Angel Theory - Fatal Condition (Endless)

Angel Theory - Transmission EP (Endless)

Angel Theory , from Australia, produce deep reaching Electro music. Melodic slow moods, rhythmic electro sounds and a clear, expressive male voice give the Fatal Condition album a typical cold character. Listening to it is like travelling through a dream landscape with clouds and emptiness but also with moments of hope. With Fatal Condition, Angel Theory show a special own character and that they are working with their own ideas, and with creativity. Transmission is the tenth song of the Fatal Condition album and also the title of Angel Theory’s 8-track EP. Transmission is a well-conceived track with a great electro rhythm, pounding beats and melodic vocals, and a dark, cold atmosphere to go with. Compared to the other tracks, Transmission is faster and has more dancefloor elements. The EP includes the main title in five different versions, each being treated in a special and interesting way so that the listener wouldn’t grow bored. Three of the versions are remixes, done by Lemonsoul, Covenant and Stark. One other track, titled Fashion, is a cold sounding Bowie cover version, rendered in a strong altered way. Because of the distorted beats the track Paranoia fully honours its title. Apart from one exception Fatal Condition and Transmission don’t intersect one another and are done each in its own way, so it actually makes sense to get both of them. If Angel Theory go on like this, they could have soon a place in the Electro scene equivalent to that which bands as Covenant, VNV Nation or Suicide Commando have since a long time. www.angeltheory.com - www.endless-records.de

Karin Zenzinger

Attrition - Dante’s Kitchen (Big Blue)

Some three years of intense work for Martin Bowes have resulted in Dante’s Kitchen, the 12^th full length production for one of the pioneering minds of the UK electronic / experimental wave. With the very introductive notes, a dark mood is established, which is brilliantly maintained throughout, using many of the traditional ingredients so dear to the band’s fans, Martin’s pinch for experimentation being naturally one of them, but going a few steps further and melting in the pot a varied range of influences, re-elaborating them in a unique and original way. Attrition’s electronic arrangements and textures have always had a high degree of complexity, retaining a sense of minimalism with more lyrical content added by the female vocals ranging from heavenly to opera like. These in turn juxtapose Martin deep and gritty narration, building greatly a tension on their own. The addition of nervous violin arrangements contributes a sort of “hellish” feel while percussive textures underline most part of the proceedings adding extra dynamism to the already unsettling picture. The album sports a quite hermetic name, and this isn’t certainly an album about lilies or sunny days… it’s dark in a sort of tormenting way and cold, yet full of passion, like a tormented soul. Tracks such Feed The Crow with its hypnotic synth line or The Long Hall with its interrogative spoken vocal lines and its crescendo underlined by a drum’n’bass like percussive insertion are explicative of these feelings. The title track is by far the most accessible cut, a definite candidate for the pitch dark dancefloor. Closing with a piece of doom ambient, Attrition seal a flawless production that would have to go very well down with those into cold wave and dark electronics, all the way to goths with eyes open to experimentation, while industrialists of the dark side should definitely keep a close eye on it as well. www.attrition.co.uk

Gianfri

Excession - The Writing on The Wall CDs (Celestial)

A brand new single for Londoners Dave and Yasmin of Excession, who seem to take their ethereal/goth mix more in traditional gothic rock direction. To be honest two tracks is a little thin to base an idea on, about the new works of the band, but there seems to be a message there. With vocals going X-Mal Deutschland, the ethereal/atmospheric component is toned down and while Souls moves in the direction already traced by Desire from their previous album Forever (see review in Darklife Nr. IX), the upbeat title track goes further to danceable territory. The single is rounded up by an electronic remix of the title track, introducing another possible direction for the duo. In all honesty I prefer them sticking to the traditional role, but there might be people out there enjoying this “cybering up”. www.excessionuk.co.uk

Gianfri

Ghost Parade - Dying Breed (Self-Released)

Portland is the home of this 4-piece, traditionally instrumented with guitar/bass/keyboard/drums. Dying Breed is their second full-length effort and features dark tinted wave quite reminiscent of the golden era of the genre. Romanticism, sombre atmospheres, a touch of melancholy and full bodied, versatile vocals conjuring up some heroes of the eighties. Some of the best moments are Starry Night and Lie To Me, two beautiful nocturnal ballads that are exquisite examples of the best “analogue” darkwave around, very well in line with that mystic or romantic wave that flourished in Germany in the early nineties (Dreadful Shadows, Children of No Return and co.). They unleash also some raw edged post-punk tunes, carrying the fierce spirit of some early Cure or Bowie stuff, while a catchy wink to the electric eighties comes with the title track. The album is well produced with attention for the detail and is a consistent and pleasant listen throughout, proposing Ghost Parade as a combo to watch for if willing to taste with a new, renewed spirit those 80’s through early 90’s atmospheres. www.ghostparade.com

Gianfri

Greenhaus - Another Life (Phuture Recordings)

Another Life shows that the latest incarnation of London based Greenhaus is without doubt the most capturing to date, and best suited for those into lunar and dreamy moods. Moving over from their early technoid experiences, the band team up with singer / composer Lahannya and show a high level of maturity in the composition department, with subtle guitar arrangements, crafted electronics, waves of embracing keyboards of 80’s through 90’s inheritance (or The Cure circa Disintegration) and a matching rhythmic department very effective in the conjuring of the moods. Lahannya outstanding vocal works are the other part of the equation, one that conjures memories of the 4AD era or bands as Lush. While Lahannya sings on most of the album, imprinting her own character to the tracks, other guest vocalist appear in Another Life, bringing their own touch to an album that since the very first notes of the opening It’s That Time of The Year -graced by vocals by Sandrine Gouriou of Seize- flows with no up nor downs, living in its own created dreamy-cosm of beauty. Liz Green of Swarf and Roi from Mechanical Cabaret contribute vocals to the more danceable tracks. In the context of such an organic and balanced production, I would gladly avoid pointing at specific tracks, but a mention of a cover version of The Cure’s Plainsong can’t be neglected, not least because it’s a beautiful version of a song that is very hard to re-interpret in the first place. Having dropped the first name, I’ll go on to point my own personal favourites, namely Trigger and Fragments, two little pieces underlined by old and modern minded electronics and that enveloping yet not obvious guitar/keyboard work that easily show in my opinion where the strengths of Greenhaus lay in this incarnation. Another Life feels retro and modern at the same time, but what’s more important, it interprets the greyed out moods of a couple of generations of darkwavers in a fresh new optic. www.greenhaus.co.uk

Gianfri

Joke Jay - Angefixxt (Wannsee)

Here we have the extra long 7-track maxi single Angefixxt which is the first work of the ex And One member Joke Jay. Angefixxt is a hard electronic song with pounding, pushing beats. The German lyrics are not really exciting but the strange and clear voice fits well together with the powerful hard rhythmic beat and in the end this song makes fun and is well suited for the dancefloor. There are clear And One influences in Joke Jays music. The remixes are made by Funker Vogt, Second Decay, Kook and Adam, unfortunately the difference between the seven versions is not significant which makes the listening to this CD as a whole a bit monotonous. O.K, in one of the versions the voice is distorted and another version sounds more like house music but I think one could have made more out of it. Hopefully the upcoming long player Fiasko Deluxe will turn out to be more varied. www.jokejay.de

Karin Zenzinger

Jute - A Violent Narcotic (Catalyst Sounds)

Jute is downtempo and celestial. A 4-piece from Chicago, they debut brilliantly with 11 tracks of blissful atmospheres evoking a transcendental feel. Their ambiences are simply devilishly seductive, a combination of guitar and electronics textures do drawn in, with the use of repetitive beats adding to the mesmerising feel, and female ethereal vocals by Julie quietly emerging and floating about and the occasional vocal contribution by guitarist Joe. The production is excellent, with a clear mix effectively conjuring up the feel of a sonic ritual. Self-recorded, produced and released, A Violent Narcotic is a debut album showing dripping talent, indicating Jute as band to dig for fans of ethereal ritual music. www.juteband.com

Gianfri

Lahannya - Drowning EP (Kabuki)

This production actually dates back to 2000, the first (and to date only) release for this British female fronted project. The four songs featured revolve around Lahannaya’s expressive vocals tracing catchy, dreamy melodies vaguely reminiscent of some acclaimed 4AD bands. The arrangements are kept on the minimal side, giving a sense of transparency and maintaining the attention on the vocals, which, bright in tones and with additional ethereal layers, still evoke a sense of greyness throughout. More evidently in Losing Yourself, a long cavalcade where the atmosphere turns steeply grey, definitely one for the moody crowd. One might get the feeling that much of the potential of the compositions is left unexploited, then again this leads to an atypical, eclectic product with a potential appeal to a wider audience. The simple and raw use of electric guitar underlying the proceedings is explicative of this feeling. The Drowning EP sets very interesting premises for Lahannaya, who is working on her debut full length, which is eagerly awaited. www.lahannya.com/lahannya

Gianfri

Libitina - Reflections & Refractions (Libation)

Riding high the hot wave of acclaim generated by their last album, The Shadowline (see review in Darklife Nr. IX), Libitina unleash a collection of reworkings and remixes of titles from their back catalogue: Reflections & Refractions. Now, remixes and reworkings are a field leading often artists to fall flat on their premises, but this is not the case here for Libitina who have seamlessly integrated appropriate electronic elements to permeate their dark tunes, both with and without the helping hands of the remixers. They had already made a clear move towards electronics with The Shadowline and Reflections & Refractions shows that the path is well traced to establish themselves as a staple act for the new generation of goths with “technology and soul”. Key point is that Libitina, rather than trading themselves for electronics at all costs or for the weak cyber trend, maintain their blueprint and get it very well embellished with beats and synths. What hit me most though, about Reflections…, is that it is comparable to a live performance, as in the song sequence, the seamless shift of moods and so on. Well, I’ve never seen the band live, so I’m just speculating here, but I can easily imagine a live show with the “Reflections… soundtrack”. Contributing remix artists are Inertia, K-Nitrate, Swarf, Manuskript, Synthetic and Sins of The Flesh, a very well respected line-up making this album a great candidate for the collection of a quite wide range of goth-electro followers and very well tailored to club play as well. www.libitina.co.uk

Gianfri

Minefield - Decomposition: Re-Inventing Minefield (Self-Released)

I was tempted to file this in the sampler section, as it is effectively a re-mix album, but I didn’t want to deter the attention from the artist the source material belongs to, Minefield a Canadian outfit centred around Tamara Kent, a talented vocalist of the sweet, angelic, dreamy variety. Decomposition:… features a total of 12 tracks, re-mixes by a host of 10 international artists of 4 tracks previously published in Minefield’s After The Ball EP. I must admit remix albums are rarely my piece of cake, so I’m happy to have to hold back my attitude and rank this album quite high as it offers very interesting takes on the original melodic mid-tempo dark pop/wave of the tracks. There’s enough variety here to keep the listener attention very well up, and if you get distracted a moment you’ll easily forget it is a remix album. The common ground of the remixers seems to be a creative use of electronics in different directions, ranging from the dancefloor oriented to the more moody with ambience, from trip-hop to industrialised. The cast of remixers includes names not much known on this side of the ocean, Karl Mohr, Soviet Radio, Dead Poets Society, Synthetic Dream Foundation amongst them. Decomposition… will be a favourite of fans of female fronted electronic pop very well above banality and with some classy twists. www.minefieldmusic.com

Gianfri

Stereoskop - Electrika (STKM)

Electrika is the first release by the Spanish band Stereoskop. This varied album reminds me a little bit of the mood of the Wave Pop of the 80’s. Deep going melodies are mixed with rhythmic keyboard parts, different electro sounds and some guitar riffs, which are mostly in the background. The matching voice of front woman Susana Egea is completing this pleasant album. The album includes 12 tracks and it’s from the beginning to the end nice to hear. www.stereoskop.net - www.stkm.com

Karin Zenzinger

Superikone - Opiate (Upscene)

Opiate is the first release of Malte Schmidt-Kohl’s electro project Superikone. The music style can be put somewhere in between EBM, Synthpop, NDW and Dark Wave. For me it sounds like Superikone has drawn a bit on the style of Grauzone or similar NDW bands. It is of course not the same kind of music but there are common points, with melodies that can grow quickly on you and easily imprint on your memory. Opiate features 10 songs and 3 bonus tracks, which are all danceable and capturing in their arrangements. The pleasant vocals of the front man fit really well with the melodic, soft -and sometimes pushing- electro sounds and the additional female vocals popping in from time to time. The German lyrics are like sensible thoughts and much more intelligent if compared to the output of other projects of these days. For example, tracks such as Engel, keep the listener’s interest hooked from the first seconds until the end, as to how “the story” goes on. The three bonus tracks are alternate mixes of the songs appearing earlier in the CD. The original CD, released in March 2004 includes also a CD-ROM extra with videos and picture material. Unfortunately we have only the promo-version without this stuff, so I cant tell you anything more about this. Opiate is a well-produced work which will be surely of interest to fans of bands like Melotron or the likes. www.superikone.de

Karin Zenzinger

Sound Tesselated - Overnight (Self-released)

Sound Tesselated - Homeless (Self-released)

Sound Tesselated - Dizzy (Self-released)

Here we have the three releases which make up to date the complete work of Berlin based Sound Tesselated. It sounds like Sound Tesselated are firmly grounded in the 80’s, at least concerning the music they produce. Specially the first two albums Overnight, released in 1996 and Homeless, released in 2000 are very reminiscent of some 80’s bands such as Click Click, Level 42, Blancmange, Psyche and others, this list could go on and on now. Sound Tesselated came out with a melodious Synth-Pop sound, combined with soft, flattering male singing, the kind that has warmed the heart of listeners since over 20 years, cuddling them up in every way.There is not a lot of difference between Overnight and Homeless, of course, each album has its own character and for me Overnight is even a little bit softer than it should. Dizzy, the CD, released in 2004 is distinctly different from its predecessors. Also here the Synth-Pop takes a big part but it sounds definitely funkier. May be Sound Tesselated have left the 80’s now and are approaching the 90’s? At least it looks like they have made some experiments, such as in Ich Will Dich Spüren where they use for the first time German lyrics, while all the other pieces are with English lyrics. The 8th track, with the self-explaining title Reggaenight, is one other example, it sounds like Bob Marley took electronics. Also, a famed collaborator, namely Nik Page (Blind Passengers) has a role as lyric writer in one of the tracks, Fly Away. To summarise, the two earlier works of Sound Tesselated are well crafted for all fans of the 80’s Synth-Pop, while who likes it also a little funkier, should go along with Dizzy. Sound Tesselated, that is Norman Haase, Ricardo Eschner and Marco Dames have produced and self released all their CD’s from 1996 until now, proving their commitment to their musical ideas. www.sound-tesselated.de

Karin Zenzinger

Z-Prochek - Viewers (Re:Pop)

The last release of Swedish combo Z-Prochek with the title Viewers is a typical Future-Pop/EBM album. Specially the first two songs Outside Acts and In Despair and the fourth and fifth songs Behind The Screen and Skin are very much reminiscent of the music style of Covenant circa United States Of Mind and other projects like Lights Of Euphoria or Neuroticfish. Among the large number of projects that produce music in this style, Z-Prochek score quite good because they are shaping their work in a varied fashion and without any exaggerates references to fellow artists in the genre. Nearly all the tracks are suitable for the dance floor of EBM/Electro clubs. In the song Torch the melodious voice of frontman Markus Bustad alternates with distorted voices (which are only used in this track) in a well fitting way. The third track Apart is again dominated by quiet, melodic sounds and a graceful voice. Thread The Boards goes instead more in the direction of the 80’s Wave Pop. Also some small techno influences are not missing, one can find them especially in the title-track Viewers and the beginning of Avenge. Compared to the other tracks, Orbital stands out as being out of the Industrial area, with pounding, cold and pushing beats, in which Z-Prochek for once renounced inserting any vocals. The album is pleasantly wrapped up by the mid-tempo, catchy All I Am. It’s a good sign that Z-Prochek, even after their success in the year 2003 which saw their debut album making it to place 11 of the DAC-year-charts (a remarkable success for a newcomer band), didn’t loose the plot in favour of stardom and commerciality by means of recycling elements from genre bands and went on producing an interesting and entertaining album. Of course also here one can draw comparison to other bands in the genre, but at least Z-Prochek came up mostly with their own ideas and the talent to make fine music. www.zprochek.com - www.re-pop.com

Karin Zenzinger