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‘Click Interview’ with Pro Patria: ‘You Had To Feel The Pain’

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Pro Patria

Belgian formation Pro Patria has been set up by Peter Vercauteren (PVC). The band was mainly active during the 80s and rapidly became one of the most promising EBM formations from that time. As Peter explains, ‘the name Pro Patria was simply a coincidence of things; perhaps we were unconsciously influenced by the SA42-song at the time, but personally I was also obsessed with Latin, which also showed in many of the early songs’. Unfortunately things went the other way round, Pro Patria never broke through and finally stopped all activities. More than 15 years later Pro Patria was asked to play live again and Peter Vercauteren finally decided to reactivate the project. The self-released album “Back To Basics” reveal a passionate and retro-like EBM, which brought me to get in touch with Peter.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries / pics with kind permission of Jirka Blumenthal and Uwe Rudolph)

Q: Can you first of all remind us how Pro Patria saw the daylight and how did you get ‘contaminated’ by the EBM-virus?

Peter: Pro Patria saw the daylight halfway the eighties because of a friend who wanted to create a band and needed someone who could play keys. After a bumpy start, I gradually took control of the project and steered away from the original, funky-commercial intention. I had always been attracted by synths and electronic music and had become a great fan of Front 242, Skinny Puppy and other bands that had laid the foundations of EBM. When Nitzer Ebb opened the Depeche Mode tour, back in 1988, the whole audience was speechless… it was something that I’d never witnessed before because usually the support act gets booed at or people chuck pints of beer at them. Here they were all in shock, too overwhelmed to even speak a word! It brought a smile on my face and right there and then I knew in which direction I wanted to take my band. It would still take some time to get there, though.

 Q: Pro Patria was without a shadow of a doubt one of the most promising Belgian EBM formations from the 90s. The consecration was the record deal with Celtic Circle Productions, but the label got bankrupt, the album got never released and Pro Patria finally stopped all activities. How do you look back at this period and what was the impact of it all on you as artist and on the man hiding behind the artist?

 Peter: I think that the problem with Pro Patria, and other emerging EBM bands of the period, was that they had arrived just one step too late. EBM was mighty popular in the eighties, but suddenly, in the early nineties, this all changed. One day to the next, EBM was dead and it had all become either techno/house or grunge. Therefore I look back upon it with great frustration because nobody seemed to be interested in us, or EBM as a whole. Heck, even the gods of the eighties like Front 242, Nitzer, FLA and even Depeche Mode had turned their backs on their origins and had changed into either techno or grunge. So it was extremely hard for young, motivated EBM bands to raise an interest.

When we eventually found a label that still believed in EBM and us, CCP, we were overjoyed and worked extremely hard on our first real album, “Quod Erat Demonstrandum”, for 9 months. It was all wonderful and the music went to the factory for the CDs to be printed and… right on that very moment… CCP went bankrupt. So we were back at square one, albeit we then had a completely finished product to offer. Again I went door to door to all possible record labels but in vain. Typical was the reply we got from Belgium’s biggest independent label at the time: ‘It’s great what you’re doing, but we’d prefer if you could make it sound a bit more techno, that you’d become the ‘Belgian Prodigy’.

Perhaps I was too stubborn or simply stupid, but I was never going to make any concessions as far as the music was concerned and I kindly refused. Then Bert, my companion at the time, and I split up because he did want to embrace a more techno-oriented sound whereas I wouldn’t have it. I still did a number of great gigs with David Vallée (Lith – Eks.Center) but then my personal situation suddenly changed much for the worse and Pro Patria was forced into the background, where I believed it would slowly die. So all in all, it was not a happy period, even though the gigs themselves made me exhilarate.

Q: But years later it was because of the EBM community you finally reactivated Pro Patria, right? How did it really happen and how did you finally come to compose new songs?

Peter: As I said, I was convinced that Pro Patria was long dead. Then, David Vallée, who’s still a close friend, contacted me a couple of years ago and said: ‘Peter, do you realize that Pro Patria is actually popular?’ I didn’t want to believe him at first because it seemed impossible… I hadn’t done anything with the band in 15 years, the CDs had never made it to the market and of our old cassette demos I’d maybe sold 200 or 250 copies, if it really were that many. But then David sent me a link to Discogs.com and to my astonishment I saw that our old cassettes were being auctioned there for more than €100 each! And I felt incredibly stupid because I had thrown all of my remaining tapes into the bin years earlier.

Coincidentally, around the same time, I was also contacted by the people of Electric Tremor, who asked me if I wanted to be on stage again, during the “Familientreffen”-festival near Leipzig. In the meantime my personal situation had again changed, much for the better this time. I’m again surrounded by people who believe in me and who really want me to continue with Pro Patria. In the first place, I’d like to thank my wife for that. So I said: ‘Why not? Let’s give it a try and see how it goes.’ In the end, I think that the concert was a bit of a success and so I thought that maybe I should start creating something new. I was a bit anxious about it at first, because I had been out of it for so long and the “Familientreffen” also made me realize that EBM had become so big and professional… all of these other bands sounded so great… But to my surprise, once I had again pushed that ‘compose’ button in my head, the inspiration flowed out quickly.

Q: “Back To Basics” might indicate what the music is all about, a kind of retro-EBM inspired sound, but what means this album to you and what kind of opus (sound- & lyrical wise) did you want to accomplish?

Peter: First of all, I wanted to return with a bang. “Quod Erat Demonstrandum” had received great reviews twenty years ago and I could hardly come up with something less if I was going to be serious about reviving Pro Patria. I still had two or three songs on the shelf which I had already started composing during the “Quod Erat Demonstrandum“-production, but obviously that wasn’t enough. As I said, the EBM standard had been raised considerably over the last 20 years and I wondered if I was going to be able to match up. Then again, inspiration turned out to be a tidal wave, thundering down on me from the very dark 15 years I had endured. So it had to sound harsh, raw, you had to feel the pain, much unlike “Quod Erat Demonstrandum” which sounded so clean and perhaps too ‘finished’. For me it was an important part of the healing process.

Q: “Back To Basics” sounds darker and harder than early Pro Patria stuff. What does it reveal about your sources of inspiration, your perception of contemporary electronic music and the equipment that has been used to compose this work?

Peter: With Pro Patria been and gone, all of the music that used to motivate and inspire me died inside of me as well. Surprisingly, the only music that still meant anything to me was Bach and I often hid behind my piano in an impossible attempt to forget reality. Imagine the shock when I found out how magnificent contemporary EBM had become! Yet I deliberately refused to listen to other music during production because I didn’t want to be influenced. It had to be pure Pro Patria, nothing else. The only thing I occasionally listened to was “Quod Erat Demonstrandum”. I went back to my roots (‘back to basics’) and wondered how Pro Patria would have evolved if it had continued to exist all of this time. Hence darker and harder. “Quod Erat Demonstrandum” was also a useful guide in order to help me with production, which was by far the greatest obstacle.

I’m not a techie who’s picky about the instruments one has to use. It’s not which equipment you use but how you use it. On “Quod Erat Demonstrandum” for example, we mainly used Roland D20 and D70 keyboards. Rather the sort of instruments one associates with commercial happy-flappy music. On “Back to Basics” I drove the D20 through an old guitar rack to get some amazing sounds. Unfortunately this procedure took away some of the depth in the music. It’s always a compromise and you have to find that perfect balance between what you want to convey and still keep the music pleasurable to listen to, especially in this particular case with music filled with rage.

Q: This album clearly belongs to the so-called ‘DIY’ (do it yourself) culture so how did you manage all different aspects of the job (recording, mixing, production, promotion, distribution, social media…) and what do you think about the evolution compared to the 90s?

Peter: Eh… I don’t know whether I managed well altogether. “Quod Erat Demonstrandum” was mixed and produced by Marc Schellekens, a highly skilled studio engineer. I, on the other hand, consider myself to be a musician, certainly not a producer. Therefore the hardest aspect was not composing (all 8 new songs on “Back To Basics” were composed and worked out in six weeks’ time), but trying to make it sound decent enough. I’m still not very happy about the result, but it’s a steep learning curve and I’m sure that I’ll do better next time.

Another aspect of not being 20 anymore, is that you have more responsibilities in life. As a youngster, you can easily spend all of your savings on equipment and studio and you can’t care less about the cost. When you’re approaching 50, you tend to get a bit more careful and you also wonder if a certain investment is going to be worthwhile. I could have spent a thousand Euros to have the CD mastered by a professional, but if you’re hoping to sell only 200 to 300 CDs, it’s going to be difficult to get some return on investment.

Moreover, I have moved to Italy 8 years ago, a country where EBM simply doesn’t exist, so it was impossible to find help nearby. As regards to promotion etcetera… I may be a beginner as far as mixing and mastering is concerned, but I’m an absolute zero with promotion and social media. It’s part of an unpleasant discovery I made about myself i.e. that I’m seriously autistic (“Living In A Cage”). A positive thing for me about the music world now, compared to 20 years ago, is that it has become much more on-line and far less personal. It allows me to hide behind my computer screen and it has also become a lot easier to spread your music all across the globe. Fortunately there are a number of people out there who haven’t hesitated to lend me a hand, and in the first place I’d like to thank Sébastien Bourlier (Blondwülf) for everything he’s done to bring Pro Patria back into the spotlights.

Most of all, I’m overjoyed that EBM’s back, stronger and more alive than ever and I feel extremely honored that Pro Patria received a warm welcome back from the EBM community.


Robert Görl (DAF) finally releases lost Paris tapes on vinyl and CD

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Robert Görl (DAF) finally releases lost Paris tapes on vinyl and CD

This is great news for the DAFficcionados: Robert Görl (DAF) releases the lost Paris tapes on vinyl and CD.

But let’s rewind in time. In the early 1980s Robert Görl and Gabi Delgado were quite successful as the duo DAF, until they split up in 1982 following a dispute. In 1986, after a short-lived attempt at a reunion, they broke up again, and this time for a significantly longer period of time. Regarding this era Robert Görl said that it was a very difficult time for him and that he was deeply disappointed in his musical partner and friend. The conflict got so big that after working on the LP “1st Step to Heaven” Görl lost all interest in making music.

“The Paris tapes” holds tracks which Robert Görl recorded in the late 80ies in Paris and that he was never able to finish due to various personal problems/accidents etc. A cassette of the unfinished songs turned up years later in a suitcase he had deposited in his brother’s barn. Although the tracks aren’t produced properly you get an idea behind the artist Robert Görl and as such this release is a true document of its time.

You can order this release on vinyl (available here) and on CD (available here).

‘Click Interview’ with Ager Sonus: ‘ I Was Always Fascinated By Egypt On Multiple Levels’

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German artist Thomas Langewehr had a few ideas in mind when he was in search of a band name. He finally translated one of these names (cf. ‘soundfield’) into Latin and Ager Sonus was born. This dark-ambient project got signed to Cryo Chamber and released impressive music inspired by mystic fields related to Ancient Egypt. The newest work “Necropolis” confirms the talent of this musician, which I personally consider as one of the most talented ‘new’ artists in the genre.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Can you give us some information about your music background and the way you got in touch with dark-ambient music, which finally brought you to set up Ager Sonus?

Thomas: I am mainly a drummer, playing in a punk/hardcore-band, but there was always another side of me that wanted to get out. I was already a fan of (dark)-ambient music for a few years and at one point I just decided to actually try to make my own music. Eventually I started releasing the music to the internet. I always wanted to set up a solo project, mainly for videogames, so I saw this as a way to get some practice and maybe connect to people.

Q: So you wanted to compose a dark-ambient sound, but did you’ve specific references and criteria when composing your music?

Thomas: Well, I only knew I wanted it to be dark (lol). If you listen to my older releases you can hear that they were not very elaborated. They were multi-layered, but not comparable to what I deal with today. I also didn’t connect storylines in any album (until “Tartarus”), I always have a theme I focused on, but every song stood on its own.

I do not listen to other music or artists to get a certain tone I want to achieve, I just sit at my computer and lay down the first few ideas, or added field recordings, manipulate them and then the ideas for the further composition come from that.

Q: Your work is inspired by the mysticism of the Ancient Egyptian culture. What fascinates you in this subject and how do you create your music around this theme?

Thomas: I was always fascinated by Egypt on multiple levels: the architecture, their view about death and what happens to you after it. But also their perception about the gods, the country itself, their tombs and temples… Kind of hard to put it into a short answer. There’re multiple aspects of their mythology that can get your mind running wild. I tried to ‘show’ the world I imagined via the sound; big, oppressive temples, dark, tight, tomb scenarios and vast landscapes.

Q: Your new work “Necropolis” is characterized by powerful and overwhelming blasting sounds at one side and impressive little noises and sound manipulations at the other side. Tell us a bit more about the production and the evolution from “Book Of The Black Earth” towards “Necropolis”?

Thomas: For “Necropolis” I knew I wanted to put in a lot of current and ancient music instruments from around that area and era. Starting out I had no idea how that would sound like in an overall mix, but I am very happy with the end result. I took the ‘Persian scale’ into account and had chords or note progression build upon that, to give it an oriental feel. If I succeeded or not only the listener can tell. I am not a trained piano player and am still learning how to play it, so it was quite of experimenting.

I added flutes and sitars on “Book Of The Black Earth”, but not that much. I don’t have real professional equipment or experience with it so I recorded all kind of sounds. I learned a lot during the writing of “Book Of The Black Earth” and it just took me a step further. I recorded different types of ‘dirt’ and other stuff and put it in tracks either unchanged or manipulated so you would not get that it even was dirt. I like these small little touches that give depth to a track, to pull you a bit further. As for the overall sound, as mentioned in the previous answer, I tried to convey this feeling of being lost in these ancient places and used long notes representing the vast and seemingly endless landscapes of Egypt.

Q: I noticed that one of your favorite dark-ambient artists is Atrium Carceri so I can imagine it must have been really special to get signed on Cryo Chamber? Did you get the opportunity to speak- and exchange some ideas with Simon Heath?

Thomas: Oh, you have no idea! I pestered Simon for almost 4 years I think (lol). He is such a great guy, even though he did not pick me up as an artist for a long time, we talked a bit about each album I sent him. He always gave me great feedback, he always listened and that is something you rarely find in a human being, so I always knew, if I’d to join a label, it could be only Cryo Chamber, which is also the label where most of my favorite artists are signed.

Q: Some dark-ambient artists are using authentic/traditional instruments in their work, which often reinforce the mystic/occult/ritual side of the composition. Is it an idea you would eventually improve on further releases? What brings the future for Ager Sonus?

Thomas: For “Necropolis” it made sense to me to use all those instruments, it really gives it an ‘authentic’ feeling, which I think wouldn’t have come through if I had just used drones or dark soundscapes. I think the mix really made those two albums work. I don’t know if I will use ‘real’ instruments on my next release; I also have not yet decided what to do next. I have a lot of ideas and a theme in mind, but I am currently experimenting with a few new tools/plugins I bought recently, so it could take some time. Aside of this I’m looking forward for possible collaborations with other artists, which is an idea I’ve been always open for.

‘Click Interview’ with Tycho Brahe: ‘It Is Painful To See Very Little Financial Return On The Recorded Work Through These Streaming Services’

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Set up in 1993 by Ken Evans and Georgina Emery, Australian formation Tycho Brahe recently released the “Triplex [complete]”-album on ScentAir Records. It’s without a shadow of a doubt their most accomplished work to date. The songs will probably ravish 80s synth-pop lovers, but it first of all is a great production the band might be proud of. This was a real good reason to organize an interview with the band.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Tycho Brahe saw the daylight in 1993. What have been the main facts about your career and how much of early Tycho Brahe do you still recognize in your writing today?

TB: We started off as something different and evolved into our current form. The consistent thing about us though, is that we have always approached every situation with a total sense of self-belief. We’ve never been afraid to take a risk and do something ‘crazy’ or to do the impossible when others might say it can’t be done eg like organize an international support in 2 other states with 5 days’ notice when we haven’t rehearsed in five months. Or organize an interstate gig for an international or interstate band whose promoters let them down with one weeks’ notice.

With this never say never and can-do attitude, we’ve ended up playing shows with other notable acts like The Human League, John Foxx, VNV Nation, Covenant, Real Life, Psyche, Pseudo Echo etc and made many great connections and strong relationships within the industry. We are self-taught in everything, including playing our instruments, programming, recording and production…everything…but have never seen that as a disadvantage. Through self-belief and determined application we have succeeded.

Compared to the earlier Tycho Brahe songs, some of the more recent work has been more unusual in structure (eg “1985” and “Valerie Perrine”), and that has been a deliberate decision to try and keep things interesting. There’s also more confidence these days in being more personal about song lyrics. But the biggest difference between the early Tycho Brahe releases and the more recently recorded work is the level of production we’ve achieved in an independent studio setting. We feel that “Triplex [complete]” is easily our most accomplished body of work so far on many levels.

Q: I noticed your early work has been released on cassette format. What does that evoke to you and what’s your perception about the evolution of technology (recording techniques, instruments, social media, streaming etc)?

TB: Our first two releases were on professionally duplicated cassette in 1996. This was the most affordable format at the time. We’d spent a lot of money in professional studios before that, which was fairly normal for a band in those days, however we made those recordings ourselves very cheaply on a borrowed 4-track system, with the intention that they would be used as demos. We were playing a lot of live shows, and we needed to be able to make our music available to promoters as well as fans, so we put the best of these recordings on a cassette – that first release is literally called “The Promotional Cassette”. The reaction was great, and we realized that for our purposes it didn’t matter if we recorded in a 24 track studio or on a home 4-track system, as long as the music was good, and was recorded and produced to a suitable standard. This appealed to our self-taught ‘do it yourself’ manifesto, so we decided to completely move away from expensive professional studios, and instead invest that money into achieving self-sufficiency for recording and producing. We were early adopters of the digital recording revolution, and the freedom to experiment with recording and production on our own time schedule was a total revelation. Our debut album “Cassiopeia” (released in 2000) was recorded on a PC running very basic 8-track recording software on Windows 98. Our studio setup has now evolved to the point where we’re able to integrate and centrally control all of our vintage hardware synths, drum machines, effects units, DAW software and VST’s etc quite seamlessly. We are living in a golden age of digital recording.

Social media is the great enabler for independent bands which allows us to not only connect globally with geographically dispersed fans, but to connect with other musicians and producers, creating great opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist. Before social media, in the early days of the internet, it was still difficult as an independent act to grow beyond our local area and we were still reliant on local gigs, press and radio to generate interest and connections, which of course is very limiting. Streaming services like Spotify are both a blessing and a curse – whilst they deliver practically no income for the artist, people who otherwise may not have listened to acts like Tycho Brahe can hear the music very easily for no cost. It’s just one aspect of the modern democratization of music distribution, although as an artist it is painful to see very little financial return on the recorded work through these streaming services.

Q: Your newest CD-album “Triplex [complete]” features your 3 latest digital EP’s. How important is to have these songs released on CD format and how did you get in touch with Russian ScentAir Records?

TB: Digital distribution is obviously a far more pragmatic way of distributing music, but it is killing the album format. The recordings on the “Triplex”-EP’s were originally intended for a cohesive album, so from an artistic perspective we feel that presenting them in a physical format such as a CD album encourages people to listen to that entire body of work rather than hearing random individual songs from a digital playlist, and that is very important to us. And to have a business external to the band share a belief in the recorded work to the point where they’re willing to invest money into manufacturing and distributing physical copies of that album is a very affirming and validating process.

We became aware that there was a synth-pop scene happening out of Russia, when we stumbled across a pirated Russian synth-pop compilation which we were on with the likes of Depeche Mode, Beborn Beton and Camouflage. It was completely illegal but somehow flattering. So our curiosity was piqued, and we investigated the Russian scene a little further and realized that our musician friends Empire State Human (ESH) had recently released an album through ScentAir, who appeared to be one of the few remaining independent synth-pop labels still releasing CDs. Tycho Brahe had previously collaborated with ESH/The Garland Cult when we remixed each other, so we contacted Aiden from ESH. After he said very positive things about ScentAir, we decided to directly approach them with the idea of compiling the “Triplex”-EP series into the proper complete CD album. This had been our original plan and ScentAir were very keen to do it, with distribution through Poponaut. We’re very happy in our relationship with ScentAir, and would like to release further albums through them in the future. If we could ever do so, we’d also love to tour in support of those releases in Europe, but living in Australia makes that a very expensive proposition.

Q: I’ve to admit I’m deeply impressed by this album revealing a perfect balance between electronics and guitar while featuring bombast and refined bleeps, alluring bass lines and catchy choruses, typical 80s arrangements with charismatic vocals on top. Tell us a bit more about the writing and recording of this masterpiece?

TB: Thank you, we’re glad that you like it! “Triplex [complete]” is our fifth album, and we actually started work on it immediately after our “Atlantic” album in 2006. The first song to be completed was “Loveless”, which debuted on Myspace way back in 2007, before our “Transatlantic”-remix album was released, and that recording set the writing and production standard that we wanted to achieve for the rest of the album. We were playing and refining songs from “Triplex” at live shows with bands like The Human League, Psyche etc, and that live work plus other commitments slowed progress on recording the album…

Before we knew it, four years had passed, and then our studio was flooded, completely submerged, under 4 metres of filthy flood water in the devastating Brisbane floods of January 2011. We saved all of the equipment, but then we were basically demolishing and rebuilding for the next year, but then decided to relocate to higher ground anyway as we were post-traumatic from losing a studio and a home to the flood… every time it rained we would freak out. The flood cost us two years of progress, and around that time Andy Walls (live keyboards and co-writer), decided to leave to ‘take up gardening’ which was another setback. We had a semi-functional temporary studio which wasn’t really set up for vocals during this time, so in 2012 we recorded and released the novelty song “Sex Rocket” as a single – which is one reason why it has a vocoder in place of vocals… it was remixed by Parralox, Neuropa and Psyche, we also did a follow up song in a similar style, “Super Hot Robot”, another fun novelty song but not representative of our usual work. (Both songs have videos on Youtube and were created by another talented member of the Tycho family, Thomas Evans.)

So as fate would have it, the album was shelved until we could get our studio and our lives back in order. When we finally re-established the studio and got back to the album, we found that we were being perfectionists wanting a very high production standard, and recording was slow and painstaking, so we became impatient to release something. That is when we decided to split the album into three parts, so we could complete four songs at a time and release three EPs over a longer period, maintaining some output. Georgina came up with the name “Triplex”, which means ‘having three parts’, or a house divided into three residencies. We digitally released each EP ourselves, with artwork by our friend Stig Olsen in Denmark, who has also done graphic design work for The Human League, and on our “Sex Rocket”-CD single. Each EP was mastered in Sydney by Kathy Naunton at dB mastering, who has worked on albums by Severed Heads, Boxcar, Midnight Oil… the songs themselves range from very personal, such as “No Love”, to “Castaway” which is about not fitting into society, to “Valerie Perrine” which is about the hot tub scene from the Village People movie, “Can’t Stop The Music”! Our favorite track on the album is probably “Metropolis”, the intro has a mobile phone recording from a New York subway which sets the mood perfectly.

Q: “1985” is an interesting song with references to the 80s. Are you guys nostalgic and what has been the impact of the 80s on you as teenagers and later on as musicians?

TB: We’re massive ‘80s fans, obviously music especially but also movies like “Buckaroo Banzai” and “Electric Dreams”, video games (Georgina has a vintage Galaga arcade machine), musical equipment… most of our synths are vintage ‘80s machines like the Prophet 5, Emax sampler, Juno-106, LinnDrum, Simmons, etc because we love how they sound… even the registration plates on our cars… Georgina’s is “80-MIX” which is the music she’s always playing in the car – a mix of ‘80s stuff; Ken drives a Mustang convertible with the plate ‘FAC-73’ which is the Factory Records catalogue number for the “Blue Monday”-single, the song that made him want to create music way back in 1983. Most people’s formative years are their teens, and the ‘80s certainly had a huge impact on us, but it was a groundbreaking era for music, with all of that incredible new technology becoming available and affordable in the post-punk years.

The song “1985” is deliberately nostalgic and is about specific events experienced in the ‘80s with various friends…”Park Avenue” is referenced in the song, it was a Hi-NRG club in Adelaide that played Man 2 Man, Dead Or Alive, early Stock Aitken & Waterman… we would actually dance all night and emerge at daybreak; the song is quite personal and about still being anchored to that era. In 2011 we were able to work with Giorgio Moroder’s 1980’s bass player/programmer Arthur Barrow, and we released a remix single for the song “1985” in the production style of Moroder in 1985, with Arthur Barrow contributing parts using the same bass guitar and Jupiter-8 synth he used with Moroder, and our LinnDrum loaded with custom Giorgio Moroder sounds used around the Scarface/Electric Dreams era. There might even be some sneaky “Back To The Future” samples hidden in that song too…

Q: I’ve to ask you a last question about a real exciting project consisting of doing some programming for the upcoming tour of Peter Hook. How did you get in touch with each other and what is it all about?

TB: We became friends with Peter Hook and The Light when they toured Australia in 2010, when we shared drinks and stories with them after their Brisbane show, and we’ve since caught up with various members socially and travelled to see the band play overseas. They’re wonderful people and an amazing, hardworking band, and one of our favorite live acts of all time. Some of the New Order songs that Peter Hook and The Light play require pre-programming and digital multi-track playback onstage (also known as backing tracks) to re-create the complex vintage sequenced synth and drum machine parts. Peter Hook initially became aware that Ken was an expert in recognizing the distinct New Order sounds and the synthesizers that made them, when he sought his help in clarifying how some early New Order equipment would have worked on certain songs for his latest book. Ken had also assisted in setting up a live vocoder system for their keyboard player, who also knew that Tycho had been covering “Bizarre Love Triangle” live. This led to Ken being asked in 2015 if he’d like to attempt new programming and backing tracks for “Bizarre Love Triangle” for them, as they weren’t particularly satisfied with what they’d been using. They were very happy with the result and so Ken has been creating backing tracks for Peter Hook and The Light ever since.

About half of the New Order songs from their recent international “Substance” tours in 2017 and 2018 featured Ken’s work. He’s been working on new backing tracks for the “Technique” and “Republic” albums since late 2017, for a tour commencing in September 2018. By the end of the current project, Ken will have re-created the synth and drum machine parts for over 30 classic New Order songs. It is incredibly challenging work, as everything has to be completely made brand new, from scratch, without access to any of the original source material due to legal reasons, with only the released versions from albums etc as a guide. The most complex of these can take around 60 hours of work, and it involves researching the original equipment used, detailed sound design, forensic listening techniques, and then the actual programming, sequencing, mixing and production to essentially build a new multi-track recording of the electronic parts, as close to the original as possible. Ken has set up a separate business called Tycho Sound Design to accommodate this work, and he has also now done similar work for Australian ‘80s band Machinations.

Tycho Brahe literally would not exist if not for New Order releasing “Blue Monday”, so to be working with Peter Hook brings us full circle and is a huge honor. Last year in our home town of Brisbane Ken was invited on stage to sing “Bizarre Love Triangle” with Peter Hook and The Light, which was a very surreal and emotional moment.

Back in time with Lederman / De Meyer : ‘Working at Front 242 early 90’s’

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Back in time with Lederman / De Meyer : 'Working at Front 242 early 90's'

The recently released “Eleven Grinding Songs”, the debut album by Lederman / De Meyer is one of the best EBM releases which have been released this year so far. Lederman / De Meyer is the brand new project between 2 electronic music legends Jean-Marc Lederman and Jean-Luc De Meyer.

“Eleven Grinding Songs” is released in 4 versions. Besides the regular CD album (available here), there is also the 2CD set (with an 11-track bonus disc with 4 exclusive additional songs plus 7 remixes or alternative versions) (available here) and a deluxe download (available here) plus also a black vinyl edition (including a carton sleeve CD edition with the same track-list) (available here).

Side-Line decided to go to the roots of the project together with Jean-Marc Lederman. In today’s article we talk with Jean-Marc Lederman how he got involved with Front 242 in the early 90’s.

Jean-Marc: “I was working at Play It Again Sam at the time (1990) and Front 242 approached me to become their office manager. They had set up their basis of operation in a villa in Aarschot, near Leuven, and needed someone to coordinate most non-creative things like handling communication with the label, acting as a smooth connecting rod with their touring agent and being a helping hand with whatever they were doing at the time.

Front 242 has always been very self-depending and they were doing a lot by themselves with Daniel handling most of the artwork with an Amiga or later on a (back then) very expensive Apple Quadra 800 for the covers of the Tyranny era.

Front 242 was signed on Sony USA at the time and things were very busy with the American label manager and the US representative of PIAS. Things were happening all the time and the pressure was strong (when you are successful, everyone wants a part of you) but the band was very focused.

One of the most ambitious thing we did at the time was the decor for the 1991 Tyranny Tour: it was going to be a large structure designed on two levels, a cross between a submarine deck and an industrial tower, painted by Jean-Luc De Meyer’s brother Marc. It wasn’t easy to transport but it was spectacular.

One of the aspect of the work was also to coordinate the remixes asked to outside bands and it was always a pleasure to get in touch with these remixers and hear them say how much they liked Front’s work: The Prodigy were especially enthusiast. One who wasn’t at all was William Orbit who refused several time to remix a track.

One moment was quite embarassing for me: Front was playing at Pukkelpop and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) was going to play guitar on one song but somehow I didn’t know which song it would be and Tom was besides me on the side and was looking at me for the cue, cue that I couldn’t give to him as I didn’t know what song he had to play: that went on for quite a few songs and Tom started to be wary… Eventually Richard looked at us and gave Tom the signal to come on…”

And this is the decor as it was used.

‘Click Interview’ with Maschine Brennt: ‘Kraftwerk Is Very Important For Maschine Brennt’

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Behind Maschine Brennt is hiding Joacim Thenander. This Swedish musician has been involved with numerous bands and multiple music genres, but Cultivated Bimbo is without a shadow of a doubt the most famous name for all lovers of EBM and experimental electronics. Maschine Brennt has been set up around 1992 as a side-project to Cultivated Bimbo. And as Joacim explains ‘The main reason was to present music as if the machines had made it. In the beginning I used whole-tone scales and such, to remove the human feel and make it more mathematical. The rhythms were always hard-quantized and very seldom played on velocity sensitive keyboards or pads. The name Maschine Brennt is taken from a B-side of one of Falco’s singles’. Maschine Brennt released several singles during the past few years while the debut full length “The Hearing Aid” has been released during 2017. This is a great album appealing for all lovers of Kraftwerk-electronics’.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You’re kind of ‘electro-veteran’ who has been involved with multiple bands and projects since the late 80s. What have been your greatest satisfactions as an artist since then?

Joacim: Mainly I make music for my own pleasure. It has been loads of different styles and genres spinning from synth/electro to heavy metal. For a long time I did a lot of house/techno songs, and also drum’n bass. I do it for myself. But I also publish tracks on different sites and labels and love to get reactions. The greatest satisfaction is if I find out that my music actually appeals to people more than to myself. That is the main fuel for me making music.

Q: I noticed you are already composing music under the Maschine Brennt moniker since the 90s. What makes this project different from the other ones you’ve been involved with and why did it take that long to release your debut album?

Joacim:: I used the name Maschine Brennt during a few (three, I think) shows 1992-1994. I made music for the specific shows, and didn’t release anything at the time. After that I made other styles of music, mainly dance/club using different aliases. I released a few singles, but mostly digital on different community web sites and so on.

In 2014 I met Jonas Lund (Kretz) who asked me to join Plonk. I started using the old name again because the style Plonk aimed for, was very close to what I’ve made with Maschine Brennt. For instance, when I make drum’n bass I use the name Killa Dawgs and when I make house I use the name Joey Lucas. When it is ‘computer music’ I use the name Maschine Brennt.

The reason I made an album was simply because a friend of mine asked me when the full-length will be released. If it wasn’t for him I still would be doing singles only.

Q: “The Hearing Aid” has been released in 2017. Tell us a bit more about the writing, recording, influences and sound plus how do you look back at the work right now?

Joacim: “The Hearing Aid” is a collection of old tracks (mostly), but reprogrammed and remixed. To make a full-length album from scratch is a massive load of work, and I didn’t have the time or patience to do it all from start. I am proud of the album and I like it a lot. Maybe I would have done a couple of things differently today, but I see the project as a timestamp, and like to focus on NOW.
Because the album was a Plonk release from the beginning, I wasn’t too afraid to show the Kraftwerk influences, and actually did so frequently throughout the album.

Q: The sound of Maschine Brennt indeed clearly reminds to Kraftwerk. What does Kraftwerk means to you in terms of sound creation, impact on your own work and artwork?

Joacim: Kraftwerk is very important for Maschine Brennt. But they have a soul, and I want my music to sound less soulful. Remember -music by machines. I absolutely love some songs by Kraftwerk! Sometimes only fragments. But there are also songs I really don’t like.

My strongest influences are by artists that have been influenced by Kraftwerk; 2nd generation, so to speak. Afrika Bambaataa, Arthur Baker, John Robie, Man Parrish, Atom™ (especially Lassigue Bendthaus), Anthony Rother and more. If I was to create a list of the best synthetic computer tracks ever made, I’m not so sure Kraftwerk would be on that list. But if it wasn’t for Kraftwerk that list wouldn’t exist. I hope that makes sense.

Regarding the artwork, it felt natural to dress up like the Germans to reflect the sound of the album.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about your way of composing, eventually personal references and criteria you’re using when writing songs, favorite equipment and what do you consider as the main strengths of the album?

Joacim: I am very satisfied with how I tied the tracks together on “The Hearing Aid”. It should be listened to in one take -as all albums. That is the main strength, I think.

My biggest disadvantage is that I don’t know how to write lyrics. I absolutely love computerized voices and would love to do standard pop songs with verse, bridge, chorus and so on, but I really can’t write lyrics. “Backspace” in fact reflects on that.

My music is very rhythm-oriented. It is hard to do melodies without sounding cheesy, so I usually don’t. Drums, bass and more percussion. Hopefully a voice saying something smart (but usually stupid), and the inevitable breakdown (with Kraftwerk’s “Home Computer” as the template). I like my music to be danceable. At least you should be nodding your head. I always start with the drums. The rhythm is very often programmed like “Numbers” (or Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” if you wish). I use a lot of samples -sometimes from my own machines – and Ableton Live is my DAW. For some edits I use Propellerhead Reason which I absolutely love.
But I also use some hardware. Mainly Roland Boutiques and a few KORG synths. I like to have control with other than the computer mouse, so I use Novation controllers and Native Instruments Maschine (mkII and Jam) and Komplete Kontrol.

Some of my favourite pieces when making Maschine Brennt songs are Ableton Live and Novation LaunchControl, Roland TR08, Native Instruments Maschine mkII, Sonic Charge BitSpeek, Waves Pumper, iZotope Ozone. I also use Ableton’s Reverb, Ping Pong Delay, Utility, Limiter and Compressor on each and every track I make.

Q: Your album has been released on Razgrom Music while you were (or still are) part of the so-called ‘Plonk Community’. What is it all about? Why is it that much more than simply a label releasing ‘computer/robotic’ music?    

Joacim: I was contacted by Alexey Ignatov of Razgrom Music. He wanted to release a full-length CD with a collection of my tracks. Maybe a single collection. I had just finalized the album for Plonk and was about to release it digitally. I suggested that we could release the very same album on Razgrom Music. To make it a little more special I added four more unreleased tracks, and the cover was made in color on the Razgrom Release. We postponed the digital release to be two weeks after the physical release.

So in short, the physical release is Razgrom Music. It contains four more (previously unreleased) tracks, and the cover is in color. The digital release is Plonk and the cover is made in black and white.

Plonk is a community with around ten members/artists. Every artist takes care of their own release. Plonk doesn’t have a leader or chairman. We have web meetings every now and then, to enlighten each and everyone what’s up and on. The aim for Plonk is to present music with a strong ‘Düsseldorf sound’ from one single place -Plonk. We support and help each other as much as needed. Every year we release a compilation with tracks from the current Plonk artists. We believe we are stronger as a whole and that if we help each other we can bring ‘Machine-Pop’ to the world!

Brand new video and track for John Fryer’s project Black Needle Noise: ‘That Which Watches’– watch it now

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John Fryer launches 6 free songs for Black Needle Noise project feat. Jarboe, Antic Clay, Andreas Elvenes, Ledfoot & Zia

John Fryer’s project Black Needle Noise has a new song/video up for “That Which Watches”. The song features the vocals of Antic Clay which pairs up perfectly with the eerie, wild west themed video. “That Which Watches” follows his most recent video “La diosa y el hombre”, which featured Mexican vocalist Azzul Monra.

The song is part of the ongoing (splendid!) series of songs that Black Needle Noise is releasing consistently and regularly via Bandcamp.

John Fryer: “Like the 2016 single ‘Queen of Dust,’ I wanted ‘That Which Watches’ to have a kinda Alt-Country / Noir Americana feel to it so who best to get to sing it and add a bit of slide guitar, none other than Antic Clay. I originally got to hear about Antic Clay from (Swans vocalist) Jarboe who loves his voice and recommended I check him out. I liked what I heard and thought he could take the songs in the direction I was looking for and the rest is history.”

Here’s the track.

And here’s the video:

And this was the previous track, “La diosa y el hombre”, equally a pearl.

‘Click Interview’ with Juno Reactor: ‘A Collision Between Barbarella And Pan’s Labyrinth’

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Nearly 30 years after the set-up of Juno Reactor, Ben Watkins has unleashed his 10th full length album entitled “The Mutant Theatre”. Released on Metropolis Records, this new opus reveals all familiar ingredients and influences we’re used to hear when listening to Juno Reactor. From pure psy-trance to tribal rhythms to cinematographic parts this new opus already sounds as a great and visionary work. And this is what Ben Watkins has to say about it.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Five years have passed since your previous studio album “The Golden Sun Of The Great East”. Does it mean it becomes more difcult to nd new inspiration and getting new ideas when it comes to composition, while “The Mutant Theatre” appears to be one of your best productions in history?

Ben: Well it certainly is a process for me, I have a lot of ideas, but working alone I can get very obsessed and lost in a track for weeks or months. I’ve been upgrading the sound and this has really taken a long time, I don’t feel as yet that I found what I am looking for, yet. if I didn’t need to engineer as well under my pseudonym of Otto the Barbarian I would find the work process a lot quicker.

Q: “The Mutant Theatre” is inspired and taken from the impressive dance collective you’re actually touring with. I get the feeling the live shows have been never that impressive and psychedelic. How did you guys met and how did you bring music, dance and visuals together?

Ben: I met the Russians in 2011, the first was Stigma Show from St Petersburg, on an island in India, we were playing at a really strange festival that we had to travel by a small boat across the sea at night, The festival was promoted by a man we named the ‘Master of disaster’ as nothing went right for him or his punters, the one thing when the dawn rose The Stigma Show jumped onstage in their mirrored costumes as we played “Conga Fury”, which jump started the LSD… they just looked amazing. The other performance group was Agnivo  I met in Moscow whilst DJ-ing, that’s when I thought the of Mutant Theatre as a possible big show. Agnivo like militant guardians of an Orphean World.

Q: You’ve been always very concerned about live shows. It gives me the feeling you really want to get people happy when assisting to a live show, but at the other side it also reveals an impressive artistic concern and perfectionism. What is it really all about and what’s the importance of live shows?

Ben: It is one hell of a lot of fun, entertainment. In The Mutant Theatre show are 18 people, the stage show is heavily choreographed, and yet we can improvise songs, write them on stage, working with Budgie, Amir, who are not scared of it falling flat, they just go for it and embarrass the danger, I love that feeling, the fantasy of our show, a collision between Barbarella and Pan’s Labyrinth, the collision between us and the audience is what makes working for months and months on a single shows worth while.

Q: The song “Return Of The Pistolero” is more than simply a wink to one of your biggest hits. I realized “Pistolero” has been written nearly 20 years ago now! Back in time I experienced this song as one of your biggest challenges! It was so different and unexpected and yet typically Juno Reactor-like. How do you look back about this song and what did you try to accomplish with “Return Of The Pistolero”?

Ben: Eyal my booking Agent at Hommega, suggested I do a sequel! I thought oh no, that won’t work. He kept pushing me so I called in Amir Haddad, a long time Juno Reactor guitarist, an amazing Flamenco player, and now also Hans Zimmer’s solo guitarist, and within a day we had the main riff, later adding Taja and first time singer for Juno Reactor Tula Ben-Ari who sang all the Spanish vocals. It took months of tweeking, Gran Turismo heard it an wanted it for their new sports version. After that mix I kept going at it, it didn’t seem right, I fixed just before the mastering. The first “Pistolero” has so many fans I was more worried they wouldn’t like it, so I gave it a much bigger story this time.

Q: “The Mutant Theatre” features multiple guest vocalists while Xavier Morel and Johann Bley are good-old contributors when it comes to the writing process. What’s the input of all those people in the nal result and do you’ve some specic criteria when it comes to work with singers and other musicians?

Ben: Xavier will come in, drink bottle of bear, smoke a joint, fart, burp, generally make me laugh and come up with a load of sample idea’s to either disregard, copy or use. He generally doesn’t like what I do, but he gives me good references to tracks I would otherwise not be listening to. Also he is French, with a forehead not seen since the days the Neanderthal walked the earth.

UnderCover: I don’t usually work with other bands, but, on “Dakota,” I thought I‘d give it a try with Undercover. When I met them in Brazil I knew they knew F’ck all about Juno Reactor, but they did a wild version of “Conga Fury” for me. I immediately liked their punk attitude so… I am not a fan of ping ponging idea’s over the internet and I’m still not, but this one worked out to be a treat, great guys who very much brought the ‘psy’ aspect to it.

Johann has always been a very underrated writer, his production lets him down, but he is a super talented writer; he sent me one idea, I cut it open and then wrote new sections for “Showtime.” He loves dried coffee from Tesco, smokes all day, and generally on planet Zog by 10 pm.

Tula and Taja are the main singers in the Live show, both are great singers with very different types of voices. Tula is like a race horse with tons of ideas and enthusiasm, and easy to get great takes in a short time, lyrically and melodically. Taja has less studio experience and generally we will work around vocal ideas already written, she has a very broad range and very Juno Reactor type of voice. Only problem is they live in another galaxy, so not much access.

Yuki Masada from Japan luckily visited the studio when I was working on “Dakota” and “Voyager 303,” which she was perfect for. Eran Cohen suggested I work with Michelle Adamson who lives close to me, which was a great idea; again loads of positive energy and a brilliant way of manipulating her fav toy the Helican Voice works. Then sometimes it is just me, and I have to sing, which I try to get out of if I can.

Q: You’re world-wide recognized as one of the ‘Godfather’ of psy-trance, but I also consider you as one of the most visionary musicians when it comes to create bass lines. I’m sure you must be a real bass line freak, don’t you? What’s your vision about this specic aspect of the production?

Ben: Raja Ram is the Godfather and rightly so, along with a number of other Deities like GMS and Shpongle…

Pretty much every day that I go into the studio I’ll write 20 bass sequences, a warm up to get my brain going, then keep maybe one or two. I have a new project I want to start just for these bass lines… I don’t think I will ever get bored of synths ripping through the air in high volume and shuddering the skin off my bones.

Q: You’ve already accomplished so much great things and projects in your career. Do you still have some specic dreams, wishes, challenges and how do you see yourself evolving during the next years?

Ben: I would love to do so many more projects, in theatre, dance companies, games and movies. I am working on game music now, and really enjoying it for not having rules, and letting me find my own orchestral sound


‘Click Interview’ with BySenses: ‘We Are Not Chosen, We Are People’

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Didier Dewachtere is a Belgian artist from 53 years old. He started to like electronic music at his 15th birthday. It was the good-old time of new-wave music, which still remains a source of inspiration. Later on he discovered artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze ao. The ‘Berliner School’ had a real great impact on Didier. It is very obvious, that BySenses was partly taken from a song from Schulze entitled “Sense”. BySenses now has released its third full length entitled “People” on the Belgian label Wool-E-Discs. It’s a beautiful and styled ambient release, which also brought me in touch with the artist.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: BySenSeS has been featured at the Wool-E-Discs series “Belgian NeuMusik”. How would you introduce the sound and approach of BySenSeS and what does it mean to you to be part of this label-series devoted to Belgian ambient music?

Didier: My first album came out on an independent label Multidisc. But when Dimitri Idunno told me he would start up a new label Wool- E Discs, pure Belgian music, I thought it would be nice to be part of it. So he said yes and now “People” and a lot of other albums have been released on his label. I’m thinking on Sensory++ , Venja or Galactic Underground, The Rosswell Incident, Rhea and a lot of other.

Mostly they say ‘Berlin School’ is the base of ‘Belgian Neu Music’, but that is not really right.. If you listen to Nothing But Noise, another Belgian group, I think there is no Berlin School in it. It is a great honor to be part of it. I think Belgian Electronic Music can be placed amongst the German School, or French School.

My sounds and my music is how I feel… how I think, how it is in my mind. Starting a song is searching for sounds and I use this bases to create songs. It can start with a melody or with a simple rhythm… or something that comes into mind while going home.

Q: What means music to you and what importance does it take in your daily life?

Didier: Music is very important to me. It has always been a part of my life. When I was a young boy, I spend all time at my bedroom listening to music, playing cards with headphones or going to sleep with music and getting up with music… I just came home in the weekends, because I was at a boarding school, but over there they played music as Vangelis.. At that time I didn’t pay any attention to it. I was nearly 9 years, but later on it got really an impact. I still think that I kept this music in my mind. When I was 20 years old, I started living on my own and the first thing I did was buying a Korg MS20 and MS50. In the beginning I made some tracks with the Korg MS20, but they are all lost. My parents didn’t believe in the music I wanted to make and certainly not in ‘the synthesizer’. Because my life at that time was a bit other than it is right now, all my money went to discotheques and going out.. Later on, when I came back from Afghanistan, I decided to buy more instruments, and my son Pieter did all the technical support. It was great to see him doing these things although he never made music (lol).

Q: The first BySenses production were released in 2014. How do you look back at the earlier work and what have been the main evolutions and steps forward towards “People” and is there a hidden message behind the front cover?

Didier: My first album “InSense”, which is only available at Bandcamp was not mastered. I made the music and put it on Bandcamp. It was only a bit later I got in touch with some people like Dries De Vreeze, who do some mastering. “Frigmants Fragments” is mastered by Dries and is a bit different, more experimental. It tells us the story of a part of my life, a moment where during a short time things were not so good… a story about good and bad things… “Slaap Stil Mijn Kind” can been considered as an example. The track is dedicated to a child I lost.

Next to Dries, Sarah Joos came into the picture. Sarah is incredibly good in what she’s doing. She makes really dreamy pictures and has her own style. I think there is a mutual respect for each of our work. In these times people are living so separated, living all alone without contacts etc… People are so tired of politics. People are scared and getting afraid while I think politicians should bring people together and help them. I don’t like populism and I don’t like Nationalism… not in that way… Using migration to get votes is abusing people. That’s a bit the hidden message. So quite progressively, the idea came to make an album for all people around the world. I asked Sarah if she would make some pictures of people; just their faces and all colors while I asked a friend to be on front. His  has a real expressive face.

Alain Kinet, who I already knew from earlier times, did the sleeve design. He listened to my story and so the artwork got created. I wanted to make an album from birth to death, from loneliness to happiness, from feelings to non-feelings, from things that happened in my life such as relations etc. So “People” was born.

I really think that music can feature a message. I want to put a message in it, but also maybe a message that people has to find listening to the music… that message is not necessarily the same as I want to give. Nothing around us reflects the open-mind of humanity. We are not chosen, we are people.

Q: Tell us a bit more about the global production process of this work; potential sources of inspiration, way of composing, addition of guest artists and how do you look back at the album right now?

Didier: To be honest, it has been a lot of work producing “People”. It took me 2- 3 years to have it all done. It is not a secret that I’ve been seriously impressed by Klaus Schulze, but also Vangelis, Roedelius, Tangerine Dream ao. So am I influenced about them? Maybe, but I really try to put my own ideas and feelings in the compositions. It’s always a pleasure when someone says that he can hear BySenses in my music.

As I said I start with some sounds, looking for some nice patterns and work on it. Sometimes the melody comes, like on “Nightdancer”, where I played the melody in one night. I surely can not replay it again, I was in ‘The Zone’ and when you are there, you can do a lot of things. So ‘Frakke’ came in for drumming on “Nightdancer”, as he already did on “OGF” on “Frigments Fragments”. I know Frank De Coster (‘Frakke’) as a collegue and he’s really rock and roll.

Next came Thomas Betsens. I saw him live at a little festival in Drongen (Belgium), where I played live with my other project The Tower Tree (collaboration between BySenses and Owann). I asked him if he was interested for singing on “People”. So he came over and had a listen. The music was already composed and then it happened… It blew me away. He never heard the song which I wanted him to sing. And he also sung on “Sensitivity”, which I think is the best song I ever made. There’re so much feelings in it, which doesn’t mean that the other songs are less important. The song “Birth” was made when my son told me he was becoming father himself and I became grand-father. So all feelings are in it. I like to work with other musicians and I like to give them enough space to do their own thing. So did Thomas and Frank.

When I look back, I think it is a step forward comparing to “InSense” and “Frigmants”; technically and musically I think all albums have their a different sound.

Q: When I hear ambient music I often think to concepts featuring diversified forms of arts like films, documentaries, pictures, paintings, sculptures, theatre etc… What’s your perception about it and what are your further plans?

Didier: The 80’s music of Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, J.M. Jarre was played on the radio. I even heard Tangerine Dream on ‘Studio Brussel’ (national broadcasting). Later on I discovered other programs late at night. I remember I was 15 years old and asked my teacher if I could listen to these programs. As he was fan of Vangelis he let me listen to it, but It was forbidden to say it to my friends. Nowadays there is a totally different way of making radio.. It all is about how many listeners you can reach, money etc. So nowadays our music is played on internet radio, even Klaus Schulze or Tangerine Dream. I really respect that, but it’s a pity that national broadcasting is not giving time to this kind of music. There is a lot of beautiful- and modern electronic music.

When people ask me what ‘ambient music’ is all about, I often say that they can listen to the music of a documentary etc.. but it’s much more than that.

Nowadays I take some rest and simply enjoy spending some time with my little daughter Eleonora. I’m still searching for new sounds and there’ll maybe a new album from The Tower Tree. I really would like to see “People” getting released on vinyl format. I remixed some songs, made them a bit different and now they’ll be mixed by Alain Wymeels. I’m just waiting what Wool-E-Discs will say.  Don’t expect a new BySenses-album within one year.

Apoptygma Berzerk double release for the 25th anniversary of ‘Soli Deo Gloria’

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Apoptygma Berzerk - Soli Deo Gloria (25th. Anniversary Edition) LP

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange)

In 1993 Apoptygma Berzerk released the very first Norwegian EBM album, “Soli Deo Gloria”. It didn’t only spark an interest outside of Norway, this seminal classic inspired many Norwegian bands to start their own careers, and contributed in bringing Norwegian electronic music out beyond the borders of the country.

11/11/18, exactly 25 years after the original release, “Soli Deo Gloria” will be reissued on LP with the original 13 tracks, remastered for vinyl from the original tapes for the very first time (available here), giving the listener a more detailed, dynamic and true listening experience. The CD version will include seven bonus tracks, four of them previously unreleased – more details in the track list below.

The 25th. Anniversary Reissue was remastered for vinyl and CD by Morten Lund,  the man behind the original CD mastering back in 1993. The LP and CD design are done by Halvor Bodin, who also did the original CD design back in 1993. In Europe the LP and CD will be released by Tatra Records, who released the original album back in 1993. And finally – at the heart of it all – you still have Stephan Groth and Per Aksel Lundgreen, the two guys who made it all happen back in 1993!

On top of this classic album reissue, Stephan wanted to celebrate the 25th anniversary with friends, bands that had inspired him, and both old and new musical heroes. First off a reworked 12” with four tracks from “Soli Deo Gloria” was planned, but in true APOP style where nothing is done half-way, this soon expanded to re-record/rework/remix the entire album with the help of other artists! The result is “SDGXXV”, a 2 x LP/CD/Cassette to be released early 2019 by Tatra Records/Rough Trade for Europe and Artoffact Records for Canada/USA. More info, track listing and details about bands involved coming soon!

The initial 300 albums from Tatra Records will be pressed in purple vinyl and include a poster from the release party held 11/11/93, while the following pressings will be on black vinyl. The Artoffact Records editions will come in two marbled vinyl versions: a black/transparent and a purple/transparent, the amount not yet decided.

LP track list, mastered for vinyl from the original tapes, July 2018:

Apoptygma Berzerk - Soli Deo Gloria (25th. Anniversary Edition) LPA
Like Blood From The Beloved (Part 1)
Bitch
Burnin’ Heretic (Album Version)
Stitch
Walk With Me
Backdraft
ARP (808 Edit)

Apoptygma Berzerk - Soli Deo Gloria (25th. Anniversary Edition) LPB
Spiritual Reality
Skyscraping (Schizophreniac)
All Tomorrows Parties
The Sentinel
Ashes To Ashes ’93
Like Blood From The Beloved (Part 2)

Apoptygma Berzerk - Soli Deo Gloria (25th. Anniversary Edition) CDCD track list, remastered for vinyl from the original tapes, July 2018:

1. Like Blood From The Beloved (Part 1)
2. Bitch
3. Burnin’ Heretic (Album Version)
4. Stitch
5. Walk With Me
6. Backdraft
7. ARP (808 Edit)
8. Spiritual Reality
9. Skyscraping (Schizophreniac)
10. All Tomorrows Parties
11. The Sentinel
12. Ashes To Ashes ’93
13. Like Blood From The Beloved (Part 2)

Bonus tracks:

14 – Borrowed Time (Club Mix)
15 – Burning Heretic (Crisp Version)
16 – The Sentinel (Nun Of Your Business Version by Blackhouse)
17 – Ashes To Ashes (Guitar Version)
18 – ARP
19 – Ashes To Ashes (4-Track Version)
20 – Backdraft (Sarpsborg Synth Version)

Borrowed Time (Club Mix) and Burning Heretic (Crisp Version) have previously been released on the “Sex, Drugs & EBM” compilation (TATCD 007), but are remastered for the 2018 CD release. The same applies to ARP, previously published on “The Apopcalyptic Manifesto” (TATCD 039).

“Ashes To Ashes (Guitar Version)” was recorded at the same time as “Soli Deo Gloria”, but at that time it was decided to go for “Ashes To Ashes ’93” on the album, a version without guitar. The “Guitar Version” has never been published before. The same goes for to “Ashes To Ashes (4-Track Version)”, a demo version of “Ashes To Ashes” from the time between “Victims of Mutilation” and the original “Ashes To Ashes” 12 “version.

“The Sentinel” is remixed by Blackhouse in July 2018, and “Backdraft (Sarpsborg Synth Version)” is remixed by Technomancer feat. Angst Pop in July 2018.

The LP and CD reissues of “Soli Deo Gloria” will be available via Tatra Records/Rough Trade in Europe, and via Artoffact Records in USA/Canada. Pre-sales will start August 10th 2018 via Lo-Fi Merchandise for Europe (CD | LP) and Storming The Base for Canada/USA.

 

PS! It’s August 10th today – happy birthday, Stephan! 😀

Dirk Da Davo back with ‘MOODS’ album – limited to 200 copies!

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Dirk Da Davo back with 'MOODS' album - limited to 200 copies!

Released in digipak – strictly limited to 200 copies only and available here – is the newest album by Dirk Da Davo, mostly known from his past with the Belgian cult band The Neon Judgement.

For the past 2 years Dirk focused on digital EP releases trough his own digital label DanceDelic D. As a physical copy is still the main thing for him, he decided to compile his recent EP releases on the limited cd titled “MOODS”.

Included on this CD you’ll find the following EPs: “Protest” (2017) and “DDDJMX” (2017) and the “3dfly” EP (2018). The MOODS compilation will be comprised of 12 recent recordings for the first time on cd and, two bonus ghost tracks, so 14 tracks in total.

‘Click Interview’ with Kilmarth: ‘Music Is A Legal Drug That Has The Immense Power To Make Us Escape’

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Belgian solo-project Kilmarth is driven by Cédric Wattergniaux. I know Cédric for quite a long time. We both got involved with Side-Line magazine. We met at festivals and always had great moments talking about music. I know him as a passionate music lover with an eclectic choice. Throughout the years he started composing music on his own and this way he set up Kilmarth. A first self-released EP “Catharsis” saw the daylight. It might be defined as an electronic mix between multiple influences, but in the end it comes close to IDM and experimental electronics. This interview is an opportunity to get more familiar with this new project.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: It seems you’re already composing music for several years now. How did it all started and how did you finally come to deal with this kind of music?

Cédric: As long as I can remember, music has always been an important part of my life. I listened to it, analyzed it, I wrote about it … but my biggest dream has always been to compose it. This dream was buried deep within me, but my ego told me that I was not able to do it. I once made the very late decision to finally take music theory lessons at the local music academy to better understand what music was from a theoretical point of view. Then I tried the classical guitar, which I abandoned by acquiring my first synth, a Korg Triton. As for the musical style, I did not try to get into a current one, it’s naturally the sounds that I liked the most that I chose to compose the music that related to a genre already present that I of course, liked a lot already.

Q: The name Kilmarth is directly linked to the great Daphne du Maurier, but what inspired you in this project name and the work plus life of this author?

Cédric: “The House Of The Strand” is a book I literally devoured when I read it, about 15 years ago. I am passionate about history, it is also my job (I am a history teacher) and the idea of time travelling has always been a child’s dream. The idea also to ask the question… Is it the reality of this trip or was it solely based on the absorption of a drug was a very interesting idea. So, I like to say that music is that drug that can be taken to help us penetrate other worlds, to penetrate the brain mysteries of some great composers of our time or earlier. It also makes me think of this excellent movie, that is for me, “Strange Days” by Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron (1995) where the hero penetrates the recorded thoughts of people by means of an apparatus connected to the brain. Music is a legal drug that has the immense power to make us escape and to paraphrase Dave Gahan, that unites people who are so different.

Q: You recently self-released your debut work “Catharsis”. What is it all about? What did you try to accomplish (sound-wise) and what has been your working method?

Cédric: I fell into a big depression almost two years ago. I could not do my job anymore. Finding myself in front of my DAW and my synth has become gradually a habit and also a therapy to get out of this problem. For 6 months, I almost never left my studio and “Catharsis” was born from that. Fortunately, I was able to count on my family and a handful of friends who have always supported me.

Q: “Catharsis” is the kind of work I instantly linked to productions released on labels such as Ad Noiseam, Tympanik Audio, Ant-Zen, Mindtrick Records, M-Tronic… Do you feel related with these labels? Would you like to get signed by a label or do you prefer the DIY attitude?

Cédric: These are magnificent labels that have written the most beautiful pages in the history of our scene. It would be an extraordinary honor to be part of these record companies. I think that the power of a label to distribute music is a major asset in a society where it is now necessary to put music almost in the ear of an auditor so that he can listen to new things. I do not have the time or the gift to be able to handle all parts of the music business as I should while living a normal life with my family. On the other hand, it is also important, for an artist, to have a free hand in the creative process. It is therefore necessary that everyone can have his own territory for the partnership to be effective. It must also be said that the world of music has experienced an incredible upheaval in recent years. Will these labels still exist in five years? The future will tell.

Q: “Catharsis” is a sonic crossover between numerous genres and influences, but how would you analyze the sound of Kilmarth and how do you see yourself as an artist?

Cédric: I, like many other people before me, served as a sponge to several artistic movements (literary, pictorial, …). The daily life that I could absorb for years and reject in the form of “Catharsis”. It is difficult for me to highlight, for example, a musical genre that I particularly like to achieve this result, although it is obvious that electronic music, in general, remains the one that has the most marked throughout my life. For the rest, I like to control what I do; like composition, production, artwork or even videos. Kilmarth is a personal project, although I like the influences of outside musicians like the help of a friend for one track on “Catharsis”. I would like to see more collaborations like that on future productions.

Q: You’ve been involved with Side-Line magazine for numerous years. What did you learn from this experience as a journalist and does it appear to be a precious experience now that you’re composing music yourself?  

Cédric: My Side-Line years were an extraordinary experience.  First of all because I was able to meet people who belong to our scene and that I respect a lot: you, Séba Dolimont who remains one of my best friends, Bernard, Benoît… I could also ‘meet’ people who I admire a lot musically like Klaus Kruse (PNE), NoyceTM, Mesh, Das Ich, De/Vision, Iris… It was a wonderful school to discover how the world of music is from the inside. From these different elements, I was able to build my project by being influenced by countless elements that have appeared throughout my life. Composing my music has also brought me even more respect for these artists that I met since the first demo to flamboyant careers. Each piece sometimes hides many efforts and often an incredible job that most people who listen to music or criticism cannot imagine. So I would say that the influence exists in both directions. I cannot criticize an album like I did in the past…

‘Click Interview’ with Schwarzblut: ‘Freedom, Identity And The Celebration Of Diversity’

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Hailing from The Netherlands Schwarzblut has released its fourth full length album “Idisi” on Alfa Matrix. The main sources of inspiration remain a dark-electronic composition mixed with ethereal elements. On previous releases the songs were constantly switching from one style to the other while “Idisi” reveals a perfect fusion between both influences. I consider “Idisi” as their absolute masterpiece, which naturally brought me to get in touch with the band’s front man ‘ZEON’.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Four years are separating the new work “Idisi” and its predecessor “Gebeyen Aller Verdammten”. Does it mean it was more difficult to achieve this new opus and find new inspiration or did you just need a longer break after your previous releases?

ZEON: We never do the same thing twice and we really wanted to take our time to make this album meet our high standards. So we did. Very early in the writing process we decided to focus on the root of the Germanic and Franconian languages. We heavily researched the earliest writings, dating back as early as the 6th Century. Most of the texts for “Idisi” took me quite some time to read and fully understand, due to the way they were written or printed. Very time consuming, but also very enchanting and a great way to slow my mind down. In our age of distraction nothing is so luxurious as paying attention. Besides great meaning, these texts also have a sound and rhythm that is very inspiring to me. They were instantly inviting us to turn them into songs. They have an abstractness to them that works great with our dark, rhythmical music.

The music on “Idisi” is predominantly based on electronic instruments, but has a very organic feel. To achieve that we also included a lot of acoustic instruments such as nyckelharpa, violin, hurdy gurdy and percussion. We have a few guest musicians on this album as well. Logistics was sometimes challenging, but it was a wonderful trip and we are very proud of the result.

Q: Sound-wise I always have experienced a ‘duality’ between the dark-electro side and the ethereal side while according to me “Idisi” is the real first album we can speak about ‘symbiosis’ between both influences. I’ve been really impressed by this sonic fusion, which has something original and refreshing. What’s your perception of this evolution in sound and the new work generally speaking?

ZEON: Thanks for the compliment! This surely was one of the things we aimed for on this album. When Herr Sturm left our line-up a few years ago, I became the solo-songwriter for the band. This allowed my preferences and ideas to really come to the forefront. I share my taste with our lead singer Angelika, so moved the new album towards a more ethereal sound. Trying new stuff kept things fresh. Also our new synth/vox/percussion guy Gijs van Ouwerkerk is a brilliant musician, who really earned a place on this album. Go check the songs “Dolorosa” and “Eiris Sazun Idisi” for some great vocal harmonies by him, Angelika and me to get an idea of what I am talking about.

Q: Another interesting aspect is featured at the limited edition of “Idisi” featuring a bonus disc, which is more into cinematographic-, mystic- and even ritual-like songs. That’s already something ‘new’, which can maybe open new horizons for further releases. What can you say about it?

ZEON: “Idisi’ is also available as a 2CD, that comes with an 8-track bonus disc. Besides 3 remixes it contains a series of ‘meditations’. This five movement cycle of original Schwarzblut works is comprised of environmental recordings, audio experiments and vocal intensity. Through this I place the listener inside the Hagia Sophia, at a western European harbor or in a morning forest. These pieces were written and produced during the same time as the album. Some of them were used in a series of theater performances in 2015 and later adapted for the album. All meditative pieces are very much related to songs on CD 1 of the album. I invite our fans to immerse themselves in the music and find the connections.

When I compose I often reach a meditative state of clear focus that makes ideas come in an ever flowing stream. Music in that sense is a way to transport myself and the listener. As one can expect from Schwarzblut, these meditative tracks have a dark and introvert character. “Meditation Auf Schnecken” is the opening track of CD 2 and indeed starts with the sound of a snail. Maybe more of this type of music will be released in the future. For now I invite everyone to immerse themselves in the music and be transported. Just like I was, when it was being created.

Q: I was rather surprised by your edit of the legendary “Palästinalied” featuring Hannah Wagner. I’ve to admit I was thinking ‘oh no, not again this song that has been already interpreted by numerous artists’. But next I realized his original composer Walther von der Vogelweide totally matches with the Schwarzblut concept so in the end you simply had to feature this song, right? How did you work on it and what did you like in its lyrical content?

ZEON: We deliberately took a risk by doing our version of this iconic 13th Century song. On the album this song connects the Western and Middle-Eastern worlds. We really made our own version by adding vocal harmonies, some spoken parts in Latin and hard hitting drums. It also features the majestic play of our German friend Georg Börner (Sangre De Muerdago) on the nyckelharpa. His medieval string instrument gives the song a mysterious and organic vibe. Having Hannah Wagner (Saeldes Sanc/Helium Vola) sing it as a duet with Angelika, gives the song an outstanding quality.

Q: Schwarzblut is one of these bands where the lyrics are as important as the music. It’s not just a simple concept, but a truly passion for literature, poetry, mythology. I can imagine it also takes a lot of time to find and write the right lyrics and next using an appropriated language to sing. Who’s taking care of this aspect and how does it really work?

ZEON: Most texts are sourced by me and come from my personal collection of old books and facsimile editions of rare and historical handwritings and prints. With additional online resources I am able to explore the content, context and pronunciation necessary to turn the text into songs. All Schwarzblut members have an interest in art, history and literature. In our rehearsal bunker we often discuss newly found texts during our coffee breaks. The new album features texts in a variety of historical European languages such as Middle-High German, Lower-Franconian, Old-Lower Saxon and Old-Dutch. For us this was a way to explore our own lingual culture and heritage, as for the first time we also included texts in old-Dutch and early versions of our own language. From there we decided to explore eastwards into new lyrical and musical territory. That’s how the album became so rich with sounds and languages from the Old-World. From the opening track “Eiris Sâzun Idisi”, with its powerful First Merseburg Incantation (Old High-German, 9th/10th century) giving the song a great rhythmical drive. All the way to the album’s closing hymn “Ghaselen Des Dschelal-Eddin Rumi”, with its mystique atmosphere set by the 1819 German translation of works by the 13th-century Persian poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273).

Freedom, identity and the celebration of diversity can be seen as the common thread running through all ten songs on the album. And indeed we did not shy away from also including some brutal texts about war and prosecution.

Q: You last year released the split-EP “Wildes Herz” with Saeldes Sanc. It already was your second split-release with this band featuring Hannah Wagner. What makes this fusion between both bands and are there further plans to work together? And what are your further plans generally speaking?

ZEON: We did a split-single release with Hannah Wagner back in 2015. She’s a great talent and very sweet person to work with. So while we were working on “Idisi” we decided to do a mini-album with her. We released the 8-track mini-album “Wildes Herz” in 2017. It features songs from her band “Saeldes Sanc”, some “Schwarzblut” songs and a few remixes. We are currently promoting the new album, doing concert and interviews in mostly Germany and The Netherlands. The next few weeks there are 3 or 4 compilation albums coming up around the world that feature our music. We will also record a song for a yet to be disclosed tribute project. And of course there are already musical ideas emerging for a future Schwarzblut release. We have a Facebook page where we post updates several times a week. We also have a monthly newsletter and an extensive website. So you know where to go, to keep up to date with us.

‘Click Interview’ with Aiboforcen: ‘The Aim Was To Have A Poppier Album’

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The album “Sense & Nonsense” marks the return of the Belgian formation Aiboforcen. Behind the band is hiding Benoît Blanchart, who’s still one of the Alfa Matrix label owners. He again worked with multiple ( and some famous) guest singers to achieve this opus. This studio-project remains a somewhat enigmatic electronic entity because of the sound, which is hard to define. Aiboforcen mixes EBM together with electro-pop and industrial sound treatments. Some songs are catchy while others are definitely experimental. “Sense & Nonsense” is the first new work in seven years, but you clearly will recognize the typical and sophisticated sound DNA this band is dealing with.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Aiboforcen is back again and this after a hiatus of 7 years! What does Aiboforcen means ano 2018 and tell us a bit more about the core members and multiple guest artists?

Benoît: Well, the line-up is mainly the same as for the “Dédale”-album; this means myself taking care of the music/programs and Patrice taking care of the vocals for most of the tracks (helped by Wrex on lyrics and vocal recording). Then there are the numerous guests (maybe a bit more than usual) adding a special flavor or atmosphere on several tracks. I like working with guest vocalists because it breaks the monotony and help me develop different styles. The last track that was recorded/finished is “In My Arms” with Mari Kattman because she gave me the vocals a few months ago. But this track is also one of the first that I wrote just after ”Dédale”. It took a few years to find the right vocalist and moment to do it, and it was worth the wait! Normally there should be an EP rather soon with a few remixes of this one among others.

Q: When did you start writing the songs for the new album and is there something like a concept, lyrical themes and a kind of sound you tried to accomplish?

Benoît: I started working immediately after the “Dédale”-album, but the recording and writing process was interrupted a lot of time because of my other activities (mainly working on Alfa-Matrix which takes most of my free time). There were periods of 2 or 3 months without any music at all… there is no real concept behind the album, just a collection of songs that represent the different styles I like in electronic music: from softer almost poppy cuts to harsher EBM or industrial. I try not to repeat myself although I think I have some gimmicks or way of doing things that makes it sound like ‘Aiboforcen’ in the end. When I think it’s too poppy I add some harder sequences and when it’s too harsh I try to inject a few melodies! (lol)

Also the fact of waiting almost 7 years before the release of the album enabled me to select the best songs/tracks and also to work and improve each of them, working on little details, effects, structures.

Q: It has been always difficult defining the sound of Aiboforcen, but one thing is for sure, I experienced “Sense & Nonsense” as the most ‘pop’-driven work so far. What is it all about and how do you perceive the band’s evolution throughout the years?

Benoît: Yes, I always try to have it sounding melodious or catchy at first. When I start on a new track, most of the time I start with the melody and then I add the drums and so on…  when “Sense And Nonsense” started to take shape it was indeed mostly a ‘pop’ or ‘danceable EBM’ kind of release except for a few cuts. Then at the end and as the release date was approaching we started adding the darker or more aggressive tracks. While working on the tracklist we added some of these tracks on the regular version of the album to keep it more varied.  But indeed the aim was to have a poppier album than “Dédale”, and it’s a bit the case.

Q: You once more worked with an impressive list of guest singers. How do you chose them? Do you’ve personal criteria and/or references and how did it work? Don’t you think it’s easier to work with a vocalist side by side in the studio instead of working over the net?

Benoît: Yes it’s indeed easier to work in a studio directly with the vocalist, but with Patrice living so far away it wouldn’t be possible. The same counts for most guest vocalists. When I finish the demo of a track, I start thinking about the right person for doing the vocals, either male or female, harsher or softer. Then I look firstly in the Alfa-Matrix bands which are easier to contact. Generally the first impression is working well and the result is most of the time surprising and satisfying. As far as working with Jean-Luc from 242, it’s a long story. We actually already worked on a track for the “Dédale”-album, but weren’t totally satisfied with the result. We decided not to use the track and agreed we could maybe work later for another album. A few years later (2 or 3), I wrote the track “We Woke Up The Dragon” and immediately felt that it would be the right track for him. And he recorded it rather fast and the final version is also very close to the original demo. It was a pleasure working with such a professional guy and also a legend in the Belgian EBM scene.

Q: Talking about Jean-Luc De Meyer you also did a real unexpected thing asking him to sing on “Loud”, which is a cover version of Front 242! How did that happened and how did he react when he heard the song?

Benoît: Well, I had started working on the cover of “Loud” for the Alfa-Matrix tribute sampler to 242, but another band had already recorded it and finished it so I kind of dropped it. Then a few months ago, I decided to let him hear it to have his opinion and it seems that he liked it because the next day he had sent me a version with vocals. Then we thought that it was kind of schizophrenic of having a cover, but with vocals done by the original singer.  In the end I talked a bit with him and Séba (Alfa-Matrix) and we thought that it would be a good addition to the album and we kept it. I like this version which is not the typical EBM kind of track, but his vocals are highly recognizable. I had no feedback on this by the other members of 242 though.. (lol).

Q: I often hear artists affirming that playing live is one of the most important things today to reach a wider audience. Why playing live has been never your cup of tea and why not setting up a live band with a singer and you behind the mixing desk (like Daniel B is doing)?  

Benoît: Yes indeed playing live is an asset and enables you to reach new and younger listeners. But we have never been a live band and only played a few times and this happened a very long time ago. Nowadays it’s even more difficult because Patrice is living in California and hiring a vocalist just for concerts wouldn’t be fair because it wouldn’t be the real ‘Aiboforcen’. Furthermore I don’t have much time to spend working on a decent live show and it needs to be a bit more than just an industrial karaoke. It needs a bit more visuals and that costs time and money of course which is not possible to do for just two or three concerts. I had the idea of doing a kind of live with just the harsher and instrumental tracks, but It would need lots of efforts anyway. So at the moment live gigs are not an option though it could help us selling CD’s, t-shirts and so on. Fortunately we have a certain fan-base still buying CD’s and supporting us! Thanx a lot to them!! And also a big thank you to all the guest vocalists and artists who remixed us on this album…





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