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Galakthorroe

Herz Jühning ‎* Paradise (7″ 2014)

Herz Jühning presents four interesting new tracks on a 33 rpm 7″. When you know the cd, think of the more tranquil tracks and you have a good idea of the sound of this 7″. Jühning does bring more pop in his angstpop. The opening track contains female guest vocals giving the song a nice, poppy vibe, but still dirty in sound. On the other side, Jühning himself sings more than we are used to from him and also this turns out very well.
Indeed, another good Galakthorrö release.
Links: Herz Jühning, Galakthorrö

Haus Arafna ‎* All I Can Give (7″ 2013)

Hello boys and girls. By the time I got my mail, all 903 of this 7″ were sold out. When you order from Galakthorrö directly, you will get a newsletter a few weeks before the official release, so you can get your copies before the rest of the world does. In case of these limited releases, you have to be quick. One thing is for certain though, “All I Can Give” is a brilliant EP! The two tracks on side A are downright stunning. The first is noisy, the second more ‘new style’, but both are absolute masterpieces. Side B has two more melancholic tracks which are also great. So I guess you will have to go around your usual industrial dealers to see if you can get a copy of the latest Haus Arafna.
Links: Haus Arafna, Galakthorrö

Te/DIS * Black Swan (7″ 2013)

Galakthorrö did it again, they found a typical Galakthorrö project. There are two ways of looking at this fact. First you can say that the label remains in their known musical spheres, but on the other hand, Galakthorrö projects are usually damn good. Te/DIS, or Tempted Dissident, is an angtpop project in the style of Herz Jühning and therefor also the softer Haus Arafna style. There are four tracks on this 33 rmp 7″. Three of them are really great, the last one is just alright. I love the Galakthorrö sound and since not too often comes from this label, also a new project with a known sound is great news! According to the label’s website all 489 copies are gone, so should you run into a copy, do not think twice!
Link: Galakthorrö

v/a * Kosmoloko 2 (cd 2012)

Well well, who would have thought that the 10 years Galakthorrö celebration compilation (2004) would have a follow-up? “Kosmoloko 2” presents exclusive tracks of the remaining Galakthorrö projects. It opens with two tracks of November Növelet, the first in the darker “Kalte Welle” style, the second is lighther and more ‘disco’, a very nice track with mr. Arafna’s vocals. Albert Fisch then blows the listener away with his walls of noise and weird vocals. Then comes a sublime track, certainly the best of the compilation and it is not of Haus Arafna, but of that other star: Herz Jühning. Both his tracks are in the vein of his “Miasma” album and superb. Next up is Hermann Kopp with his strange post-industrial sound experiments with his violin and electonics. The closing tracks are of course for Haus Arafna. The first track is Haus Arafna but a bit different. No, they did not become more poppy. “Lying In State” is a dark noise track with a sublime low frequency rumble for rhythm. The second track is more typical, not so dark, but a nice danceable track with mr. Arafna’s vocals. Indeed, “Kosmoloko 2” is a must-buy for Galakthorrö fans and those who have yet to get acquinted with one of the most interesting labels of today.
Link: Galakthorrö

Subliminal * Under Pressure (7″ 2012)

Albert Fisch’s musical outlet is with distance the roughest remaining project on Galakthorrö. Subliminal is harsch like the early records of Haus Arafna and actually the sound reminds quote a bit of this project. “Under Pressure” is not as extreme as I thought it would be though. Actually it contains a bunch of very nice and pretty dark noise. Not bad at all! I especially like the highly distorted vocals reminding of the good old days of power electronics.
Links: Subliminal, Galakthorrö

November Növelet ‎* Heart Of Stone (7″ 2012)

This 4 track ep opens with two soft NN tracks on side A which are nice. Side B opens more lively with a more danceble (but nothing like the “Magic” title track) “Dancing Queen”. The last and least typical track is also the most interesting. In “Up To Date” mrs. Arafna uses another way of singing which I prefer over her usual use of her voice (or is it just the echoing effect?). Also the music is a bit different, a bit more “minimal wave”, but still with the melancholic NN feeling. Like “Sacred” “Heart Of Stone” is a very nice ep, but does not reach the heights of the “Magic” album.
Links: November Növelet, Galakthorrö

Maska Genetik * Strada (cd 2011)

The contribution of Maska Genetik to the “Kosmoloko” compilation (2004) belongs to my most favourite tracks. The 2006 7″ “Quarantine” is a great one too. Still for many years it never seemed that there would ever be more material of Maska Genetik. As far as I knew, the project ceased to be. Then I got the Galakthorrö newsletter that announced the “Strada” album. I never even dared to hope for it! Yet the story behind this cd is a tragic one. The material was recorded between 2002 and 2005 and is older and newer than the tracks on “Quarantine”. In that period “Butterfly” was released and who knows how the two projects influenced eachother. After three years of hard work, Amon Radek told Galaktorrö: “I’ve reached the limits of my strength”. A perfectionist as he is, he decided that it was better for his health to abbandon the project. All these years Galakthorrö had “Strada” on the shelf with the idea that Radek would come back with one or two reworked tracks. He never did… After all these years, the material is made available for the world. Maska Genetik is a real Galakthorrö project. I wonder how the label found a Moscowite making music similar to themselves. I find it a strange idea that this is the album that the artist was not completely satisfied with. Indeed, “Strada” is not the masterpiece I hoped for. Especially the first tracks are nice, but nothing like the material that I already knew. Towards the end come a few masterpieces. The sound is that of angstpop of years back, from before Herz Jühning and the time that Haus Arafna perfected the style. It is less catchy, less ‘poppy’, darker in a way, more industrial perhaps. Maska Genetik also sounds more desperate, the mood reminds of the older November Növelet material. Dark industrial music with vocals and soft rhythms and strange sounds. Radek surely was a mastermind of dark electronics and I am extremely gratefull to Galakthorrö that they decided to release the album afterall.
Link: Galakthorrö

Haus Arafna * New York Rhapsody (cd 2011)

When you think that there was a big gap between “Butterfly” (2003) and “You” (2010) you may, like me, not have heard of a little Haus Arafna side project. Our good Arafna couple was asked to do the music for the 12 September 2009 New York Fashion Week show of Katie Gallagher. Because the result is (of course you would almost say) quite different from the usual Haus Arafna sound, mr. and mrs. Arafna delayed the release untill after “You” on purpose. So, what is it then, this “New York Rhapsody”? The 45 minute album opens with a coule of strange soft industrial sound collages nothing you are familar with of Haus Arafna (but when you know the Herman Kopp album…). The fourth track “I did it for you” begins more familiar. It is a nice soft angstpop song. “You know how to destroy me” is a dark industrial track, a real Haus Arafna piece of electronics, again with vocals. The next one is a softer track and then comes a new floorfiller. “Heart beats blood flow” is a brilliant dirty dance track. From then on the sound becomes softer again.
The booklet has photos that I suppose came from the show and they fit well in the Haus Arafna concept. “New York Rhapsody” is a real Haus Arafna cd, but the circumstances forced or allowed our “Industrialists” couple to think over the presentation. The result may be ‘softer’ for Haus Arafna standards, but this sure is no November Növelet. “No sign of “Screams ‘n’ Shouts” here. Instead Haus Arafna created Angst-Pop hits and Industrial Monsters with an extra dose of darkness, almost as if the March into Destruction has to be sweetened somewhat. Well-dressed, of course…”
Link: Haus Arafna, Gallakthorrö

Haus Arafna * You (cd 2010)

Announced for 1 December, but aleady available (in fact, the vinyl version is already sold out!), after seven years Haus Arafna finally comes with a new album. The snippets that have been available at Galakthorroe.de for some time seemed to suggest that Haus Arafna returned to the harder, early sound, but there aren’t many noise tracks on “You”. After a soft, weird and nice opener, you are mostly presented with more soft “angstpop” songs (indeed, with singing). Only here and there there are some noisy sounds and only a couple of the 12 tracks presented are in the harder Haus Arafna-style. I like the softer style of Haus Arafna, but I surely also enjoy the more industrial noise side of the project, so some more harsch tracks would have been nice. Still a good new album though.
Links: Haus Arafna, Galakthorrö

Herz Jühning * Miasma (cd 2009)

MiasmaFinally a new release on Galakthorrö and “Miasma” is very much a Galakthorrö release. A bit old November Növelet, a bit of Maska Genetik and a lot of Haus Arafna. As a matter of fact, if this would have been released under the name of Haus Arafna, I would have believed this to be a Haus Arafna album instantly. “Miasma” would come perfectly after “Butterfly” with again softer industrial noise and angstpop. The sound, the structure, the vocals, everything reminds of Haus Arafna, the only thing missing is mrs. Arafna. Should this have been a Haus Arafna album, it would have been their best; man, what a great album “Miasma” is! Exactly what I needed. Industrial rhythms, creaking noises, dark drones, deep vocals. Not every track is perfect, but most tracks are great enough to compensate for the one or two less-great tracks. Hopefully mr. and mrs. Arafna will soon take up the task to release an even better album.
Links: Herz Jühning, Galakthorrö