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To Damascus
[Ladomat/Labels]
If the two Germans Dirk Von Lowtzow and Thies Mynther decided to take the name of "Phantom & Ghost", it's because the latters are everywhere on "To Damascus". The ambiences are well groomed and we can hear nine pop gems tinged with a darkness coming from the cold wave of the 80s. Behind the pseudo casualness and the apparent nonchalance of these melodies, we can find a real precision work. In the same state of mind than Colder, but without the morbid intention to copy them, Phantom & Ghost offers us a very harmonic reminder of an era, which is not as finished as you may think, somewhere between Marc Almond's melancholy and an updated and very honourable ersatz of the Factory period with its rhythm boxes and synthesizers. A surprising and convincing record which invites us into a kind of very well finished padded electro-pop. Impossible to resist to this really good and bewitching experience.
Christophe Labussière |
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I Went Out Shopping To Get Some Noise
[Hymen]
When you think about the impressive number of Daniel Myer's projects, you may consider him as a prolific and inspired jack-of-all-trades, or you may think he's dissipating a bit too much, as he can offer the best (Haujobb's dark electro) and the worst (Clear Vision phony future-pop, or the trite female vocals of H_M_B). And the new album of his project, Architect, won't help you to decide what he is. Six years after the electronica full of breaks and beats of "Galactic Supermarket", Myer brings out Architect again, in a more rhythmed and more accessible version, but always tinged with the usual "dark" sounds. So indeed, here, Daniel Myer confirms he's versatile as well as very gifted. Yes, it's beautiful, it's well produced and, here and there, there are some good ideas (for instance, an attempt to cover the Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven). But unfortunately, we've got the tedious impression of hearing this "suits all" recipe we now know by heart, as Myer isn't the first coming from the "dark" scene trying to do supposedly more abstract and sophisticated things. This album will content the fans of the genre or the fans of the man, but unfortunately, it won't come out of the limits of this so-called "indus" scene's universe. Shame.
Renaud Martin |
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Saphir
[Cruel Moon/Cold Meat Industry]
It's a really nice concept which hides behind the ten tracks of Ataraxia's new album. By choosing the garden, under its more diverse forms (the hanging gardens of Babylon, Japanese, French or English gardens), it's a whole cohort of flowers', trees', fruits' and grasses' scents which delicately mix with the new compositions of the Italian trio. Ten titles (eleven if you count the hidden track) on which you hear the strange metallic voice of Francesca Nicoli, strained between light discordances and powerful lyrical surges, clear a trail among passion flowers and weeping willows. Echoes of fountains, rustle of branches, the whole nature breathes through these contemplative and romantic lyrics (The Gentle Sleep, Blood of Cherries, A Green for Her Voice). Ataraxia exhales of a poetry we could qualify of rural if the diverse symbolics (mythology, magic, etc.) placed beside the myth of the garden didn't bring the listener well beyond the simple bucolic stroll. Only armed of its acoustic guitars, its synths and percussions, the band describes with passion and conviction a beautiful scenery of light and shadow, in which mixes Mediterranean warmth, oriental serenity, childhood memories, mythology and Victorian daintiness. "Saphir" is an album to be listened to and to be breathed...
Stéphane Leguay |
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Second
[Nech/T.T.O Records]
Still relatively unknown, the multi-cultural formation (Armenian, American, Swedish and French) Deleyaman is yet quite experienced. Their first album, "00/1" released in 2001, made us discover their ambient universe spiced with a thin layer of world music. A convincing work which is now followed by "Second". Obviously, it's hard to forget on most of the twelve tracks, the tenacious shadow of Dead Can Dance, so much the alternation of the male/female vocals, the percussions and the massive use of Armenian folkloric instruments (saz, doudouk, shêvi) remind us of the dulcimers, bouzoukis and darboukas of the Australian-Irish duo. But, except for Sparrow, the winded first track, the quartet quickly shows an indubitable skill in the mastery of the ambiences, which are vast (Yana) and intimate (Battlefield) at the same time. Then, you can start dreaming on Caucasian or Himalayan sceneries, discovering the immense wild tracks (Black Rainbow), the high peaks covered by eternal snow (The Door), flirting with a tribal folklore (Dice) before ending with the beautiful lullaby Denials, a little night music in the form of Au revoir et à bientôt. See you soon indeed, as Deleyaman's magic seems to have more than one travel to share with us in the future.
Stéphane Leguay |
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Strife
[Cold Meat Industry]
The amazing thing when you start listening to a new production of Cold Meat Industry, is the feeling of indefinitely returning in the same sinister swamps, under the same stormy skies, and in the same bottomless pits. Desiderii Marginis isn't an exception, far from it. It's not that this album is the perfect copy of the last Lithium, Institut or Raison d'Etre, nor that Desiderii Marginis' music is deprived of personality, but nevertheless, it seems hard, while listening to "Strife", not to avoid the common places of the "cold storage music" style or the "end of the world ambiences". Yet, this new album succeeds in its nihilist and depressive venture. Eight sleazy and dark tracks, laden with dull industrial whispers from which heavy tracks of brackish keyboards emerge, that's how Desiderii Marginis considers our modern world. A world of conflicts, wars and distress which show through this austere and hopeless album. Some hypnotic and inhumane rhythms are the only heartbeats of a music which would seem dead if some organic sounds didn't give it a light breath of life.
Stéphane Leguay |
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Archetype
[Liquid 8/Roadrunner]
Pioneer of a "cyber-metal" appeared in 1992 with the terrifying (and very innovating) "Soul of a New Machine", Fear Factory, who after two excellent albums "Demanufacture" (95) and "Obsolete" (98), seemed to have slowed down on the very linear "Digimortal", released in 2001. One year later, the quartet split, leaving as a will a compilation of demos entitled "Desecrate". 2004, the singer Burton C. Bell is now reforming the band and releases a fifth album, "Archetype". In the meantime, the big guitarist, Dino Cazares is gone, but nevermind! The bassist, Christian Olde Wolbers is now in charge of the six strings, leaving the bass to the ex-Strapping Young Lad, Byron Stroud. The American band seems to find here a second breath and offers us an album on which we can't find any faults. Of course, the ultra-rhythmic and almost robotic format of the compositions sound like some already heard stuff; likewise, the acute riffs, the omnipresent big drum (the whole being a bit more dehumanized with the use of informatics) and the alternation vociferations / clear vocals are unsurprisingly part of the Fear Factory tradition. But the band found the way to create superb compositions where brutality (Cyberwaste) and clarity (Human Shields) get along well again. Epileptic hammerings, pulsating choruses and some beautiful tracks of synths (there's a track composed with Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly), "Archetype" is easy to listen to, even if it can leave dubitative the cry-babies who expected a bit less evolution from a band which surprised everyone twelve years ago.
Stéphane Leguay |
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Tops, Shoks, Souvenirs
[Wwilko]
Abandoning for a while Kap Bambino, his electro clashy pump it up project, Orion Bouvier comes back with Groupgris and this mini album much more daring and out of phase than "Save As To", his first record released two years ago. In comparison, the latter would almost appear like serious electronica if it didn't show the first signs of slight madness of "Tops, Shoks, Souvenirs". Dyslexic country, acrobatic hip-hop and syncopated rhythms get along in this stranglehold of samples, which don't fail to remind of the master of this genre, Kid606. Just like his hero, Orion Bouvier skilfully handles the bubble-gum melodies which bubble bursts at the end of each track. He's not encumbered of the one or two references slightly audible, he chews them again and again, making elastic his more compact compositions. With this new try, Groupgris proves once again that he really got his place in this mad French wave which includes Puyo Puyo and Dat Politics. An enlivening record.
Carole Jay |
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Invisible Front.2005
[Trisol]
Spatial This is the adjective which suits best Kirlian Camera's new album. First in its thematic: on a stellar odyssey background and intra-sidereal contemplations, the Italian duo offers a lexical vocal which carries us away from black holes to Saturn rings, from the milky way to Moon lights, like fine parables of disillusionment and a despair so characteristic of each of the band's record. Spatial, also in its structure: airy and volatile, the synths' tracks go well with the heavy low frequencies and the slow pulsations of a finely built structure. There isn't any dancefloor hits like Absinthee or Solaris IV, but there's a sequel of electronica constructions, with synths close to the new-age digital sounds of Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze (K-Pax, Dead Zone in the Sky). But, if you can find some traditional robotic experimental sequences dear to Angelo Bergamini, this album is awfully humane thanks to the invaluable vocal contribution of Elena Fossi. The maestro alter ego illuminates "Invisible Front.2005" with her delicate and sensual voice, adding a carnal dimension to the very minimal The Immaterial Children or to the metronomic Kobna Dob. Doubtlessly more luminous than the previous albums, despite some worrying divings (A Woman's Dreams whispered by the ex-Swans, Jarboe), this album even seems to be inspired by the simpler project of Elena, Siderartica (K-Space-Y 1), pushing away Kirlian Camera further from the martial and sepulchral sounds of a few years ago. As complex as clear, this "Invisible Front.2005" turns up to be a fascinating spatial adventure we're not tired of.
Stéphane Leguay |
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Perfect Life
[Full Contact]
While we lost sight of him since the disappearance of his project Presence, Lol Tolhurst is now coming back with his wife, Cindy Levinson. But let's be clear, Levinhurst (the contraction of their two names) doesn't remind at all of the prestigious past of the co-founder of The Cure. Here, Lol is simply equipped with the best softwares of electronic music (you can hear his interview on the site of Ableton, the creator of the software Live) and he uses it rather... cheaply. This minimalism, which in a way, reminds of his references, Kraftwerk, Can and Monolake, is only saved by Cindy's voice. Indeed, it's quite amazing. Rather a charmer, it gives a real consistency to these random electronic exercises, a kind of pop tinged with trip-hop. "Perfect Life" is a UFO which embarrasses the listener at first, because if we manage to recall some of the songs thanks to efficient melodies, we think that the idle arrangements are a shame. But once this disappointment gone, this project is quite pleasant, a real curiousity.
Christophe Labussière |
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Absente Terebentine
[Pandaimonium]
We can only but admire the constancy and the serious of Morthem Vlade Art in refining and always perfectioning a sound, which has been in constant evolution since their begining. It's not that the latest sound is more original, it's always close to the ambiences of Japan or Dalis Car (and also evokes Depeche Mode), but the ability of the duo to mix such daintiness to so much class is respectful. The voice of Gregg is in perfect osmosis with the music, and make the listening of these too short songs a real pleasure when you can gather your thoughts so much the atmosphere is appeased and delicate. "Absente Terebentine" goes a bit further in the way opened in the last album and uses the same elements, taking the time to offer us new gems like E-Clipse, Long Distance Conversation or Zone. A splendid album, even more homogeneous than the previous one, and precise like a clock. A real delight.
Christophe Labussière |
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Summer Make Good
[Fat Cat/PIAS]
It would seem that the Icelandic sound does exist. Even if they're not as mediatized as Sigúr Ros or Björk, Múm deserves our attention. Graceful and keen on experimentations, this trio polishes their minimalist electro-pop productions albums after albums. Like this "Summer Make Good" which goes even further than "Finally We Are No One" with sound details that aren't necessarily noticeable at first. The accordion (on the dark but sublime The Ghosts You Draw on My Back or Will the Summer Make Good for All Our Sins), the glockenspiel or the gravelly samples (there are samples of winds like on the magnificent instrumentals Stir and Abandoned Ship Bells) make the tracks more nostalgic, and even more dramatic, than before. The voice of Kristín Anna Valty´Sdóttir, on the verge of rupture, is an instrument on its own, and the almost aethereal melodies bring a magical beauty to this Northen album, which is somewhere between the pseudo lightness of Tarwater (Sing Me Out of the Window), the padded darkness of Piano Magic and the experimentations of Boards of Canada.
Catherine Fagnot |
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Born
[A Different Drum]
The Australian duo Neuropa comes back with a new album which leaves us wondering: has this clone of Erasure something new to offer us? Most of the new eleven tracks sound too much like the 80s to be exciting. Yet, the very simple melodies are efficient, but the ambiences created on cheap synths are really outdated (especially on The Only One, a track that would make the kids of Basildon laugh their heads off, also on Control, Standing Still in Time and the awful Nothing Left to Lose, full of guitars). It's only when the big modern machines come into play that the tracks become interesting (like on the very good Every Second and the Vince Clarkien "2004 Mix" of Away). We also appreciated the two instrumentals (The Trigger and We Are) which could open new perspectives for this band that should get away from the influences of their idols to show us their true personality.
Stéphane Colombet |
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Side Effects
[UWe]
Like Syd Matters and lately Rhesus, the duo OMR is one of these bands that was revealed by "CQFD", the competition created by the magazine of the Inrockuptibles, which has been giving quite interesting results for the last two years. OMR (Homer?) is made of Virginie Krupa (vocal) and Alex Brovelli, two French people with two different backgrounds (she was into pop, new wave and even goth, as for him, he was into punk, rock, ska and hip-hop), and they do a kind of cold and airy electronic pop, which has already been remixed in a first EP by people like Ellen Allien or Console. And indeed, the prolific Mario Thaler, the producer of bands of this new German scene such as The Notwist, Lali Puna, Console and Ms John Soda, also produces this first album entitled "Side Effects". Despite some lulls, this album appears to be quite interesting, with its classy instrumentals (Extension, He's Up to All the Tricks, The Last) and smart songs like Password, The Door or Wholly, sung by Virginie in a (too?) diligent English. Basilcally, this first album is very promising and is a bit of fresh air on the French electronic pop scene.
Renaud Martin |
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Sexplosive Locomotive
[Geisha Machine/Sriracha]
Created in Toulouse in 1993, the quartet Punish Yourself quickly distinguished itself with its delirious shows and its music close to the technoid industrial rock'n'roll dear to KMFDM or Think About Mutation. After an energetic but confused first album ("Feuer Tanz System" in 1998), and a second which was more scathing ("Disco Flesh: Warp 99" in 2001), the fluorescent cyber-punks are now offering us their more achieved album. Without losing their madness, nor their viciousness, Punish Yourself managed to channel their overwhelming energy and clear their heads to compose twelve diabolically efficient tracks. Samples of films, imparable rhythms, biting guitars and obsessing choruses mate in a frenzy on a background of drugs apology, sex and rock'n'roll, as well as viscious attacks against the United States and their media. Punish Yourself isn't innovating (some tracks remind us of Rammstein, Marilyn Manson or Ministry), but their vitality and spontaneity is exciting as they relentlessly play their dancefloors hits. Like the result of a cross between Alien Sex Fiend, The Cramps, Rob Zombie and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Punish Yourself assert themselves as a major formation on the French scene winning hands down "the test of the third album". A comic book dedicated to the band (with Coralie Trinh Thi as the scenarist and Denis Grrr and Aleksi Briclot as drawers) should be released when you read this, "in order to convince the incredulous world that their worst nighmare has just begun"!
Christophe Lorentz |
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Poisonous Friend
[Dependent]
What could we expect from this very gifted German band a few months only after the release of their great second album "Beyond Flatline"? Probably not much because it was almost a perfect future pop record. Well, this big EP (with nine tracks) entitled "Poisonous Friend" is almost better still. The eponymous track is to be heard in more extreme versions than on the album, intended to dancefloors. The four remixes are varied and complete each others well, indeed, the impression of overdose you usually get on this kind of EP, doesn't happen here. The remixes of Iris, and above all, the ghosts of Severed Heads are little gems which will make you appreciate again this practice. If, on the other hand, the remixes of Cut.Rate.Box of Contact and Stromkern of Transformer are a bit grinded and winded at the begining, the new version of Watching Over You by Haujobb is sublime as it keeps the original construction and make it more oneiric and airy still. As for the two new tracks, everybody will be happy, with an agressive Traitor sounding almost like Skinny Puppy and Without You, a technopop anthem which will cut your breath and break your heart. We won't say it twice: Seabound is the "New Star".
Stéphane Colombet |
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Here comes love
[Kompakt]
After releasing two EPs and making himself known as a remixer, the most reknown DJ and producer of Cologne releases a first album which atmosphere is delicately padded. Between simple techno and the electro-pop format, Aksel Schaufler (aka Superpitcher) also go fishing in the German cabaret a la Kurt Weill, like on the track Träume, sung by Charlotte Roche, the favourite broadcaster of German TV. He also does three covers, among which the 50s classic Fever, that are quite unexpected although not staggering. As for the original compositions, they got, under their synthetic tracks and minimalist beats, a delicious dreamy and obsessing torpor which so characterize Superpitcher style. Dull sounds, monotonous voice, Here Comes Love offers a nice share of melancholy with its quests for ideal love and its evocation of loneliness. A nostalgia beautifully crystallized on the antithetical Happiness, probably the most remarkable track of the album.
Laure Cornaire |
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2 a.m Wakeup Call
[IMusic/PIAS]
Because his wife was having insomnias at 2 o'clock in the morning, Chris Vrenna got the excellent idea of shortening his nights too, and got himself into writing and composing a follow up to the adventures of his Tweaker project. Nobody can distillate sound atmospheres like the ex-drummer of Nine Inch Nails (which he left in 1996) can, that beautifully accompany his guests' voices. One has to admit that the Tweaker formula, if it exists, touches at the heart of it all with particular voices (Will Oldham, Robert Smith, David Sylvian), and clever arrangements. It's almost like It's Still Happening would teach Richard Patrick (another dissident from Trent Reznor's band) how to bring some fresh blood into Filter's sound, as Hamilton Leithauser's voice is pretty similar to his. David Sylvian is there again (how could we forget the wonderful Linoleum on the 2001's "The Attraction to All Things Uncertain"?); like a ghost, he sings Pure genius which could easily be the music for a haunted castle tour visit. Avalanches of noisy pop guitars on Cauterized flirt with the perfect Truth Is, sung by a Robert Smith who's been credited on a countless number of records since last year. He invents a new way to pronounce, with a disgusted-like voice, the unaltered "Oh baby": what a class! The most woken up among us will find a cover of Tones On Tail's Movement of Fear, whereas Johnny Marr (without Healers) wraps his guitar strings up the very nice instrumental track The House I Grew Up in. You might have understood it by now, every track from this record has its own life and a unique sound, what gives a real wealth capital to this record, which capital makes an increase in value each time you listen to it.
Bertrand Hamonou |
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Winning Days
[Capitol/EMI]
For a long time, it was thought that only english music was worthwhile. Now, it's clear that Britons only invented two things: The Beatles and The Sex Pistols. It would seem, that for more than ten years, no bands have been able to inspire themselves from anybody else than those two. So, the NME might acclaim the new Sex Pistols or The Beatles' heirs each week, we can only but notice that the current level of English bands isn't very high. They all sound alike, and it's not the few bands more inspired than the others, (Libertines, Franz Ferdinand), who will make a revolution. Far behind them, and despite a very nice cover, here are The Vines, a nice band, but that's about it. And it's a shame, because the begining of the album is really powerful like it must, it makes you want to pogo, it's fresh, exciting and raging, but two or three tracks down the line, everything flattens down. And we then are in the high sixties inherited of Pink Floyd and the folk singers, and despite all our good will, we are bored to death, waiting for the next track, wondering if they gonna put the electricity back in their guitars. But they don't, and in the end, it's too late. So, here it is, shame for The vines, they're not the next big thing, even not the next little thing. They won't leave any memories behind, except in the NME, and we will go and listen to what's going on in Berlin or in New York, it's much more exciting.
Frédéric Thébault |
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Music for Artificial Clouds
[Intoxygene]
Here's the new Young Gods' album, in a Ôrelaxation and meditation' mode: "Music For Artificial Clouds". Announced for one year already, and postponed until today, it's been made available through their new label, Intoxygene, since the end of March. "Heaven Deconstruction", the band's first ambient adventures chapter (released in 1996) was leaning on tracks from "Only Heaven", by stretching and purifying some sounds and elements of it. In a way, we would have liked to find similarities between "Second Nature", released in 2000, and this "Music For Artificial Clouds", which isn't the case. All tracks are exclusive ones, and we're said that Franz Treichler travelled Amazon with a microphone in his hand, searching for sounds to be incorporated to these organic computer-generated tracks. Theses seventy minutes of music have been created for (and inspired by) Yverdon's Arteplage, which is set on Neuch‰tel's lake shores, in Switzerland. It would have been well advised to make the mention "a Young Gods side project" appear somewhere on the sleeve, in order to avoid the deception of those who expect to stamp their foot and sing some lyrics with Franz on a missing replica of Kissing the Sun or Lucidogen. This album could have been untitled "Waiting for Young Gods", as a follow up to their excellent "Second Nature" is highly awaited.
Bertrand Hamonou |
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If you loved the latest album of Apparat, you should be pleased with "Duplex. remixes" (Shitkatapult). This EP includes the remixes of "Duplex" four tracks, made by four gifted musicians. And except for the dub sounding and tedious version of Schallstrom by Thomas Fehlmann, the result is quite a success. The ICL factory gives to Contradiction a more rhythmic touch and changes the initial voice by chopping it, Monolake worked on Steinholz, erasing its angular side and making it a peaceful track, and finally, Anders Ilar puts Wooden a bit out of phase by creating a padded remix even more peaceful and soft than the original. A good choice.
Same label, same idea for Håkan Lidbo and his "Clockwise Rmxs"! The only difference here is that all the remixes are made from the eponymous EP "Clockwise", which is quite favourable to this kind of exercise (this is the track where you can hear two Londoners describe their daily life). The remixes are Matthew Dear, Si Begg, Håkan Lidbo himself and Apparat, and the award for the best effect is his, even if the result he gets is far from the original. Sascha Ring makes it melancholic by adding echo, by slowing down the tempo and by distorting the words of these poor guinea pigs who come second. Another good choice.
Talking about Londoners, let's hear the newcomer at the label Toytronic: Kylian and his EP "Lappi Inzoo". Behind this exotic title, there are four tracks on which this young Finn smartly weaves cheerful (Lappi Inzoo) and melancholic (Tak-ap) melodies. The only little snag is the third track, Eerikson, which vainly tries to mix a badly digested rhythmic noise to very unctuous sounds. The result is disappointing and clearly lacks of cohesion, shame. Let's also mention the interesting remix of Lappi Inzoo by Roger That Jr. at the end of the record which puts some coherence back. A promising first try.
Finally, we won't fail to mention the new Bochum Welt which is always a happening. Nevertheless, all is not "fresh" on this mini album entitled "Kissing a Robot Goodbye" (Device), because we already know two of the tracks, Mannequin and Terpsitone, recorded some time ago by this musician under the name of The Voder. As for the track, La Nuit, we already heard it on another more energetic version. But then, even if there was only a track like Telegame, a little brilliant, light and simple gem, we would be happy, remembering that Gianluigi Di Costanzo's melodies are ageless things we get attached to, without really knowing why. Maybe that's the warmth of the analogic...
Carole Jay
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If you're looking for something good, calm and melancholic pop album for the summer, we advise you to get the first album of this band from Brussels, Raymondo on the young label Matamore: here are eight good tracks we could qualify of pop, folk and post-rock. A fresh and pleasant album.
Also in the must, there's "Radiant Idiot", the excellent new album of Corker Conboy, this duo from London who already released the very good "In the Light of That Learnt Later" (2002). Recorded in Chicago, this album follows the trail of Tortoise, as it distils a melodic and contemplative post-rock sprinkled with samples and electronic sounds. A well-known recipe which works very well here.
Finally, let's end with "Carbon Glacier" (Bella Union), the last album of Laura Veirs. This is not the first try of this American, who signs here an excellent album of simple folk a la Catpower, with thirteen tracks written during Winter 2003, which refer to Virginia Wold and Kurt Cobain, and evoke landscapes of icy oceans and monochrome sceneries. A very well named album.
Renaud Martin
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Here are some news from the American label Fossil Dungeon managed by the likeable Riddick brothers (The Soil Bleeds Black). Let's start by the oldest, the gothic veterans, Mephisto Walz. To say that the band is not very productive is an euphemism when we know that the duo Bari-Bari/Christianna Leonard needed five years to make a following to the album "Immersion". Still, we've got to content ourselves with a single,"Nightingale", which was released last year in the USA and is now available in France. Musically speaking, the two tracks of this nice white single go on sailing in the crystal clear water of their last album, revealing Nightingale superb of gothic lyrism and a quite energetic Witches Gold. A promising first taste before the band's next productions... if they finally decide to get on with it!
Newcomers on the heavenly voices/neo-classic scene, the two mermaids of Mirabilis are yet far from being novices on the American goth scene. Indeed, if the first one, Dru, started in This Ascension, the second, Summer, played in another excellent formation, The Machine In the Garden. Now, these young women put their experience together on a first eponymous EP made of four vocal tracks, which remind of the begining of Miranda Sex Garden. Very simple and without any technological artifice, these 21st century "chansons de geste" (epic poems) announce, behind the mediaeval cover of the single, the next release of their first album, "Pleiades". We can hardly wait...
Just as delicate, although less refined, "Dancing, Dreaming, Longing..." the second opus of the "diva" Dawn Desiree' shows, if it was needed, the diversity of styles which characterizes The Fossil Dungeon. Helped by the Riddick brothers, the beautiful red-head puts her high and powerful voice on the multiple instrument layers (sometimes organic, sometimes not) which make this album. Piano, synths, electro loops, Dawn isn't scared to confront her classical voice to less baroque ambiences, which is not without danger (Revenge). We will appreciate more the range of her voice on tracks that are a bit expected (Waltz of the Afterlife), but sometimes convincing (My Wings) and more in keeping with the universe and the themes developed by this young woman.
On the other hand, we can't say much about "Eternal", the second album of the Florida trio Butterfly Messiah. Yet, the superb black and white digipack was promising with its aestheticism. But instead of aestheticism and refinement, we can hear some synthpop and an apathic and terribly kitsch electro, served by scholastic to the last beat compositions, so expected that we could almost see Cubase's programmation grid through it! And the very nice voice of Shannon Lyn Garson doesn't change anything. The only positive point in this awful electronic fiasco is the track It's Time with his lively chorus, but it can't save an album which is like a blemish in the nice Fossil Dungeon's catalogue. This label should shortly release the first album of the Italians Chirleison, as well as the new Dark Muse and Hexentanz.
Stéphane Leguay
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While the electro, techno and rhythmic side of the indus inspires more and more French artists, the metal version of it has been going strong for a long time now. So, the first album of Porn, "Glitter, Danger & Toyboyz" (Slalom Music/Night & Day) is a very good surprise which goes along the line of Orgy, Godhead and Zeromancer. Even if it's less vicious than Collapse's and less insane than Punish Yourself's, the melodic and glamour industrial rock of this band is yet awfully efficient. The catchy compositions, the powerful and clear production, the vibrant vocal, the balance between saturated guitars and electro sounds, everything make of Porn an interesting band we should closely follow in the future.
Stonier, Wormachine sometimes evokes The Young Gods of "TV Sky" or the Treponem Pal of "Excess and Overdrive", with its cavernous lyricism and its organic sounds spiced up with a small but efficient dose of electronic. With their first eponymous album (Boycott Rec./Next Music), the trio from Belfort (who already released three noticed EPs) shows a real maturity through their flayed melodies, their powerful guitars, their well used machines and their obsessing rhythms. There again, there's nothing to throw out of this muscled record.
In Germany, The Retrosic (alias Cyrus) releases their second bomb entitled "God of Hell" (Tribune Rec./Minuswelt). We bet that this record, which isn't original but totally imparable, should please the people who were disappointed by:Wumpscut:'s or Suicide Commando's last albums. Morbid ambiences, samples of fantasy movies, gothic dancefloors' rhythms, cold and dark sounds, distorted voices, obsessing gimmicks, basic choruses... We already knew that this was good, but here it's applied with an incontestable know-how. And even if the clockwork sometimes weakens, The Retrosic are still making a name for themselves on the dark electro scene, at a time when the stars of this genre shows they're out of breath.
We could discuss the fact that if Jack Dangers didn't found Meat Beat Manifesto, all the artists mentioned above wouldn't exist. At least, let's acknowledge the unique contribution of this Englishman to the electronic scene, with his sophisticated rhythms, his lavish samples, his scathing bleeps and his unique way to mix cold dub, minimalist electro, grinded hip-hop, subtle techno and old-school industrial music. Yet, since the incredible "Subliminal Sandwich", Jack Dangers struggles to find the power and inspiration he had at the begining. His new opus, "...In Dub" (Quatermass) is a dub electro re-reading of his last real album "R.U.O.K.?" (which was rather disappointing). Nevertheless, the whole is varied, powerful, crafty and inventive enough to entertain us, and the versions offered are quite remote to the original tracks.
Christophe Lorentz
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