’ve found ‘your’; sound while other albums were more like the exorcism of ideas and influences. How does it feel at your side and what did you finally try to achieve with this work?

Yves: Every album has a different sound, but it always has the ‘Psy’Aviah’ stamp on it. Maybe the reason why it sounds more mature is the fact that I wanted to draw people out of this world and this gave every song the alienated Eastern vibe -and that gives an extra layer of coherency. As for an eclectic approach on other albums, that’s part of the deal with Psy’Aviah. And I’m not alone -check for example the mélange of trip-hop to ambient to ballads to electroclash and to pure dancefloor driven tracks to even rock tracks by Moby, Praga Khan, Bowie, Die Antwoord, Junksista or Faithless on a single album, that mix given with their own take on it and their own sound, as I do as well, is not so weird in my mind… So I don’t get why people are so hung up on the fact a band has to stick to one genre, for me that is boring and hence why the bands listed before are prime examples why I’m a big fan of their albums, they can be on repeat for days because of the diverse take rather than a rehash of 12 tracks in the same genre with the same sounds being reused over and over again… 

Q: The opening song “Becoming Human” is for sure an essential track from the album. I get the impression this song with spoken words by the famous and mediatized Flemish psychiatrist Dirk De Wachter is the heart from the album to understand the concept, right? Tell us a bit more about this surprising guest vocalist and how did you get in touch with him and finally convinced him to contribute?

Yves: I saw some of his lectures online, then started reading his books “Borderline Times” and “De Wereld van De Wachter”, as well as his newest work “De Kunst Van Het Ongelukkig Zijn”. There were so many ideas in there that it already inspired my work on “Lightflare”, when writing songs for the EP “Looking For The Sun” I wrote a mini essay in the booklet (PDF in bandcamp release) on how these ideas are reflected in the songs on the EP, and by then I did contact Dirk to get his approval, because when you mention someone -I feel it’s only appropriate to ask for advice and approval. Later that year I met him at a lecture he gave at the University of Antwerp, and by then I had already written half of the songs for “Soul Searching”. We talked about the ideas, and then set a date via mail to meet & record -he lives just two blocks away so that was easy. We talked about the concept of the album, the reason behind those words, not a lot of convincing was needed -you have to know Dirk is a really nice and warm person.

The poem I wrote as an introduction to the rest of the album’s lyrical content as you understood correctly, but his deep voice as well as his attachment to the lyrical content, for me was a trigger to ask and include him. Recording was fun though, at his cabinet, cosy, greeted with a smile and coffee. Talking about each other’s interests, and then record. I’m grateful to have him included in this concept album as it really makes the journey complete from start to finish. But that fact is essential for each vocalist, the match in voice and passion for the lyrics has to be there -otherwise it does not work.

Q: You mentioned Dirk De Wachter’s book “Borderline Times” where he makes an interesting link between BPS (Borderline Personality Disorder) and the Western World we’re living in. I realized there also is a possible link between this psychiatric disorder and the music business from today. What does it inspire to you as an artist?

Yves: You are correct, he essentially goes through each of the symptoms of BPS and then diagnoses our Western lifestyle to come to the conclusion that we live in ‘borderline times’. Every part of it, from medical institutions, business world, politics – and of course the music business. It is the whole of our Western world that is affected by these symptoms, and especially when it comes to the ego: everything revolves around the ‘I’, the ‘Me, Me, Me’ culture. I see it a lot in this music business from small to big; it hurts the way we interact with each other unfortunately.

As an artist I try to break that cycle by not making this project about me alone, although I do have ambitions and try to put ‘myself’ into each and everything of what Psy’Aviah is -that in essence is no problem. But you should never ever forget the people around you that are helping you around the way, I guess that’s what I try to hold in higher regard after reading his books. Being a lot humbler towards achievements, because what are you with achieving something when you can’t share it but yourself. At the end a good relationship with the musicians I work with, the artwork artist, the live band Marieke & Ben, the fans… that relationship is important. Not for sales, but to stay grounded. And if you can help out other bands, then why not. I have no interest in beef or drama, so that’s how I try to act in this business as an artist. To give a concrete example, we played a benefit concert at the British American Theatrical Society (or BATS in short, yeah, they’re a bit gothic too then ;-)), as the theatre is in need of funds to move location (as their rent is being raised). We played there for free, [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ROR9lWOCXo ], we helped them out, they helped us out reaching a new audience. We had fun, it was a concert that’s on my high all-time list because of this fact. There is a ‘Great Disconnect’ in this society at the moment, and not only in the music scene. So looking out for each other is something that I take away from it, without devaluing/patronizing the person or organization you’re helping or listening to. Doing small good things should become a natural habit again instead of the ‘bol.com’ instant delivery for the ‘me me me’ society we are creating.

In that sense you could say that Psy’Aviah lyrics are of great importance to highlight these issues as well: “Voodoo Love”, “Becoming Human”, “Hold On” (as written by Mark Bebb) or even “City In Flames” are prime examples of that.

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: Electro-pop, ambient-pop.

Background/Info: “Soul Searching” is the seventh official album for Belgian Yves Schelpe aka Psy’Aviah. The composer again invited an impressive list of ‘guest singers’ to put their voice on his compositions.

Content: Psy’Aviah is a project in constant move. “Soul Searching” features typical influences and arrangements, which are into the Psy’Aviah sound, but compared to the previous album –which was more into some dance-electronics, this work reflects maturity and impressive vocal performances. The opening cut featuring one of the most famous and ‘popular’ psychiatrists from the Flemish part of Belgium (aka Dirk De Wachter) you’ll also get songs with Roeland van der Velde, Mari Kattman, Mark Bebb, Alicia May, Kyoko Baertsoen, Saydi Driggers, Marieke Lightband, Addie Nicole, Lis van den Akker and Ellia Bisker.

Sound-wise Yves Schelpe has achieved a work, which sounds like a sonic bridge between electro-pop and ambient-electronics. It might appeal for lovers of Delerium, Conjure One, Lunascape and related bands.

The limited edition features an extra disc with remixes by SD-KRTR, Metroland, Rob Dust, 11 Grams, Mind.Divided, SNVFF, J. Wolf, The Gothsicles, Studio-X, Cosmic Armchair, Noire Antidote, Maarten Pels, Tom Bro, People Theatre, KGProject and French Skies. 

+ + + : Psy’Aviah is back with great stuff and has probably accomplished his most achieved work to date. After a rather disappointing “Lightflare”-album on which Yves Schelpe fall in the trap of easy electro-dance music, this work reflects a more intelligent approach and still a challenge in the fusion between electro-pop and atmospheric passages. The songs have been accomplished by alluring, deep sounding bass lines, elevating leads, down-tempo rhythms and a few Eastern sound treatments on a couple of songs. Yves Schelpe also selected an impressive list of talented singers (featuring some familiar Psy’Aviah guests next to newcomers).

One of my favorite cuts is the more club-friendly “New Times” feat. Alicia May (who already sang on a song of Benjamin’s Plague) while the already familiar “Voodoo Love” feat. Roeland van der Velde is a dreamy, beautiful piece of music. Among the vocalists I also want to mention Kyoko Baertsoen, Saydi Driggers and Ellia Bisker (reminding me of Lana Del Rey).

Among the remixes I recommend the 80s driven “Hold On” remixed by Metroland, “New Times” remixed by SNVFF, the wafting “Dream Fever” remixed by Tom Bro and the trance-orientated “Searching” remixed by French Skies.

– – – : The main difficulty for Psy’Aviah remains the style, which is hard to define for mixing different influences; it remains often too ‘indie’-like for underground music and too ‘dark’ for the indie-stream. It’s not exactly an album for the clubs although it sounds danceable!

Conclusion: Psy’Aviah has accomplished its opus magnum, which however remains an album hard to label and a pure challenge when it comes to ‘sales’.

Best songs: “New Times”, “Voodoo Love”, “Dream Fever”, “Searching”, “City In Flames” + “Hold On – Metroland 7” Remix”, “News Times – SNVFF Remix”, “Dream Fever – Tom Bro After Club Remix”, “Searching – French Skies Club Remix”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.psyaviah.com / www.facebook.com/psyaviah

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

The Belgian tripop/synthpop act Psy’Aviah isn’t shy of venturing into unknown territories. On their newest album, “SoulSearching”, they invited the wellknown Belgian psychologist Dirk De Wachter to provide words on the song “Becoming Human”. De Wachter is a professor at the famous KU Leuven university and author of the bestsellers “Borderline Times”, “The World of De Wachter”, and many more.

The link with the central theme in the new Psy’Aviah album – the quest through life in today’s world – can actually be found in De Wachter’s first book where he criticizes the lifestyle of the western world and the effects on happiness, loneliness and the relation with social media, consumerism, and an Icarus/ego centred world.

You can listen to “Becoming Human” right here in Spotify.

For the track Yves Schelpe asked Dirk De Wachter to provide his deep voice for the lyrics he wrote and which were inspired on the narrative he shares in his lectures and books. Yves: “I wanted to work on the subject of what it means to be human, and especially with these words I was trying to rephrase in a poem how the “small goodness” of philosopher Emanuel Levinas could be interpreted.” For Schelpe, it was a collaboration bound to happen one day, his office is closeby to where I live so…

The album is out now via Alfa Matrix, on CD, 2CD and as download and streaming of course as well.

You can check the complete album in its deluxe version below 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.

side-line.com

One of Belgium’s finest electronica trademarks over the last decade, Antwerp-based Psy’Aviah aka Yves Schelpe returns with “Soul Searching”. The new album, expected for a November 1st release, was preceded by the “Dream Fever” download EP released in March this year.

The basic album (available here) will hold 12 tracks while there is also a limited 2CD set (available here) holding a 16-track bonus CD. And for the remixers amongst you all, there are 2 remix kits waiting for you as well once the album is released on Bandcamp.

Guest vocalists

The album itself features guest vocalists in the likes of Mari Kattman, Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic and Lunascape), Lis van den Akker, Ellia Bisker, Addie Nicole, Saydi Driggers, Alicia May, Roeland van der Velde, Marieke Lightband, Mark Bebb as well as psychiatrist Prof Dr. Dirk De Wachter speaking on the intro track “Becoming Human”.

First 2 tracks available

You can now listen to the first 2 tracks which have been made available from the album.

In case you missed the “Dream Fever” EP, as released in March, check it out 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.

side-line.com

The Belgian electropop act Psy’Aviah is back with an 8-track download EP: “Dream Fever”. The 8-track version is an exclusive Bandcamp one as it holds 2 extra tracks compared to the ‘normal’ version which will be released on the other download platforms later next week.

And that’s not all, the Bandcamp version EP also has a remixkit as well included for the title track.

With “Dream Fever”, Yves Schelpe reveals the very first song from the band’s forthcoming 9th full length album “Soul Searching”. You may expect a video interview with Yves pretty soon on Side-Line.

As nicely expressed in the official video clip (see below) accompanying the release of this new EP, “Dream Fever” is an introspective song telling the story of a person trapped inside a hallucinating dream.

The video features the vocals of Saydi Driggers (lead-singer of power pop band Whistle). Musically Yves Schelpe created a modern trip-hop version holding dynamic synth layers, darker basslines with a widened exotic sound palette of instruments including Indian violin (Sarangi), rhythmic guitar (Dranye), Takasim, harp, etc..

The Police classic covered

As exclusive bonus B-side song for this new EP release, Yves Schelpe covered one of his all time favourite songs, “Walking On The Moon” by The Police. It makes it the first time that this classic song has undergone an electropop approach.

Exclusive bonus tracks on Bandcamp + remix contest

Also added are several remixes of the leading track including 2 exclusive Bandcamp-only bonus instrumental versions. But there’s more, the band also hereby announces the launch of a remixcontest as you’ll also find a remix kit included as well.

More info via this download of the EP 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.

side-line.com

Available now is the brand new video the Psy’Aviah song “Looking For The Sun” featuring Lumí (Sunnie Williams). The video was shot on location in London (UK) and stars Popova Olga. The song is taken from the “Looking For The Sun” EP as released by Alfa Matrix records.

Directed, filmed and edited by Andrea Busco with set production assistance by Sergei Lacky, the post editing was executed by Yves Schelpe.

You can stream the full EP right below or download it from 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.

side-line.com

Out now is the brand new Psy’Aviah EP “Looking For The Sun” which counts no less than 19 tracks. The download EP is available now via Bandcamp with other platforms following soon. Note that the Bandcamp version holds 3 extra tracks which will not be available on the other platforms.

The title track from the “Looking For The Sun” EP is taken from the recently released Psy’Aviah album “Lightflare”. The EP holds 3 brand new songs and a plethora of club oriented remixes. Vocally the band’s Yves Schelpe chose again for a list of female vocalists including Lumí, Kyoko Baertsoen, Marieke Lightband, Saydi Driggers and Anewta C.

Next to the 3 additional Bandcamp exclusive songs, you’ll also get an extended booklet with lyrics and a mini-essay, unique photos and a full remix kit for the new track “No More Heroes”.

You can check out the EP 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.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, dance-pop.

Background/Info: The sixth official studio album by Belgian Yves Schelpe aka Psy’Aviah appears to be a               very particular work for the artist. The writing of “Lightflare” helped him to exorcise personal demons, which are commonly known as ‘depression’ and ‘burn-out’. Just like on previous releases Schelpe joined hands with an army of female- and male singers.

Content: The singers who have contributed to this new work are Mari Kattman, Ellia Bisker, Marieke Lightband, Addie Nicole, MiXe1, Lofthill, Fallon Nieves, David Chamberlin, Phoebe Stone, Kyoko Baertsoen and Koner. The sound of Psy’Aviah has progressively evolved from underground electronics in the early beginning to electro-pop & dance eclecticism during the recent albums. It becomes rapidly clear that Yves Schelpe is more and more exploring the dance-pop style. Most of the singers are very talented artists that inject a sensual touch to the work while others bring a darker touch to the work.

The limited edition reveals a bonus disc with some extra songs and mainly remixes made by Rool, Sd-Krtr, People Theatre, Alter Future, Assemblage 23, Chaos All Stars, Cyborgdrive, Isserley and Jean-Marc Lederman.

+ + + : Diversity remains one of the main characteristics of this new work. It can be heard in the songs and of course the different vocalists. Yves Schelpe has a real nose to find the right singer for each of his songs. Sound-wise this album is the most ‘commercial’ one or should I say the most ‘dance-pop’ like. It sometimes reminds me a bit of Delerium, but my favorite cuts remain the darkest ones. The song “Reboot Reset Relay” sounds more in the continuation of earlier Psy’Aviah stuff reminding me the albums with singer Emélie Nicolaï. The sound production is absolutely impressive, which more than ever makes me say that Yves Schelpe is ready to switch from a mainly underground scene towards a more indie and commercial scene.

– – – : “Lightflare” is a technically overwhelming album coming from an artist who has lost ground with this scene. Psy’Aviah always has been a kind of antidote to dark-electronics, but he now become a true ‘alien’.

Conclusion: Yves Schelpe can be seen as a visionary artist of this scene; a kind of producer working with guest singers and exploring the most dance-like fields of electro-pop music. The question is if he still belongs to this scene? I’m rather skeptical about the answer however he released a cool work.

Best songs: “Reboot Reset Relay feat. Fallon Nieves”, “In The Sound feat. MiXe1”, “Ghost feat. David Chamberlin” + “Aftermath feat. Ellia Bisker – People Theatre Remix”, “Sound Of New feat. Addie Nicole – Sd-Krtr Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.psyaviah.com / www.facebook.com/psyaviah

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

Coming out this Friday is the brand new Psy’Aviah album “Lightflare”, and as announced a while back, we are today offering you an exclusive insight in the deluxe version of the album itself (with the exception of 3 tracks thanks to SABAM). The album is available on CD, 2CD (order right here via the Alfa Matrix webstore) and as download on Bandcamp.

Attention when you buy via Bandcamp, don’t forget to use the special code sideline2518 and you’ll get an immediate discount of 25%.

We contacted the Belgian artist behind this international project, the Antwerp based Yves Schelpe. You can preview the album here (the interview is right after this embedded player):

SL: Yves, your new album has been a personal journey through the ups and downs you experienced. How has life been treating you the past few years?

YVES: Life throws all kind of unexpected situations at you, and the older you get the more frustration creeps in, or the more you look at things from a different perspective. I can’t complain, I think I did get bored with certain situations and that I grew frustrated with stale situations. My albums have always included personal stories – whether autobiographical stories or things I’ve seen from friends & family in daily life. But “Lightflare” is a more in depth look where I take the listener through the emotions of “feeling lost” towards strategies one evolves to “cope with life” to end with “happiness and joy”.

SL: Was this something you also transmitted to the guest singers? How did they react?

YVES: For sure, almost all the lyrics and vocal guides are written by me, and I explain the meaning behind my intent with some words in details to the vocalists. Mari Kattman & I did a video to explain the process, where she talks about those vocal guides & the explenations I give her (she starts talking at 104sec).

When the lyrics are written by the guests themselves (such as Ellia Bisker of Sweet Soubrette or Michael of MiXE1) – I do give them artwork snippets, reference to other lyrics on the album I wrote and a vision I have for the lyrical content I’d like to have on the album. So it’s an intense journey working with them, and as far as I know they all appreciate that way of working, being part of telling a story.

SL: The album has been receiving raving reviews the past few weeks from all kinds of press. Was that something you had expected or was it rather the result of hard work?

YVES: This album is far more delicate than the previous two, it touches upon personal topics and while it’s still “dark pop music with an adge” and rooted in EBM, there’s also triphop, pure pop and electronic rap on there. Which made it again an evolution in my exploration of boundaries in sound. But to be able to tell a story like I wanted on Lightflare I had to seek out those genres, as they convey the emotions – it was this a lot of hard work: two years went into the album, from recording, writing, sepending time on the artwork to have a visual image for the vision & story. So when I first sent out the album and received the reviews I was very nervous – but I am so happy things are positive and that Lightflare is being appreciated a lot – both on radio, podcasts and reviews! It’s strange to think of it as the songs I made in my “bedroom studio” are being played in clubs all over the world, and listened to people from all over the world – I couldn’t be happier to with the reaction I receive from those listeners and DJs as well.

SL: What kind of influences have played a role for creating the songs for this album?

YVES: Musically I drew inspiration from Moby’s & Faithless’ triphop sounding songs, as well as Röyksopp, Tove Lo and the classics as always such as Praga Khan & Lords Of Acid which triggered me to write my own music as a yound kid. Fun fact is that I always send off songs to Ludo Camberlin (aka CS Johansen), producer on PK & LOA as well as Poésie Noire and The Neon Judgement – a very influencial person for me, but for a lot of others too I guess. Ludo always gives me very good feedback and thus is a big influence for me.

But I guess the main influence of course is the story, and for each chapter in this Lightflare story I make a song, with the lyrics in mind shaping those sounds & hits and build ups to match the mood. Not always with a vocalist in mind directly – but when I have a demo finished I usually know immediately who to ask. David from Entrzelle was perfect for Ghost, I know that there I can create an electro track with a lot of ambience, and a riff but rely on his vocal performance a lot – the emotions. Same with Mari Kattman’s “Lost At Sea”, when getting back those vocals I usually change and shape the demo around their vocals so they fit perfectly.

The vocalist that pushed me most this album for sure was with my live vocalist Marieke Lightband, we had multiple sessions and recordings at her studio in Antwerp, trying to figure out together what would be the best – giving feedback to each other and coming to a song that is very much full of soul, triphop and influences of jazz. The same happened with Michael of MiXE1 – bouncing off ideas back and forth and the song was then shaped more and more tightly around his vocals – but in stead of doing it in person like with Marieke, the process with Michael was done online: Facebook is dead – long live facebook messenger ?.

SL: You’re very active on social media, with the recent ‘reach crash’ it seems that personal contact via the profiles is back. How do you look at the way all these platforms change the rules all the time from an artist’s point of view?

YVES: It’s frustrating indeed, but I’ve always been active on all kinds of social media. Instagram & my personal profile now play a more crucial role – as well as our own website. Most people forget they signed a contract when they register to a social media platform, it’s their right to change the algorithm. So be it, but I’ll abuse the system and use the medium the way I want it – game the system, and be honest. I love it that this time around a lot of people have more immediate contact with me through facebook (facebook.com/yves.schelpe) and instragram (instagram.com/psyaviah) – sending me pictures, their personal stories on how they interpret and experience the songs and lyrics. I don’t mind adapting thus, I still think social media is a cool medium.

SL: When and where can we see Psy’Aviah live again?

YVES: We will do some shows in Belgium being booked by private companies (so sadly those are private shows) and we’re in talks to visit Germany. But we’re always open for opportunies and kick some ass on stage with our dedicated live band: Marieke, Ben and me.

You can also check out the following videos on YouTube:

“Reboot Reset Relay ft. Fallon Nieves”

“Lost At Sea ft. Mari Kattman”

“Aftermath ft. Ellia Bisker”

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.

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A few days ago we announced that Psy’Aviah will see its newest album “Lightflare” released early next year. The band, aka Yves Schelpe, has now started posting behind-the-scene talks with the collaborators. The first track discussed is “Lost At Sea”, the opening song of “Lightflare“, featuring Mari Kattman.

You can watch Mari Kattman and Yves Schelpe talk about the song in the video segment below or read more extensively in this blog post on the Psy’Aviah webpage.

Below is the music video for the electropop fuzed track “Lost At Sea”.

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.

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“Lightflare” is the title of the brand new upcoming album by the Belgian electro trip pop act Psy’Aviah. The album was written following a depression where Yves Schelpe literally hit the bottom, but luckily for us it transferred into a new release holding 14 tracks featuring an array of male and female vocalists.

Apart from the live vocalist Marieke Lightband, you’ll also find Ellia Bisker, Kyoko Bartsoen, Michael Evans (MiXE1), Koner, Mari Kattman, Fallon Nieves, David Chamberlin (Entrzelle), as well as the guitar parts signed by Jürgen Brischar of Junksista and by live member Ben van de Cruys.

You can already check out 2 tracks below, or pre-order the album on Bandcamp, you’ll get the 2 tracks as instant download.

The whole was mixed by Mitia Wexler, while the mastering was executed by Geert de Wilde (IC 434).

“Lightflare” comes out as a double-CD carton-fold limited edition with a bonus disc (available here) featuring 4 exclusive meditative / contemplative tracks inspired upon both triphop/ambient and more ethereal Indian and yoga philosophies and sounds. Next to this you get a collection of remixes by Assemblage 23, Jean-Marc Lederman, SD-KRTR, People Theatre and many more.

Below is the album video trailer.

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.

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The 58th track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by the popular Belgian electropop act Psy’Aviah here featuring Fallon Nieves (see the photo above).

The track we offer here is also featured on the band’s most recent “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars” album which sees Yves Schelpe collaborating with Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic, Lunascape), David Chamberlin (Entrzelle), Andrew Galucki, Alvin River, and many other artists. Over the years Psy’Aviah has gained a solid reputation offering strong songwriting and a slick production. You can connect with the band via their Facebook page.

Listen to “Not What I Expected (Feat. Fallon Nieves)” below and download it right here.

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

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Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, dance-pop, trance-pop.

Background/Info: No doubt about it, Psy’Aviah is one of the most atypical electro underground bands. The Belgian formation driven by Yves Schelpe earlier this year confirmed its electronic eclecticism on the album “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”, which is their sixth full length. Schelpe and his female army of guest singers strike back with an EP featuring 17 cuts!

Content: This EP features 3 parts. You first get “Radio Edit” versions from 2 songs originally released on their last album plus one new song featuring Lis Van Den Akker. “Alcubierre Drive” featuring the sensual vocals of Kyoko Baertsoen remains a unique and dreamy piece of electro-pop while “Not What I Expected” featuring Fallon Nieves sounds like a trance-pop transposition of Praga Khan. The new song “Alone” is something totally different and in a pure commercial-like dance-pop style.

We next get an important remix part featuring numerous remixes of “Alcubierre Drive” and “Alone”, but also a remix of “Not What I Expected” and 2 remixes of songs featuring Mari Kattman. Among the remixes you’ll find bands like Avarice In Audio, Cyborgdrive, Etasonic feat. Andre H, Antibody, Diskonnekted, Koner and Tim Iron.

The last part is something different revealing earlier material like 4 instrumental tracks that were composed for theater Music in 2002. We here get a more conceptual and cinematographic exposure of Psy’Aviah.

+ + + : Yves Schelpe confirms his diversified taste for electronic music. He feels comfortable composing sensual electro-pop, confirms his talent for harder, danceable and somewhat trance-like songs and takes us by surprise revealing pure dance-pop music on the edge of commercial music. “Alone” is a song, which can really become a commercial hit and the remix of Etasonic feat. Andre H is even more dance-like.

Speaking for myself I prefer the trance approach of  “Not What I Expected”, which is a great dance-piece with some dirty female vocals. Among the remixes I heard a great and totally reworked version of “Alcubierre” by Diskonnekted.

– – – : Okay for the “Radio Edit”-songs and different remixes, but the more conceptual earlier work is something too different, which is not matching with the main part of this EP. You can put a lot of stuff on an EP, but in the end it still has to sound compact and that’s what I’m missing here. Another reflection consists of the real ‘dance-commercial’ side of Psy’Aviah revealed on “Alone”. It’s a great production and I really believe this song has the potential to become a hit (it makes me think to what happened with Delerium’s “Silence”), but on the other side it creates a schizophrenic feeling, like a band showing real different faces.

Conclusion: This is without a shadow of a doubt the most versatile release by Psy’Aviah. You for sure will find something to your taste while discovering talented singers, but I’m missing some cohesion between all the influences.

Best songs: “Not What I Expected – Radio Edit”, “Alcubierre Drive – Diskonnekted vs. J. Wolf Remix”, “Lessons From The Past – Tim Iron Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.psyaviah.com / www.facebook.com/psyaviah

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.

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This morning IKEA Ghent (Belgium) was the place to be for bands wanting to know something more on the future of the music business and how to make the best of it. More precisely, the Belgian electronic music label Alfa Matrix was presenting a workshop at IKEA to the musicians behind the bands Llumen, ELM, Psy’Aviah and Mildreda (Diskonnekted), respectively Pieter Coussement, Peter Elm, Yves Schelpe and Jan Dewulf. For the label it’s the first time it has organised a joined workshop with other bands inside Belgium, but it surely won’t be the last.

Side-Line talked with Alfa Matrix’s promo manager Bernard Van Isacker who gave the workshop.

SL: First of all, you also work as an online marketeer during your daytime job?

B: Yes, I’m the online marketeer for a major seed company (number 5 in the world) for whom I develop the social media strategy, and in that role I have been giving several trainings regarding social media tricks in Belgium and in the Netherlands, but also regarding CRM since one doesn’t go without the other. For those who don’t know, CRM stands for customer relationship management and is an approach to managing a company’s interaction with current and potential future customers. We then analyse this data to improve business relationships with customers. But that’s another story.

SL: Why did Alfa Matrix decide to do this workshop?

B: This is not the first time we do this, in the past I have organised a couple of such workshops with Alfa Matrix bands but then more face to face, so one band at the time. I did several in Belgium, in Scandinavia and in Greece (where I had sessions with Siva Six and Virgins O.R. Pigeons).

But the idea to get a few bands together only started a year or 2 ago when I had a very interesting networking diner in Oslo (Norway) where several of the Alfa Matrix bands were joined by such people as John Fryer, Paul Kendall and the Electro Spectre duo. You immediately could sense there was an energy that you don’t often see.

I also know that there is a need for bands to discuss about the topics we talked about today such as marketing, communication and an insight on how the algorithms work for such companies as Spotify, Apple Music and so on.

Anyhow, when I was at an intimate event at the Club 52 here in Belgium a few weeks ago, I talked with the people behind Llumen, Psy’Aviah and Mildreda who were playing there and suggested them a joined workshop in the near future. They all agreed, so a few days later we decided upon a precise date, a location and I prepped the workshop itself. In the meantime I had invited a few other bands over too, so that’s how Peter (ELM) also joined us, the others will be joining me during a future workshop that fits their agenda.

I also plan a few of these workshops outside Belgium with the next one being in Oslo where Kant Kino, Essence Of Mind and a few other acts will be joining.

SL: What was the purpose of this meeting?

B: It’s always good to meet the artists from time to time, so that is already a good plus. But the main purpose of the workshop is to help the participating bands with their communication, their online presence, and explain them a few things which the general public and most bands are not aware of (because often their label doesn’t know either). Today for instance I presented them my future vision on the (online) press and club scene.

SL: And that is?

B: That’s classified, but it’s safe to say that my vision is quite radical. Back in the days (let’s say 10 years ago) people told me I was mad to start investing in digital distribution at such a fast pace. 10 years late I’m not so mad anymore so it seems, at least what that aspect is considered :). You have to know that I talk a lot with people from inside the business (digital distributors, major promo companies, …) to know the ins and outs of what happens and what is going to happen. I also have a few trusted people from within the scene (distributors, musicians such as Yves Schelpe, other label owners) with whom I discuss quite often about what directions the music industry might take. From that input and my own knowledge and intuition I distill a vision for Alfa Matrix which I then share with my 2 other colleagues in the label.

SL: How did you come up with the idea to do this workshop at IKEA?

B: I’m an IKEA addict basically… :). Ghent is in the centre of the Belgian cities where our bands come from, so it was kinda logical to choose this city as the central place. And since it isn’t the first time I do meetings at IKEA, it kinda was logical to keep it here. Plenty of coffee and plenty of space, I only asked the bands to be here at 10 AM so we were sure to have the space we wanted.

SL: What came out of this workshop?

B: Well, besides the content of my presentation which gave these bands a nice insight in how the business works these days, there were also a few new and exiting things that have come out of our interaction, which we hope to materialise soon. Add to this that a few really nice surprises appeared which opened opportunities. I personally strongly believe in the 1+1=3 setting if you have people sit together who are all very driven by the desire to learn. That was the case here.

SL: Do you plan to publish this guide on the net?

B: No, nice try though! This presentation and its explanation is strictly restricted to the bands signed to Alfa Matrix and is not for external distribution. In the past I have worked for labels on consultancy basis giving them ‘intel’ on a few things, but that’s only because they contracted me for this. Since I’m now only busy with Alfa Matrix, it will remain for the Alfa Matrix eyes only :).

SL: Can we expect some more of these workshops taking place in Belgium?

B: Sure, we plan one in Brussels as well in the near future, probably at IKEA Zaventem :). Next we also plan one in the Netherlands and in Mexico where we also have a few bands under contract.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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Out on November 11th is “Chasing The Speed Of Light” EP by the wellknown Belgian electropop act Psy’Aviah. Side-Line secured an exclusive stream of the 10-tracks available on the download version of the EP (note that this limited fan CD version has 7 extra tracks – it can be ordered right here). The EP features vocals by Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic, Lunascape), Lis van den Akker, Fallon Nieves and Mari Kattman (CD-version only).

The extended fan edition CD version also offers 2 previously unreleased club remixes by trance/dance producer Tim Iron for “Lessons from the Past” and “Last of Us”, plus a very early Psy’Aviah demo written back then under the Marion Xue moniker. Next to that you get 4 atmospheric recordings Yves Schelpe made back in 2002 as a soundtrack for a theatrical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic novel “The Portrait Of Dorian Grey”.

But here’s already the full 10-track download EP for you to listen to, exclusively 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.

side-line.com

Set up and driven by the creative spirit of Yves Schelpe, Psy’Aviah is already active since 2004. The band has been inspired by numerous influences becoming a kind of sonic chameleon or simply a pure sonic ‘pop’ enigma. Electro-pop has been often the basis of their work while multiple influences like electro-clash, trance, electro-rock, trip-hop and even dance have been explored. The new opus “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars” again is a new sonic exorcism of new influences while featuring multiple and talented guest singers. Time for a chat with Yves Schelpe.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What were the main ideas and purposes when starting the writing of the new album “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”?

Yves: After writing the 6^th album “The Xenogamous Endeavour”, which came out in 2014, I was suffering from ‘blank-paper-syndrome’ or commonly known as writer’s block. I did make music, but I just had no connection emotionally to it. The turning point came after watching the movie “Interstellar”, the atmosphere really inspired me and kickstarted the first song “Alcubierre Drive” (look at our video), in which both the music and lyrics are my personal soundtrack for the movie. After that the process shifted gears, most of the other tracks are also loosely based on the movie, yet, if you don’t know it you won’t notice it – as every lyric can be translated to the ‘real world’. I like it that they have this double meaning.

Q: So what is this new album dealing with and what’s the deeper meaning behind the title?

Yves: The title refers to several things. The most obvious is that this is my seventh studio album. “Sorrows vs Stars” alludes to the fact that the songs are sometimes positive, and sometimes totally depressing, just like life. The album itself is of course inspired by the events and atmosphere of the movie “Interstellar” as I mentioned before – but each and every track can be interpreted as if it would happen in the ‘real world’.

“Alcubierre Drive” for example deals with lovers, people, friends, slowly growing apart – whilst “Stronger” is a song about rising again after a deep fall. Every song has each own unique story to share.

Q: You again worked with multiple guest singers (and a lot of male vocalists this time). I can’t imagine it’s possible to get a similar connection with a guest singer instead of a band singer so how did it happen and how did the recording and production of the vocals happened?

Yves: You’d think it isn’t easy to connect, but when recording and preparing to record I always have lengthy mails or sometimes skype or telephone calls with the vocalists so that we connect and understand each other. As I write most of the lyrics myself I do also explain what’s behind it, record a demo guide vocal for them to interpret.

This makes it so that the sound stays true to my songwriting ideas. It’s actually the very same way I worked before with a ‘fixed’ singer, the only upside now is that I have a lot more creative freedom and a range of talented vocalists who each have their unique strengths.

Q: I got the impression every new album by Psy’Aviah sounds like a new sonic travel where you explore different influences. How do you see this evolution as composer and master mind of the band?

Yves: It’s a deliberate choice from the inception of the band. I always wanted to incorporate styles and not pin myself down to just one genre, as it limits my songwriting and storytelling. I think it’s because of listening to bands like Faithless, Moby, The Chemical Brothers, Praga Khan and Soulwax – who showed that you don’t have to keep to just one genre. A mix of ambient, trip-hop, dance anthems, aggressive tunes is possible and keeps it fresh and more interesting for me as well. Whilst I do mix up the genres, I always try to keep that certain ‘Psy’Aviah’-sound though.

Q: You once posted an interesting quote about the reason(s) you stopped playing live with Psy’Aviah. I think it’s an interesting point to share with us and what’s your opinion about the subject right now?

Yves: I still think it’s true, there’s a lot of promoters that don’t take their job seriously. In the end it then always reflects on the band when the sound is off, the lights don’t work, the soundcheck settings weren’t recorded, or the PA just walks out… And there’s a lot more. You might argue it’s part of the job, but in all honesty, I loathe that part and it lacks of professionalism.

Mind, I’m not talking about all promoters, but it’s always a gamble what you’ll be facing. Hence we’re always double prepared with our own mixing engineer, etc… Part of the reason might also have been a lack of motivation of the previous ‘live band vocalist’ to continue to push and go for it.

But, surprise, surprise, after three years (our last gig was with Praga Khan at ‘Anciennce Belgique’), we’ll be back on stage on September 9^th, 2016 at ‘Kinky Star’ Ghent with a new live band: Marieke Lightband on vocals (winner of several singer/songwriter awards, and has massive experience outside the ‘scene’ as well), my favorite live guitarist Ben Van de Cruys and me behind the keys. Very much looking forward to this new journey! And bookings are open at http://www.psyaviah.com/contact/live-bookings/.

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

Out on April 15 is the brand new Psy’Aviah album “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”. Today Side-Line offers an exclusive stream of the complete album (including the bonus tracks).

We also asked Psy’Aviah’s Yves Schelpe to offer a track-by-track comment for the album. Psy’Aviah is one of the few electropop acts which has been constantly reinventing itself, hence also the reason why we have asked Alfa Matrix and Psy’Aviah to have this special Side-Line feature one week before the official release. You will also be able to see a few videos which will only be officially released in a few weeks from now (and which are further being edited actually).

You can order the album as a 2CD from the Alfa Matrix label webstore or as a download from Bandcamp.

Below is the full album available for streaming. While you are listening, you can read the track-by-track comment by Yves Schelpe below.

1. Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars

An intro with a short poem which is self-explanatory. I deliberately chose for an intro like this, as it sets the tone for what’s to come. I chose Diana S. of Junksista to voice this, as I love the warmth and pronunciation which fitted perfectly with the big sound the intro has.

2. Alcubierre Drive (ft. Kyoko Baertsoen)

This song kickstarted the album for me after watching the movie “Interstellar”, in fact 80% of the tracks are somewhat based on that movie, it is in fact my own personal soundtrack. “Interstellar” kept haunting me for days, and I immediately started working on this slow beat sequence with pads and chords. The lyrics are based on the father / daughter relationship, and how they’re separated from each other due to the time dilation effect. But I made sure to transpose the lyrics to the real world as well, as sometimes couples or people just grow apart, and eventually get out of sync… I chose Kyoko Baertsoen for this track, as she has a unique way of singing: warm, smokey and always emotional and touching – which was what this track really needed.

3. Face to Face (ft. Roeland van der Velde)

As a child I was influenced by a lot of eurodance and eurotrance, I wanted to get some of those influences in here but with that hint of darkness and more electropop vibe. I needed a powerful male vocal, Roeland van der Velde of Model Depose was the best pick. He works fast, sings very clean, but with power and passion, I don’t even think he needs a microphone. Thematically it’s about wanting to have a real connection again, instead of skype, sms, messaging etc.. But the root inspiration came from that father / daughter relationship again, they were trying to get back, face to face.

4. Looking Back (ft. David Chamberlin)

When I heard the first release of Entrzelle, I knew I had to ask David on this track. His voice delivers the perfect emotional lament for the song and lyrics I had written. Dealing about changing the past, if you could, would you – and the things you did in the here and now – did they matter, and did you give your best? These things haunt me sometimes, as does it haunts a lot characters in Interstellar as well – if you’ve seen the movie you know.

5. Lesson from the Past (ft. Mari Kattman)

The movie starts out with a bland earth falling apart, and with the dire situation the world is in today I wondered do we ever learn from our past… Mari is a perfect fit, she has both the power and subtle elements to make such an electropop song with influences of 80s, disco and house work.

6. From Another World (ft. Bernard Feron)

An electropop tune with influences of breakbeats, with all the melodies and sounds again inspired on Interstellar. It is a track where Bernard Feron of Combat Voice really shines, his deep dark voice come sout very well, yet he also shows a very delicate side. He also wrote the lyrics, and they fitted perfectly into my thematic.

7. Never Look Back (ft. Ellia Bisker)

Ellia of Sweet Soubrette is an all-round artist, but foremost a fenomenal songwriter, instrumentalist and ofcourse vocalist – with her unique jazzy vocal twist. In a way it’s a perfect answer to the track “Looking Back” earlier on the album, yet this was unplanned. Ellia penned and sung the lyrics when I have her this instrumental.

8. Opia (ft. Pieter Van Vaerenbergh)

I know Pieter (of Metafuzz and Zelon) for a long time, he played in a band with my girlfriend back then. So I knew what he could do and where his qualities were – I wanted to work with him for a long, long time – but with this ambient tainted ballad and lyrics I knew his voice would shine, notice especially the second verse. He also played guitar solo at the end. The lyrics, ofcourse they relate to Interstellar, but I guess you’d know that by now ;).

9. Frozen (ft. Andrew Galucki)

There’s moments people ask me a question and my mind goes blank, and I stare at them.. Essentially “Frozen”. To them it might seem like I’m ignorant or arrogant, but I’m actually panicking what to say – there will be a music video out soon where this theme will be visualised even more in a unique way. I chose Andrew for his powerful and grainy voice especially when he sings out loud and long notes – as he comes from again a totally different background than our scene being a singer/songwriter.

10. Liberosis (ft. Alvin River)

My love for mid and late 90s Eurodance really comes out here I think. So I needed someone who could really have such a tone of voice, and could equal the powerful vocals reminiscent of that period. And then there was Alvin River, an Italian singer / songwriter – I knew his voice would be a match when I heard it. The song’s lyrics were co-written with Chris Anderson, who really knew what kind of vibe I wanted.

11. Peace Paradox

Same inspiration for this came from the first few scenes in Interstellar that made me write “Lessons from the Past”. I wanted to do the vocal myself, but thought I’d add an interesting twist and bug scientology – as the vocal is from a speech from L. Ron Hubbard, though as scientology often twists people’s words around in their favour, I did the same with his and thus made him say something completely different than he originally did. I’m already awaiting the letter from their Belgian lawyers ;)…

12. Not What I Expected (ft. Fallon Nieves)

When you’re a child, in college, you’re promised you can be who you want to be, life will be a big festival and a job will be your passion project ofcourse, not a job… Not, ofcourse, listen to the track, lyrics and watch the music video that comes out on release date and I guess most of you can relate. Fallon Nieves delivers a great vocal performance, combining both the timing, the “je m’en fous” attitude mixed with that little bit of anger is not easy to pull of, and I think she did great to give it the feeling the track needed for the theme.

13.Stronger (ft. Addie Nicole)
Stronger is an old track I wanted to finish for a very long time. And the way the daughter in Interstellar keeps fighting and eventually gets stronger reminded me of it again. Originally this was a breakbeat, almost rock track, but I made this power pop trance version of it and decided to add Addie Nicole’s very unique vocal to it. It made it stand out more, Addie is originally from the band Halocene, which is a quite popular pop/rock band based in the US.

14. Wild Ride (ft. Miss FD)

I love big beat & breakbeat, it goes back to my love for Praga Khan, Crystal Method and Prodigy. But it’s not easy to write vocals for – but Miss FD always just nails it. Subtle parts, harder parts, out of the heart, real passion I hear there. It’s a quite aggressive track, and she delivered the right vocals and lyrics for it. I love working with her, because she always comes up with something on the tracks where I can’t seem to find a good vocal or lyric for.

15. Starstruck (ft. Diana S.)

Intentionally at the end to calm back down, a poem with an ambient tune I wrote. Again voiced by Diana of Junksista, as she could deliver that in a touching way, without being to cheesy. I love her performance on this track, especially the subtle vocoder part she sent me which is layered as backings under some words. I won’t explain the poem, but TL;DR – when I feel it’s all too much, a gaze at the stars can solve a lot – which makes it a perfect ending for the album.

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.

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Out in April, but ready for ordering on Bandcamp and here for the CD/2CD versions, is “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”, the brand new Psy’Aviah album. Alfa Matrix is now offering 4 tracks for streaming, which you can check below. The tracks included are the intimate “Looking Back (feat. David Chamberlin from Entrzelle), the pulsating “Lessons From The Past (feat. Mari Kattman)”, the what we expect to be an upcoming dance hit “Not What I Expected (feat. Fallon Nieves)” and “Wild Ride (feat. Miss FD)”, the latter has a very oriental touch as you’ll hear.

These days Psy’Aviah is basically the project around the multi-talented Belgian artist Yves Schelpe who has been gathering a varied range of singers around his songs including Kyoko Baertsoen (ex-Hooverphonic, Lunascape), David Chamberlin (Entrzelle), Roeland van der Velde (Model Depose), Bernard Feron (MED, Combat Voice), Mari Kattman, Andrew Galucki, Alvin River, Pieter Van Vaerenbergh (Metafuzz, Zelon), Ellia Bisker (Sweet Soubrette), Miss FD, Addie Nicole (Halocine), Diana S. (Junksista) and Fallon Nieves.

Next to the normal CD version and the extended download version, the album also comes out as a limited deluxe 2CD carton box edition with a 14-track bonus CD holding album songs reinterpretations with a much more dancefloor techno / trance oriented approach. You an find the complete trackless of remixers right here.

Below is already the trailer for the album:

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.

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Genre/Influences: Trip-pop, electro-pop.

Content: Yves Schelpe, the artistic force behind Psy’Aviah has achieved his new full length “Seven Sorrows, Seven Stars”. It will be the 5th official full length by this Belgian formation, which is really hard to define and especially to label as one particular genre.

The electronic eclecticism is without a shadow of a doubt one the band’s main forces, but at the same time still the point making that this band never reached a deserved wider recognition. Every single album sees Yves Schelpe exploring new paths, which are progressively taking a distance with the established electronic-underground patterns like EBM and dark-electro. Since Emelie Nicolaï left the band as the singer, Schelpe started to work with the different guest vocalists and he now again takes his audience by surprise. Ellia Bisker is an American jazzy singer and member of Sweet Soubrette while J. Airi is a Jamaican singer.

“Never Look Back” featuring Ellia Bisker is a sweet, wafting sensation on, which Psy’Aviah explores trip-pop paths. It’s a graceful and deeply artistic creation with a rather warm feeling. This song possibly reveals what the new full length will sound like.

The other title song “Words” featuring J. Airi is an exclusive EP song, which is a bit similar in the genre and especially the delicious reverie part of the song is absolutely great. Psy’Aviah clearly experienced with new ideas, which are miles away from the early –and more danceable stuff.

We next get 3 remixes of “Never Look Back” and 2 remixes of “Words”. And here again Psy’Aviah asked for artists, mainly dealing with other influences and musical genres. The result is quite diverse and sometimes really surprising, and even pretty clubby.

There are 2 potential club remixes of “Never Look Back”. There’s a great groovy and even sexy remix by Gavril’s and other hard pumping remix by label mate Simon Carter. This is a great piece of danceable music, but I also like the way the pure dance lead is coming through.

Another cool remix is the one of “Words” by B-Sight. This producer transposed the original version into a more IDM format and I was deeply impressed by the way the vocals of J. Airi emerge to the surface here. This is a really talented singer.

Both remixes left are not as noticeable although we have to mention the remix of Jean-Marc Lederman (Weathermen).

Conclusion: Psy’Aviah doesn’t care about compromises and established music genres, this band is just moving in a deeply creative way. Even if I’m not sure Psy’Aviah is active in the right scene, this work will catch the attention of open-minded electro-lovers.

Best songs: “Never Look Back – Gavril’s DJ Remix”, “Words – B-Sights Remix”, “Never Look Back – Simon Carter’s Clubbed Up Remix”, “Never Look Back”.

Rate: (DP:8)DP.

Band: www.psyaviah.com / www.facebook.com/psyaviah

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.

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