Friday on the first day of the festival we took the floors of Ombra, loaded with enthusiasm and eager to dance our hearts out, after almost 2 years of not being able to attend any proper live event.
Continue reading “Ombra 2021 – Day 1”
Ombra is a project born from the hand of agency Ombra Agency and label Oraculo Records with the aim of creating a meeting place for lovers of analogue and avant-garde sounds that do not fit in the current cultural offer. The first edition was held in May 2018 in a club format, bringing together musical styles such as EBM, darkwave and industrial/experimental sounds.
In 2019 the festival took place in different areas of the city with industrial aesthetics. The idea is to combine heritage with music by creating a circuit in different spaces that can accommodate different offers. We’ve been at the festival in 2019 and definitely it was one of the best experiences for us.
Continue reading “Ombra Festival 2021 – Barcelona”
Absolute Body Control was formed by Dirk Ivens in 1980 influenced by the sound produced by the likes of Suicide, D.A.F. and the UK electronic scene. Eric Van Wonterghem joined the project next year just after the release of the debut 7″ “Is There An Exit?”. They released together just some cassettes during its brief initial run, but this was enough to gain a following in and outside Belgium. A compilation of tracks entitled “Eat This” was eventually done in 1993 and a first edition of the collection “Lost / Found” was issued on CD in 2005. Dirk and Eric took the project back on stage in 2006 and decided to re-activate it. They first re-recorded some of their classic songs for the album “WindReWind” and then continued releasing new material and touring all Europe and beyond. “Lost / Found” is the definitive collection of this minimal-synth-wave act and is now available for the first time on vinyl record with a total of 52 songs including 8 previously unreleased.
Absolute Body Control is back with new material after more than ten years. The legendary minimal-synth-wave duo formed in 1980 by Dirk Ivens (The Klinik, Dive, Sonar) and joined a bit later by Eric van Wonterghem (Insekt, Monolith) has been working together again and got finished a new EP. Six songs that fuse their classic sound with a theme that reflects the times of change that humanity is going through.
Influenced from bands such as Suicide, D.A.F and the early UK electronic scene, Absolute Body Control was formed in Belgium back in 1980, influencing and inventing genres ever since and achieving an underground cult following that strongly resists nowadays. After releasing a 7″, several tapes and contribute to many compilations worldwide, the band members went separate ways, with Dirk Ivens and Eric van Wonterghem finding success in other influential acts such as the Klinik, Dive, Block 57, S/HE, MOTOR!K, Sonar, Monolith and Insekt. After a very long break re-formed again and released “Lost & Found”, “Tapes 81-89” and “Wind[re]wind”, which contains newly recorded versions of their best tracks. Following these releases, they have returned in 2010 with the albums “Shattered Illusion” and “Mindless Intrusion”, a whole new set of classic tracks but featuring modern sound recording techniques. In 2016 “Forbidden Games” has been released, a selection of compilation tracks that points to the early roots of electronic pop and industrial. In 2020, 16 artists from around the globe pays this deserved tribute to one of the most influential minimal synth bands of all times.
Dresden don Dunkeltier (aka Sneaker aka Gino ‘Der Hammer’ Galan) is next up on the Macadam Mambo flex, dipping into his personal armoury of EBM, industrial and post punk favourites for a premium set of edits. If you dug his Rat Life edits this year or got blown away by a Traxx session then you will definitely levitate towards the sounds here as Dunkeltier tweaks Kozmonaut, Absolute Body Control and EM. Do check the mind altering Phase Adjustment of “Tanzmusik” from cult Belgian crew Absolute Body Control which is exactly the sort of fizzing power electronics that will provide a welcome deviation into absolute beat down territory for the more adventurous selectors.
The Hipodrome Of Music 