Lilac Ambush is the name of this duo coming from Gluchester, Massachusett. Their second E.P. titled BREATHE DEEP contains four good dark pop (they name their music that way) songs and two radio edit versions of the first two "Breathe Deep" and "One Good Reason". Even if their music is dark new wave they did a good thing by renaming it "dark pop". This because their songs have good really enjoyable melodies and sounds: "One Reason", above all, is the one I prefer even each songs' refrain has got something that makes you remember it. Lilac Ambush is a good band for sure and one that is better of the tons of goth clones that unfortunately don't even try to make their own music! Hey, you can get their CDs for 5 bucks, contact them...

Lilac Ambush is a duo coming from Gluchester, Massachusetts and BREATHE DEEP is their second E.P. containing four tracks and two radio edit versions of "Breathe Deep" and "One Reason". They name their music dark pop and even if they have got goth and new wave influences I think they did a good thing by categorizing it that way. This because the four track have got good melodic parts and each songs' refrain has got something original that you can remember easily and even humming, but the main thing is that they are original. Something that too many goth bands tend to forget easily... After the first listening you'll find yourself listening again songs like "One Reason" or "Masquerade". If you love dark sounds and melodies you can get this one for 5 bucks only. Contact them...

Well, it's difficult to put these two CDs under a category, because I really should put them under ambient experimental and under industrial metal because of the kinda metal songs like "Freedom To Fly" (which remember some solutions used by our old friend Paul Chain) or "Timeless". Fortunately the work of the one man band that hides behid the name of VLE is more multifaceted that a mere classification. Tracks like "3 in 5" or "Stark" of the first Chapter of the BOOK OF ILLUSIONS and the other nine new tracks of the second Chapter (nine because the first one is, as on the first part, "Kano") are intimate composition with classical instrument sounds along with synth pads. The atmospheres create on both the kind of tracks (metal and dark ambient) is intriguing and even if sometimes the drum seems to miss a beat VLE is capable of catch the attention with a good work permeated of mistery and mysticism. At his mp3.com website you can listen to his work: try it!

Nightbreed records continue to appeal to an apparently huge following of electro-goth/darkwave. Illumina's record is not too far from the other releases on this label, in fact "Chameleon" is 11 tracks of melodic singing, electronic structures and darkwave feel. The m/f British duo sings about idols, images and feelings inspired by literature, history, mythology, art and technology. The sound is pretty old and the singing is not always perfectly in tune, but I am sure that me being so picky or maybe too technical and my personal taste for more modern sounding music streams will not represent an obstacle to all those English and European kids out there who love to go back in their minds while looking at the past through an electronic lens.

The ever creative Phil Von (Von Magnet) teams up with Morocco's Gnawa Musicians of Fes and layed down 8 tracks of ethno-ritual-trance at its best that reminds of the Atlas Project sound. To create ethno transe that ain't boring when you ain't in no trance is no easy task my friend, but that is where these guys succeed brilliantly, in fact this turns into an exciting trip into the far lands of Morocco, where street sounds, field recordings, traditional instruments and an overall southern/eastern vibe meet the occidental grooves of electronica, the deep groaning sounds of trance-inducing monk-like whisperings and stuff like that... A great stereo imaging work and an amazing beat structure helps "l'Autre Nuit" (on Prikosnovenie's ambient-ethnica sub-label Lytch) become a truly great experience. Tracks like "Transe Incolore" are beautiful and enchanting.
By looking at the booklet and in-lay card's pictures I can tell that it must be an outer-body experience to actually go to a concert of this group, as they seem to achieve a calm meditative set up with minimal but interesting lighting and with films projected on the walls behind them...