News editors: Mikael Kahrle & Johan Carlsson

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The new PJ Harvey release out on May 31

• Earlier this month, we told you about the new PJ Harvey album and now we can add some new details. Her seventh album is called "Uh Hu Her" and will be released on May 31 (Island) with a single for "The Letter" out on May 17. This release was finished in autumn 2003 with Harvey producing, Head assisting in mixing and Rob Ellis taking care of percussion. All other instruments were played by Polly Jean herself. /Peter Marks

Krautock pioneers go hip hop
• Over 30 years into their career, krautrock band Faust still try to break new ground. On their forthcoming album “Derbe Respect, Alder”, they’ve teamed up with American underground hip hop act Dälek for eight tracks of unsettling sonic mayhem. The inspired result is released on Faust’s Klangbad label on April 26. /Kristoffer Noheden

Jay-Jay back in town; helped by Kent member

Shot of a girl from a previous Jay-Jay video.

• May 26 will see the release of Swedish odd lounge- and synthpopper Jay-Jay Johanson's best of compilation "Prologue". Jay-Jay has co-operated with Kent guitar player Sami Sirviö and producer Stefan Boman on a 2004 version of "So Tell the Girls That I am Back in Town" and a previously unreleased piece called "My Way".
Sirviö and Boman is the same team that assisted Mobile Homes on their EP from last year. The quite unsuccessful EP was expected to make way for a complete album, but so far nothing has happened. /Mikael Kahrle

More blipp from Blipp
• Swedish synthpop act Blipp may be quite unknown, but they've existed for an impressive 14 years (but in the early days they called themselves Poetica Grotesque). Now, they plan to return with their new album "Impulser", which will feature a selection of the 21 songs they have recorded lately. A radio promo was sent to some radio stations yesterday. The tracks from this promo, as well as others, can be heard on their new web site. /Mikael Kahrle

Skinny Puppy title and date confirmed

• The title and release date of the new Skinny Puppy album are now fully confirmed by SPV. "The Greater Wrong of the Right" will be out on May 24.
The players: Cevin Key and Nivek Ogre. The guests: Danny Carey (Tool), Wayne Static (Static-X), Statik (Collide), Omar Torres (Hologram), Otto von Schirach (Schematic Records), Cyrus Rex, Pat Sprawl ("Process" era guitarist), Saki Kaskas and Traz Damji. The tracks: "I'mmortal", "Pro-Test", "EmpTe", "Neuwerld", "Ghostman", "dOwnsizer", "Past Present", "Use Less", "Goneja" and "DaddyuWarbash".
Skinny Puppy have also added a third live date in London's The Forum on July 20. /Peter Marks, Mikael Kahrle, Johan Carlsson

Sport and music nostalgia
• The Static festival in Stockholm saw the debut of Mobile Homes all-electronic side project Sapporo' 72. They will open for The Human League in Gothenburg on April 30.
A self titled three track EP with very Kraftwerkian songs is on its way, and you can listen to the full length (all 10 minute long) tracks on the newly created web page. Although the band hasn't released any records yet, they already sell T-shirts and key badges. The Sapporo Winter Olympic games 1972 was the first to be held outside Europe. /Johan Carlsson, Mikael Kahrle

Hot summer for Fixmer/McCarthy
• The debut album from Fixmer/McCarthy is called "Between the Devil" and is scheduled for a June 28 release. This is yet another hot band recently signed to SPV. Fixmer/McCarthy has a number of gigs coming up. /Mikael Kahrle

New futurepop from Italy
• Syrian is an Italian synthpop or futurepop band that released their debut album “De-synchronized” last year. Now they have a new EP coming up, with the first glimpse of their new album. It’s called “Space Overdrive”, features lots of remixes and a CD-rom video (March 22). /Johan Carlsson

Massive Björk singles box

• This spring we’ll get a complete singles box from Björk, with all singles, remixes and white labels combined. Should be out in April. /Johan Carlsson

Orbital helped by Lisa Gerrard and Sparks
• Legendary British techno act Orbital is finished with a new album which will be out sometime in 2004. Some interesting guests on the album are Sparks (currently visiting Sweden, by the way) and Lisa Gerrard. /Johan Carlsson

Moulin Noir back again
• After a pretty long wait, Swedish synthpop and darkwave act Moulin Noir is back again with new material. The album is called “Boy in Darkness” and features 16 tracks. Out on March 22 on A Different Drum. /Johan Carlsson

The Klinik head to Leipzig and plot reissues of classic albums

Klinik at their last (then only) reunion gig in Belgium last year.
Photo by: Sören Jensen

• Marc Verhaeghen and Dirk Ivens will perform under The Klinik moniker once again on May 29 at this year's edition of the Wave Gotik Treffen festival. Whether or not this presages further shows by the reunited old band is not known.
And just to jolt everyone a bit more, The Klinik have recently reacquired all rights to their infamously impossible to find back catalogue. Further news as we get it. /Peter Marks

Gabi + Alice = true
• Gabi Delgado from DAF has remixed a track on the next Alice in Videoland single "Going Down", to be released in the near future. The Swedish band is influenced by DAF. "Going Down" is quite different from the previous single choices.
Alice in Videoland is one of the most active live acts in Scandinavia right now. Their latest tour leg stretches over 35 gigs including a trip to London's Slimelight and stops in minor Swedish cities like Kungsbacka and Sölvesborg. Other electro bands: look at Alice... and learn. Most bands just play a few gigs, if any, here and there, most of which at obvious locations like big city clubs and festivals. Extensive touring can usually be seen in other genres. /Mikael Kahrle

New album imminent from For a Space
• "Civilian on Battlefield" is the title of the new album by Germany's ecclectic For a Space. One of the new tracks "Make up the World" is currently available on the "Electric Moments" compilation disc. Sole member Sebastian Ullman has released one album, "Welcome 4.000" (2000 Basic Unit Productions) and also a re-issue of his out-of-print EP "Secrets Behind" (1998) on the Funkwelten label. For those who are feeling lucky, he has also released a 7" single and also an entire film score. Both are, naturally, unavailable. /Peter Marks

Architect goes shopping; S'Apex murmurs
• The long-awaited second album from Daniel Myer's Architect entitled "I Went out Shopping for Some Noise" will be out April 2 (Hymen). As per the norm, it bears little similarity to the previous Architect album, 1998's "Galactic Supermarket". The album contains 13 tracks which are described as "electro/acid/industrial/techno". On a related note, plans have been revealed by the Myer camp for a new S'Apex album which will hopefully emerge later in the year. /Peter Marks

Skinny Puppy to Arvika

Photo by: Austin Young

• Skinny Puppy has been in the upper region of the wish-list of the Swedish Arvika Festival for many years. And when the legendary band was hired for the German Zillo Festival the Arvika weekend we started to suspect something could happen.
Today, the festival proudly announced this year's event (July 15-17) will be headlined by Skinny Puppy. This is an exclusive gig for the Nordic countries.
– This is as good, cool and fun as it gets. To book Skinny Puppy to the Arvika Festival is the most exciting thing I'll ever experience, head of booking Lars Johansson says. /Mikael Kahrle

Nick Cave DVD suddenly delayed

• Just as we published the review of "The Videos" DVD that collects all videos with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, the distributor wanted us to remove from our site. Evidently, the release is pushed forward from March 29 (this date was still published on the Mute web site today) to May 3 and the DVD:s content will be slightly changed. We have yet to learn the reason for the delay. Well, all Cave fans will have to wait yet another while for the review and the eminent collection of videos. Looks like it’s buried under several feet of pure white snow… /Kalle Malmstedt, Mikael Kahrle

New Years Day in March
• Zeraphine's new single "New Years Day" will be out on March 22 (E-Wave/Drakkar). Sven Friedich formed Zeraphine in 2001 out of the ashes of his previous band, the legendary goth/darkwave act Dreadful Shadows. Zeraphine's style could be described as a mixture of darkwave and precisely mechanized rock. Their last release was 2003's "Traumaworld". /Peter Marks

A most unusual label from Germany
• Mikrolux, a relatively new (established 2002) and remarkably unheard record label from Germany has just released "Mikromix One". This compilation disc shows the label's highly talented, eccentric roster of bands giving their all with some truly otherworldly, alienated electronic tracks. A label for those who enjoy their minimalism with a dash of experimentation crossed with a tinge of human warmth. Highly recommended for fans of Haujobb's "Ninetynine" era recordings. /Peter Marks

New Eddie Bengtsson project finally signed
• Eddie Bengtsson's latest project This Fish Needs a Bike has finally been picked up by Energy Rekords, who will release the synthpop album “Between A&B”, hopefully this spring. US distribution will be handled by Miniature Records.
In further news, Energy promotion manager and Project-X front man Torny Gottberg leaves Energy shortly. /Johan Carlsson, Mikael Kahrle

Joke Jay signs himself
• Ex-And One man Joke Jay will release his solo album "Fiasko Deluxe" and single "Angefixt" (mid-May) on his own, newly started label Wannsee. Distribution will be taken care of by Edel. /Jens Krause

Yelworc storm the charts
• "Trinity" (Minuswelt/Soul Food), the new album by EBM scene veterans Yelworc has ascended to number 3 in the DAC charts after five weeks. It is the first sign of life from the band in ten years and does not feature co-founder Dominic van Reich as a member. Mr Van Reich's last appearance on album was under the name Amgod in 1994 with the legendary "Half Rotten and Decayed" full-length. Both bands were signed to the infamous Celtic Circle Productions label with Yelworc actually being the first band to be released by CCP. Yelworc's original line-up split in 1993 with a bitter legal foray following closely after, as to who owned the name of the band. A name that by the way reads Crowley backwards. /Peter Marks

Demise of EFA means hard times for some
• When news hit on March 2 that EFA Medien (Germany) was filing for bankruptcy, the dark music scene felt the repercussions immediately. Many established and upcoming musicians are likely in a state of financial flux until new music distribution contracts can be drawn up to gain future income. In changing their distribution, bands and labels will be forced to change artwork on their product to reflect a new barcode for the SoundScan system for tabulation of tracked sales. Bands may be forced to repress products if they cannot obtain their music catalogue from EFA in a timely manner. While the older products could still be sold through mail order or at gig merchandising booths, new releases effectively must get into the distribution channel for consumers to purchase. The possible collapse of EFA affects bands such as Clan of Xymox, Corvus Corax, Garden of Delight, SITD and The Fair Sex. A full list of affected labels (including Metropolis, Cold Meat Industry, Pandaimonium, Alfa-Matrix and Trisol) and can be found here.
We spoke with kultfigur Bruno Kramm (Das Ich) at the recent EBMFest 2004 about the EFA debacle. Das Ich has drawn up plans to move the distribution of their Danse Macabre label to Soulfood Music Distribution/Sony Music Entertainment GmbH. Also, in conversation with members of Ayria and Glis, their label Alfa Matrix earlier this year had moved to Soulfood in the GAS territories. Some musicians were worried if their sales numbers did not hit a quota for Sony, their music could effectively be dropped in the future. We will certainly come back and report on this setback for the dark scene. /Alex Veronac

Israeli Vultures on the move

• The newly founded label MoMT Records in UK will release the new EP from the Israeli industrial band Vultures. Called “Great Discoveries and Plasma Ticks”, this disc comes loaded with new tracks and remixes by K-Nitrate, PTYL, PTSMC, Such and 21st Century Jesus. Out on April 5. /Johan Carlsson

No Syntax error



• Not quite, but Syntax is a new project of two men with pretty different backgrounds. Mike Tournier comes from electronica outfit Fluke, while Jan Burton sees himself as a “five-piece band with guitars” kind of guy. They have just released their debut album “Meccano Mind”, described by the band as “dramatic keyboard symphonies and tales of soul survival and mind fragmentation”. Just imagine dark, melodic electronic songs, with powerful and soulful singing on top. They also have the single “Bliss” out, with remixes by Felix da Housecat. /Johan Carlsson

Wolfsheim wins Echo Award
• Pop duo Wolfsheim have won a German Echo Award in back on March 6. Their category win was for Best National Alternative Act in front of the audience at Internationale Congress Centrum Berlin. Video of the German TV performance of "Blind" can be found here and their acceptance speech here.
Wolfsheim starts their first US Tour with eleven dates on March 21 and the Swedish Arvika Festival just announced Wolfsheim will play there. /Alex Veronac