The seventh volume of the "ElectroAcoustic Music" sampler collection on Russian label ElectroShock records is a showcase of ambient/experimental artists from all over the world. Most of the compositions are from the past two years, but one of the two longer suites is actually dated 1969/1970 and is by Jorge Antunes, from Brazil. With its nearly 17 minutes, his four-part opera takes up more than one fifth of the entire duration of the second disc, and in the same fashion a nearly 13 minutes long three-part experimental ambient-noise symphony by French Claire Laronde opens the first disk.
Of course, in accordance with the title, next to the mostly electronic pieces of the majority of the artists there are also very interesting compositions that focus on the use, abuse and manipulation of acoustic instruments, like for example the Dutch Roderik De Man's clarinet; or the Mexican Rodrigo Sigal's beautiful long piece for multiple cellos and noises; or the American Robin Julian Heifetz blasting and chaotic track including several brasses with orchestral arrangements but industrial-noise interferences.
Other artists include the well known Vidna Obmana (Belgium), Geert Verbeke (Belgium), Lukazs Szalankiewicz (Poland), Michal Bukowski (Poland), Jose Mataloni (Argentina), OOPHOI (Italy), Arie Shapira (Israel), Mirjam Tally (Estonia) and Eternal Wanderers (Russia).
An applause is definitely deserved for giving space to those artists from South American or Eastern European countries that are rarely to be seen on compilations like this, proving that there too is experimental ferment, even if small, in remote geographical places. This effort should definitely represent a reason for pride, along with the great musical value that this double CD has and will have for documenting the history of today's electro-acoustical experimental music.
PS: By the way, since I haven't done this before when reviewing other albums from this label, it's about time for me to do it now: I am talking about presenting sincere compliments for the beautiful art work and design of all Electroshock releases, which always combine style and beauty, great photography and tasty xdigital art. Konstantin Galat (kg@tennisi.com) is the man behind the elegant and polished visual art that makes every Electroshock record peculiar and pleasant to look at as well.

Founded in 1999 by P-O Svensson and Magnus Löfdahlafter, Colony 5 release their debut album LIFELINE after their self-titled EP and a few line-up changes. Moving between synthpop and rhythmic/melodic based electronic music (touching sometimes the e.b.m. fields) P-O Svensson and Johan Nilsson bring us twelve tracks which move between upbeat songs ("Colony 5", "Liquid Love" or "Friends") to ballads ("The Bottle") passing through mid tempos ("Freedom" and "Heal Me"). To be honest I liked the sounds and most of the songs but some melodies to me sounded a little naive. Nothing that important and maybe I could sound paranoid but it's a characteristic of German synthpop and I've got to cope with that... Anyway my favourites are: "Colony 5", "Liquid Love", "Be My Slave" and "Crackhead". Soon the band will release a new E.P. titled "Follow your heart" and this summer they welcomed a new band member: Mgnus Kalnins.

Seven regular players (plus two guests) for this German "Black Chamber Orchestra", out with a surprisingly good 11-track cd. Acoustic guitars and strings provide a rich background for Marcus Testory's theatrical, tortured voice, at times really reminiscent of Nick Cave or even Mark Lanegan. There's a great care for arrangements and, at the same time, a sober, folkish quality in these ballads. There are wild and dramatic moments ("Ceremony after a Fire Raid", a Wedding Anniversary cover with words by Dylan Thomas, and the narrated "The Ballad of the Half Brained Man"), but also incredibly catchy tunes ("Pleasure and Pain", "Mistakes", "Toscana", and the traditional "Another Conversation", again with lyrics by Thomas) which could receive intensive airplay and sell thousand of copies since they really stick into your brain after the first listen. Sounds and production are very good, too, and the booklet is well done. It's not my favourite kind of folk music, but this work has a very high quality, and those into dark, melancholic ballads should purchase this without further delay.

When I reviewed Sigurtà's latest solo work, I felt it was like a soundtrack for imaginary movies. There was a peculiar "visual" quality in the soundmaker's concrete mixes. Now it's a pleasure to review Luca's collaboration with director Manuele Cecconello (m.cecconello@libero.it) in a very well done cd-rom (limited to 100 hand-numbered copies) featuring a video (visible through Windows Media Player or a DVD viewer) and two .wav tracks. "Terre" ("Earths" - 4'30" long, more or less) is made of two main parts; images were filmed on super8, then digitally manipulated and mixed. The first section features natural shots (fallen leaves, the muddy bottom of a river, running water, possibly fire) often filtered and made unrecognizable, pure games of light and colour or ghostly images. The soundtrack is so peculiar of Sigurtà's abilities: it's mostly cracking noises with distant whistles, and it could be anything from concrete field recordings (fire, again?) to a manipulated ethnic song - the effect, associated with the beauty of the images, could only be labelled as "ritual" for the sacred feelings it conveys. The second part presents fast-revolving shots of a naked human body - again, it's almost always a game of lights, shadows and colours (mostly violet and black) since it's often hard to recognize what we're seeing at a first glance. Sounds here are even more abstract and alien, like minimal electronic pulses. The only negative thing is that the video is so short, because it's a very rewarding experience. Cecconello writes: "TERRE is the latest stage of an esthetic route through which I try to transfer the glimmering of the unconscious and the colour of desires on film, tending to remove as many "narrative" and conventional mediations as possible from the final form". Sigurta's .wav tracks are a remix of the soundtrack (sounds have been filtered and the result is a bit louder and more full-sounding) and a piece called "Fireworks" - more minimal indecipherable sounds, first like a looped feedback (or is it a keyboard? Or radio frequencies?), then rumbling echoed noises. Well, this is one of my longest reviews and I'm talking of, like, 10 minutes of material, so let's say this is a brilliant, inspired synthesis of different - but complementary - languages and tecniques... Highly recommended!

After pretty much coining the term "ebm" and selling several million albums worldwide, belgian electronic music pioneering producers Daniel Bressanutti & Patrick Codenys, aka Front 242, are back under the moniker Speed Tribe with their first 5.1 surround release and also what seems to be one of the first immersive entertainment products that combine DVD, CD and the internet to ever hit the streets. Speed Tribe, released by US based label/portal Dance.com, breaks new ground in cross-media integration, or convergent entertainment, or multimedia production, if you prefer to use this (too) commonly abused and mistaken mass-terminology. This good looking and stylish DVD/CD set is packaged into a folding digipack DVD case. The theme is, of course, speed, and in particular the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race and its fast cars.
"Fear, what is fear? False expectations appearing real..". Starting with the stereo music of the CD, the first thing any person familiar with F242 would notice, is that it ain't F242's EBM anymore. And if you are afraid you are missing out on Bressanutti/Codenys' new direction, then be, because there is much to talk about but even more to listen to and discover. The two dope producer dudes have evolved along with the rest of the world and, as much as the 242 were absolutely super cool, after the initial surprise/displacement, I was glad to find out they are "different"... You may read "different" as in much more trance, techno, ambient, experimental, minimal and even almost tribal at times... You may read "different" as in not what you would commonly refer to as EBM! The experimental trance aspect is definitely the first thing that hits you... Repetitions, dronings, rumbles covering the full spectrum of frequency, occasional sweeping and swiping through with filtered rezo sounds and other techno-like gems, Speed Tribe is amazing and when you reach track 24 (oops, here's the number again!) you wonder how that happened so fast. The roaring engines of the phat-ass cars in track 23 remind you that if you started with the CD, like I did, there is more to come when you'll pop in the DVD!
Even more exhilarating, the cutting edge music you heard on the CD now is right on the money with the artistical footage directed by Rod Chong and Sharon Matarazzo (Marilyn Manson, JXL). The focus is on a tight synchronisation between audio and visuals that really delivers. Futuristic rave-like graphics and lettering, cinematic but very original style, lots of experimentation with pixelling, simulated 3D effects, slicing, looping and simple but effective and quick camera feed movements and flickering that are made to be in the pocket with the noises, the beats and the sounds in the audio concept. There are two 24 minute edits of the video for you, the first representing the original version while the second being an audio/video remix with different cuts and a more experimental and ambient experience... "There is stillness in the speed, there is silence in the sound": these two sentences describe what the music does when it reaches that climax where, despite full speed, you feel like you are floating in open space, still; and when the hard-hitting techno becomes one with the luscious ambience and the atmospheric soundscapes, when the source textures escape the beats and rapture you in a rumbling and primitive ecstasy on the wings of power and harmony and the anarchist noise bits and engine noises. If you listen to the DVD on a Dolby Digital 5.1 or a DTS 5.1 Surround Sound system it really takes you to whole other level indeed!!! And if you are still hungry for speed, you can use the special access code that comes in the package to enter the member-only area of the Speed Tribe website where you are granted access to another 24 minutes of unreleased music, a third 6-minute audio/video remix, a flash trailer, desktop images and other downloads. The DVD finally also includes interviews which are quite disappointing because they are audio only (while you expect them to be video too, since they are on a DVD ultimately) and because they only include interviews with drivers and not with people involved in this project and Daniel/Patrick in particular. And because the DVD was lacking an interview with them I think I'll get in touch with them right away and try to arrange an interview for Chain D.L.K. immediately.
Check out this release 'cause its really well done and interesting! I strongly recommend it and please note that if you buy from the link above you will get a $5 discount and you'll be able to get it for just $19, which is not too bad for a CD+DVD.
"Fuel your senses [...] when you are at speed there is no fear". Just don't drive after listening to this 'cause you could hurt yourself or someone else! And if you are still wondering whether the couple can still "im rhythmus bleiben": yes they can!