This has been a fantastic year for Empire State Human. They released different albums (see our interview, you lazy ones...), did some gigs in the States for the first time and most important of all, they are getting more and more attention and I assure you that they deserve everything they achieved because they are talented and kind. It has been also a pleasure to see a Mexican label (Hi, Oscar...) doing everything possible to release good stuff with this CD and with Nexus 8 which also remixed for this CD "Night Flight". MUSIC FOR HUMANS as the previous release, "Pop Robot", contains high enjoyable synthpop, with six brand new songs (along with those you can find a new version of "Night Flight", a remix of "Shoot The Breeze" and the mentioned "Night Flight N8 Future Light Dub") which are melodically and rhythmically involving. The tracks goes to the fantastic potential hit (damn the charts which doesn't realize how fantastic this music is) "Shoot The Breeze" to the darker "Das Kapitol" (which seems an intriguing electro kraut track) passing through "Scalper", "The Plutocrats" and other five. It's enough to tell you that I love their music? Don't you think there should be a reason? :)

This is one strange release. There are similarities between all the tracks but the differences are more extreme. This mini-album by Cycloon contains six previously unreleased tracks besides the Nine Inch Nails "Happiness In Slavery" interpretation which was originally intended for a tribute release by Orkus Magazine. There is also a bonus Video clip. "Scent" is the first single to appear from the follow-up release Zeitseize. Cycloon is the solo project of singer Axel Kleintjes from Page 12. This is definitely a project full of surprises. The first track combines heavy Noise influences with throbbing EBM beats and as a starting track if you have not heard Cycloon before you begin to wonder what's up and where this is going especially since the vocals on this track slightly remind me of early TKK from I See Good Spirits, I See Bad Spirits. The second track begins with a nearly dub and ambient sounce effect style, some vocal sampling and added Industrail beats and very dark and harsh vocals. Further into the track you begin to hear some rather strong Skinny Puppy influences, especially in the vocal overlays, polyrhythms, and breaks. The attached video for this piece is a collection of industrial, mechanical, war, sexually charged and haunting images combined with very litte live outtakes. The following track picks up the pace and becomes more of a club oriented sound, as if we weren't doing well already, and they pound it to the floor. There is some rather slight Synthpop influences here as well but this track is just as dark as any of the others so far. An interesting turn is taken with the industrial dub-n-Noise sound of "Acivated". The "Happiness In Slavery" interpretation is just that and NOT a cover. This makes for a bizarre instrumental and the sound and style of the original is nearly unrecognizable. Default Set begins with some heavy atmospheres and samples that sound reminiscient of Pinhead from Hellraiser but then drop into some Noise and Klang styled rhythms. If you like Power Noise whith danceable rhythms here ya go! Lastly, Megabite is some heavy digitalia industrial with Gregorian Chant. Never underestimate the power of machines is the unspoken message here I believe!

"Hitchhiking Non-Stop with No Particular Destination" hit the street yesterday, October 8th, and sounds soooo damn american even though Edition Terranova (ex Turntable Terranova) are three skilled Berliners from the club Pogo circle of Djs. Their new work of love (after their 1999 debut "Close the Door") contains twelve tracks, among which a Bob Marley cover of the song "Running Away" and two bonus tracks. Mastermind Fetish, Meister and Shapemod (aka Jon Shapeton) pulled together a blasting sound system made up of keyboards, guitars and loooots of programming and vinyling... They are influenced by Detroit techno and by hip-hop in equal amounts, I'd say, but the final mixture definitely leans a bit towards electronica. The key is that they don't overdo it and know how to spice it up with nice beatz and groovy sounds and with a good dose of eclecticism and fancy artistry that brings rock and even Jamaica into contexts you wouldn't necessarily expect them to pop up. Among their instrumental tracks and their Londonish reverberated unknown looped sound-bits hovering over deep bass lines, you'll find lots of original material and good intuitions. Keeping it simple, keeping it real and adding estranged elements to the mixture they will get people dancing, no matter what. The most peculiar side to this album is probably the vocals, in all their diversity, political integrity and internationalism. In other words think Jamaican style singing, NY style rapping, Berlin style vocoding and London style whispering. They all make for a truly no-barrier-sound with catchy tunes, hilarious parts, intelligent lyrics. Guest appearances include Stereo MC singer Cath Coffey, NY poet Mike Ladd and Ariane from The Slits (a name that probably only die hard punk-rockers will recognize). If you are into it there is also an EP with the above mentioned Marley remake, one previously unreleased track, a cappella versions and remixes by Stereo MCs and DJ Naughty. You might also wanna notice that !K7 rec sells all CDs for just $10, so get down to business already!

I listened to this CD a month ago when I received it and I liked it even if I wasn't totally thrilled. It was a particular thing to listen synthpop and e.b.m. matching together and I didn't figure why people from Ganymede and Nukleon got involved into such a thing. Well, at this moment while I'm writing this review, I'm listening to it again and I assure you that I'm bloody digging this stuff! The album is a sort of concept album with lyrics that talk about vigilantism, street crime, and nocturnal urban decay. It's strange to imagine Charles Bronson as an electro addicted but a thing is for sure: tracks like "Vigilante" or "Guardian" are a blast. The rhythms are always pumping and the melodic lines are well built and never too simple. FR/ACTION took away from e.b.m. evil vocals and replaced them with synthpop finest tunes adding also bleeping synth lines and everything in need to make of this album a must for your days that need a "musical booze". "Walking alone, city lights at my back / My senses are sharp as theyíre under attack / 44 Magnum is close by my side / A feeling of hate and a feeling of pride"...

Plastic Assault utilize heavy EBM styled rhythms with harsh samples and vocals to create an image of shock and violence. Released on the German label Bloodline Plastic Assault would be of high interest to fans of the harder side of Front Line Assembly and bands like Stabbing Westward's Ungod album. The first track "Crackhead" sounds like it could very easily have fit on the FLA album Caustic Grip due to the vocal and sample style as well as the ever riding bouncy synth bassline. It's also reminiscient of earlier FLA as well (aka Initial Command, Total Terror, etc.). This continues through much of the album as Plastic Assault focuses on a little used but highly loved form of early dark EBM which personally I feel should have affected more industrial oriented groups. Sounds of ambulances, military commandos, police ham radio and live arrests, shotgun blasts, screams of terror, cheering crowds and other sounds of chaos, angst, aggression, violence and fascism fill this amazing album. Strangely enough there is a purely Punk-rock sample at the beginning of "Pesticide" but I couldn't say who the band is but it's amusing all the same. It's wonderful to hear another artist expand on the original sound that Bill Leeb created but he himself as left in his past. I've always thought that this style of music would catch on somewhere, somehow and it's nice to see somebody doing it still.
The track "Devotka" sounds more like a DSBP Records band or something like Any Questions? or Eye Kandy with it's heavy use of metal guitar sampling combined with synthetic tones or harshness. Heavy, dark, and aggressive this band succeeds where many have failed in their attempts to create similar audio structures. "Strangled" sounds very much like something from FLA's "Hard Wired" album. I hope to hear more form Plastic Assault in the future.