Blatant Propaganda Zine & CD:
Various Artists :::
"Chain DLK Magazine and CD compilation # 6".
electro-industrial darkwave synthpop ambient electronics.
Magazine || CD track-list || Price
CHAIN DLK is a fabulous magazine produced in Italy (though written in English), that is primarily dedicated to the 'darker', more ominous side of electronic music ie.industrial, darkwave, dark ambient etc. It's very well produced and is always full to the hilt with interesting interviews, feature articles, reviews, occasional socio-political issues & more. It has tonnes and tonnes of work put into it and it shows. The contact details are: Web: www.dune.fionline.it/chaindlk e-mail: DLK@technologist.com
2 issues of this magazine and the accompanying 75 minute CD compilations are available from Blatant Propaganda. Below is a detailed review of issue #6:
47 A4 pages, 8 in full colour,. Features a major article on Front Line Assembly, detailed interviews with Spahn Ranch, Girls under Glass, Dive, J. Citizen from EYE (!!!), Old Europa Cafe Records, Tommy T of DSBP Records, Artificial Tears, Condition One, Disappointed, Chris Schwartz, Y-Ton-G, Mesh, E.A. Matrix, Italian Electronic Music History Part 4, 300 reviews and lots more!
1. Kismet - "weaving" A very grooving piece of electro-folk-industrial with mellow low crooning male vocals from this Macedonian, part-time Australian outfit.
2. Noxious Emotion - "Nitrogen (tweek version)" this band sure does get it's name around! Going in new directions, yet still true to their robotic electro sound. My partner brought my attention to the lyrics, which hmm... I'll just say is about a subject that nearly all of us are interested in from time to time.
3. Ras Al Ghul - "Twin Structure (dlk mix)" well this group is just awesome. Wonderful mystical ambient; Indian drones, tablas & oriental sounds in a dark electro context.
4. Phycus - "Vhemt" great tribal percussive industrial with gruff vocals that reminds heaps of early Test Dept (one of my favourite bands!) so I'm bound to like this.
5. EYE - "Logo Identity (kill koka kola, annihilate muckdonalds) full drill mix" Gee, what a sexy song, this band sure is so good, I wish I were in this band. Well, enough self-aggrandisement, this is the extended mix of the 1997 demo; blitzing cyber-industrial that chants & croons about McGlobalisation and modern fascist corporate tribalism: "without your corporate logos, what is your identity?" blah-blah-blah :-)
6. Holland Bulb Head - "Untouchable" very slick stomping electro-industrial that compares very favourably with Front Line Assembly.
7. Anima In Fiamme - "Ferite (dlk version)" A combination of noisy industrial noise with church organs and Laibachish orchestral bits. It's like a cross between SPK's "Information Overload Unit "album (noise) with their "Zahmia Lehmanni" album (neo-classical).
8. Larry Gaab - "I see Geckos" a beautiful ambient piece of transient shimmering sounds - if you like Dorobo Records releases, and /or Brian Eno's "Ambient..." albums, you'll love this. I do.
9. TH26 & Trans Atlantic Crush (T.A.C.) - "Erosive Permutation" quirky & unsettling electronic industrial soundscapes. Not outright nasty, slightly reserved & ominous. It sounds like the alien creature from that 1980s-hollywood "Predator" film going on a hunting trip.
10. Argine - "Come un servo da Mantice (dlk version)" Violins, acoustic guitar, tribal drums, and seductive Italian vocals.
11. Apochrypho - "Kneel (Dj vex edit)" Grating industrial noises, chants, it reminds me lots of late-1970s SPK at their best - like "Slogan" of the "Auto-da-fe" album. Thank goodness someone's doing stuff like this these days!
12. Bytet - "Doubting Angels (Fanatic mix)" an instrumental version showcasing their, how can I put it, retro-futuristic-sci-fi-electro sound. Imagine how those in the 1920s, keep Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" film in mind, and imagine what they would have envisioned music in the year 1999s and beyond to sound like.
13. Gary Flanagan - "Despite all your worries" what a happy positive bopping totally analogue-synth piece of synthpop! Some people, you know those only wanting to hear angry-angsty stuff (like I did for years) would run in fright from such a song, but I love it. Imagine Kraftwerk or early Depeche Mode mixed with Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry be Happy".
14. Billy - "vi-o-len" Imagine poltergeists have occupied your house, and they've switched on every electrical appliance in your house turning the channels on your radio and t.v. set back and forth. You'd hear this!
15. Confession of Faith - "Barrow" Slow grooving electro with droning synths, sparse clunking distorted guitars, piano, strong celtic-gothic-croon male vocals, mixed with prose samples from something like a 1950s Hitchcock suspense thriller. Terrific! (see album review this issue)
16. Spiritual Front - "Her favourite Confidential Destroyer" Looping carnival piano & organ music with grating noises, and dark husky male prose.
17. Second Skin - "Club Sexxx (extacy mix)" New romantic gothic male vocals croon over a stomping electro tune. Like early Spandau Ballet crossed with Christian Death, the Damned and electronic body music.
18. the M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab - "Cambia (Change)" Imagine an Italian industrial version of the Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails and you'll get something like this. This gem is hidden at the end of the CD because it's partly the project of Marc Urselli-Scharer who is one of the editors of Chain DLK and he's being modest. Reversed noises, choirs, pounding beats, overdriven synths, sparse metallic guitar samples, with hard-core ranting distorted Italian male vocals. Like NIN meets Laibach if they had Hitler-in-full-flight-hysteria doing vocals. Awesome!
CONFORM!
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