Texas-based aviation electronics graduate, scuba instructor, airline pilot and, of course, musician Timothy Tyran and his project Bunker Soldier (really a trio) displays a great and rare to find a maturity in songwriting and production. Believe it or not he has been around making music and performing live for 10 years but has released only 2 records so far. To celebrate the decade, his third release, this 3 tracks CD single entitled "Triple Threat", came out. Sporting great music, dynamism and energy, Bunker Soldier goes from an aggressive and holy sounding heavily middle eastern influenced track, to what could be the next electronica anthem in every club across the world, only to wrap it up with a dancefloor-friendly electro tune."Warlocked" couldn't come at a better time and sounds like an Arab/American/German mixture of industrial/metal/rai influenced by Die Krupps, Front Line Assembly, Muslimgauze and Null Device."Flying" features 21 year old Norwwegian jazz singer Hildegunn Surdall and layers pads, heavenly voices and strong electronic textures in a way that reminds of Conjure One/Delerium."Fiirewall" is another instrumental track with some guitar activity, but mostly sticks around Gary Numan influenced electronic-dance territories.I am not familiar with his previous records unfortunately, and unless you consider heterogeneousness a minus, this is truly a great release and a fantastic celebration. I am looking forward to hear more (hopefully this CD-S will lead us to a full lenght album before another three years go by).

Ex-Rain Fell Within singer, Dawn Desiree is now pursuing her solo career as a pianist and soprano. She dives into ethereal compositions surrounded by arrangements of strings, breath instruments, percussions and synthetic electronics, and sustains the atmospheres with textures of piano and multiple layers of vocal overdubs. After her well received 2001 CDR demo and her track on the Zillo compilation (the legendary dark/wave/goth/electro publication from Germany) as well as several past and ongoing collaborations, Miss Dawn is looking to carve out her own dimension in the not so little niche of this genre. Surely fans of dark-wave and ethereal music will have plenty of appreciation for this work of hers, which was released in a nicely packaged digipack by The Soil Bleeds Black's label The Fossil Dungeon. Top notch production, design and presentation.

Possibly the most important medieval music outlet in the United States, and if not that, definitely one of the most representative of the genre, The Soil Bleeds Black (composed by the Riddick brothers, Mark and Michael, musicians/graphic designers/label managers, and by singer Eugenia Wallace) are back out on the road to middle age folk perdition and the paganism of the six senses with their sixth official release. Originally released as a limited edition vinyl with slightly different tracklist and graphics, this "Mirror of the Middle Ages" comes out as an eco-packaged CD, an entire year after the 12", which isn't the most fair course of action in my opinion... Musically it shows a band striving to achieve a greater authenticism. This choice is quite obviously revealed in the selection of more traditional tunes and the type of instruments (a departure from electronic gear and an embracing of acoustic percussions, flutes and other breath instruments, stringed instruments etc). In the past years I can only remember one band that was equally intense and realistic (the italian medieval art collective La Camerata Mediolanense) so if you are a lover of this genre you shouldn't miss out, unless of course you already have the 12".

That's right, you heard the news! Laibach is finally back! 7 years after their release of "Jesus Christ Superstars", one of the most original, unique, ground-breaking, controversial and thought-provoking collectives that walked planet earth, set another milestone in the history of fine politico-cultural industrial warfare. Like most geniuses in human history they have first been crucified, prosecuted, banned, censored and boycotted by their government, only to later be honored and acclaimed by the same suit-dressed pigs. For the younger of you who might not remember or know them, Laibach (which is german for Ljubljana, their home-town) formed in Slovenia in 1980 and, besides released amazing and extraordinary records and touring the world many times over, they co-founded NSK (Neue Slovenische Kunst) a guerrilla art collective which now exists as its own virtual (or electronic) state, with embassies and consulates all around the world and a number of passport-holding NSK citizens exceeding that of Monaco or the Vatican. Art for politics and politics for art has always been the approach of Laibach, who have always provoked their audiences with visual, verbal and sonic statements against capitalism and religion. They dress up in combat boots and military uniforms, stripped of their original pins and stars, decorated with symbols of nazism, fascism and stalinism (which is what got them banned in their country). Their musical style has always been characterized by grand, massive, majestic, pompous and martial sound that is powerful and dramatic, as well as deeply emotional and violent. Big fat choruses contrast with marching military peace and humongeous industrial rhythmical patterns grind, crush, hammer and pound their way through textures of electronics, symphonic orchestras of brasses and strings, male and female choirs and so much more that you have to buy this record to really get the entire picture! Their singer Milan Fras' brutally gore ogre voice and its characteristic Eastern European accent, recites anthems against war, capitalism and the instable balance of powers in the world. From "Tanz mit Laibach" (Dance with Laibach), a smart and ironic celebration of the friendship between Americans and Germans (also featured as a video clip on the ROM of this hybrid CD), to the tales of Barbarian (or Bush-arian?) invasions of "Now You Will Pay", to the powerful german and english words of "Ende" and other great songs with astonishing lyrics ("Anti-Semitism", "Satanic Versus", "Du Bist Unser"). Libach pretty much cover all grounds and offer you a perfect description of what is happening and where we are going in our world, whose recent events have certainly influenced the entire production of this album, if not the actual decision to come out with a new work. "WAT" comes in a regular jewel case CD packed inside a cardboard sleeve. It has no lyrics (which is too bad, considering that the lyrics are absolutely terrific and amazing!). Given the times and the time that elapsed, I think it is normal to expect a heavier use of electronics, and Laibach certainly know how to incorporate electronics with industrial music, we know that for sure. Their signature sound is still alive and kicking and this is not your average band's weak come back to the scene, but rather a long-awaited powerful return of the anti-gods and pioneers of revolutionary industrial art, the way industrial was originally conceived, as a political statement and a merciless musical genre. That's what I am talking about. Express the inexpressible.

After the critically acclaimed "Wild Dub (Dread meets Punk Rocker)", Select Cuts is back with a new proposal for what obviously was conceived as or later became, a series. The follow up "Modern Wild Dub (Dread meets disco punkrocker downtown)" collects a bunch of underground avantgarde-disco-dubbers from fine outlets such as Warp, On-U Sound, DFA, !K7 including Colder, Playgroup, Big Two Hundred, !!!, Chicks on Speed, LCD Soundsystem, Twitch, Radio 4, Outhud, The Ruts, Chicken Lips, G.Rizo, whose styles range from funky disco to dub and trip hop... Altough it is a decent record and a valuable collection that takes a snapshot of a specific music scene often overlooked, I am afraid I must admit that I don't think this is up for the challenge when compared to its predecessor and perhaps has a lesser historical value, and I don't really see anything punk or punkrock in this... Linernotes by Mark Stewart of Popgroup.