Airport 81 is a new band coming from San Diego. The trio is formed by A-Drive, Sneaky Pete and Tape and they sound is an hybrid of Gang Of Four, punk and arcade games. Tracks like the opening "Bonus Jack" or the following "Hectometre" sound like Pacman formed his own punk band. The bass guitar and the drums form the main structure of the song while the keyboard (that command a sample machine, I guess) spreads out noises, low-fi melodies, 8-bit samples of blasting bombs and so on. The result is really intriguing and while listening to it I hear echoes of Jesus Lizard and Slint but the samples make the tracks turn into something more personal. It's like a soundtrack for surf movies of the future, where the little aliens from Space Invaders are the main actors. The middle section of "Dequencer" remember me also early Gary Numan but at the end it turns into somethnig else. There are some moment where the sound turns experimental (like on "New Yoko") but after that the run to the sea made out of transistors starts again. Vocals are rare but you don't need them, there's so much to listen to that you won't notice. Amazing! You should check this out definitely...

We at the Chain D.L.K. are proud and thankfully to get the possibility to review this release much earlier until it will be released officially. Of course, the release of the already 6th full-length CD of this Swedish Electro act will be a dominant theme in all scene-related print and press media and the official release is currently set to the 6th of March for Germany and a bit later for Europe. I don’t have an official release date for North America, but I ma sure that this piece also again available through Metropolis-Records right in time. 10 new tracks here and it starts with now released first single release "Ritual Noise", a danceable and linear Futurepop piece with some cool vocoder effects on the vocals for the refrain; it sounds a bit KRAFTWERKian. The track "Happy Man" is rather slow and the synth lines reminding me on some old C64-based sounds and the overall mood turns back into the good old Eighties. Another favorite for a next single release could be the track "The Men", another remarkable track in a typical COVENANT-style which convinces through melodic vocals. Both, "Sweet And Salty" and "Greater Than The Sun", then prove, that the band does not fall in any conformity to offer only mainstream stuff for high chart positions. The bass lines on both are sounding more dirty than before, also the vocals spread a darker mood. Comes then maybe one of the best tracks which COVENANT have ever written: 20 Hz. A strong melody, clear vocals, danceable and still with the special note of some experimentation which only COVENANT can produce – the worth of recognition is rich given with this track. Comes finally the slow and depressive last track "The World Is Growing Loud" with some outstanding synth layers. The best result out of this new CD is the fact, that COVENANT still remain COVENANT. They avoid it to use guitars for example to get a wider mainstream-influenced audience. Fans of the band will dig this plus they’ll add a remarkable new chapter of their successful story.

photophob is one Herwig Holzman. This release, "your majesty machine" is immediately appealing. Intense rhythms, playful soundscapes and well executed melodic leads pretty sum up this release. It's an instrumental release and unlike many instrumental releases, this is dripping with character. Each song has a unique flavor but not too much to keep the CD from working as a whole either. Very well balanced. I'd love to hear some vocals with some of this music but on it's own it works perfectly. I'm just a fan of vocal narrative. The cover art on the release is absolutely fantastic and really goes a long way to sum up the entire vibe the CD has to offer. The only criticism I have is that a few of the tracks over stay their welcome. Too much of a good thing can sometimes take away from the initial impact a song can have. Stand out tracks include "The Starlight Eater" and "While Venting".

Born from an idea of Paolo Favati (member of Pankow and producer) and some friends L'INSOLITA COMPILATION is a compilation focused more on rock with electronic arrangements than its contrary. The CD opens with Cpt. Nice with "Linea di Venere", a track that remember me a lot the early Franco Battiato. Blume's "Piove piano" is a sensual ballad with female vocals. "My name is Luca" by Gianni Maroccolo (ex member of Litfiba, CSI and now with PGR and Marlene Kunz) is a sort of ambient track based treated guitar (finally something we deal with). "Forbidden flowers" is a track released under the name Paolo Favati and Paolo (well know king of the quare wave) creates a blend of alternative rock and industrial pop. He's well known for his use of analog square waves and here he uses them to give energy to a good song (on his website you can find also the video of this track). "Ongii" is a Paolo Favati's remix of a CSI song and it's cool to see how Paolo is good at giving an electronic treatment to almost every kind of music. Ig track, "La culla" is a good geeky ballad with electro sounds. A.M. Boys with their "Nouvelle cousine" give their electro recipe for a futuristic chef. Pt-r's "Balance to death" surprised me with its arrangement made of breaths, distorted synths and catchy rhythms. Dreamy and distorted at the same time. The second Cpt. Nice track is a silly electronic ballad titled "Electronic dancer". Nice... The second A.M. Boys track "Sala d'attesa" bring to the attention of the audience an experimental electro track really particular where the declaiming voice duets with analog sounds and ambient pads. Pt-r's "Ipnotism" is a sort of blend of industrial e.b.m. and ambient with improvised vocalisation. Like the other track: really particular. Blume's "Ninna nanna alla regina" is another ballad with electro arrangements and acustic guitars and a rock second part. Interesting but not enough catchy for me. The last song is played by some band members of all the bands involved in this release and it's an electro experimental version of the "Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto" soundtrack, originally composed by Ennio Morricone.

Although Greece is the current European soccer champion, their team couldn’t qualify themselves for the upcoming world championships in Germany. And although that the Acropolis and the haven of Piraeus are worth to start a sight-seeing tour, this most hidden musically secret of this country has more to offer. Greece was until now a white spot on the globe regarding Electro/Industrial music, but this will change with this excellent debut. Discovered by Torny Gottberg of PROJECT-X (who is also the label chief behind Progress Productions...), this band was ready to release a CD on the now defunct Energy-Records two years before. But things have changed, Torny left Energy to built up Progress Productions, and IAMBIA are still alive and faithful at his side. This is one of the very few debut releases on which you have to make sure to own it. Straight and hard ripping EBM tunes with a lot of dedication in detailed arrangements, so could a description be. This Greek duo surprises from the from the very first tune up to the last one – a really intense assault burning its way from the brain through your body to the feet to teach you to dance! They left me breathless in front of my home entertainment! Rough and angry male vocals and always this steady beatings on a high quality level – you can’t ask for any other strong effort currently! To guarantee diversity they throw also in several instrumental tracks like "Ominous", "Sepuku" or the tough "Depressonic", which all can satisfy with well worked out arrangements. But diversity can be found on almost all tracks here, "Resurrect" surprises with a remarkable melodic content and unaffected vocals, while "Chaosmancer" turns into a hot Hellektro-like piece with sequences along the AGONOIZE direction. "Tetragon" is more evil and fills in some rough guitar sounds, a bit comparable to their label mates of RED CELL. Comes at last the hard ripping "Tyrrania" which holds all talents of this duo in stock. I should also mention that this release – like all previous releases of Progress Productions – will also released as a limited to 200 pieces DCD edition with several extra tracks and versions. This whole release is only limited to 1000 exemplars and regarding the strong quality here you should act soon to save your item.