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News editors: Mikael Kahrle & Johan Carlsson |
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Finally green light for Nitzer Ebb compilation April 27 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden) The long awaited Nitzer Ebb collection “Body of Work 1984- 1997” will finally see the light of day on June 2. That's the same day they're starting their tour at Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Germany. The two-disc album of course features songs from their entire career, as well as some hard to get remixes. Release parties will be hosted all over Europe, between May 26 and June 9. As previously reported, you can catch the re-united band on stage all over Europe as well and their tour looks like this today: June 2 Wave Gotik Treffen, Leipzig, Germany, 6 Haarlem, The Netherlands, 7 Paris, France, 8 Antwerp, Belgium, 9 Madrid, Spain. July 7 Wien, Austria, 9 London, UK, 14 Arvika Festival, Sweden. August 12 M'era Luna Festival, Hildesheim, Germany.
Assemblage 23 side project gets release April 26 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden) Tom Shear aka Assemblage 23 has revived his old project Nerve Filter, and has just released the album “Linear“ under that moniker. It’s more in the electronica vein. It’s out on Accession since April 21. Industrial rock from Estonia April 26 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden) The Estonian electro rock band No Big Silence has worked diligently on their new album “War in Wonderland”, ever since their last full length “Successful, Bitch and Beautiful” was released in 2001. The new album is out now on NBS Recordings, and features ten tracks to be perused at your leisure. Official Depeche Mode live recordings April 21 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden) If you want a quality recording of the Depeche Mode concert you just went to, head on to www.depechemodelive.com. Here you can get a deluxe two-disc set with the specified show on it. Pre-orders are active for upcoming US tour dates, and European summer dates will be announced as well, for a total of 50 dates around the world.
Portion Control is collected April 21 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden)
Legendary electronic band Portion Control will collect their first five vinyl albums onto CD. Called simply “Portion Control – Archive”, it comes limited to 1000 copies and is designed as a box set. Additionally, it has a bonus disc with MP3 versions of the mentioned albums, hundreds of images, and a WAV-file of “Refugee Rebuild” remixed by Rhys Fulber. Out on June 16. Get ready for more audio war April 21 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden) In the continuing Audio War, it seems like we are on the losing side, as the new remix album is titled “Under Enemy Control”. It contains more audio warfare mixed by the likes of The Pain Machinery, Hypefactor, Libitina, KreuzDammer and Action Directe. The disc comes out on May 22, but you can pre-order it now at www.momt.co.uk. And One: the show goes on April 17 2006 | By: Mikael Kahrle (Gothenburg, Sweden) On May 19, Release favorites And One will return with a quite typical And One tune in the form of new single "Military Fashion Show". The new album "Bodypop" follows in late summer, if everything goes as planned. And One is now with hard EBM and noise label Out of Line (which probably means songs like "Sweety Sweety" and "Driving from My Darling" are history - probably a good thing for their career). Out of Line says "Military Fashion Show" is an "infernal bastard, bred from stomping EBM beats, weirdly beautiful synthesizer hooks and highly memorable melodies". Track listing: 1) "Military Fashion Show" (Club Hit) 2) "Beauty Clown" (bonus) 3) "Computer Star" (bonus) 4) "Military Fashion Show" (Naghavi's Re-Something) 5) Reklame "So Klingt Liebe".
"Standard Issue" from Dismantled April 17 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden) Russian born Gary Zon and his cohorts in Dismantled are at it again, with their new album “Standard Issue”. This time around the material is more song-focused, and dare we say it: poppier. Available as both limited edition and a standard issue (as it were) the album is out in Europe on Dependent since April 13, and in the US via Metropolis on April 25. Review in progress.
Stage fiascos on smaller SAMA than usual April 16 2006 | By: Johan Carlsson and Mikael Kahrle (Gothenburg, Sweden)
On Friday, the ninth Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards took place at Trädgår'n in Gothenburg, Sweden. First, let's make a rundown of the winners: Best newcomer: Thermostatic Performancewise, the line-up was pretty stale this year, with familar faces. Also, there were fewer bands than before, on just two stages. SAMA 2006 also had fewer guests. All in all, a smaller SAMA this time around. One must mention that it's a busy April in Gothenburg with The Sisters of Mercy, Portion Control, Hype, The Knife, Blixa Bargeld, New Model Army, Le Sport, Buzzcocks, Morrissey and many more, plus several club nights. Early on SAMA, Iris from USA played their second gig in Sweden ever. After their success at Arvika, they couldn't really follow up with something as special as that, but they put on a good show. Sturm Café was up next, with their old-school body that shook the smaller stage. An energetic show, with funny stage projections (of Arnold Schwarzenegger, for instance). The party mood was getting turned up a notch. The less said about Strasse's new wave rock show, the better, so I'll just skip ahead to poor Das Ich, who had a sizable crowd in front of the stage. Unfortunately, their equipment broke down over and over again, until Ackermann and Kramm finally gave up. A real shame as they are a great live act with interesting musical aspirations. On a few occasions, Das Ich sang without music and did their best to keep the audience in a good mood. German synthpoppers De/Vision must have had a mental lapse of some sort; they played few hits, and many calm and dull songs during prime time at a party like this. If this watered down sound is what they want to present at an important event in Sweden, I can understand why the latest album sounds like it does. After Spetsnaz' hardcore militant body on the small stage, headliners VNV Nation entered the main stage in front of a wildly enthusiastic crowd. And yes, as the true stage professionals they are, they did a fantastic show as usual with Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson giving 100%. Even a smaller, weaker SAMA like this ninth incarnation is an impressive event and a terrific party, but we do believe the audience want SAMA to move forward in the future, not backwards. |
