| CD REVIEW Alfa Matrix special, Spring 2010 : Leaether Strip - Nitzer Ebb - Psy'Aviah - Schwarzblut - Unter Null |
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Alfa Matrix special, Spring 2010 : New episode of this series oriented towards the more open-minded Concrete Web reader (“normally” of the guitar-oriented type), or the occasional Dance, EBM (Electro Body Music), or Electro-Industrial music lover. This special featuring not only the sophomore full-length of US based Unter Null, the debut full-length of German act Schwarzblut, a new full-length by Belgium’s Psy’Aviah, but also a new (double) album in Leaether Strip’s re-issues series Retention and, even more importantly, the comeback album of UK’s cult band Nitzer Ebb! Although that is chronologically the first album to have been released (on February 12, with the Schwartzblut album’s release dated on March 26), I have opted to follow the alphabetical order. -------------------------------------------- In logical chronological order, the 2-CD Retention series goes back to the first albums Claus Larsen (akà Leaether Strip) released, back in the early ‘90s, on the highly appreciated Zoth Ommog label. Larsen not only gives the original material a modern re-mastering & fills up a first disc with additional tracks off 12-inches from those days, but fills a second disc with (often expanded) re-interpretations of the original album’s songs, adding new songs to complete the picture. N°1 (released in Nov. 2007, we kinda missed that one for review)was about Leaether Strip’s 1990 debut full-length The Pleasure Of Penetration (disc 1 with bonus tracks taken from early 12-inch releases), N° 2 (released one year later) about the sophomore Science For The Satanic (disc 1 including the Object V EP as a bonus). The Retention N°3 celebrates Claus’ most important album of his early years, in that Solitary Confinement contained the tracks “Strap Me Down”, “Adenalin Rush”, and “Evil Speaks”, which would become the artist’s first club hits, and put the Dane at the top of the then current EBM scene. The album is also thé reference point for Claus’ trademark combination of harsh electronics with distorted vocals. Added as a bonus to disc one, you’ll find all 5 tracks of the Material EP…making for a 16-track, near 76-minute disc! Definitely a chance of a lifetime for recent Leaether Strip or EBM/ Elektro Industrial fans to complete their collection of hard-to-get stuff by this very fine artist! The added second disc makes things even more interesting, with Claus re-interpreting 10 tracks off the original album. Now please don’t expect me to give you a comparative study of the differences between the old and new versions…because as far as I’m concerned, as soon as I’m some 20 seconds in either of the 2 discs, I switch off and allow the music to take me over…body, mind, and soul! For the interested, bonus tracks on disc 2 come in the form of a “TeaknoPop” version of Claus’ hit song “Strap Me Down” (a Project Pitchfork remix of this track could already be found on Yes I’m Limited V, and on Aengelmaker Claus went back to it in the track “Strap Me Down Again”), and two completely new songs opening and closing the disc (only 13 tracks this time, but still just over 75 minutes’ worth of listening pleasure). Now let there be no doubt in your minds about the following : although I’m not rating this release…because it IS a re-issue…you can be sure to find it in my year-lists! EBM and Elektro Industrial music are often seen as died-out genres, but there’s more and more young people getting into it. Personally, I lóve this guy’s music, and so do apparently a lot of other people, as proven by the fact that in 2009 the Dance Alternative Charts top 50 included twó Leather Strip albums! -------------------------------------------- Alongside Frontline Assembly, this British EBM band is seen as the most influencial act in the EBM and Elektro industrial genre. NE was formed as far back as 1982, when producer/ musician Bon Harris and drummer David Gooday invited their friend Douglas McCarthy to sing in their band. With inspiration taken from Deutch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Einstürzende Neubauten, Bauhaus, Cabaret Voltaire and Killing Joke, the trio went for a minimalistic approach (occasionally, the music was no more than a beat with drums on top, to which McCarthy screamed/ sang his lyrics). The harsh combination was previously unheard of in the Dance scene of the ‘80s, and swiftly set the band apart as the most aggressive. Following the release of a now rare 8-track demo tape, the band set to releasing its first 4 singles through their own Power Of Voice Communications label, and was then picked up by specialist label Mute Records, who released Ebb’s debut album That Total Age in May 1988. With “” and “”, the album contained singles which found the band connecting in the European Club scene as well as then beginning Beat movement of the Balearic islands. The band was then asked to open for labelmates Depeche Mode on the European leg of their Music For The Masses tour, which substancially increased the band’s visibility and position in the scene. The band’s sophomore album, 1989’s Belief, included the song “Control, I’m Here” which not only grew to be a classic club hit, but also became one of the band’s staple songs. The album itself was less minimalistic than the debut, the added orchestrations gaining in importance with each following album. It was also the first of the band’s albums to be produced by Flood (whom also did several re-mixes). By then Gooday had said good-bye and it’s with a new drummer that NE continues. 1990 album Showtime saw NE move away from the typical beat-EBM, to incorporate influences from Jazz, Rock and Blues..without ever loosing their identity! Depeche Mode again invited the band to support ‘em on a tour, namely the World Violation Tour in the US. During that period DM would engage in some gratuitous promotion, by wearing NE t-shirts (including in their video clip for the song “Enjoy the Silence”). The exposure to larger crowds and the stimulation of the whole Rock business inspired NE to add a Rock-oriented sound to its razor-sharp electronics, as shown first on the As Is EP, which served as precursor to 1991 album Ebbhead. NE showed to be diverse in their composition, on the one hand writing the completely orchestral first single “I Give To You”, and then combining guitar riffs with exiting electronics on the follow-up singels “Godhead” and “Ascend”. A world tour followed, bringing NE throughout North America, Europe and Russia from Autumn 1991 to Summer 1992. Then things began to falter, as the band took near to three years to record their very expensive (drummers were dismissed, producers exchanged, etc…) temporary epitaph album Big Hit (eventually released in 1995). During that period a rift came between McCarthy and Harris, about the direction the band was to go musically. For the ensuing tour, the duo enlisted drummer Jason Payne and guitarist/ percussionist John Napier. But the band had taken too long, and a combination of weaker songs with a changed musical climate resulted in disappointing sales figures. Towards the end of the tour, gigs were cancelled, and Nitzer Ebb silently dissolved, without ever really “splitting”. Both McCarthy and Harris would continue to be active in the music business. Harris started the Maven project in 2001 (released a 3-song digital EP in 2006, and followed that up with another 3 songs on their MySpace shortly after; current status of the project is unknown) and he’s also worked with Marilyn Manson, Smashing Punpkins and Billy Corgan, Bush, and Depeche Mode. The singer did some guest contributions to other artists’ albums, among which the Recoil project (having already collaborated to 1992’s Bloodline he guested again on 1997’s Unsound Methods album) of former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder (who’d been one of the co-producers on the As Is EP and Ebbhead album). That same year he also appeared with Empirion at the Tribal Gathering event, before starting a career in video production.In 2004 he would start a collaboration with French producer Terence Fixmer (one of many to re-mix songs from the band in a series of 12-inch singles issued by the NovaMute label), and under the name Fixmer/ McCarthy the duo released the Between The Devil… album that same year. Since then, he’s contributed vocals to Motor, Kloq, Warren Suicide, Client and Die Krupps (on a second reworking of the band’s classic hit “Wahre Arbeit Wahrer Lohn”). But first back to Fixmer/ McCarthy, who to to the road for a worldwide promotion of their album. Included in the set-list were re-worked versions of NE songs, and the response from the audience initiated a growing desire in McCarthy to start up NE again. He eventually made contact with Harris (by then residing in the US) and in 2006 NE could be found touring with drummer Kourtney Klein, with a set-list that focussed on the more electronic side of their career. This eventually instigated Mute Records to release the 2-CD compilation Body Of Work 1984-1997 (a bonus disc containing re-mixes by the likes of Motor, Black Strobe, Robag Wruhme, Derrick May, and the Hacker), in June of the same year. With the successful world tour behind their backs, McCarthy and Harris started writing new material (in the vein of their earlier and more electronic material) in early 2007, that same year sacking their drummer to replace him by “veteran” Jason Payne. A first new track titled “Once You Say”, with DepecheMode songwriter Martin Gore on backing vocals was aired during Dave Clarke’s White Noise show on Dutch radio VPRO’s 3 Voor 12 in June 2007. The band premiered the song (alongside other newbe “Payroll”) on the live circuit during the handful of festival appearances they did in 2007. In working towards the release of the album, “Payroll” (in a mix by John O)was added to the soundtrack of the 2007 movie Saw IV. The band furthered its visibility by adding the old track “Let Your Body Learn” to the soundtrack of the Grand Theft Auto IV game in 2008, and in 2009 new tracks “Promises” and “Never Thought” could be heard respectively in an episode of tv-series NCIS and in the soundtrack of the movie Saw VI. By all means, a good way to introduce yourself to a larger public, outside of the live circuit (where people come to listen to you on purpose, usually). In Eastern Europe, the album was already released on January 22, but our Belgian Edition (meant to service the market in the Benelux, France and Italy) has the definite advantage of including no less than 5 bonus tracks. With Martin Gore singing on “Once You Say”, that track was almost destined for remixing, and that’s exactly what Komor Kommando, Leaether Strip, Essence Of Mind, Implant, and Poupée Fabrikk delivered. Quite frankly, I feel that many remixes of a same song belong together on a separate EP. As things are now, one gets tired of the song, in àll its versions, after having listened to the album 3 times. Luckily there’s the other 11 tracks (including a “bonus” track titled “Travelling”…not sure where thàt idead comes from) too! I have to say I miss some of the band’s earlier vocal aggression (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” being the proverbial exception to the rule…pity the songs is a bit repetitive), but that’s just me clutching at straws to say something negative for a while. Seen loose from the preceeding albums, Industrial Complex certainly is an album which will find a connection with current-day EBM and Dance music lovers. Want audio? Visit myspace.com/nitzerebbmusic to find the whole (regular) album, and more! 90/100 -------------------------------------------- This Belgian act was formed in 2003 (currently includes Emélie Nicolaï, Yves Schelpe, and Kristof de Clerck in iots line-up) and won the Demopoll of National radio station Studio Brussel that same year. For some obscure reason, the band’s not able to capitalize on that small success, even if a track of theirs doés get featured on the Anyone Seen My Rubber Duckie? Compilation released by Je M’en Fish…also in 2003.The band returns in 2007 with their self-released debut album Creationism, and suddenly they get attention from all sides. They become finalists of BBC’s Next Big Thing contest, have a song out on a compilation album released by Brussels’ Art School Sint-Lukas, and come under the attention of Brussels based Alfa Matrix, who have 2 different songs included in that year’s compilation albums Fxxk The Mainstream Vol.1 and Eindzeit Bunkertracks: Act III…and a re-mix job for Helalin Flowers’ song “Voices” (included on the A Voluntary Coincidence album). After the release of official debut album Entertainment Industries in August 2008, the band’s live profile was increased, as they performed at such festivals as BIMFest, Waregem Expo Gothic Festival (2009) and venues like Brussels’ VK (support for Subsonica) and Antwerp’s Hof ter Lo (support for Emilie Autumn). New re-mix jobs followed with Diskonnekted’s “When I Come” (on Old School Policies) and Diffusion’s “No Fear” (on Body Code; both in 2008 and Alfa Matrix related). Regrettably, back in those days record labels were not yet into the iPool promo download system as they are today, and our editor-in-chief still checked each download job for relevancy on his, normally guitar-oriented, website…meaning I never even got to hear Psy’Aviah’s official debut. Psy’Aviah made news during 2009 when their video clip for the song “Moments” (with Suzie Q Smith) was banned from YouTube for being too erotic, causing YouTube to loose face on a worldwide scale. According to the bio we got with our download promo copy of the album, “…electronic music trio Psy’Aviah have always adopted a more open-minded approach to music, by not being pulled by the curreent trends or other obvious scene expectations…by constructing their musical pallet from their own experiences, exploring multiple subcultures, meeting different people and artists, and incorporationg all these numerous impressions and visual influences into their own work…a refreshing and successful recipe for this breakthrough new 3rd album so perfectly and aptly titled Eclectric…it’s no surprise that Psy’Aviah hits a diversified audience with their music, reaching fans of electronic music but also of more alternative Pop Rock tunes ans even Industrial Wave…”. Well, those are words I can fully agree with after the several listening sessions I gave the album. If there’s one thing this album excells in, it’s in having a diversity of musical influences. Also notable are the guest vocal performances by Jean-Luc De Meyer (of Front 242 fame, on “Ophélie”…and yes, there’s French lyrics in that song!) and Jennifer Parkin (of Ayria, on the song “Into The Game”). Although Emélie is the main singer, there’s a bunch of tracks (including…obviously, “Ophélie”…but also “!AllAboutYou”, “Anger Management”, “Attract/Reject”, “Paranoid”, and “Fear (Practice)”) where her role is taken over, does a duet, or is pushed in a backing role for one of her male collegues. The annoying thing about this album…or at least the download, is that towards the latter part of the album the songs are given relatively long passages of silence (I’m still not certain the volume of the music wasn’t simply suddenly turned off during those passages). Album closing comes with the instrumental “Rivotril Nights”. I’m told Rivotril is a psychiatriatric medicine, and if the track’s mood is indicative for the patient’s state when “under the unfluence”, they must be pretty meek at that point! Audio off this album and beyond) can be found at myspace.com/psyaviah! The album also comes in a limited edition 2-CD box, including the bonus disc Eclectricism, on which the band is said too explore even more extreme sides of themselves, taking things down to an Enya softness at one moment, and going totally harsh dark elektro at others. Disc 2 not only features a host of re-mix versions of the album’s tracks (favoured tracks being “Anger Management”, “Sweet Hard Revenge”, and “No Excuse”, in that order) fabricated by IC 434, Acylum, Encoder, Sebastian Komor, EX.ES, Dead Errant Soul, Essence Of Mind, Studio-X and Implant…but also 4 completely new songs, on 2 of which inviting Kristell Logawie and Sowphie to bring guest vocals. Must be a heluva feast to enjoy (we didn’t get to download the extra disc, so I can only make the educated guess). 89/100 -------------------------------------------- I’m not sure when exactly this Deventer based Dutch band came into existence, but their connection date to MySpace suggests the band has been around at least since December 2007. With a love for soft but danceable dark and electronic music and the romantic poetry of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Ludwig Tieck, the band (in essence the core of lead/ backing singer Angèlika, musician/ spoken word/ male vocalist Zeon, musician and video handler Sturm, the trio is enhanced during live appearances to a quintet by adding Verstörungssyndikat on the bass and Herr V. on the drums) set to writing their eerie songs, bringing their lyrics in the German language with the occasional addition of Latin. No idea whether they had demoes or such things, but somehow a deal was signed with Belgian specialist label Alfa Matrix, the first result of which was a contribution of the band to the Endzeit Bunkertracks Vol. IV, released in February 2009. Late March 2009 then, saw the release of the band’s official debut in the form of a 5-track EP. Already there, the pounding electro rhythms (EBM with Industrial fringes) with orchestral arrangements and harmonic choir vocals. Das Mausoleum is simply a continuation of the EP, and having heard the full-length, I’m somewhat sad about our editor-in-chief not paying attention when the EP was offered by the label for promotional download! Because Schwarzblut makes truly beautiful, nay Beautiful, music which, although recommended by the label to fans of Goetes Erbenn, Das Ich, Blutengel, and Plastic Noise Experiment, definitely carries the ElektroGoth traces of Qntal in those songs where the vocal role is focussed on Angèlika. Freaky, even in the mostly male sung “Verzweiflung” her contribution gives that pounding track such a flavouring! If you don’t believe me, just check it ut for yourself by visiting myspace.com/schwarzblut1, where you’ll find the complete EP posted alongside 4 tracks offf the full-length, and where the band presents itself as sounding like VNV Nation, Helium Volta, Skinny Puppy, Feindflug, Frontline Assembly, Front 242, Qntal, Peter Gabriel, … sometimes it’s better to ask the band! Trivia : Schwarzblut made additional contributions to the following compilation albums: 1) Re-Covered (2CD tribute album to Depeche Mode, with the track “Leave In Silence”), Sounds From The Matrix volumes 8, 9, & 10 (Alfa Matrix label samplers), a free CD that came with Orkus Magazine issue #49 (May 2009), the Endzeit Bunkertracks V compilation, the covermount compilation CDs that came with the Zillo Magazine of March 2010 and April 2010’s Sonic Seducer magazine. The limited edition holds a bonus disc titled Die Krypta, featuring 9 remixes of 8 of the album’s 10 songs, the job done by Misery, Psy’Aviah, NG-PRO, Contrast, Deadcell, Freakangel, Carsten Altena, and Makaak. 98/100 -------------------------------------------- In spite of its German name, this band is the creation of one Erica Dunham (whom started the project in 1998), American citizen hailing from Portland, Oregon. She eventually succeeded in bringing out her debut album The Failure Epiphany on our own Alfa Matrix in October 2005, preceeding it with the Sick Fuck EP in June. New tracks, alongside re-mix jobs of already existing UN songs, appeared on the ensuing Absolution (September 2006) and Sacrament (October 2006) EPs, but the actual wai has been for a new full-length, which now lays before us! Stylistically, UN is a weird one. Dunham has had years of classical training as a pianist, then also took on cello and guitar before tackling electronic music! And in most of the tracks the classical training comes through in the somewhat Ambient, soundtrackish underlayers. Not that Erica is always such a nice girl, because she can get pretty harsh (check the new album’s track “Visceral” for good measure – there’s a good reason why the song has thàt title…just try to get a-hold of the underlaying synth’s melody with the on-top crash cymbal beats goin on!). Vocally, she works different ways, although a somewhat Blackened whisper-like style is the most prevalent. Nevertheless, there’s moments when she sings with a normal voice…as there’s moments when she does her vocals through a vocoder. In essence, Dunham mixes soft feelings with aggressive ones, the nice with the ugly (while occasionally goin’ all mean). In most of the songs, you’ll find her backing herself up vocally, and for the most part those among us into a little complexity will have something to warm their ears on! On top of the original 11 songs (closing track a great cover of Nick Cave’s hit song “The Mercy Seat”) there’s an additional new song titled “Obligatory Club HitTo Appease The Masses ” plus re-mixes of the tracks “I Can’t Be The One” (by De_tot_cor and EX.ES) and “Godless” (by Studio-X), closing the Belgian version of the album off at 76 minutes. For even more fun, you might wanna look out for one (or both) of the special editions of the album. Because the Deluxe Box edition adds a disc with nine more original tracks and 4 re-mixes, while the Super Fanbox edition’s second disc brings 12 more re-mixes (and a t-shirt) to the plate! Live, Erica brings her music backed by a complete band, and late last year she’s had the immense pleasure to be able to support Nitzer Ebb when they played Portland. Starting early July, she takes her band outside the Portland, taking Cyanotic along as support (plus another yet to be confirmed act, hopefully in the same musical vein) on their North-American tour. Find out whether a UN gig is something for you by checking out the music at either Last.fm, MySpace, or the Alfa Matrix website. Me, I like, I like-a-lot, a very muchalot! 98/100 Tony. |
