Near Paris was a duo from Columbus, Ohio and was composed by Gerald F. Nelson and Dana Riashi. Originally they were in Post Industrial Noise along with Robert Crise, band that born in 1980 and disbanded in 1983 after producing a 8" flexy disc for their songs "Symphony Of A Mind"/"COTA City Salsa" and participating to a tape compilation. In 1985 the duo reunited as Near Paris and started to gather attention and popularity in the Columbus music scene and had opened for such bands as Section 25. They often played in art galleries as well as worked on original scores for local dance troupes and other art-related endeavors. They also had booked a gig in London and were ready to leave but suddenly they decided otherwise and parted ways. On their musical career they released only a four tracks 12' EP which surfaced online in 2010 on the Crispy Nuggets blog. Thanks the Crispy Nuggets/Medical Records collaboration, we have the possibility to check that EP plus seven unreleased tracks the band recorded at the same time. "Visions","Shattered Glass", "Ceiling" and "Believe Me" were the tracks originally on the 12" and they were a mix of upbeat new wave with synthpop inserts where the guitar arpeggios, Dana melodic voice and synth catchy lines were the main elements. Also the unreleased tracks follow a similar path and it's a fortune that songs like the sensual "Why Baby", the minimal synth melodic "Nine-7-9" and "Like A Man" (lovers of Kas Product don't have to miss these tunes) and the mysterious "Hey You" won't stay in a dusty closet no more. Sadly, in October of 2012, just prior to completion of this project, Gerald passed away, so this reissue is a tribute to his art. This reissued is presented on 180gram oxblood opaque high-quality vinyl in a limited edition of 650 copies and you can check the tracks here http://medicalrecords.bandcamp.com/album/near-paris-mr-019

What a nice surprise provided by the Russian Artificial Sun label: after having started with two rather more Metal-inspired projects (Type V Blood / Bog ~ Morok), they now provide us a real, Moscow-based Dark Electro music-project called Distorted World. It is a solo project by Ivan 'Unbekannter', who is known for his involvement in Anthracitic Moths, a Dark Electro-project signed to Gravitator Records. Distorted World as being his solo effort shows here and there some comparable sound-ideas, but generally it sounds quite different to Anthracitic Moth. Musically Ivan reanimates several ideas and influences of some veteran and international renowned projects like Calva Y Nada, yelworC, and/or Splatter Squall. 'Between The Strophes' comes out as the debut release of this project and it leaves an impressive impact, that this band is easily capable not to fall too deep into the repetitive phrases of the young Harsh-EBM generation. This album balances well between newest studio techniques - the end mastering of Jan L. (X-Fusion) rather stands for the idea to join the path of current times ' and the omni-present influences by above mentioned idols being mostly active in the second half of the 90s. After an ominous, nightmarish-sounding 'Intro' tune, the rough and pummelling 'Mysterious World' storms mighty in your stomach and your legs. The mood of this track is pretty much related to some earlier yelworC works ('Blood In Face'-like) and it is one of the most appealing tracks to storm the dancefloors. 'Dream' differs in its mood and allows a slight Dark Wave-/Goth-influence to take part. It could be also related to the movie 'The Beauty and The Beast', because Angelina L., the second official band-member of Distorted World, picks up the microphone for her vocal part to be the smooth and sweet companion to Ivan's mostly rough growling. Next comes the pounding tune 'Hexentanz', surprisingly provided in German lyrics, plus it features some raging Metal-guitar riffs. You see this band-project is able to deal with different music styles and it all sounds still quite well mixed together. 'Devil Worship' then stands for another highlight, pretty much as strong as 'Mysterious World' and in a comparable vein. With another instrumental 'Outro ' Birth Of Chaos', this album then switches over after 11 tracks into the remix section. 5 different remix contributions by Type V Blood, Freaky Mind, Bleak Freak, Desmodus and Kos Klimenko are rounding up this promising debut release of this talented Russian music-projct. While especially Russia's Dark Electro/EBM/Industrial scene is pretty much influenced by the Harsh EBM / Hellectro-youth, it does so good to get the chance for checking out here and there more valuable artists ' and Distorted World are surely counting to be one of the revelations. A good and crafty produced debut, more of this please!

June 2013 will be the month of The Exaltics and of their invasion that, instead of being the one of the aliens they have as key theme of their releases, it will be the invasion to the records stores, as this month they have three releases out! Yes, indeed! The project of Robert Witschakowski will have its new album "Das Heise Experiment" out on Abstract Acid, the EP "The Great Escape" on Bunker's sub label Panzerkreuz and this one I'm about to review, "The Rise And Fall", on Creme Organization. Containing four new tracks, "The Rise And Fall" EP, is a one side 12" which on the other side has a beautiful laser etched image. It opens with the intro track "Thought Buzz", a one minute menacing one based on one arpeggio, pads and bombastic drums. It prepares the ground for "The Place To Be", a track which mixes acid drums and bass lines with fluctuating pads. With the time it slowly grows and Robert alternates sounds, creating in that way, an evolution of the track keeping it smooth at the same time. The main track follows and it starts with a dark fluctuating atmosphere just to turn into a grinding track that sounds like Godzilla coming to town. "Downer" closes the 12" sounding like a monster ready to catch its prey: it mixes different powerful bass lines with pounding kicks and effected arpeggios and pads. Great release!

Bristol based Utopia Music's gaffer Mako gild another couple of psycho pills on this new 12". The track he signed alone "I Used To Be Like You" sounds really cinematic thanks to the vocal sample which repeat the title as a desolate overstatement during a questioning, police alarm, terrified voices who seems to come from the scene of a raid, an icy female which "melt" the words "stillness" and "illness" and an eerie sonic atmosphere, which lets listener ascend by means of mid-tempo tribal-spotted breaks, fuggy and somehow b/w atmospheres. On the flipside, listeners must fasten seatbelts as Mako together with the skilled lads Villem and Fields, which signed many dnb jewels on Utopia yet, deftly outrun on "Whatever Whatever" over incendiary addictive basslines, perfectly cut breaks, electronic spots and some alerts from trip computer till they reach a mental terminal. I'm just wating for the next trick by this gang of beat illusionists.

Formed in Genoa in 1979 Scortilla officially released only a 12" in 1984 which contained their hit "Fahrenheit 451". That song gathered into one danceable catchy tune, new wave and synthpop influences and brought the band to the attention of the media but that was also the thing that made them disband, because Scortilla were much more than a one catchy single band. In 2006, Pivio, their singer, who now is a movie soundtracks composer, released a CD/DVD compilation about them and watching their performances or only their rehearsals, you realize that they had a huge potential. Influenced by Devo and generally by the post wave sounds, Scortilla's sound was amazing: they used synths for noises or melodies, sax to enhance the nervous tense atmosphere of certain songs, guitar as a sharp knife, bass like a sensual funky weapon and above all, Pivio's vocals that was able to give power to their tracks while giving the impression to be about to have a nervous breakdown. They performed different times at the Psycho club in Genoa as well as at the Verona's arena at the peak of their career. Their live performance was near to art rock and it was an experience to live. This Synthetic Shadows Records album, reissue most of their first tape "Box", originally released in 1981, "Climax " recorded live in 1983 and a version of their hit "Fahrenheit 451" recorded on 1984. That tape contained live and studio tracks recorded in 1981 and since from the first song that opens this record, "Ribellione Programmata", you can agree with me that their sound was a blast! You can find irony, experimentation, energy and tension, all into one song! This is a release to have, definitely! Scortilla should be gone but they won't be forgotten...