I had never listened to Kluster Cold before, and it's been a nice surprise. Released by Andrea Marutti (Amon, Never Known, Lips Vago) on his personal label AFE, and mastered by one Maurizio Pustianaz (wonder who he is, eheh), "The Third Secret" is a little jewel (7 tracks + intro for 28') of retro electronica/EBM, with Kraftwerk being the most obvious reference. Carlo Ponte seems to have interiorized the best and most peculiar characteristics of the German ensemble: catchy synth melodies coupled with aseptic and danceable drum machine beats, but most of all a romantic and nostalgic atmosphere which now seems to be frozen in paradoxically distant times. Retro-futurism? The real folk music of 20 years ago? Most songs are instrumental, and work perfectly without a voice. "The romance of tar" is present with a nice vocoder version and an instro "flare-up version", and the fact that both stand perfectly well on their own can only mean the track is really good! "The soldier" has an upbeat rhythm and quasi-spoken female vocals, while "The soldier's theme" features the melodies in an ethereal, beatless version. But the instrumentals are cinematic enough to suggest a story of their own, from the more serene, bittersweet atmospheres of "Remember" to the darker and slightly obsessive "As fear comes back". The layout is remarkable as well, with elegant vintage-looking graphics, evocative black and white pictures and a fold-out poster too. This is one of the few cds I wished they lasted longer...

I don't think I have to introduce Bad Sector, since Massimo Magrini's creature has been a relevant name in experimental ambient for quite some time. This release, on Amon/Never Known/Lips Vago Andrea Marutti's AFE, was issued in 333 copies and is probably sold-out by now, but you can probably find some copies in several mailorders... or maybe ask for a re-press... "Retrovirus" collects a series of tracks from 1987 to 2000, and shows Bad Sector's typical ability to build menacing dark ambient tracks using a variety of different sources (here, for example, a phasing sequencer, a bowed copper wire, vocal samples etc.) with a great sense of structure and composition, but also at the same time a distinct "emotional" and visionary quality which is often missing in realeases of this genre. The atmosphere is almost always gloomy and tense, which fits with the apparent virus theme, a relevant exception being "TCGT [scatter]", a perfect piece of soothing cosmic music. Very well done digipack sleeve in pro-printed cardboard, and adequately abstract-looking scientific graphics.

Informatik are David Din of Din_Fiv and Tyler Newman, the driving force behind Battery Cage plus Matthew Crofoot. This release sees Tyler joining the project while Matthew is on hiatus. This is some strong EBM with a highly sexually charged theme, thus the title is not a misnomer or just something they thought would sound cool - it really does relate to the song content.
The first track is an invitation to play and includes lines like "Three is really company" which makes thier concept very clear. You will also note some very strong female moaning samples. Sorta reminds me of TKK in that aspect alone.
The song "Hopeless" is a song about all love ending in misery and is very Synthpop oriented with dark vocals. "Perfect Stranger" is about promiscuity and going home with someone you've just met and the dangers that lie in that and takes the pace musically more into the EBM field - as if it wasn't already there. "Phycical Education" is about the elements of an almost simulated ritual of sensuality and this track has some heavy Front Line Assembly sounds to it. "Over" is a song about longing after loss and begins almost ballad-like but quickly builds into more danceable rhythms.
One of my favorite tracks has got to be "Built For Pleasure" which is about a pleasure droid named Synthia - sort of a Cherry 2000. One part flesh and one part technology. This is just sheer fun and a very upbeat dance track too and includes some vocoded vocals in the chorus.
"A Matter of Time" begins with a drum beat that reminds me much of Martin Atkins when he plays a slow groove but is very heavy on the synth. Another dark EBM track - another song about longing after loss but this is more on the terms of waiting eternally for someone who leaves you feeling like an empty shell when they've gone. It is about want more than anything.
"Ovlivion v2" is about being 'blown away' by someone - or rather by exploring the boundaries of consciousness through sexual exploration. It nearly makes sex sound religious or at least focuses on the ecstasy of passion.
You'll also find a Negative Format mix of "Perfect Stranger" which moves the track into more af the Trance region and a Stromkern mix of "Physical Education" which takes it into a heavier, darker and more industial arena.
Where is the "Built For Pleasure" or "Flesh Menagerie" mixes? These two tracks would have been more likely candidates and maybe that is why they were not chosen. Maybe there will be CD singles later.
© Copyright 6/2002 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

A tiny 3" beast (circa 20') from USA Peripheral Pulse. High speed harsh electronics with a brutal, no-frills approach but very good sound quality (is it digital?) with audible shifts in the different layers of noise... not far from Government Alpha or Merzbow. Good that it's a 3" ep, so that they (he?) come, fuck shit up and leave without becoming redundant. A precious little fucker if you enjoy extreme noise.

This is a CDep (but featuring 8 tracks for 40') with 5 original songs from Netherlandish artist Vlerk and three remixes: "End of Ages" re-styled by Arzt+Pfusch Japscat and God Module, and "Corroding Conscience" by Feindflug. Grendel play electro with faster, more melodic and epic moments (which work better) and more mid-tempo tunes. There's no particular point of interest both in rhythms and in synth melodies, but the real problem is the voice: it's high pitched and distorted (a bit black metal sounding, with all due differences), but in some tracks (listen to "Catastrophe" for example) it barely stands above the instrumental part. Besides being momotonous per se, it also risks of sounding indistinct...