Mystic Echo is a Belgian project that was previously unknown to me, founded by Ignace De Lamper. Two earlier singles can be found online, but they both date back to 2021. This debut album features eight tracks, including what can be considered an intro and an outro.

The influences of multi-instrumentalist Ignace De Lamper are diverse, yet they can primarily be traced back to the magical music of the 1980s, particularly New-Wave and Dark-Wave. The guitar creates a dark and immersive atmosphere, while the synths add an ethereal quality, making the songs more melodic and melancholic. At times, the music evokes an imaginary fusion of early Simple Minds and The Mission. The album contains several strong tracks, but “Silent Nothingness” rises well above the rest. The song stands out thanks to the uplifting guitar work, which perfectly complements the excellent vocal performance.

Mystic Echo is a beautiful and promising discovery that certainly deserves to be followed closely in the future. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Silent Nothingsness”:

https://mystic-echo.bandcamp.com/track/silent-nothingness

Electronic duo Oui Plastique have released the single “Linger” on Friday, June 12, 2026 via the Danish label Town & Towers Records. It is the second single from the project’s upcoming second album “Forever Will Be Over Before You Know It”, due later in 2026. Oui Plastique consists of Martin Nyrup (Denmark), also one half of dark wave act Perpacity, and James Thomas (UK).

“Linger” follows “Revival”, the first single from the album, which was released on April 10, 2026.

About Oui Plastique

Oui Plastique grew out of a 2017 collaboration between Martin Nyrup, one half of the Danish-British dark wave duo Perpacity, and James Thomas of the band DVL, who together recorded the album “Convergence” that year. The Oui Plastique name followed, and in 2018 the pair recorded a three-track covers EP for the UnMute project, a tribute to Mute Records, released on Bandcamp as “UM EP 04” on February 1, 2019.

The duo’s debut album “Fraternity of Strangers” was released on February 25, 2022 through ScentAir Records, as a limited CD and digital release containing eleven tracks. A remastered edition of “Convergence” followed in June 2022. In August 2025, the UnMute covers were remastered and reissued on all major platforms as the EP UnMute via Town & Towers Records, featuring the Martin Gore-associated tracks “Compulsion”, “The Bottom Line” and “It Doesn’t Matter Two”. Nyrup’s other project Perpacity most recently released the Danish-language single Lille Flamme in May 2025.

With “Revival” in April and “Linger” now out on June 12, Oui Plastique continue the run-up to “Forever Will Be Over Before You Know It”, their first full-length since their 2022 debut.

Slovak dark electro act KIFOTH have released “Artificial Territory” through the Bratislava-based label Aliens Production. The KIFOTH “Artificial Territory” release is out on CD and digital as of June 11, 2026, and follows the band’s previous album “Lost Territory” from November 2025.

The album contains 10 tracks built around five compositions presented in different mixes: “Killing Is a Routine”, “Cowardice”, “Medical Care”, “Words to Fear” and “Crucified Thief”.

The full tracklist is:

1. Killing Is a Routine (Lost Hope)
2. Cowardice (Aggregate Mix)
3. Medical Care (Serotonin Mix)
4. Words to Fear (Cortana)
5. Cowardice (Dark Factory)
6. Crucified Thief (Dub)
7. Medical Care (Tehran)
8. Cowardice (Melinda)
9. Killing Is a Routine (Bitchy Mix)
10. Medical Care (Radio Frequency Edit)

The KIFOTH studio lineup consisted of Key Head, Mir Colon and Blažena. The album was mastered by Anatoly “Tokee” Grinberg, with design by Housecore. “Artificial Territory” is available via the label’s Bandcamp page and the Aliens Production shop, and a trailer for the album is on YouTube.

About KIFOTH

KIFOTH, also written K.I.F.O.T.H. (short for “Kneel In Front Of The Executioner”), is a dark electro project from Slovakia whose origins go back to the mid-1990s; the project made its first live appearance in March 1995. The debut CD “Spectaclebreakers” was released in 1999 on the Slovak label FRONT CD Records, the same year the band first toured Europe. The releases that follow include “Fundamentum Divisionis”, “Acerbity Torrent” and “Violence Corporation”, built around core members Key Head and Mir Colon.

In 2017 Side-Line spoke with the band in a ‘Click Interview’ with KIFOTH. about its working methods and worldview. In November 2025 the band released the album “Lost Territory” on Aliens Production, which the label presented as the band’s first release on a home label. With “Artificial Territory”, out June 11, 2026, the duo extends that collaboration with a set of new mixes and material.

In The Nursery have repressed “Psalter Lane 25.06.81,” the recording of their first live performance, in a numbered run of 100 copies to mark the 45th anniversary of that debut. The CD is open for pre-order on Bandcamp now and orders ship on June 25, 2026, exactly 45 years after the show.

The release documents In The Nursery’s debut gig on June 25, 1981 at Psalter Lane Art College in Sheffield, captured on cassette by the live sound engineer and handed to the band. The recording first appeared on CD in 2021. The new edition reissues that material with packaging tied to the original event.

‘Psalter Lane 25.06.81’: three numbered editions

In The Nursery have split the run of 100 into three versions, each individually numbered and hand-stamped, with the CD mounted on a cork stud onto 450gsm embossed card. Copies 1 to 17 include an original full-colour A4 screen print made by Klive Humberstone in 1982/83, signed and numbered. Copies 18 to 84 add a screen-printed postcard with rubber-stamp detail. Copies 85 to 100 are CD only. Every copy includes a double-sided insert reproducing the original concert poster and set list with historical notes, housed in an embossed glassine bag.

The disc collects the set from that night: “Aubade,” “Patter,” “Stone Souls,” “Mystery,” “Despotism,” “Youth Movement,” and “Extempore.”

About In The Nursery

In The Nursery is a Sheffield group formed in 1981 by twin brothers Klive and Nigel Humberstone, initially with guitarist Anthony Bennett, who appeared at the 1981 Psalter Lane debut and left the band in 1985. Their early work joined industrialised martial rhythms with classical and film-soundtrack writing. The band released the six-track “When Cherished Dreams Come True” and the “Witness (To a Scream)” single in 1983, followed by the “Temper” EP on Sweatbox in 1985 and the album “Twins.”

Over later decades the duo built a long catalogue and moved into composing for film and television, including new scores for silent cinema. Side-Line has tracked that work through releases such as the instrumental version of “1961”, the “score for Basil Copper’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher'”, and the recently opened archive for “Soundtrack to an Imaginary Film (demos 1987-88)”. The “Psalter Lane 25.06.81” repress returns to the point where that catalogue began.

Forty years is an absurd lifespan for a project that has never been built for comfort. Suicide Commando began in the Belgian underground of the 1980s, shaped by closed factories, unemployment, Cold War tension, terror and the hard electronic language of bands such as Klinik, Front 242 and The Neon Judgement. In 2026, Johan Van Roy is not polishing that history into a safe anniversary narrative. With “Collective Suicide Vol. 1+2”, he opens the archive, lets the early rough recordings stand next to reworked material and new tracks, and treats four decades of darkness as something still active rather than neatly resolved.

The new retrospective looks back without turning Suicide Commando into a museum piece. It includes demo material, rare versions, reworked classics and the new track “Control & Consent”, while the anniversary concerts, including the WGT 2026 show at Agra Halle and the announced Oberhausen date, place that history back where it has always had its most violent physical charge: in front of an audience.

In this interview for Side-Line Magazine, Johan Van Roy talks about anger, darkness, old tapes, physical formats, AI, injury, the voice as weapon, copycats, WGT, the thin line between good and evil, and the one thing that has remained unchanged since the beginning: passion.

Suicide Commando interview

Karo: Forty years is a strange number for a project built on anger, darkness, speed and confrontation. Many artists soften with time, while Suicide Commando still seems to carry a very hard emotional charge. When you look at the project from 1986 to 2026, do you feel you have changed the sound, or has the world changed enough to make the same darkness sound different?

Johan: I grew up in the eighties with lots of factories closing down, lots of unemployment, but also the rise of terror organisations, even in Belgium, the cold war tensions … so it was a really dark period in history which you also could hear in the music of that decade with bands like Klinik, Front 242, The Neon Judgement … all coming from Belgium.
It definitely also had a big impact on me as a person and on my music.
I guess you’ll never hear happy pop tunes coming from my hand. It’s still the same darkness just wrapped in a different packaging, but the core remains the same, pitch black !

Karo: “Collective Suicide Vol. 1+2” documents a huge part of your history, from early demo material to rare versions, reworked classics and the new track “Control & Consent”. How did it feel to open the archive again after the 30th anniversary collection? Was it more like revisiting old evidence, cleaning old wounds, or finally accepting the full weight of what you have created?

Johan: Opening the gates of my musical hell made me realise how much my sound changed throughout the years. The atmosphere remained the same, but musically my sound did change a lot.

Ofcourse I see my own creations differently, not like a normal listener at home. You also have to see them in their own time period. It’s obvious that a song like “suicide” from 1987 sounds poorly recorded and outdated, but nonetheless I think it was essential to put some of these early recordings on “collective suicide” as well. And even though it sounds poorly recorded it still has a lot of value for myself and I’m still proud of it today.

Karo: A retrospective can easily become a monument, but “Collective Suicide Vol. 2” does not feel frozen because it includes new and reworked material. Why was it important for you to place “Control & Consent” inside an anniversary release, instead of keeping the collection purely historical?

Johan: For me it was essential to have material on both compilations covering the complete 40 years, so it had to include also some new material, even though “control & consent” goes back to my earlier works from the nineties, it also has this old school F242 vibe from the early days.

Karo: Suicide Commando has always dealt with violence, death, control, religion, obsession and human cruelty, yet the songs became club anthems for many people. After four decades, how do you understand that contradiction between brutal subject matter and collective dancefloor release?

Johan: I always liked to walk the line between good and evil, and sometimes it’s a very thin line.

I think we all have a negative side, we all have a yin and a yang … while most people would prefer to write about the birds and the bees, I was always more fascinated by the dark side of life.

Karo: Some of the reworked tracks, like “Come Down With Me”, “Jesus Freak” and “Death Lies Waiting”, return through your current production perspective. When you rebuild an older song now, what are you listening for? The weakness of the original, the energy that survived, or the person you were when you first made it?

Johan: Feel free to call it a professional quirk, but usually I only listen to my own songs searching for things that could be done differently or better, so reworking my old songs usually means trying to get an even better version or result.
But I always try to keep the original vibe of a song alive and intact.

Karo: The WGT 2026 anniversary show at Agra Halle was a symbolic moment, because Leipzig has always carried a special emotional weight for the dark scene. How did that concert feel from your side? Did it feel like a celebration, a confrontation with your own history, or simply another Suicide Commando show that had to hit with full force?

Johan: It certainly felt as a celebration, thinking back at it it still gives me goosebumps. Seeing the Agra Halle completely packed for our show (I was told maximum capacity of the Agra Halle is 10000 people), chanting along to the songs, seeing all those hands in the air … it simply was incredible and unforgettable.

WGT always had a special meaning for us. I think we meanwhile played there about 12 times, including the year the festival (almost) went bankrupt and we decided to play in total chaos.

Karo: After WGT, one more German anniversary show was announced for Oberhausen rather than turning the 40th anniversary into a large nostalgia tour. Was that selectiveness important to you? Do you prefer these anniversary shows to remain rare, almost ritual events, instead of becoming a routine celebration?

Johan: We’ll do a couple more anniversary shows, but mainly abroad (like the Netherlands, Spain …) but I explicitly wanted to keep these 40 years of Suicide Commando shows rare and special. So the one in Oberhausen will be the last special anniversary show, the other planned shows will be different.

Karo: Suicide Commando started with self released tapes in a very different underground, before streaming, social media, instant visibility and permanent digital noise. What do you miss from that earlier scene, and what do you definitely not want to romanticise about it?

Johan: What I certainly miss from those early times is the creativity you had to have to make music. Nowadays it became way too easy to make music, get yourself a decent pc and some software and next week you can have your first songs ready, and with the rise of AI it even became worse. So I certainly lack the innovation you had to have back in the old days, you had to be way more creative to make music, instruments costed a fortune and were extremely limited in their possibilities, so you basically were obliged to be innovative and creative. The music was definitely more experimental in those days.

What I don’t want to romanticise about it ? Well, buying a sampler that costed a fortune and just be able to sample 3 seconds of sound … 🙂

Karo: You had a serious knee injury and surgery years ago, and there was even a moment when pain forced you to stop a show. Yet Suicide Commando live performances still demand physical intensity, control and aggression. Has your relationship with your body on stage changed with age, injury and experience?

Johan: Of course I feel that age takes its toll, I’m not 25 anymore … and sure my live shows demanded concessions from my health, the knee injury and surgery was probably the biggest one, but I also remember ending up in hospital with bruised ribs during a tour which made it almost impossible to breath, or with a bruised foot or leg as I always prone to doing stupid things on stage …

But nonetheless it was all worth the sacrifices.

Karo: Your voice has always been one of the most recognisable weapons in Suicide Commando: harsh, venomous, direct, almost disciplinary. After forty years, do you still experience the voice as a weapon, or has it become something more complex, maybe a mask, a confession, or a survival mechanism?

Johan: To be honest, I never really saw myself as a “real” singer. I know my limitations as a singer, so I had to find ways to turn this disadvantage into an advantage and make it a weapon, with using an old pitch shifter (many people still think I’m using distortion or whatever) it perfectly worked out for me and my sound.

Karo: The new anniversary box set also treats Suicide Commando as a visual and physical archive, with vinyl, CD, photo book and certificate. In a digital era, why does the object still matter? Is it mainly for collectors, or does physical format preserve a kind of seriousness that streaming cannot carry?

Johan: I still think it’s important to myself to be able to hold something physically in your hands, and whether that is a tape, a vinyl or a CD doesn’t really matter, they all have/had their own flair. For me it’s not only about the music, also the package, the artwork, the lyrics … are part of the whole.

Karo: Many younger dark electro and aggrotech acts grew up with Suicide Commando as part of their musical DNA. Do you hear your influence in the current scene with pride, discomfort, distance, or surprise? Are there moments when you feel the genre has understood your legacy, and moments when it has misunderstood it?

Johan: I’ve always been proud of the legacy that Suicide Commando left behind. It started to get a bit annoying when this style became immensely popular after the success of the “mindstrip” and “axis of evil” albums in the early 2000’s. All of a sudden you got a lot of copycats and in a way Suicide Commando got the blame. But trends come and go, so I’m happy things calmed down again. Nothing against copycats, but I still prefer bands with an own identity, doing the thing they like, not because it is popular at that time or not.

Karo: Looking back across four decades, which part of Suicide Commando has remained most stubbornly unchanged: the anger, the discipline, the fascination with death, the need for control, or the refusal to become safe?

Johan: For sure the passion ! Music is my passion, music is my therapy, always been, always will!

Karo: If “Collective Suicide Vol. 1+2” gives listeners a near complete map of where Suicide Commando has been, what should remain unmapped? What part of the project still has to stay dangerous, private or unresolved for you to continue?

Johan: I’m in a luxury position where I can do whatever I want with Suicide Commando. My label gives me total freedom in what I do, so I’m a happy (old) man !

The passion will never die, so I simply can’t imagine a life without doing (my) music.

There is an official Berlin release event for Front 242’s new live album “Black Out“. The event takes place on Friday, June 26, 2026, at Urban Spree, Revaler Str. 99, 10245 Berlin. The German EBM act AD:keY will perform live during the event.

The event is presented under the Machineries Of Joy banner. Doors are listed for 22:00, with entry priced at €12 (tickets available here).

It will be the AD:keY’s first Berlin concert in nine years.

About AD:keY

AD:keY is a German EBM duo from Berlin, built around Andrea Nowotny and René Nowotny. The project was formed in 2007 after René Nowotny’s earlier project Rector Scanner, with Andrea joining him as the second core member. René was also active as keyboard player with Armageddon Dildos.

The duo first released the self-produced EP “Shout!” in 2008, followed by the debut album “Thema Nummer Eins” on Electric Tremor Dessau the same year. The album introduced the band’s male/female vocal format and German-language old-school EBM approach.

The project continued with “That’s It!” in 2010, “Astrogator” in 2012 and “Anthropozän” in 2015. In 2017 the duo signed to Alfa Matrix and released the download EP “Shameless”, followed by the fifth album “Reanimator”.

In 2018 Alfa Matrix reissued the AD:keY back catalogue digitally alongside the Rector Scanner catalogue. The same year, the duo released “10th Anniversary”, a 16-track collection of reworked material and new tracks. The later catalogue includes “Resonanz” in 2020 and “0609” in 2024, the band’s seventh album.

About Front 242 – ‘Blackout’

“Black Out” is Front 242’s final live album. Alfa Matrix releases it on June 19, 2026. The album was recorded at AB Brussels in January 2025 and documents the band’s farewell tour, which covered more than 40 performances across Europe and the United States.

For “Black Out,” Patrick Codenys, Jean-Luc De Meyer and Richard 23 are joined on stage by Tim Kroker on drums. David Baboulis of Soldout handled the studio mixing and production.

The release is available as a digital edition, 2CD digipak and vinyl editions. The 2CD version includes three exclusive bonus tracks: “MasterHit”, “Soul Manager” and “No Shuffle”. The album also includes official versions of more recent live tracks such as “Generator”, “Fix It” and “Hide & Seek”.

The German project Apoptose began experimenting with music in the 1990s and released its debut album in 2000. Several more albums followed, most of them released through Tesco Organisation. This latest work is also the project’s first release in seven years and appeared sometime last year. The album draws inspiration from shadow, silence, and solitude, creating a space where sound becomes landscape and silence itself seems to speak.

These themes are subtly translated across nine tracks that occupy a space between Dark-Ambient and Cinematic music. Numerous bird sounds—possibly field recordings—play an important role, naturally creating a distinctive atmosphere. At times the mood is serene, yet it can also become somewhat ominous, particularly when the calls of crows emerge from the soundscape. There is much more to discover, however, including intriguing dark and repetitive sequences, evocative string passages, and delicate piano arrangements. Together, these elements create a vivid sense of loneliness while simultaneously conveying a profound feeling of calm.

This is a rewarding listen from an artist who, in some respects, distances himself from many of the conventions typically associated with Dark-Ambient and Cinematic productions. (Rating:7).

Listen to “Sieben Felsen”:

https://apoptose-official.bandcamp.com/track/sieben-felsen

As a music critic, you naturally come across new bands from time to time that you immediately feel have more potential. I experienced that feeling quite quickly when I discovered the album “Porcelaine” by the French duo Foule. Zoé Boutin (vocals and lyrics) and Olly (guitar and machinery) founded their musical alter ego Foule in 2023 and subsequently started releasing singles. These singles have now been compiled into the self-released “Porcelaine”. In my opinion, it is a brilliant album that could be placed somewhere in the Post-Punk and Dark-Wave categories, yet it immediately sounds different from the average production out there. That touch of originality and the clear openness to other influences inspire the duo’s compositions. Besides the somewhat atypical, original music, there is also the poetic approach to the lyrics, which are sung in a distinctive way. Additionally, the artwork contributes to the album’s unique identity. Foule is a duo with its own DNA, and “Porcelaine” in particular is a beautiful piece that should serve as the foundation for an even better follow-up. I am certainly curious to see where this group will end up, but I believe in a successful career. To introduce Foule, here is this interview with Zoé. (Picture credits by Céline Wilczek –  Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Foule interview 

Q: Can we start with a brief introduction of Foule? Who are you, where do you come from, and what is your musical background? Were there any previous projects or experiences that eventually led to the creation of Foule?

Zoé: Foule consists of two passionate musicians from Toulouse (France). We met through an ad while we were both looking for a new project. The artistic chemistry was there from our very first studio sessions. And Foule, this beautiful creature that nobody expected, was born.

Olly had several musical projects as a guitarist and bassist, mainly in Electronic music, Rock, Industrial-Metal and Trip-Hop. I also had other musical projects before, mostly within more conventional Rock genres, but I always stayed in a vocal comfort zone and never truly found my place.

When I met Olly, I immediately felt free to explore the edges of my voice: soaring highs, androgynous low tones, whispers and screams, but also deeper emotions and a more authentic poetic expression in French; and above all, an absolute form of art — musical, theatrical, plastic and poetic.

Q: You describe your music as ‘Dark Trap / Industrial Witch House’. Could you elaborate a bit more on what that means to you? And, by the way, what are Foule’s main musical roots and influences?

Zoé: It’s difficult to define our style because we never really tried to fit into one particular genre. On the contrary, we’ve always experimented with the edges and intersections of different musical worlds. But we can say that our music is built on tensions: electronic and organic, dark but playful, delicate yet violent, raw yet poetic.

Heavy, electric, hypnotic instrumentals pulse beneath the surface, trap rhythms collide with saturated, abrasive guitars and obsessive loops. Above them moves a melancholic voice, sometimes childlike and mischievous, sometimes floating and ethereal, sometimes wounded, and aching.

Our main influences include: The Prodigy, Crystal Castles, Zheani, t.A.T.u., Mylène Farmer, Die Antwoord, IC3Peak, Nine Inch Nails, Wargasm, Rammstein, Ho99o9.

Q: I asked the previous question because I didn’t immediately recognize the typical Dark-Wave or Post-Punk clichés in your approach to “Porcelaine.” Instead, I had the impression that Foule deliberately tries to distance itself from those clichés, not only musically but also through the lyrics and artwork. Am I understanding this correctly? What exactly is your artistic vision behind this approach? Could you elaborate on that?

Zoé: I don’t know if we consciously tried to distance ourselves from clichés, but we never really tried to fit into them either. We simply made an album that reflects who we are, drawing from whatever felt meaningful and necessary to us.

Looking back, we could say that the dark atmosphere translates isolation and introspection; trap rhythms bring a sassy, cold and addictive pulse; Industrial-Metal represents violence — the moment when porcelain breaks.

The lyrics are very personal. At first, they were a form of catharsis, a way to release all the raw emotions that needed to come out. The themes are autobiographical, but the writing is also shaped by my personality: both playful and serious, mixing Pop and intellectual references, with a lot of hidden meanings and layers.

The artwork is very personal as well. I drew an image of a house inspired by the cupboard-house we use on stage. It represents childhood playfulness, but also a house that becomes too small: Alice growing beyond it, a snake shedding its skin.

“Porcelaine” is both a throwback to the raw emotions of the inner child and a way of outgrowing them. It’s a process of fracture and healing.

Q: Over the past few years, you released several singles that eventually found their place on the debut album “Porcelaine.” Did you already know from the beginning that these songs would become part of a full album, or did that idea gradually develop over time? And while we are on the subject, could you tell us a bit more about the concept and vision behind “Porcelaine” and the songs gathered on it?

Zoé: At first, there was a period of experimentation and hesitation, but we quickly found our own universe: melancholy, childhood references, porcelain dolls, games and tales, madness, and extreme emotions. We let these inspirations guide us freely, and the process became incredibly fertile. Over the course of two years, we wrote a large number of songs.

At some point, it became obvious that they needed to be brought together into a single album, united by a central theme: human fragility — like porcelain dolls or paper houses, beautiful and vulnerable at the same time.

The stories told throughout the album are deeply autobiographical: childhood traumas, grief, jealousy, anger. Gradually, the narrative opens up and becomes more universal — exploring human vulnerability, inner demons, but also the strength and resilience that can emerge from them.

As the album took shape, we also defined its boundaries more clearly. At some point, the music grew darker and more minimalistic, while the writing became less vulnerable and more resilient. That’s when we decided to draw the line.

The track order is chronological. The first songs deal with inherited pain — the wounds we receive from our families, sometimes even from generations we don’t fully know — and the way we hide that pain and anger.

As the album unfolds, the narrator grows and confronts other forms of friction with the outside world: relationships, tension, and identity. The lyrics of “Vers l’Enfer” draw from Baudelaire’s “Au Lecteur,” which exposes the vices and flaws of human nature.

By the time we reach “Le Déserteur,” the final track, we arrive at a passage into adulthood — an acceptance, a release, and a fragile but real sense of hope.

The whole project is infused with literary and cultural references — both high and Pop culture — everything has its place.

Our vision is close to a Baudelairean figure of the poet who finds beauty in decay and pain, and transforms it into something almost alchemical. Rather than trying to repair what is broken, the album embraces fracture. Like the Japanese art of Kintsugi, it seals cracks with gold, turning damage into something luminous.

Q: How do you work together as a duo? What were the most important stages and defining moments during the writing and production process of your songs? And is there a particular message, emotion, or intention behind the music you create?

Zoé: Our creative process is first instinctive and intuitive, and then becomes conceptual and structured. Everything starts with Olly’s demos and compositions, whether they emerge from a texture, a riff, a mood, rhythmic foundations, samples or noise. His approach to Electronic composition combines DJ-inspired techniques — similar to The Prodigy’s production methods — with more traditional songwriting based on bass or guitar riffs.

The guitar often provides the emotional or Cinematic foundation, while synthesizers and rhythmic samples shape the atmosphere and sonic landscape. The vocals then either extend that atmosphere or deliberately contradict it, creating something more dynamic and ambiguous.

Sometimes I prepare vocal ideas or fragments of lyrics to match the instrumental. Other times, we improvise entirely in the studio. In those moments, Olly takes on the role of producer, guiding me through melodies and vocal techniques.

We build an initial demo, and I then rewrite the lyrics and melodies to fit the rhythm and flow before recording the final version.

We genuinely operate as two distinct sensibilities searching for a shared language. Some songs come together very quickly, almost instinctively, while others require extensive rewriting and experimentation before reaching their final form.

The most important moments are when we allow ourselves to question everything, dismantling ideas to reach something more honest and radical.

A decisive moment in our creative journey was realizing that we didn’t simply want to blend genres; we wanted to create a coherent emotional identity connecting melancholy, emotion, and the hypnotic qualities of our music. From that point on, production became just as important as composition. Textures, silences, distortion, and contrasts became integral parts of the narrative itself.

Behind our music is often a desire to express inner states that are difficult to articulate in any other way: isolation, transformation, restrained anger, obsession, but also a certain beauty within chaos. We are not necessarily trying to deliver a direct message; instead, we aim to create an emotional space where listeners can project something personal.

Q: In the meantime, you have already released a brand-new song and single called “Dynamite.” Could you tell us a bit more about this track? Is it perhaps already pointing towards the direction of a future album? And finally, what does the future hold for Foule in terms of live performances, video clips, and possibly working with a label, or do you prefer to continue as a fully D.I.Y. band?

Zoé: “Dynamite” is a playful and rebellious anthem, an invitation to shatter the pain and suffering described in “Porcelaine”. It doesn’t necessarily belong to the next album — it feels more like a transition moment. Foule is in a state of mutation, and “Dynamite” marks the explosion that allows this transformation.

The horizon of the second album is already taking shape. We have a large number of new compositions and demos in progress, and we are already performing some of them live. However, we are still working on the unity and identity of this second chapter.

We already sense an evolution towards something more minimalist and trap-oriented, less vulnerable and theatrical, with more reflective writing. The child is growing into a more mature narrating voice. The porcelain doll is becoming human.

Last year, we won a one-year support program with a Toulouse-based label through a competition. They co-finance certain projects while giving us a lot of creative freedom, so we have managed to keep our DIY identity intact. In the future, we would like to work with a more ambitious and international label in order to expand and grow further.

We are currently preparing a tour to promote “Porcelaine”, as well as a new music video for one of the album’s tracks.

DeVision Redux‘s Steffen Keth and Daniel Myer on “Echoes We Keep”, the Redux sound and why old songs sometimes need a different room

DeVision Redux starts with a simple idea, then immediately complicates it: familiar De/Vision songs, rebuilt with a more modern electronic body, carried by a singer whose voice already belongs to the material, and shaped by Daniel Myer, an artist who has rarely treated electronic music as a comfort zone. That combination could have produced a neat update of catalogue favourites. Instead, “Echoes We Keep” feels like a test of how much memory a song can hold before it needs another form.

The project also has a practical side, which Steffen Keth addresses directly. De/Vision Redux gives him more flexibility, a second live format and a way to play more often, while the original De/Vision remains active in a more limited capacity. Around that pragmatic decision, however, another question appears: what happens when songs that already belong to many listeners are placed under new pressure?

In this interview, Steffen Keth and Daniel Myer discuss the beginning of De/Vision Redux, the choice of “Synchronize” as the first recorded step, the title “Echoes We Keep”, the role of Daniel’s production, the live energy of the project, audience reactions and the balance between respect and risk.

DeVision Redux interview

Karo: DeVision Redux is described as a new format of De/Vision, not as the end of the original band. That distinction matters, but it also raises a deeper question: what did you need this second space for? Was there something in the De/Vision catalogue that could no longer be fully expressed through the familiar band format?

Steffen: I’d had the idea for a while. I just felt that I wanted to present various De/Vision songs with a more modern sound. I’d quit my job in the summer of 2024 and met Daniel at a party in Hamburg. He thought the idea was exciting, and in October we agreed to work together. This has allowed me to build up a second source of income alongside De/Vision, so I’m much more flexible and can simply play a lot more gigs. Thomas isn’t as flexible anymore because of his job, so with DE/VISION we’re focusing on just a few gigs a year.

Karo: Before “Echoes We Keep” became an album, De/Vision Redux already existed as a live idea. When did you realise that this was not only a different way of performing old songs, but a project with its own artistic logic?

Steffen: At first, we just had the idea of establishing DeVision Redux as a live act. After the first few shows, there was a desire to release something, so we expanded on the original concept. Now the aim is to establish and develop the Redux sound.

Daniel: If I may add something, to me its also a refreshing style in this scene, a lot of new music is getting released and it repeats the same formula, why not add something new, that listeners and dj´s can explore.

Karo: “Synchronize” was the first recorded step into this new chapter. It is interesting that you did not begin with one of the most obvious early classics, but with a later song. Why was “Synchronize” the right door into Redux?

Steffen: ‘Synchronize’ blends the old and slightly newer De/Vision sound very well, and as we wanted to release our first track quickly, we chose this particular song. It was already at a very advanced stage of production, and the positive feedback from live performances also played a part in our decision.

Karo: The title “Echoes We Keep” suggests memory, but not nostalgia in a passive or sentimental sense. An echo is never identical to the original sound; it is changed by the room that carries it. What did you want to preserve from these songs, and what did you feel ready to let go?

Daniel: I can answer that, I guess, because I also suggested the title. I felt it was necessary to bridge the old with the new, and sometimes an echo is just doing that, that’s at least how I use it sometimes, when I make music. My main idea was, to treat the material, the songs, as the classic songs they are. I was/am a fan of the classic songs, so I tried to keep the structures, the depth and emotions of the songs. I think, I only went a couple of times a little „too“ far and changed the feel a little bit, but in general my attempt was only, to give the old a new polish.

Karo: Daniel is not simply a producer brought in to modernise the sound. He has his own very strong language: physical, precise, detailed, sometimes severe, but also emotional in a different way. What did Daniel understand about De/Vision that made you trust him with material carrying so much history?

Steffen: I’ve known Daniel for quite some time; even though we’ve hardly been in touch, I’ve kept an eye on his work. I simply like the variety of his output; I like the fact that he doesn’t just focus on one thing. He loves music, and that’s important to me. Broadening horizons, not standing still, but always being on the lookout for new influences. That’s the approach I’d been looking for.

Daniel: Plus we crossed paths a few times before, I did a few remixes in the 90ies, we toured together and Steffen was even singing on one of our Haujobb Songs (Violator)

Karo: De/Vision songs have lived with you for decades, but they also live inside the audience, often connected to very personal memories. When you sing these Redux versions now, do you feel closer to your own past, or strangely freer from it?

Steffen: Personally, I don’t associate the REDUX versions with the past. They’re meant to work in the present, and that works brilliantly for me. Of course, everyone associates something different with De/Vision, and we’ve also made sure that the basic essence of the songs isn’t lost. For me, however, DeVision Redux represents a slightly more modern sound, which is also intended to convey that feeling.

Karo: The REDUX versions are more electronic, more direct, more club oriented and often more reduced. Reduction can be merciless, because it removes places where emotion can hide. Did this new sound make your voice and the lyrics feel more exposed than before?

Steffen: There’s a different energy on stage, and as a singer, I naturally try to convey that. The fans’ reaction shows me that I’m on the right track.

Daniel: My idea was also, to give the voice more space, not for every songs, but sometimes, he needs to breathe and shine, so for some tracks I tried to give that space and momentum….

Karo: Some songs survive transformation easily, while others resist it. How did you decide which De/Vision tracks were strong enough for this treatment? Were there any songs that surprised you because they suddenly opened up in the Redux format?

Steffen: Daniel and I made the selection together. We wanted to create around 20 songs as REDUX versions. Daniel was solely responsible for the production. And yes, there were a few tracks that really blew me away. ‘Strange Affection’, “Addict”, ‘Deliver Me’ and a few more. There were also tracks we struggled with at first. Sometimes it just takes a while to find the right approach.

Daniel: Exactly, for some songs the new treatment felt foreign, alienated, even though I tried my best to keep the original feeling and I think, that was the mistake there. Sometimes a little too much respect to the original material is not good;)

Karo: De/Vision have always balanced melancholy and movement, romanticism and clarity, emotional directness and electronic control. Did working on “Echoes We Keep” make you recognise certain patterns in your songwriting that have remained constant across the years?

Daniel: Steffen didn´t answer this, so I am not sure, if I am here to fill in, but for me it felt like, that Steffen has no patterns, as you can see in his other new project Bittersweet Dance Club. He is somehow true to himself, writing pop music, but always exploring new ground, I like that about him.

Karo: The stage seems essential to this project. Devision Redux is not just a studio reinterpretation, but also a live experience with a different physical pressure. What changes in the room when these songs are performed in this leaner, more electronic form?

Steffen: As I mentioned earlier, the atmosphere on stage is changing, and the audience seems to be acting a bit more freely too. I sense more movement in the room, a certain relaxed, laid-back vibe. And the most important thing about the whole thing is that everyone should enjoy themselves and spread a bit of joy.

Daniel: And joyful it is. Sometimes it is even a little standup comedy on stage. We have so many stories to share between Steffen and me, and the audience, of course. We both have a history of more than 35 years on stage and we see familiar faces in front of us, but we also try to keep it entertaining and fun. I improvise a lot in between the more or less structured set and sometimes happy accidents happen. But I also love all my music and I feel a lot the emotions in the songs and when I have the monitors on stage extra loud I really dive into the music and let myself go and vibe with it;)

Karo: The audience comes to these songs with recognition, memory and expectation, but Redux also asks them to accept disruption. What has surprised you most in the reaction so far? Do people respond more to what they remember, to what has changed, or to the tension between both?

Steffen: We were quite surprised that most of the fans who came to our shows reacted very positively. Of course, there are also fans who don’t like the new format, but we’re also hoping to attract new listeners with it. There were, and still are, many listeners who thought De/Vision no longer existed. After all, it’s been eight years since the last regular De/Vision album. But what we found funniest was the comment that some people thought we were a De/Vision cover band. The most important thing for us is that we must feel good about it, that the tracks must feel right.

Karo: Reopening one’s own history can easily become nostalgic, decorative or too respectful. DeVision Redux avoids that by sounding very present, sometimes almost uncompromising. When you look at this project now, does it feel like a way of preserving De/Vision’s past, or more like a way of protecting its future?

Steffen: I think that DeVision Redux speaks more to the present and the future. Of course, it’s not meant to deny the past, and there are certainly plenty of old elements in the tracks, but REDUX signals a sense of renewal rather than nostalgia. I’ve also noticed, however, that there are listeners who only became aware of De/Vision through DeVision Redux. After almost 40 years, there are still surprises to be had.

Daniel: Amen;)

The Italian band Diskonnekt has been active for several years and is releasing their second album this year. It is admittedly a short album, as there are only 7 tracks to discover.

If you are not yet familiar with this band and you love Dark-Electro and Aggrotech, then this band is the right choice for you. As I said, there are only 7 tracks, but they will quickly shake the ground—and especially dance floors. I think Diskonnekt can be placed somewhere between Hocico and Suicide Commando. It is pure musical aggression that sounds as if it is directly connected to hell. Hard and merciless beats and sequences are unleashed upon you, while solid leads make the whole thing sound even more infectious. The vocal production also sounds harsh, just as if a possessed person is singing. However, Diskonnekt’s strength also lies in the fact that the songs are well-finished, resulting in a mature production.

Not a single track here is worth discarding; instead, you will discover a succession of incredibly strong songs. Diskonnekt is a name to remember. (Rating:9).

Listen to “Alieno”:

Portion Control “Hit The Pulse to Purge” is a 4xCD box set scheduled for release on August 14, 2026 through Artoffact Records, with digital and limited LP editions. Titled “1983-86 – Hit The Pulse to Purge…”, it is the first archival box set in a series drawn from the British group’s back catalogue.

The collection covers the 1983 mini-LP “Hit The Pulse”, the albums “..Step Forward” (1984) and “Psycho Bod Saves The World” (1986), the 12-inch singles “The Great Divide”, “Go-Talk” and “Raise The Pulse”, and the “Purge” EP (1986). It adds B-sides, compilation tracks, rarities, remixes, demos and two concert recordings from 1984 and 1985.

77 tracks in total were remastered by Paul Lavigne at Kontrast Mastering, of which 16 are previously unreleased and a further 12 appear on CD and digitally for the first time. The 4xCD set is packaged in a five-panel ecopak with a 24-page booklet of archive photos and a new design by Stefan Alt of ant-zen. A limited red vinyl LP collecting ten tracks will also be issued.

The first preview from the set is a rebuild of “Refugee”, a track from the 1984 album “..Step Forward”, reworked by Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly.

Portion Control signed to Artoffact Records in late 2025. Side-Line reported the signing when the band joined Artoffact and released “SEED EP3.1”. The label is reissuing the group’s back catalogue as a series of box sets, of which “1983-86 – Hit The Pulse to Purge…” is the first.

About Portion Control

Portion Control formed in South London in 1979, with a line-up of Dean Piavani, Ian Sharp and John Whybrew. After early cassette releases, the group issued its first vinyl album, “I Staggered Mentally”, in 1982. Their use of sequenced synthesisers, samplers and strident vocals placed them among the early electro-industrial acts, and they have been cited as an influence on Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Nine Inch Nails and Orbital. The group toured with Depeche Mode in 1984.

After disbanding in the late 1980s, Portion Control reconvened in the mid-2000s and resumed releasing, with records including “Wellcome” (2004), “Filthy White Guy” (2006) and “Pure Form” (2012), followed by the “SEED” EPs issued between 2020 and 2025. Side-Line has covered the band over this period, including its reissue of the “Dissolve” material in 2022 and a 2020 interview. The “1983-86 – Hit The Pulse to Purge…” box set opens Artoffact’s reissue programme for the group.

The BlazerJacket single “Myelin Void (Rebuilt)” is a reworked release from the Ukrainian cyberpunk and industrial project, presenting two new versions of the track “Myelin Void” injected with rock and metal influences. The release is available to stream right now.

“Myelin Void” was originally an electronic track inspired by a severe multiple sclerosis relapse experienced by the project’s founder Denis Cherryman. The title refers to the myelin sheath, the protective layer around nerve fibres that multiple sclerosis damages. The original translated that experience into sound through static textures, fading momentum, and fractured rhythms, while the rebuilt versions retain the original concept while pushing it into heavier territory with guitars, distortion, and greater physical impact.

Alongside the rework, BlazerJacket has issued the official video for “Myelin Void” as well.

About BlazerJacket

BlazerJacket is a project created in Ukraine by Denis Cherryman, also of Dirty Bird 13 and The Cherry Men, together with Hybri.Mod. The project is influenced by cyberpunk, retrowave, sci-fi and the cult action films of the 1980s and 1990s. BlazerJacket debuted with the EP “The First” in 2020 and followed it with a run of singles before issuing the EPs “The Second” and “Terrorstate” in 2023.

Side-Line has covered the project’s EP “The Second” in 2023 and the single “Overcharged” in 2025. The project says that the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 shaped its sound. “Myelin Void (Rebuilt)” reworks one of the project’s most personal tracks into its heavier register.

British band Aiming released a four-track EP last year on Blackjack Illuminist Records and returns this year with a new release featuring another four tracks.

Aiming continues to draw on a range of influences, blending Shoegaze with touches of Dream-Pop. More than ever, the fuzzy guitar work creates a distinctive atmosphere that permeates all the songs. At times, especially when paired with the female vocals, it evokes a sense of melancholy.

Overall, the music remains subdued and dreamy, and Aiming delivers four enjoyable tracks, with the opening song standing out as the clear highlight. (Rating:7½).

Listen to “Our Voices At The Bottom Of The Ocean”:

https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/track/our-voices-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean

Lords of Acid newest single”El Mundo Está Loco” is out today, June 12, 2026 through Metropolis Records. The single features the New York City duo Tony & The Kiki and is the third Lords of Acid single of 2026. It is available to stream and through the band’s Bandcamp page. The title translates as “the world is crazy”.

The track combines electronic beats and Latin-inspired hooks with a vocal exchange between Lords of Acid and Tony & The Kiki. Metropolis Records describes “El Mundo Está Loco” as “a dance floor anthem for a world that seems to be getting crazier by the day”.

Tony & The Kiki are a New York glam-rock duo formed in 2021 by vocalist Anthony Alfaro and keyboardist Rodney Bush. The pair appeared as one of the guest acts on the recently completed “Cheeky Freaky Tour” of the United States with Lords of Acid. “El Mundo Está Loco” is a digital single; no physical format has been announced.

“El Mundo Está Loco” follows the 2026 singles “Karaoke Superstar” and “Dream Boy”. Side-Line already covered “Karaoke Superstar”, a collaboration with vocalist and DJ Princess Superstar. “Dream Boy” features Carla Harvey, the group’s current vocalist. All three songs are set to appear on a seventh Lords of Acid studio album due in late 2026, first reported by Side-Line alongside the band’s “Cheeky Freaky” US tour. The label states the album will feature further guest vocalists alongside Harvey.

About Lords of Acid

Lords of Acid formed in Antwerp, Belgium in 1988 around producer Praga Khan (Maurice Engelen). The group combined techno, acid house, New Beat and industrial elements with lyrics centred on sexuality, drug culture and hedonism. They debuted with the single “I Sit On Acid”, and their first album “Lust” followed in 1991. Subsequent releases placed the group on the Billboard dance and alternative charts, and the band has maintained a long-running international touring schedule.

The current line-up includes vocalist Carla Harvey, formerly of Butcher Babies, whom is the band’s new singer since January 2025. “El Mundo Está Loco” continues the run of 2026 singles leading toward the group’s seventh studio album.

Stolen, the post-punk/electronic band from Chengdu, China, play two London shows at The George Tavern on July 12 and 13, 2026. The concerts are the final stop of the band’s current tour.

The two July dates follow the band’s previous London appearance at Scala on October 6, 2024, which was part of their “I Generated” UK and European tour. You can order your tickets right here.

“Cacophonic Symphony” is the band’s latest studio album. The nine-track record, which includes the songs “Electric Baby”, “Bouquet”, “Polythene Town” and “Dress Code”, appeared in April 2026 as a self-released album.

About Stolen

Stolen formed in Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan province; and more precisely at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in 2009. The line-up consists of Liang Yi (vocals), FangDe (guitar), JunYang (bass), YuFeng (drums) and Duan Xuan (keyboards), joined since 2012 by French visual artist Formol, who handles the band’s live visuals.

After the EP “Strange Old-fashioned Entertainment” (2013) and the album “Loop” (2015, D Force Records), the band began working with Berlin-based producer Mark Reeder, who produced their 2017 self-titled EP. Reeder, together with Micha Adam, also produced the album “Fragment”, released on October 26, 2018 through Reeder’s reactivated MFS label. The Reeder connection led to the band opening for New Order on a run of European dates in October 2019, including shows in Berlin and Paris.

The album “Eroded Creation” followed on December 19, 2022, and the EP “I Generated” in September 2024, supported by a UK and European tour that year. “Cacophonic Symphony”, released in April 2026, is the band’s most recent album, and the July dates at The George Tavern are the band’s first announced London shows since its release.

Below is the love release “Dance Tunnel 26′ Long Mix (live)” on which the band deconstructed and rearranged several of the band’s classic works, adapting them to their current sound. Tracks included are “Electric Baby”, “Space Intruders”, “Pay”, “AI Arena”, “Copy Shop”, “Why We Choose To Die In Berlin” and “Overfeed”. The whole comes as a 26+ minute long track.

AD Ozium, the Washington, D.C. project led by Jeremy Moore, released the album “In the Style of Dead Sparrows” offering a mix of drone, noise and dark ambient. The release is available through the project’s Bandcamp page.

On this new release Moore weaves folk, jazz and no wave into a continuous, structure-less form. The album is available via the project’s Bandcamp page.

The album follows “If Membership Is Slumber”, a two-track release that pairs the vocal piece “Terrorgramophone” with the instrumental “Lifespring”.

About AD Ozium

AD Ozium is a Washington, D.C.-based project by Jeremy Moore. The project combines folk, jazz, no wave, dark ambient and noise rock elements with abrasive textures, fractured rhythms, drones, loops and unstable guitar passages. Moore handles guitars, synthesis, drones, loops and noise, with vocals also credited on the earlier release “If Membership Is Slumber”.

The project appeared publicly in 2026 through Saccharine Underground, the Washington, D.C. musical collective, artist network and non-profit label connected to Moore’s wider body of work. At Side-Line we previously covered Moore’s related projects in Zabus release second album in three months: “The Future of Death” – Out now and Bell Barrow drops debut LP “CoreCore Pulp” – Out now.

The first AD Ozium release, “If Membership Is Slumber”, was issued on May 19, 2026. The two-track release contains “Terrorgramophone” and “Lifespring”. The material was recorded between January and March 2026 at The Prisoner’s Cinema in Washington, D.C., engineered by Andy Baldwin at Metropolis Studios in April 2026 and produced by Moore.

The project’s next release, “In the Style of Dead Sparrows”, followed on June 9, 2026. The 10-track digital album includes “Lifespring”, “Tender Loving Seed”, “Whore of Sound”, “Music From The Opfer’s Box”, “Faith Is A Hole”, “Portents of The Terminal Mind”, “The Nazarene Distortion”, “Death Valley Superbloom”, “Throne Verse” and “A Practical Act of Prowess”. This album was recorded between January and February 2026 at The Prisoner’s Cinema in Washington, D.C. as well, and was engineered by Andy Baldwin at Metropolis Studios in May 2026 and produced by Moore. Moore also created the cover concept and design.

AD Ozium sits close to his more textural and unstable work. Zabus used progressive post-punk, proto-goth and electronic percussion structures, while his other project Bell Barrow moved into instrumental noise, power electronics, free jazz psychedelia and avant-garde black metal.

“In the Style of Dead Sparrows” is available as a digital album through AD Ozium’s Bandcamp page.

London dark electronic duo Palindrones have released a new single, “The Blood Moon“, it’s available now on Bandcamp. The track arrives with an accompanying music video.

Palindrones described “The Blood Moon” as “a dark, hypnotic journey through the tides, storms, sin and submission,” adding that the single is “a tale of the cycles of destruction, renewal and the ancient currents that flow beneath human experience.” The band furthermore says that “like the celestial body that gives the song its name, it pulls listeners into a world where scars become constellations, rivers run red, and every ending delivers the seed of creation.”

Here is the music video for “The Blood Moon”.

About Palindrones

Palindrones is a dark electronic duo from South London, who describe their sound as “dreamy Industrial Synthpop” with “pounding rhythms, haunting, evocative vocals and esoteric ambiance.” The project consists of Karen and Jamie.

Side-Line first covered the duo in April 2023, when it premiered the ‘Samadhi’ single and video from its then-upcoming second album, “Chapter One: With Fearful Velocity.” In March 2025, the duo returned with the ‘Animus’ single and video. The act has also worked with the goth band Hurtsfall, which issued a Palindrones remix of its track “Adore Me” as a World Goth Day free download. “The Blood Moon,” released on June 12, 2026, is the duo’s latest single.

(Photo via GRIT PHOTOZINE) Boy Harsher, the American darkwave duo, have announced “The Heartbreak Tour”, a North American run that opens on June 26, 2026 in San Francisco and resumes for a main leg from September 25 to November 5, 2026 across the United States and Canada. Tickets go on sale on June 12, 2026 at 10 a.m. local time.

The Heartbreak Tour is the duo’s first extensive North American headlining run since the 2022 touring for their short film and soundtrack “The Runner”. Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller open on June 26 at 1015 Folsom in San Francisco, then begin the main leg on September 25 at Basilica Hudson in Hudson, New York. The routing moves through Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Oakland, Los Angeles, Del Mar, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fort Worth, New Orleans, Atlanta, Asheville, Washington, Philadelphia and Queens, where it closes on November 5 at Knockdown Center. The schedule includes two-night stands at Chicago’s Metro, Portland’s Revolution Hall and Seattle’s The Showbox.

Boy Harsher tour dates 2026

Support on select dates comes from Choir Boy, Evanora Unlimited, True Blue and Kassie Krut. The October 24 date in Fort Worth is part of Sick New World – DFW.

• June 26 – San Francisco, CA – 1015 Folsom
• September 25 – Hudson, NY – Basilica Hudson
• September 27 – Boston, MA – Royale
• September 29 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
• September 30 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
• October 1 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre
• October 2 – Chicago, IL – Metro
• October 3 – Chicago, IL – Metro
• October 4 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
• October 6 – Denver, CO – Summit
• October 9 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
• October 10 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
• October 11 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
• October 12 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
• October 13 – Vancouver, BC – The Pearl
• October 15 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
• October 16 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
• October 17 – Del Mar, CA – The Sound
• October 20 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
• October 21 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
• October 24 – Fort Worth, TX – Sick New World – DFW
• October 26 – New Orleans, LA – Republic NOLA
• October 27 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
• October 28 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
• October 30 – Washington, DC – The Howard Theatre
• October 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall (Making Time Pure Halloween)
• November 5 – Queens, NY – Knockdown Center

Tickets go on sale on June 12, 2026 at 10 a.m. local time. Boy Harsher have not announced European dates as part of this run.

About Boy Harsher

Boy Harsher formed in 2014 in Savannah, Georgia, where vocalist Jae Matthews and producer Augustus Muller met in film school. The pair first worked together as Teen Dreamz in 2013, mixing Matthews’s spoken word with Muller’s electronics, before renaming the project Boy Harsher and releasing the home-recorded EP “Lesser Man” the same year. They later relocated to Northampton, Massachusetts.

The duo released their debut album “Yr Body Is Nothing” in 2016 through DKA Records, followed by the “Country Girl” EP in 2017. In 2018 they set up their own label, Nude Club, and reissued earlier material. Their second studio album, Boy Harsher – Careful (CD Album – Nude Club Records), arrived on February 1, 2019, with the remix set “Careful Remixes, etc.” issued the same year.

In January 2022 Matthews and Muller released their directorial debut, the short film “The Runner”, with an accompanying soundtrack, followed with festival appearances including Primavera Sound, Roadburn and Coachella. In November 2024 the duo featured on Pet Shop Boys’ double A-side single “New London Boy / All The Young Dudes”, while Muller continued his Safe Mind project with Cooper B. Handy.

The Heartbreak Tour is the duo’s first extended North American headlining run since the 2022 cycle around “The Runner”, returning Boy Harsher to the stage with shows from June through November 2026.

The Spanish group Culture Kultür has been active since the early ’90s and experienced its heyday during the Future-Pop craze. “Atomic” is their first brand-new studio album since “Humanity” in 2019. Last year, however, they released a sort of retrospective record with “Time”.

“Atomic” quickly makes it clear that Future-Pop still has a future — or rather, that there are still artists exploring the genre further and achieving high-quality results. The album builds upon the solid foundations these Spaniards laid years ago. The music is highly danceable and features strong choruses that elevate the songs to another level. Elements of Dance, Trance, and dark Electro-Pop occasionally surface, blending seamlessly with the Future-Pop style. While the record does not necessarily sound groundbreaking, Culture Kultür delivers a very polished and refined production. Add to that the excellent vocal production, and you get an album filled with potential hits, some of which were already clearly foreshadowed by the previously released singles.

“Atomic” is an album that will get people dancing and put a smile on their faces. As far as I’m concerned, it comes highly recommended for fans of the genre. (Rating:8½).

Watch the clip “Atomic Radio”:

Today the German EBM and electro duo Digital Factor have officially released their new album “0.8” through the Belgian label Alfa Matrix. The twelve-track record arrives on CD (available via Alfa Matrix), and in digital formats. It follows the band’s 2021 album “A Chemical Process” and the 2023 charity album “G.B.A. – General Behavior Abrogate“.

The band now is a duo with Mike Langer and permanent new member Gwendolyn Gaffa who already contributed on the EP “They Will Forget You (When You Die)” and on the 2023 charity single “I Am What I Am“, released as a free download.

We published a full interview with Digital factor two days ago.

‘0.8’ tracklist, guests and 1980s concept

The album contains twelve tracks and two guest features. Franziska Haucke appears on “Never”, and Marie-Luis Kiessling features on “We Are Blind”.

The record is a return to the band’s formative era, diving deep into the musical and cultural DNA of the 1980s. The first single “They Will Forget You (When You Die)” for instance already carries a nod to Depeche Mode’s “People Are People”, while the album track “Time” is presented as a homage to Kraftwerk.

Langer also used a special production method for “0.8”. He deliberately stepped away from modern production perfection, using stripped-down setups and monophonic synths to recreate the raw textures and subtle imperfections of early electronic music.

Good to know, “Feel To Little” uses speech fragments from Charlie Chaplin films, while “Never” is set to a James Bond-style atmosphere.

About Digital Factor

The band formed in 1993 in Altenburg, Germany. The founding lineup consisted of Torsten Heise, Mike Langer and Tino Schmidt. The project first brought a mix of EBM and electro, later adding techno, synth-pop and crossover elements,. They played early live support for acts such as Placebo Effect and X Marks the Pedwalk.

The band’s first release was the 1994 EP “F.A.L.L.I.N.G.- Down” on Hard Records. A move to Hyperium and Hypnobeat followed, bringing the debut album “Relationchips” in 1995 and the conceptual second album “On Demand” in 1996.

Further releases included “De Facto” and “Countercheck” in 1997 and “Over One Million Times” in 1999, then “One More Piece” in 2006, “Look Back To Go Forward” in 2009 and “Trialog” in 2011. Tino Schmidt left the band in its earlier years, and in 2010 Torsten Heise left and was replaced by Leo von Leibnitz.

The band joined Alfa Matrix in 2020 and released the single and video ‘Come With Me’ in October of the same year.

The album “A Chemical Process” arrived in 2021, alongside remastered reissues of the back catalogue. The EP “What?” followed in 2022, and 2023 brought the charity single “I Am What I Am“, the “Ouvre” EP and the charity album “G.B.A. – General Behavior Abrogate“.

In April 2026, the EP “They Will Forget You (When You Die)” previewed the new album “0.8”, out now on Alfa Matrix.

Today Kant Kino releases the new album “Echoes of The End” via Alfa Matrix. The Oslo duo’s new record is available as the digital “Echoes of The End (Deluxe Edition)” on Bandcamp and as a physical 2CD from the Alfa Matrix store. The double albums features no less then 24 tracks, with four advance cuts that were released earlier: “Rodney”, “Defeat”, “The End”, and “Lie”.

The new album comes 9 years after the band’s previous full album, “Kopfkino“, which was released in 2017.

The album follows the February 2026 comeback EP “Rodney: End-State Variations“, which introduced the track “Rodney” in an EP edit alongside six remixes. When that EP appeared, the band described the song as dealing with “personal relationships and social structures” that drift toward “emotional and structural end-states.”

You can check the 7-track EP out below on Bandcamp and all other download and streaming platforms.

About Kant Kino

Kant Kino is a Norwegian electronic duo from Oslo, namely Lars Henrik Madsen and Kenneth Fredstie. The project formed after they wrote a tribute track for the ElektroStat festival, after which a Bunkertracks compilation appearance led to their Alfa Matrix signing.

The duo’s debut album, “We Are Kant Kino – You Are Not”, appeared in 2010. It was followed by the “LRSBSS EP” on April 15, 2012, then the second full-length “Father Worked In Industry” on February 22, 2013. “Father Worked In Industry” was mixed and mastered by Claus Larsen of Leaether Strip. That release also produced the download singles “Just For The Comfort Of Sleep EP” on March 26, 2013 and “Ich Liebe Katarina Witt EP” on November 22, 2013.

While working toward the third album, the band previewed new material with the teaser “Life” in February 2016. While working on a new album, they self-released the Motörhead/Kraftwerk hybrid “We Are The Roadcrew (Robots)” on December 16, 2016, ahead of “Kopfkino”, which was released on Alfa Matrix on January 13, 2017.

In May 2017, Alfa Matrix built the first “Matrix:Reb00ted” volume around Kant Kino remixes. The duo later appeared on the Coldkill vs Kant Kino EP “Silent Morning” in 2018, released the Depeche Mode cover single “Pimpf and Touch Faith” in September 2019, and self-released “Enough! (Demo)” on June 30, 2022.

Kenneth Fredstie in the meantime mastered “Face The Beat: Session 3” and Kant Kino contributed “Ich Liebe Katarina Witt (Video Edit)” and “Life (No Fucking Guitars Edit)” to the Face The Beat series. They also contributed a remix for Modulo One’s “No Way to Win”, and remixed the Side-Line charity single “Ukraina” in December 2022. In February 2026, Kant Kino returned with “Rodney: End-State Variations”. And now there is the brand new full-length “Echoes of The End”.

PIG, the industrial project of English musician Raymond Watts, has announced the PIG “Hurt People Tour”, a North American run of 44 shows in fall 2026 in support of the album “Hurt People Hurt“, released May 22, 2026 via Metropolis Records. The tour starts on August 27 in Lawrence, Kansas and ends on October 18 in Detroit, Michigan.

The 44 shows include the band’s previously announced appearances at the Cold Waves XIV festival events in Los Angeles (September 11), Austin (September 18) and Chicago (September 25). An initial 40-date itinerary has been published, with further shows to be added. The August 28 date in Denver is billed with Nitzer Ebb. Ticket links are collected on the band’s official website.

Before the North American run, PIG play two previously announced sold-out shows in Tokyo on June 25 and 26, with UK dates to follow in December.

PIG ‘Hurt People Tour’ dates: North America fall 2026

• Thu, Aug 27 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
• Fri, Aug 28 – Denver, CO – Summit (with Nitzer Ebb)
• Sat, Aug 29 – Salt Lake City, UT – Quarters DLC
• Mon, Aug 31 – Garden City, ID – Visual Arts Collective
• Wed, Sept 2 – Spokane, WA – Big Dipper
• Thu, Sept 3 – Bellingham, WA – The Shakedown
• Fri, Sept 4 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
• Sat, Sept 5 – Portland, OR – Star Theater
• Mon, Sept 7 – Eugene, OR – John Henry’s
• Tue, Sept 8 – Eureka, CA – Savage Henry
• Wed, Sept 9 – Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial
• Thu, Sept 10 – San Francisco, CA – DNA Lounge
• Fri, Sept 11 – Los Angeles, CA – Cold Waves – Pacific Electric
• Sat, Sept 12 – Santa Ana, CA – La Santa
• Sun, Sept 13 – Phoenix, AZ – Last Exit Live
• Mon, Sept 14 – El Paso, TX – Bye Bye Dear
• Wed, Sept 16 – Dallas, TX – AM FM
• Thu, Sept 17 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
• Fri, Sept 18 – Austin, TX – Cold Waves – The Mohawk
• Sat, Sept 19 – Little Rock, AR – Birdie’s
• Sun, Sept 20 – St. Louis, MO – Red Flag
• Wed, Sept 23 – Davenport, IA – Raccoon Motel
• Fri, Sept 25 – Chicago, IL – Cold Waves – The Metro
• Sat, Sept 26 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
• Sun, Sept 27 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
• Tue, Sept 29 – Syracuse, NY – The Song and Dance
• Thu, Oct 1 – Philadelphia, PA – Nikki Lopez
• Fri, Oct 2 – Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus
• Sat, Oct 3 – Millersville, PA – Phantom Power
• Sun, Oct 4 – Richmond, VA – Fallout
• Mon, Oct 5 – Greenville, SC – Radio Room
• Wed, Oct 7 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn
• Thu, Oct 8 – Orlando, FL – Conduit
• Fri, Oct 9 – Tampa, FL – Orpheum
• Tue, Oct 13 – Columbus, OH – Rumba
• Wed, Oct 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – Sidequest
• Thu, Oct 15 – Hamilton, ON – Mill’s Hardware
• Fri, Oct 16 – Montreal, QC – Toscadura
• Sat, Oct 17 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
• Sun, Oct 18 – Detroit, MI – Smalls

‘Hurt People Hurt’: the album behind the tour

“Hurt People Hurt” was released on May 22, 2026 via Metropolis Records on CD, limited edition LP and digital. The 10-track album was largely co-written by Watts with guitarist Jim Davies, known for his work with The Prodigy and Pitchshifter. Two singles preceded it: the first single “Tosca’s Kiss” on March 6, 2026, with a video directed by E Gabriel Edvy.

And the second single “Sex & Suicide” on April 10, 2026, with a lyric video directed by Grete Stitch Laus. The album is available via pigindustries.bandcamp.com.

About PIG

PIG is the long-running industrial rock project of English musician Raymond Watts, which he formed in 1988 after earlier work in London, Hamburg, and West Berlin. Before launching the project, Watts had already worked on early KMFDM material with En Esch and Sascha Konietzko, and had also been active as a live and studio sound engineer for Einstürzende Neubauten and Psychic TV. He later toured with Foetus on keyboards and guitar.

The first release was “A Poke in the Eye… with a Sharp Stick”, followed by “Praise the Lard” (1991), “A Stroll in the Pork” (1992), “The Swining” (1993), “Sinsation” (1995), “Wrecked” (1996), “Genuine American Monster” (1999), and “Pigmartyr” (2004), later reissued as “Pigmata”. Small detail, several 1990s releases first appeared in Japan, including “The Swining” and “Wrecked”.

Watts is also a founding member and recurring collaborator of KMFDM. He rejoined that orbit in 1994 for the PIG vs KMFDM release “Sin Sex & Salvation”, later worked with the Japanese projects Schaft and Schwein, and also wrote music and sound design for fashion and exhibition work, including Alexander McQueen’s “Plato’s Atlantis” and the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition “Punk: Chaos to Couture”.

After the Watts release “Pigmartyr”, the project resumed under the PIG name with “The Gospel” on September 9, 2016, followed by “Risen” on June 8, 2018 and the covers album “Candy” on June 21, 2019. The project then returned with “Pain Is God” on November 20, 2020, followed by “The Merciless Light” on September 23, 2022. That run continued with “Red Room” on May 17, 2024, the “Feast of Agony” EP on September 27, 2024, the remastered “Wrecked” on March 7, 2025, and the remix album “The Merciful Night” on November 14, 2025.

Jim Davies was a recurring collaborator the past few years. And now there is the brand new album “Hurt People Hurt”.

Warsaw-based industrial pop project Miss Configure has released the single “Token Weighting”. The track is the fourth release in “The Ten Configurations”, the project’s ongoing concept series, and turns its attention to AI companionship. The single is a one-track digital release with a running time of 3:23, available on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and other streaming platforms.

An official visualizer for the track is available as well.

Miss Configure’s ‘Token Weighting’ in ‘The Ten Configurations’ series

With this single ythe series’ narrative shifts “from algorithmic evaluation to synthetic intimacy”, exploring “how loneliness becomes indexable data and affection turns into a subscription model”, with the track taking what the band calls “a deceptively soft and inviting approach” to the illusion of a “perfect digital companion”.

“Token Weighting” follows the singles “Spoiler Alert” (January 9, 2026), “Human_Resources” (February 13, 2026) and “Confidence Score” (May 1, 2026). Earlier singles in the series appeared via None Other Records.

About Miss Configure

Miss Configure is an audio-visual project built around a digital persona described as an “AI Diva” and “Digital Aristocrat”, created and directed by Warsaw-based producer Jacek Fiszer, who is credited as the project’s “architect”. The project uses generative AI as what it calls a “synthetic co-creator” and applies pop song structures to commentary on automation, digital optimisation and human-AI relations.

The project debuted with the single “Spoiler Alert” on January 9, 2026, the first entry in “The Ten Configurations” series. It was followed on February 13, 2026 by “Human_Resources”, which addressed the hidden human labor behind AI systems and content moderation, and on May 1, 2026 by “Confidence Score”, which dealt with algorithmic evaluation. “Token Weighting”, released June 5, 2026, continues the series as its fourth chapter, with a fifth release announced for July 2026.

Berlin-based dark electro and darkwave duo NNHMN have released the single “Touch Me”. The track previews the eight-track EP “Opera of Lust & the Art of Sorrow II”, due July 15, 2026 on K-Dreams Records on vinyl and as a digital release. The EP can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp, and a video for the track is online as well.

‘Touch Me’ previews ‘Opera of Lust & the Art of Sorrow II’

The duo of Lee and Michal Laudarg presents the single as a warmer counterpoint to the EP’s melancholic side. The other tracks on the EP include “Say my name”, “Touch me”, “Cold like Steel”, “Strange Love”, “Gangster”, “Feelings”, “Mannequin”, and “Golden Crime”. Earlier singles “Say My Name”, “Cold Like Steel”, and “Strange Love” preceded “Touch Me” in the run-up to the release.

The EP follows “Opera of Lust & the Art of Sorrow I”, the first chapter in the series. In the May 2026 Side-Line feature NNHMN interview: “We are evolutionists”, Michal Laudarg confirmed the project was already looking past the second part: “Now we are in the world of ‘Opera of Lust and The Art of Sorrow Part Two,’ but the material for the new album already exists.”

About NNHMN

NNHMN is a Berlin-based dark electronic duo formed by Lee and Michal Laudarg. The project name is read as “non-human”. The pair worked together in earlier projects under different names before starting NNHMN.

The album “Church Of No Religion” appeared on the Polish label Zoharum, followed in 2019 by the EP “Shadow In The Dark”, first issued as a limited cassette. In February 2020 the duo launched “Shadow in the Dark” on vinyl through the Spanish label Oraculo Records. The same year brought the “Deception Island” material, including the 12-inch EP “Deception Island Part 1” on Oraculo Records, and a first Side-Line Click Interview with NNHMN.

In May 2022 the duo returned with the 4-track EP “For The Comfort Of Your Exstacy” and a video, released via Young and Cold Records and K-Dreams Records. In April 2023 NNHMN re-released previous EPs on one album as “Deception Island 2“, with an extra track. A few singles were released as well: “Your Body”, “Tomorrow’s Heroine”, and “Bring It On”.

The “Opera of Lust & the Art of Sorrow” series opened with part one, supported by singles including “Bring It On” and “The Secret”. With “Touch Me”, NNHMN deliver the latest preview of “Opera of Lust & the Art of Sorrow II” before its July 15, 2026 release on K-Dreams Records.

Two long-deleted studio albums by the German electronic act Rotersand are back in circulation. The Rotersand “Capitalism TM” album from 2016 and “How Do You Feel Today” from 2020 are available again on CD in their Metropolis Records US editions, the distributor Audioglobe announced. The original Trisol editions of both records had been sold out and deleted for years.

Rotersand ‘Capitalism TM’ and ‘How Do You Feel Today’: release history

“Capitalism TM”, Rotersand’s fifth studio album, was originally released on November 4, 2016 via Trisol and was the band’s first album since “Random Is Resistance” (2009). The 10-track record includes the single “Hey You”, which later lent its title to a full-length remix album. Side-Line covered the original release in 2016 (Rotersand finally hits back with new work: ‘Capitalism TM’) and reviewed it (Rotersand – Capitalism TM (CD Album – Trisol)).

“How Do You Feel Today”, the band’s sixth studio album, followed on March 13, 2020 via Trisol, issued both as a vinyl-plus-CD edition and as a regular CD; both editions sold out. The 11-track album contains “Hot Ashes”, “Whatever”, “Silence” and “Elements”, and was reviewed by Side-Line (Rotersand – How Do You Feel Today? (Album – Trisol / Metropolis Records)). The returning US edition is a digipak CD.

About Rotersand

Rotersand is a German electronic project formed in 2002 by singer Rascal Hüppe and musician/producer Gun, with producer and DJ Krischan J.-E. Wesenberg joining shortly after. The band’s sound is generally described as futurepop, while the members themselves refer to it as “industrial pop”. The debut album “Truth Is Fanatic” appeared in 2003, followed by “Welcome to Goodbye” (2005), “1023” (2007) and “Random Is Resistance” (2009); the first two were reissued in 2021.

After “Capitalism TM” (2016) and “How Do You Feel Today” (2020), the latter also reworked as the remix album “Reloaded (Reworks of How Do You Feel Today)” in August 2020, the band released its most recent studio album “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated” in 2025 via Metropolis and Trisol. Side-Line spoke with the band in a 2026 interview. The renewed availability of “Capitalism TM” and “How Do You Feel Today” closes a gap in the band’s catalogue that had persisted since the Trisol pressings sold out.

Mike Langer on “0.8”, the 1980s and why Digital Factor still refuses completion

Digital Factor’s eighth album, “0.8”, out this Friday 12 July on Alfa Matrix on CD and as download, treats the 1980s as a working method rather than a nostalgic costume. For Mike Langer, the decade becomes a way to think about machines, melody, discipline and risk. The result is a record shaped by research, studio obsession and the strange pleasure of understanding the past more clearly after years of distance.

The title began as a reference to the 80s, yet it also opens a much wider idea: Digital Factor as a project still moving toward something without wanting to arrive too neatly. In Mike’s words, reaching “1.0” would almost be a shame, because completion can also mean the end of curiosity. In this interview, he speaks about old synthesizers, unconscious influences, Gwendolyn Gaffa’s role in the current line-up, the therapeutic function of machines, video mapping, repetition, female guest vocalists, acoustic drums, social responsibility and the next step beyond familiar patterns.

Digital Factor Interview

Karo: An eighth album is a strange point in an artist’s life. It is far enough from the beginning to carry history, but still close enough to the future to demand risk. When you started working on “0.8”, did you feel more pressure from your own past, or from the question of what Digital Factor can still become?

Mike: To be honest, I don’t dwell on that too much. During the preparation and production of an album, I am usually deeply absorbed in the technical and conceptual possibilities.

For 0.8, the studio equipment itself was actually a primary focus beforehand. I wanted every track to capture a distinct 1980s vibe, and the synthesizers and drum machines had to authentically reflect that. Ultimately, working on a new record is always a step into the future. The past only really plays a role for me in ensuring that I don’t simply copy the established Digital Factor style onto a new album.

Karo: The title “0.8” immediately suggests something that is measurable, coded, almost clinical, yet incomplete. It feels like a number that refuses to become one. Does that reflect how you currently see Digital Factor: as something precise, electronic and structured, but still unfinished in a very human way?

Mike: Oh, that’s a fascinating interpretation—one I actually hadn’t considered. Originally, the title “0.8” was simply a nod to the 1980s and the massive influence that decade had on this record. After all, it’s the first Digital Factor album that is a concept album purely in a musical sense, rather than a lyrical one.

But your reading of it isn’t so far off. In a way, you are always chasing a specific sound, getting just a little bit closer to it with every release. Reaching ‘1.0,’ however, would almost be a shame, because it would imply that the project is complete and finalized. Right now, I feel highly motivated to keep making music well beyond version 1.0. There is certainly no shortage of ideas.

Karo: Many artists speak about influence as if it were a list of names. I am more interested in influence as a wound, a memory, or a technical instinct that enters your hands before you even notice it. What part of your musical past still controls you when you work, and what part have you finally learned to control?

Mike: That is a really great question. I have been making electronic music for over 30 years now, and I still learn something new with every single production. However, my approach to synthesizers, harmonies, and melodies is much more deliberate today. I usually have a clear idea in my head before I even start executing it. In the past, these elements emerged much more organically through musical experimentation and the general flow of the production process.

Yet, despite this intentional approach, unconscious influences are always at work. For example, whenever I play a new track for my wife, she often points out that it unmistakably ‘sounds like me,’ even if it completely deviates stylistically from my previous songs. So, inevitably, my subconscious always finds its way into the music.

Karo: Digital Factor have existed long enough to experience several versions of electronic music culture: physical releases, underground networks, club circulation, digital platforms, nostalgia waves and algorithmic attention. Which of these changes has affected you most as an artist, not commercially, but emotionally?

Mike: I believe my career choices—and the creative freedom they provide—remain my greatest influence to this day. I work both visually and musically for film, television, and theater. This grants me significantly more financial security than I would likely have if I pursued Digital Factor purely as a full-time professional musician.

Consequently, I am able to realize Digital Factor as a concept completely detached from any commercial pressure. It also gives me the financial liberty to design and equip my studio exactly the way I envision it. Ultimately, this fundamental freedom is what shapes my work with DF the most.

Furthermore, the artistic network I collaborate with has a profound impact on me. Interestingly, very few of these creatives come from the specific music scene in which Digital Factor operates. This outside perspective sparks new ideas that we then bring to life together. For instance, with the live project “Digital Factor Spheres,” I seamlessly merge my video art with my music. Similarly, performing as a musician for an annual live radio play challenges me in completely different and refreshing ways.

Karo: This album seems to come from a tension between discipline and vulnerability. The structures are electronic and controlled, yet many titles suggest blindness, memory, forgetting, time, darkness and fragile states of mind. Do you see machines as a way to hide emotion, or as a way to make emotion more exact?

Mike: I consider myself a fairly positive person; I usually prefer to tune out the ever-present darkness in life. Yet, my lyrics deliberately explore the dystopian facets of human nature. Because of this contrast, Digital Factor is very therapeutic for me, providing a vital equilibrium. The machines serve as the medium—they are the carriers that channel and transport these heavier emotions.

Karo: With Gwendolyn Gaffa now officially part of the band, Digital Factor is no longer only a project built around your own inner architecture. What did her presence disturb in a productive way? Did she change the sound, the atmosphere, or the way you hear yourself inside the project?

Mike: While I truly enjoyed having complete artistic control over the last few albums, Digital Factor originally started as a three-piece band, and that dynamic was always a crucial element of our live performances. Up until G.B.A., I was fully convinced that the project would never return to the stage. However, working with Gwendolyn made me realize that bringing even improvised musical elements into a live setting is entirely possible. Beyond that, her voice is truly exceptional.

So, while I retained the overall creative direction, I was more than happy to frequently hand the vocal duties over to Gwen. When I wrote the tracks she sings on, I already had her voice in my head—in that sense, she was a profound inspiration for the album. On top of that, she is a brilliant guitarist who can translate my ideas instantly.

Funnily enough, when it comes to playing live, Gwendolyn is actually the one who holds the musical authority. I am often too lazy to count bars, so she is the perfect person to give me my cues.

Karo: There is a difference between looking back and being haunted. “0.8” seems interested in the past, but it does not sound comfortable. When you return to earlier electronic textures, do they feel like home, or do they remind you how much has been lost, simplified or misunderstood since then?

Mike: In fact, it wasn’t until I started working on 0.8 that I truly began to understand many songs from the 80s. As part of my research for the album, I watched countless documentaries about the musicians and bands of that era. My conclusion is that musicologists are absolutely right: it is the most formative decade for rock and pop.

Unfortunately, much of the incredible diversity and virtuosity of that musical period has since been lost. You can see this contrast clearly today. On one hand, musicians from that era are experiencing massive renewed success; on the other hand, you constantly hear poorly executed 80s samples and musical quotes in contemporary dance and hip-hop tracks. It makes you realize that the music of the 80s isn’t just being misunderstood right now—it is being exploited, largely to cover up a lack of original ideas.

Karo: Electronic music often speaks through repetition, and repetition can mean many things: pleasure, obsession, memory, trauma, hypnosis, discipline. On this album, what role does repetition play for you? Is it a musical tool, or a way of thinking?

Mike: Fundamentally, I work a lot within classic song structures. While certain motifs naturally repeat, my goal is always to break them apart and evolve them through new melodic lines or sound design. Because of this, the first verse rarely sounds exactly like the second. I view repetition primarily as a tool to establish a song’s central leitmotif and make it tangible for the listener.

However, 0.8 also features tracks that we designed for our live project, Spheres, which incorporates complex video mapping. In that specific context, musical repetition takes on an entirely different function: it steps back to direct the audience’s focus toward the visual installation.

Karo: After so many years, how do you protect yourself from becoming too fluent in your own language? When you know your tools, your moods and your instincts very well, where do you search for friction?

Mike: Above all, working with other vocalists is a particular challenge that I really embrace—on 0.8, these guest singers happen to be exclusively women. I essentially tailor each song specifically to the intended singer. I am also constantly experimenting. For instance, 0.8 marks the first time I have incorporated a custom-built modular system. Similarly, for the track ‘They Will Forget You,’ I recorded an acoustic drum kit for a Digital Factor song for the very first time. The drummer, Kalle Vogel, has since even joined us on stage for one of our live shows. Ultimately, I am always searching for new creative possibilities.

Karo: “They Will Forget You” is a brutal sentence because it removes almost every illusion an artist might have about legacy. Do you make music against forgetting, despite forgetting, or because forgetting makes the act of creation more urgent?

Mike: “They Will Forget You (When You Die)” is intended to be both a harsh reflection of reality and a wake-up call. The truth is that many people will leave no mark after they pass. Leaving mindless hate comments on social media, going on an annual cruise, or rotting away in front of the television simply doesn’t create any lasting value.

I sit on the board of a socio-cultural center in my hometown, and every day I witness people who genuinely want to make a difference, driven entirely by selflessness. Every single one of them would leave a profound void if they were gone. At the same time, through their dedication to the building owned by our association, they have already built something that will outlast them. This song is ultimately directed at the others—the ones who simply can’t be bothered to get off their asses and contribute.

Karo: The current electronic scene often celebrates vintage sound, but sometimes the surface of the past becomes more important than its danger. What do you think younger artists understand well about early electronic music, and what do they perhaps miss?

Mike: That brings us right back to the 1980s. Electronic music, in particular, experienced its most significant evolution during that era. Unfortunately, I feel that this creative momentum really tapered off by the late 90s. Because of that, with 0.8, I felt it was important to look back and attempt to translate that classic sound into my own contemporary understanding. Ultimately, of course, the hope is that this process has given rise to something entirely distinct—and perhaps even something new.

Karo: If “0.8” is a chapter about memory, incompleteness and transformation, what would you still like Digital Factor to risk next? Not in terms of style, but in terms of honesty.

Mike: Digital Factor has always been a very honest project. We have always created the music we genuinely enjoy making – a principle I still stand by today, even if it hasn’t always pleased every single fan.

These days, we play an annual charity concert where there is hardly anyone from the typical electronic scene in the audience. Yet, the show is always a massive success because of our unique approach to performing electronic music live. Even veteran rock musicians have told us that it completely defied their expectations of the genre. I actually view this as a bit of a personal mission; I’ll sometimes even take a moment during a show to explain how a synthesizer actually works to the audience.

Right now, an exciting, major new project is taking shape. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal too much about it just yet, but I can promise this: Digital Factor will once again be breaking out of familiar patterns and stepping far off the beaten path.

German electronic project Neuroticfish has released “Skin26” via Non Ordinary Records. The four-track single revisits “Skin”, the first official Neuroticfish release from 1998, and offers a new 2026 version next to the original recording and two further versions. The download is available on Bandcamp, and a CD single is also sold through the Neuwerk Music shop.

‘tSkin26’ returns to a 1997 living-room recording

Sascha Mario Klein recorded “Skin” in 1997 in his living room with an eight-track recorder, three synthesizers, one sampler, and an SM-58 microphone. The track first appeared in 1998 on the Maschinenwelt compilation “A Reflexion Of Synthpop Vol. 1” and was the project’s first official release.

The single traces the journey of the song over nearly 30 years, including its 2002 evolution as “Skin Binary”, and its new incarnations as “Skin26” and “Skin (Deep)”.

About Neuroticfish

Neuroticfish is the electronic music project of Sascha Mario Klein from Germany. The project was founded in the early 1990s as Klein’s alter ego, bringing a mix of synth-pop, trance, industrial, and EBM under the concept “Music for a Paranormal Life”. Also part of the initial line-up was Henning Verlage (keyboards and production).

The project’s first official release was “Skin” on the 1998 compilation “A Reflexion Of Synthpop Vol. 1”. The debut album “No Instruments” followed on September 27, 1999, with “Les Chansons Neurotiques” released on July 2, 2002 and “Gelb” on February 15, 2005. The best-of compilation “A Greater Good (History 1998-2008)” appeared in 2008, after which the project went dormant. In a 2015 Side-Line item, Klein said about that period: “I felt exhausted and had the impression that I lost control about my artistic process“.

Neuroticfish returned with “A Sign Of Life” on March 27, 2015, followed by “Antidoron” in 2018, both on Non Ordinary Records. Klein discussed the project’s direction in a 2019 Click Interview with Neuroticfish on Side-Line. The album “The Demystification Of The Human Heart” followed in December 2023 on Non Ordinary Records. In 2024 the project contributed a remix to Solitary Experiments’ single “Träumen“.

With “Skin26”, released on June 2, 2026, the project returns to its earliest recording 28 years after “Skin” first appeared.

The German dark wave and synthpop act Silke Bischoff announce “Tears – A Collection of Silke Bischoff Songs”, out on September 4, 2026 via Dependent Records. The 14-track compilation gathers remastered catalogue tracks plus the previously unreleased title song “Tears”, and is announced alongside the first single “Northern Lights”, out digitally on June 10, 2026 on Bandcamp and Spotify. The announcement follows the band’s catalogue deal reported in May, when Silke Bischoff signed with Dependent Records for catalogue reissues.

“Northern Lights” was originally released in 1996 on I.N.R.I. Records.

The compilation is the first step in making their oeuvre available to the public again, after the band’s recordings spent years out of circulation. Internal friction, legal issues, and most of all the tragic passing of one of its founding members, Felix Flaucher, in the night of August 22-23, 2017, at the age of 59 after a long illness, has left their works in a limbo for many years.

Silke Bischoff ‘Tears’: tracklist and artbook edition

The tracks on the compilation were restored and newly mastered by Olaf Wollschläger at Cottonbeat Studio in Burscheid, Germany. Wollschläger has previously worked with Mesh, Yello, Melotron, and Beborn Beton. The opening track “Tears” is a previously unreleased archive recording featuring the vocals of the late Felix Flaucher. The whole was recorded and mixed by Axel Kretschmann at Kinderzimmer Studio in Berlin. The artwork is by the late Felix Flaucher.

The full tracklist: “Tears”, “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, “Under Your Skin”, “No Paradise”, “Northern Lights”, “The Union”, “The Man on the Wooden Cross”, “The Letter”, “On the Other Side”, “Ajna”, “Benetton Girl”, “Waste of Time”, “Sometimes”, and “To Protect and to Serve”.

The physical edition is a numbered, limited hardcover 48-page CD artbook with lyrics, photography by Felix Flaucher, and liner notes by the German author Mark Urban.

Silke Bischoff live dates in September 2026

Three German concerts follow the release:

• September 25, 2026 – Bochum (DE), Matrix
• September 26, 2026 – Leipzig (DE), Täubchenthal
• September 27, 2026 – Berlin (DE), Columbia Theater

The current line-up consists of Axel Kretschmann (vocals, keyboards, guitar), joined live by Markus Köster (drums) and Andy Simanowitz (piano, keyboards, background vocals).

About Silke Bischoff

Silke Bischoff was founded in 1990 by Axel Kretschmann and Felix Flaucher as a gothic and dark wave project. The band name refers to the 18-year-old hostage who was killed during the 1988 Gladbeck hostage crisis in Germany; the founders described the choice as an artistic memorial to the victim. After three two-track demo tapes and the underground club track “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, the self-titled debut album appeared in 1991.

Guitarist Frank Schwer joined as a full member on the second album “The Man on the Wooden Cross” (1993). “To Protect and to Serve” followed in 1995, with “Under Your Skin” becoming a club hit beyond the dark scene. The album “Northern Lights” appeared in 1996. Kretschmann left the band in 2002 due to internal differences, and after a legal dispute over the name, Flaucher and Schwer continued as 18 Summers.

In 2017, the reconciled members played a private performance among close friends shortly before Felix Flaucher died after a long illness.

At the 2025 edition of the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, Axel Kretschmann revived Silke Bischoff on stage with guest appearances by Deine Lakaien frontman Alexander Veljanov and Sven Friedrich (Dreadful Shadows, Zeraphine, Solar Fake).

With “Tears – A Collection of Silke Bischoff Songs”, the revived project delivers the first new Silke Bischoff release since the catalogue went out of circulation, with further restored reissues announced to follow in digital and physical form.

Diesel Christ was a German synthpop project built around songwriter and vocalist Tom Berger and a shifting circle of contributors including Klaus Gratzel, Thomas Harder, Chris Karagianidis, Chris Block, and executive producer Alex Sacher. The project released three main records: the Depeche Mode tribute album “Diesel Mode (A Tribute To The Masses)” – and the 4-track single “Walking In My Shoes (I Feel Different)” – in 1993 on Pop Factory!, the original-material CD EP “Gas Food Lodging” in November 1993 on SPV Records, and a second Depeche Mode tribute, “Diesel Mode 97”, in 1997 on Fun Factory!. Half of the project’s original recordings were ironically enough produced by John Fryer, the engineer who had worked on Depeche Mode’s first two albums at Blackwing Studios.

The tribute album appeared only two or three weeks after the original Depeche Mode release. “Songs Of Faith And Devotion” was released on March 22, 1993, while “Diesel Mode” was already in shops around early-to-mid April 1993. The chronology of the covered songs is telling. Of the five Depeche Mode tracks, only “I Feel You” had been publicly available before the album, released as a single in February 1993. “Walking In My Shoes“, “Rush”, “In Your Room”, and “Higher Love” were album tracks that had not yet been released.

Since recording at Principal Studios, mixing, glass mastering at DADC Austria, pressing, and distribution cannot be compressed into the two-to-three-week window , the Diesel Christ recordings were made quite before the original Depeche Mode album reached shops. How the project obtained the material ahead of release is not known, but it is believed they did obtain an early copy of the album ahead of the official release, either via the local Mute office or via befriended press people. Funny enough, Depeche Mode released “Walking In My Shoes” as the album’s second single on April 26, 1993. By that date, the Diesel Christ cover of the song was already recorded and pressed.

How the Diesel Christ synthpop project started

Diesel Christ grew out of Diesel, a German duo consisting of Klaus Gratzel and Thomas Berger. Diesel released one maxi-single, “Nowhereland”, in 1990 on Fun Factory! Records (FUNFAC M-3928), issued on 12″ vinyl and CD in several mixes. The song “Nowhereland” later reappeared on the 1993 Diesel Christ album “Gas Food Lodging”. To make it even more complicated, the project also recorded under the abbreviation D.C.

Diesel Christ would have seven members across the project’s lifespan: Tom Berger, Klaus Gratzel, Thomas Harder, Chris Karagianidis, Chris Block, Alex Sacher, and Robert Enforsen. The 1993 recordings featured Berger (vocals, guitar, main songwriter), Harder (bass, keyboards), and Karagianidis (drums), with Block on guitar and Gratzel contributing as co-writer. Sacher served as executive producer in 1993 and moved into the producer role for the 1997 album with Robert Enforsen on vocals.

‘Diesel Mode (A Tribute To The Masses)’: covering Depeche Mode in real time

“Diesel Mode (A Tribute To The Masses)” was issued in 1993 as a six-track CD album on Pop Factory!, distributed by SPV. The tracklist was as follows:

1. “Walking In My Shoes” (4:22)
2. “Rush” (2:23)
3. “In Your Room” (4:47)
4. “I Feel You” (4:05)
5. “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?” (3:20)
6. “Higher Love” (4:26)

Five tracks are Martin L. Gore compositions from Depeche Mode’s 1993 album “Songs Of Faith And Devotion”. The sixth, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?”, is a Diesel Christ original written by Tom Berger, produced by John Fryer and remixed by Len Davies. The Depeche Mode covers were produced and mixed by Diesel Christ and Len Davies at Principal Studios.

A 12″ white label EP version appeared on Pop Factory! in Germany, and a Spanish 12″ edition was issued by BOL Records the same year.

The 4-track single “Walking In My Shoes (I Feel Different)” held 4 tracks:

1. Walking In My Shoes (Sex Mix) (5:02)
2. Walking In My Shoes (Andy F. Mix) (5:34)
3. Blue Rain (2:37)
4. Walking In My Shoes (7″ Version) (3:19)

‘Gas Food Lodging’: the original Diesel Christ material

“Gas Food Lodging” followed later that year, in November 1993 as an eight-track CD on SPV Records, licensed from Fun Factory!. The tracklist was this one:

1. “America” (3:06)
2. “Dinosaur” (3:38)
3. “Gimme Your Gasoline” (3:32)
4. “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?” (3:19)
5. “Nirvana” (3:16)
6. “Nowhereland” (4:02)
7. “Dust” (4:08)
8. “Dangerous” (4:36)

Tom Berger was the songwriter and vocalist across the album, with Klaus Gratzel holding co-writing credits on “Nirvana” and “Nowhereland”, and Chris Block on “Gimme Your Gasoline”. John Fryer produced four tracks on this album: “America”, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?”, “Dust”, and “Dangerous”. The remaining tracks were produced by Diesel Christ themselves with Len Davies. The EP was again recorded and mixed at Principal Studios in Ottmarsbocholt, Germany, and its front cover used James Rosenquist’s 1961 painting “I Love You With My Ford”, licensed from Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

The EP tied the project’s threads together. “Nowhereland” carried the 1990 Diesel single into the Diesel Christ catalogue, and “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?” repeated the original track first placed on the tribute album.

In 1995, Diesel Christ also contributed a cover of the Simple Minds track “20th Century Promised Land” to “To Cut A Long Story Short (A Tribute To The Pioneers Of Electronic Pop)”, a compilation on the Swedish label Energy Rekords. And that apparently laid the foundation of the 1997 Swedisch turn of the project.

‘Diesel Mode 97’: new lineup, new Depeche Mode album

Diesel Christ returned with yet another tribute in 1997 with “Diesel Mode 97”, a nine-track CD album on Fun Factory!, with this time a Swedish edition on Energy Rekords. The tracklist:

1. “Sister Of Night” (4:37)
2. “Freestate” (4:42)
3. “Hallelujah” (3:01)
4. “Useless” (4:33)
5. “Useless Link” (2:33)
6. “It’s No Good” (9:21)
7. “Barrel Of A Gun” (4:29)
8. “The Love Thieves” (2:00)
9. “Home” (4:31)

The personnel for this new Diesel Christ album had in the meantime changed almost entirely. Alex Sacher stayed on board and produced the album, Andreas Küchenmeister handled programming, and Robert Enforsen, vocalist of the Swedish synthpop band Elegant Machinery, sang lead. MCP mixed the album, Chazz Harper mastered it at Battery Studios in New York, and Swen Roters painted the cover. Note that an unofficial Russian cassette edition titled “Diesel Mode ’98” appeared on Always Records in 1998.

From Diesel Christ to Rotoskop

Klaus Gratzel, co-founder of Diesel and co-writer on two “Gas Food Lodging” tracks, then started Rotoskop.

Gratzel sent tracks to other artists, who added their voices and helped complete the songs. This process resulted in the 2003 album “Revolution: Lost”. The following years were marked by setbacks, doubts and poor decisions, but Rotoskop still delivered remixes for Apoptygma Berzerk, Sono, De/Vision, Torul and Sea of Sin, among others. In 2021 Rotoskop returned as a recording artist, releasing three EPs with six songs each. The newer material focused on the artist’s own music, voice and personal approach.

Rotoskop debuted on Infacted Recordings with the album “Undo/Redo” on March 8, 2024, followed by “Passive/Aggressive“, also on Infacted.

With “Dyer Expedition OST”, Tibor Knopf presents a Soundtrack created for the video game of the same name, itself inspired by H. P. Lovecraft.

Ten tracks have been assembled and meticulously crafted using an impressive arsenal of sounds, effects, and field recordings. Intense low-frequency tones permeate the entire work, creating a dense and extremely dark atmosphere. A powerful sense of imagery quickly emerges, which, in my opinion, remains the ultimate criterion when listening to Dark-Ambient and related Cinematic music. Overwhelming sonic eruptions genuinely blow you out of your seat and drag you into an endless black abyss. This production is filled with subtle auditory details, making headphones almost essential for a second listen in order to experience its full impact.

Sjellos has delivered a particularly polished production that I can only highly recommend. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Offshore Traversal”:

https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/track/offshore-traversal

Since releasing his first album in 2010, Iranian artist Mehdi Saleh has built an impressive discography. Along the way, he has released numerous albums, including several collaborations with other renowned projects within the genre.

“Subsynthetic Pulseforms” features ten new compositions that take the listener on a fresh journey through sci-fi-inspired and cosmic soundscapes. The universe of Alphaxone remains firmly rooted in dark, drifting waves of sound that perfectly embody the Cinematic genre. Over the years, Mehdi Saleh has continually refined his craft, enriching his music with meticulously crafted details, subtle textures, and carefully placed effects. Field recordings further complete the sonic canvas, creating the impression of an approaching apocalypse—or perhaps a world already living in its aftermath. The artist invites the listener to surrender to their imagination, guiding them through a subtle yet immersive sound world where ominous signals, mysterious noises, and haunting atmospheres evoke a profound sense of wonder and unease. Alphaxone remains an artist with a strong visual appeal whose creativity consistently translates into quality.

“Subsynthetic Pulseforms” stands as another powerful and captivating opus from one of the genre’s most talented artists. (Rating:8½).

Listen to “Hypostasis”:

https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/track/hypostasis-2

Chicago-based dark synth and industrial project TATV GRAL has released “Treachery,” a self-released single produced by William Faith at 13 Studio Chicago. The track comes with an official video you can see below. A four-track remix EP follows in July 2026.

The “Treachery” EP includes the original version and three remixes. DSTR is Daniel Myer of Haujobb, Tweaker is Chris Vrenna of Nine Inch Nails, and [melter] is part of the Chicago underground scene.

The original track is available now, with the complete EP scheduled for 6 July 2026.

Hellenistic astrology, archetypes and queer visual language

“Treachery” draws on Hellenistic astrology, archetypal psychology and queer leather imagery. TATV GRAL’s Allen Addington connects the track to Saturn and Mars, two planets associated in the source material with betrayal.

“It was a discovery in the ancient texts that unlocked the whole song – both Saturn and Mars independently carry the signification of ‘Treachery’, translated directly from the Ancient Greek. Two malefic forces, each already marked by betrayal, meeting in the same charged space.

And he adds: “Following Richard Tarnas and James Hillman, I wanted to explore that archetypal collision phenomenologically – the Old Man and the Young Man, bondage and erotic force – seen through a gay male gaze and the cinematic shadow world of William Friedkin’s Cruising.”

Musically, “Treachery” has a mix of industrial, EBM and dark electronics.

About TATV GRAL

TATV GRAL is the Chicago, Illinois solo project of multimedia artist Allen Addington. TATV GRAL has been active since the mid-nineties offering a mix of dark synth and industrial, thematically inspired by archetypal psychology, the gay male gaze and ritual containment.

The project debuted in May 2019 with “The Chase”. TATV GRAL then released “Ouroboros (demo)” and “Chiron” in June 2019, followed by “Stay” and “EGO disease” in July 2019. “Soul Divine” followed in March 2020, and “Noncommittal Grey” appeared in March 2023.

Three years later we see the “Treachery EP”, listed for July 2026.

Note that we previously mentioned TATV GRAL in an article about the final EP “It All Falls Apart” by The Funeral March and Joe Whiteaker (R.I.P.). That March 2025 EP has TATV GRAL among the acts appearing at the Rockford release event for The Funeral March and Joe Whiteaker’s final EP “It All Falls Apart.”

French black metal band Merrimack released a digital cover of Depeche Mode’s “Wrong” through Season of Mist. Merrimack’s “Wrong” is a single-track release running 2:59, available across digital platforms, and reworks a song written by Martin L. Gore that Depeche Mode issued as the lead single from their 2009 album “Sounds of the Universe”.

The recording dates back more than a decade. The instrumental was tracked during the sessions for Merrimack’s 2012 album “The Acausal Mass” at Necromorbus Studio in Stockholm and then shelved, with vocals added later to complete the cover for this 2026 release.

The single was proposed by guitarist Perversifier, the band’s founder. The music was produced, recorded and mixed by Tore Stjerna at Necromorbus Studio, while the vocals were recorded, mixed and mastered by Xavier Berthiaume at Tehom Productions. The line-up on the recording is Vestal (vocals), Perversifier (guitars), A.K. (guitars), Daethorn (bass) and Blastum (drums).

Perversifier says that the recording “highlights just how dark the original song already is”, and described the band’s contribution as adding “the level of violence that Black Metal can bring, while staying completely faithful to every note of the original composition.”

A few days ago we already have reported on other recent Depeche Mode covers from the electronic scene, including In Strict Confidence’s “Blasphemous Rumours” and PLATRONiC’s “But Not Tonight”.

About Merrimack

Merrimack is a black metal band formed in France in 1994. The group released its debut album “Ashes of Purification” in 2002, followed by “Of Entropy and Life Denial” (2006), “Grey Rigorism” (2009), “The Acausal Mass” (2012) and “Omegaphilia” (2017). Its most recent studio album, “Of Grace and Gravity”, was issued in 2024. The band’s catalogue is released through Season of Mist.

The “Wrong” single is a standalone cover, completing a recording begun during the “The Acausal Mass” sessions in 2012 and released through Season of Mist on 8 June 2026.

Sheffield electronic group Cabaret Voltaire will mark their final UK performance with an exclusive limited-edition bottle of Henderson’s Relish. Founders Stephen “Mal” Mallinder and Chris Watson play the Sheffield Octagon on 25 October 2026, the closing date of the band’s final tour, and the Cabaret Voltaire “Henderson’s Relish” bottle will be available to Sheffield ticket holders only, with collection at the venue.

A Henderson’s Relish bottle for Cabaret Voltaire’s final Sheffield show

Henderson’s Relish is a Sheffield-made condiment produced in the city since 1885, and the commemorative Cabaret Voltaire “Henderson’s Relish” bottle ties the band’s farewell to their home city. The bottles are strictly limited to Sheffield ticket holders, who receive a collection link from the ticketing agent. The Sheffield Octagon date on 25 October 2026 is the final stop of the band’s last tour and falls just over 50 years after their first live performance, at the Sheffield University Students Union Refectory on 13 May 1975, an anniversary the band marked with an exclusive Sheffield show in 2025. Tickets for the Sheffield Octagon show remain on sale.

‘But What Time Is It Really?’: the Cabaret Voltaire live album

The final tour follows the live album “But What Time Is It Really?“, recorded during Cabaret Voltaire’s sold-out 2025 UK tour and issued in 2026 on Memetune on CD and vinyl. Mallinder and Watson were joined on the 2025 dates by Eric Random and Oliver Harrap, and the recording was engineered and mixed by Benge, recorded by Joe Peat and mastered by James Trevasus.

The album presents new arrangements of “Sensoria”, “Crackdown”, “Do Right” and “Spies in the Wires” alongside “Tinsley Viaduct”, a piece of musique concrète by Chris Watson. The band also shared a live version of “Yashar”, a track first issued on the 1982 album “2×45”. On the recording, Mallinder said it was “an opportunity to capture the shows as a unique moment in time but also give people the opportunity to have a memento,” adding that it presented sounds and music “with respect to Richard’s memory, that also transcended time.”

Cabaret Voltaire final UK and Ireland tour dates 2026

The 2026 itinerary opens with European dates in June and a North American leg in September before the UK and Ireland run in October, which closes in Sheffield. Gazelle Twin (Elizabeth Bernholz) is the support act across most UK dates, with Fader, the duo of Neil Arthur of Blancmange and Benge, opening in Cardiff and Bath. Te October UK and Ireland dates are:

• 7 October – Dublin, The Academy
• 8 October – Belfast, Limelight
• 10 October – Birmingham, Town Hall
• 11 October – Liverpool, Arts Club
• 13 October – Nottingham, The Palais
• 14 October – Cardiff, The Globe
• 15 October – Bath, Forum
• 17 October – Newcastle, Boiler Shop
• 18 October – Glasgow, Barrowland
• 19 October – Manchester, Albert Hall
• 21 October – Brighton, Chalk
• 22 October – London, Roundhouse
• 25 October – Sheffield, Octagon

About Cabaret Voltaire

Cabaret Voltaire formed in Sheffield in 1973 around Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson, working with tape, electronics and found sound at a time before the wider arrival of industrial and synth-based music. The group gave its first public performance at the Sheffield University Students Union Refectory on 13 May 1975 and went on to release early records through Rough Trade and Factory, later running their own Doublevision video label. Watson left the group in 1981; the 1982 album “2×45” was the last to feature him.

Across the 1980s the band worked with producers including Adrian Sherwood and Marshall Jefferson, moving from their early experimental work toward electro, funk and house-influenced material. Mallinder remained until the group wound down in 1994 and moved to Australia the following year. Kirk continued as the sole member, returning for a 2014 performance at Berlin’s Atonal festival and releasing “Shadow of Fear” (2020) along with “BN9Drone” and “Dekadrone” in 2020 and 2021. Kirk died on 21 September 2021, aged 65.

In 2025 Mallinder and Watson reunited to mark 50 years since the band’s first concert, a run that produced the 2026 live album “But What Time Is It Really?” and the final tour. Mallinder and Watson have stated that there will be no new recordings under the Cabaret Voltaire name. The final UK date at the Sheffield Octagon on 25 October 2026, accompanied by the limited-edition Henderson’s Relish bottle, closes the band’s live history in the city where it began.

German project Arsine Tibé will release “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode II)” on June 19, 2026. The band is the solo project of Manfred Thomaser, known from the German synthpop duo !Distain, and the new release continues a 2026 series that opened with “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode I)”.

‘The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode II)’: tracklist and series

The release runs to three tracks: “Hope II”, “The Second Coming of Time” and “The Pretentiousness of Pop”. It follows “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode I)”, which appeared earlier in 2026 as a three-song single. You can pre-order the release on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

About Arsine Tibé

Arsine Tibé is the Lounge Noire and electronic pop solo project of Manfred Thomaser, based in Munich, Germany. Thomaser describes the project’s sound as drawing on lounge, soundtrack, ambient, new wave, electro and pop elements. He is best known as one half of !Distain, the German synthpop duo, and has also worked on the projects Demokratie and The Independent Seasons.

Side-Line first covered the project in 2016, when Thomaser launched a mini-album under the Arsine Tibé name. His main band was profiled in the 2019 Click Interview with !Distain. The Arsine Tibé discography has since grown through releases such as “We Came To Fail”, “Good Evening, The Mountain Said” and “The Copy”, issued through the area db imprint. “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode II)”, out June 19, 2026, is the second instalment in the project’s Lounge Noire Sessions series.

Newcastle upon Tyne darkwave and post-punk band Vampire Valentine will release the single “In The Dark” on June 19, 2026 through Morella Records. The Vampire Valentine “In The Dark” single is the first single from the band’s forthcoming self-titled album, scheduled by the label for August 2026, and follows the band’s January 2026 album “Dry Remains” and the April 2026 EP “Pale Dawn.”

The single was recorded by Michael Longstaff (vocals), Kieron Wright (bass) and Blake Carpenter (guitar), with Ricky Conover as producer. The release includes a free instrumental version as a bonus track.

“In The Dark” can be pre-saved on all streaming services.

Morella Records is an independent label founded in 2026 by Blake Carpenter, who runs the goth-rock project GIO, and specialises in goth rock, deathrock, darkwave and post-punk. Vampire Valentine was the label’s first signing, announced in January 2026, in a deal that covered the “Pale Dawn” EP and a further full-length.

About Vampire Valentine

Vampire Valentine is a darkwave and post-punk band from Newcastle upon Tyne, formed in October 2025 by singer and producer Michael Longstaff and bassist Kieron Wright. The pair added the United States–based producer Ricky Conover, who records as Forerunnerx, on synth work. Musically the band cites The Sisters of Mercy and Twin Tribes among its reference points.

Vampire Valentine debuted with the single “Porcelain,” paired with the B-side “Olivia,” on November 14, 2025, followed by the single “Thorns” on December 1, 2025. The band released its debut album “Dry Remains” on January 14, 2026, with tracks including “Stitching Undone,” “Decay,” “Poison” and “Fresh.” The group then signed to Morella Records in January 2026 and issued the six-track EP “Pale Dawn” on April 17, 2026.

“In The Dark,” released on June 19, 2026, is the first single drawn from the self-titled album Morella Records has scheduled for August 2026.

German darkwave and synthpop act Blutengel have released the single “Schwarzer Engel” through Out Of Line Music. An official music video accompanies it. A four-version CD single is set for July 17, 2026.

The CD edition carries four versions: “Schwarzer Engel”, “Schwarzer Engel (Ghostbells Remix)”, “Schwarzer Engel (Erdling Piano Cover)” and “Schwarzer Engel (Destroy Me Again Remix)”.

The reworkings come from three acts. The US darkwave and EBM duo ghostbells contributed a remix. Erdling recorded a piano cover. Dark pop act Destroy Me Again supplied the closing remix.

The single is available digitally on Spotify, Bandcamp, Tidal and YouTube. The Blutengel – Schwarzer Engel (Official Music Video) is available below.

About Blutengel

Blutengel is a German electronic project from Berlin. Chris Pohl founded it in 1998 after ending his earlier project Seelenkrank, which had released two albums, over contractual problems. Pohl handles vocals, lyrics and programming, and has also worked in Terminal Choice, Tumor and Miss Construction, plus runs the Fear Section label.

The early lineup included vocalists Nina Bendigkeit, from 1998 to 2000, and Kati Roloff, from 1998 to 2002. Ulrike Goldmann joined in 2005 on vocals and lyrics and forms the current core of the project with Pohl.

The first release was “Child of Glass” in 1999 followed by “Seelenschmerz” in 2001, “Angel Dust” in 2002 and “Demon Kiss” in 2004. Later albums include “Labyrinth” in 2007, “Schwarzes Eis” in 2009, “Tränenherz” in 2011, “Monument” in 2013 and “Un:Gott” in 2019. The band marked its 25th year with “Un:Sterblich – Our Souls Will Never Die” in 2023 and released “Dämonen: Sturm” in February 2025.

Recent singles include “Dark History” in 2023, “Angst” in 2024 and “The Devil” in October 2025. With “Schwarzer Engel”, Blutengel adds a new single and a July CD edition to a catalogue that now spans more than 25 years. Make sure to check out our Blutengel interview with Chris Pohl.

Australian musician David Thrussell has issued “The Reign Of Dead Matter“, a ritual and ambient LP, on the German label Ant-Zen. The record is available for pre-order on the label’s Bandcamp page as a limited edition, and is the latest in Thrussell’s run of releases for Ant-Zen, the home of his Black Lung project since 1999.

‘The Reign Of Dead Matter’: recording and format

The album was recorded live in private concert at the Melbourne Lodge of the Theosophical Society at midnight on December 21, 2025.

The LP is issued as a strictly limited edition pressed in multiple splatter versions, with each copy described as unique.

About David Thrussell

David Thrussell is an Australian musician active since 1988, creating a mix of dark ambient, industrial, electro-industrial, EBM and IDM music. He is a founding member of Snog and Soma and records solo conspiracy-themed material as Black Lung. Since 1999, nearly all Black Lung releases have appeared on Ant-Zen, including “The Grand Chessboard” (2004), “The Coming Dark Age” (2005) and “Full Spectrum Dominance” (2009).

Side-Line has covered Thrussell’s work across several projects. In 2023 we reported on the 30th anniversary remastered edition of “Lies Inc.”, the debut Snog album, and in 2024 published an interview with Black Lung. His recent Ant-Zen output includes the 2025 vinyl release “Eros Maximus” and a 2025 collaboration with Flint Glass on Lovecraft-inspired material. “The Reign Of Dead Matter” is out under his own name.

Stakkato is a solo project by Thoralf Dietrich, best known for his work with Jäger 90, a project from which we have not heard much in years. He has also been involved in several other projects over time. Interestingly, I came across a CDR released in 2008 that featured the exact same tracklist and album title as this release.

The album presents nine tracks rooted firmly in the tradition of old-school EBM, a characteristic it shares with Jäger 90. The strength of this work does not lie in sheer aggression or brute force, but rather in a more controlled approach to EBM, driven by repetitive and, above all, sonically distinctive sequences. These sequences create a unique musical DNA that is instantly recognizable throughout the album. At the same time, however, their constant presence can eventually become somewhat predictable and, perhaps for some listeners, slightly repetitive. Nevertheless, this remains an intriguing production. One of its most appealing aspects is the strong influence of early DAF, which seems to serve as a guiding thread throughout the album. Here and there, a slightly heavier track emerges, and it is precisely these moments that appeal to me the most.

Stakkato is an interesting project, and one that I hope we will hear more from in the future. (Rating:7½).

Listen to “Lustlose Kunst”:

Die Krupps, the Düsseldorf EBM and industrial metal band, have announced that Marcel Zürcher is back in the band after a three-year absence. The news was shared in a Facebook post in which the band wrote: “Old friendships never die!!! We are pleased to announce that after a 3 year excursion Marcel Zuercher is back in DIE KRUPPS!!!”

The band will play the Brutal Assault festival (August 5 to 8) at Jaroměř-Josefov Fortress in the Czech Republic. Next is M’era Luna which takes place on August 8 and 9 in Hildesheim, Germany. The NCN Festival runs from September 4 to 6 at Kulturpark Deutzen in Germany. And they are also scheduled for September 6 on the Amphi stage.

About Die Krupps

Die Krupps formed in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1980 including Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Bernward Malaka as founding members.

The band’s early work moved through industrial percussion, EBM and electronic rock. “Stahlwerksynfonie” appeared in 1981, followed by “Volle Kraft voraus!” in 1982 and “Entering the Arena” in 1985. In the 1990s, Die Krupps added a stronger metal component on “I” in 1992, “II – The Final Option” in 1993, “III – Odyssey of the Mind” in 1995 and “Paradise Now” in 1997.

After the 1997 break, the band returned in the mid-2000s releasing “Too Much History” in 2007, “Volle Kraft Null Acht” in 2008 and “Als Wären Wir Für Immer” in 2010. Later releases included “The Machinists of Joy” in 2013, “V – Metal Machine Music” in 2015, “Vision 2020 Vision” in 2019 and “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven” in 2021.

In August 2025, Die Krupps signed a multi-album deal with Dependent Records. A new studio album is planned for 2026.

Their 2025 EP “Will Nicht – Muss! / On Collision Course” was issued through Dependent previewing the upcoming 2026 album.

Vexagon is a project by Briar Moth. This third album, and the first to be released through Cold Transmission Music, is a remarkable work. It emerged following a series of severe personal trials, including a house fire, the loss of a job, the beginning of a divorce, and ultimately coming out as a transgender and queer person—all within the span of about a year. Briar Moth viewed these experiences as the unveiling of a new future. The album explores the idea that becoming the person you want to be often comes at the cost of the person you once were.

Now, onto the music. The album contains 12 tracks and features numerous collaborations, primarily with guest vocalists, but also with guitarists and a drummer. The music of Vexagon has a soothing, sensual quality, particularly through the vocals, while also carrying a darker undertone. At times, the soothing atmosphere gradually shifts into something more menacing. Overall, it is a subtle and understated album that could be described as dreamlike Pop, with synthesizers and guitars complementing each other perfectly. There are also several beautiful vocal duets to discover, with singers who maintain a perfect balance and add a magical, sensual touch to the songs. The rhythms generally remain slow but are consistently infectious. To me, “I For An I” sounds both summery and like the kind of music you could enjoy while sitting in front of a crackling fireplace on a winter evening.

This album may feel somewhat like an outlier within the Cold Transmission roster, but as far as I am concerned, it is nevertheless a highly successful and thoroughly enjoyable record. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Mending”:

https://vexagon.bandcamp.com/track/mending

Earlier Belgian electro-industrial project Suicide Commando released “Come Down With Me (V2025)“. The track previewed “Collective Suicide Vol. 1+2”, an anniversary release out now, June 5, 2026. The earlier released EP also included “Jesus Freak (Die In Agony)”, “Death Lies Waiting (Death Will Find You Remix)” and the new track “Control & Consent”.

Suicide Commando now marks the 40th anniversary live during 2026. Confirmed dates include a São Paulo show at VIP Station on August 22, 2026.

“Come Down With Me” was originally released on “Implements Of Hell” in 2010.

“Collective Suicide Vol. 2” is out as digital, CD, double vinyl and as part of the limited “Collective Suicide Vol.1-2” wooden fan box set (limited to 200 copies). The box includes the “Collective Suicide Vol. 2” digipak CD, yellow 2LP, red 2LP of “Collective Suicide Vol. 1”, a 36-page photo book and a hand-numbered certificate.

“Collective Suicide Vol. 1” was first issued for the project’s 30th anniversary in 2016 and now receives a vinyl edition for the 40th anniversary. The collection covers recordings from 1987 through 2016, while “Collective Suicide Vol. 2” focuses on later material, rare tracks and reworked versions.

Below is the vinyl tracklist.

“Collective Suicide Vol. 1” tracklist

• Side A: “Suicide”, “Industrial Underground”, “Incinerate”.
• Side B: “T.V. Obsession”, “Come To Me”, “Kevorkian”.
• Side C: “Disposable Paradise”, “Body Count Proceed (2007 Re_Count)”, “Hate Me”.
• Side D: “Until We Die (Single Edit)”, “Body Machine Body (Demo Version)”, “My New Christ”.

“Collective Suicide Vol. 2” tracklist

• Side A: “Infliction Of Pain”, “Severed Head”, “Come Down With Me (2025 Version)”.
• Side B: “Kill All Humanity (Short And Painless)”, “Evacuate”, “Unterwelt (Apocalypse)”.
• Side C: “Control & Consent”, “Fate (Death is coming…again!)”, “Face Of Death (2023 Mix)”.
• Side D: “Death Lies Waiting (Death Will Find You Remix)”, “Jesus Freak (Die In Agony)”, “Better Off Dead”.

About Suicide Commando

Suicide Commando is the electro-industrial project of Belgian musician Johan Van Roy. The project started in Leopoldsburg, Belgium, in 1986.

Van Roy began experimenting with electronic music in 1986 and released his first tape under the Suicide Commando name two years later. He bought a Roland SH-101 in summer 1986 and then added Boss DR-110 and Boss DR-220E drum machines. He also named The Cure, Sisters Of Mercy, Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, The Neon Judgement, Front 242 and The Klinik as early influences.

Before the 1994 debut album “Critical Stage”, Suicide Commando released a run of cassette material, including “Suicide Commando”, “This Is Hate”, “Industrial Rape I”, “Crap”, “Go to Hell”, “Into the Grave”, “Industrial Rape II”, “Black Flowers” and “Electro Convulsion Therapy”. “Critical Stage” was released on Off Beat and was followed by “Stored Images” in 1995 and “Construct-Destruct” in 1998.

The later releases includes “Mindstrip” in 2000, “Axis of Evil” in 2003, “Bind, Torture, Kill” in 2006, “Implements Of Hell” in 2010, “When Evil Speaks” in 2013, “Forest of the Impaled” in 2017 and “Goddestruktor” in 2022.

Chicago industrial collective The Joy Thieves have released the album “Apocalypse Pending” through Armalyte Industries. The 13-track The Joy Thieves “Apocalypse Pending” album is fronted by Chris Connelly and arrives with a video for “No Anchor” and the focus track “Ambush Vinez“.

“No Anchor” follows the earlier single “The Wrong End of Your Rifle” in April 2026 while “Ambush Vinez” is a focus track on the album.

The Joy Thieves operate as a rotating collective: Joy Thieves Productions, run by Dan Milligan and James Scott, assembles contributions from a roster the band lists at more than 80 members into finished tracks. Chris Connelly provides lead vocals across the release. The project blends alternative rock, industrial, punk and hip-hop elements, and the band describes the record as carrying an anti-fascist theme.

The album is available via Bandcamp as download and on CD.

About The Joy Thieves

The Joy Thieves are a Chicago-based collective built around Joy Thieves Productions, the studio operation of Dan Milligan and James Scott. The project works by gathering musical fragments from a large pool of contributing musicians and editing them into structured songs.

Vocalist Chris Connelly fronts the group’s recent output. Connelly is a Scottish-born singer and writer whose earlier work includes Fini Tribe, Ministry, Revolting Cocks and Pigface. We published an interview with Connelly and Andy McGregor of Fini Tribe in March 2026, and covered Connelly’s appearance on the Moiii remix “Needles on the Tundra” earlier that month.

“Apocalypse Pending” follows the band’s recent run of singles, including “The Wrong End of Your Rifle”, and is released on June 5, 2026.

During the spring, I discovered the mysterious Ukrainian solo project Cold Sector, a side project of the almost equally enigmatic Entangled System. The man behind both projects – whom we will simply refer to by his first name, Dmitry – uses his music as a sonic reflection on our growing dependence on digital systems, the vulnerability of modern infrastructure, and the invisible tensions that characterize today’s technological world. These themes are translated into an impressive debut album simply titled “Cold Sector”, released independently.

Musically, this Cold Sector album presents an exceptionally elaborate and immersive composition in which Dark-Ambient, Electro, Industrial, and even Noise elements merge into a desolate yet captivating atmosphere. Across its eight tracks, the Cold Sector album draws the listener into an imaginary journey through the darkness and uncertainties of modern times. The result is an extraordinarily creative and meticulously crafted work that figuratively blew me away. It marks a truly grandiose beginning for an artist whom I was fortunate enough to catch for a few questions, despite the ongoing war in his homeland and his relentless drive to create. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Cold Sector interview

Q: Could we perhaps start with an introduction to Cold Sector? Who is behind this musical project, and what does this music mean within your artistic vision, alongside the project Entangled System?

Dmitry:My name is Dmitry. Due to the current situation in Ukraine, I would like not to reveal my full name, because some topics touched upon in the music, or in this interview, can be interpreted ambiguously. Cold Sector is my second one-man project; the first one is Entangled System and it’s more focused on Dark-Ambient with elements of Industrial and electronic sounds, whereas Cold Sector leans closer to a more rhythmic Electro-Industrial sound with elements of Ambient.

The only thing that unites these projects in my artistic vision is the desire to convey the feeling of a post-apocalyptic world through music: both the period after a catastrophe and the tension and decay leading up to it. And, since the causes of such disasters can be different, this is also reflected in the project concept.

I would describe Entangled System as the project which idea is leaning more towards the atmosphere of uncertainty associated with technological experiments and the consequences of human interference in uncontrollable processes, to the aesthetics related to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident. Cold Sector is more focused on the possible consequences of technological progress and human interaction with the systems they have created: military equipment, industrial mechanisms, resource extraction, computer technologies, and the gradual transformation of the surrounding world into a cold technological environment.

Q: At this very specific moment, the war in your homeland, Ukraine, is still ongoing. For those of us who are far removed from the war zone, everything seems distant and, above all, surreal. But how do you experience this as a human being, and what meaning and value do music and cultural life still hold in such circumstances?

Dmitry:Of course, war is a terrible reality, and it affects not only everyday life but also creativity. However, I cannot say that I would like to directly reflect this in my music. Personally, I would like peace to come as soon as possible, because the costs of war are too high, and, in my opinion, the conflict’s continuation only worsens the situation in the country. We all only live once, and it is necessary to not underestimate it.

Speaking of personal struggles, the war makes me anxious. Living in such conditions, no one can feel completely safe: there are frequent air attacks, and it’s not possible to foresee whether a UAV/rocket will pass by or it will be shot down right over residential areas.

In such conditions, creating and working with sounds, and not just listening to it, helps to better distract from anxious thoughts and continue thinking about the future, even if it remains unclear. I think music, regardless of its genre or circumstances, is capable of affecting many people this way.

Q: To what extent have the war and all the suffering and loss it entails impacted your music? Do you notice a difference in your composition and artistic approach before the war and now, during the ongoing conflict?

Dmitry:Well, from a visual and atmospheric point of view, even long before the war, I liked post-apocalyptic imagery that can be found in music, games, and movies. I have always had a special interest in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and am glad that I visited it when it was available for such activity. I was also influenced by Der Blaue Reiter. I got glimmered with enthusiasm by this project’s music to start working with a similar aesthetic myself, including the use of Martial-Industrial elements, which in some way also reflected in the sound of Entangled System.

In general, my interest in creating music appeared back in my youth. I listened to Dark-Electro and different genres similar to it and always had the desire to one day try creating my own music. However, various limitations, including technical ones, delayed this process for a long time. It was only around the end of 2021 that I began actively experimenting: at first, studying FL Studio, plugins, and then trying to find my own sound. The beginning of the war in 2022 accelerated this process because there was a feeling of the necessity to realize my creative ambitions while there was still the opportunity. Realizing at that time that I was best at creating music close to dark ambient, I decided to focus on it.

I think that military actions in any case affect the creative process and the way an artist wants to convey the atmosphere through sound. Although, as I have already said, I try to consciously limit the impact of the current conflict on my creativity, yet it is probably impossible to completely shield myself from the influence of what is happening.

Q: Earlier this year, you released the self-titled debut album by Cold Sector. How did the need arise to start another project alongside Entangled System and were there specific influences or references that shaped this music?

Dmitry:Due to my interest in music that varies from Post-Punk, EBM, and Dark-Electro to Industrial, Rhythmic-Noise and IDM, it is quite difficult for me to keep my creativity within just one style. Alongside my work on Entangled System, I was constantly trying to create something with a harsher and more rhythmic sound. Gradually, as I improved my composing skills and began to better understand the specific kind of what interests me, I realized that I would like to make a full-length album that would sound close to Electro-Industrial. At the same time Entangled System remains a predominantly Dark-Ambient project, which already includes elements of different genres. Therefore, I decided to create a side project – Cold Sector, within which I could focus specifically on a more rhythmic and Industrial sound.

The fundamental differences between the projects primarily lie in the musical styles. Entangled System was conceptually influenced, as I have already mentioned, by Der Blaue Reiter, as well as by the Ukrainian composer Alexey Omelchuk and the project Mooze, who participated in creating the soundtrack for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series. There was also some influence from projects such as Atrium Carceri, Raison D’être and Dark Sanctuary, which I listened to a lot before. It’s a bit harder for me to describe the influences on Cold Sector, but the ones I would like to mention are Flint Glass, Orphx and The Opposer Divine. In addition, many releases on the Aliens Production, Hands Productions, and Ant-Zen have had a certain impact on my perception of the sound.

Q: I believe I understood that “Cold Sector” deals with the dangers of digital systems in which algorithms are playing an increasingly prominent role, especially when errors occur. In our modern world, this seems more like reality than fiction. What exactly were you trying to express, and what are your concerns or fears regarding this evolution? And what might we expect from the future?

Dmitry:I am truly concerned about the gradual introduction of AI into an increasing number of areas of life and humanity’s growing dependence on such technologies. Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence itself is a useful tool capable of facilitating many processes and actions. But at the same time, it seems to me that such systems are overly intelligent and could potentially approach the level of human thinking. The problem is that if such technologies are once deeply integrated into critically important systems, the consequences of errors could be catastrophic. Humans are prone to making mistakes, and such AI systems to some extent inherit this vulnerability. That is precisely why, in a certain sense, I feel closer to old analog systems and mechanisms, or very simple algorithms – it follows the rules of formal logic and its behavior is predictable. AI is also based on logic, but the different kind of it  – more internal, which over time may become too complex for full understanding and control by humans.

In essence, this idea is what underlies Cold Sector’s debut album. It is a kind of scenario about what could happen if digital technologies, in particular AI, gained a form of self-awareness, somewhat close to human, but was guided by a completely different logic. In my vision, such a system would gradually begin to develop autonomously, resist external control, and penetrate into different, e.g. analog, systems, creating disruptions and instability. It is reflected in the tracks “Intrusion” and “Signal Propagation”. Then the system would likely try to completely break out of human control affecting even strategic sub-ones such as nuclear-armed submarines – this is what the track “Data Leak” is about. After that, humanity would probably try to stop what was happening – this is the idea behind “Search Sector”, “Containment Protocol” and “Contact Gained” – but most likely either unsuccessfully or at the cost of enormous destruction. The bonus track “Into the Storm” is a kind of epilogue to this story – it conveys a sense of landscape emptiness and radioactive dust spreading over the destroyed world. Of course, I hope that such a scenario never becomes reality. But it seems to me that nowadays there are much more reasons for such concerns than there were a few years ago.

Q: How did you transform all these ideas into music and eventually into this Cold Sector album? Could you give us some more insight into the entire composition and production process? Which instruments, software, or tools did you use?

Dmitry:As I have already mentioned, while working on music for Entangled System, I experimented with more rhythmic and Industrial sound. Thus, in 2023 and 2024, the demos of “Search Sector” and “Signal Propagation” were done, although at that time they were still quite raw and in need of refinement. A clearer understanding of the album’s concept came later, in 2025, when “Where Machines Are Born” and “Contact Gained” were recorded. It was these tracks that largely set the structure and the feeling of the beginning and the end of the story. After that, the process turned into putting pieces together: I immediately understood which tracks formed the framework of the album and all that remained was to fill in the gaps and refine the existing material so that it would fit organically into the overall concept.

Usually my creative process begins with an idea or an image that I think through and then try to turn into sound sketches. Often this doesn’t seem to get sorted out easily, but sometimes there is a kind of breakthrough when it becomes clear how exactly the music should sound. In such moments I try to make the most of this state and bring the tracks to the highest possible level of completion so that later, when this state starts to fade, I only have to put the final touches, which do not require deep immersion in the atmosphere.

The final stage of the album’s production was difficult because at that moment constant emergency power outages started to appear in Ukraine. With only about 8-10 hours of electricity per day in total, it was quite difficult for me to find appropriate time for creative activity.

The album was done in FL Studio without using any analog equipment. I used some plugins, mostly Dune 3 and Nexus 3, whose presets I could tweak to achieve the desired sound. For processing effects such as distortion or bitcrusher I mostly used the built-in FL Studio tools. The album also includes samples, e.g. a TTS-generated voice – it is heard at the beginning of the first track. Although, in general, I am not a supporter of using AI tools in music, in this case, given the concept of the album, adding such a “machine” voice seemed appropriate to me and helped enhance the atmosphere. I also used samples of recordings from numbered radio stations, which can be found in internet archives, samples of Morse code and sonar, engine sounds, and underwater currents.

Q: What were you trying to achieve artistically, and which audience are you hoping to reach with this project?

Dmitry: I wanted Cold Sector to be as close to Electro-Industrial as possible, but, at the same time, not limited by this genre’s specific traits, because the concept of the project itself requires different ways of conveying atmosphere. For me, genres in this case act as tools that allow expressing certain states, images, and parts of the story. For example, Ambient elements create a sense of isolation and underwater space, the Industrial and rhythmic ones – the operation of mechanisms and a technogenic atmosphere itself, and the noise ones – digital interference, instability, and the gradual destruction of the environment. Cinematic elements, in turn, help to perceive the album as a coherent narrative with a certain atmosphere and bring visual associations.

I wanted the music to give the listener a sense of being inside this world – cold, mechanized, and gradually getting out of control. I wanted the album to be perceived as a sonic journey or a fragment of some technogenic story, rather than just a set of tracks from a certain genre.

Q: In times of war, is it still possible to make long-term plans regarding your artistic projects? And what may we still expect in the future from Cold Sector and Entangled System?

Dmitry:Of course, I believe that in wartime periods it is not only possible but also necessary to make long-term plans. Creativity helps to get through such tough times, and any war ends sooner or later. Despite all the difficulties that the current situation causes for both everyday life and creativity, I still try to move forward gradually and continue making music.

I don’t have any set-in-stone plans yet, but, regarding Cold Sector, I would like to make a second album that would be a sort of continuation of the debut one. While the first album is more focused on underwater and digital infrastructure, the next one conceptually would be leaning more towards the progression of a post-apocalyptic story on the surface of the earth. However, it is possible that before these plans get turned into reality, a series of singles with no specific concept will appear. I am interested in working with vocals and right now experimenting in this direction. Since I have practically no experience doing my own vocals, I am looking for the right way for it to sound both musically and lyrically.

As for Entangled System, it is harder for me to speak about any plans at all. I can’t foresee if the inspiration for new material will come. But I would definitely like to re-release the first two albums as sort of redux versions with a more refined and improved sound.

Darkwave and industrial project NØIR (aka Athan Maroulis) has released the “Breath and Taxes” 4-track EP through the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based label Distortion Productions. NØIR’s “Breath and Taxes” EP collects the title track with remixes by genCAB and Iszoloscope, and is available across all streaming and digital platforms.

The EP features cellist Tracey Di Lascio-Martinuk, programmer Dominic Smelt and engineer Xris Smack among its collaborators. NØIR is the project of vocalist Athan Maroulis.

The story behind NØIR’s ‘Breath and Taxes’

The title track has a long history. “Breath and Taxes” was the first song Maroulis co-wrote as a member of Spahn Ranch in 1993. The lyric idea even existed before when Maroulis was in Executive Slacks and the band was about to play at Scream in Los Angeles. Maroulis had attended a serial-killer art exhibit at a Hollywood gallery and later wrote the lyrics based on what he saw there. It eventually became a surreally sarcastic song about the contradictions of cults and capitalism.

About NØIR

NØIR is a New York-based project led by Athan Maroulis, a vocalist whose career runs through several dark electronic and industrial acts. Maroulis fronted Executive Slacks in the late 1980s and later joined the Los Angeles trio Spahn Ranch, which released a series of albums through the 1990s. At Side-Line we covered the reissue of the 1995 Spahn Ranch LP “The Coiled One”. He then performed and recorded with Black Tape for a Blue Girl before launching NØIR.

NØIR debuted with the “My Dear” single in 2012, followed by the album “Darkly Near” in 2013. Maroulis described the project in a 2020 Side-Line interview as “an amalgamation of each band I have ever been in”. The project has continued issuing EPs and singles, including the 2023 “Fallen” EP.

Daniel McCullough (Silver Walks) and Athan Maroulis (NØIR) also issued a new collaborative cover of Cyberaktif’s Wax Trax! single “Nothing Stays”, released September 19, 2025 via Distortion Productions. The four-track digital EP paired the core version with remixes by S Y Z Y G Y X, genCAB, and KLACK.

The new “Breath and Taxes” EP brings a song Maroulis first sketched in the early 1990s.

The Cassette Culture Podcast, a documentary podcast about the 1980s and 1990s DIY cassette underground, is running a mini-series titled “Tapes Received: Industrial Music for Industrial People“. The Cassette Culture Podcast “Tapes Received” series follows the contacts listed in “Industrial News”, the newsletter published by Throbbing Gristle’s label Industrial Records between 1978 and 1980, which printed a “Tapes Received” list of artists who had mailed in their own cassettes.

The podcast is produced and presented by Martin Franklin and, since 2025, co-hosted by Jerry Kranitz, author of the book “Cassette Culture: Homemade Music and the Creative Spirit in the Pre-Internet Age”. It is built as narrative documentary rather than straight interview.

The first episode of the series, published on May 28, 2026, brings together artists connected to that early network. Its participants include Val Denham; Philip Sanderson of Snatch Tapes and Storm Bugs; and Richard Rupenus, co-founder of The New Blockaders. Also Matt Johnson of The The will appear on an upcoming episode to discuss his early cassette-network years.

About the Cassette Culture Podcast

The Cassette Culture Podcast documents the international mail network through which underground artists exchanged cassettes and homemade artwork during the 1980s and 1990s. Presented by Martin Franklin and co-hosted by Jerry Kranitz, it approaches the scene as a connected story told by the people who took part.

The full archive is available at the Cassette Culture Podcast site. The current “Tapes Received” mini-series places Throbbing Gristle’s Industrial Records newsletter at the center of that history.

Infinite Fog Productions reissues the Nurse With Wound album “A Sucked Orange” on August 15, 2026. The experimental project led by Steven Stapleton first issued the record through his own United Dairies label in 1989; the new edition appears as a 2LP picture-disc set in a gatefold sleeve, a DigiCD and a limited tape, with an accompanying T-shirt.

“A Sucked Orange” collects short studio fragments, samples, spoken-word pieces and drone passages, several drawn from or related to other Nurse With Wound recordings.

The album is a collection of short pieces, 36 tracks in total (40 for the Bandcamp version), each clocking in anywhere from five seconds (“Raymonde Fluffs It”) to just over four minutes (“I’m A Frayed Knot”). Good to note that the Infinite Fog 40-track edition is not a straight copy of the original 1989 United Dairies CD, as that one only had 29 tracks.

The new tracklist goes from 29 to 40 entries, restores/adds tracks 30–36, and includes four full-side vinyl mixes.

Here are the extra tracks in this release:

30. Wisecrack
31. Praying Mantis
32. Its All Gone Weird/Nasal Hair
33. Automating (Some More)
34. It Just Ain’t So/In Heaven
35. Well What D’ya Know Henry
36. Relax

And these are the four format-specific tracks that are added on Bandcamp:

37. Vinyl mix – Side A
38. Vinyl mix – Side B
39. Vinyl mix – Side C
40. Vinyl mix – Side D

About Nurse With Wound

Nurse With Wound is the main recording name of British musician Steven Stapleton. The act formed in 1978 as a trio of Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak, and recorded its first releases in a free-improvisation idiom that listeners associated with industrial music.

By 1981 Stapleton was the sole continuing member,. In 1982 he released “Homotopy to Marie”, the first fully realised Nurse With Wound release. Stapleton also runs the United Dairies label, which issued Nurse With Wound records alongside material by Current 93 and other experimental artists. The project’s catalog spans long-form drone works such as “Soliloquy for Lilith” and shorter, collage-based records, of which “A Sucked Orange” is an example.

Side-Line previously reported on the reissue of the Nurse With Wound album “Thunder Perfect Mind”, and on the project Nodding God formed by David Tibet and Andrew Liles of Nurse With Wound. The Infinite Fog reissue of “A Sucked Orange,” dated August 15, 2026, returns one of the project’s late-1980s United Dairies titles to vinyl.

As Bronski Beat‘s often-overlooked second album “Truthdare Doubledare” receives a deluxe 40th anniversary reissue, former vocalist Jon Jon Foster looks back on friendship, fame, self-doubt, and the remarkable journey that took him from the Essex music scene to the international charts.

When people talk about Bronski Beat, the conversation almost always begins with Jimmy Somerville.

It’s understandable. Songs like “Smalltown Boy” and “Why?” helped define an era and established Bronski Beat as one of the most important voices of 1980s synth-pop and queer culture. Yet Bronski Beat’s story did not end when Somerville left in 1985.

Instead, Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek recruited a singer they had known for years: John “Jon Jon” Foster.

The result was “Hit That Perfect Beat”, one of the biggest dancefloor anthems of 1986, and the album “Truthdare Doubledare”, a record that blended Hi-NRG energy, political commentary, introspective songwriting and electronic experimentation.

Forty years later, Cherry Red Records is revisiting that chapter with an expanded anniversary edition packed with remastered audio, BBC recordings, remixes and rare material.

For Jon Jon Foster, the reissue is an opportunity to remember friendships, celebrate the legacy of Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek, and revisit a period that changed his life forever.

Speaking with Side-Line, Foster reflects on joining Bronski Beat, the making of “Truthdare Doubledare”, the challenges of following Jimmy Somerville, and the friendships that shaped one of the band’s most fascinating chapters.

Jon Jon Foster (Bronski Beat) interview

Q: When “Hit That Perfect Beat” was released at the end of 1985, it quickly became one of the biggest dancefloor anthems of 1986, reaching No. 3 in the UK charts and entering the Top 10 in several countries around the world. For many fans and journalists, the song proved that Bronski Beat could still have a strong identity and future even after Jimmy Somerville’s departure. Did you personally feel that pressure at the time – stepping into a band that already had such a strong image and legacy?

Jon Jon Foster: The pressure didn’t really come from stepping into Jimmy’s shoes. The real pressure came from London Records. After Bronski Beat’s “Hit That Perfect Beat” became such a success, they wanted us to deliver an album very quickly, and “Truthdare Doubledare” was completed within about three or four months.

Steve and Larry were already my friends long before I joined the band. I’d known Larry since around 1979 and got to know Steve shortly afterwards. We had been spending time together for years, making music, jamming and hanging out. There was already a connection between us.

Because of that, it never felt like I was entering a completely unfamiliar situation. It was more like a jigsaw puzzle finally finding its missing piece. Everything seemed to slot naturally into place.

Our manager Anthony Kawalski was also someone I had known for years, so there was already trust between us. Looking back, I remember that period as a lot of hard work, but also a tremendous amount of fun.

Q: Many contemporary reviews described “Hit That Perfect Beat” as raw, energetic Hi-NRG dance music that shifted Bronski Beat away from melancholy political tension toward something more physical and club-oriented. Looking back today, do you think the band consciously moved queer identity from protest into the dancefloor itself?

Jon Jon Foster: Looking back, most of Bronski Beat’s major hits were already very dancefloor-oriented. At the same time, there was always a political and emotional thread running through the band’s music, and you can hear that in my lyrics as well.

Songs like “C’Mon! C’Mon!” are a good example of that. It was never our intention to say, “Let’s make a dance record now.” “Hit That Perfect Beat” was certainly designed as a Hi-NRG dance track, but the rest of the album came together much more organically.

The truth is that there was no master plan. Steve, Larry and I hadn’t spent months rehearsing together or writing material before entering the studio. Everything developed very spontaneously.

If we had made an entire album in the style of “Hit That Perfect Beat”, I think it would have become rather predictable. Instead, deeper and more personal songs emerged naturally, and those songs felt right for the album.

Q: How did you originally become involved with Bronski Beat? Had you already been singing or performing in other projects before joining the band?

Jon Jon Foster: It all started through my dear friend Gill Wisson, whom I’ve known for most of my life. We both grew up in Essex and eventually moved from Basildon to Southend.

Gill had a bedsit in Southend, and upstairs lived two young men called Larry and Anthony. They used to frequent the only gay pub in town, called The Cliff.

Through Gill, I met Larry, Anthony and a whole circle of artists and musicians connected to the local art college.

Music quickly became part of our friendship. We spent countless hours playing together, experimenting and creating things. Alison Moyet was also around at that time, and whenever she sang, we would all stop what we were doing and simply listen.

One of the most important moments came during the final days of the original Bronski Beat line-up. The band had an appearance on Wogan and needed to attend a camera rehearsal. Jimmy didn’t turn up, so I stepped in and mimed “I Feel Love” alongside Marc Almond.

That moment planted a seed in our manager Anthony Kawalski’s mind.

Many people assume there was some huge audition process when Jimmy left, but I don’t think Steve and Larry would ever have chosen a complete stranger. We already knew each other well, and there was a natural chemistry between us.

I eventually recorded several songs with them, including tracks that now appear on the new anniversary edition. Once London Records were convinced, I officially joined Bronski Beat. We recorded “Hit That Perfect Beat”, the song became a hit, and everything developed from there.

Q: Had you already been involved in music before joining the band?

Jon Jon Foster: Yes, absolutely.

One of my earliest bands was called Yellow Jellies, which I formed with friends while we were still at college. We played a few gigs and had a fantastic time.

Later came another group called Bust, where I played alongside my friend David. Ironically, David would later go on to play bass with The Communards.

At the time I was heavily involved in performance art, filmmaking and street performance. I was constantly creating things with friends.

When the opportunity came to move to London and work with Steve and Larry, I knew I had to take it. It was a chance to become part of something bigger, even if it meant putting some of my own projects on hold.

Q: By the mid-1980s, Basildon had already become one of the symbolic centres of British electronic pop culture through artists like Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Alison Moyet, Erasure or Robert Marlow. Did you feel connected to that scene in any way?

Jon Jon Foster: Very much so.

Of course I knew Depeche Mode from Basildon. I knew Alison Moyet, and later I met Andy Bell as well. Robert Marlow was someone whose gigs I used to attend.

In many ways, we were all connected. I admired all of those artists and watched many of them emerge from the local scene.

I remember seeing Alison Moyet perform in Basildon long before she became famous. People absolutely loved her.

We would also go to clubs like Rocks in Rochford, where all sorts of bands were performing, from electronic acts to punk groups.

It was a very exciting time. Everyone was involved in music, fashion, art and self-expression. We were all trying to be outrageous in our own way.

Looking back, we were rivals in some respects, but there was also a lot of mutual respect and admiration. We all came from the same environment and shared the same excitement about creating something new.

Q: What do you remember most vividly about the recording sessions for Bronski Beat’s “Truthdare Doubledare”? What was the atmosphere like inside the band during that period?

Jon Jon Foster: “Truthdare Doubledare” was a wonderful album to make. We had a fantastic time recording it.

We worked in some of the best studios in London, although we also spent time in some rather ramshackle places doing additional work. Because Steve and Larry were working primarily with electronic instruments and sequencers, they didn’t always need luxurious surroundings. The music could be created almost anywhere.

Our producer, Adam Williams, did a brilliant job. We probably tested his patience on more than one occasion, but always in the best possible way.

What I remember most is the sense of adventure. Suddenly I found myself travelling to New York, staying there for months while Steve and Larry were also completing work on “Hundreds & Thousands”. We had an incredible apartment on the Upper West Side.

For someone who had recently been living on Social Security in Newcastle, it felt like entering another world.

My professional training had actually been as a chef and waiter. Then, almost overnight, I was taken from a very modest life and placed in some of the most exciting cities and studios imaginable.

The strongest memory is still the laughter. We spent so much time creating, experimenting and enjoying ourselves. We were friends making music together, and that made all the difference.

Q: Songs like “Hit That Perfect Beat”, “C’Mon! C’Mon!” and “Punishment For Love” still sound energetic and unique today. Do you have a personal favourite track from this Bronski Beat album?

Jon Jon Foster: In a way, all of them are favourites because every song is attached to a particular memory.

“Hit That Perfect Beat” will always hold a special place for me because it was the first professional song I ever recorded. It was my first proper record, and suddenly it became a hit around the world. Naturally, I’m very proud of that.

Another song I feel very strongly about is “Punishment For Love”. That track deals with loneliness, isolation and the feeling of having nowhere to belong. It reflects the experience of having love inside you but being prevented from expressing who you truly are.

“Dr. John” is also very personal. It’s almost autobiographical. When I listen to it now, I hear someone looking into a mirror and asking difficult questions about life, identity and where they are heading.

And then there is “C’Mon! C’Mon!”, which reflected the political climate of Britain during the Thatcher years. At times it felt as though the country was moving backwards rather than forwards.

Q: At the same time, Jimmy Somerville launched The Communards, which quickly became hugely successful. Did this create any sense of competition or pressure for the “new” Bronski Beat?

Jon Jon Foster: Not really.

Any pressure that existed came from the record company rather than from Jimmy or The Communards. London Records wanted results, wanted records and wanted momentum.

Personally, I never felt involved in any rivalry. My relationship was with Steve and Larry, not with the business side of things.

Jimmy was free to pursue his vision, and we were free to pursue ours. I never felt any need to compete with him. We simply got on with making our own music.

Q: Looking back today, do you feel you were ever truly accepted as the new voice of Bronski Beat?

Jon Jon Foster: That’s an interesting question.

Outwardly, I always appeared confident. I could do interviews, stand in front of cameras and perform on stage without too much difficulty.

The real struggle was internal.

I constantly dealt with feelings of insecurity and what people now call impostor syndrome.

But at the same time, I wasn’t trying to become Jimmy. I wasn’t trying to copy him or replace him. I simply tried to sing the songs as honestly as I could and contribute what I had to offer.

Looking back now, I realise that “Truthdare Doubledare” was almost an experiment for all of us.

I think we did.

Q: The 40th anniversary of Bronski Beat’s “Truthdare Doubledare” is also overshadowed by the loss of both Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek. Do you ever think about what a reunion or celebration of that era could have been like?

Jon Jon Foster: Absolutely.

I know Steve would have been delighted to see this album being rediscovered.

What many people don’t realise is that my relationship with Steve and Larry didn’t end when I left Bronski Beat. Steve and I continued performing together in America and Hawaii. We played clubs, toured with other artists and remained close friends.

I also stayed in touch with Larry for many years. Both he and Steve eventually lived in Amsterdam, and I regularly visited them there.

That’s why this anniversary is emotional for me. Of course it’s sad that neither of them is here to witness it. But at the same time, it’s wonderful to see the music being celebrated again.

And I think both Steve and Larry would be proud of that.

Q: Years later, you also recorded your own version of Yazoo’s “Only You”, one of the defining songs of the Basildon electronic scene. What drew you to that song personally?

Jon Jon Foster: When Alison Moyet used to visit Gill’s bedsit and Larry would be recording music there, we would often sit together and listen to her sing. I still have some of those old tapes.

Quite honestly, there were times when tears would come to our eyes. Alison had such a beautiful and powerful voice that it genuinely moved people.

My version of “Only You” was really a small tribute to her.

I’ve always loved that song. It has stayed with me throughout my life, and recording it felt like a way of saying thank you to someone who was not only an extraordinary artist but also a friend.

We were all connected through Essex, through music and through friendship.

I still go to see Alison perform whenever I can. It’s wonderful to watch her on stage after all these years and hear those songs again.

Forty years after its original release, Bronski Beat’s “Truthdare Doubledare” remains one of the most underrated albums in the Bronski Beat catalogue.

Often overshadowed by both “The Age Of Consent” and the success of The Communards, it nevertheless captures a fascinating moment in the band’s evolution: a period of reinvention, experimentation and resilience.

Listening to Jon Jon Foster today, it becomes clear that the album’s story is about far more than replacing a singer. It is a story of friendship, creative chemistry and the courage to move forward when many expected the story to be over.

The 40th Anniversary Edition of “Truthdare Doubledare” is available for pre-order now and will be released on July 3, 2025.

© JJanurik

Sleep Kills is a project based in Los Angeles (USA). I ​​discovered that they released two singles earlier this year that can be found on this EP, along with three additional tracks.

The five songs are clearly driven by a solid EBM foundation and built upon other influences ranging from IDM, Dark-Techno, and Industrial. The menacing atmosphere and overwhelming sound production are infectious, but on top of that, you discover a fantastic female vocalist who brings a lot of variation to her voice. One moment she sounds half-whispered, mysterious, and sexy, but later she becomes powerful and commanding. Every track sounds like a potential single, though I do have a preference for “No Limits” and “Stahlfleisch”.

This debut EP is an absolute masterpiece. It has been a long time since a new band blew me away to this extent. A modern, electric EBM mix backed by strong production. Sleep Kills is a name to remember! (Rating:8½).

Listen to “No Limits”:

https://sleepkillsaudio.bandcamp.com/track/no-limits

Eastside Festival will return to Karlsbad in Halle/Saale on 3 and 4 July 2026. Presented by Pluswelt Promotion, the Pop and Wave open air event brings together synthpop, EBM, dark wave, electro and alternative electronic music in a lakeside setting.

Now entering its fourth edition, Eastside Festival has grown from a pandemic-era idea into an established meeting point for the electronic and wave-oriented scene. The festival takes place at Karlsbad Halle, located by the Angersdorfer Teiche, with camping options, a beach setting and a summer atmosphere closer to a scene gathering than to a standard large-scale commercial festival.

Nitzer Ebb, Devision Redux and Black Nail Cabaret on Friday

Friday’s programme connects several generations of electronic underground music. British EBM pioneers Nitzer Ebb remain one of the defining names of body music, known for their stripped-down force, commanding vocals and percussive physicality. Their appearance gives the first Eastside Festival day a clear historical anchor.

Another major point of interest is Devision Redux, the new electronic format around Steffen Keth and Daniel Myer. The project reworks material from the De/Vision catalogue into a club-oriented language, giving familiar songs a leaner, more contemporary and more physical shape.

Black Nail Cabaret bring their elegant, dark electronic pop to the line-up. The Hungarian duo have built a distinctive identity around sharp synth work, controlled sensuality and a sense of theatrical restraint. Canadian duo Traitrs add a colder post-punk and darkwave presence, with a sound shaped by guitars, tension and emotional urgency.

In Strict Confidence appear with an electro set, linking the Eastside Festival to the long-running German dark electronic tradition. Future Lied To Us bring polished synthpop with a melodic, emotionally direct approach, while Spanish act Huir open the day with a newer voice from the electronic underground. The evening continues after the concerts with a DJ set by Richard Silverthorn of Mesh in a separate area.

Covenant, Solitary Experiments and Bigod 20 on Saturday

Saturday expands the spectrum from synthpop and dark electronic music to EBM history and club culture. Covenant remain one of the most important Swedish electronic acts, combining philosophical lyrics, elegant synth architecture and a strong live presence. Their place in the programme gives the second day a major synthpop focus.

Solitary Experiments bring a different kind of emotional force: melodic, powerful, direct and deeply connected to the German futurepop and electro scene. Bigod 20 provide the midnight special, adding a classic EBM and electronic heritage element to the festival’s second night.

Priest contribute a darker, more stylised synth-based sound, while UK act Auger bring a more alternative, song-oriented edge to the programme. Beborn Beton add sophisticated German electronic pop with a long history in the synth scene, while Swiss act Blackbook represent a newer generation of sleek, melodic synthpop.

M/A/T open the second day with harder electronic energy, and Lennart Salomon performs a special lakeside acoustic set, creating a quieter contrast before the programme returns to full electronic intensity. The night continues with a DJ set by Talla 2XLC and an after-show party in a separate area.

A lakeside festival for the pop, wave and EBM audience

The full 2026 line-up includes Nitzer Ebb, Covenant, Devision Redux, Bigod 20, Solitary Experiments, In Strict Confidence, Priest, Traitrs, Auger, Black Nail Cabaret, Lennart Salomon, Beborn Beton, Blackbook, Future Lied To Us, Huir and M/A/T. Christian Schottstädt of Forced To Mode will host the festival as moderator.

The location gives Eastside Festival its particular identity. Karlsbad offers an open air setting by the lake, with a sandy beach, camping possibilities and a relaxed summer atmosphere. For an audience often associated with clubs, dark venues and late-night dancefloors, this combination of electronic music and open air surroundings gives the festival a distinct rhythm.

Eastside Festival 2026 does not present itself as a purely nostalgic event. The programme places established names next to newer and mid-generation acts, connecting different branches of the electronic underground: EBM history, synthpop melancholy, contemporary darkwave, alternative pop structures and club-oriented electronics.

Tickets are available through the official Eastside Festival website, Pluswelt Promotion ticketing and Eventim.

Eastside Festival 2026 agenda

Friday, 3 July 2026

• 17:00 Huir
• 17:50 Future Lied To Us
• 18:50 Black Nail Cabaret
• 20:00 Traitrs
• 21:10 In Strict Confidence Electro Set
• 22:20 Devision Redux
• 23:45 Nitzer Ebb
• 01:00 DJ Richard Silverthorn/Mesh, separate area

Saturday, 4 July 2026

• 16:00 M/A/T
• 16:45 Blackbook
• 17:45 Beborn Beton
• 18:45 Auger
• 19:50 Priest
• 20:35 Lennart Salomon, lakeside acoustic set
• 21:25 Solitary Experiments
• 22:30 Covenant
• 00:05 Bigod 20, midnight special
• 00:05 DJ Talla 2XLC
• 01:05 After-show party, separate area