Simply put, Hostile is the coolest shit I have come across in a while. Released in February 2009, it is the second release by Russian artist Sergey Vorobyov, also a member of electronic act Denergized. Ex Delicto’s first album was distributed by a small website called Dead Channel in 2006 and is available through Creative Commons at archive.org. Below is an embedded audio of Final Connection and a link to the page at archive.org. Hostile was released by X-Line, part of a network of netlabels called Alter-X. In addition to X-Line, the network also includes Absetzer (power noise and extreme electronics) and Space-Time Continuum (space-oriented ambient music). The thing I like about Alter-X, besides the great music, is that unlike most netlabels, they go for quality. Downloads are available in 320 kbps mp3 or FLAC, while most netlabels offer only 128 or 192k at best. I think that anyone who spends a little bit of time checking out all three websites will find that these people are serious about putting a total package together and getting some intense electronic music out. I only discovered Hostile a few days ago, and it has quickly became a recent favorite. There is seriously so much shit available from these guys that it will take weeks to let it all sink in. Dig in and enjoy..

Tracklisting:
1 At Our Dawn (Beyond Recall) (3:40)
2 Welcome To Hostile Prime… (Without Call Sign) (2:17)
3 Crime Industry (Double Dealers) (2:35)
4 New Rose Hotel (I Want You) (3:00)
5 System Shock (Cyberpunk Is Now) (2:26)
6 Hostile (Perfect Enemy) (3:58)
7 Weltzeituhr (Herbst Des Lebens) (2:41)
8 Fighter Pilot (Through The Skyline) (3:06)
9 Total Recall (I’ll Find You Again) (3:08)
10 Welcome Aboard This Pirate Station!.. (Black Hole Techno) (3:30)
11 At My Dusk (Stand Alone) (3:05)

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Prabhamandala’s first release Wiping Away The Tears Of Time came out in 1998, and the group would release two more full-length albums on their own label Aquad Records in 1999 and 2000. The group is a duo of Jason Major and Tyler Smith, and while I’m not familiar with their other albums, Wiping Away The Tears Of Time is not goa in the classical sense, but rather an very interesting mixture of downtempo acid and trance. The pace picks up on several tracks, like “Interloop 8″ and the album’s closer “Lantern Sun”. Prabhamandala’s last album was released on Saiko Sounds in 2003, which I believe Smith was the art director for. He’s done album artwork for many releases and events, and a gallery of them can be found on his website. Smith started his first solo project in 2004, the dub / downtempo project Androcell. As Androcell, he has released two albums for a Hong Kong based psychedelic chill out label called Celestial Dragon, as well as another album in 2008 under the name Distant System. Word has it that another Androcell album will be released soon and Smith is set to play dual live sets as Androcell and Distant System at the Gaian Mind festival in June 2009. Listening to Wiping Away The Tears Of Time is an excellent way to prepare for the festival and would be perfectly suited to blast in the woods at a party on its own. I’m quite sure it is powerfully rare and doubtful to be re-released, but if it ever is, I will make a note of it.

Tracklisting:

1 Somatosensory (5:43)
2 Repeat Experiencer (7:12)
3 What The Pyramid Hid (6:31)
4 Interloop 8 (6:06)
5 Eons Ago (6:05)
6 Meru Mountaineer (7:26)
7 Man Created God Created Man (8:22)
8 Delta Wave Disturbance (12:47)
9 Lantern Sun (12:37)

Prabhamandala – Somatosensory

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Prabhamandala – Interloop 8

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Chemlab may not be remembered by many, but their debut album, 1993′s Burn Out At The Hydrogen Bar may be one of the classics of the industrial rock genre. While other bands made the crossover earlier, the popularity of bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails brought the genre into the mainstream. Chemlab took the sound into future mode with their mix of jagged guitars, sharp electronics, and noise interludes. After the release of the East Side Militia appeared on Metal Blade Records in 1996 (Metal Blade is known for breaking Metallica, with their 1982 compilation Metal Massacre), Chemlab parted ways. Jared Louche toured with Pigface and generally kept himself busy before resurrecting Chemlab for the release of The Machine Age, followed by the first full-length in 8 years, Oxidizer. Nobody really knows what happened to Dylan More, as Chemlab resumed work as Louche with new collaborators. In 1999, Invisible re-released Burn Out At The Hydrogen Bar with two bonus remixes. Martin Atkin’s “Chemical Halo” remix sounds like garbage, and the remix of “Suicide Jag” by Mark Blasquez of Death Ride 69 isn’t bad, with its booming beats and all. Both remixes are just an afterthought to the power of the whole album which is recommended for all. At the current time, Chemlab is working on a new release, but no word yet on when it will be completed.

Tracklisting:

1 Suture (9:38)
2 Codeine, Glue And You (4:45)
3 Suicide Jag (4:49)
4 Suture (0:10)
5 Chemical Halo (4:50)
6 Neurozone (5:57)
7 Elephant Man (4:09)
8 Suture (1:11)
9 Rivet Head (3:51)
10 Derailer (5:04)
11 Suture (0:17)
12 Summer Of Hate (6:46)
13 Suture (0:26)
14 Chemical Halo (Remix By Martin Atkins) (5:05)
15 Suicide Jag (Remix By Mark Blasquez) (5:14)

Chemlab – Neurozone

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Chemlab – Rivet Head

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Chemlab – Suicide Jag (Remix)

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Finitribe are a Scottish dance group that was active from 1984 to about 2001. The final line-up was David Miller and Philip Pinksy, though the original line-up consisted of four more people, including Chris Connelly, who, of course, went on to perform vocals for Revolting Cocks and Ministry, before embarking on his own solo career in the mid-90s. Finitribe’s period of success began with two 12″ releases in 1987 for Wax Trax!, followed by a 3 year stint at One LIttle Indian (perhaps best known for releasing The Shamen, among many other things). This culminated in what could have been considered the band’s signature album, 1992′s An Unexpected Groovy Treat. Sheigra was the follow-up album and was the band’s last full-length release. The lead-off track “Dark”, which got some airtime for me due to its inclusion on Dream Injection 2, is a fast and dark techno piece, which is not matched by anything further on the album. What follows is a lot of vocal synth-pop, but not in the traditional style that one expects from that label. “Truth” picks up the pace again around the middle of the album, before winding off to it’s end. The bulk of material is very poppy, dance music, but not in the mindless way that phrase leads one to believe. While there’s only a handful of tracks here that interested me, I think overall the way the album is presented would appeal to a wider audience, if only that audience ever got to hear it.

Tracklisting:
1 Dark (8:02)
2 Sunshine (5:30)
3 Brand New (6:58)
4 Mushroom-Shaped (6:58)
5 Sheigra 5 (6:48)
6 Truth (7:02)
7 Catch The Whistle (5:48)
8 We Have Come (5:19)
9 Mesmerise (7:20)
10 Off On A Slow One (8:05)
11 Love Above (10:16)

Finitribe – Dark

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Finitribe – Truth

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Finitribe – Love Above

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Hoodoo Talk was the result of a collaboration between Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard Kirk and vocalist Peter Hope (formerly) of The Box. The pairing came after Hope toured as support for Cabaret Voltaire, and at the time, was the occasion in which Kirk worked with a different vocalist than Stephen Mallinder. While the album was originally released on Native Records, it gained wider recognition when released by Wax Trax! Records in 1988. Besides the album, Hope and Kirk also released two further 12″, with remixes. In 1993, the song “Cop Out” was included on disc one of the Wax Trax! retrospective box set. In 2000, The Grey Area (a division of Mute) re-released the album in a digipack format. The Grey Area has released a great deal of older Cabaret Voltaire material, as well as other associated acts such as D.A.F., The Hafler Trio, Laibach, and more. The reissue contains four bonus tracks that were not present on the original Wax Trax! release; there are two unreleased songs, as well as two remixes of “Leather Hands” that appeared on their first 12″ from 1985.

Fantod’s blog has a download available of the two Hope & Kirk 12″ releases, as well as Kitchenette, by Peter Hope & the Jonathan S. Podmore Method. The original post can be found here.

Tracklisting:
1 Intro (0:32)
2 Numb Skull (6:47)
3 N.O. (8:36)
4 Cop Out (7:02)
5 Surgeons (6:51)
6 50 Tears (4:24)
7 Leather Hands (6:41)
8 50 Tears (Reprise) (1:51)
9 Sugar Can You Feel The Drums? (5:43)
10 Upbeat (3:13)
11 Leather Hands (12″ Mix) (9:56)
12 Leather Hands (Crash Mix) (5:55)

Hope & Kirk – Numb Skull

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Hope & Kirk – Cop Out

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Hope & Kirk – Leather Hands (Crash Mix)

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The Empty Quarter is a collaboration between Ben Watkins and Youth, two well-known figures in the world of electronic music. The release was a 12″ in 1985, Crucial Lover/Glass Finger. A year later, the full-length album Delirium was released, which did not feature the song “Crucial Lover”. These were the only two releases by the pair, both for Illuminated Records, an early industrial label. Both artists have since had their own distinguished careers. Watkins is best known for his work as the tribal / goa trance act, Juno Reactor. He has been involved with a few other projects as well throughout the years, such as Sunsonic, Apollo XI, and more. Youth (real name, Martin Glover) is the bassist of UK group Killing Joke, that experimented with different styles including post-punk, synth-pop, and industrial metal. Other projects of his are too numerous to list but an interesting one he was involved in was a goa trance / downtempo project called Celtic Cross with Simon Posford. They released on album in 1998 called Hicksville, which was just recently re-mastered. Both artists are still very much active these days. Killing Joke’s last studio album was in 2006, but the future is uncertain at the moment due to the ultimely death of Paul Raven. Juno Reactor’s Gods & Monsters album was released for Metropolis Records in 2008. The Empty Quarter album is an interesting mixture of dub, industrial, and synth that should be heard by fans of both artists.

Tracklisting:
A1 Bullshit
A2 Glass Finger
A3 Luscious Glory
A4 Thunder Box
B1 Heart Of Darkness
B2 Black Sage
B3 Delirium
B4 Full Throttle
B5 Res-Erect

Empty Quarter – Glass Finger

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Empty Quarter – Heart Of Darkness

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Empty Quarter – Full Throttle

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It is an IDM and abstract techno side-project of Ivan Iusco, better known as one-half of Nightmare Lodge and the founder of the Italian industrial and dark ambient label Minus Habens. The first release by It was a 12″ for Disturbance (a division of Minus Habens), followed by a split with Clock DVA called Virtual Reality Handbook, both in 1992. After this, 3 albums were released in a row from 1996-1998. The first was Era Vulgaris, followed by the remix CD, Era Vulgaris (Ncoded-Drop 6.3), which was released on vinyl by Disturbance and then licensed to Materiali Sonori for the CD release. The remix CD is great, and features remixes by Lassique Bendthaus, Red Sector A, Dive, Lustmord, and more. In 1998, another full-length CD was released for Materiali Sonori (which was another Italian label, specializing in experimental electronics, modern classical, and future jazz). It has some really interesting artwork of some creepy clown in a Mason jar. Not sure what it is supposed to symbolize, but it looks weird and I like the color tones. Concubia Nocte (Drop 7.1) also features a remix by Richard H. Kirk as the last track. The final It release came several years later as a limited 7″ picture disc in 2003. It’s supposed to be two ambient tracks, but I’ve never had the opportunity to hear it for myself. All three of the CDs can be ordered directly from Materiali Sonori for a pretty decent price. While Era Vulgaris is about what I expected at 13 euros, the other two CDs can be had for 2 and 3 euros each. This is a really great deal, as all three CDs can be had for about the price of one import. It’s a sound purchase for any fans of experimental electronic music and the remixes would appeal to fans of all artists involved.

It – Varoma Pool (Richard H. Kirk remix)

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It – Sinclair Introduce (Nionica Unknown Ratio)

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It – Out of Sight

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From micrart.com: Linear Movement was a side-project of Peter Bonne between 1982 and 1984, next to his activities in Autumn and Twilight Ritual. Because of the difference in musical style, he decided this music should be part of a different project, which he baptised ‘Linear Movement’. Most of the tracks were solo-experiments, but in some of them, he was joined by Peter Koutstaal (who also performed in Autumn), and by Lieve Van Steerteghem, who took the vocal part in some tracks.

Peter wanted to experiment with more poppy compositions as where Twilight Ritual and Autumn were more experimental. This direction was already taken when Autumn shifted from pure cosmic electronic music based inspiration towards song based compositions (refer to MC 8204 Not Afraid To Die). However, this mixture of experiments needed guidance and a certain separation. The poppy songs now resided under Linear Movement. For Peter, it was a boiling pot and learning curve towards his later work with A Split Second.

Linear Movement never made a tape release, but many tracks appeared on compilation projects throughout the world. The Micrart releases of Linear Movement are limited to a single C30-release, Pulse Music, which contained early material by Peter solo, and a major contribution to the Line Compilation. In 2003, a compiled Linear Movement CD became available from Micrart.

In late 2008, New York based minimal electro label Minimal Wave released On The Screen, a compilation of original and unreleased material, some recovered from the Pulse Music release. It is released on high-quality vinyl.

Finally, following the Minimal Wave release of On The Screen, Revival of the Fittest compiles lost jams and tracks from Linear Movement that would otherwise be lost for humanity. One can hear that these tracks offer great potential, sometimes needing some more fine tuning: from pop-experiment (“I Like Reality”) to beat avant-la-lettre (“Hydrogens”) and intimate experimental (“Down to a Silver Lake”), Linear Movement shows its style.

Linear Movement – To Another Soul

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Linear Movement – Cytogenetic Movement

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Linear Movement – The Linear Way

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Empirion was a UK-trio that existed in the mid-90s and was most likely most well-known to the masses for their remix of The Prodigy’s “Firestarter”. While this is undoubtedly their most popular remix, they did release numerous 12″ singles from 1994 to 1997, as well as this full length album for XL Recordings in 1996. Empirion’s music kind of straddled a line between techno and EBM, and this can be evidenced on several tracks on this album, as well as their later remix of Front 242 for Headhunter 2000. Advanced Technology contains their most popular original track, “Narcotic Influence”. The vocal sample from this track, “giving them drugs…taking their lives away”, which is repeated throughout, actually comes from the 1986 film From Beyond, which by the way, I recommend to anyone interested in weird movies. The members of Empirion kept somewhat active after the split of the group. Most recently, Oz Morsley released an album in 2008 as Kloq, which features vocals from Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb).

Tracklisting:
1 Narcotic Influence 1 (6:45)
2 Advanced Technology (9:28)
3 Ayahuasca (6:45)
4 PH1 (6:34)
5 Quark (11:22)
6 Narcotic Influence 2 (5:55)
7 Ciao (9:30)
8 Jesus Christ (7:44)
9 New Religion (10:31)

Empirion – Narcotic Influence 1

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Empirion – Jesus Christ

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Industrial Cosmetics was Dean Dennis’ first new project after his departure from Clock DVA in 1992, which was released, along with its successor Macula Orange, on a small sub-label of Dark Vinyl called Atmosphere, which also released the Arecibo album (by Lustmord). Joining Dennis on this album are conspirators Kendric Clarke and Rob Gordon (a co-founder of the influential Warp label). After the release of Macula Orange in 1995, Dennis took an extended break from music before laying the Sector project to rest with two releases in the new millennium. A 4 track vinyl EP was released for Sonic Groove in 2001 (which again features Gordon on a track), followed by the full-length album The Yellow Room for Shadow Records, a sublabel of Instinct.

Dean has graciously allowed me to offer Industrial Cosmetics to download to anyone who wants it, since it’s freely available on Soulseek anyway. I believe he has no plans to release the older Sector material anytime soon, if ever. People like to talk about how it’s okay to share music because for whatever reason, but only if it’s older material which is more difficult to come by. Many blogs will post all the newest electronic releases available, and don’t offer any information about the artist, or even any links on where to buy it, and that’s not right. This is also an opinion that Dennis hold dear as well, as he has been personally affected by the sharing of new releases, his own and those of artists he is friends with.

Dennis continues to produce music through his projects: Nohno, more recently Kibuka.

While most of the older material is now out-of-print, more current material is available through these projects. Metropolis was released through his project Nohno in 2006. Dystopia via Kibuka in 2009. Dystopia is a fine album, and I’ve already written about it, so no need to go on further about it.

Thanks to Dean for allowing me to write about this album here. If I ever manage to get a CD copy myself (I already own Macula Orange and The Yellow Room), I may be able to offer a high quality bitrate download.

Tracklisting:
1 IC (5:25)
2 Nubians (1:05)
3 Reactor (4:56)
4 Return Of The Nubians (4:45)
5 Interzone 1 (5:53)
6 Zero Factor (5:50)
7 Blue (3:50)
8 Connect (4:43)
9 Interzone 2 (6:37)

Sector – IC

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Sector – Reactor

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