Europ Europ - Mellowharsher (preview)
A preview of the upcoming Europ Europ 10" MLP "Mellowharsher", due out soon via .
Label: Enfant Terrible
Viewing posts 1-12 out of 12Adolf Filter - River of Chebar
is streaming another track from their excellent "Svensk bonnasynth" "hillbilly synthpop" comp.
Kord - I, sexuality
Preview a cut from the new 3-way split "Svensk bonnasynth" featuring Kord, Adolph Filter and Monster Apparat, out soon via . I listened to a promo copy earlier today and it's a lot of fun -- more here: http://www.enfant-terrible.nl/ET006.html
Agent Side Grinder repress
is doing a new pressing of Agent Side Grinder's excellent self-titled debut LP and it will be available on July 1 in an edition of 400 copies on black, 100 on blue. However, you can also still purchase a first-edition pressing on direct from me for $13 + s/h -- I've got 2 copies left in ye ol' mailorder distro.
Europ Europ - This song makes me cry (video)
New music from Norwegian electronic act Europ Europ, soon to be released on 7" via the group's own label . Also look for another vinyl release via later this year.
Enflant Terrible to give away exclusive label-night comp
is putting together a limited C20 comp to be given away at their upcoming label night on February 27 at Gifgrond in Tilborg, Holland. Said comp will feature two tracks from each of the featured Swedish acts performing that night: Adolf Filter, Kord and Monster Apparat, a collaboration of the first two bands playing together. Read more/hear samples: http://www.enfant-terrible.nl/ET003.html
Tobias Bernstrup
1984 EP
Enfant Terrible
Cheesy enough to make into fondue, there's nary an original moment on Tobias Bernstrup's newest EP, "1984". However Bernstrup is too busy getting listeners off their butts to worry about a silly thing like originality -- and darn it if he won't have a sweaty dance floor as his reward. Cleverly marrying a grab bag of the spandex-generation's influences (Depeche Mode, Joy Division, anyone who's ever played with the sample function on a synthesizer), to the lighter hand of modern electro-goth, and just a splash of self-awareness (I hope), "1984" comes off as a deliciously melodramatic trifle. Heck, the titular track does warn, "We're in 1984." Don't lie -- you've still got your "Members Only" jacket. Right?
The key word here is melodramatic. From Bernstrup's Bela Lugosi vocals layered over relentlessly driving synths (every good synth is in want of an "ohhh-ohhh oh oh" refrain) to titles such as "Light years apart" and "Enemies of the Earth" there's little here to suggest that less is more. Again, it's nothing we haven't heard, but like "B" horror flicks, this represents a brilliant rehash of classically campy 1980s sound. The only offender is "Data love", its spoken chorus coming close to collapse under self-parody. However, positioned as a closing track, it's too late for ardent complaints -- Bernstrup has already sucked you into his neon-clad world. Grab me a Fresca, let's hit the floor.
- Laura Studarus
Agent Side Grinder
The transatlantic tape project
Enfant Terrible
You might wonder why Agent Side Grinder have decided to release two albums at once -- I certainly did -- but, far from this endeavour mirroring the Guns N' Roses "Use your illusion" double-whammy (two albums of the same type of music; one album's worth of decent music), upon cranking this up after giving "Irish recording tape" (see review here) a rattle I can see why. While its companion album offers a pretty conventional Krautrock/electropunk nostalgia trip, "The transatlantic tape project" is an entirely different entity, exploring soundscapes that appear infinitely more contemporary and more ethereal. At times akin to some of Red Harvest's electronic uneasiness, at times sounding off like Genghis Tron's ZX Spectrum moments, and at times simply sounding like pure, unadulterated dread, ASG succeed in outputting a little under a half hour of dark ambient electronica that's the perfect accompaniment to inebriation and candlelight. It doesn't get much bleaker than on "210-392", surely a track to herald the impending onset of a nuclear holocaust, while "008-199" could serve as the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic planet Earth, devoid of civilization bar a handful of desperate survivors clawing at some hope of redemption. Oddly enough though, it all winds down on a decidedly beautiful note with "090-219", signing off with a nice piano passage that shows us there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Or is there...?
- John Norby
Agent Side Grinder
Irish recording tape
Enfant Terrible
This is one of a duo of albums released simultaneously by the Swedish new wave minimalists and it adheres to more conventional song structures than its companion "The transatlantic tape project". The album is firmly ensconced in the retro cyber-punk quirkiness of the 1980s and, through its idiosyncratic outlook, finds its niche in the Krautrock movement. There's plenty on offer here, from the uneasy industrial catatonia of opener "Pulse" to the pop-pogo beats of "Die to live" to the abstract happiness of "Eyes of the old". It's littered with a Cold War clinicism that keeps the album rooted in that era despite the fact that the world-at-large is years ahead of that age (or so we're led to believe). The likes of "The screams" and "Telefunk" wouldn't sound out of place on an early John Carpenter soundtrack (if the vocals were removed) and that's an added bonus in my book. I'll not say that Agent Side Grinder are doing anything new when it comes to a genre known for its penchant for innovation, but the fact that they've stripped things right back to their roots -- that they sound authentically old-school -- may well be their own form of experimentation. Far from unique but, surely, that's the point.
- John Norby
Undergången review at Terrible Music
The blog has good things to say about the "Undergången" C120 comp: http://terrible-music.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-undergangen-audio-companion-to.html
As they say, highly recommended for anyone into dark adventurous music! I've got a scant few copies for sale left if anyone wants one: [click here]