News editor: Mikael Kahrle

The April Tears finally release comeback single

• The Swedish female fronted indie band The April Tears received a ten in Release for their debut album. After years of delays, they finally return with a new single called "Model, Actress, Whatever" in the end of this month. The single is an ironic statement.
- Integrity is increasingly important in a time when many are called celebrities, without people understanding why. And nobody really cares, mastermind Andreas Jismark says.
"Model, Actress, Whatever" also contains the song "Spider". The forthcoming album "Consume Desire" is scheduled for an early 2001 release on Telstar Recordings. The April Tears is the first Swedish band on this label. The album is produced by Christoffer Lundquist (Brainpool).
If previous recordings, like a, now, quite old duet with Swedish alternative hero Freddie Wadling, are to be found on the new album remains to be seen. /Mikael Kahrle

Page releases 2- and 3-CD compilations including new songs

• On September 25, SubSpace Communications will deliver a new compilation named "Så pass!" with the synthpop legends Page, who actually quit earlier this year. They have recorded two new songs for this release, however. "Så här" och "Landar" were made this Summer and the song "Som det var" has been reworked.
We will get 24 songs, mostly old hits, all in all, so one CD is of course not enough. "Så pass!" will be a double-CD, but for the price of one CD. The first 1 000 copies will come in a limited edition with a third CD, containing their very last gig at SAMA in April, recorded by Swedish national radio. /Mikael Kahrle

New Echoboy album on Mute
• Echoboy will release his second album of the year on Mute. Simply named "Volume 2", it will be out on September 25. /Kristoffer Noheden

New four-song single with Kent

• Sweden's most popular alternative rockers Kent has just released a new Scandinavian single, "Kevlarsjäl". Included are also "Längtan skala 3:1", from a Swedish Amnesty compilation, as well as the quite fresh English songs "Just Like Money" and "Quit Heart". These two songs were added to the English version of "Hagnesta Hill", so this single might be an interesting release for Scandinavians. /Mikael Kahrle

25 US and 13 European dates for Project-X

• After the success in Europe for EBM act Project-X, it's time for them to try their luck in USA. They have signed a license deal with the American Inception Records, and the first US release will be a US edition of the debut full-length "Forbidden Desires", with some new versions and bonus remixes.
Project-X have gained most of their fame through extensive successful touring and intends to play as much as possible in USA as well. A 25 date US tour with Inertia in 35 days, is already set for May 2001. First, in October, they will go on an "All Systems Dead Tour 2K - Final Phase" trip with eleven stops in Germany, one in Zurich, Switzerland and one in London, UK. Scandinavian dates will follow in December, when they hope to play a couple of gigs together with Mexican friends Hocico. /Mikael Kahrle

Busy days for Cevin Key and Nivek Ogre
• Skinny Puppy's multi-instrumentalist Cevin Key seems to be a busy man. Not only will he release two new albums by Tear Garden ("The Ghost of Each Room") and Download ("Effector") on October 24, but is also planning to release a solo album for Metropolis early next year. He will also travel across America in a late October Tear Garden/Download/Plateau touring campaign.
At the same time, Puppy-vocalist Nivek Ogre and Mark Walk have completed two albums under the name Ohgrr (formerly WELT) that are to be released later this year on Spitfire. /Erik Almgren

Charity single with alternative stars

• Steffen Keth (De/Vision, pic), Peter Heppner (Wolfsheim), Sandra Nasic (Guano Apes), Dave Gappa (H-Blockx), Kai Hoffman (Secret Discovery) and dozen other alternative music singers appear on a new charity single for the Nordoff/Robbins music therapy. It's called "Heal Yourself", labelled New Rock Conference and set for a September 18 release on BMG. /Mikael Kahrle

Andy Bell to make a solo cover album on his 40th birthday

• Andy Bell (to the left) of Erasure is thinking about making a solo album to mark his 40th birthday.
- I've mentioned to Vince that I'd quite like to do a solo thing and maybe do it on my 40th birthday, so that's four more years. That would be doing standards, doing covers, but really old ones, that your parents used to listen to, like "The Last Waltz" and those kind of things. Do it half that and then half disco originals, Bell explains in NME. /Erik Almgren

De/Vision involved in trance 12"
• De/Vision and an artist called Green Court have made a 12" together on the German label Logport, featuring a trance cover of The Beloved's mega hit "The Sun Rising". /Mikael Kahrle, Tobias Söderlund

New Sow album in the works
• Spoken word artist Anna Wildsmith is getting ready to work on a new Sow album. The recordings will be coordinated by her former partner Raymond Watts, who may also contribute some music. Other musical participants will be Haloblack, MDFMK and probably a few others as well. /Kristoffer Noheden

New Erasure video directed by Vince Clarke

• As reported earlier, the new Erasure album "Loveboat" will be put out on October 23 and the single "Freedom" (October 9) is spinning on radio now. The video filmed in West London marks the directorial debut of Vince Clarke. Well, maybe not entirely. Some might remember his millennial web program where he starred, directed and broadcasted a home-made live show from his garden on New Year's Eve. Erasure will not tour in connection to "Loveboat". /Mikael Kahrle

Compilation backed by 20 release parties
• On September 15, Ausfahrt delivers a new compilation called "Naked Noise & Silent Dreams" with different kinds of EBM as well as some more atmospherical pieces. Among the most familiar names, Umbra et Imago, Codex, Placebo Effect, E-Craft, Richard Strange and Prager Handgriff can be found. Most of the 15 bands are unknown though, at least outside Germany, so here is an opportunity to find new hard electronic acts.
Ausfahrt will do some thorough work on this release, which might be needed since several compilations like this one are produced each week these days, not to mention all magazine CD:s. Ausfahrt obviously thinks this is a CD worth celebrating, since there will be 20 release parties for "Naked Noise & Silent Dreams". /Mikael Kahrle

Add N to (X) to release new single and album
• British electronica nutters Add N to (X) will release their new single "Plug Me in" on October 2. Hot on the heels of this, their new album "Add Insult to Injury" is due out later that month. /Kristoffer Noheden

German Alternative Music Award is here

• Now, Germany launches an event very similar to the Swedish Alternative Music Awards, SAMA. The German Alternative Music Award (there's actually eleven awardS, not one), GAMA, will take place on November 11 in Hamburg's Markthalle.
Covenant, Mouse on Mars, Keith Caputo and probably also Farmer Boys will perform live.
Awards will be presented in eleven categories: best German artist, international artist, newcomer, live show, album, single, DJ/event, VIVA video award, DAC award, label award and an honour award. /Mikael Kahrle

KMFDM founders go Schwein-ing
• KMFDM founders Sascha Konietzko, now in MDFMK, and Raymond Watts a k a Pig, have teamed up once again. They have just started the recordings for a new project entitled Schwein, whose debut album is scheduled to be released early next year. Also participating is MDFMK singer Lucia and possibly two members of Japanese band Buck-Tick.
At the same time Raymond Watts' project Pig Orchestra plan to release their first album of twisted, irreverent cover songs. The band features members from Elastica and old shoegazers Swervedriver, as well as legendary slide guitarist BJ Cole, recently spotted recording an album with Luke Vibert. /Kristoffer Noheden

Another female industrial compilation series

The Razor Skyline - female industrial band, which has participated on all three "Diva X Machina" compilations.

• Maybe you've heard of COP's "Diva X Machina"-series with female fronted industrial bands? Now, our Belgian colleagues Side-Line launches a new project called "Vedusa XX". There's still embarrassingly few women in hard - well, all - electronic music, so why not? The first release will be a low-price double CD in early 2001. /Mikael Kahrle

Apoptygma Berzerk and VNV Nation US tour started
• Yesterday, Apoptygma Berzerk and VNV Nation kicked off their joined US tour in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Twelve cities will be visited by the "Welcome to Earth" tour. VNV Nation is also going to play at least three dates on their own in the USA directly afterwards. /Mikael Kahrle

Snog relaxed and remixed
• September 26 marks the release of Snog's new album "Relax into the Abyss" on Metropolis. It offers remixes from their latest album "Third Mall from the Sun". Snog is a weird electronic act originating from Australia, with David Thrusell and Pieter Bourke. /Mikael Kahrle

New Swedish electronic project

Sophie Rimheden sings on Komp's debut album.

• If everything goes as planned, the debut album from Komp - "Vena" will come out today on a company called "Komplott". Komp is a Swedish project which plays a mix of electro, hip hop, noise and dub. Sophie Rimheden aka trip hop project Hayce performs guest vocals on one track.
Furthermore, in October, Komp plans to release a 12" called "Apablo". /Mikael Kahrle

Arvika Festival continues
• The Swedish Arvika Festival will continue next year, even though they were criticised for major drug problems this year. They will work hard to prevent new problems in the future, together with the police and authorities.
On the other hand, Arvika Festival 2000 was successful with more visitors than ever. /Mikael Kahrle

Underworld breaks new ground with DVD release


• In August, the Underworld CD and vinyl single "Cowgirl", gave a taste of the new live release "Everything, Everything". The CD single also offered a video clip. "Everything, Everything" consists of different live recordings and will first be released in a CD version. It's out now in some parts of the world, and in others the release date is September 12.
The most interesting release, however, is the groundbreaking "Everything, Everything" DVD version, scheduled for October 9. It's always difficult to transmit a live experience to the living room, but the DVD format opens new doors. The 9 GB "Everything, Everything" DVD offers high quality sound and video on the same format. Also: 5.1 Dolby surround sound, language selections and lots of interactivity. The DVD also unlocks more material on a special web site, where new stuff for the DVD will be added on a regular basis. DVD buyers will be able to mix pictures and sounds themselves, play games and watch video art, to mention just some of the features.
Underworld member and project leader Rick Smith claims several hundred people has been involved in this ambitious project since May 1999. /Mikael Kahrle

Hot Mute newcomers Goldfrapp ready for launch

• The duo Goldfrapp, fronted by Alison Goldfrapp, is going to release their debut album "Felt Mountain" through Mute on September 11. It's said to be a rural soundscape inspired by 60's French pop, fractured electronics, classical music and wrapped in bittersweet melodies. /Erik Almgren

Pig re-release with new tracks
• Pig will be releasing a new version of the album "Genuine American Monster" later this year. The new version will include new tracks, remixes and artwork. At this stage it is uncertain if it is going to be a double-disc. /Erik Almgren

NIN tribute released by Cleopatra


• On August 22, American alternative label Cleopatra delivered the Nine Inch Nails tribute "Covered in Nails". Among the participants Rosetta Stone, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Switchblade Symphony, Pig, Sheep on Drugs and Electric Hellfire Club can be found. /Mikael Kahrle

Pure Gary Numan
• The new album by Gary Numan is finished. It's called "Pure" and contains eleven new tracks. The planned official release date is October 9. This is the first release since "Exile", back in 1997. /Niklas Forsberg

Evil's Toy back at it
• A brand new Evil's Toy single called "Virtual State", is released today on E-Wave Records, a division of BMG Germany. We get two versions of the title track, as well as a track from the forthcoming album and an exclusive extra song. The new album will be called "Silvertears". Former member of Evil's Toy, Thorsten Brenda, has left the band. The two remaining members will continue, though. /Niklas Forsberg

De/Vision split


Photo by: Mathias Bothor

• After over ten years in one of the most important European synthpop bands, keyboarder Markus leaves De/Vision. He plans to continue his musical career under a new name together with other musicians. The two remaining De/Vision members are currently working hard on a new CD, to be released next summer. /Jens Krause

Oomph! and Farmer Boys on German tour


• The crossover veterans Oomph! plan an extensive German tour from mid September and on. For the first time, material from the forthcoming album and single will be performed live. The smash newcomers Farmer Boys will support Oomph!. /Jens Krause