Reviews: electro

This is the second release by the mysterious musician De Frontanel. After a 7” as part of a trilogy on his own Grahn Geen-Yol records there is this 10” on the Treue um Treue label (home of Wermut). Grotesque is even more strange then the 7” by De Frontanel. Thematically it is about deformed and curious creatures of nature…

Temple Of Tears are Jason Are and Dan Loreck. When playing live they often are accompanied by Jenette Ferox. This Australian act (from the most isolated city in the world, Perth) has send their new single “Ardor” out into the world. A single with 5 remixes of the title-track, and not the original version…

This 12” is a soundtrack for a film by Jörg Buttgereit. He was a filmmaker in Berlin in the eighties who worked with the Super 8 format. A short film by him is featured on the Super Berlin 80 box. On this 12” there are three versions of the same song, entitled ‘Captiain Berlin’…

Lebenspornografie is a violent and dark realistic film by Dutch director Edwin Brienen. The film is about a group of people who try to set up an erotic show in a Berlin nightclub. When the show fails the group falls away in alcohol abuse and sex excesses. At one moment the virgin Maria manifests itself to the group and offers them to become happy…

Notstandskomitee was also featured on the compilation World of Disorder from Disorder Records. The track on that release was a good one but it was much too long to keep the attention of the listener and the dancer. The four tracks on this 7” are more friendly when it comes to duration. ‘Interstellare Liebe’ is built around a minimal and loud rhythmic structure…

Ich is an obscure 80’s minimal electronics act. There is already a brilliant 7” released with music from Ich by Kernkrach. Now Berlin based recordstore and label Das Drehmoment has released a full-length album. Next to a selection from tapes there are two remixes by contemporary musicians included. Memory Mixopens with a classic elektro track…

System from Sweden consist of Herr A. and Herr B. Their music is made without midi, as the liner notes state very specific. Music made without midi sounds most of the time very authentic 80’s and analogue. System has a more modern sound that is less typical analogue…

Lobotom Records is a label from Sweden that releases Swedish bands that like to play with electronics instruments. This single by Sara Lunden is a great electronic pop release. The “A-side”, This Is Not Desire, is a minimal analogue pop tune with a nice melancholy new wave feeling. It is both a good dance track as a very suitable piece to enjoy at home…

The Fixx is one of those new-wave bands that has had quite some succes in the US, but never really made it in Europe, even though they hail from London. Where “Saved by Zero” their 1983 single is probably still their greatest hit, they are still active and tour the US several times a year.
This however seems to be only the first tribute-cd for The Fixx…

Contrary to what one would expect Quelles Paroles is not a French, but a Swedish band. Their music is easiest described as synthpop, but of course there is more to it. What I received from QP is close to all the material they have. And the material did more than just surprise me, I can say. It is very varied, with some really good tracks…

An album that’s very frequently in my cd-player at the moment, this first full-length album of French artist Christopher Kah. He has also released an EP called “Planete Rouge on Terence Fixmer’s label Planete Rouge, while recently an EP with Dave Clarke came out, both remixing tracks by Fixmer / McCarthy. “A wonderful darkworld” contains a varied and powerful electronic mixture…

was pleasantly surprised by this new Kommando 6 release, especially with the C. Kent side of the record. The other Charly Kent release on Kommando 6 (Mein Zeichen EP) is one of the least interesting records on the label. ‘Licht’ is a track in the true Kommando 6 elektro style. It is dark, minimal and raw. Next to that is also very suitable for the dancefloor…

It has been awhile since Beta Evers released a record, let alone on her own label. She has always fused her dark elektro music with classic EBM and acid influences. This is still present on this new EP. So, expect some authentic EBM sounds and not the mediocre contemporary style that only carries the name. Opening track ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ features Beta Evers singing…

I read some rather negative reviews about this new Wumpscut album. Because of that I didn’t have high hopes for this record. After playing this cd for some time I must conclude this is not a bad release at all. Of course Evoke offers what you can expect from Wumpscut…

If you cannot get enough of obscure 80’s re-issues, and especially the nice packaged collector items, then here is another great piece for you. Fröhliche Eiszeit plays new wave and minimal wave with electronics, guitar and saxophone. There are some great crazy dance tunes with clear NDW influences on this lp…

Inside the sleeve is a little note from the label with excuses about the bad sound quality on the B-side. The old material could not be recovered any better. Well, in my opinion the A-side and the B-side don’t differ much in sound quality. Also, if you like your music produced very clean and clear you should not buy records from Was Soll Das Schallplaten anyway…

Minimal electronics has a few different faces. There is a rather poppy version of the genre but also a more experimental version with early industrial influences. This record by TASS 2 is for sure one that belongs to the experimental style. The sounds on this album are raw, noisy and dark…

Remix records seem to be the thing nowadays. A lot of labels release records with various reworks of one specific track. Sometime the result is surprising, sometimes not. In case of this remix cd centered around the Snog song ‘Real Estate Man’ the result is not that good.

The ten tracks are not very diverse and not interesting enough to make up for one true album…

Echo West never sounded as much gothic as on this new album. After a first minimal electronics lp and a second cd that featured some darkwave and angstpop influences their new cd has a very traditional dark gothic atmosphere. Luckily this is gothic in a tasteful way with classic electronic darkwave influences…

Minimal electronics are back in all colors and flavors. Asja Auf Capri performs a weird and arty form of the style. Imagine a sound using references to bands like Malaria!, DAF and Liaisons Dangereuses and you know what to expect…