Alice In Videoland – A Million Thoughts And They’re All About You

Covenant – Modern Ruin

Daft Punk – Tron Legacy Soundtrack

Freezepop – Imaginary Friends

Iszoloscope – The Edge of Certainty

Komor Kommando – Oil, Steel & Rhythm

Shiv-r – Incision EP

Suicide Commando – Death Cures All Pain

Twitch The Ripper – Bodiless

Various Artists – Werkschau

Vertical Section – Death Throes

Wire – Red Barked Tree

read the reviews in the February/March 2011 Issue

Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of the Shadows – A Strange Thing To Say CD + DVD

release date : November 20, 2010
released by : Apocalyptic Vision Records
info : www.soporaeternus.de
reviewed by : Meagan Hendrickson

I was given the Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of the Shadows album A Strange Thing to Say by Mike our music editor and I was a little confused by the packaging as the CD+DVD pack was far from something I’d expect to enjoy. The cover showcases alien imagery, odd video game-esque design, and an overall appearance that left me with an inquisitive moment.  Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised when I sat down to give Sopor a good listen and fell in love with the voice of the fabulous Anne-Varney Cantodea and then proceeded to give myself a good slap for thinking so snarkingly.

While Miss Cantodea labels herself as goth and others label Sopor as darkwave, I find the baroque instrumentation familiar to dark cabaret and neo-classical sounds, with the use of strings, pipe organs, brass, and woodwinds. The renaissance instruments mix together with flawless melodic brilliance to my refreshed ear, as it is nice to hear real instruments used and not purely synthesized. Paired with the music, Anne-Varney Cantodea’s (or AVC for short) chilling voice tells stories of love, humor, and sadness, as exhibited in the title track, “A Strange Thing To Say”. The whole album is accompanied by a full booklet that includes the song lyrics that are filled with AVC’s poetic words, macabre sense of humor, and striking imagery.

(more…)

Mankind Is Obsolete – Manic Recession

release date : August 10, 2010
released by : self release
info : 17 tracks . www.mkio.com
genre : industrial rock/electro industrial
reviewed by : Mike Kieffer

Mankind Is Obsolete is one of my favorite industrial rock bands and I was quite nervous when I found this remix album was getting released. I don’t want to hear the organic drums replaced with a crappy 4-4 club beat, or tight guitar riffs being hacked to bits and re-looped with bad cuts. As you can tell I have been disappointed in previous attempts by other bands. So will MKIO be successful in pleasing me? Well let’s start from the beginning, Manic Recession is a 17 track remix album of the 2007 release Trapped Inside in which 9 of the 11 original tracks get treatment and there is also one original song and a cover song.  Starting things off is a remix of “Awake” by Mindcube, it is an average attempt that has hints of DnB but really I was just waiting for it to drop hard DJ Hidden style and it didn’t. The second track “Silent Killer” by Steven Rober Meyers Jr. pulled me back on board. This is a solid remix turning the track into a somewhat dance floor friendly or at least provides a beat for the DJ to mix in and out of. One of my favorite tracks was “Troubled Dreams” remixed by The Lunarium, which pretty much abandons the original except for the vocals, and even then they digitalized Natasha Cox’s voice and clipped and chopped it up and added tones of echo.

Overall I found some of the remixes to be good, some ok, and some bad. I still suggest picking this up if you are a fan, but if you are just going to jump into MKIO for the first time get the real album, it is way better and really is that a bad thing?

recommended tracks : Troubled Dreams (Remixed by The Lunarium, Outland 1101 Mix)
overall 6 . music 6 . lyrics 9 . recording quality 6

Catch Mankind Is Obsolete on tour in the US starting August 12th with Android Lust.

Ascii.Disko – Stay Gold Forever Gold

Deftones – Diamond Eyes

Edge of Dawn – Anything That Gets You Through The Night

Ellen Allien – Dust

Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma

LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

Front Line Assembly – Improvised Electronic Device

The Lovecrave – Soul Saliva

Mothboy – Bunny

Nice Nice – Extra Wow

SE – L36

Shiv-r – Hold My Hand

The Sight Below – It Falls Apart

read the reviews in the June/July 2010 Issue

A Kiss Could Be Deadly – Farwell EP

release date : June 22, 2010
released by : Metropolis
info : 6 tracks . akisscouldbedeadly.com
genre : fusion, punk, new wave, electro
reviewed by : Mike Kieffer

Two years ago A Kiss Could Be Deadly released their self-titled debut album an upbeat fusion of punk, electro, and new wave with a female singer, it was a recipe that dared me not to love it. Fast forward two years and their name pops back onto my radar with a six song EP with two original tracks, a cover, and three remixes, titled Farwell. The original songs “I’ll Be Your Anti-Hero, Baby” and “Only In Darkness” are more punk in flavor then the 2006 release. The two songs are both good, full of great hooks, and really make me wish there was more. The three remixes of “Acoustic Romance”, “Damage Control”, and “I Guess You Didn’t Mean It” are all strong as well and make you immediately dig through your old files (or CDs) and find the original release.

Inside the booklet you will find, what I will assume, a sign that there will be no more material from them. Underneath the copyright 2010 hidden into the background of the artwork is the phrase, “it is finished.” The band lineup is listed as “is/was”. The title of the album is Farwell. This all points to the fact that the band did break up in the end of 2008 and they are now in separate bands.

I hope I am wrong and some resurgence of popularity will pull them back together…  like Futurarama (new series starts June 24^th).

recommended tracks : all of them
if you like you may like : The Birthday Massacre, Helalyn Flowers
overall 8 . music 7 . lyrics 8 . recording quality 7

How To Destroy Angels – S/T EP

release date : June 1, 2010
released by : self released
info : 1st album . 6 tracks . 28:47 run time
genre : electronic / industrial
reviewed by : Jason Draper

It’s been less than nine months since Trent Reznor announced the indefinite hiatus of Nine Inch Nails. While this EP didn’t come out under his former moniker, it’s hard to deny the similarities in the musical content. Working with his wife Mariqueen Maandig (former West Indian Girl) and Atticus Ross, Reznor has created a concise EP that feels like natural progression from 2008s The Slip.

In a genre in which bands continue to release unmemorable albums, it is Maandig’s vocal hooks that make How to Destroy Angels stand out amongst their peers. They have a similar effect as a spring-cleaning on an old country home. The music still has the abrasive tones that you come to expect, yet the vocals even it out, and at times make the songs pleasantly hypnotic. It’s strange to walk around humming the melody from an industrial song, as if it were a radio pop song, but that is exactly what the album has done to this listener.

recommended tracks : 3.6
if you like you may like : Nine Inch Nails, West Indian Girl, Sneaker Pimps
overall 9 . music 10 . lyrics 8 . recording quality 10

get this EP for free at www.howtodestroyangels.com

reviewed by : Mike Kieffer

released by : Metropolis Records on 03 February 2009
data : 6th full length . 11 tracks . 47:51 run time . www.babyland.info
genre : electronic junk punk

The Los Angeles based band Babyland’s latest electronic junk punk release, Cavecraft, comes along after a long five year wait from when The Finger came out in 2004.  All I can say is that it was well worth the wait.  The album starts with the slamming track “Last Ave”.  Here, you will find all the classic Babyland sounds, from rhythmic percussions with bangs, clicks, scrapes, and clangs to killer synth lines, all of which are backed up by passionate vocals wailing out deep lyrics.  The second and third tracks “You Will Never Have It” and “Rimer Drive Tiger” offer up no relief.  These three tracks all have catchy lyrics and melodies that will stick in your head for days.  Cavecraft is a well-blended album where each track is part of a whole and less of  individual tracks on a single album.  Speaking from personal experience, this can lead the listener to overlook tracks upon first listen but then find gems months later.  After many listens to this album I found a new favorite in “Lifestyle”. (more…)