Artists who will perform at Moonlight Festival 2011 :
AND ONE (GER)
The band formed after Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz met in 1989 at a Berlin club. Being fans of early EBM music, Naghavi and Ruiz decided to follow in the footsteps of New Wave/synthpop band Depeche Mode by using two keyboards and a beatbox. Jason Ankeny of Allmusic called their 1990 single, "Metal Hammer", a "significant club hit".[1] The duo became a trio with the addition of Alex Two, prior to the release of their debut album, Anguish in 1991. That same year, they were honored as the Best New Artist in Germany
Going into the release of Anguish they had already garnered a decent following through touring and appearances at various parties. With their debut release they took home the "Best New Artist" award in Germany in 1991. Chris Ruiz left in 1992 (he would later return in 2001) while Steve Naghavi remained with the band. AND ONE released three more albums with Machinery Records, Flop! (1992), Spot (1993) and I.S.T. (1994). The band left Machinery around 1996–1997 and signed to Virgin Schallplatten. AND ONE would release four albums on this label between 1997 and 2003: Nordhausen (1997), 9.9.99 9 Uhr (1998), Virgin Superstar (2000) and Aggressor (2003).
The next AND ONE album, Bodypop, was released on 1 September 2006 by Out of Line in Europe and on 7 November 2006 on Metropolis Records in the US. The single "Military Fashion Show" preceded the album. The band pulled out of their 2007 US tour with VNV Nation for unknown reasons.
In November 2007 And One announced the release of Bodypop 1½[4], an EP with covers of songs by Depeche Mode ("Never Let Me Down Again"), Front 242 ("Operating Tracks"), D.A.F. ("Der Mussolini"), Nitzer Ebb ("I Give to You") and The Cure ("Kyoto Song"). Three weeks later, the EP was cancelled and a full length cover album announced.[5] The album was finally released on 30 January 2009, but with a completely different track listing, featuring live cover versions of various synthpop hits such as New Order's "Blue Monday" and Pet Shop Boys' hit "It's a Sin".
The band's latest album, Tanzomat was released on March 4, 2011. A single, Zerstörer was released on January 21 prior to the album, but is not included on the album.
On June 4, 2011 Chris Ruiz and Gio van Oli announced they were leaving AND ONE and formed a new band entitled PAKT.
Four days later, on June 8th 2011, Steve Naghavi announced the return of both Joke Jay and Rick Schah via the band's official Facebook page.
World premiere show with the new line up with Steve Naghavi
on stage with 3 keyboard's players.
DAF (GER)
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (German
pronunciation:or D.A.F. is an influential German electropunk/NDW band from
Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López (vocals),
Robert Görl (drums, percussion, electronic instruments), Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke
(electronic instruments), Michael Kemner (bass-guitar) and Wolfgang Spelmans
(guitar). Kurt Dahlke was replaced by Chrislo Haas (electronic instruments,
bass-guitar, saxophone) in 1979.
D.A.F.'s most famous songs[clarification needed] are "Kebabträume" and the
grimly sarcastic "Der Mussolini" from the album "Alles ist gut", a pulsing dance
song. The lyrics "Dance the Mussolini, move your behind, clap your hands, and
now the Adolf Hitler, and now the Jesus Christ", caused a scandal[citation
needed].
In interviews they claimed to not target anything or anyone specific while
creating lyrics to be taken as a parody of words and phrases floating around in
the public media. "Sato-Sato" and "Der Mussolini" are both examples of songs
written around Delgado-López's fascination with the sound of a particular word.
A few months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq D.A.F. released "The Sheriff (An
Anti-American Song)".
The album "Alles ist gut" (Everything is fine) received the German
"Schallplattenpreis" award by the "Deutsche Phono-Akademie", an association of
the German recording industry.
In 2007 DAF partially reformed under the name DAF.Partei with Thoralf Dietrich
(from Jäger 90) replacing Gabi Delgado as lead singer
In 2010 the band, consisting of Gabi Delgado-López and Robert Görl, has returned
with the new single 'Du Bist DAF', limited to 2010 copies.
CLOCK DVA (UK)
ClockDVA THE CHRONOLOGY OF SOUND
After The Future ended a group that evolved into the Human Leaugue, Adi Newton
Founded the group ClockDVA with Steven John Turner aka Jud. The Name ClockDVA
was devised and based on two elements the first element the symbolic
representation of Time, The Clock, a mechanical machine developed to
chronologically measure the quadrants of solar and lunar movements developed
throughout evolution and recently found to pre date our previous theories of its
origination. The idea inherent in Horology is concerned with quantum mechanics
and astro physics as well as Magick & Surrealism ,The Roto, Taro cyclic wheel of
eternal reoccurrence. The Second element is the Russian / nadsat term found in
the glossary of Anthony Burges Clockwork Orange, DVA which equals the number 2 /
TWO and this element is based on numerology, the kabalistic system of numbers
that hold the mathematical formula and meanings behind all words. The sum of AVD
or AUD is 11 which is the master number and the number of Magick,or energy
tending to change,DVA is the reversal of AVD, Black Light.
The mission of DVA was and still is to push the envelope of sonic and visual
mediums, so as to effect the psyche and psycho physiological by experimentation
and Research and development of Sound and visual mediums, Influenced by the
Ideas of Marcel Duchamp,Man Ray, J G Ballard ,De Sade ,R. Buckminster Fuller ,
Aleister Crowley, R D Lang,Jonn C Lilly, Gustave Fechner and a myriad of others,
From the first performance of Dva visual information was utilised in the form of
Film and slide projections these visual mediums along with artwork for sleeves
where integral to the concepts and the corresponding Sound, Film was treated as
an equal discipline not merely as a lightshow for stage work over the years and
the use of Film and Video developed within DVA and TAG , resulting in a number
of films that are foremost Film / Visual works,” I have always had a strong
interest in Film from the pioneering works of Eisenstein, Abel Gance ,Hans
Richter,Man Ray to the pioneering work of Maya Deren. And the Expanded Cinema of
the late 50's / 60's Jordan Belson, John Stehura, Stan Brackhage, Jack Smith,
Bruce Conner and Kenneth Anger.“ (Adi Newton 1988.)
DVA began by developing experimental material and recording all of their sound
experiments using chance and
aleatory methods as a Magickal process to build up a large archive of
recordings. At this stage DVA employed
around 7 Open reel to reel Tape recorders , Some used as loop playback devices
and the other tape recorders
used as just tape playback ,a main Open Reel was employed as a master recorder,
all of these archival
recordings have over the last few years been digitally transferred and archived
and a collection of this material
has been edited and digitally mastered and will be released by The German
specialist label Vinyl on Demand in a 6 album Metal Box with Hard back Book
entitled HOROLOGY an edited version will also be included in the 8 CD DVA MUTE
CD Album BOX SET as “Horology 2 ” which includes a 150 page document, Horology
represents the first ClockDVA recordings. The original ClockDVA sound is very
electronic nearer to Buried Dreams and the recently unreleased Harmonia with Eno
album Tracks & Traces 1976. and Neu, Suicide, Throbbing Gristle, Coil, with
shades of early electronic pioneers such as Walter/Wendy Carlos, John Cage,
Pierre Schaefer, Stockhausen, Earle Brown. Both these recordings are due for
release in SEPT/ OCT 2011. Work on new material for a brand new studio Album is
already in progress but will be produced and released in the first quarter of
2012, A series of live shows are planned in OCT/NOV/DEC of 2011. DVA AND TAGC
are also releasing material via their production label ANTERIORRESEARCH.COM see
site for full details of all DVA /TAGC releases plus an extensive archive of
material from all projects.
There is something about the introspectiveness and experimentation on Clock
DVA’s art that is really fascinating. The obscure perspective was unique -
especially on “Buried Dreams”, among the highest standards for avant-garde
electronic music albums ever.
It’s amazing how this English formation could blend the tastes of minimal
(“Transitional Voices”, “Sound
Mirror”), experimental (“Sonology Of Sex”, “The Unseen”), introspectiveness
(“The Reign, Velvet Realm”), with
sensuality (on “Buried Dreams”, the most sexy vanguardist music you could
imagine), melted with a natural
sense of darkness. “Transitional Voices” and “The Reign” were real dancefloor
anthems on the underground
Industrial / EBM clubs in São Paulo in 1990-1991, thanks to connoisseurs such as
DJ Magal and Mellão from Muzik. Clock DVA remains an essential Electronic Act of the Avant-Garde
Electronica, just like groups
such as Cabaret Voltaire, Klinik, Tangerine Dream, Model 500, Kraftwerk &
Riuichi Sakamoto.
Alain Patrick 1990
ClockDVA CHRONOLOGY DISCOGRAPHY
HOROLOGY*
WHITE SOULS IN BLACK SUITS
THIRST
ADVANTAGE
BURIED DREAMS
MAN-AMPLIFIED
DIGITAL SOUNDTRACKS
SIGN
POST SIGN
www.anteriorresearch.com
UK Decay are Luton-based positive punk (the
precursory term for gothic rock) band, formed out of the ashes of another local
band called The Resistors, who were Steven Abbot (Abbo) guitar, Steve Harle on
drums, Paul Wilson vocals, and Martin (Segovia) Smith bass.
The Resistors formed in 1978, after Paul Wilson left during the spring of 1979,
the remaining band members changed their name and released the ‘Split Single’ 7”
in partnership with local band Pneumania on their own Plastic Records label,
under the new name UK Decay. There were two tracks from each band, with UK Decay
contributing "UK Decay" and "Car Crash", and Pneumania "Exhibition" and "Coming
Attack". The 'Split Single' sold extremely well, mainly thanks to a damning
review in the NME, whose Danny Baker and Charles Shaar Murray described them as
"one of the worst punk bands of all time".[1] At the same time, some of the band
produced their own monthly fanzine The Suss,[1] and ran their own punk record
and clothes shop, 'Matrix'. Guitarist Steve Spon was poached from Pneumania,
allowing Abbo to concentrate on frontman duties.
The next release for Plastic Records was the band's Black Cat EP, which came out
in early 1980 and made the UK Indie Chart for three weeks, getting to No. 42.
Alex Howe from Fresh Records offered to license the first two singles off them
and signed UK Decay to the label for several new 7"s and an album. It was around
this time that UK Decay played their first out-of-town gig, with Bauhaus, at the
Northampton Racecourse Pavilion.
The first official release for Fresh was the single "For My Country" in
September 1980, which got airplay from John Peel (for whom they would record two
sessions) and spent eight months in the indie chart reaching No. 13. The single
was promoted by a major UK tour with raging political punk band, Dead Kennedys.
By 1981 two further singles, "Unexpected Guest" and "Sexual", had also been
released, the former actually achieving the band’s highest Indie chart placing
of No. 4, and paving the way for UK Decay’s debut album, For Madmen Only,
released by Fresh Records in December 1981.
The band had taken a year in recording, after delays caused by taking time out
for a US tour and further frustrations with finding a permanent bass player.
After Segovia left, Lorraine 'Lol' Turvey from The Statics stood in for some UK
dates and a European tour in early 1981. For the US and subsequent UK tours in
Spring 81 Creetin K-Os (of US punks Social Unrest) stood in. Following that
stint he returned home and Eddie 'Dutch' Branch (AKA 'Twiggy') from Northampton
joined on bass, just in time to finish the album.
In early 1982, Fresh Records collapsed soon after the album's release, and the
band were caught up in the ensuing management buy-out by what would become
Jungle Records. With the help of John Loder and Southern Studios, however, they
managed to buy up the rights to their back catalogue and set up their own UK
Decay Records. John Loder also introduced them to Penny Rimbaud from Crass,
which resulted in the Rising From The Dead 12" coming out on Crass's Corpus
Christi label in August 1982. However, despite a strong showing in the
independent charts and an ever-expanding fanbase, UK Decay split up in December
1982. A posthumous live album, A Night For Celebration, was released during the
summer of 1983.
Abbo, Steve Harle and Eddie Branch would regroup with new guitarist Albie de
Luca (formerly of Gene Loves Jezebel) as Furyo in mid-1983, releasing two
mini-albums through the following year and recording an unreleased album before
splitting again in early 1985. While Spon went on to form In Exclesis with
former members of Ritual, releasing various singles and an album on Jungle
Records.
UK Decay were arguably a major influence on an emerging wave of bands such as
The Sisters of Mercy, Sex Gang Children and Southern Death Cult. These bands
together spawned the emerging postpunk and Goth movements that still resonate
today. UK Decay had a major role in developing these scenes, but had ceased to
exist by the time these other bands started getting serious press coverage and
sales. CD re-issues of the band's music have recently become available through
their official website.
[edit] UK Decay Now
In 2008 UK Decay reformed for a reunion gig in the UK and to headline the
legendary Drop Dead Festival in Lisbon, Portugal. This has led to further
bookings, including a short tour of Italy in April 2009 and an appearance on
Sunday 9 August 2009 at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool, UK. Early 2009 will
also see the reissue of the For Madmen Only album, the Rising from the Dead 12"
and other singles on CD and download.
ROSA CRUX (FRA)
Rosa Crux is a Gothic music band coming from the
scene of Rouen.
Their style is dark, melancholy, and sometimes quite martial ritual. They sing
in Latin.
Still active since its inception in 1984, Rosa Crux is distinguished by
extraordinary music and a set of particular scene. Indeed, the group prepares to
traditional instruments and machinery that he uses on stage: church chimes,
drums drum controller and other machines that might seem to come straight from
the studio of Leonardo da Vinci (Horseshoes ).
Inspired by the writings of Antonin Artaud, Rosa Crux concerts are always
punctuated with performances running into the audience on the topic of body pain
(Dance of the Earth, Man in the Cage) forming in the situation room close those
of a sacrifice.
Playing on the duality and the climax, the words sung are not written by the
group, but taken from ancient works: liturgical texts and esoteric formulas.
The group claims itself as "Dark Ritual"and recognizes the influences in both
the great sacred music and in some groups of the post-punk that addressed the
ritual and paganism on stage (Virgin Prunes, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a
Cloud).
Since 2006, the group signed with German label Trisol.
BAM - Technical innovation.
Olivier Tarabo invented BAM, a Battery Midi Controller, which is currently
composed of eight drums and two cymbals and systematically and exclusively
accompanies Rosa Crux on stage.
With this invention, they don't need need a drummer, a lively strip by solenoid
and managed by a midi program offers a dozen different striking forces and speed
that no human is capable of achieving.
BAM has won the "Innovations and Inventions for the Son" prize (Louis Jouvet
Trophy at Paris SIEL 2001).
THE BEAUTY OF GEMINA (CH)
The band lead by its charismatic singer and
songwriter Michael Sele conquered the international rock and wave scene by
storm. Three remarkable albums have been released so far: DIARY OF A LOST
(2007), A STRANGER TO TEARS (2008) und AT THE END OF THE SEA (2010). Likewise in
its still young band career it has achieved numerous successes, among which a
number 1 hit in the Gothic Global Charts, top ten positions in the German
Alternative Charts (DAC)for several weeks, giving acclaimed concerts in England,
Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and Austria, playing as supporting
act for The Smashing Pumpkins at the Hallenstadion in Zurich and performing live
at Greenfield festival on main stage with bands like Rammstein, Procupine Tree
and other international top acts. In January and February 2011, the band
supported the German #1 act Unheilig on their sold-out “Grosse Freiheit Tour II”
and performed in the biggest arenas of Germany (Westfalenhalle Dortmund, Lanxess
Arena Köln, amongst others). In doing so, The Beauty of Gemina played in front
of more than 120’000 people and delighted with their fresh sound and charismatic
stage presence. The popularity of the band rapidly grew and a lot of new fans
where gained.
AT THE END OF THE SEA combines all the band's strengths. The 13 dense, hypnotic
tracks are highly addictive. THE BEAUTY OF GEMINA possess a range of unique
elements: the dark, intense and unmistakable voice of Michael Sele impressively
hovers over the music conferring the songs an anthem-like complexion, gloomy
aggressiveness or emotional depth, according to the relative arrangement.
Accompanied by massive, psychedelic guitar walls and orchestral passages, the
songs on AT THE END OF THE SEA disclose spherical density and epic brilliance.
Between the music styles of dark rock and new wave THE BEAUTY OF GEMINA evidence
a feeling for independent melodies, danceable sounds and complex song writing,
competing in masterful manner with the international big shots of the genre.
Related artists: Placebo, The Cure, Editors, White Lies, The Sisters of Mercy,
Muse, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails.
Band:
Michael Sele: Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Programming
BABYLONIA are back with an amazing new album entitled “MOTEL LA
SOLITUDE”, a perfect mix of electronic music, pop and experimenting!
Four years after their earcatching debut album “LATER TONIGHT”, the Italian cult
band’s long-awaited second offering “MOTEL LA SOLITUDE” is for the palates of
not only those who love Synthpop but also for who likes a good pop song.
At the same time energetic and melancholic, the new album marks a step forward
for Babylonia’s music and demonstrates their ability to forge memorable ballads
and inspired lyrics in a personal and unique way.
Out in January 2010, Motel La Solitude reveals an introspective side of the
band, the fruit of 3 years’ writing and recording and production and mixing at
Milan’s Massive Art Studios with sound engineer Marco Barusso (Lacuna Coil,
Cradle Of Filth among others).
The resulting sound, refined but raunchy is, in the end, the natural result of
constant research and live shows that have taken the band across Europe from
Berlin to Prague via Paris and Bratislava as well as Babylonia’s opening act as
supporter for cult bands Client, IAMX e Melotron.
GO FLAMINGO! (ITA)
Go Flamingo are the Italian authors of an article
from the post-punk Anglophile tendencies, their music is very engaging with
mixing hypnotic rhythms, harmonies, guitar and singing evocative, GO FLAMINGO!
formed in Ferrara in the autumn of 1982 and after a short trial period, they
made ??a demo tape welcomed by professionals. The debut record consisted in a
case with the three songs included in A White Chance (White Studio Recordings,
1985), a compilation dedicated to the scene of the Emilian city, published in
1984, at the same time the band won the competition "Independent 84" organized
by the magazine Making Music .
That victory has allowed the trio to increase the live activity of the valuable
package "Go Flamingo!"
DELENDA NOIA (ITA)
Delenda NOIA is an electronic music duo with
post-punk/new-wave influences.
The project was born in Reggio Emilia in early 2010 from an idea
of Klord and Violara.
Soon arrives the opportunity to collaborate with the indipendent
label Disco Dada Records, which realizes Delenda Noia's first
album produced by Lorenzo Montana.
The album will be entitled "Boredom Aesthetics" In the meantime
the band produces the soundtrack for the video "magic plant "
shown during the presentation of the Atelier del Gusto "at the
International Centre Malaguzzi - Reggio Children - Reggio Emilia
February 23, 2010.
In Summer 2010 their song "Rumba" is selected for a spanish
advertising campaign.
In December 2010, Delenda Noia created an exhibition in
collaboration with the audiovisual Indian artist Anish Kapoor at
the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.
On June 4, 2011 DelendaNoia win the contest The Gothic Room and
will play Italy for the next Moonlight Festival, Rimini 26/27/28
August.
BE FOREST (ITA)
B e f o r e s
t sono un’altra band della east
coast nostrana, di Pesaro per l’esattezza. echochitarre al
delay, basso atmosphere, voce calda e cupa allo stesso tempo,
sussurrata, presente / assente quanto basta, ritmiche serrate e
minimali, tutti e tre in piedi. Piu’ giovani dei giovanissimi,
hanno esordito a marzo con il primo vero disco "Cold." per "We
Were Never Being Boring". A colpire dritto al cuore e’ il loro
approccio diretto e senza fronzoli, l’educazione, l’urgenza. la
consapevolezza che non bastano le prime impressioni o un demo
azzeccato e neppure l’hype del momento.
Suoneranno al prossimo
Moonlight Festival nella location pomeridiana sul molo di
Rimini, il Rockisland, Sabato 27 Agosto alle ore 15:00.
Artists who performed in the 2010
edition:
PETER HOOK (UK)
PERFORMING "UNKNOWN PLEASURES" ENTIRELY
Peter Hook -
legendary bass-slinger with two of the most influential bands in
British pop music history, Joy Division and New Order – has
always been out there on his own somehow, as an artist, an icon
and as the architect of his own oblivion.
Peter Hook’s The Light Perform Joy
Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” sequentially & in Its entirety To
Commemorate the Life of Ian Kevin Curtis.
Three decades after it was first released and on the 30th
anniversary of the untimely passing of Ian Kevin Curtis, Joy
Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook has decided to
commemorate Ian’s life and contribution to modern music with a
special concert where Hooky and The Light will perform Joy
Division’s Unknown Pleasures in entirety for the first time.
The Light will run through the entire album in track order,
beginning with “Disorder”, following through with “Insight”,
“New Dawn Fades”, “She’s Lost Control” and finishing on “I
Remember Nothing. It is also anticipated that other Joy Division
classics may be aired at the concert following the performance
of the album.
Hooky decided personally on the concert as an apposite way to
celebrate Ian’s life and sensitive to the history and drama
surrounding the anniversary concert.
A Certain Ratio are a Post Punk Band formed
in 1977 in Manchester, England.
While originally part of the punk rock movement, they soon added
funk and dance elements to their sound.
They are sometimes referred to as "post punk funk". The band's
name is taken from the lyrics of Brian Eno's song "The True
Wheel" (from the album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)).
The group's longest serving original members are Martin Moscrop
(guitar, trumpet) and Jez Kerr (bass, vocals). Another current
member, Donald Johnson (drums, vocals), joined after the first
drummerless single. Two of their original members have left the
band: Simon Topping (left in 1983 for Quando Quango and, later,
T-Coy), plus guitarist Peter Terrell, who left in 1982.
Keyboardist Andy Connell, who joined in 1982, left to form Swing
Out Sister in 1985.
A Certain Ratio's first recording contract was with Factory
Records in 1979. They released The Graveyard and The Ballroom
only on cassette in 1980. This led them to put out another
experimental album; To Each..., released in 1981, was the band's
official debut album. With growing popularity and success, the
band signed with A&M Records in 1987, and Good Together was
released in 1989. The album failed to produce a hit, leading to
the band's departure from the label. In the early 1990s, they
signed with Rob's Records, owned by New Order manager Rob
Gretton.
The band's exploration of rhythm, fusing funk, disco, punk and
Latin, has had a resurgence in the last few years and their
influence can be heard in bands such as The Rapture and LCD
Soundsystem.
In 2002 Soul Jazz Records started a program of reissues of ACR's
albums and difficult to find tracks. Further re-issues and a
live recording from 1980 have also been made available on the
LTM label.
Although the band does not play full time, they continue
writing, recording, and performing. A Certain Ratio performed in
the U.S. for the first time since 1985 on November 16, 2008,
headlining the Part Time Punks Festival at The Echo in Los
Angeles, California.
They were managed by Tony Wilson. They are featured in the film
24 Hour Party People where Tony Wilson (played by Steve Coogan)
calls them "Joy Division but better dressed." Martin Moscrop was
Musical Supervisor of 24 Hour Party People.
Simon Topping appeared on stage with Joy Division—filling in for
an indisposed Ian Curtis—at a concert in Bury's Derby Hall on
April 8, 1980, which ended in a riot (featured in the Anton
Corbijn film Control). This concert took place a few weeks
before Curtis' suicide.
Atomizer are Jonny Slut & Fil OK
Atomizer is the band that helped kickstart the London electro
scene back in 2002 with their own legendary club night
NagNagNag.
They initially set about redefining an underground and
avant-garde sound. Since that time, Slut and OK have been
jollying along manoeuvres in the synthesised genre of popular
dance. Actually, this album’s rather good. Our favourite genre –
homo synth pop rules! AM/PJ-P.I.X Sept 2009
Recording with ex-KLF producer Jimmy Cauty in 2003, Atomizer
released their debut single HOOKED ON RADIATION on DJ Hell's
International DJ Gigolo Records, which featured the Orange Alert
remix by the Pet Shop Boys.
Whilst touring the globe, two further Jimmy Cauty produced
singles BALL & CHAIN (2004) & UNDERDOG (2005) were released on
their own NagNagNag Records, along with ZERO ZERO / NOSTALGIA
(2006), before the debut album RUBBER YOUTH in October 2006.
The single I'D PREFER NOT TO / ROT OF THE STARS was released on
7" and download in June 2007, with a video inspired by the 1972
cult British film "Bartleby", based on the existential Herman
Melvill short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of
Wall-Street" (1853).
The band's next single was the JE SUIS LESBIEN E.P. available on
12" and download throgh iTunes, Beatport, emusic etc, was a
homage to Pierre Molinier, a one-time member of the Surrealists
cast out by André Breton, whose photo montages of himself and
others cross-dressing in S&M couture, shot through a keyhole
lens, pioneered the exploration of sexuality outside the norm.
The Orange Alert remix of HOOKED ON RADIATION appeared on the
Pet Shop Boys album DISCO 4, which was released in October 2007.
Atomizer remixed the Soft Cell track THE ART OF FALLING APART
for the album HEAT, THE REMIXES which came out in 08.
The BADICAL remix of DIRTY NURSE appears on the PUSHIN PLASTIC
'pushfour' E.P. out in October 08.
The Atomizer collaboration with Adriano Canzian - LIPSTICK LIVE
appears on his METAMORPHOSIS album, also released in October 08.
Atomizer have also remixed the following artists: My Toys Like
Me, Client, Boy George, Readers Wifes ft. Justin Bond, Rubicks,
Siobahn Fahey, Kings Have Long Arms, Ape Drape Escape, To My
Boy, Headland, Mechanical Cabaret, Specimen, Stazi, Napsugar,
Decohere & recently Spanish electro institution Fangoria's LAS
WALPURGIS.
Covenant is a band from Sweden whose music
comprises a mixture between electropop and electronic dance
music. They have been releasing their music since the early
1990s.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, electronic music and several
of its subgenres became a preferred musical style among European
underground culture. It gained favor initially within major
cities and eventually trickled into the continent's more
socially secluded regions. This new wave of music was discovered
at different instances by a group of young friends living among
the shadows of Helsingborg, a scenic municipality in western
Sweden. Eskil Simonsson, Joakim Montelius, and Clas Nachmanson,
three teenagers with mutual, youthful curiosities for science,
philosophy, and matters of existence, were enthralled by the
unique presentation and the emotional content offered through
the music, specifically by that of bands such as Kraftwerk, The
Human League, and by EBM pioneers Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb.
The friends carried this fascination with them to university
life in Lund, a municipality lying approximately 50 kilometres
(32 miles) southeast of Helsingborg. In between their academic
endeavors and discussions of worldly affairs, they assembled a
small recording studio in Nachmanson's bedroom and began to
experiment with their own musical compositions. In 1989, the
name "Covenant" was selected for the group—a name derived from
the unspoken, spiritual bond the trio professes to share.
As Covenant, the three produced their first publicly-released
track, "The Replicant", by invitation of Swedish record label
Memento Materia. "The Replicant" was released on a compilation
album in 1992, and the track thrilled label executives,
prompting them to ask for a full album. In 1994, the group
compiled enough songs to release the album, which became Dreams
of a Cryotank. Dreams was well received by critics and fans
alike, and with its success, the boyhood friends decided to take
their musical efforts more seriously. They upgraded and added
more equipment, relocated their studio, and committed to tour.
In 1995, Covenant performed at a festival in Germany upon the
request of Off-Beat Records. The band impressed Off-Beat's
attending A&R representative, who signed them to a record deal
the following day. Excited by the prospect of broader exposure,
the crew eased further away from their educational pursuits and
devoted themselves to completing a new album, 1996's Sequencer.
With Sequencer, the band sought to improve upon the weaknesses
they found in Dreams by combining sequencing, diverse melodies,
and commanding lyrics. It became an instant classic among many
observers, some of whom boldly declared it "the best electro
album of the decade." [3] It would go on to be re-released a
number of times throughout the world and remains a club favorite
in many settings.
Later in the year, San Francisco-based record label 21st
Circuitry agreed to distribute Covenant's albums in the United
States, expanding the band's reach in the process. As results,
the group created the Theremin EP in 1997 specifically for an
American release and started to accept tour dates throughout the
US and Canada.
The trio's third full-length album, Europa, debuted in 1998.
Europa carried Covenant's aggressive, often distorted brand of
music into the beat-driven realm of synth pop, marking the
beginning of a gradual evolution in the band's collective sound.
Also in 1998, they sued the Norwegian black metal/Industrial
metal band The Kovenant (then known as Covenant) for the rights
to the name "Covenant", arguing that they had the name first.
The Norwegian band changed their name, relenting and allowing
both bands to go on with as few problems as necessary.
Covenant spent 1999 touring, changing record labels, and on the
preparation of another album. Off-Beat Records went out of
business, and Dependent Records was created by former Off Beat
employees. Together with a few selected former Off-Beat acts,
Covenant joined Dependent. In addition, Covenant was signed with
SubSpace Communications in Sweden, effectively ending their
tenure with Memento Materia. Meanwhile, 21st Circuitry Records
ceased operations, leading the three to find a new home in
America with Metropolis Records (Metropolis had bought the
rights to the 21st Circuitry back catalogue). Shortly
thereafter, the band's first three albums and the Theremin EP
were re-issued in the US under the Metropolis label.
United States of Mind was released in 2000, and with it,
Covenant's tendencies strayed further into synth pop. A
stand-alone single called Der Leiermann, sung to the tune of the
album track Like Tears in Rain, was a version of the German Art
song of the same name, sung entirely in German (every other
Covenant song has English lyrics). This song originally was a
poem from Wilhelm Müller, which has been set to music by Franz
Schubert as part of the poem cycle "Die Winterreise".
A live album, Synergy, was released later in the year; it
featured tracks from the band's first four albums played in
concert. The group continued with 2002's Northern Light, which
they portrayed as having a more somber, colder sound in
comparison to their earlier offerings. In another transition
between labels, the European release of Northern Light was
handled by Sony Music's Ka2 division rather than Dependent or
Subspace.
While they continue to produce music together, Montelius and
Simonsson have since taken up residence in separate countries;
Montelius resides in Barcelona, Spain, and Simonsson lives in
Berlin, Germany. Nachmanson remains in Helsingborg.
Covenant released its sixth studio album, Skyshaper, in March
2006 to an overall positive reception. The band toured Europe
prior to the album's release and now plans to tour the United
States beginning in September 2006.
In March 2007, Covenant announced that Nachmanson would not be
touring with the band in 2007. His replacement will be Daniel
Myer of Haujobb. In an interview[5] with Side-Line magazine
Covenant's Joakim Montelius says he is not sure if Clas will
still continue with Covenant.
In October 2007, Covenant released the road movie "In Transit"
on DVD. It contains material from the world tour undertaken in
support of the album "Skyshaper" and documents the band's
travels in Europe, North America, South America and across
Russia for a period of 18 months. The band confirmed Clas'
departure on the DVD documentary.
In 2008 is official Nachmanson's farewell,
and in the line-up Daniel Myer is in.
The new album "Modern Ruin" has been
published in Spring 2010.
Dernière Volonté (Last Will, in English) is
the name under which French musician Geoffroy D writes martial
music, neoclassical music, dark ambient.
Throughout his early period, Geoffroy tended to write a fusion
of martial music and dark ambient. Choosing to focus on
atmosphere, rhythm, and historical samples, he left little
emphasis to be placed on vocals and melody.
However, with the release of his 2003 effort, Les Blessures De
L'Ombre, Geoffroy took a new direction, applying his martial
style to verse-chorus song structures and pop melodies.
Geoffroy is featured as a guest artist on the Der Blutharsch
album Time is thee enemy!.
The band still plays live now and then, and is active on live
shows.
Diaframma is an Italian band, one of the most
famous new-wave, dark-wave, Italian acts coming out of Florence
during the early ’80s along with Litfiba.
Diaframma’s sound originated from the meeting of punk, new wave
and rock.
They reached the status of cult band because of the charismatic
leader Federico Fiumani’s statements and fierce lyrics.
Notoriously, Federico Fiumani more than once turned down very
lucrative major labels’ deals in order to preserve his artistic
independence and maintain Diaframma’s integrity, making him a
sort of a hero in the underground Italian scene.
IANVA (pronounced "ianua" or "ya-noo-ah") was
born as the meeting of a group of musicians with different
backgrounds united by the common goal to give sense to forgotten
words as “passion”, “boldness” and “dignity” and by the will to
preserve those few own things of the Italian. Many are the names
involved in IANVA: Mercy and Francesco La Rosa – both already
known for Malombra, Il Segno Del Comando and Helden Rune, three
cult Italian projects with strong roots in old school “dark
sound” (in the ‘70s meaning of this term) atmospheres; Stefania
T. D'Alterio, ex singer of Wagooba, a peculiar combo inspired by
cinematic-rétro atmospheres with a touch of irony, and one of
the very few Italian pens interested in weirdness and so called
“apocalypse culture”; Azoth, member of Italian top black metal
band Spite Extreme Wing (RIP). Last but not least, classical
trained musicians Fabio Gremo and Giuseppe Spanò (from prog-rock
band Daedalus), Davide La Rosa (who replaced Riccardo Casazza),
Fabio Carfagna (already part of Malombra, who replaced Argento)
complete the roster. These different paths, are just a little
contribution to the IANVA project which is completely devoted to
its concept and its musical Italian character, with wide
influences form the very first excellent Italian new wave, to
the Masters of the Pure Art of Film-score (as Ennio Morricone,
Bruno Nicolai, Armando Trovajoli, Franco Micalizzi, Stelvio
Cipriani, Guido and Maurizio De Angelis…); keeping always in
mind ideal protagonists as Scott Walker and Marc Almond and
chansonniers as Fabrizio De Andrè, Piero Ciampi and Jacques
Brel. A declaration of love to good old glittery nocturnal
ballads of Britain's most decadent glam tradition, and to those
totem figures of Italian mainstream as Mina, Gabriella Ferri,
Milly, Mia Martini, Milva, Massimo Ranieri and Lucio Battisti.
The only concession to “actuality” is some attention to some of
the best and most refined representatives of today's folk noir
scene WITH NO HIDDEN POLITICAL AGENDA (and far away from most of
the pale so called neo-folk bandwagon), which enrich the
peculiar mélange of this sound and concept, coming from the
past, but cast in the future: ARCHEOFUTURIST.
Born in 2005, JOY/DISASTER is a juggernaut
that travelled around Europa (England, Germany, Italy, Austria,
Belgium, Norvegia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech
Republic, Romania), summing over one hundred of gigs getting top
of billing in various clubs and music festivals. Surrounded by a
network of DJs all over the world, JOY/DISASTER's music is
broadcasted on local radios, which led to the birth to several
fan clubs in Chile, England or Lithuania. Their music is a
mixture between unanswerable melodies and powerful rythmic
sections, reminding us of musical references such as Editors,
Interpol, Placebo or The Cure. JOY/DISASTER is a band mixing
Rock and Post Punk music to be heard on three albums (J.D. -
2006/ Paranoia - 2007/ StayGatow - 2010) which takes you beyond
melody and which forecast a powerful and devastating turn for
2010.... Joy or Disaster, you'll have to make up your mind!!!
The SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK phenomena fronted by
the outrageous lead singer MARTIN DEGVILLE took the world by
storm in 1986 with the massive worldwide hit ‘Love Missile
F-1-11' They went on to have huge chart success with ‘21st
Century Boy’,’Sex Bomb Boogie’, ‘Dancerama’ and the Stock,
Aitkin and Waterman collaboration ‘Success’.
When Martin left the band in 2003 he started up his own project
SPUTNIK2
Meanwhile Martin Degville has surrounded himself again with an
extraordinary band and re launched himself into the 21st
century.
MARTIN DEGVILLE'S SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK is a combination of
high-tek electro rock n roll that truly delivers the glamour and
the glitz you would only expect from such a legend.
Not just a show but a unique mind blowing performance you will
never forget!
The story begind in 1978 when 4 teenagers are
influenced by the "punk-movement" coming from the UK, so they
start a band called "The Bungalows".
Soon they change the name into Red Zebra, do some gigs, play
support for The Cure and The Undertones and in 1980 they are in
the finals of Belgium's well know rock-rally from the magazine
'Humo'.
There they played 'I can't live in a living room' for the first
time in front of an audience, the single became a massive hit,
and the band started touring all over Belgium and Holland.
In the early eighties some more singles and albums followed.
The mini album 'Bastogne' is still known as a masterpiece, but
1986 was a difficult time for Belgian bands and Red Zebra split
up. Peter Slabbinck starts new bands like 'Boy Wonders', and 'De
Lama's'. Geert Maertens and Johan Isselee start a band called
'His royal Fume'.
In 1990 the 3 original members gather together.
They plan some reunion-gigs. It is a massive success and they
decide to get back together!
The goal is to write new songs and make new albums. New cd's
follow, (Yes, already cd's), and with the album 'Don't put your
head in a bucket', they have a new hit album!
30 years have passed, and in 2008, joined by new band members
Sam Claeys and Chris Deneve, they record a live album in Leuven.
The band is touring again!
Though definitly influenced by 80's New Wave,
NDW and Punk, SCHWEFELGELB transfer these old cliches into
something very new via some razor-sharp progressive sounds. And
so, the album title ALT UND NEU (old and new) makes perfect
sense.
Though somehow very German, the music nevertheless (or maybe
because of this) finds commen ground with people in many other
countries. Shows in Madrid, Lissabon, Bruxelles, Warsaw and
Glasgow definitly prove this point.
Even colleagues like SHITDISCO remain inpressed by
SCHWEFELGELB's excessive live performance:
"The bastard love child of D.A.F and Fad Gadget, with a sound
that transports you to the squat party of your dreams. Intense,
electric, inspiring.
Schwefelgelb are worthy of god-like adulation. Bow down."
Sid and Eddy bash their keyboards, electro drums and mics with
such abandon, you can just feel the anarchistic air wafting thru
the clubs.
And with the appearance of ,remote-controlled dancers' Nyx und
Hal, this bizarre and wild show blows the roof off any club,
definitly. Such energy!
Interestingly enough, behind these extrovert performers lurk two
very sensitive artists.
Sid studies electronic composition, while Eddy is a Graphic
design student.
The very destinct graphics are also part of SCHWEFELGELB, even
Londons "Grafik Magazine" dedicated a feature on it.
ALT UND NEU was recorded in Essen, Germany.
Being signed by famous Manchester label
Factory Records early in 1980 helped Brussels based band The
Names to achieve a strong reputation both in Belgium and abroad.
The single "Nightshift" marked the beginning of their
collaboration with Martin Hannett, the producer of Joy Division,
with whom the band were to record an album ("Swimming") and two
more singles ("Calcutta" and "The Astronaut").
The band was formed in late 1977 by Michel Sordinia (vocals and
bass) and Marc Deprez (guitar), soon joined by drummer
Christophe Den Tandt. Initially called The Passengers, they
worked with female singer Isabelle Hanrez and guitarist Robert
Franckson before Sordinia, Deprez and Den Tandt (now keyboards)
evolved as The Names, with drummer Luc Capelle. "Spectators Of
Life", their first single, was released in 1979.
On their Factory, and later Disques du Crépuscule, recordings
with Martin Hannett, Capelle played the drums, except for "The
Astronaut" where a serious bike accident led him to be replaced
by Michel Silverstein. He was back when the band reunited in
1997 to record an album ("Night Vision") under the name Jazz and
with Eric Debruyne taking over on bass guitar, Michel Sordinia
concentrating on vocals.
The Names recently made their return on stage (with new drummer
Laurent Loddewijckx) during a Factory Night event at Plan K, in
Brussels, in december of 2007.
A live DVD, "Nightshift", was released in 2008 by LTM. The new
studio album, "Monsters Next Door", comes out this April on
Str8line Records.
One of the most original and, in terms
of frontman Andi Sexgang's longevity, persistent of all the early-'80s
British goth bands, the Sex Gang Children came together in early 1981
around a nucleus of Sexgang, bassist Dave Roberts, guitarist Terry
MacLeay, and drummer Rob Stroud. All were unknowns, ensuring that the
group's name was more fascinating than their membership. A William
Burroughs line that had been grafted into a song by Bow Wow Wow, "Sex
Gang Children" was promptly co-opted by one Boy George when he bowed out
of that band after just two live shows in February 1981 to form his own
group. But hopeful of landing a swift record deal, George conceded that
Sex Gang Children was not a name that would take them far. He chose
Culture Club instead, then gifted the discarded name to Andi.
By early 1982, the Sex Gang Children were regulars at the
Clarendon Hotel in Hammersmith, where they recorded their debut album,
the cassette-only live album Naked. The Illuminated label moved in for
them within weeks of its release; the band's first single, the four-song
Beasts EP, was in the stores by August 1982. Days later, however, it was
out of them again, after somebody realized they'd not procured the
necessary permissions for the Diane Arbus photo on the picture sleeve.
With a major lawsuit apparently imminent, the record was briefly
withdrawn while the sleeves were removed, but still Beasts reached
number eight on the indie chart and hung around the listings for much of
the next 12 months.
Even more impressively, the band was attracting attention from further
afield, as well. Tony James, midway between playing bass with the
now-sundered Generation X and masterminding the nascent Sigue Sigue
Sputnik, was sufficiently enamored to produce the Children's next
single, October 1982's "Into the Abyss."
Spring 1983 saw Sex Gang Children's sophomore album, Song and Legend,
top the independent chart for a fortnight, before spinning off two hit
singles, the title track and the tumescent, eerily fiddle-fired
"Sebastiane." Of course, the band also starred on The Whip, the
now-legendary goth compilation conceived by Dave Roberts, but despite
these successes the Sex Gangs quickly discovered that record companies
and contracts are not, necessarily, the answer to an artist's prayers.
When the band's contract with Illuminated expired in June 1983, any
number of major record labels were actively in pursuit of the group.
Buoyed by a swaggering confidence that really did seem to be their
right, the band turned them all down, convinced that something better
was just around the corner. Sadly, it wasn't. They had burned their
boats with Illuminated as well, and slowly things began disintegrating.
Rob Stroud was first to depart, simply not turning up to a show. (He
later resurfaced in Aemotii Crii.) The band initially replaced him with
Steve Harle, before turning to former Theatre of Hate drummer Nigel
Preston, and in September 1983, a one-off deal with the independent Clay
label brought a new single, "Mauritia Mayer." Added to the stockpile of
material cut since the last album -- an impressive bundle that included
fresh sessions with Tony James -- it boded well for a new LP. Barely had
this lineup settled down, however, than Preston quit to rejoin his old
Theatre of Hate mate Billy Duffy in the Cult.
The Cult's own former drummer, Ray Taylor-Smith, promptly replaced him,
only to be forced out just months later when, returning to London from
their first American tour, the band discovered that the Sierra
Leone-born drummer was in the U.K. illegally. He was deported home, at
which point Roberts, too, quit the band.
Andi and MacLeay kept the Sex Gang Children alive for a few months more,
returning to Illuminated to cut a new single, "Draconian Dream," with a
new rhythm section of Cam Campbell and Kevin Matthews. Producer Simon
Boswell also remixed "Dieche," the B-side of the old "Into the Abyss"
single. This became the A-side and, in July 1984, Sex Gang Children
scored their final independent hit.
Unfortunately, it was too late to save the band. They broke up weeks
later, with Andi Sexgang promptly salvaging the material bound for their
next album as the basis for his own solo debut. Since that time, Sexgang
has maintained a profile that is all his own, while the Children, too,
have resurfaced on occasion, both to record new material and repackage
old. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
The band formed in Bristol, England
during 1980.
Their first show was at a street party celebrating the wedding
of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. In 1982, the band
relocated to Soho, London, where they would play many shows at
the infamous club known as The Batcave. Specimen's vocalist
Ollie Wisdom founded and ran the club during 1982-1983. Prior to
forming Specimen and opening The Batcave, Ollie was the vocalist
for another band known as "The Unwanted".
Unlike Specimen, The Unwanted were a traditional '77 / '78 style
English garage-core punk band.
Unusual for a keyboardist, Jonny Slut became the face of the
band and its most famous member, due largely to his striking
image and fashion sense.
While the band were together, they never released a full album,
only singles and a mini album, though in 1997 two full-length
compilations would be released featuring various Specimen songs.
After the band went its separate ways, guitarist Jon Klein
worked with Siouxsie & the Banshees for seven years, before
working with Sinéad O'Connor.
He was also in the British 1998 movie comedy Married 2 Malcolm
in a non-speaking role.
Johnny Slut formed Diskord Datkord with Mark Tinley and Adam
Tinley before going on to work with The KLF, Adamski and is now
a member of Atomizer.
He also founded the Nag Nag Nag club in London, where he was one
of the house DJs.
Tim Huthert was a bartender at the Mad Dog in the Fog in San
Francisco in the United States.
In July 2008 the original 1983 line up got together to perform
at the Batcave's 25th Anniversary event in London, resulting in
the release of the live album 'Specimen Alive at the Batcave' on
Metropolis. The reunion grew directly out of friendships
rekindled during the making of 2007s 'Electric Ballroom' album,
which featured T.Bias, Kimba, Stephan X, and Tim Huthert, as
well as Jon Klein collaborations with Olli Wisdom and Jonny
Slut.
In February 2009 Jonny Slut and Jon Klein appeared at the
Fashion Institute of Technology (Ney York) for the Symposium
'Subculture and Style' centered around the Exhibition for the
book 'Gothic Dark Glamour'by Valery Steele and Jennifer Parks.
The exhibition featured one of Jon Klein's 25 year old stage
outfits alongside the likes of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano
and Rick Owens.
Swedish electro-berzerkers Spetsnaz were formed by Pontus
Stålberg and Stefan Nilsson in Örebro, Sweden in the autumn of 2001.
With the powerful vocals, frenetic pounding bass lines and relentless
rhythmic assault, Spetsnaz have the aggression and the melody to be the
missing link between the heavy scene and the pop scene.
Being fans of the electro genre for many years, both Pontus and Stefan
felt there was an emptiness in the EBM scene. All the classic bands were
replaced by newcomers performing a more technofied style called
futurepop, and this new-school didnt exactly excite the boys.
Having performed, both together and separately, in different (more or
less serious) projects like Octoberland, Lazer Stefanz, Volvo 242 and
PAF, Pontus and Stefan decided to form Spetsnaz and give it 100% of
their energy.
Inspired by pioneering acts like DAF, Front 242, Die Krupps and Nitzer
Ebb, the duo started to work in studio Downstairs and after a few
months, the first four track demo was presented to Swedish labels and
promoters. At the same time Spetsnaz launched its official website
http://www.spetsnaz.se and interest in the band started to grow.
The duos first album "Grand design" - assisted by bass consultant Jouni
Ollila (ex Pouppée Fabrikk) and mastered by Grammis winner Andreas
Tilliander - was released by SubSpace Communications in April 2003,
holding twelve tracks of nothing but fresh old-school EBM.The bands
on-stage presence is as intense and energetic as the music with Pontus
moving all over the stage, screaming at the top of his lungs, and Stefan
fiercely beating his drum pads. The public demand brought Spetsnaz to
major cities in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and even Mexico
(twice!)
Spetsnazs broad touring and refreshing music
opened the eyes of Out Of Line (home to e.g. Blutengel and Hocico). The
German record label re-issued the debut album worldwide in 2004 with an
extended tracklisting and an alternative cover art.
The release of Spetsnazs first EP, "Perfect body" (this time made
simultaneously by SubSpace Communications and Out Of Line), followed in
the fall of 2004 and entered the ..1 spot on the key alternative charts
DAC (Germany), FAC (France) and NAC (Sweden).
Almost a year later, the second EP, "Degenerate ones", came out in a
numbered digipak edition, limited to only 1.000 units, to present the
directions of Spetsnazs second full length album, "Totalitär" - an
immense musical firepower that is bound to take the listener by storm.
Each beat and each note fits tightly in its place, the rhythms lashes
out brutally at you and the sequencers seem to be pushing you forward
with loud shouts of "Go! Go!".
"Totalitär" is a fireworks display of high-class aggressive dance music,
electronic steamhammers overflowing with emotions, tunes to sweat to...
Quite simply, "Totalitär" is surging with pure energy.
Neon is one
of the most active band in 80's Italian new wave time, marking
Italian rock history.
The band, which was born first as a duo at the end of the 70's in
Florence's undeground culture, soon stands out for its Kraftwerk and
new wave icons' synth, which made their style a unique 80's cultural
dream's specimen, together with newromantic and post punk tought of
bands like Joy Division, Ultravox and Human League.
In 1980, the band got off to an electronic start with the single
"Information of death", and later, through several line up changes,
it achieves to synthetize a mix of obsessive electro sounds, obscure
athmospheres and quite original pop melodies which take shapes in
later works like "Tapes of darkness" (1981), "Obsession" (1982), "My
blues is you" (1983), "Dark Age" (1984); in 1985 "Rituals"
sanctioned Neon as the best Italian new wave band of that year.
Excellent studio productions and intense live activities has brought
Neon to be one of the few icons belonging to alternative 80's
Italian music scene.
In late 2005 a cd box containing Neon's first vynil works has reissued,
and it allowed audience to appreciate more and more quartet's
emotional fund, innovative power and mainly showed its heritage into
the international electro - wave scene.
In 2008 two other
cd issues: Oscillator, the first Neon concert back in 1979 in
Florence and Memories, the best of Neon 1980-1986.
The band is in
activity, live and preparing a new cd album.
DIN [A] Tod do not intend to make it easy for potential
listeners ... their cryptic band name and symbolism are complicating an
easy categorization of the Berlin-based trio. DIN [A] Tod want to
confuse, stir up and induce emotions. "Symbols are nothing else than
concentrated images", states singer Sven. "All our thoughts are driven
by images. The power inherent in these symbols is similar to the one
emanating from music: it can invigorate, fascinate and cause upheaval.
This is what DIN [A] Tod is all about." The name also fits hand in
glove. It is a sort of fusion of system and void.
In case you are now expecting pathetic laments on the condition of the
world or a headstrong artsy-fartsy bilge, you can lean back and relax
because DIN [A] Tod are none of the above. On their first long player
"The Sound of Crash", they gift-wrap their reflections on power and
hysteria, the world, the universe and the bloody rest into groovy beats,
versatile song structures, somewhere between Minimal Electro, Wave and
Electro Clash ... and catchy tunes that have been stripped down to the
bare essentials.
Sven and Claudia formed DIN [A] Tod in 2003, bored by vands that follow
the usual line up of "guitar/bass/drums." They purchased a solid base of
analogue synthesizers, drum sequencers and recording equipment ... and
went to work. Musically, they started out by merging the sound of the
early Eighties - from Joy Division to the early Sisters of Mercy - with
minimalist electronics to create a musical mixture that is just as
intriguing as it is catchy. They recorded the first demo in 2004 and
started playing concerts. In 2005, the signed to Out of Line Music and
released their debut single - fittingly enough on 10" picture vinyl.
They then deliberately took their time for recording the album ,,The
Sound of Crash", due for release in late autumn 2007, in order to avoid
stylistic repetition and stagnation: the worst enemies of any artist.
Phelix, of the group Mercydesign, was integrated as a third band member
and DIN [A] Tod started working on the new tracks in Frankfurt and
Berlin. Each band member was given total creative freedom and the group
experimented a lot with sounds and song structures in order to create a
highly versatile album. Claudia also contributed vocals to "The Sound of
Crash" and guitars were added to the song arrangements. From catchy
Electro Clash tunes like "Carol's Fascination" to complex tracks like
"Ephedrine Logic" (a song that the band has been working on for more
than a year), the first full album of DIN [A] Tod is a mesmerizing
experience that sports a lot of zest and energy. In November 2007, the
group heads out on the Out of Line Festival Tour to prove that they can
also unleash their unique energy in a live situation. DIN [A] Tod fill a
gap in the Electro scene ... as intelligent, synthetic music that also
works well in a club environment has become somewhat of a rarity, these
days...
In March 2009 their second album "Westwerk"
has been released for Out of Line, Berlin, they will present it at the
Fano Moonlight Festival for the first time in Italy.
The Katzenjammer Kabarett used to
refer themselves as Death rock Cabaret, but it would be more
correct to qualify their music as Baroque Krautpop, for their
influences can be found in too many styles, from glamrock to
electroclash, from baroque music to new-wave, merely to limit
this band to death rock or more widely to Gothic music.
The name Katzenjammer Kabarett is just a name, there is no point
in looking further even though we must admit that the
Katzenjammer Kabarett members do not mind using the diletante
and frivolous aesthetic of several past movements, their
compositions, nonetheless, by the means of varied and various
collages, is an attempt to reveal in a coherent or almost way,
by the use of electronic, pop, jazz, deathrock, or classical
music sounds as well as traditional cabaret songs, the peculiar
atmosphere one could have probably found in old fashioned
Lieder.
To sum up, a considerable part of
their work comes from second-hand elements, borrowed from
several preceding movements and styles, but whose signs have
been systematically changed. Thus, the music composed by
Klischee, supported by Herr Katz’s lyrics and Mr Guillotine’s
how so necessary pragmatism, creates an alchemy with the
carefree Mary Komplikated’s voice and theatrical singing which
embodies all the magic, the cynism and the absurdity of that
hangover cabaret, which is just a music band like others.
Tying Tiffany lives at the opposite emisphere
of the honeyed famous film with which the young lady here shares
the name. Her sound is made of strong tones,the ones she’s
always loved, since she was travellin’ around Europe as bass
player and vocal of underground bands, and performed in rock
clubs, social clubs and squat in front of a few dozens of people
and she acts in some widely artistic films and theatrical
performances .In 2005 she takes time for electronic music
including the track “ You Know Me” in the “Full Body workout vol
2” for the prestious Berlin based label Get Physical .. Her
debut album ”Undercover” released in 2005 is as strong as a
“concept album”,an amazing essence of quotations: Moroder disco
rides,wild synth arpeggio, clattering guitar riffs,hardcore and
electro rhythmics straight from the 80’s and 90’s live together
with Tiffany’s EBM past and with her passion for industrial,dark
and punk. Undercover is highly acclaimed from press,public and
media and becomes the Italian music phenomenon of 2006. She’s
not only a good artist and musician but also an extraordinary
performer with over 150 dates in this past year ,seeing her on
stage in Italy and Europe with artists and names from the likes
of Iggy Pop, Gogol Bordello, Pennywise, Buzzcocks, Stereo Total,
The Rapture, Eels, Deus, Tiga, Alec Empire. Her second album
“Brain For Breakfast” is due for international release in 2008
on I Scream records, the New York based label leader and home of
the american Hardcore Punk.
Shadow Minds are an electronic music
group that formed on Septemebr 9th 2003 in the vicintiy of
Husum, Germany. The current lineup consists of Charly (Vocals,
Lyrics), Michael Nielsen (Composer, Keyboards), and Timo Winkler
(Keyboarder, Mastering, and Webdesign).
Their moving melodic music is a mixture of melancholic, almost
hymn like synthie-pop and driving EBM beats. Until the end of
2004 ther first songs like Soon Down, Take Care, Endless Love am
10.28 EM, Seelenschmerz, and Kedija Desert were produced. In
2005 the own-produced Album "Simply Different" was recorded and
their first ever Video to the Single "SeelenSchmerz" was
released.
In the Summer 2005 they moved to their ne recordstudio and
started the preparations and the lineup of the setlist for their
first Live appearance at the "New Blood from the Dark Party" on
December 12th 2005 in the "Roxy-Music-Hall" in Flensburg,
Germany.
In Sommer 2006 their Singer from the oroginal line up Mike had
to left the band on his own wish. Timo and Michael however
feeled the need to carry on with their creative and expressive
way of music. They met Charly a few months later. His striking
and moving way of singing and his musical influence made their
music more lively and helped them to gain a great standing in
their type of music scene.
In early 2008 their first album with charly will be released. To
shorten the time until then, they have planed to release three
singles. The first one of these three was released on November
3rd, 2006 in the Ela-Club in Schleswig, Germany. "Seelenschmerz
Part 2", remixed, editied and sung by Charly, was released as a
Special Edition in 2007. The Single contained two remixes by DJ
SiRo.
An offer from Sara Noxx to Remix her Single “she” made the
experience the field of remixing for the first time. The
campaing "Gemeinsam gegen Kindesmißbrauch" was the ignition for
the Single "Breath". The trio is still working on their new
Album. The released songs from it are to now: "Nemesis", "Say it
hard", "Breath" and the newly on their website released Single
"Affinity".
Global Citizen have been quietly
emerging as one of the most powerful dark electronic bands in
existence with their dark, moody, twisted, sexy and often
downright perverse music with striking imagery to match.
Rebco Records (London) snapped them up late in 2007 and their
debut album on Rebco, entitled "Master Stroke" was released in
2008 and has been going down a storm with their converts and
industry.
Over the last few years the band have also fast been building a
reputation as a live act not to miss and their appearance at
this years Moonlight Festival is sure to kick start a string of
other European performances helping them to conquer these
quarters.
These guys really stand out from the rest of the industrial set
at the moment by opting for the power of mood and atmosphere and
proper song writing instead of relying on the boom boom boom of
a kick drum.
Watch out also for their second album "Nil By Mouth" due out
later in the year.
At the beginning of January 2007
Euthanasie changed name to Gothika just after their first
European tour (16 gigs in 10 countries). Gothika which consists
of andro (vocalist) and #449 (keyboardist) started to move and
pursue a complete electronic sound. In April 2007 they made a
Northern Europe tour (9 gigs in 7 countries)
In August 2007 they played at the biggest festival in the
Netherlands named Summer Darkness. In September 2007 they
released their first full lenght album titled "120 Days of
Sodom". At the same time they made their 3rd European tour (16
gigs in 13 countries) especially in Belarus and Russia they
played with Das Ich from Germany. In December 2007 they made
their 4th European tour. In this tour, at Dark Dance Treffen in
Germany they played with Funker Vogt and Diorama.
In 2008 they played in the biggest gothic festival in the world
named Wave Gothic Treffen and they became remarkable band of
this scene. After that, they played at Kunigunda Lunaria in
Lithuania and Summer Darkness in the Netherlands (for 2 years
continously), they signed with the German label Danse Macabre
Records produced by Bruno of Das Ich. In these 2 years they made
8 European tours and more than 90 gigs.
In 2009 they are planning to release their 2nd full album still
with Danse Macabre Records.
They have also collaborated in the past with many foreign
artists and their work has been praised by the music medias.
My art's name is Ira. In 2006 I
decided to spread out all my emotions without band's influences
and so my solo project Ira-k Organisation arised. This is an
Electro Industrial Project mixed with obscure sounds and
melodies! I got my own studio with a pc, a bass, a synth e
different musical softwares. I try to express my emotions, my
fears, anxiety, phobia and life in this world we live. After one
year of composing I started to play live in my hometown in some
clubs and after that all around Italy. I never show my face when
I perform live and I cover it with a gas mask. Defining and
relish my music doesn't lie to me, just enjoy it.
Ira
Christabel Dreams are one of the
most interesting bands in the Italian post-punk and gothic wave
scene. Their sound who take inspirations from the eighties, has
born at the end of 2005 but they start to record their first
songs only at the end of 2006 to release them as a demo in the
summer of 2007 to the acclaim of many magazines and fanzines.
Their songs “Life That Never Was” and “Candlelight” were
included in some compilation released in Europe and they acted
live opening with such bands as Cinema Strange, Red Zebra and
Frozen Autumn. In March 2009 they released their first offficial
EP titled "The broken toy".
