News editors: Mikael Kahrle & Johan Carlsson

New Mexican electropop act only SSC release this autumn

Tex mex electroclash.

• SubSpace Communications release the debut album "Menonita Rock" from their latest addition, Los Fancy-Free on September 26. This will probably be the only SSC CD this autumn, but future releases from Universal Poplab (album delayed) and others awaits for 2004. SSC license the CD for Scandinavia and the Baltic states and it is released on Noiselab Records in Mexico.
Frontman Martin Thulin was born in in a Scandinavian Mennonite community called Nueva Escandinavia in Northern Mexico. Mennonites are similar to the Amish culture and they have freely isolated themselves and are not allowed to have regular jobs. Thulin's family left Mexico for Sweden, but he moved back about ten years ago and now lives in Mexico City.
Their music "combines the cold electropop esthetics with a healthy kick ass attitude". Electroclash anyone? The video for the song "Voltage Is OK" is directed by Henry Moore Selder, who has previously worked with celebs like Garbage, The Hives and Jimi Tenor. /Mikael Kahrle

Edenfeld album in November
• "Terra E" (Modern Entertainment/Alive AG) from synthpop act Edenfeld is out sometime in November and will coincide with a tour featuring Carnival of Dreams as support. /Peter Marks

Hits and more hits...

The hit factory.
Photo by: Jason Evans

• Vince Clarke and Andy Bell will release an "August" remake of their classic 1985 song "Oh L'amour" on October 13, prior to their new collection "Hits! The Very Best of Erasure" (October 20). The original single will feature an additional two bonus songs. There will, mind you, also be a second remix single. Also on October 20, "Hits! The Videos" will show up with all 35 (!) of the band's promo videos. A second disc offers over two and a half hours of extra material.
Stand by for a compilation competition here at Release. /Niklas Forsberg

New DVD presents Swedish electronica
• "Collectanea - First Course" is an interesting serving of the new generation of Swedish electronica artists. First released on July 21, it features a number of tracks by a few well known musicians like glitch maestro Andreas Tilliander (who is also responsible for mixing the stereo version of the collection) and many lesser known, up and coming artists on DVD with accompanying videos. It is a nice twist for a compilation, even if the videos are the products of obviously slim budgets and the results are mixed. The video makers and music artists are both presented with biographies, shedding light on the lives of these bedroom artists. Notably only Sophie Rimheden, who is getting big in Sweden at the moment, out of twenty musicians are female (Claudia Bonarelli is apparently an alias of a male Mitek artist...). How about letting some more girls into the boys club? /Mattias Huss

Pet Shop Boys gives us "PopArt"
• The title of the forthcoming Pet Shop Boys greatest hits album is “PopArt”. The double disc album comes out in mid-November and contains two new songs. Meanwhile, the boys have worked with Trevor Horn, Chris Zippel and Adam F, making songs for a new album, but also for the new “PopArt” tracks. /Johan Carlsson

Front 242 reissues debut album again

Live in Stockholm 2002.
Photo by: Diktator

• The Belgian fathers of EBM - Front 242 - are set to reissue their debut album “Geography” once again, this time through Alfa Matrix. This version is a double disc with disc one being the album completely remastered by Daniel Bressanutti himself, and disc two is filled with unreleased, early recordings. /Johan Carlsson

Distain! destined for comeback
• In other German synthpop related news, Distain! will make their comeback this Autumn. The single "America" will see daylight on September 15 on Chrom. It includes three versions of the title track as well as an exclusive track ("Are You Independent?") and a cover of "Nights in White Satin". /Niklas Forsberg

The Mission on tour once again

• The Mission UK are on the roads again. Their "Pilgrimage Tour 2003" will take them over central Europe. Included are also two occasions were frontman Wayne Hussey will perform acoustic solo-shows, but the rest of the dates features a full band line-up.
In further news, Wayne Hussey is said to be working together with artist Votiva Lux for an as of yet unnamed side-project. A competition to name this new project is underway at both the Mission and Votiva Lux home pages. For more info on dates and competition, go here. /Peter Takizawa

Jazzy Kraftwerk, Odd?
• The recipients of this years Swedish Grammy award for best jazz album, Oddjobb, have included a cover of Kraftwerk's "Man Machine" among their original material. Those not scared of hearing the cold song jazzified might want to take a look at the album "Koyo". Oddjobb have previously worked with Swedish bands quite far from the Release area of expertise, mostly soul and jazz acts. /Peter Takizawa

The "Axis of Evil" commences October 6; tour dates confirmed
• Johan van Roy's latest entry into musical assault will be out October 6. Suicide Commando's "Axis of Evil" (Dependent) will be available in two formats with the limited run of 5 000 copies containing a DVD of live performances, video clips, interviews and a Winamp skin for one's computer. Suicide Commando will be on tour throughout the month of October and into November with Swedish EBM act Interlace as support. It all starts on October 24 in Bielefeld, Germany and terminates November 15 at Strasbourg La Laiterie, France. /Peter Marks

New Foetus album near completion
• The Foetus web site reports that the forthcoming Foetus album is in the mixing stages, and scheduled for a 2004 release. In other news, the live video "Male" is to be released on DVD on October 7. /Kristoffer Noheden

New synthpop band from... Poland
• The delayed debut album "Gravity" from Poland's Common Dream is scheduled to be released on September 15. The album features eleven songs in the tradition of bands like Depeche Mode and New Order. During the last years Common Dream have supported concerts with Melotron, Dance or Die and Static Icon. /Jens Krause

Ex-Cure Lol Tolhurst to release new Levinhurst CD
• Lol Tolhurst (ex-member of The Cure) is preparing to release a new album under the name of Levinhurst on October 28. The title is "Perfect Life" and the band consists of Lol and Cindy Levinson. Levinhurst is described as "suave and exotic" and makes extensive usage of Tolhurst's keyboards, beats and soundscapes. The band dives into such styles as rock, trip hop, blues and Middle Eastern ragaas. A three track EP is available currently for the industry. Mr Tolhurst discusses his album:
- I wanted to do something positive now as I have felt inspired by recent trends in music. It feels to me like when I first started making music, which seemed like a good enough reason to do some more! /Peter Marks

Peaches and Iggy Pop team up for "Fatherfucker"

Peaches. One of a kind.

• Dirty minded electro rapper Peaches releases a new album on XL Recordings on September 15. Charmingly titled "Fatherfucker", it features guest appearances by Iggy Pop and oddball rapper Gonzales. /Kristoffer Noheden

KMFDM bring on "WWIII" on September 22
• The reincarnated KMFDM seem to be just as prolific as ever. Following last year's "comeback" album "Attak", their new album "WWIII" is ready to hit the shelves on September 22. With songtitles like "Bullets Bombs Bigotry", "Jihad" and "Stars & Stripes", recent events seem to have left their marks on it.
KMFDM will also embark on a US tour in October, but like with last year's "Sturm & Drang" tour, Europe will have to do without dates. /Kristoffer Noheden

New single and mini tour by bob hund
• Swedish pop band with cult following bob hund has now released a new single. It is named "Det där nya som skulle vara så bra..." and the band will also go out on a four stop tour starting on September 4 with one date in Oslo, Norway followed by three shows in Sweden. No date is specified for a new album but the band is said to be working on new music to be released further on.
bob hund have release one English language album under the moniker Bergman Rock. /Peter Takizawa

DAF happy to be hired for Tinitus

• DAF were forced to skip the Swedish Arvika Festival in July, but will play at the Stockholm Tinitus festival on November 15. Tinitus has also just booked Feindflug and Bobby. Previous announcements have revealed Lustans Lakejer and Hocico. Tinitus will provide an interesting mix of überhard EBM and super slim new romantic. More additions to the line-up are expected soon. /Mikael Kahrle