Noblesse Oblige - Affair Of The Heart

  Pulsating with raw passion and a desire for anthemic melodies, Berlin based Noblesse Oblige have crafted their most polished and unapologetic work to date. New album release ‘Affair of the Heart’ presents a sophisticated pop opus, destined to unite the ears of dance floor dreamers and bedroom escapists alike.
Powerful male & female harmonies melt over an ocean of warm electronics, voluptuous dance floor beats and euphoric disco arpeggios, as you’re welcomed into a rich fantasy world of exotic spies, demonic preachers and lonely souls lost at sea…

   “Affair Of The Heart is a romantic journey in the classic sense of the term. Our study of human passion from its most uplifting to its gloomiest…”

   Formed after a chance meeting at a masked ball in London, French performer Valerie Renay and German producer Sebastian Lee Philipp have spent the last few years touring the European club circuit, picking up a Russian Music Prize for their chanson pop album ‘In Exile’ along the way…

  However, when it came to working on their latest release, the duo locked themselves away in a live-in factory on the outskirts of Berlin (at studio haven ‘Turmwerk’, founded by Chris Corner of Sneaker Pimps/IAMX.) Undisturbed by the rest of the world, they collaborated for the first time with mixing engineers David Wrench (Caribou, Bat For Lashes) and Harald Blüchel (Cosmic Baby, Energy 52) in order to bring a fresh dimension to their sound.

   The result is an album that defies the isolation it sprung from and instead, shoots straight for the dance flloor and into the soul. Harnessing pop sensibilites and a slick electronic production, ‘Affair of the Heart’ recalls the emotional energy of iconic 80s bands like Eurythmics, Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode, whilst also reaching out to fans of more contemporary favourites like Hurts, The Knife, Austra and Trust.   

   It’s a far cry from their arty beginnings in London’s electro-punk scene, but if the album’s chilling and hypnotic cover of an Eagles’ classic demonstrates anything, it’s that not only are Valerie and Sebastian braving new territories; they’re creating their own as well…

  “As an artist, you never know how the music will sound after you leave the dream world of the studio, and how it will translate into the real world of the listeners. 
 The many moments of joy, the countless late nights we spent in the studio, and passionately worked on our music, remain particularly fulfilling moments in our memory. I hope that this energy and emotion are felt by the outsiders, and will entice them into our world…”

In short, Noblesse Oblige welcome you to share the pleasures of their new found pop universe. An invitation no one should refuse.

New Album: AFFAIR OF THE HEART

Release: 24. 5. 2013 (RepoRecords/AL!VE)
Singles: RUNAWAY (Video dir. Chris Corner) MATA HARI (Video dir. Valquire Veljkovic)

Lebanon Hanover - Gallowdance

  Founded in July 2010 in Sunderland, UK, Lebanon Hanover a Duo influenced by 80s Cold-Wave decided to stand up and disapprove with the high pitched overproduced music that peaks in your ears.
  Their recordings are rather minimal. A sore distorted guitar, leading post-punk basslines, and their female/male vocals are depressive and full of world weariness. Hardly suprising they call themselves «New Misanthropics.»
  After some of their tracks have been featured on compilations like „Darkness before Dawn“ “ The Almighty Wire“ „Monosynth“ and „Death Disco“ they have released their first 12“ vinyl on Fabrika Records (Greece) in February 2012.   
  Since moving to Berlin in spring 2011 Lebanon Hanover were irritated by too many humans and moved back to the seaside of North-East England and are recording and mixing on their new stuff. 

http://lebanonhanover.bandcamp.com/ 

 Listen to their new single, for the dark nights!!

 

                                      

  discography:     

                                               

 

- Why not just be solo

The world is getting colder-

 

IAMX - The Unified Field

  On February 1, 2012, it was announced via IAMX's Facebook and Twitter pages that work has officially begun on the fifth studio album, which had the working title of IAMX5. 

  On May 13, Chris announced that there will be a vlog posted on the official IAMX YouTube channel every two weeks, which would allow the fans to view the recording process of the new album. 

  On July 6, 2012 via his online blog, Chris revealed the name of a track from the forthcoming album. The song is titled "Come Home" and will most likely become a single. 

  On October 1, a new fundraising project was launched via the PledgeMusic website, which will allow fans to bid on items such as tour setlists and CDs, including the new album. 

  On October 19, it was announced that the album will officially be named  "The Unified Field"  and will be preceeded by the first single, a double A side, to be released in December.

Here It Is... Take A Listen!!! 

  Sincerely I do hope that this single is just an intro to his masterpiece which we all expect impatiently.

  This song is not alike Chris we use to hear an album ago, but as his fan, I do believe that it will develope a truly symphony with the further songs and whole album :)

  "Schizophrenic modesty incarnate” is the description IAMX’s Chris Corner gives to THE UNIFIED FIELD, the follow-up to the universally lauded album Volatile Times. For those who are familiar with the music of IAMX, this description fits like a velvet-lined black glove. “I want it to move you, to f*** you and to dictate the psychology of your offspring.” In advance of the release of their fifth album in early 2013, the double A-Sided single for the title track “The Unified Field” will be released, worldwide on December 3, 2012 via 61seconds.

   At the same time primal, sensual, dangerous while also philosophical, intelligent and profound,  Corner embodies a realm that connects head, heart and heavens while still being very conscious of innate rhythms and melody. The song, “The Unified Field” is a perfect example of that. “The song is based on a scientific theory rooted in quantum physics, that intends to bring together all other scientific theories and to bridge the gaps between consciousness, spirituality and science… a theory of everything so to speak,” he explains without condescension or aloofness. 

  

“I find this idea extremely powerful and exciting. It has been floating around for millennia from Taoism to Einstein but there is more science emerging recently to back it up.

  

” While the background of the song is heady and steeped in concepts that would make Mensa blush, the song itself is an epic and expansively atmospheric track awash in echoes and space propelled by a midnight electro beat that’s equally built for a misty forest as it is for a danceclub. “This stuff keeps me awake at night with a racing heart and fired up imagination,” he continues about the song. “Some branches of quantum theory dig into the idea that consciousness pervades and creates all matter, that at the core it is what connects everything and everyone. I know all humans have this underlying nagging feeling that we are just wrapped up in a web of stuff, that particles inside us are just rearranged stardust billions of years old.”

Also included alongside remixes by Swiss electro artists We Love Machines who serve up a swirling, twitchy deep house track, and Faux Tales who rebuilds the song into a propulsive club remix, is the lilting ballad “Quiet The Mind” that highlights Chris’ trademark vocals. “I would say the production on this track 'Quiet The Mind' shows the acoustic extreme of the album,” Chris explains. “As with all IAMX records, there is a dominant electronic sound but this time more subtly intertwined with human performance. And of course the raw emotion is still a huge part of the album. It is just who I am and what I do, I can't get by without letting that stuff out.” Each of the two tracks will have accompanying videos on the single as well.

Trust - Trst

  Trust is Robert Alfons and Maya Postepski (Austra). Formed in 2009, the Toronto-based duo released its first singles, "Candy Walls" and "Bulbform" in 2011 before signing with Arts & Crafts for the 2012 release of their forthcoming debut full length, TRST.

  In the last year they've performed with DFA1979, Crystal Castles, Balam Acab, Glass Candy, and Hercules and Love Affair.

  Tales of lust, wax, and erotomania that carry along on a dense black vapor of speed, space and tears.

 Enjoy in dark dancing...

Check out TRST in its entirety on Soundcloud.

Sixth June

  Sixth June is the electro pop duo of Lidija Andonov and Laslo Antal. The group formed during 2008 in  Belgrade and are currently based in Berlin. Their first official release “everytime” came out in March 2010 for the German label Genetic Music/No Emb Blanc. Since then, the band has been playing gigs in Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Serbia. The duo have also performed at B.I.M. fest in Antwerp, and Exit festival Novi Sad.

You can let your heart listen their deep influence for everything that has a synthesizer sound and found its origin in the Eighties; the duo represents perfectly the two sides of the same coin, in fact while Laslo is producing obscure but expressive, powerful and danceable textures, on the back side the voice of Lidija is living the shape to a wobbling atmosphere you won’t escape from. 

http://www.sixthjunemusic.com/ 

     Enjoy... 

The Beauty of Gemina - Iscariot Blues

  The Beauty of Gemina is a music group of the Swiss Michael Sele, which was founded in 2006.

  He's leading this project - accompanied by the musicians David Vetsch (bass) and Mac Vincens (drums) - onto the next level. 

  The band mixes elements from synth rock , dark rock  and electronic music.

  In the ten hymn-like and diversely arranged tracks the band leader seduces the listener with his dark timbre, lures hypnotically, constantly driving by powerful vocals and an unmistakable guitar play. He skilfully shuttles between melancholic intimacy and stadium sound, processing rock, wave, goth and blues influences.

   On the one hand Michael Sele reveals his habitual darkness; on the other hand he appears growingly political, proclaiming a new revolution and thus predicting an according cultural and social change of paradigms.

  The Beauty Of Gemina conceive themselves as a modern rock band orbiting close to the spirit of the age. Nonetheless, their sound knowingly eludes a clear musical categorisation.

  A distinctive voice as primary component, psychedelic guitar sounds, driving electronic devices, acoustic elements and profound lyrics peak to an arc of suspense, belt the mighty, epic-dark songs and reflect Michael Sele's atmospheric and at the same time daunting imagery output. 

  The Beauty Of Gemina with their new album Iscariot Blues are staging an opus of timeless-dark elegance, guiding their unique style to perfection. 


 My Space

 

Tracklist: 

01. Voices Of Winter
02. Haddon Hall
03. Badlands
04. Golden Age
05. Stairs
06. Prophecy
07. Dark Revolution
08. June 2
09. Seven-Day Wonder
10. Last Night Home

 

Video from the 2011 tour

 

At The End Of The Sea(2010)

Tracklist:

01. Dark Rain

02. Obscura

03. Rumours

04. Kings Men Come

05. Sacrificed To The Gods

06. End Of All

07. Counting Tears

08. In Silence

09. A Fortune Tellers Dream

10. Black Cat Nights

11. Narcotica

12. Endless Sleep

 

A Stranger To Tears

01. Galilee Song
02. This Time
03. Psycho Flood
04. Shadow Dancer
05. Colours Of Mind
06. The Lonesome Death Of A Goth DJ
07. Heart Of A Gun
08. In Your Eyes
09. Into Black
10. One Day
11. Last Kiss
12. Narcissus
13. Simple Death
14. Tell Me Why
15. Wishful Promise
16. Essai Noir 

Diary Of A Lost

Tracklist:
01. Suicide Landscape
02. One Step To Heaven
03. Hunters
04. Kingdom Of Cancer
05. Victims Of Love
06. Forgiveness
07. Nevertime
08. Trapped
09. Monster In Me
10. Fight Song
11. Isle Of Desire
12. Lovehate
13. La Reve De L'infidele

Dream Affair - Endless Days

  Dream Affair is a cold wave group based in Brooklyn, NY. Since the release of their sold-out EP ''All I Want'' last fall, the band has expanded their initial references of UK post-punk and French cold wave to incorporate sounds of Wax Trax industrial and 4AD shoegaze. 
  Comparisons have also been made with bands such as The Cure and Depeche Mode.
  Their debut full-length album perfects the cold dichotomy: the conflict and balance between bleak indifference and struggling emotions. 
  Romanticism in the vocals and guitars are vetted against the industrial chill of the rhythm section. The result is a testament of self-awareness, absurdity, and isolation.

  Dream Affair was founded by Hayden Payne (guitars, vocals), formerly of Void Vision. Starting out as a solo project, it now includes Abby Echiverri (synth, vocals) and Frank Deserto (bass). 
  Frontman Hayden Payne also played guitar for band Automelodi.

Official site

Myspace

 This is the video Justin Anderson did for 'Endless Days'

The Frozen Autumn - Chirality (2011) & Discography

  

  The Frozen Autumn is an Italian darkwave band, formed in May 1993, characterized by a blend of melancholic vocals, atmospheric gothic-wave and 1980s-style electropop.

  The Frozen Autumn started life as the solo project of Diego Merletto, founded after several years of involvement with various darkwave groups in Turin. The singer, keyboardist and synth programmer employed the talents of guitarist Claudio Brosio during early studio sessions and live performances, then in 1995 the first album, Pale Awakening, was released under the German Weisser Herbst Produktion label. The album was well-received by gothic-wave/dark-romantic fans across Europe, and in 1997 the follow-up was released, Fragments of Memories, this time by Milan-based Eibon records.

   In 1998 Merletto co-founded a side-project called Static Movement with Arianna, who provided guest vocals on the title-track from Fragments of Memories. The duo composed together for six months and in March 1999 the album Visionary Landscapes was released. The musical style of Static Movement was not dissimilar to The Frozen Autumn, however with only electronic instruments being used, the result was a more synthetic coldwave sound. The partnership proved fruitful for both parties and so Arianna became a permanent fixture in The Frozen Autumn line-up, Static Movement remaining their "concept research project".

 

  After 18 months working on The Frozen Autumn's third album, Emotional Screening Device was released in April 2002 and hailed as the group's best album to date. They decided to leave Eibon Records in 2003 and, while contemplating offers coming in from both Italian and foreign labels, spent over two years on the next album. Is Anybody There? was finally released in September 2005 by the Argentinean label Twilight Records and German label Pandaimonium through Xymox Control.

  Merletto has since been working on his video art which has in recent years become an integral part of the band's live shows, while in addition to playing concerts all over Europe and collaborating with various artists, the duo have (as of October 2006) begun the process of reprinting The Frozen Autumn's back catalogue. In 2009, "Pale Awakening", "Fragments of Memories" and "Visionary Landscapes" were re-printed through Twilight Records. At the same, The Frozen Autumn announced that Ashes is no longer their official fan club. In September 2009, a new official forum was created.
 

   In December 2009, The Frozen Autumn published in their Facebook a "Manifesto against music killers", stating their position on music sharing over the Internet. In the same article they pointed out that they were exploited by someone who they thought as a good friend.

   In October 2010, four new songs from a new single: "Rallentears" will be performed live. The song is on their new label, Calembour Records, as a forerunner of their next album, called Chirality is released in November 2011.

  

  Discography

• Pale Awakening (1995) - reprint in 2009
• Fragments of Memories (1997) - reprint in 2009
• Visionary Landscapes (1999) - From Diego and Arianna's side-project, Static Movement - reprint in 2009
• The Pale Collection (2000) - Re-printed version of Pale Awakening including a remix of This Time and one new recording.
• Emotional Screening Device (2002)
• Is Anybody There? (2005)
• Chirality (2011)

 Official site

 The Frozen Autumn - Chirality (2011)

01 Before the storm

02 Sideral solitude

03 Chirality

04 Breathtaking beauty

05 So brave

06 The Exile

07 Victory

08 Rallentears

09 In the golden air

10 The last train

Download

 


Rallentears (EP 2010)

01 Rallentears

02 So Brave

03 The Last Train

04 Wait For Nothing (Froxy Vox Version)

Is Anybody There (2005)

01 Evening Falls

02 Faceless Names

03 Ashes

04 Polar Plateau

05 Static Cold

06 Oblivion

07 Venetian Blinds

08 Guardian Angel

09 Concavo - Convex

10 Citywards

11 Ashes (Clan Of Xymox Remix)

12 Polar Plateau (Dust Of Basement Remix)

Download

 Emotional Screening Device (2002)

01 Second Sight

02 Silence Is Talking

03 When You Are Sad

04 Wintertag

05 Is Everything Real

06 Precious Lives

07 Emotional Screening Device

08 Verdancy Price

09 Sperm Like Honey

10 Freon Heart Fayence Mind

11 Second Sight

Download

 

 

The Pale Collection (2000)

01 This Time (electro mix)

02 Bio Vital

The Pale Collection

Fragments Of Memories (1997)

01 The Echo of My Lies

02 There's No Time to Recall

03 Dusk Is Like a Dagger

04 Winter (Reprise)

05 Don't Cry for Me

06 Chimney's Song

07 Painted Girls

08 Fragments Of Memories

09 I'm Coming From Nowhere

10 The Forgotten Frontier

Fragments of Memories

Pale Awakening (1995)

01 Pale Awakening (Intro)

02 Again

03 Winter

04 Another Tear

05 Onyria

06 This Time (80's song)

07 In The Nightime

08 Wait For Nothing

09 Scent of Innocence

10 When The Dreams Become Memories

Pale Awakening

Minks - By The Hedge (2011)

   "In April of 2010 Captured Tracks released a 7" single by an unknown new york band called Minks. On the date of release, few people knew any information about the musicians behind the music. Most writers and listeners assumed that it was a one man bedroom music project, like many other artists on the label, and were confused even more when six musicians appeared on stage to perform songs at the first Minks concert. 

  The first single, titled "Funeral Song" was quickly praised by music journalists and publications like Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Fader. Fader said that it sounded like "If Robert Smith gave birth to a baby, and the baby was actually a cassette of Cure demos that had a lot more staying power than actual Cure demos." Seasons changed, and MINKS returned with a follow up 7" single titled "Ophelia," which continued to shadow people's minds with curious thoughts and open ears.

  The uniqueness of these early singles showed the ability to balance the feelings of joy and sadness, as well as a door to past and present worlds. 
  For these songs were less about the songs themselves, but the ability to make you feel a certain emotion when listening to them. No element alone would stand out, but as a whole, the swirling waves of sound which Pitchfork would describe as "all texture and drift," would drive you away to a nostalgic place in your mind.

  With the release of "By The Hedge," MINKS further the ability to make you feel eternal autumn.

  
   Frontman and songwriter Sean Kilfoyle's ability to capture the raincoat grey Boston mornings of his youth, have the desire to make you feel like you are listening to a dream while awake and standing in the pouring rain. put on your raincoat and enjoy the splendor."

Tracklist: 

1. Kusmi
2. Out of Tune
3. Life at Dusk
4. Indian Ocean
5. Funeral Song
6. Our Ritual
7. Cemetary Rain
8. Bruises
9. Boys Run Wild
10. Ophelia
11. Juniper
12. Arboretum Dogs

Minks - By the Hedge 

Clan Of Xymox - Darkest Hour (2011)

 BETTER THAN EVER!!!

   The band Clan of Xymox, also known as Xymox, formed in the Netherlands in 1981. They gained success in the 1980s, releasing their first two albums on a prestigious independent UK label, a third and fourth album on a major US label and scoring a hit single in the United States. Early pioneers of the dark and moody electronic music known as darkwave their 1980s releases included synthpop electronic dance music.

  In the 1990s, their music turned increasingly Goth (they have since been referred to as the "founding fathers of goth.") Though the band is still active and continues to tour and release records, of the original members (Ronny Moorings, Pieter Nooten, Frank Weyzig, and Anke [also Anka] Wolbert), only Moorings remains in the band today.

   How would the classic darkwave from the 80s sound today?

 

   Which path would the cult acts of the legendary 4AD label take with the possibilities of our modern world? As an answer to these questions, CLAN OF XYMOX deliver their foreboding thirteenth  studio album "Darkest Hour" - an enthralling journey through the past, present and future of gloomy goth/darkwave sounds.

  After enthusing the scene in the summer of 2009 with their quite goth rock-oriented "In Love We Trust", CLAN OF XYMOX return with an album that is surprisingly electronic. Without omitting the foggy guitars painting their characteristically melancholic aura into the songs, the framework of "Darkest Hour" consists of an elaborate composition of enigmatic electro sounds and mesmerizing darkwave nostalgia - a combination effortlessly melting together contemporary sounds with the aura that made the self-titled XYMOX debut an instant classic in 1985.

Ronny Moorings' passion for huge, sensual melodies, mystical sound experiments and seductive dance rhythms is as unbroken as it ever was. Melancholy, energy and determination rule "Darkest Hour", a record whose tracks "My Reality" or the hypnotic club hit "Delete" will work on any dancefloor, but that also delivers gripping entertainment and world-class goth hymns with "Dream of Fools" and the breathtaking "Wake Up My Darling". Crowned, as usual, with Ronny's unmistakable vocals instilling the necessary dark passion.

  An impressive 30 years have passed since the founding of CLAN OF XYMOX - a period being revisited on the new album and leading to ten modern darkwave classics ready to be instantly introduced into the canon of gloomy music. To be released on Ronny Moorings' birthday, 

"Darkest Hour" is music for the night, is music for life and for death, is music for eternity.

 Download

01. My Reality
02. Delete
03. My Chicane
04. Dream of Fools
05. Deep down I died
06. In Your Arms again
07. She did not answer
08. Tears ago
09. The Darkest Hour
10. Wake up My Darling

ENJOY!!!