Issue 4 - Matrix Revelations

HELALYN FLOWERS – AYRIA – I:SCINTILLA – JUNKSISTA – GLIS RECOIL – DANIEL B. PROTHESE - METROLAND - DISKONNEKTED AESTHETISCHE – DUNKELWERK – KANT KINO – TECHNOIR – SIVA SIX FREAKANGEL – LOVELORN DOLLS – CYNICAL EXISTENCE – IMPLANT MENTALLO & THE FIXER – KRYSTAL SYSTEM – MARI CHROME electronic music with attitude

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012 is over and out... A lot of things have happened in the Matrix we must say, a lot of things are still happening, and above all, a lot of things are still bound to happen. What a hectic year it was, and as one door closes, another one opens…here we go again! Issue #004 of our «Matrix Revelations» magazine is here offering you a taste of what you can expect from us soon...

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hile the second half of 2012 brought us the stunning blu-ray from RECOIL, we also launched the debut albums for two much-acclaimed new bands (both involving EBM veterans!) with METROLAND and AESTHETISCHE. Add to this a bunch of outstanding EP’s from GLIS, SHAUN F, FREAKANGEL, I:SCINTILLA, MARI CHROME, AMBASSADOR21 or yet our most recent label addition from Germany JUNKSISTA. In October, we also inaugurated our official Alfa Matrix bandcamp page http://alfamatrix. bandcamp.com/ with the 44U concept through which we will reveal 4 new tracks from 4 of our label bands almost every month. These songs are made available in top quality and are sold at a «pay as you wish» price... A very successful adventure so far, and for which we received lots of positive feedback from you our fans. THANK YOU for this precious support!

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fter the recently released solid 6th edition of our classic «Endzeit Bunkertracks» compilation box, 2013 will see the release of a new compilation series exclusively devoted to female voices from the underground scene: «Absolute Grrrls Manifesto» that we are currently completing as you read this... The first months of the new year 2013 will also see new albums by CYNICAL EXISTENCE, LOVELORN DOLLS, GLIS, DUNKELWERK, KRYSTAL SYSTEM and KANT KINO. And if this wasn’t enough, We’re also expecting new CD’s soon from IMPLANT, HELALYN FLOWERS, DANIEL B. PROTHESE, JUNKSISTA, AYRIA, as well as EP’s from I:SCINTILLA, AESTHETISCHE, SIVA SIX and some intriguing surprises from POUPPEE FABRIKK, ALIEN VAMPIRES and FRONT 242...

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n this new Matrix Revelations issue, we once again let the bands speak themselves about their future plans and new albums!

G L I S . P H O E N I X [CD / 2CDbox / digital] Classic-era 4AD ambiance meets early WaxTrax electro/industrial.

Lo-fi ethereal darkwave sound with a touch of melodic modernity.

Nostalgic hints to Bowie, Eno, Cocteau Twins, NIN, Joy Division…

A personal and meaningful album of death and (re)birth.

nd if you’re still searching for the perfect x-mas present... Go and discover our e-shop if you did not use our mail-order service yet! We have at the moment a special discount corner active on the site allowing you to buy 3 albums for only 29,99 EUR (shipping & postage included worldwide!). http://www. alfa-matrix.com/alfa-matrix-sales.php

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njoy the read and we’ll rendezvous somewhere in 2013 for a next edition with more news, gossip and revelations about our artists’ musical endeavours present and future.

Your Alfa Matrix Team benoît blanchart . bernard van isacker . seba dolimont

code: alfa matrix genesis: august 2001 target: connecting hearts & brains

electronic music with attitude

trademark: electronic music with attitude credo: together we are stronger operational HQ: brussels . belgium

www.alfa-matrix.com www.facebook.com/alfa.matrix www.twitter.com/alfamatrix

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More essence -less embellishments…

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ou have released a few new songs on various compilations lately… When can we expect a new HELALYN FLOWERS release?

We think that everything will be ready on early 2013. Yes, we released these two new songs («Before The Sunshine» and «White Me In || Black Me Out») to warm up audiences and reveal two different sides of the album…

LOVELORN DOLLS The House Of Wonders [CD / 2CDbox / digital] Extraordinary dark romantic atmospheres à la Tim Burton. Incisive guitars, infectious beautiful melodies, charming female vocals. Produced by Victor Love (DOPE STARS INC., OMEGA LITHIUM, etc.) for fans of THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE, LACUNA COIL, etc.

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(officially we reveal here its title: «White Me In || Black Me Out») moves somewhere in between the two but it’s different at the same time. We’d say that it’s going to be our darkest album, in which even the sweetest melody has something black inside. It’s not going to be a concept album like «Stitches Of Eden» was. Contrary, this time ‘mood’ is the key-word. It’s kinda cinematic and each note is an image and a scenario. Some song When hearing these new songs I titles: «Alkaline Twins», «Electric have the impression that the new Night», «Collide», «Tribes Of The album will be more upbeat, more Future»... electro and maybe a bit closer to the debut album than to «Stitches Image and design have always of Eden»? What can you reveal at played an essential part in your work. What can we expect from this point?

«A Voluntary Coincidence» was a your new release? raw, adrenalinic and powerful re- Really we always do what we cord while «Stitches of Eden» re- feel. So it goes with the visual. presents our finest taste by raising We think our image is the frame a big wall of melody and harmo- of the most important thing in nies. We think that the new record Helalyn Flowers: music. «Stitelectronic music with attitude

ches Of Eden» sounded like our personal tribute to 80s sonorities (Punk, Wave, Pop/Rock, Goth or whether it is), consequently we visually marked the whole concept with a New Wave-like look, white backgrounds, lots of flowers, surrealistic characters etc. This time, you get Helalyn Flowers for what they are, for what their core really is. Less embellishments, more essence. Just like the record is meant to be.

What’s on your planning for the next months?

Firstly, the release of the album!

Also, we’re thinking at a live-release including lots of bonus material (cover versions, unreleased, alternate mixes etc.). In the whiletime, we’re planning a European tour with our new live line-up.

Booking agencies which may be interested can contact us at info[at] helalynflowers.com

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RECOIL

Pop doesn’t have to be trash

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rom start ‘till release, we are now 2 years further down the road.

How do you look back at the entire enterprise? What was positive, what was negative? And would you do it again?

It has been a very positive experience and with better-than-expected results. People seem to have readily accepted a format which I was told would be “difficult”, but more than that, have simply enjoyed the film and the premieres which have gone with it. The negatives are that I had to personally spend a disproportionate amount of my own time on the campaign, meaning I was forced to shelve most other creative plans I had for a while. I’m not complaining because I did enjoy the process but it has been all-encompassing time-wise. There are many reasons why I spent so much energy on the film project - firstly, as well as being excited about the film itself, I am a perfectionist - secondly it proved quite a complicated product to manufacture technically - but mainly, because I had to undertake the equivalent work of 5 record company people myself while simultaneously communicating with Hungarian collaborators who do not speak very good English (even though they were all incredibly enthusiastic and willing to go the extra mile for the endeavor, which was heartwarming to see in this day & age).

During various Q & A’s after the screenings you expressed your desire to work on film music. It’s a dream every musician has, why is that? What attracts musicians in getting to compose film music?

I’m not sure ‘every’ musician has this dream but there is something magical about hearing your work utilised on the big screen. And a great soundtrack can really gel with a great film to take both aspects onto a higher plain. ‘The sum is greater than its parts’ and all that. So it’s a very appealing prospect, and musically can give a extra wide scope of possibility - more so than the confines of pop music or even albums.

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I saw 2 screenings, the one in Oslo and the one in Amsterdam and the Blu-ray format is indeed an excellent format for this kind of events with a very clear image and sound. I guess there is no way back for you as far as concessions regarding sound and visuals is concerned? Then again in a world where streaming and downloading has become almost the standard it’s not always an obvious choice.

No? High resolution audio seems to be very slow in becoming widely available but people want it, and frankly deserve it.

Audio delivery for consumers has not kept up with the technological possibilities, still largely being delivered in fairly crude 16bit digital format, or laughable MP3. Basically CD hasn’t changed since the ‘80s. It is definitely time to offer much higher resolution, which some are already doing of course. For visuals - people also expect higher resolution. DVD is already a dead format with HD streaming as the inevitable future for film & TV. Our filmmakers and I were never going to spend 2 years producing high definition visuals with DTS surround audio only to see it all dumbed down at the final stage, so Blu-ray was the best domestic format option for the physical release and the nearest one can get to the full experience, but I suspect that format won’t be with us for long either. As to physical formats in general, all kinds of possibilities and packaging ideas are being banded about - we see new attempts everyday to lure punters with more and more desirable options. At times, it can be confusing and appear slightly desperate. Record companies & artists are throwing out every template they can think of to see which sticks, or appeals most. Musicians and bands are also trying out different budgeting & funding options such as Pledge, Bandcamp and the like. I’m sure for my next release, whatever it may be, I will also be looking at beautiful, high-quality physical formats because personally I am from a generation that values the objects.

I imagine by the time I finish my next work, these trends will have changed yet again.Once we ALL have lightening speed free-to-air internet connection, then HD streaming/downloading is bound to send these touchable, spaceconsuming objects to the gallows. However, for many this is still some way off.

I myself live in the countryside in Sussex and my connection is pathetic, with 1940’s infrastructure delivering hopeless connection speeds (no fibre-optics in sight). We live in the dark ages where this technology is concerned. I liken it the first days of electricity when individual companies competed over ‘renting’ it out to the chosen ones who could afford.

Our UK government tries to encourage us to conduct all our banking, pay our bills, interact with the tax department, subscribe to entertainment services etc, all in the modern way over the ‘net’, but then do not provide anything other than a snail’s pace broadband supply which falls over every 5 minutes. It is incredibly annoying. They can’t even switch on the W-Fi at the world’s busiest airports - Heathrow & Gatwick - unless there is a severe snow or volcanic eruption crisis (only then does it miraculously becomes possible for everyone to get on-line). Until we get past this naive and childish period (and look back & laugh), physical objects will be with us.

There was an interest in getting a concept film made around ‘Liquid’, but like you said that would have obliged you to take a step back in time and not move forward. It made me think that perhaps you could be one step ahead and consider working around a concept for a possible next album and include a film there. It would surely bring an extra dimension to your work and perhaps even cling on even more to what you have in mind as far as visuals goes?

I have been talking about this a lot recently. I intend, without too many preconceived ideas, to just make some new

electronic music with attitude

music and see if it can be applied to a film, or work in conjunction with a filmmaker. What we will end up with I do not know yet, but just thinking along those lines will free me up to concentrate on eclectic atmospheric music which can go anywhere. I won’t necessarily be thinking ‘album’ but we may end up with one or maybe both things become one entity. The most important thing is that I get into the studio and do not keep dragging on the live appearances and so on, otherwise I’ll never get going on anything!

Why didn’t you play Belarus?

Titter :) Regarding the whole X-factor drama we had in the past few weeks (Martin Gore and Simon Cowell falling out with each other), do you think there is still a place for non pre-fabricated music in the charts? I sorta have given that up years ago. And actually I would think the nonprefab music doesn’t even belong in there

electronic music with attitude

anyhow. Because looking back in time, it has always been somewhat dominated by X-factor like bands, think Stock, Aitken & Waterman.

I would always expect the more cynical out there to be trying to cash in on their perceptions of an audience that exists in their imaginations. Manufactured music was always aimed at the most susceptible teenyboppers in my day, although now it’s aimed at all-age groups. I remember The Osmonds, David Cassidy, Bay City Rollers and others in the ‘70s, all constructed

by Svengali cigar-toting managers. Even The Monkees - perhaps the first manufactured band? I’m sure it will continue while there is a gullible buying public - many of whom, let’s face it, can’t be arsed to think for themselves and are quite happy to be force-fed their diet of underwhelming pop escapism. But pop doesn’t have to be trash - it can also be brilliant, moving, and of very high quality. There should be room within pop for everyone. Some great great pop music has been made over

the years, with depth and sometimes even thought-provoking messages : ‘My Generation’, ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale’, ‘Satisfaction’, ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin Feelin’, ‘Strawberry Fields’, ‘I Feel Love’ - shall I go on? Like many, I tip my hat to Mr “weirdo” Gore in this instance : perhaps not put in the most eloquent way, but he managed to sharply articulate the sentiments of a nation in one simple sentence with his anti-Cowell comment (‘shot’ used as obvious metaphor for “stop bombarding us with shite and allow room for some proper bands & artists”) as anyone vaguely intelligent could deduce. And it is not surprising that someone who pulls their trousers up that far would inevitably get their knickers in a twist.

What’s on your agenda for the next few months?

Maybe a few film premieres in the USA and a Mexican film festival, but mainly I shall adorn my warmest clothes and get my head down in the studio!

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G L I S 8 years of growth and insight… before fatherhood!

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ou have been quite silent for some time and suddenly you reappeared with a new GLIS single, a SHAUN F single and a new tour with COMBICHRIST! What have you been busy with all this time and how did it feel to have all this together?

My father passed away in 2008 and that was tough for me. We were very close. He was the main reason I am a musician. I stopped writing what was to be the new GLIS album “Phoenix” for about a year. I got married in 2009, and my wife and I lived a low-key lifestyle while we saved for a house in Seattle.

In 2010, I began recording new music again, but it was very different. I had changed. I had aged and started reflecting on music from my youth. My father gave me a beautiful purple Gibson Les Paul electric guitar that I used in a few GLIS concerts. I started writing all of my new songs with that guitar.

Shortly after my wife and I bought our new home, I got a call from Andy and Joey from Combichrist asking if I was interested in rejoining the band and doing a “best of” tour throughout Europe. The previous month, I found out that my wife was pregnant with a baby boy.

A lot was happening! I talked with my record label Alfa Matrix about my goal to finish writing the overdue GLIS follow up album, and kicked off the reboot with those 2 singles in the Summer.

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electronic music with attitude

electronic music with attitude

You now announce the new studio album. «Phoenix»! A new start?

I had fallen out of the EBM/Industrial scene (music and touring) for a while and was doing my own thing behind the scenes. I went to see several alternative/punk rock/ indie bands at the venues around Seattle. I was inspired by a lot of the music coming out and from the past. I was motivated to start playing guitar and drums… I went through a nostalgic period and started listening to all of my old post-punk records, Bowie, and Beatles… I had to translate this somehow in the studio, and “Phoenix” is what happened. By the time it comes out (first quarter of 2013), it will have been 8 long years since “Nemesis”… but 8 years of growth and insight.

a classic-era 4AD sound to create the ambiance… grabbed some inspiration from Nine Inch Nails, Underworld and Joy Division for the body of the music. Many of the songs were written with a guitar before I added any electronics.

I found my muse in the vocals of Lauren Krothe, who I met in past Combichrist tours. Lauren is the jewel of the record. She is introduced on the second half and makes the transition from darkness to light perfectly. I used a few other musicians in the studio: longtime GLIS live drummer Michael Wimer, VNV Nation keyboardist Gabriel Shaw, a very talented multiinstrumentalist Johnny Unicorn, and Krischan Wesenberg of Rotersand for some extra help with production. I used my son’s heartbeat in utero on one of the songs. On the last Combichrist tour, I met a I have the impression that this is cool guy named Elliott Berlin who the first time you sound totally was my drum/keyboard technician free in your songwriting without (also keyboardist for Aesthetic any pressure? It also seems to be Perfection). He did a unique remix your most personal record ever? of “Apocalypse Parties” during Yes. “Phoenix” is a manic, and at the tour and used equipment we times very self-satisfying album had with us to make the sounds. I for me. I wrote it as an ode for tho- was impressed. He also did some se who have inspired me the most. drumming on the version of “ApoI didn’t hide my heart at all, and calypse Parties” that appears on I’m the most proud of that. The the album. music-style changes from track to track, but somehow manages to What’s next for you now? stay focused. It begins dark, finds Fatherhood! Then we see what peace, and comes back again with happens… a new outlook from where it began.

I took a bit of Bowie and Eno, and

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Endzeit by conviction

Soundwise you have always kept some distance from the dark elektro trends to focus on your own thing, away from the competition of who is the loudest, the harshest, with massive compressed sound and beats?

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he new DUNKELWERK is underway. What can we expect from this new album, this new Operation? Back on the battleground so it seems?

do best... creating movie-like sceneries. World War II was a reality and this fact makes the new album disturbing. It´s about defeat, not about victory! So don´t put Dunkelwerk into the wrong corner. In Yes, some great defeats and many my opinion «Troops» and «Operuins. Endzeit Electro with an atti- ration: Duesterland» are two of tude and deep emotions. By liste- the strongest anti-war albums this ning to «Operation: Duesterland» scene has to offer. Many use war you can join a nation which was in elements but only a very few bands a nosedive to hell. No tales from deal with this theme wholeheartedark fairylands! I do what i can dly.

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Design is again a very important part of your work. How do you work on this part, research work, collaboration with a designer...?

This time I had a rough idea and some design elements. I worked with Oli Häcker from bastartworx once again. He has created a sensational layout and the limited box design is outstanding. Besides this fact, he is reliable, always on time and trustful when dealing with Dunkelwerk. Perfect! electronic music with attitude

Do you write an album a bit like a book with a story set from start or is music coming first? How was the writing process for this new cd?

What’s next for you?

After releasing «Operation: Duesterland»? I don´t know. The time I can use for making music is limited and shrinking. I needed 4 years to For «Operation: Duesterland» I release a new album. That´s crazy started with a research for original and a killer because after 4 years Indeed. To be the loudest is no German war broadcast recordings. you can be happy if there is socriteria for Dunkelwerk. I hardly Some of them are very hard to find meone who still knows your name. can listen to most of this so-called and rare. Those elements make Over the past few years the market harsh club music. It´s loud but life- Dunkelwerk very authentic and for this kind of music is close to be less. Music needs some headroom disturbing for some for sure. The dead. I´m not the only one thinking to breathe. And all this hyper-dis- samples give the songs the main about if it is stupid or clever to go torted vocals are most of the time direction. Sometimes I start with on. In the end, I do it because I love absurd. You cannot understand a broadcast sample, sometimes I this kind of music. We will see. what the «singer» wants to tell you start with a beat. But overall these besides the fact that he is as evil broadcast samples are the main as hell. Don´t get me wrong. I´m elements for me. My concept is: also far away from being a singer Endzeit aus Überzeugung! If you but i try to be understandable and want to join soldiers on their way into defeat and misery you should to sound like a human. give Dunkelwerk a listen.

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Welcome to the house of wonders…

hat can we expect from your forthcoming album «The House Of Wonders»? Goth, metal, electro, darkness, mystery...?

C. All of that and much more! It’s impossible to sort Lovelorn Dolls in a precise category. When I’m listening to other artists I hate to hear an album where every song is a copy/paste of the previous one. I like the spirit that you could find in some early Queen albums like «A Night at The Opera» where you could find an acoustic song, then a very hard one, then a ballad, then an 8-minute prog song, etc. So the idea is simple: does it sound cool?

Yes? Ok , then let’s do it!

L. You can expect surprises. There

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I love their catchy melodies and their dark but pop atmospheres.

They both have a catchy and cute female singer. I hope I can handle C. I must admit that I had never lis- with the comparison, ah ah! My tened to TBM before Ladyhell told personal background includes me about the band but after that I bands from the 90s like Placebo, really loved what I heard. I usually Depeche Mode, Tori Amos. They dig bands like Yes, Dream Theater all have the sense of good compowho write long and complicated sitions, and in the end, that’s what songs but I also like bands that matters. are more straight to the point like Rammstein, Linkin Park, Oomph. What’s next on your list?

What Lovelorn Dolls has in common with the bands you mentioned C. Lots of things. We have already is the love of catchy choruses and begun to compose new songs for the next album. We already have haunting melodies.

L. I’m honored to be compared some very cool tracks in our walto Garbage or The Birthday Mas- let... Also we are looking forward sacre. I admire them very much. to play on stage. Of course, first of

mething else more... dangerous.

The werewolf can be your neighbour or someone close.... or it can be you!

L. In the house of Lovelorn Dolls, there is also love, passion, hate, intrigue. We tried to talk about love The album design is very intri- in every aspect of it. Love: passion guing and fantastic as well. We for a man or a woman, love for have a feeling of darkness in your child, love for nature, even a fantasy world? What can we love for fame. Love can make you find in the house of LOVELORN do crazy things. The world is dark, DOLLS? but you need to protect the child in you.

C. In the House of Wonders, werewolves are lurking in the dark... As often with new bands, you get There are actually lots of werewol- compared with other artists. I read ves in there. The idea of the we- about THE BIRTHDAY MASSArewolf is that he looks «normal» CRE or yet GARBAGE for examduring a period and turns into so- ple. How do you yourselves define

LOVELORN DOLLS and what are your music background and influences?

electronic music with attitude

electronic music with attitude

are some cool male and female duets. There is also a bonus CD which includes extraordinary remixes of our songs. I’m amazed by the talented people who worked with us.

all, we are very excited by the release to come and we are curious about the reactions to our music.

L. We are very proud of that first album. We hope people will have as much pleasure listening to it than we had making it...

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I’m a complete creature of comfort… but I think I’ve earned that. I dive into different subject matter, but I’m still angry, I’m still disappointed, and I’m still searching through my lyrics, but there’s more confidence, more fun, some silliness and sexyness at times. For friends that have heard the CD, they think it’s the natural progression, working with the talented Seb again for the production, the sounds are strong and in your face.

There’s more exploration with synth solos, and my one friend described the vibe of many of the electro songs as moody and retro in the lines of Depeche Mode. That is a very flattering complement indeed. The bonus disc?

Lots of goodies again such as photos, stickers, buttons, and this time.. something plastic! But we are still working on the details of that.

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ow was Cuba?

Haha! Is this actually an interview question or are you just asking me? Cuba was wonderful. I love the culture there and it was a needed break from everything including technology. Plus warmth!

But landing in Santiago De Cuba on the South East Coast was a little depressing. Hurricane Sandy hit that area pretty hard and the damage was clear driving through the country.

The resort used to have a restaurant and bar on the beach that was completely destroyed in the hurricane but it was neat watching everyone work together to rebuild what was lost.

It was an interview question for sure (laugh). Now, after the «Hunger» 1-track release, we will soon have some more Ayria material hitting your fans. It’s been a while since your last album. Frustrating to see the process being so long I guess?

YES! New material, with the new CD “Plastic Makes Perfect” to be released in early 2013, with hopefully another song or two released digitally as a sneak peak before then! It

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was an incredibly slow production process this time around, although when things got moving, they ripped along very quickly. I’ve learned to be patient, and that good things will come eventually. Sometimes things aren’t in your control, and that can be frustrating since I’m a “want it now” kind of person, but my fans have been understanding, patient and I hope they’ll find it worth the wait. I plan to push this release hard. I’m planning touring already for this Summer and hopefully fall.

I’m already booked to play the Gothic Cruise this September, which sounds like an incredible experience of getting to hang out with everyone for a solid week AND get a sort of vacation! It’s going to be a good year.

I can feel it ;) 13 has always been a lucky number for me…

Can you already shed a light on what we can expect on the album and its added bonus disc for the limited edition?

Like previous Ayria releases, it’s kind of hard to summarize the overall sound or genre. I feel like I never

write the same song twice on a CD. If a song is the first song released and comes out as the single, everyone’s like “Oh that must be what the new stuff sounds like” and I never think it is! (example, «My Revenge On The World» or the «Gun Song»).

To be honest, the first single, is always the track that gets produced and finished first! There’s no deep thought out strategy behind it. I love all my songs equally, so to me, it never matters what song comes out first! This time, it was “Hunger”.

On “Plastic Makes Perfect”, there’s an array of genres I’ve explored again, some electro-pop, some harder industrial or EBM, or whatever you want to call it, some guitars, a moody ballad, a genre I felt I didn’t cover on “Hearts For Bullets” unlike the very moody “Flicker”. There’s a song that’s unrecognizable as me singing on it. There is some song writing, and melody progressions that I’m very, very proud of on this CD. Overall, I’m more comfortable with what I do now. I write for myself, not for fitting into a specific genre. I’m sure all bands say that,

electronic music with attitude

As you said, you went into the studio with Sebastian Komor, how was that? Most artists I know try to learn from producers and knowing you are quite a curious kinda of person, I guess the same counts for you?

It’s always a neat experience to work with Seb. He just gets me. I learn a lot from him technically. His vocal production is some of the best in the scene. along the lines of mainstream level in my opinion. I think together, we are a really cool combo sonically.

Those familiar with Seb’s own work, know it sounds nothing like Ayria but with my songs, he gets to work with my type of structures and melodies inspired by genres and artists that we both love as our production goals!

This time, he did an amazing job again. We’ve both had several years to come together with new techniques, skills and songwriting! I’m excited with the outcome.

Aesthetics and styling are something that are part of Ayria. You talk about your hair and make-up and so do your fans. I even saw ‘how to make up like Ayria’ video guides on YouTube. Very special fans you have there…

Hahaha! I have to admit that the look of Ayria isn’t my normal look.

I spend most of my time at home in my pajamas :) I’m a complete crea-

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ture of comfort. I prefer function over fashion day to day. But when it comes to Ayria, I love experimenting with fashion and make-up. Thanks to my friends at Plastik Wrap for making me look so good on the road too! I just love their unique clothing.

I love colours, and have a strong preference for solid colours and dramatic textures. (Debris was blue, Flicker Green, Hearts For Bullets was pink and Hunger/Plastic Makes Perfect is going with Purple) At the request of my fans, I recorded a make-up tutorial showing them how I do my main pink and purple eyes and red lips look. I prefaced it with the fact that this is my go-to look on tour when I’m stuck with badly lit backstages and cramped spaces, and have to quickly pull off a decent stage look! I thought it was funny since I’m not a makeup pro at all! My main technique is usually just to cake it on until I look like a cartoon character! I paint with my fingers too! No pro-tools that I’d know how to use! My fans then came back and did their own “Ayria Inspired Make-Up Looks” complete with glitter, pink, hearts and stars, and red lips! It was amazing! They are very skilled. I sent the “winners” (a few of my faves) a prize pack for being so creative! It was fun! There’s not a lot of girls in this musical genre, and I happen to be one of them, that happens to have a pretty colourful and feminine aesthetic too. I think my fans find that fun, which is why all the positive feedback to that aesthetic component of my music.

Your musical influences come from a wide array of bands, not necessarily from this scene. I suppose it’s the perfect way to stay open minded when it comes to making your music?

Definitely! There’s still not enough women in this genre, which I find important for me personally to find inspiration from. I love singing along to women vocal stylings! Hahaha ;) I also love male vocals too of course!

It’s always about the melodies, lyrics and song progressions.. I go outside of the scene for vocal inspiration to be honest. I don’t think since I’ve star-

ted writing my music a decade ago that I’ve ever been shy about saying that I’m inspired from anything from early industrial, synth-pop, 80’s, current pop music, anything! I love melodies, I love any song that can make me feel. Goosebumps are preferred. That’s when you know it’s a good song. Anyways, I’m currently putting together a Deezer playlist to promote some of my favourite stuff shortly, mostly unknown female vocals in the sake of promoting more of the ladies.

Lots of bands started introducing dubstep in their sound. Did it ever seduce you to do so?

Hmm. I’m a song writer and vocalist mainly. Dubstep to me isn’t song writing, it’s a production technique so, to be honest, it’s not really something I think about when I write songs. Although, I hear a band like Nero, a song like “My eyes” and go “Oh my God! What a great song!!” So the style has intrigued me, I love hearing what new production trends can add when incorporated into song structures. On my 2005’s «Flicker» when we produced “It’s Been Fun” we were inspired by the phasing synths of Benny Benassi at the time! It’s more in the production details than song writing I guess. That being said. Seb was working on “Hunger”, he texted me “How do you feel about dubstep?” Me:”ummm... it’s cool, why?”

Seb:”Because I just did something to your song”... he was referring to the break down beat of the chorus, in «Hunger» which I loved! I had originally kept it with the driving beat, but he transformed it. I don’t think it’s that dub-steppy, but definitely influenced by it. See that’s what I love, taking styles, trends or new production techniques and using them in moderation, or for effect. It’s weird when bands completely jump on the train 100% and are doing nothing but dubstep.. that’s when a genre gets run into the ground unfortunately. Dubstep is this really cool sound effect in songs.. But I often feel the songs need more structure, hooks.. and of course vocals! ;)

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JUNK SISTA Shake your ass or leave your slutty clothes in the closet!

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JUNKSISTA You’re My Favourite Thing To Do [EP - playstation box] A crazy and explosive diversity in sound for a unique groove.

From indie rock to 80’s dance through laid-back electro!

A characteristic filthy touch of humour with sensual female vocals.

A crazy and burning sonic firework that makes you irresistibly shake your ass to JUNKSISTA’s sexy, catchy and stylish tunes...

Addictive noise-pop you sing along in no time.

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electronic music with attitude

hat brought you to create the JUNKSISTA concept?

Underground music we can dance to but also laugh to and relate to in a certain way?

It pretty much happened by itself, we didn’t plan anything. Boog and me are very different when it comes to the musical background and personal taste. We were totally open for anything, when we started working together. We experimented around a lot, combined whatever we thought might work. As i am not the greatest singer in the world, i prefer to talk in the songs and it kind of became Junksista’s signature thing - just like the kinky and wicked lyrics.

They are a result of my dirty humor and the fact that i usually don’t like to write lyrics that are too personal. We want our music to be entertaining and i think it’s working…i think everyone appreciates a dirty joke!

dirty..like «Cunt Rocker». With «Electronique» we want to show that there is another side to Junksista too. We also just finished the music video for «Cunt Rocker» released along with the CD of «You’re My Favourite Thing To Do». The creative process is always the same: either Boog or me prepare a demo with a new song idea, then we have a session where we finish it together. We usually have lots of fun doing that.

How different is the Diana from Even though I write the inapproJUNKSISTA from the Diana from priate lyrics, Boog isn’t really less the real world? silly and inappropriate. We are She is exactly the same - in «eve- still working on our Album - the ryday-life» she just knows when release is planned for early 2013. it’s appropriate to keep her big If you like the EP you will LOVE mouth shut or when to leave the the album. There will be lots of slutty clothes in the closet. the famous Junksista humor, stuff that will make you shake Tell us more about your new ep your ass, but also some less dirty/ and forthcoming album? What silly songs… and maybe even a can we expect from these. How ballad! We will definitely think of was the creative process for these some hilarious surprises that will new songs? come with the CD..don’t know…a Don’t you fear that only people We are very happy with the EP and thong, a mini whip, something with a certain noir sense of hu- the remixes we got from the other pink that sparkles..haha….we’ll mor can fully understand and Alfa Matrix bands. It sounds and see! enjoy your music while it could looks hot! Most songs are very

electronic music with attitude

shock others or simply lead them not taking you seriously?

I don’t fear that - in fact i know that some people do feel shocked or really don’t take us seriously.

We don’t really give a shit and it wouldn’t be realistic to think we can please everyone with what we do. We prefer to create something that is either loved or hated rather than something neutral that won’t bother anyone.

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night burning electronic trax

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AESTHETISCHE powerswitch [CD & 2CD box]

New hard-driven EBM project from ex-AGHAST VIEW members!

Good old EBM for fans of FRONT 242, NITZER EBB, F.L.A ,...

Hammering beats, intense rhythms, vocal fx, kick-ass basslines.

A full blast of electronic force made in Brazil.

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electronic music with attitude

It seems you are also much demanded for remix duties and collaborations? Back in the spotlight?

Oh yeah, we have been very busy remixing other bands - We have

What are the new songs dealing with? What music style can we expect? Tell us more!

The title of the Ep is NACHTBRENNER. You can expect highly energetic EBM tracks as well as multi layered dancefloor fillers with some nice collaborations from other artists as well.

I heard that you have been wor- The title evokes the mood of the king on new songs already and album, night burning electronic that some special compilation ap- trax. Club friendly. pearances are in the pipeline and maybe even a new EP release? What’s next on your side? You seem to be very active again!!

Can you tell us more already?

Yep, that is all true! We are in fact Well, next is release our new finalizing our new EP, which will EPCD, collaborate with other have 5 new tracks, and several re- artists, produce new remixes! We mixes. Collaborations with other would also love to be able to play great artists is also expected, so in a major Festival in Europe we guess it is gonna be a strong next year, but we understand it costs a lot for a promoter to bring EP! 11 trax more or less!

What will be the title of the EP ? us there... well...let’s hope!

electronic music with attitude

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ow have you been doing since the release of your «powerswitch» album? I have the impression that the feedback was extremely positive so far, am I wrong?

The feedback has been quite positive, the vast majority of reviews have been good and most important of all lots of great feedback from fans! We are aware we cannot make everyone happy, there will always be some people criticizing, but even then it is very important to listen as this is what makes us grow as producers.

remixed 14 bands already so far... some remixes are still not released. We have remixed great bands like Stray, In Strict Confidence, Robotiko Rejekto, Junksista, Psy’aviah, just to name a few... There is much more to come in the coming months!

Log-out of the game! «

DUNKELWERK . Operation: Duesterland [CD / 2CDbox / digital]

Old school Endzeit Electro with modern elements and an attitude.

Deep emotions on movie-like sceneries of total defeat!

Authentic rare original German war broadcast recordings.

One of the strongest anti-war albums this scene has to offer!

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electronic music with attitude

It’s been 3 years already since the last IMPLANT album… Will IMPLANT be able to surprise us again?

I’m not sure if I’ll surprise people or not. I never wrote an album with the idea in mind to surprise. This time again, I have a feeling we worked on an album that makes

You mention one song together with Claus Larsen… Can we expect more collaborations again as always?

The collabs are not that many this time. One reason is that a lot of those collabs end up being the very good tracks of the album, and then we can’t do them live, unless we put the vocals in the backing.

And again, the track with Claus is so good, it’s kind of a shame we’ll never be able to do this live. Or maybe once, who knows. Still, it’s not going to be a track we’ll play on every concert, simply because You already let a few songs out on we can’t put Claus in the backline! some compilations… How much Other collabs on this album are do these songs represent the new Bonnie from Krystal System, who does guest vocals on a track, and 2 album actually?

Only the one on sounds of the ma- backing by Isa Garcia from XMH. trix 013 will be featured on the And that is it. But lots of friends album as is. “Lord knows I tried” from the music scene did remixes with Claus Larsen is also on the al- for disk 2 (and disc 3). So lots of bum, but totally reworked. To my collabs there still though. opinion way better than the previous released version. The track Where do you still find that inspion Endzeit Bunkertracks act VI ration after all these years without will be on disc 2 (the limited ver- ever repeating yourself? sion). All other released compila- Hé, we are the productive citition tracks will not be on this al- zens… laugh! bum. Basically because they didn’t fit the flow of the album.

electronic music with attitude

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The Productive Citizen»…

How should we understand such album title? Sarcastic?

This is our feel to the current economic system. Belgium is strongly taxing on the working mass to keep the brute national budget in balance. We have an index system, constantly rising wages, so companies expect the production level of the workers to increase or outsource working capacity. There is this constant pressure to produce more, to contribute, to participate in the system. And I have a feeling that is not only a Belgian story, but something that holds up for the world economies. Yet, art is never valued in that balance. While I feel more productive on releasing a new album, than producing more e-mails.

Maybe we should re-evaluate productivity or log out of the game!

sense as the next step. We did rework and re-work end re-worked tracks. That was kind of a new approach to an album. But we wanted to step away from the normal pattern of creating a track, record vocals, next. These tracks have been re-altered after the vocals and then re-worked again, till we felt like they were really finished, and reflected a track to the best of our abilities. We also wrote a few real lyrics, using rime, chore rime.

And that is something new for Implant…

Dark, angry, arrogant & f**cking free!

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ow different is this new project CYNICAL EXISTENCE for you from your other music activities?

CYNICAL EXISTENCE Come Out And Play [CD / 2CDbox / digital] New harsh EBM project from F. Croona (PROJECT ROTTEN, MENSCHDEFEKT).

Powerful elektro haunted by stand-out vocal angst and melodic synths.

A promising new hard elektro entity revealing determination and aggressiveness.

For fans of [SITD], SUICIDE COMMANDO, GRENDEL, AGONOIZE, etc.

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electronic music with attitude

There is a big difference, mainly cause I make everything on my own from music to vocals. It also gives me room to explore things I haven’t been able to before… I learn to explore the ways of making music from scratch and I mean everything from a beat to a melody. Before I only wrote lyrics and recorded vocals, now I am the god of my own music. I can do whatever the f*ck I want and nobody can tell me what to do.

What should we expect from your first album? And why did you call your band like this actually!?

to reflect and show my feelings and sound to the crowd through myself. This will of course be backed up by some really nice backing projection. I love to communicate with the crowd and feed from the energy they give back.

Am i wrong to see this project more as a personal catharsis?

nical person and I exist so it kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?

Will you also be performing live with this one-man band?

In a way yes, since I can write about anything and do whatever I feel like doing...The lyrics are personal experiences and of course personal thoughts and feelings. I write about things that I have seen or done, or what I actually want to do or think. It all comes down to what kind of state of mind I am in or how I feel at a particular moment. This also reflects the sound of my album, it’s mostly dark and angry but there are still a few rays of lights that shines through in the darkness.

You can expect a album with a lot of personal influenced and variations of dark electro. Dark, personal and angry. And maybe even a bit playful! I called the project cos I’m a cynical person! People are arrogant, stupid and self centered.

And of course egoistic. I am a cy-

I Already performed a couple of shows actually and I’m planning on playing more next year. Cynical Existence is me so of course it What’s next? will be based around me. It might sound like an egoistic thing but it Get out and play live and work on will revolve around me since I try new material.

electronic music with attitude

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Technology guys do not need uniforms!

FREAKANGEL Porcelain Doll EP [CD-Playstation Box] Strongly boosted by the detonating success of their second album "Let It All End", FREAKANGEL returns with a limited 11-track EP. Heavily fused electronics, melodic guitars, harsh vocals, hard-hitting beats, ghostly female backings: a deviant violent lovesong for all the bleeding hearts amongst you! Raw, heavy, uncompromising... simply FREAKANGEL the way we all love them!

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electronic music with attitude

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t seems that the FREAKANGEL machine keeps running loud and fast? DVD release, a new ep… How are things doing?

Everything is going just fine. We have been picked up by one of the greatest booking agencies in Germany - NeuWerk Music Management and well... trying to do our best in reaching something... not sure what or why... but well... we just do not like to sit on our assess and do nothing. We are always in action and I think it will be OK to say that we have almost finished writing demo tracks for our third album... and how pathetic of me to say it... but well... it will be something really different from THE freakangel You knew... or not.

We are not some Visual Kei band... if You see us on stage all dressed up... well... it only means that we are actually looking like this in a real life too... plus/minus some make up or so. We will never put on some uniform to look industrial... we better feel free and open instead of hiding ourselves behind some «oh gosh look... it is soooo industrial» image.

and we are getting for a show... we meet and actually do something all together. Because it is what we do best... especially now when we are playing with a live drummer. Everything sounds pretty different and we just really enjoy it!

What can we expect next from the FREAKANGEL camp then? The 3rd album already you said?

Our third album is almost ready...

I also indeed noticed that FREA- we still need to do a huge amount KANGEL is performing live more of work... but I think I can say that it will be possible to release it next and more?

That is what we are doing best as a year right after the summer break. band. I mean... when we are wor- At least it looks like a plan at the king on a song...we work separa- moment. So the end of this year tely and we actually never meet in looks for us kinda simple... we real life only to work on music. We work on music, play videogames do mostly everything via internet. and have fun.

Great! You are also publishing se- Technology guys. For a new album veral videos… How important are we are working exactly like this... image and visuals in your work? But when the right time comes electronic music with attitude

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more edgy than before, moving away from the clean electropop, I guess that’s because you are singing now?

The melancholic and melodic attitude is still there and is the basis for everything, and it sounds in many ways familiar. However in most songs I use harder drums and more dirty synth elements. Although my voice is a clean singing voice without intention to sound distorted or otherwise manipulated, it transports everything I compose a bit stronger than before. Even older Technoir songs can sound more impulsive due to that. So yes, the simple fact that it is now male vocals makes everything a bit more edgy and snappy, which was my intention.

Full blast!

TECHNOIR

What hasattracts been going on in the much harsher dark your electrocat sound, Facebook more people when posting eaVIRGINS O.R PIGEONS camp the tracks revealed in past compilating a synth knob compared to announcing a new album!

lately? Since the fire that ravaged tions were recorded way back and your house and studio we no longer might be misleading you just a little teffen, it has been quiet around the a drastic change after 2 albums with Julia heard much from All OK? There is a huge variety of tempo, band for quiteyou? some time.

I guess your bit.Beyer on vocals. Did it never cross your Since the lot of have and melodies, is exactworkfire for aApple has things been more than rhythm mind choosing a femalewhich singer again?

Then taking up your time.hard We got trailer online ly again, covers the in Depeche Mode happened.

It was toa get back what your we had in of mind the first a newdesalbum. place. tracksThere’s «Sea ofalso sin» aand «Lie «mainsto me» with onearlier track this withyear allannouncing the equipment strong So, what is the status? you on vocals proved to be amongst the most troyed, library element existing throughout Oh yes,my it ‘s sound been a while, the collection work on music tream» popular on the 2 Depeche Mode tributes that gone theone pressure ofthe allpeaceful the lostfree theAlfa whole album, without losing in toolsand on the hand, and Matrix released. time Iit takes be creative on the a other, It was or a longer trial and decisionthe process. time. also tohad to prepare newthey quality changing radically dis- It don’twith go along so easily.

Nevertheless, started withof defining what Technoir would room proper acoustics to workthe tinct sound Virgins O.R Pigeons. album is nearly complete, one more vocal be after the familiar vocal part defined by in.recording, But at the got mixing the WeJulia aimed for something unique andsame some time reallywe minor had left. I looked at the two obvious chance to further mature musically, and original I look thinkforwe’ve got tasks. I had targeted this state for much options. One and was to a new female earlier in the year.

There were just so many and simply continue on the same we got to know and experiment with it. vocalist Get ready for a full Virgins O.R changes types and interruptions, e.g. aand greater path. But this leftMore a weirddetails feeling.will Why would different of equipment I Pigeons blast! be move within Hamburg due major to chan- another female vocalist sing older Technoir had time to expand knowledas soon as the mastering gesthe in my private life, newmy studio setup, voice announced songs and let the new thing sound similar getraining as a producer and use it in our is completed andfor some furand sound experiments, and upalways process like the past? I was looking a more radinew gear to nerd around with… cal change.

Also, the Technoir sound itself coming album. It took us quite some ther arrangements are made. Maybe similar: I knew that treat from having time but I had to make sure the new wewould will stay prepare a «special» for Who took the producer seat this time? Olaf tried lots of styles in the past and always enmaterial is worth the wait.

And it our fans…

Wollschläger? ding up with the sound that I like best, the does.

This time, it is a 100% self production. melancholic and melodic sound that simply Doing this album more or less on my own is What defines Technoir. spite offrom the fact that I else can weInexpect you? part of the concept.

It shall not imply that I think that Julia was a great singer (in geCan we expect the new album la- More concerts? might think I can do any of this better than neral and for Technoir), I also had the imtergreat thisproducers year? Can more will start booking concerts for like you Olaf.reveal This time I just Wepression that male vocals could push even about it?giveWe songsthat 2012 soonsound enough, a provoking Eurowant to it myheard own fullsome sound stamp the same furtherhaving in a more in mind. Generally I thinkathat produ- pean and tour fresh way.

«Lie plans.

To Me» was a firstno trial, onI have compilations revealing much in our Again, cing music nowadays is much closer related just to see if it could work in general.

«Sea harsher dark elektro approach. further details can be announced yet of to the composition process anyway, at least Sin» was already more mature and I gained What VIRGINS PIGEONS we areconfidence still focused on the recorwith is electronic musicO.R like Technoir.

If one as enough to redefine what Techanno sounding like? planning is sense raw. toBut I likes2012 developing these skills then one should ding noirand was the and is.

So it made develop alsoyou use should them, both creatively voice further longer time. And Yes, expect our and 2ndtechnial- canmysay for sureover thata we missed theit’s callytothat In addition,somewhere I do have some paying bum beis.released inex- road andoff. the road missed us! We are perienced and patient people watching this 2012.

There are still no specific da- also looking forward to introducing process, so there is good communication «Believe» and «Human Shapes» are the first teswhich but the material is near compleour new members Miyuki and Sin-the always helps a lot and is essential to new tracks that appeared on respectively avoid dead ends.

013» be sampler tion and we are very pleased with ner«Sounds to our from fans,theasmatrix they will a bigand «Matrix the results. You shouldn’t expect a part in ourDownloaded live shows.001». The music is

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KANT KINO father worked in industry [CD / 2CDbox / digital]

Much anticipated new album from Norway’s EBM gang!

Hard-hitting old-school EBM - NITZER EBB meets FRONT242.

Strong melodies, ripping bass lines and upbeat electro.

This is pure classic Electronic Body Music at best!

The band is now a male fronted act. Quite

electronic music with attitude

You already tested the material out at the Dark Waters fest in Nottingham; how did that turn out?

We played about 50% new material, among it were «Believe», «Human Shapes», «We Came For Love», and «Sea Of Sin». We also played older songs where a transition to male vocals was not only possible but made a lot of sense. Among these were e.g.

«Growing», «Dying Star», «Silence» and even a song like «Breathe» worked out well. The new live line up includes me as the front man for the first time, with some additional keyboard parts, my old buddy Stephan on his traditional analog synth, and Meike on electronic drums, iPad synths and female backing vocals. She is a well trained singer but likes the idea of male front vocals for this kind of music. We rehearsed a lot for this gig, and saw it as proof of concept which worked out nicely.

Now we are ready for more.

Over the past years, the music market has also changed a lot. What is your take on it?

Hm, I personally noticed a shift towards vinyl;! I started buying a lot again, it must be the old passion of having heavy great art work in your hand and dealing with the playing process more intensively than just listening to mp3’s in the background. For example, the new Dead Can Dance double vinyl has only two songs per side, you spend a whole lot of the time just flipping sides.

But I enjoy the digital format, too. Technically it can sound good enough for me nowadays. Speaking Music, Spotify is the new game changer to me. It can actually help to keep and extend your music culture. Whereas Facebook attracts more people when posting your cat eating a synth knob compared to announcing a new album, it is a weird world. With so much easy accessible music content today, it has become much harder to leave a lasting impression with your own work. Permanent promotion keeps you in the front but away from the creative process, which should be the basis still, in my little world at least… Feel blessed, if you find time for both.

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Daniel B. Prothèse

No midi, no sync, 98 % analogue synths and noise machines

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aniel, it’s taken you a while but we were finally able offering new material from your earlier project. You have never been silent with the project though we never saw new material being released. What made you decide getting ‘public’ now?

I had time to make it happen and also the urge to release all that dormant material. I worked on this over a long period of time in an on/off manner , more for my own pleasure , but realized it could become an artistic statement of some sort when I went through some of the stuff laying around.

METROLAND mind the gap [CD & 2CD box] Conceptual synth project from Belgium for lovers of vintage keyboards, KRAFTWERK, KOMPUTER, TELEX, I START COUNTING...

Melodic synths, robotic vocals, analogue drum machines.

Music and vision melt around one central theme: The Underground.

For Prothèse, the challenge/manner of working is always the same no midi, no sync, 98 % analogue synths and noise machines, record everything as audio, no saving (or writing down of sounds), maximum 8 tracks, sequencer was analogue (electro Harmonix drum sequencer) , only 8 notes and its own oscillator (Square), other things that sound sequenced are just lfos playing with different parameters of modular synths or the Arp Oddysey in repeat mode.

What can we expect from your forthcoming solo release?

Lots of music spread on different formats...2 vinyls , a 12» and a 7» ,2 cds , all packaged in one box/ Was it the birth of Front 242 that cover. I want the people to listen made the output of the band scar- to the music in episodes and I ce or were there other elements choose to spread all the stuff on playing in the on hold status? the formats I felt would be best Yes Front 242 ,took all the time for the music at hand. It is not my and even some of the early other intention to have people listen to compositions of Prothèse only everything in one go. The design two (humoristic) tracks where re- will have that electro retro feeleased under the Prothèse name. ling, it will be a very limited physical output, around 333 ex.

How would you say that your material progressed overtime ? Be- Front 242 will also awake with cause you have been recording a vinyl re-release of some more for this over quite some years. back catalogue material. Has the electronic music with attitude

material been re-worked in some way?

Sound wise ,it wasn’t what I could/would call a remaster, but a going back to what the original sound was at the time. We are not trying to compete in the loudness war and I even went back some steps from the american version, everything was passed through analogue outboard equipment.

The catalogue was unavailable from us for some time and Sony USA of course took that (wrongly) as an invitation to sell in Europe.

Being a vinyl fan since almost always, I also felt it was important to release «No Comment»/ «Geography» again, and by extension, have a vinyl release of some «Pulse» and assimilated tracks. The covers have been changed a little bit, at least some of them. «No Comment» took inspiration from the USA design, the vinyl release of «Geography» remains the same (except some details) and the vinyl attached to the «Pulse» cd release ... is a «filtered pulse». we made a selection of some pieces of the total releases of the «Pulse» project and put those on a single vinyl with a cover design related to the first edition.

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we are still Kant Kino…

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ith the new material one could say that Kant Kino is shifting away from the dark electro sound from the debut album, and instead choosing for a more melodious style with softer edges.

Stop the presses! We don`t necessary entirely agree with that overall conclusion. Actually, we still think that Kant Kino has a sound that are quite rough edged and dark in style on this new album, tracks like «Push Your Buttons», «My Game» or «Ubermensch» have stomping beats and angry vocals. And many of the tracks have a lot of dark electro elements in them. For instance, the second part of «Ich Liebe Katarina Witt» is pure dark electro in our book, and a slow track like «Bleed» ends with raging vocals and beats on a quite dark theme (btw, that one is about the imme-

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diate overwhelming feelings the days after the terror attacks July 21st here in Oslo). But, we have taken the sound of Kant Kino a bit further, combining more elements from different styles of music with our own sound, form techno to rock. And yes, many tracks might have some softer elements to them, the most obvious being combining more clean and vocoder vocals with the distorted/dark ones, trying to build a stronger focus on melodic choruses. We never felt like an endzeit category band anyway. The press release from Alfa-Matrix on our previous album said: «KANT KINO inject the distorted force of the 90’s dark electro genre into their strong 80’s EBM roots to render dark body music with distorted vocals and a strong sense for melody». If you add «clear vocals» to that statement, it`s not that far away

from the new album either. And as the title of the first track states: We are still Kant Kino!

Many guest singers also made their entry on this second album. How come and how did you choose them individually?

We think it`s part of the evolution we discussed. It`s a nice variation with female vocals, they suit the tracks in question, and they bring another level of quality to the tracks.

There was no «big plan» to incorporate other artists in our songs, it just happened along the way as we met these great people. They are all Norwegian vocalists based in Oslo with experience from other genre bands, one of them (Hanne Haugsand) actually performed in the international finals of the Eurovision Song Contest years ago.

electronic music with attitude

The song «Ich liebe Katarina Witt» displays your fascination with former East-German figure skater and model Katarina Witt. What attracts you in her?

Katarina Witt is an icon. Her presence, her eyes, her beauty, her moves – elegant, strong, passionate, seductive. But of course also as a figure in regards to the DDR. It was actually Lars who said: «I want a Kant Kino waltz!». And a waltz style track he got. We have never seen Katarina Witt do a waltz on her skates (maybe she has), but in our minds she is a perfect image for an industrial waltz. And as the track develops, it shifts from the focus on pure fascination for Katarina Witt, to her role in the DDR years. In Kant Kino style of course, just observing, not taking a stand on the theme in question.

You covered The Normal’s «Warm Leatherette» with Claus Larsen on vocals and changing the title to «Warm Leætherette». You already played this cover live in the past together with Larsen. Why this track?

It was actually an idea that appeared when we opened for Leaether Strip on the Xelabration Festival last year. Lars convinced Claus to do a thing together with us on stage, and then the idea for the Warm Leatherette cover came up. It was such fun that we decided to use it our album, and the spelling of the track is our little hymn to Leaether Strip. Btw, Claus has mixed and mastered our album as well.

Kenneth, you work in the opera house in Oslo, while you Lars make sure that our deceased get a proper burial. It’s not exactly jobs that fit together. Does this clash of careers have any influence on how you two look at music for Kant Kino?

We don`t think of this as a clash really, we just have different kinds of jobs, that’s all. We have a lot in common, but also there a lot that`s different. For instance, Lars has

electronic music with attitude

three children, Kenneth has none.

Lars has a wife, Kenneth has none.

Lars works at a crematorium, Kenneth at the back office of an opera house. We don`t think these differences influences our choices for Kant Kino that much. The biggest thing is perhaps working hours for the band. When Kenneth is on his most creative side, Lars has been asleep for hours already… Things going on at work of course inspires our tracks, as do all parts of life, may it be work, a movie, an exhibition, a newspaper article, going for a walk, a subway ride. Kant Kino songs are about observations on society, trough our eyes and senses.

For instance, Lars wrote the lyrics to the track «Father Worked In Industry» (which also happens to be the name of the album). It is about a the fact that our forefathers to a greater extent used to work in factories and industry, but it is also about his own father. And of course, Kant Kino also loves the scene clichès (factory, industry, metal noizes etc). We tend not to write together, one of us comes up with an idea, and then it develops. We have a lot of the same tastes in music (we both agree that Skinny Puppy «Rabies» and Nitzer Ebb «Belief» were among the best albums of 1989), which kind of sets a basic musical style for Kant Kino, we could never be a rock band.

For the added bonus CD of the new album, you added quite a lot of different remixers all adding their own style. The one that surprised me the most was «LRZBASS» which got an Anders Odden remake, which ended up being a trash metal one.

You knew it would sound like this or was it a surprise for you as well?

A bit funny story, in regards to the latest statement in the previous question: Lars actually had an idea of calling Kant Kino ‘No Fucking Guitars’ when we explored band names, just to be kind of provocative (we guess we really wouldn`t go for that one at the end of the day

though....). Lars knows Anders Odden from way back, and convinced him to do a remix. Since he is well known as the live bass player for Satyricon, and his guitar work for Apoptygma Berzerk, Celtic Frost and Cadaver, it felt natural to ask him for «as much guitar and organic instruments as possible», since LRSBSS is an oldschool EBM track. It`s amazing to listen to the fantastic and almost «opposite» interpretation Anders Odden has come up with. Love it! Why it`s called LRZBSS with a “Z”, only Anders knows...

Also the dub step remix Erlend from Essence Of Mind made of the «My sweetest crime» is very refreshing. Your music really lends itself to various interpretations.

We are very proud of our remix CD of the limited edition version of the album, as you said with very various interpretations of our songs.

We can`t believe some of the stuff people have come up it, we are so honored that these great artists have done their own thing on our tracks. They all sound fantastic to our ears. Since our own music has a more fixed sound palette, it is refreshing to hear our songs come to life in these versions, and the remix from Erlend and Essence of Mind is a killer! Love it!

Who has a sleeping disorder in the band? Or was «Just for the comfort of sleep» an interpretation by the guest singer?

Nice question! Lars has problems with sleep, but it`s actually the singer of the tracks who has written the lyrics – Karine Kristiansen, and we put the song and melody to it. We guess it’s about a theme that everybody experiences and struggles with more or less in some way, the minutes or hours of insomnia with a whole world of thoughts rushing through your mind, and you would «just do anything for the comfort of sleep...».

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Check our exclusive digital releases on:

http://alfamatrix.bandcamp.com/

we’re full of noise and endless thoughts…

T

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electronic music with attitude

he sound of your new album is very astounding!! You set the bar very high again, this time?!!! Tell us more about the writing, recording & production work for «Rage»?

B: Thank you! Writing and composing is quite a bit like dreaming: you just explore your secret garden and try to enlighten it, like you have no fences. Then… The recording thing comes. You have to stop dreaming and start to work (laugh)! All our stuff was recorded at Studios d’Or in Paris and the master was made by the Swift crew in London.

S: We wanted everything to be boosted.

Electro/EBM parts are more present than on our previous album and so are the metal guitar parts. We also made room for industrial sounds, classic instruments, sound design...

B: That’s what’s interesting in music, there are no rules: you can use a large panel of ingredients and blend genres and sounds, it’s all up to you!

S: And I like the idea of discovering an album gradually so we also focused on details that aren’t necessarily heard at the first listen.

I have the impression you experimented more on this album, putting more attention to details and sound research? Am I wrong?

S: You’re right! We wanted to create a sound of our own so we used hand-made analog pedals. We put them on our guitars and bass of course, but also on the synth and drums to try to catch a unique sound.

B: Yes. Seven likes the mojo of a single coil with analog boutique pedals while I dig walls of metal guitars played with active humbuckers. So we sort of blend those two worlds. We also love working with synths which bring a unique organic texture...

I’m always impressed by your unique skill of jumping from one loud wall of guitar noise to the next synth track with ripping electronic basslines while keeping the KRYSTAL SYSTEM spirit…?

Tell us more about your creative process? What comes first?

B: What comes first is the spirit of the track. Once we have the feeling we were looking for, we turn it into music and lyrics.

S: Beyond the music itself, what really matters for us is the fight to wake ourselves up and to live in the present. It’s not a way of talking, it’s our lives. And that’s what we’re trying to say in our songs. Ho-

electronic music with attitude

pefully we add a little touch of humour on this so that it doesn’t sound like a philosophical course…

B: So to answer your question, we’re both doing things in equal part : writing and composing. But Seven takes also care of the production.

What are you all «raging» about on this new album?

B: Lots of things. We’re leaving in a world where we’re taught to be weak and to follow someone else’s creeds.

We’re raised to think through authorities whether they’re religious, political, familial… All our education consists in filling up our spirit so that we’re full of noise and endless thoughts… You hardly find something straight in this world, everything’s twisted and corrupted. Even in art which is supposed to be intrinsically subversive you’ll find a lot of money seekers or, worse, fake rebels. This is where our rage is coming from.

S: But feeling rage is a hope, it means you’re not dead yet and you still have the strength to fight your inner weakness.

What’s next after the «Rage»?

B: Inner silence. That’s where rage leads to…

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Rage

[CD / 2CDbox / digital] Electric versus electronic A unique blend of styles made in Paris - France.

Loud rough indie rock guitars filtered through artisan fx.

Straight ripping electronic bass lines, radical synth arrangements.

Seducing contrasting harsh male and filtered female vocals.

for their own experiences whether it be in daily life or a night on the town.

Taking you on a wild ride…

Y

our new album «Music From The Eather» challenges the listener to a new degree I find. You really have to get absorbed into the music to find the structure and melody within the dense interlaced soundtrack?

I do totally agree with your description.

I did have the intention of releasing something completely instrumental that was out of the ordinary that would throw people off, I also wanted music you could cruise to as well. Something you could lose yourself in while driving. But yeah it’s almost as if you have to listen to it as one long piece. I figure if you listen to it enough just like anything else, you will eventually know the structure, but it’s not something you’re going to get on the first or even 5th listen. I wanted pieces where not all is not present – you eventually discover things after many listens that you never noticed before. I know it can get crazy but it’s all about a journey of some sorts, an adventure for the free of heart and the daring, just take the ticket and get on the ride.

Would you like to tell us something about the production process?

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Hmmm. Well, it can be rather random, most of these pieces were works in progress between lets say- 2006 and 2009 – I took a hiatus from music altogether and came back to it for a few months in mid 2011 and then I just had to say ok- you can work this pieces 100 different ways, just settle on something… and I compelled myself to do just that, I had so much music and still do that have been works in progress, I loose my attention after a while when working on a piece and save it for another day and I may have a new perspective on it. But anyways I compelled myself to get over to my brother Dwayne’s and do the final layout of the tracks for the cd’s… That was rather a random process too… getting the tracks in order… I just wanted a flow that suited me at the given time. Something I could cruise out in the country to, driving without any distraction. It was very spontaneous. I recall my brother Dwayne hearing the tracks for the first time because I had never played anything to him, so it was the first time for him hearing the pieces. In the past when Dwayne was still a part of the band he never commented much on my pieces, we have always done what each of

us wanted to do, but I remember there were many times during the final master sessions where he would chuckle or break a grin and smile, but yeah he did make the comment “Gary, this is music for people who do lots of drugs” and we laughed. Like I mentioned, I did it for myself, it was for amusement, as well as escape too.

How much autobiographical is this album actually?

Well musically it is autobiographical indeed, whether it be my far past when I was still a teenager, but it’s also about the experiences of others or situations to where I has been privy or witness to. It’s a theme that has always fascinated me.

But in a nutshell I just wanted to take myself any a journey, and keep things interesting for me as an artist. I wanted the music to go through a lot of episodes, to take you on a wild ride. I think I have always done that to some degree or another, look outside the box. As a producer, I want to be challenged, and not always do the safe thing. But in a nutshell as far as themes go- I want the listener to make the music their own soundtrack

electronic music with attitude

You’re kind of sticking to the same themes you already dealt with on the previous album, aren’t you?

Well as to why I stayed with the topic, it’s one that obviously fascinates me, I could obviously stay with what is safe in the scene, but that’s not what industrial/experimental music is about. I choose to do music it’s as simple as that. I do what gets me off, no matter what direction I take it. As far as the music on these releases, I don’t expect all my fans to get it, besides most fans would rather make it their own. Why I wrote or composed the song is rather senseless to explain at times, words are simple inadequate that is why I wanted an instrumental release. Hell put your own words or thoughts to it, or it could be completely senseless to you…

In a nutshell, it was music I had a dam good time composing when I felt up to it or had that urge. Well sure I have had higher states of consciousness; people can achieve that many different ways….

Some are dangerous and some are not.

And there are no guarantees because when all is good, even everything can go completely wrong. Well what am I searching for…..? I’ve already received those answers… funny thing is sometimes when I reflect; I feel ignorance, it can be blissful. Be careful what you wish for, because when you get the answers you may be completely unprepared for them and how they will affect your life. Yeah and I will say there was a pivotal {plus 4 moment/ as in relativity to the SHULGIN rating scale of psychedelic states} moment in my life when I had lots of unanswered questions, personal things, and in my youthful quest for a night of fun, I ended up having a full blown religious experience, and this was well over 15 years ago and at the time it was something I was not really ready for… Then again better than never having one at all. But that is something deep and introspective. In one pivotal moment everything made complete sense. It was my first taste off full blown ego loss. There was no duality.

Above the cover artwork of the new album there is the statement «be cautious using this substance»?

It’s sort of a trick question with many realities to the answer! That’s all in how you view the statement, I leave it up to the listener on that one. It’s a double meaning referring to the music and or the psychedelic experience, it’s where you choose for the music to take you or how you apply it to the soundtrack of your life. To use it or

electronic music with attitude

abuse it, depending on what your true intention is. Knowing yourself, your mental and physical capacities. And whether to take it to the bleeding edge…

What obstacles did you find in writing the album, after several years the previous one?

Well, our music has always been about the sonic element. One of the main things nowadays is not to fall into the generic category. I find allot of electronic music within our scene now just generic and disposable, it’s either being played safe, Meaning acts are just following current trends within the scene and are not pushing boundaries. And when I’m speaking of pushing boundaries I’m not just speaking of getting heavy or noisy, that’s not it. but there was a lull in the per se industrial/electro scene or whatever you want to label it, many years back, it sort of cornered itself, and even more so nowadays with the advent of technology, It’s like I don’t hear any real effort being but into music. In that it’s being done just for the sake of it witout any real passion.

Don’t get me wrong maybe I’m just to old school since I’ve been working with keyboards since the early 80’s. hell if I’m not mistaken we got our first synth a Roland juno 6 back in 82 and that did not even have MIDI but a pulse sync on it.

But things were a challenge and more exploratory back then. With today’s keyboards and software it doesn’t take much knowledge of passion to come up with a simple dance beat/baseline and a basic melody. The sounds are already produced. Everything seems too polished, too professional to be termed industrial or even EBM, hell I remember the days when EBM sounded raw and aggro. Much of what I hear today is done with pretense. another issue is everyone wants to be a rock star now and it does not cost nearly as much to get things going as it did back then, hell my first drum Machine had 8 sounds, it was the TOM by sequential circuits, it cost me 800 bucks back then, I had to mow a hella lot of yards to get that.

Now I can download a program for free with 1000 highly produced sounds for free with pro effects.

We always talk about the nostalgia from the good old times… You as a veteran on the scene, can you tell us? Were they really so much better?

Sheesh -- really being around during the early inception, yeah things were different, I can remember them as plain as day- the underground due to the advent of the internet and other factors, being that as time goes on, it has become

more mainstream- practically 90 percent of the music you hear, even on the radio is 90 percent electronically based in some form. But yeah today it just doesn’t seem underground- back in the day, hell in 84 if you had a tattoo or a piercing or your hair dyed, you stuck out like a sore thumb, people would stare- today it’s the norm- as far a Texas goes. And back then it didn’t matter whether you were into Cabaret Voltaire or Bauhaus, Front 242 or Cocteau twins – you all stuck together, there was a reason why they called it underground- because at least from my view in the united states if there was one small club in a big city, with a following for anything outside of the mainstream you were there- there were no boundaries, there was an eclectic mix of people who were getting exposed to all types of music because it was all so new and technology was very archaic back then. So musicians had no heavy reference to start from… So many of them were coming up with fresh sounds.

After such an impressive career what is the greatest experience as a musician so far… what was the most negative?

Well first off it is so much more than I ever could have imagined, and that’s the god to honest truth, even to this day I’m still shocked that people still listen to my music or that I even generated any sort of fan base other than myself – it really sorta freaks me out. I do chuckle to myself sometimes but I am also very humbled. I would have been thankful to release just one album, let alone have a good portion of my life documented to music and released by various record labels, and have the fans who have been along for the ride over the years… And to keep it going this long…. Its like I have to slap myself, I think the fans know that though, it’s just the type of person I am, I’m sort of a tweaked out old fashioned type of guy. But the greatest, and the worst, it’s just been a journey; the good things far outweigh the negative. I’m still around!

Can we expect some musical changes on the new album?

There will always be that underlying element of MENTALLO in there- many of these pieces are more like ear candy for me. When I felt up to it, I would pass the time working on pieces just to sonically freak myself out. It’s not like I’m intentionally out to try and write an ebm or old school electro hit. Those old albums were honest and true, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. Hell I was just a kid at the time locked away in a home studio in Texas. (laugh)

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music program that is based here in Chicago and has been on the air for the past 27 years. The show features music videos, interviews, and live performances from some of the biggest artists around. This includes underground artists like Skinny Puppy and Combichrist to mainstream rock bands like Green Day and The Smashing Pumpkins. Our episode will be shared with Silversun Pickups, which I think is cool.

This is the second time we’ve taped appeared on the show (the first was in 2007) and it is a tremendous honor.

W

Yes they did this…

ith «Skin Tight» you go totally electronic, there is no bigger difference than what you did on the previous EP «Marrow 1».

Is this also the outline for the next album?

We love music and we love writing songs regardless of the genre or instrumentation. We usually don’t set out too many rules when we create music. With «Marrow 1,» we wanted to strip away the programming and computers and synthetic sounds so that we could return to a more «pure» form of music. It’s fun to try new things, especially with EP’s, because they’re quicker to produce and have less of a time/ effort investment than full-length

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albums. «Skin Tight,» on the other hand, was a fun song that was written 2.5 years ago that we wrote specifically for the clubs. I don’t think either of these releases are any indicator of our new material or next album. If I could sum up our upcoming music in one word, it would be «growth.»

The video for «Skin Tight» is one of the most professional that I have seen in a long time from this scene.

How did you fix that?

The director of the «Skin Tight» video is Chris Folkens. This is the third video we’ve made with him and he keeps getting better. He is ridiculously talented and he has a

great ability to get amazing shots and then edit them into a virtuosic fury that makes sense. We have been friends with him since 2004 when I did post-production audio and mixing work for his second indie film, «Toxin.» We love working with him and we are very lucky to know him. He works with some pretty big bands and he has made several famous television commercials (in addition to his indie films).

I just found out that you’ll be doing the score for the documentary film Journey Through Fire. Many musicians would die to get such an opportunity. Can you tell us a bit more about it, especially how you got involved?

We’re very excited about composing the score for «Journey Through Fire.» The documentary film is a gut-wrenching story of overcoming abuse (you can Google it for the trailer and more details). We have thrown ourselves into this project and it has been a very moving experience so far. The filmmakers are fans of ours and we met in 2011 when we played some live dates in California.

Can you tell us what you are working on right now musically next to this soundtrack?

We’re finishing up a new CD version of the «Skin Tight» EP. It will have a several new songs and remixes in addition to the title track. After that we’ll return focus to composing the score and writing new songs for the film, which will be released as a soundtrack album. I hope there will be time for a new studio album before the end of 2013.

You played a set at JBTV Music Television, which is totally unknown here in Europe. What kind of show is this?

JBTV is a nationally broadcast

electronic music with attitude

electronic music with attitude

I:SCINTILLA Skintight [digital EP] Quick on the heels of their recently released acoustic EP "Marrow 1," electronic-rock quartet I:SCINTILLA switch gears completely with their brand new digital single "Skin Tight". The band abandons all guitars while vocalist Brittany Bindrim’s seductive lyrics shine over a bed of pulsing bass and synthesizers. A down-and-dirty electro stomper that will definitely find its way into clubs.

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a lot to the good old classics at the moment. For Example: Tears for Fears, Fad Gadget (which I have seen live on stage at one of his last concerts back in the early 2000s in Belgium), Depeche Mode, Front 242, The latest album from Men without Hats (Love in

the age of war) which I like very much, especially the Song «Everybody Knows» and last but not least Soft Cell, just to name a few.

For me, all these bands, and lots more of classic stuff in general, fits perfectly the Winter feeling and a soon ending year. I also electronic music with attitude

Never change a running system!

W

hat are you both listening to these days?

MK: Most of my time I am listening to some new stuff I want to work with, finding lyrics and melodies. This morning in the car I listened to “City and Colours”.

KO: Predominantly, I’m listening

listen to brand new stuff, I won’t miss a new favorite band or song of mine.

Screens, crashing Plug-ins and all this sort of funny things. A second thing is, at the moment I’m switching my studio to the brand«Come Closer» peaked in the new Cubase 7 and I’m trying to EBM charts. It wasn’t even a sin- get into it, so that I can start work gle, did you expect it? a.s.a.p.!

MK: No. But it’s a good song and MK: These days I am busy with even when it’s not EBM – the peo- Christmas-Stuff, voyages and ple like it. That’s great! other projects. But between two KO: Same here I’m still comple- dates I always write lyrics and tely surprised about it. «Come trying some lines for the songs Closer» is a relative quiet song and ideas, which are waiting for and emotionally a little bit strange. me.

As we finished the song, our first idea about this little strange tune Marion, I indeed noticed you have was to offer it to Quentin Taran- been traveling around here and tino as a soundtrack for «Kill Bill there, anything that inspired you Vol.3». But who knows if Quen- for new songs? tin will ever finish the script for MK: I was in Spain where the it and if he would like the song. music of Invisible Limits is still May be, we will never know. But very very famous, the songs are back to issue, I’m very happy that still around in the clubs. I was in a Mari Chrome song peaked the Madrid, performing a new Remix EBM-Radio-Charts. Beside our- of «Golden Dreams». In Valencia selves, our listeners, fans and the I met some very interesting musipeople in front of a stage are the cians and DJs. Their style of music reason for doing all the work. At is different and very special. But I this point a very big thank you to like this open, a bit melancholic all the listeners and the ones who sound of the Valencia-Area. That got «Come Closer» into the Ra- inspires to new melodies and vodio-Charts. cal-lines and also new projects.

you don´t recognize that but after some time (Invisible Limits = 20 years now) you see the difference and a continuous presence.

KO: I think that you’re right when you say the attention span is much shorter but I don’t see this as a unsalable problem, because good music and good songs always found the way to its fans and listeners. That has been like this in past and will be like this in the future. Of course, for me Mari Chrome stands for both. By implication for a Band like Mari Chrome that means that it needs more time to reach the people which will like our music. Our songs are not mass-produced goods so each single songs wants and needs to be explored, my opinion is they’re worth to be explored. I think, if an album is disposable or not depends on the listener. If I use music just as a kind of cheap consumer good all music can become disposable.

If I take myself the time and really listen into music it can become a pretty nice piece of art. What music in my eyes definitely is.

Are you both Spotify users? If so, what do you think of it?

So, what is Mari Chrome up to An album these days is getting an MK: I use it sometimes, only at these days? I guess you are alrea- even shorter attention span than home and private. I often switch dy busy in the studio Kai? compared to 10 years ago. You’d on the artists-radio and discover KO: Yes, we’re working on new almost think that it has become new music I did not know. I like it material. And I can tell you there quite disposable. What is your and for bands it’s a great opportuwill be really kicking ass tunes take on this? nity to present their music. once they will be finished. The MK: Characteristic for these days: KO: Yes, I use and I like Spotify, only secret I really can reveal Music is made fast, songs are pro- it’s an excellent service but right to you all out there is: NEVER grammed very fast in the compu- now many rare scene diamonds CHANGE A RUNNING SYS- ter, vocals are recorded with lots of and many of my all time favorites TEM! I had major problems the effects and distortion: “Throwing are still missing there. So I don’t last weeks with my studio PC so away society” needs “throwing use it too often. May be they will that the work here stuck. I guess away music”. You find this in the work it out in 2013 and I will be everyone who is producing music mainstream and you find this in there more often. I will keep an with DAW’s knows about this ni- the scene. Quality music will stay eye on this. ghtmares. Freezing DAW’s, Blue and grow over the years. First electronic music with attitude

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J

an, what are you doing these days?

After the album was finished, I gave myself some time to experiment with new musical directions. Finishing an album is always rather stressful, so it felt great to be free again and make some music just for fun.

I’ve been feeling very inspired lately, and the plan is to finish the Mildreda stuff, to make some Lemongrazz, to create some ambient, and to do some GNY. And I am also doing some drum and bass. And did I mention I am building a new studio?

Full blast!

What has been going on in the VIRGINS O.R PIGEONS camp lately? Since the fire that ravaged your house and studio we no longer heard much from you? All OK? Since the fire a lot of things have happened. It was hard to get back on track with all the equipment destroyed, my sound library collection gone and the pressure of all the lost time. I also had to prepare a new room with proper acoustics to work in. But at the same time we got the chance to further mature musically, we got to know and experiment with different types of equipment and I had the time to expand my knowledge as a producer and use it in our upcoming album. It took us quite some time but I had to make sure the new material is worth the wait. And it does.

Can we expect the new album later this year? Can you reveal more about it? We heard some songs on compilations revealing a much harsher dark elektro approach.

What is VIRGINS O.R PIGEONS anno 2012 sounding like?

Yes, you should expect our 2nd album to be released somewhere in 2012. There are still no specific dates but the material is near completion and we are very pleased with the results. You shouldn’t expect a

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A curse and a blessing…

much harsher dark electro sound, the tracks revealed in past compilations were recorded way back and might be misleading you just a little bit. There is a huge variety of tempo, rhythm and melodies, which is exactly what we had in mind in the first place. There’s also a strong «mainstream» element existing throughout the whole album, without losing in quality or changing radically the distinct sound of Virgins O.R Pigeons.

We aimed for something unique and original and I think we’ve got it. Get ready for a full Virgins O.R Pigeons blast! More details will be announced as soon as the mastering process is completed and some further arrangements are made. Maybe we will prepare a «special» treat for our fans…

It’s funny to see how you dig up some older work of yours on your Facebook and especially the influences that you associate with it. For «Out of this world» for instance you added that you were strongly inspired by Paul van Dyk and Oakenfold. I always had the impression you have a good internal sponge for sucking up new techniques and sounds to incorporate in Diskonnekted. What elements are ready for being included this time?

It’s tricky to be a producer and listen to music. I am happy that I can still enjoy music, but I can’t help myself but check the different layers and the way things are arranged and produced. I am sure every producer feels that way. But it’s not just a curse. It’s a blessing as well because new styles can be a real adventure to discover. Nowadays I especially enjoy listening to drum and bass and how

What else can we expect from you?

More concerts?

We will start booking concerts for 2012 soon enough, having a European tour in our plans. Again, no further details can be announced yet as we are still focused on the recording and the planning is raw. But I can say for sure that we missed the road and the road missed us! We are also looking forward to introducing our new members Miyuki and Sinner to our fans, as they will be a big part in our live shows.

electronic music with attitude

electronic music with attitude

things are evolving there. The genre evolved from a much more sampled based sound to a more synthetic one with synthetic beats instead of samples, making it much more solid and club oriented. An interesting evolution that inspires me a lot, and I hope you

can catch a first glimps of this inspiration in a forthcoming remix I am working on.

racters Herr Flick and von Smallhausen as in ‘Allo Allo’: how could one care about every single opinion? Or where hard electro bands go classic? It’s not a joke anymore, it’s far beyond. So no, I don’t care. With GNY we’re happy to seek our own path, and it’s getting further and further away from the ‘scene’.

Also, are these influences that you couldn’t get into Diskonnekted?

Even if Diskonnekted is about breaking boundaries, there are limits nonetheless. Some things just don’t work. I remember experimenting with some dub influences but that didn’t work out. The goal has always been quite clear to reach that certain atmosphere. Some elements don’t work for the moods and colours that I want to create with Diskonnekted.

GNY on the other hand is totally free. The main goal with GNY is to have fun and not to care about anything. But I wouldn’t say the influences are that different though. There’s definitely an overlap.

Do you think everyone understand your Oostends dialect on the You also started a new side-pro- rehearsal videos? ject GNY I noticed which is more I guess not, but bless yourself if dub step and D’nB based. Now, as you do (laugh). While Diskonyou might have noticed, some in nekted started as a one-man only the dark electro / industrial scene project doing its thing in the stuhave a visceral dislike of anything dio, it became a real band. During that smells after those influences. rehearsals you can sense the difWhat’s your take on it? ferent vibration, and feels great In a scene where artists dress to be more than the sum of three themselves like the Gestapo cha- people creating music.

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will be featured in 2 different versions..one with my vocals and one more with female vocals, just a voice & guitar..nothing more,the rest about this track will be known as soon as the new ep will come out... The 2 other new tracks will be the usual DARK/HORROR/ EBM sound SIVA SIX is into.

Are the new tracks announcing a new album or something or are they especially made for this new EP? We are working on a new album, those 3 new tracks are part of the new material, we will finish the new album by the end of 2013, and i guess it will be out early 2014, meanwhile everybody can have a good and fast sniff about our new stuff in «SUPERSTITION « EP , mind that this new ep will be a strictly limited edition!! concept wise «SUPERSTITION» is one of the key themes to the main point/ idea of our next album, unfortunately i cannot let you know more or announce to you the title of our next album since right now we are focusing on various points of view upon SUPERSTITION as a way of life, as influence in the life of millions, the way it has penetrated in us, the way it has put its corruption seed even in society’s official laws, how it can lead us upon evil..and how it can destroy true life ..the wise..the true and the beautiful..,at the other hand SUPERSTITION is also dedicated to the false and to the weak out there..the ones that all they can do is to clone..to a scene that has become nothing more than superstitious when it comes to issues of evolve and progress, the luck of guts ... ideology and respect ,the bands that all they care about is not to lose their sales and disappoint their fanbase..to all who are so scared to move on....cto taste a bit of art..cto all of them that they are naive to understand the essence of music and have not got the character to fit in the same disc an dark-ebm track..with a black metal remix... a techhouse remix and a track with just a voice and a guitar ,but we can do it...cand this is the breaking point of the mu-

electronic music with attitude

electronic music with attitude

Entering the year of Superstitions «

Superstition»…? I heard a new release was in the pipeline? Can you reveal more already?

«SUPERSTITION» is the tittle of our new ep, 3 new tracks,2 remixes we chose from the european limited box edition of our latest al-

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bum «THE TWIN MOONS» and 1 remix from the japanese limited double cd edition of our latest album +7 new remixes upon tracks coming from our latest album too. This time i wanted to do something that sounds completely different than what we’ve done so far, so..we did a new song which

sick SUPERSTITIONS ,this is all about what music is..and why and how its falsely labelled ....the dark side of the sound might have a lot of expressions the rest if for the weak..

gets closer to everyone world wide, we could not wish for more..., late 2013 we have our first ever Russian tour (18-19-20 of january 2013) last april we did our debut Spanish and German live shows + around 15 more live dates supYou guys recently relaunched porting our latest album « THE your www.sivasix.com website TWIN MOONS « so i guess that and are also working on another we are quite active at the time. video clip taken from your last « The Twin Moons» album. I’ve You guys are also very busy on the the impression you have never dark scene with various other acbeen so much busy and hectic tivities? Can we know more about than the last time? What will the what’s happening under the veil new video be like, cos the previous of SIVA SIX? one was simply astounding! Tell I am into the core of the Greek us more about these projects and dark/goth/fetish scene for 15 other things you have in the pipe- years now, my good friend george line? fakinos and i we run the SECOND I guess you liked our first video SKIN CLUB ( www.secondskinclip « VALLEY OF THE SHA- club.gr) which means a lot of band DOWS «.. it was the first time we bookings as well as events as the did a video clip, we had the help of infamous TORTURE GARDEN some great people..they know who or FETISH BALL and so many they are, it was not easy but not more to mention ,i love what i do hard at the same time, being your- and i am 100% happy with my liself makes everything easier... our festyle, i am true to myself, after new video clip is for the track « all i am a musick lover… Most SERPENT WHORE « we wor- of my life is based on this fact, i ked again with the talented di- could not ask more than what i rector CHRISTOS MAVRIDIS, have but i have dedicated myself we wanted to do something way and my will upon thee... different than VALLEY OF THE SHADOWS..Christos loved some What else will 2013 be like for of the ideas i had and he added SIVA SIX? his ones too, the rest you will find 2013 is a superstitious year.. a lot them by yourselves quite soon. might happen..starting as i said Our official web site was dawn for before with our russian tour..2 almost 2 years for various reasons. gigs in italy later on spring 2013..

We worked hard and i hope our and a very ambitious offer to be FRATERS & SORORS will enjoy part of a summer -tour festival the ride.. everything about SIVA amongst the greatest Greek bands SIX is there....music player-bio- of the extreme, finishing our next photo gallery -official merchan- album...releasing our new video dise -tour dates-contact.... WWW. clip for the track «SERPENT SIVASIX.COM Yes we have been WHORE»...yes there will be SUbusy from day 1 we got into alfa PERSTITIONS!! matrix roster, it makes sense...a big label with a good distribution and with the help of it our WORK

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Absolute Grrrls Manifesto

A new compilation concept by Alfa Matrix

W

hy did you decide to start work on «Absolute Grrrls Manifesto [chapter 1]», a girls only compilation?

After all the label is run by 3 guys. What is the deeper concept behind it?

Compilation Absolute Grrrls Manifesto [4CD box + bonus] The ultimate underground collection of female vocalists ever released!

4 discs + 40 more songs on a bonus download card in a deluxe carton box.

Over 500 minutes of female talent across the best alternative scene genres: Industrial, Goth, Electro, Metal, Synth Pop, Darkwave, Ethereal...

LEAVE’S EYES, L’AME IMMORTELLE, TRISTANIA, THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE, COLLIDE, AYRIA, CHANDEEN, MANTUS, I:SCINTILLA, MARSHEAUX, XANDRIA, HELALYN FLOWERS, THE DREAMSIDE, UNTER NULL, LIV KRISTINE, TYING TIFFANY, DARK ORANGE, GRAUSAME TOCHTER, KRYSTAL SYSTEM, DARK ORANGE, DAYBEHAVIOR, JAVELYNN, AAIMON, PSY’AVIAH, MELLONTA TAUTA, ALICE IN VIDEOLAND, ISIS SIGNUM feat.

SARA NOXX, NUDE, and many more.

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electronic music with attitude

Seba. Well… As you know it, over the last 2 decades, I’ve been instigator and promoter of several compilation series. In the past I already did the «Venusa XX» sampler with female voices only.

Don’t you remember where many people from our scene discovered a band like CLIENT for the first time? Well, Venusa XX vol.2 it was… The last years, we have developed at Alfa Matrix 2 strong conceptual compilation series that are «Endzeit Bunkertracks» and «Electronic Body Matrix», both released as 4CD compilation box sets. The idea of doing such box with female vocalists only, has been on my mind for some time I must say.

For me it’s a bit the follower of the «Fxxk The Mainstream» compilation box but with a stronger focus on bands with female voices, but without music styles limits. On both «Endzeit» and «EBM», I already expanded the sound frontiers a bit cos I love challenging the ears of our listeners, but these projects nevertheless still remain within certain «scene walls» I imposed to myself… This new «Absolute Grrrls Manifesto» gives me more sound freedom within the indie music world. I really felt the need to have more sound freedom in one of our compilation projects, and this is my new playground! Every compilation I make requests lots of time and energy. Each one reflects my very personal tastes. The track listing order needs to flow in my ears. There is a logic for me behind every song that I select. And believe me when you get, like for this one, thousands of songs to choose from and shrink it all down to 10 times less, the filtering exercise is very tough and frustrating. I also always try to explore as many corners possible fitting the compilation sound concept, and it’s what I did here again… You see, for me the importance is that although I here restricted myself to working with songs with lead female vocals only, I show how different female vocals can be. From operatic chants to spoken words, from sensual sugar pop singing to harsh distorted growls. I just want to push the listener hearing new music that they would not check spontaneously on their own, mix renown bands of the scene with new talents I actually just discovered while working on the project. And with this «Absolute Grrrls Manifesto» concept, I’m happy showing to a male-dominated scene the strength and potential female vocals also can have next to male ones… This is my manifesto!

Your preference for female vocals is widely known. Can you explain why?

Seba. It’s funny you mention this! I think it’s more my eclectic taste which should be known though. But it’s true that this is something I read about several times, especially in the early years of the label. I actually think it’s pure hazard that several of the first bands signed to Alfa Matrix were female fronted bands: HUNGRY LUCY, REGENERATOR, NEIKKA RPM, EPSILON MINUS, AYRIA… If you remember well, at that same time we had also signed bands with male vocalists like MNEMONIC, PLASTIC NOISE EXPERIENCE, IMPLANT, NEBULA-H, GLIS,

electronic music with attitude

MALE OR FEMALE (funny mentioning this one with this question actually – laugh), FRONT 242, VIRTUAL EMBRACE…I think what impressed people back then was maybe the balance we had in our roster between male & female vocalists. And I’m proud that through the years we continued working with even more talented female fronted bands like I:SCINTILLA, UNTER NULL, STRAY, HELALYN FLOWERS, ZOMBIE GIRL, TECHNOIR, DIFFUZION, KRYSTAL SYSTEM, PSY’AVIAH and more recently MARI CHROME, LOVELORN DOLLS or yet JUNKSISTA…. But I could easily do a similar inventory within the other gender. Let’s say Alfa Matrix was back then maybe one of the only so-called «industrial» label daring signing bands outside the standard harsh angry shouting elektro genre… You know, you can see some labels using sub-label names according to the band they release. I am fighting against scene walls so building such style separations within the Matrix makes no sense to me. They simply represent our personal tastes and the perfect combination of 3 persons with very eclectic and different musical tastes and affinities… If I personally like an ethereal lo-fi album as well as a dark noise experimental disc, and then a pop rock teenage band, why wouldn’t you? Or why would you?

This is what Alfa Matrix is all about. Explore the sounds from the Matrix, check our bands, taste their music and leave what you do not like.

I cannot imagine someone out there liking every release from our label repertoire, otherwise it would mean I have a clone somewhere out there (laugh).

Would you say that female vocals are largely underestimated in the industrial / dark wave scene?

Seba. «Underestimated» is a wrong word I think. Sometimes too rigid in its approach, and too much focused on «angry boys»… Somehow yes. This said, we have many successful female fronted bands on the scene proving that gender is not what makes success. I remember the good old days when I was as much fan of THE CURE than SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, SISTERS OF MERCY than GHOST DANCE or SKELETAL FAMILY, ANNE CLARK than DEPECHE MODE… Well, why would this have changed today? You cannot imagine how happy I can be when we get some very eclectic orders in our e-shop cos they prove that these scene boundaries are damned artificial! This week for example, we got an order for DUNKELWERK, KRYSTAL SYSTEM, ESSENCE OF MIND and the Electronic Body Matrix compilation. I said «yeaaahh»!!!

Unlike the other compilations like Endzeit, this compilation doesn’t focus on just one music genre but is open to all forms of underground music: electro, EBM, gothic rock, synth pop, new wave, metal, industrial, techno, etc. I suppose it didn’t make it easier to compile it. How did you proceed?

You bet! It’s the first time we get so many song submissions for a compilation! But also so many new names I had not even ever encountered on the net before… The selection process was pretty

tough this time. I did not calculate too much, but just let my heart and ears guide me. I could have tried having X percent goth metal, X percent industrial, X percent synth pop, X percent ethereal wave, etc. But this would have made it all too artificial for me. There were some bands I absolutely wanted to be on this compilation and I’m glad a good majority of them (and their labels) joined me in the adventure, of course I’m also missing some of them, but let’s say it still gives me some challenge for a next chapter…

When I compile such project, it must kind of be the perfect compilation I would do for myself on my ipod or to play in the car. So I play all songs at random all the time, take notes, rate songs, try to find links between songs and in the end I end up with 150 songs or so. And then I start the whole licensing request process, a very time-consuming phase and not my favourite of all of course…

What I also love doing besides the compilation process is working on ideas with our designer to come up with the right design, the right image feel to it. For this one, the choice of the compilation title was not easy. I remember talking hours and hours long with our copywriter about it cos I really wanted to avoid falling into clichés and wanted a title which stands out and catches the eye… Music-wise it indeed features an amazing rich palette of possible underground styles and genres going from TRISTANIA or XANDRIA to CHANDEEN or THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE, from angry EBM and harsh dark elektro to minimal pop or yet ambient techno. The sense for melody and the personality are 2 common factors in all the selected bands. And I’ll admit that I surprised myself by turning the comp in a much more upbeat/danceable selection than I thought it would be when we launched the concept…

Maybe chapter 2 will be more slow-tempo and more ethereal wave oriented. I guess it’s my current mood which lead me there. I needed something dynamic and exciting, maybe cos I compiled it during the Autumn/Winter season!? Who knows…

Does the industrial scene need more female fronted bands?

I don’t think it’s a question of gender here, no…

Whe,n I take your question, «What the industrial scene needs more today»? I’d rather say «more fans who do buy music and support underground art». This is what we need, let them be male or female… And people who dare spending some coins on new talents, and not always support the usual top-10 favourites. By acting like we do, we’ll end up eating our tail and seeing the essence of underground art vanish. Spotify is for this a very interesting way to discover new things in the whole internet jungle and the plethora of active bands all around… Who will be the big bands tomorrow, I really do not care male or female, I just hope we’ll continue seeing some indie artists rise from nothing, cos it’s getting more and more difficult these days to get there, and the global economic crisis shall not make things any better I fear. I’m really worried about the future of underground culture, what will my children and the next generations have access to… Any way, enjoy the present and let me know how much you liked this new compilation project of ours when it comes out round March 2013…

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MENTALLO AND THE FIXER music from the eather [CD / 2CDbox / digital] It is amazing how such an influential band with an impressive career and expanding discography still dares challenging himself album after album by totally reinventing his sound instead of rehashing the easy recipe of success. An avant-garde schizophrenic new album filled with ultra-complex synth arrangements layered on devastating upbeat sequencer rhythms and haunting samples. More than ever, MENTALLO & THE FIXER will make your head turn and offers you an ear-challenging paranoid soundscape rich in detailed production work that guarantees multiple sound discoveries still after over a dozen of listens. Restricted to trained ears!

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electronic music with attitude

RECOIL a strange hour in Budapest [blu-ray] Full HD production with 5.1 surround sound & stereo audio.

Exclusive concert film from the ‘Selected Events’ tour celebrating 25 years of the RECOIL project of Alan Wilder, formerly of DEPECHE MODE.

electronic music with attitude

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Over the past weeks, we have been able following your musical influences via posts on your Facebook. It’s kinda refreshing to see a band also adding other than their own videos and soundbites on their Facebook pages. Before that you talked about every single track that we could hear on your album. As uncommunicative Kraftwerk is, as communicative Metroland is…

M: We already discovered in our former musical life that communication is very, very important. With the track-by-track information, we thought it would be good idea to do this as we wanted to show people that the songs are not just programmed on computers and put on a disc.

They each have a separate story and base, enforcing the complete concept. And often our songs have a deeper meaning that one would not even come up with when listening to cold machine like music. And thus we thought it would be nice to spread the deeper meaning.

We are kids from the 80’s

M

etroland has been the Alfa Matrix revelation of the year. You have now prepared a live set for your first concert, which was during the BIM festival in Antwerp. Were you nervous?

M: To be honest, yes, we were. It’s kind of logic, as it was the very first time that we were playing on stage as the band Metroland. We were using brand new gear and a brand new set up, a radical change with the former 20 years we were on stage. We were using nearly the same set up as Recoil: MacBooks + Akai APC40 controllers, Ableton software that we are still getting acquainted with. Next to this, the audio was accompanied by special video images that were projected on huge screens. Despite some hiccups with the vocoder and the use of an analog converter for the video-images, we only got positive feedback from the audience.

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That Sophie Watkins remix of «Moscow Main» is da bomb as they’d say in NME. That must also have been your reaction.

I noticed it’s also one of the most favorite remixes from your release on Spotify, iTunes and related services.

M: Sophie Watkins is known for making bombs when it comes to musical terms, so we are not surprised at all. It’s one of our favorites too. And we were only too honored when she agreed to make 2 versions of her remix. Admittedly, all remixes as featured on the limited edition version of «Mind The Gap» are smashing in their own. We were more than fortunate to be able to co-operate will all artists included.

It took us quite some time to get these acts together, as we wanted a complete set of artists we liked, so no one else but us two had full control on what would end up on the remix CD. And the result is smashing, we have different sort of styles and still they go together, making it a perfect com-

plementary disc to the original album.

Metroland is actually a very visual act with Passenger H being integral part of the band. How did this happen?

M: How we met was all a happy accident.

We appeared on an Alfa Matrix sampler and someone put a rather boring video for it on YouTube. Passenger H picked it up, and created another clip of the song, so what came as an act of friendship turned out to be a mutual way of working.

It feels like Passenger H totally understands the direction and the concept of Metroland. As he stands very close to us this way, it was only a logical step to make him part of the crew. We are again very fortunate how this turned out! Metroland is in its complete form an audio visual concept. Each song has a story and a ‘vision’. With both these items you can easily get through to people.

electronic music with attitude

How did you try to stay out of the Kraftwerk copycat water? Because everything sounds like Kraftwerk but the structures are to my sense more developed and more up to date.

For starters we never copied anything, except maybe the witty wink to «It’s more fun to compute». And yes, we use vocoders, hi-q’s and bleeps, analogue sounds and vintage drum machines but as far as we are concerned, that is where the comparison stops. The K-word is a source of inspiration, sure, but there is much more that I inspired us such as Komputer, Orbital, OMD, Nitzer Ebb, Marsheaux…

The structures as you put it, the tons of hours spent on stereo-effects, the small things happening in the back that pass by in a nano-second, the more aggressive baselines, the up tempo of few tracks is making us more distinguished from the K-word. Sad to notice some never seem to dare and look beyond their list of reference. Sad to notice some always have to nag about a band being a copy instead of finding what is the true sound of that band, instead of always trying to look for what is copied. Both bands are separate, luckily.

We would be lying to say that we were not influenced by Kraftwerk, but if you listen closer to our «Mind The Gap» album there is much more that meets the ears. The influences are so, so much more, but it’s only people that hear melodies and vocoders that say «ah, Kraftwerk». We are nothing like them in oh so many ways.

Our music is multi-layered and our bass sequences tend to breathe more power.

Fortunately several magazines made reviews on our album sharing that opinion,

electronic music with attitude

very clearly. It is Kraftwerk based but with some ingredients you won’t be able to find in Kraftwerk. And obviously (due to the pristine production and mastering) some listened very attentively to the album, digging just that deeper.

Bands like OMD, Komputer etc have only praise for your material. It must feel good that such renown artists like your work?

If I’m not wrong, you’re both big fans of said bands.

Oh, yes, we definitely are. We have been in touch with both bands for several reasons. OMD recently took us in the picture by posting a link to our «Enjoying The View» video. And well, for being such great artists at a hard to reach level, they are nice people to be around too.

Metroland is quite different from your previous band. It must have been 2 years already that I was informed that both of you were working on something completely different. Which intrigued me back then. How did all of this start?

In our former project we were working on auto-pilot for too many years and you could say that the drive was gone. Despite the fact that we were working on a brand new album then, we were no longer keen on continuing. During our former career we discarded so many arrangements and ideas, simply due to the fact that it didn’t fit the band’s concept. A few years ago, we started to store those “disposable” arrangements in a folder. After half a year or so we looked and found about 8 arrangements that we could work on. Still at that moment we had no idea on which direction to take. It was not until we by accident came across a sample “mind the gap” from the London Tube, that we used it on a song. During a brainstorm session we decided to use the name Metroland, simply because it fitted that one sample and because we are both fan of Komputer (Metroland is a remix version of “Looking Down On London”). A few weeks later when working on some more tracks and samples, we took a conceptual decision and went for the full monty. We decided to make songs about metro stations, transport, trains and commuting in general. It was kind of a big risk, because it would be all or nothing. Luckily, thanks to the co-operation with Alfa Matrix, we were proven right. Metroland is getting a great positive feedback from across the globe.

rywhere, we feel, not only from Scandinavia. Also from places we never thought they would pick us up, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, and Russia…. We notice that Metroland is much more accessible than our former band, as we now also get interest from UK, or even bands like OMD and Front 242 placed us in the spotlight on facebook.

I noticed that a lot of drum sounds could have come straight out of the first album from Depeche Mode. Where did you find those on? Sampled or just via some old drum computer.

We have been working with Reason from Propellerheads since 2004 now. All sounds we used are carefully seeked out to have a vintage feel, but in fact they all were taken from soundbanks and refills that we bought or freely downloaded.

None of the sounds on the album or sampled or presets. We always care to change something about it, layer sounds, put separate effects on it. Metroland is a technical concept so we try to get the maximum out of the machines.

Your biggest stunt this year has been the feature in the 1 million readers newspaper METRO here in Belgium offering a special remix. It’s not the first exclusive mix you guys have made right?

So true! Next to some exclusive mixes for compilations, we once had this crazy idea to glorify the fact of being a metro station, so we created 6 different exclusive versions of “Theme For Metroland”, made 6 e-mails (some even in the native speaking language like Russian or German) and sent it all to those 6 stations. We targeted Moscow, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, London and even New York. For METRO newspaper we decided to make an exclusive remix of The Passenger (METRO mix) and it was for free for the readers to download for about 5 days only.

You both still are hooked into vinyl and other physical formats. Has the digital revolution completely passed you guys?

We are kids from the 80’s and a left-over is indeed the need for a physical format.

Apple’s condition that none of the downloaded tracks are really yours, has only fortified that sentiment. We do download from digital platforms now and then, but that’s only because it is not available on any other medium, which is sad, very sad.

As expected especially Scandinavia is falling for your approach. You aren’t surprised?

We are getting great response from eve-

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AMBASSADOR21 FAS [EP - playstation box]

Compilation Endzeit Bunkertracks - act 6 [4CD box + bonus]

Louder and more provocative than ever before!

11 tracks that will hack your mental system!

49 minutes of provocative attitude!

The sonic hackers of AMBASSADOR21 strike back.

Stop the loud declarations!

Fuck all systems! Start the action!

6th edition of the most successful dark elektro compilation ever.

68 tracks on 4 discs + 40 more songs on a bonus download card!

The best harsh elektro and modern power noise acts of the moment.

A new ultimate Endzeit experience of 500 minutes of sonic extravaganza!

electronic music with attitude

electronic music with attitude

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