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minimal wave

Violence Conjugale ‎* Vices Et Mensonges (12″ 2016)

I have known Violence Conjugale for a while. They have one brilliant and several nice tracks. They make something between “minimal wave” (in the slower tracks) and “old style EBM” (in the faster tracks) plus a sound of their own. This ‘minimal wave scene’ is an odd scene. I just took this project to be from that corner and now they share labels with Duchess Says. Also the previous release from 2012 is (based on the label) more to be placed in the “electropunk” scene and now again.

Just as I know Violence Conjugale, this new album contains alright tracks, but especially the more uptempo tracks are more of my liking. There is nothing like “Homosexualis Discotecus”, but this new lp sure contains a few interesting tunes.

Perhaps it is fairer to say that this project holds the middle between “minimal wave” and “electropunk”. Anyway, a project you may want to have a listen to.

Links: Violence Conjugale, Teenage Menopause Records

Metroland * Things Will Never Sound The Same Again (cd 2016)

Four years ago Metroland released the nice album “Mind The Gap”. I saw them live at the Summer Darkness festival in Utrecht and I really like the Kraftwerk sound of the project. The projects name and all the tracks were ‘metro-themed’, the music analogue minimalistic and danceable. Also live Metroland had the static Kraftwerk-look.

Looking at Discogs I apparently missed most releases. I only know the “Thalys” box (2014) the music from which is alright (apparently I fogot to review it).

“Things will never sound the same again”, a very fitting title for the new album. When I put on the album I wondered if I chose the wrong one. The opening of the album sounds nothing like the Metroland that I knew. The minimalistic dance-sound does return soon though and the analogue Kraftwerk sound tracks are obviously Metroland. That Passengers A and B seem to have wanted to experiment with another sounds as well. “Good Moaning” is a bit more uptempo, the title track leans a bit towards electro as does “Under The Roof” (still a Metroland version of electro though).

Something different and something recognisable. Does this album mark the transition to a much different sound?

Links: Metroland, Alfa Matrix

November Növelet * The World In Devotion (cd 2015)

The Arafnas seem to have been in a romantic mood. November Növelet already was their softer project, but on their latest album both the sound and even more so: the lyrics, seem to have softened somewhat more.

Mrs. Arafna sings on all tracks. Now there is something of a risk, because her voice is not my favourite element of the music of the Arafnas. It sound like she has a herself photographed: a bit dull. (Perhaps on purpose?) Often I am indifferent to them (not annoyed, not overjoyed), here and there her voice does add a good element to the music, so how about on “The World In Devotion”?

The album opens with a soft and not too interesting track/song. After “Be Gratefull To Your Murderer” the tempo goes up and most of the rest of the music is mid-tempo and the sound is very much like the current sound of NN. The music is nicely minimalistic and analogues. However the video that was released recently seemed to have suggested otherwise, NN does not really lean towards the popular sound of “minimal wave”. Mr. and mrs. Arafna keep doing their own thing. The rhythms are relatively complex in some tracks, nice things happen on the background, some songs have simple but catchy melodies and mrs. Arafna sings (and in the video: dances) away, most of the time resulting in nice and moody soft dance songs that will work well on “minimal wave” dancefloors and radio-shows. There may not be a highlight on this album such as the title song of “Magic”, but overall “The World In Devotion” is a more than proper album showing the furry sound of the couple that names itself Arafna.

Links: Haus Arafna, Galakthorrö

Black Bug * Frozen Energy (7″ 2015)

When my eye fell on this 7″ in the shop of Aufnahme + Wiedergabe, I did not know that it is actually a brand new 7″. Some three years after lp (click on the bandname to read the review) there is new material of Black Bug.

The title track of this 7″ is an uptempo and nicely raw sounding electropunk track. Side B, “Push You”, sounds more like that wave-sound that is so popular nowadays. It is not really “minimal wave” that I used as a tag, but more like the style between shoegaze-rock energy and minimal wave, perhaps reminding a bit of some material of The Soft Moon. So what do they call that these days? “Now-wave”? “Ghost wave”? No matter, as long as it is good and that certainly goes for this 7″.

Videos for both tracks can be found on the Facebook page of the band, so it is easy to listen to the music.

Links: Black Bug, Avant!

Tanz Ohne Musik * Belong (mc 2014)

The new Tanz Ohne Musik seems to be a small step back to the synthpop / minimal wave sound of earlier releases and away from the Galakhorrö angstpop. A small step though. Like on “Between Our Body Shapes” there are still heavy Galakthorrö influences, but Tanz Ohne Musik seems to be working more towards their own sound; an interesting sound! Most tracks have a slow, analogue sound with typical vocals. Some tracks tend more towards minimal wave, other more towards angstpop, but most are somewhere in between. Recommended!

Links: Tanz Ohne Musik, Red Cavity Records

v/a * Death # Disco IV (2cd 2014)

Discogs.comIn the summer of 2013 I visited a Dutch festival and in some cd stand my eyes fell on two volumes of a compilation called “Death # Disco”. To my surprise I recognised several band- and project-names, but in my head they were from different scenes. Death # Disco is a disco evening in Berlin where they play a variety of music. Old fashioned gothic/wave, more contemporary wave of the “minimal wave” genre, but also shoegaze (that apparently is called “ghost wave” sometimes). The same can be said about the compilations and volume IV is no exception. New this time is that IV is a double cd.

The compilation opens with the strange band The Devil & The Universe that have a quite easy sounding EBM/synthpop-like track. There is also the electropop/-punk project ADULT., the shoegazers of The Soft Moon, minimal wavers such as Newclear Waves and Tropic of Cancer, the more poppy project Xeno & Oaklander and projects with an industrial background like Klangstabil and Echo West. Then there a whole range of projects that I never heard of.

Like volumes II and III there are a few good tracks, a lot of alright tracks and a handfull of tracks that are not my taste. But for 10 euros you get a good overview over ‘the larger wave scene’ and that makes this compilation a suggested buy.

Link: Death # Disco

Cryme * Mekonium (mc 2013)

It may become boring, but here is another wonderfull Beläten tape/download (the tape has probably been sold out for over a year). Of course, since Beläten puts their releases on Bandcamp, you can listen to them before you buy them, I only got myself the ones that I liked. That is not to say that the all other Beläten releases are boring, but they were either obviously not my taste or I had to make choices because I did not want to buy everything.
In any case, Cryme makes a strange kind of industrial which goes from old-style industrial to a more minimal wave sound and less common sonic experiments. Sometimes Cryme reminds me of the ‘industrial disco’ style of Thorofon. Actually the latter may not be such a bad comparison. Not that “Mekonium” sounds like Thorofon, but the two projects would fit well together on a stage. Recommended.
Link: Beläten

Ekman‎ * Kalla Rytmer Att Dansa Till I Ensamhet (mc 2012)

Another countrymate on Beläten (besides Distel). Contrary to most Beläten projects this is not Ekman’s first or second release. Ekman already has an impressive list on Discogs with releases on a variety of labels, apparently from different music scenes. This includes Enfant Terrible, so perhaps that explains why the name rings a bell.
The sound is one that fits well on the Dutch Enfant Terrible label: minimal wave, a bit weird and atypical though. The music is not really danceable and there are no vocals. Perhaps ‘analogue minimal wave’ is a description for Ekman. Minimalistic certainly is a term that comes to mind when listening to this music.
A nice, though slightly unexpected, addition to the Beläten roster.
Link: Beläten

Tanz Ohne Musik ‎* Between Our Body Shapes (mc 2013)

I stumbled upon the Bandcamp of this Romenian project. The name sounds familiar, but according to Last.fm I had not played (or at least “scrobbled”) Tanz Ohne Musik before today. This project has quite a few releases available, most of them online, but what I have heard from previous material it is all just alright minimal wave. For the last release TOM seems to have had a good listen to Haus Arafna and other Galakthorrö projects. “Between Our Body Shapes” is a very nice angstpop release that reminds of more tranquil Galakthorrö/Arafna material, especially in some sounds (samples perhaps?). This release being available through Bandcamp you can of course just listen to it, I also have it on the computer, but I hope to receive one of the 50 copies of the tape as well.
Links: Tanz Ohne Musik, Red Cavity Records

va * Schlagstrom vol. 7 (2cd 2013)

This double cd celebrates 10 years of Schlagstrom. I have never been to the Schlagstrom festival. Actually I have known the name for quite a while without knowing that it is a festival (I thought it was a label or something). In any case, this compilation has some names on it that made me buy it to try it out, but there are many more names on it that are new to me, which could be another reason to get it. Thorofon is on disc 2, but they have a not too interesting discoish track. Better in ‘the Thorofon style’ is Gerechtigkeits Liga’s track on the first disc. Unfortunately M.A.O. is again somewhat disappointing.
What I expected the festival to be like, the first disc mostly contains ‘rhythmical industrial’ (what today is called ‘rhythmic noise’). Mostly not really extreme, but nicely danceable. There are also some harder tracks and a little bit of downright noise. Disc 2 is nice with a lot of analogue electronic music. Unfortunately there are two terrible tracks (Underhill and Kunst Als Strafe) in the beginning and towards the end the more experimental tracks are not always my taste.
Overall I think the first disc is most consistent in enjoyability, but the most interesting tracks are on disc 2. Indeed, a varried compilation for people who are interested in the current state of industrial music.
Links: Schlagstrom, Prodam