Don’t Be Afraid, V.1.3 is a long-awaited reissue of the Information Society album Don’t Be Afraid, originally released by Cleopatra Records in 1997. The album came four years after the break-up the band, and was recorded as a solo album by vocalist Kurt Harland, with assistance from Fred Maher and Steven Seibold (Hate Dept).

At the time, I’m sure some less adventurous InSoc fans despised this album for not being what they expected it would be. I read once that Harland felt it was really weird being on the Club MTV tour with Paula Abdul and others, while listening to bands like Front 242 and Foetus. I cannot remember the source of this quote, but it shows the direction that Harland took on this album. It is a darker, more intense Information Society.

According to Wikipedia, Don’t Be Afraid was re-released in Brazil and Germany, but I cannot find any information about them, so it’s unclear whether they were “official” or not. Most likely not. These releases also are rumored to contain 3 extra remixes, which don’t amount to much, and are not available on the new release.   In addition, both releases sported different artwork and also included the song “White Roses” (more information about that below).

Don’t Be Afraid, V.1.3 was released by Dancing Ferret Records, a Philadelphia-based record label and concert promotion company and includes two bonus tracks. “Kebabträume 1.0″ is a recent cover (recorded in 2007) of a song by the German group D.A.F., originally released in 1980. It is the second cover on the album, as “Are Friends Electric” is a cover of an old song by Gary Numan.

“White Roses” did not appear on the original release, but rather, was the result of an interesting treasure hunt. The original version contained a track of modem tones which, when decoded, would provide clues on where to go to download a wav files of the track. This site provides a nice historical background about the song and even includes the actual wav file that was the end prize.

All in all, it’s nice to have a proper, remastered release of this very under-rated album. Including some of the bonus features from the original release would have been a nice touch to make it the “total package”, but we can’t have everything we want. This album is recommended for all fans of electro / industrial music, as well as the more open-minded Information Society fans.

Related Links:

Information Society Official Website

* Last updated, 8/27/09 *

Psychopod was a side-project of Danish psychedelic trance artist Koxbox. As Psychopod, two releases for TIP Records were put out in 1996 and 1997, before the group changed it’s name to Saiko-Pod in 2001, and changed musical directions slightly. Dreampod was released first, followed by Headlines, a nearly full-length release billed as an EP. For some reason, on Headlines a radio edit of “Dreampod” was included, instead of the full original. I have expanded this collection into the full-length album is should be re-released as. The first two tracks are both from the original Dreampod single, while on Headlines, I simply removed the radio edit. Instead, I have included two bonus tracks from the TIP Records compilation Beyond Colour, the GMS remix of “Friagram” and an exclusive track called “Seriaf”. This puts the total length at about 80 minutes, which is longer that what would really fit on a CD-R. This is what the album should have been released like, and perhaps some day, Koxbox will decide to re-release it as one full CD with everything included.

Tracklisting:
1 Dreampod (10:19)
2 Psychopod (9:09)
3 Re-Vision (8:11)
4 Universal Mind (9:42)
5 Stop The Carnage (9:58)
6 Friagram (8:41)
7 Out Of Your Mind (8:22)
8 Friagram (GMS Remix) (8:42)
9 Seriaf (8:43)

Psychopod – Dreampod

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Psychpod – Re-vision

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Psychopod – Friagram (GMS remix)

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Assumed Outrivaling is the seventh album released by Massachusetts-based musician Mark Alan Miller’s industrial project Out Out. It is also the sixth release overall on his own label Radio Valkyrie Records. Out Out was started in 1990 with the 12″ release of D.W.I., which contained “Three remixes of Techno-Industrial Dance Music”. Following a two year stint on Metropolis Records (2 new albums, and 2 reissues), since 2005, all new material has been released on his own label. Assumed Outrivaling is being offered as a free 128 kbps mp3 download, but an incentive is being offered to actually buy the CD. Purchasers of the CD will receive a copy as a “320kbps VBR MP3″ (this isn’t correct though, because 320 kbps is NOT VBR, this just might be an error on the Discogs listing, however). The CD also contains a bonus, a 60 minute video entitled “Atari Guild Move Suns”. I do not know what the video is yet, because I haven’t had the money to buy the CD, and as such, only have the free download at the moment. For some reason, the track titles remind me of old Black Lung albums; most are 3 random words, usually only making vague sense. The music is much more electronic than some older material, straddling the line between techno, electro, and IDM and a good mixture of all the between. It is highly recommended that interested parties check it out, and if you like it, send Mark your hard earned money as a thank you.

Tracklisting:
1 In:: (1:01)
2 Lavaged Ionium Rusts (3:21)
3 Vulgar Stadium Noise (2:55)
4 Gusts Unveil Diorama (3:52)
5 Avid Orange Stimulus (4:05)
6 Glum, Sainted Saviour (3:40)
7 Virus Adman Eulogist (3:37)
8 I’m A Gun’s Void Result (3:25)
9 Analogue Drums Visit (3:29)
10 Volts, Radium, Guineas (3:13)
11 I Am A Vulture’s Doings (3:52)
12 Velutinous Diagrams (2:24)
13 And Give Lustrous Aim (3:47)
14 Smug User Validation (3:43)
15 Moving Radula Tissue (3:40)
16 I Am Dauntless Vigour (3:50)
17 Envious Guilt Dramas (4:50)
18 ::Out (1:16)

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Andrew Lagowski is a London-based musician who has been working since the early 1980s. Over the years, he has worked on many projects, including Legion, S.E.T.I., Nagamatzu, and his collaborations with Lustmord, as well as solo stuff under his own name. Ashita was released on Lustmord’s Side Effects label, a history of which can be found here. I used to own a CD copy of Ashita, which I purchased from Soleilmoon, but now, it is available, along with several other of his releases via a Creative Commons License from archive.org. While things have been quiet on the release front (his most prolific period appears to have been throughout the 90s), there is enough older material to keep busy with for awhile. His most recent release as Lagowski is 2006′s Temporary Distractions, and he recently ended the Legion project with a free release called Burial of the Books. The S.E.T.I. project is still active as well, with a new free EP release, and an upcoming live show next week in England. Andrew can also be found on Myspace, where he has more information about his projects, and audio clips from past works.

Tracklisting:
1 Replicator (8:23)
2 Maitresse (7:34)
3 Liquid (7:08)
4 Assembler (6:24)
5 Megascale (12:01)
6 Register (8:22)
7 S.C. Alloys (8:57)

Lagowski – Megascale

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Lagowski – Register

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Synaesthesia was one of several mid-90s side projects by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly. Along with Intermix and Delerium, Synaesthesia explored another realm of electronic music than FLA, in this case deep space ambient. Desideratum was a double-CD release in 1995, released on Hypnotic, a division of Cleopatra, also known for releases by Astralasia, Controlled Bleeding, Plateau, System 7, Delerium; along with tons of compilations, some good and some not so good. Kinda like it’s parent label too. Synaesthesia released two more albums after this, before Rhys Fulber finally left FLA around 1997. However, Desideratum is the best one to go for out of the three because it’s over 2 hours long. This seems like a lot to handle in one sitting, but it’s all good. The last Synaesthesia release came out in 2001. Titled simply The Collection, it includes various tracks from all three releases, as well as several unreleased ones, and would be another wise choice for interested parties.

Tracklisting:
1-01 Andromedia (8:00)
1-02 Orion Nebula (11:30)
1-03 Consciousness (6:56)
1-04 Umbra (9:00)
1-05 Barred Spirals (9:48)
1-06 DNA Barcode (10:42)
1-07 Surface System (11:20)
2-01 Dark Core (8:08)
2-02 Subversion (8:24)
2-03 Lumia (10:30)
2-04 Hallucinations (9:07)
2-05 Mosaic (9:48)
2-06 Lifeless (15:42)
2-07 Tubastrea Aurea (10:20)

Synaesthesia – Andromedia

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Synaesthesia – DNA Barcode

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Synaesthesia – Surface System

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Synaesthesia – Tubastrea Aurea

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