The second of the four 3' mini-cds from Electroton is by Hamburg-Germany based duo Kera Nagel & Andre Aspelmeier. Once again, this is an audiovisual oriented project, and the music seems like a partial component to their abstract monochromatic imagery. The music to a great degree is glitch experimental, but 'iconicity' has a certain rhythmic flow to it that evens out the randomness and actually makes for a quite pleasant listening experience.

While much of the music in this field tends to sound sterile, somehow incite/'s compositions seem organic, with a variety of components that work together to form a body in motion in each piece. There is also a good amount of variety from track to track in the sound palette, even though the bass tones are somewhat similar. It is also interesting that the rhythms that drive each piece aren't confined to any one particular element; as disparate and incongruous as they may be, they work together like a well-oiled machine. Even the noise disruptions are timed to enhance the polyrhythmic aspects.

One particular piece that really stood out was 'Turnpike' with its funky interplay of glitchy blips, twisted noise patches, tapping sounds, synth farts and funk sub-bass groove. For me, this is experimental glitch at its best ' taking a bunch of diverse sonic elements and turning it into something that is not only quite audially appealing but engaging and thought provoking. I should mention that the final track, 'Sparks' is good deal darker than the other tracks due to the use of more elongated sub-bass and lower tones. It should also be noted that 'iconicity' is bone dry minimalism. I don't know about any of their other work, but incite/ definitely has a winner with 'iconicity' and I'm sure it will stand up to repeated plays.

The first of four reviews of recent 3' mini-cds (in mini-dvd plastic transparent cases) from the same label ' Electroton (Nuremberg, Germany) by different artists pulled at random for the dissecting table. Let me say that I HATE the 3'mini-cd format. It's a pain in the ass to position in the CD tray, and almost impossible not to mar with fingerprints, accidentally drop and scratch, etc. That being said, let's go to the project background and then the music.

V4w.enko is a sound and visual project by Kiev, Russia based Evgen Vaschenko. It began in 2007 as live electronics, sounds and video stream realized in real time by manipulating self-programmed algorithms with simple forms and correlated with one another by simple rules. Compositionally, this is sort of a math thing (at least to me) and seems to be more in tune with musical architecture than aesthetic design. Be that as it may, there is obviously a method to the composition at work that may appeal to minimal structuralists and fans of Glitch while confounding the average listener. If you're still clueless, this is experimental, and likely to work better with visual stimulus that may have been intended to accompany it.

The titles of seven rather brief tracks on this mini-cdr are based on anagrams of the EP title ' snd, with the exception of track #4 ' 'and'. In terms of sound timbre and tone, there is a similarity running through all the tracks, with a limited palette of light bellish and high tones of varying sustain and decay times, buzzy blips, noise spurts, percussive snippets, sustained drone tones with or without some modulation and synth clusters that sound like mini car horns. Some of the electronic effects used sound like the CD is defective (that dull, rapidly repeating, skipping click), but I assume that's the music and not a bad CD.

The first two tracks ' 'Snd' and 'Sdn' are very much alike, the former being a little lighter than the latter which lower tone random percussion and more sustained synth clusters. (My impression was a traffic-jam in Toytown; your will likely be something completely different) Third track 'Nsd' adds random noise spurts and that CD skipping sound to the mix with a near-subliminal drone undercurrent. I found the bellish sequences interesting but couldn't get past that CD skipping sound. Next track 'And' has a more eerie and dreamy ambience with a complex gentle modulated sustained ambient tone and bell tones and buzzes sustained longer with interjections of light noise, almost like breathing. For me, this was the most fascinating track on the album.

'Nds' has a regularly repeating same pitch bell tone like a sustained glockenspiel while with low muted tones and muted noise in the background. 'Dsn' just had too much of that sustained synth cluster for my taste, and final track seemed to be about the most random, yet perfectly placed collection of sounds in the entire work. This one is sure to please minimal electronic glitch fans.

Overall, you really have to be a fan of this type of music to fully appreciate it, and I'm only 50% on board with that. I'd strongly recommend you go preview this at the artist's website, and if you like what you hear, you'll probably enjoy the rest of it too. For me, it was a mixed experience; moderately interesting at times, but not enough to get really excited about.

Out of Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada come Promonium Jesters led by Ethan Mosely. I've heard them described as psychedelic industrial/thrash rock and although I'm not sure that's the best description for this band, but I can't think of a better one so we'll just let that stand for now. Over the course of 15 years they've released 12 other albums and have managed to keep on the fringe so that I've never heard of them until now. To their credit, Promonium Jesters is a live performing unit, at least in Canada for the time being.

For the most part, the music has an 'everything but the kitchen sink' aesthetic ('Oh, we missed the kitchen sink? Well fuck, let's rip it out of the wall and throw THAT in too!!') that manifests in a kind of controlled chaos with nearly relentless, and sometimes breakneck grooves. Imagine early My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult on meth, and you have a better idea of what's going on. Moseley's heavily processed vocals are more recited, whispered, spit out and screamed than sung, and only occasionally can you make out what he's saying. There is plenty of electronic effluvia in the mix, lots minimal sequencing, twisted tones and dark drooblings. For sure, this is a different kind of industrial music than you might be used to, fairly far from the mainstream. The track I liked best on 'EP2010' was 'Scar Master,' one of the less frenetic numbers with its dark ambient intro, stuttering synth sequences, raging vocals, wall of processed guitar accents, and brief spatial interludes. At times, it is super dense, at others, quite minimal. If NIN were to turn avant-garde, it might sound something like this. The last track, 'Omnicide' is also a medium-paced groove that might be the most psychedelic thing on the EP, and a psychedelic death trip at that. Manson would probably dig it; Charles, Marilyn, take your pick. At over 8 minutes though, it just seemed to drag on a bit too long for my taste.

Overall, there were elements on 'EP2010' that I really liked, and some that I didn't care for, but hey, that's just me. For you, they might just be the greatest thing since sliced bread; if you like your bread hacked with a chainsaw, dipped in petroleum and toasted in a blast furnace.

Musical project of a guy coming from Reading (UK) called David Mott, R21 is delivering his first release on Binalog Productions after releasing some EPs on Devine Disorder under the DJR21 moniker. This new digital release, exclusive to Juno Download, is titled ROBOT FUNK and contains three new tunes: "Robot funk", "PopBot" and "Groove 1". Listening to the lot different times is evident that R21 is in love with robotic upbeat tempo rhythms, fat bass lines and analog pads where melody paints a main theme and the alternation of the different elements enrich the formula. In balance from Kraftwerk, Drexciya and Dopplereffekt, Dave succeeds into creating good electronic tunes made of spacey sounds, squared rhythms and robotic dance atmospheres. Dig it!

Behind the emaciated appearance, the deathly pallor of his skinny face contrasting with spite of the deep bags under a pair of raven eyes of the talented Austrian musician and singer (luckily he's not another emulation of HIM way of singing, which seems to be almost an habit or a trend in the contemporary gothic and dark-wave scene'¦) Stephan Sutor, it's not hidden only a vampirish identity crisis or the teeny fancies of a rock-pop star wannabes, but above all a talented musician with a certain borderline poetical wit. According to the lyrics of the little spoken word track Picturesque and Beautiful ' which has been previously issued in a collection of poems entitled Borderline ' die andere Art zu fühlen (transl.Bordline, the other way of feeling), the poetical side of Stephan could be depicted by using his own words as '['¦] a wicked mind/a broken heart all that is mine/all picturesque, all beautiful/put on the mask'¦['¦] ', a clear-cut brush work which could explain the general mood between gothic imaginary and a dark emotive world between borderline feelings and decadent perceptions, seeping from the words of the eccentric entreaty of the very first song, Vampire. From the musical viewpoint the song which I just mentioned could be not the best way to start as it looks too anchored to something already heard, but the poor estivation is highly counterbalanced by the energy and the good song performance of Walking On Air and I Am You, the last of which being my personal favorite even if it seems to be a pop-tinged melting pot of Placebo, Rasmus (maybe for his kind of moaning-like rush on the distorted punkey guitar line) and Sonic Youth, a track which together to other ones such as the darkish lyrical and musical playset of Blow My Mind (a good vocal interpretation of lyrics with some nice rhetorical tricks such as the oxymora 'I wanna blow my mind in pieces/I wanna burn 'till it freezes' intertwines with an enjoyable electronic sliding solid gothic-rock structure) or the following one Losing Control (it's really moving the way Stephen interprets it by inserting some meows partially reminding the ones by Brian Molko) could be fitted to climb charts, an aim which could be arguably reached if he keeps on walking on this stylistic path enriching his discography and refining its style in order to obtain a more personal one by purifying it from the most recognizable influences. In the meanwhile, all gothic rock lovers are alerted: this Austrian ghostly entity is prowling through the scene and looking for bloody music lovers and lost souls in the thick wood of audiences.