Sometimes the unspectacular looking releases have got the richest musically content to offer. Ashbed is the Electronic music project of David Tatlock, who hails out of New Waterford, NS, Canada. In his earlier years he has been often supported by Nightwaves zine-editor and Synthpop supporter (... and Chain D.L.K. author...) Gary Flanagan through some compilation appearances. Also some of Flanagan's reviews on his early demo recordings have been throughout positive, although Ashbed's music is for the most part far away of Gary's preferences. 'If We Should Part' is filled with haunting and dense athmospheres, the music combines darkest Electro with Noise, Dubstep and Ambient. Skinny Puppy gets often mentioned, but also Controlled Bleeding, Gridlock, Scorn plus I would add the ominous textures of projects like Little Sap Dungeon as being quells of inspiration for Mr. Tatlock. Mostly his tracks are drowning into Downtempo-like sick and noisy sound-walls. 'So It Goes' is such an example, which adds a monotonous Dubstep-rhythm to lead the track. 'In Between Dreams' stands for a clearer, more Puppy-an Dark Electro-inspired tune. Also thanks to the inclusion of vocals this one is a nice addition to fans of this beloved genre. 'Third Coming' then brings back the abstract, Experimental-infiltrated side of David, and this style still leads most tracks of this album. Also 'The Hidden' or the title-track are dwelling pretty much in obtrusive synthesizer sound-drops, plus the drastic rhythm section brings both near to a Gridlock-like experience. While I would recommend here and there adding a bit more clearance in his song structures, maybe too with a consideration to present more vocals like on 'In Between Dreams', I am generally quite impressed by the efforts of Mr. Tatlock. Regarding the above mentioned artists for possible comparisons it should be quite clear, that this album won't satisfy meaningless dancefloor attributes. Ashbed could need a bit more exposure by press and listeners for a better out-coming, while the talent is without doubts presented on here.

I already had the chance to listen to the second Velvet Condom's second album titled "Stadtgeil" as it has been already release by their personal label Cymbeline the last year on vinyl and digital format (which I bought). To tell the truth I didn't know them and Valentina Faith Guida, a dj from my city Torino, pointed them out to me when their "Menace" video was running on the screen of the place where we were drinking. I wrote down that name, because their mix of electro and cold wave intrigued me. The day after I checked their album and I realized that there was more to find out as the opening song "Funeral For My Love" is already different from the song I already knew as it's a bit more shoegaze sounding with cool dreamy atmospheres sustained by bouncing bass lines, noisy guitars and hard drum machine beats. Already by listening these two tracks, you can realize that the French/German duo is aware of how taking care of production: they are alternating bass guitar to deep synth bass lines while guitar riffs cross tiny melodic parts that will stick into your head. The album is balanced from electro wave hit singles like the aforementioned "Menace", the following "Rouge City", the dancey cold wave influenced "Samt Und Stein" or synth based sensual "Ice Disco" and noisy guitar shoegaze influenced tunes where Jesus And Mary Chain meets early My Bloody Valentine like on "Funeral For My Love" , "Separ-Hate", "Faint-Hearted", "A New Fall" (this one recalls me a by "Just Like Honey") and "Scars Shine". This new edition released by Cymbeline and distributed by Pale Music has as bonus track "Little Death", a song that has a bass line which recalls me Suicide, the guitar is building a reverberated distant wall of noise which on some parts sound almost rockabilly while the vocals are cold and and quite tense. For me this album is a must have. Check it!

Audiophob is one of those labels that have been consistently putting out interesting work, and this is no exception. I had not previously heard of 2kilos &More, which is a French duo from Paris created in 2003 and consisting of Séverine Krouch and Hugues Villette of Von Magnet. I listened to this several times to figure out how to review it and it occurred to me that it reminds me somewhat of Recoil's work (specifically Liquid) or the Golden Palominos. For me the standout tracks on the disc are the two featuring Black Sifichi, a spoken word artist out of New York. The first, 'User OK Feelings Rejected,' is an engaging story of racial prejudice on tour in the Southern states as a black man with a white wife and white bandmates. I'll note that this is not something that you would want to listen to at work. The second, 'I Decided to Lie,' is a bit of weirdness about a romantic interlude with a woman he seems to have just picked up. The tone of the vocals have a kind of malevolence that make it that much more interesting. Overall, this is pretty good IDM/electronica, but 2kilos & More are at their best as storytellers. The music blends incredibly well with the story to the point where it seems natural for the vocals and music to be together, which is quite a feat where often either the spoken word or the music seem forced into the mix. Dark and enjoyable and well worth checking out. This album weighs in at around 59 minutes.

OK. It's time for a walk down memory lane, because this reminds me of some old school stuff. Start with a bit of 'Belief' era Nitzer Ebb with The Orb and a bit of Orbital thrown in for good measure. In some places it reminds me of Ipecac Loop. But towards the end it is somewhat reminiscent of the kinds of stuff Instinct Records was putting out in the late 80s to early 90s - think Cabaret Voltaire's 'The Message.' If you remember all of those, you're probably as old as I am. There are no vocals to speak of, but there are the obligatory random samples which sometimes seem to detract from the music (although the old 'I've fallen and I can't get up' made me laugh mainly because I remember the commercials from back in the day). Overall, it isn't too bad, but then again it isn't too exciting either. I could definitely see this making it into a DJ set and working well in the club. After a while it grows on you though. For me Raverobber (D Gross Remix) was one of the high points on the disc. Frenzyhole was a bit too much of a mashup with a bunch of familiar riffs put together a la Negativland, but not quite as clever. Overall, this was decent, especially in the nostalgia department. This album weighs in at around 55 minutes.

James Brown once called himself the 'hardest working man in show business.' Well, he's dead now and I think that C-drik Fermont is trying to take his place. At one point his output was almost superhuman and he had his hand in a multitude of projects. I remember making his acquaintance a decade ago when he did a track for a compilation I had put together. He's been quiet for a while, but he's back and as good as ever. Axiome is a collaboration between Fermont and Olivier Moreau of Imminent, and it's released on Ant-Zen. If you don't know what to make of that, welcome to those stumbling onto Chain DLK for the first time ' come on in and make yourselves at home. For the rest of us, this is exactly what we came to hear. Evidently they chose coldness and ice as a central theme for the album. The press release describes the album thus: 'Splicing genres like idm, acid, rhythm&noise, dark, brooding electro infusions and techstep to an insane hybrid, these 'hymns' mark a perfect syncrisis of simplicity and complexity. Accelerated technoid rhythms are perfectly interfused with powerful percussion laced with hard, deftly sequenced melodic structures and combined with a retreat to insistent, repetitive analogue bubblebath-esque electronic textures. A mélange of force and beauty that is rarely matched by anyone else.' Overall this is a good mix of beats and stripped down atmosphere. At some points it is a bit too stripped down; 'Gèle Ou Crève!' for example, moved a bit too slow for my tastes. But others make the most of simplicity and 'La Solitude Du Grêlon Face à La Chute' is almost peaceful with its hypnotic rhythm. 'Lawine' closes off the disc and is a thing of beauty. No vocals or cheesy samples mar the compositions. This isn't exactly destined for the dance floor, but it still makes you move. This album weighs in at around 51 minutes.