Early pioneers of the German New Wave music scene, Din A Testbild were formed in 1978 by Mark Eins and Gudrun Gut. Din A Testbild played a significant role in defining the avant-garde music of Berlin. Legendary is their partecipation at the Festival Genialer Dilletanten” in 1981. ‘Programm 3’ is their third album. Mixed and auto-produced by Mark Eins with help of Ziggy Schöning, it was released on Klaus Schulze’s record label Innovative Communication in 1983.
“Consumer Manoeuvres” by Le Cliché is the latest release on Cold Beats Records. Le Cliché is the electronic music project of Gerard Ryan, professor of marketing at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. The music takes a critical view of the malaise of marketing and its effect on our postmodern consumer society. It deals with serious issues as diverse as consumer privacy, identity, fad diets, fast fashion and the hyper-reality of contemporary advertising. Yet it does so always with an optimistic sarcasm and playfulness. This new collection of songs on Cold Beats Records, entitled Consumer Manoeuvres, started out as a remix project but very quickly turned into an all-together different record, a series of collaboration, covers and reimagining’s of the original music. Cold Beats Records presents some of the most influential electronic artists from the underground, minimal synth and coldwave scene from the last 35 years in an all-together darker record Le Cliché’s other records. Collaborators include Mark Lane, Mick Milk, Kline Coma Xero and Spatial Relation (USA), ADN’ Ckrystall (France), Red Fetish, John Costello, This is the Bridge and Jonteknik (UK), KuBO (Ireland) Moss Garten (Sweden) JJ Ibañex of Kremlyn, and Wladyslaw Triejo (Spain) Delayscape (Denmark), Gay Cat Park and Effetto Joule (Italy).These artists have appeared on many of the most influential darkwave, coldwave, italo and minimal synth music on a host of leading labels including Minimal Wave, Mannequin, Medical Records, Peripheral Minimal, Anna Logue, Domestica, Obscure Identities 1980, Vinyl on Demand, La Forme Lente and Kernkrach.
“A Product of 30 Years of Violence” is the new release by Christian Donaghey, AKA Autumns. In the build-up to Autumns debut album, an EP of six songs delivering a diverse range of sonic explorations, concepts and limitations is to be released on Clan Destine Records to document the music made during the months of Summer and Autumn of 2016.
After heating up with Sign Bit Zero’s second release with Wosto and label boss Kilian Krings, Sign Bit Zero is now continuing with some edits by Murray CY, the label honcho of Contort Yourself. The next release contains strictly rough tape material of old and forgotten cassettes from the eighties with a wide range from weird obscurites to strongly distorted material.
Four iller 80ies industrial techno tracks: ‘Liberation’ and ‘Stalin’ from their 1985 cassette ‘Fanaticism & Hysteria’, this last one also presented in a “Seven Sisters of Putin” remix form, plus on the b-side the killer slow industrial-techno ‘Message’ from the cassette ‘Matrix Machinations’ (1996).
TWINS is Matt Weiner who is also known for his Featureless Ghost project and of course as the head of the DKA Records label. His project TWINS is not limited to one specific style but the dominant characteristic is the synth driven sound… other influences in the mix are various styles of dance music and a healthy dose of arty post-punk. This new mini album “Rather Not” is the perfect blending of all of this, due to this it is on the one hand a classic minimal elektro record but at the same time a rather modern piece of electronic music, catchy tunes and surprising twists go hand in hand and make up for an authentic and original record.
World of Rubber 3 is compiled to make you cry, love, stomp and vomit. Rebellious heavyhitter and lovely melodic excursion provided by Japanese Wave-duo Group A, acid smash and catchy synthpopper by Interstellar Funk, basement 808 TECH-NO-SHIT by DJ Overdose and Dutch ”Pop not Pop” by Leuk & Ko. Brought to you from Den Haag on a white immaculate platter with fresh inlay design.
FlexiWave returns with the follow up to the acclaimed 2012 cassette 290.625”. This new 60C cassette boasts 14 freshly vetted tracks of finest obscure electronica. From the shimmering, pearlesque sounds of Lisa & Kroffes’ “Rönnbär” to the dark and pensive Colouroids banger “Shove” and a new moniker from Silent Em & Portable Morla, Alta Dosis, 3375.1969” gathers a new clutch of artists set to earn FlexiWave another round of praise for their stellar compilations. Also on offer are Scottish/Icelandic duo Revigorators’ Joy Division-inspired Post-Punk/New-Wave excursion “Black Out City”, Black People’s one-of-a-kind textures and caterwauling rhythms on “White Man Is The Devil”, and nine other handpicked, finely crafted sonic gems.
Atlanta’s That Which Is Not Said or TWINS returns for his fourth release on Clan Destine. Channeling the spirit of Joy Division, Bauhaus, A Certain Ratio and other post punk legends kicking and screaming with DJ Pierre and Phuture into the NOW.
The acclaimed debut of one of the most surprising new projects of the very active french scene. The one man project of Mathis Kolkoz from Toulouse will delight any modern era synth wave post-punk connoisseur with rude analog synths, simple drums and effected guitars over Mathis mesmerizing voice. Drvg Cvltvre joined the party with a crazy old school acid version of “Alcoolemie”.
Die Form is a French post-industrial and electronic band formed in 1977-1978. The name ‘Die Form’ means ‘(the) form/shape’ in German and is a play on the English homonym ‘deformed’ and on the French homonym ‘difforme’ (deformed). Die Form is the primary project of electronic musician and multimedia artist Philippe Fichot. He began by recording a number of experimental cassette releases in the late 1970s and formed the Bain Total label to release these early cassettes, as well as various side projects such as Krylon Hertz, Camera Obscura, Eva-Johanna Reichstag, Hurt and Fine Automatic. In 1982 Die Form released their debut vinyl album, “Die Puppe” in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. “Zoo” is a compilation of 10 tracks recorded during the “Die Puppe” sessions from 1980-82. These were the first esoteric electronic experiments, often improvised. Underlying themes of eroticism, death, and other ‘taboo’ subjects become apparent in both the music and the album artwork, which Philippe also produced. The album was recorded with entirely analog equipment, including a Roland MC4 Micro-Composer, TR-808 Rhythm Composer, ARP 2600, and Kawai 60F recorded to a Revox B77 reel to reel tape machine. Songs range from hypnotic, minimalistic proto-IDM to daring experimental sound manipulation. 4 of these songs were featured as a bonus 7” to accompany the 1989 vinyl reissue of “Die Puppe” but remixed for the project. The remaining 6 songs were also remixed and released on CD in 2001.
Heavy EBM stompers by Celldöd, aka Anders Karlsson, has been releasing dirty electronic music since the late ’80s, both small-run cassette tapes inspired by the DIY ethos of his post-punk background, and pristine vinyl editions.
Forever a label willing to revisit previous tape-only wares if the demand is there, Sam Willis and Ale Natalizia’s Ecstatic turn their gaze to one of the latter’s earliest Not Waving documents. Originally issued on highly limited, gold cassette way back in 2012, Redacted was produced during Walls downtime by Natalizia and expanded on the “classified” themes of his Remote Viewing-inspired debut LP Umwelt. Fans of the most recent Diagonal-released Not Waving LP, Animals, should be thrilled to see how far Natalizia’s project has developed in just four years with the prevailing mood on Redacted a sort of murky and brutish EBM that is wholly satisfying.
Sign Bit Zero strides onwards with a set of punishing dancefloor interpretations of forgotten industrial gems handpicked by Hamburg’s Wosto and label head honcho, Kilian Krings. While Wosto’s previous output as half of Fallbeil is as much informed by Chicago house as EBM, his contributions to SBZ002 focus on the C90 experimentation which roughens the edges of the duo’s past efforts for Contort Yourself and New York Haunted. Kilian Krings explores his passion for Neue Deutsche Welle and its various offshoots in his edits here, setting a bold statement for the future of both his own and Sign Bit Zero’s no-compromise approach. SBZ002 sheds light on crucial yet often overlooked aspects of 1980s industrial experimentation. Wosto and Kilian Krings morph their discoveries into club-ready headspinners, assured to prove a highlight of any adventurous DJ set.
Executive Slacks began in the hot, humid summer of 1980 Philadelphia by Matt Marello, John Young and Albert Ganss, three bored, broke, anxious art students. Starting out with performance art in subways, they soon took their angst-ridden act to galleries and night clubs. The band found their moniker in a run-down bookstore after seeing an ad for men’s polyester pants. They pieced together sounds that captured the growing paranoia of an age predicted by Orwell and the growing inequalities of the 1980s. They excavated two cassettes that contained their earliest recorded material from 1980 and 1981. “Seams Ruff” is a 13 song compilation from these cassette collections plus a bonus flexi disc featuring a live performance on WXPN from 1980. The tracks were created with the use of heavily modified synthesizers and noisemakers, the broken innards of a grand piano, metal oil drums and a spray painted Harmony Rocket guitar. The Slacks drew their influences from contemporaries like Cabaret Voltaire and Tuxedomoon, as well as Disco and Dadaism. Dripping in nihilism, the song’s lyrics tackle the existential dread of the late 20th century and three of the songs are taken from “Mann ist Mann” a 1926 play by the German modernist author Bertolt Brecht. Executive Slacks’ unique brew of primitive electronics, harsh guitars and aggressive vocals inspired many bands like Ministry, Front 242 and Skinny Puppy.
Pater Noster introduce the debut LP from Swedish synth wizard Christian Åkerström. Produced under the alias Folkvett, ‘Tröskelvärk’ is a collection of ten infectious, hypnotic and cinematic frost-covered Nordic synth jams. Analogue and uncompromising melodic minimal synth, this is music for the ice-cold punks.
The Hipodrome Of Music 