Ronan Harris is on the crest of the electronic music wave with his tenth VNV Nation studio album “Noire”, released in October last year on his own label. The combination of danceable beats, synthpop, EBM and atmospheric pieces of classical music telling stories of grandeur have contributed to the legendary status VNV Nation righteously can claim after staying at the top of the electronic scene for more than twenty years.

Much has changed since former album “Transnational”; Mark Jackson left in 2017 and at present VNV Nation is touring the world as a four-piece. In between the first and second leg of this world tour, we sat down with Ronan Harris in his hometown Hamburg to have an interesting chat about “Noire”, the surreal video experience in Tokyo and creative control. We learned that he has made six albums outside VNV Nation, that he hates the word futurepop and a lot more. We also took some photos, at the interview and at the concert.

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We’re shocked by the news that The Prodigy’s Keith Flint, 49, has been found dead in his home in Essex. [more...]

Daniel Graves has completed his fifth industrial pop album as Aesthetic Perfection. The official release date for “Into the Black” is March 29 but pre-orders for Patreon supporters are open. [more...]

We update our Nordic live guide On Stage up to two times per day. The latest updates include Ministry, Alphaville, Subkult festival additions, Sally Dige, Progress festival in Stockholm additions, Nick Cave, Kite, Severed Heads, Ashbury Heights, Gothenburg Italo disco festival additions and Moonspell.

After a long hiatus, synthpop duo Kite has announced six live dates – so far. [more...]

From Thursday February 21 15:00 CET until Monday, the new Innesi video “Wonderful Life” is available exclusively here at Release Magazine. Indie/synthpop band Innesi is Isabelle Erkendal (ex West End Girls and Peaches), Sami Sirviö (ex Kent) and Christian Jansson (Dead Vibrations). [more...]

D4RKSTAR, the indie/electronic musical project of Gothenburg musician Andreas Lindh, will release the EP “Dystopian Nightmare/Revolutionary Morning” this spring – the follow-up to last year’s debut album “Black Hearts”. [more...]

The independent Swedish Manifest Awards were held yesterday in Stockholm. [more...]

In connection to their new “Agenda” EP, Pet Shop Boys have posted a playlist on Spotify and YouTube with their satire songs, old and new. [more...]

The last few years have seen the arrival of bands such as Actors, Then Comes Silence, The Foreign Resort and The KVB, contributing to a vibrant and exciting new wave of post-punk and coldwave. One of these electrifying new bands that struck a special chord with us is Toronto two-piece TRAITRS, formed in 2015. Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker joined forces with producer Josh Korody and together they created the signature sound of TRAITRS.

In 2016 “Rites and Ritual” was released, 2017 saw the arrival of EP:s “Speak in Tongue” and “Heretic”. And in May 2018 they had a breakthrough on the scene with “Butcher’s Coin”, a record filled with a lot of emotions and, above all, it was an album showcasing great song-writing skills.

In February and March, they will tour the Nordic countries. Release sat down with Sean and Shawn when they visited Hamburg to chat about writing “Butcher’s Coin”, their interest in horror and occult aesthetics, the difference between Toronto and Europe and being overwhelmed by the reception of the European audience. After a horrifying coffee incident and much fascination about how much coffee an ordinary mop can hold, we started off the interview and photo session. [more...]