Remix collections are always a nice tool for musicians to bridge their required time between two albums, although the concept and the sense of remix works suffers and gets often abused due to financially aspects. The definitive ESA remix-collection instead is a well deserved release for this Industrial/Powernoise-project, since Jamie Blacker’s stunning last studio work ”The Sea & The Silence” has gained worldwide euphoric reactions. Also worth to notice is the fact, that Jamie has avoided to request remix contributions by the often chosen notorious names - instead you’ll find on this CD contributions by relative undiscovered names like PSILOPSYB, MOOD DELUXE, EXOTIC or LIGHTS OUT ASIA. Some well discovered label colleagues like the praised ACCESS TO ARASAKA and STENDECK provide quality interpretations. Also the names of the further rest rather speaks for well-thought chosen contributors, C-DRONE DEFECT, THE SYNTHETIC DREAM FOUNDATION, MARCHING DYNAMICS or MANUFACTURA are approved and well recognized music-projects. To pick out favorites out this massive playlist is a bit tricky, because the musically diversity provides quite different listening experiences. But at first there’s to name ESA’s new and original composed track ”I Am The Filth”, another floor-burner and ideal tune to move to. The remix of the British newcomer PSILOPSYB on ”The Devil Worships Me” impresses with its fat and layered mood, while the modern sounding rhythm section is able to execute the dancefloors. Same counts also for MOOD DELUXE with their quite Techno-oriented direction of ”The Sea & The Silence”. Movement on the dark floors promises also the contribution of THE SYNTHETIC DREAM FOUNDATION with a straight, but also slightly distorted kick and snare work. The usual coldness in the arrangements of ACCESS TO ARASAKA on ”Your Anger Is A Gift” combined with the tricky rhythm structures convinces again and again. A lot of good reasons to purchase this well-done remix album - and you will be additionally rewarded, because you’ll find a code, which allows you to download additional remix contributions available on the Tympanik Audio website.

I don’t think this talented Norwegian band needs any particular introduction as some colleague already interviewed them after getting surprised by their superb workout entitled Sinners International and after the enthusiastic feedbacks they received by reviewers and audiences related to their issues, but we surely like to imagine them playing with sophisticated machinery in order to grab influences from American bands and European ones as they stylistically are a sort of bridge between the gorgeous and glorious years of the American goth-rock and "European" EBM and industrial rock without being too obsessively apocalyptic or becoming sclerotized on tips & tricks! I’ll run the risk to be repetitive by highlighting their remarkable compositional skills (even in those parts they looks like to imitate some famous bands, but reviewers need to make quotations to help readers understand!) and their perfect balance between electronic slopes and a robust drumming reminding the one by Rev.Manson and Rev.Reznor - probably the most influential music neuromancers ideally fostering this zeromancer...- and the candid coarseness of greenhorn-like sensual voice by Alex Møklebust, whose silver-tonguing intonation is going to drive every cutie suicide little girl crazier, and even if maybe they needed more time to refine some lyrics (tracks such as Murder Sound or Revengefunk slightly suffer from this genetical defect, but it could be considered just as an aesthetical neo on a sweet oval face... and even attempts of being original could be avoided... word trickeries in The Hate Alphabet seems to be too close to the cogent dialetics by a group of majorettes..gimme an H, gimme an A, gimme a T, gimme an E!) as it seems less wordy than their previous album and some sporadic lack of originality (A Plynth could be easily skipped), it will surely delight their fans and all those who still don’t know their musical melting of mystery, semantic beams, anguished melancholy, rancorous sadness and powerful rhythmical pills propelling that kind of desperation, able to add a tragic grip to the whole climax! But it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack as tracks such as the floor-filler Industry People, the tingling ambientish The Pygmalion Effect or the brightest V – the best song of the album in my modest opinion! – and even the more vintagesque and classy tunes such as the tilte-track will annihilate any doubts about Zeromancer’s skills so as you could argue that romance is dead just in order to resurrect! Really brilliant piece of music!

"Same procedure as last year, Mr. Almgren?" He may would answer: "Same procedure as EVERY year, Mr. Tater". Well, how to start a new year even more attractive, as to hold a new album of Sweden’s Electronica-expert VOIDE a.k.a. David Almgren proudly in my hands? His fourth and follow-up album to his last years’ effort "Humachine" is his most matured and stylistically most diverse work so far. It draws perfectly the right balance between the modern sounding hi-tech tunes of "Humachine" with the slightly harder tracks presented on his masterpiece "Evolution". Even better than this, he at least offers slightly different arranged versions of his successful and free downloadable summer tunes like "Lazy" (David doing some relaxing speech-vocals – does the content really fit with the snowy weather we currently have to bear???) , "Traffic" and the breath-taking "Into The Sun", a collaborative effort with the Australian female vocalist Pixieguts (Marie Craven). Since "Into The Sun" has been that unexpected well recognized by the audience, David has invited Pixieguts to offer her well-sounding timbre for some additional tracks available on here. There’s at first to name the opener "The Beat Of You" and it really astonishes, how well the rather cold and Trance-driven Electronica music flirts with the warm vocals of Mrs. Pixieguts. Both artists may have never met personally because of the huge distance between Sweden and Australia, but this track comes out that perfectly arranged, as would both produce music together day by day. Another favorite – again with Pixieguts providing the lead vocals – has to be named with the rather slow and rhythmically different sounding title track. The talent to produce ambience through his complex synth-layer sounds is one of the strongest talents, which David has to offer – I would encourage him to produce more tracks focusing on this kind to balance between Lounge and Dark Electro music. Typical and expected stuff out of David’s skillful hands you’ll get with tracks like "When The Skies Are Grey" and "Beauty For The Wicked" – rhythmically straight arranged Electronica, which supports a top-notch synth-play – this is a feast for ears and legs. Also available is a new version of his first collaborative effort "Love", providing the German actress Suzi Electric doing the lead vocals. Comes then the word on a real music experiment, "Necropolis", with its gloomy mood and a sick vocal performance including a nasty fx manipulation by Pixieguts. This composition may is intended to satisfy the rather Goth-minded part of the audience, but I guess, that especially these clients will find the synth-arrangements chosen for this track too lovely and not thrilling enough. A decision to give out this tune via a remix-kit to some dark and sick projects out of the harder Electro-/EBM-related styles may could come up with quite interesting and intense sounding results. Lots of new stuff to discover from David, at least 14 tracks and of 1 hour of refreshing Electronica music. And even if some of you have already discovered one or another of his free available tunes, it is nevertheless worth enough, to pick up this album too, since all of the free tunes got revamped. Completely convincing once again, there’s no end of the rope for VOIDE.

The sun is high, the beaches are filled and mostly people have better things to do than to work. But David Almgren alias VOIDE likes to interrupt those sedating summer impressions with a new release entitled "Lazy", a 3-track Si-CD, which collects all of his earlier this year released "sample tunes". It’s because David has decided to test some new possibilities of his self-marketing of VOIDE and has given out a few free downloadable tracks via his Bandcamp profile. And he has still a heart for the silver disc addicts out there, I got the pleasure to receive a copy of this physically product. 3 tracks are on here and the things are starting with the title track, which – to everyone’s surprise – features a natural sounding vocal performance of David. Well, if lyrically recommendations of how to spend the whole summer day (..."always remember: be lazy!") performed in a related kind to a news moderator are of your preference, seems to be doubtful – on the other hand I can’t imagine to discover such lyrically content with his known sci-fi and futuristic manipulated voice. "Into The Sun" is the second tune and to me the highlight of this release. It can be named as being the missing link to David’s top-notch tunes "Electrolyte" and/or "Toxic", both available on his last studio album "Humachine", and the sweet Electropop-tune "Love" featuring the German female singer Suzi Electric. Because "Into The Sun" introduces us another female collaborator with the Australian-based Pixieguts (check out: www.pixieguts.com), who adds some warmth to the high-skilled sci-fi-related Synth-Electronica – a great vocal performance fits well to a great synth programming. Third, last, but not least track is "Traffic", which once again proves David’s favor, to use vocoderized vocals as well as to prove again his talent to create tasteful synth arrangements. Too bad, that this all finds an end after only 3 tracks – but you can be assured, that David hasn’t released any filler stuff to shorten the waiting time to his next full-length album. Moreover, his well-done collaboration with Pixieguts requires a continuation.

Asides the recently released Single-CD "Love" (feat. Suzi Electric), David Almgren alias VOIDE has also produced a complete new studio album. "Humachine" picks up for the most part the line of his last album "Evolution", with which VOIDE could score intensely the ears of both, audience and reviewers.
As the title announces it, "Humachine" continues mostly to write an additional storyboard of the connection man - machine in a new and straight upbeating kind. A sheer evergreen of a theme, available in multiple variations, which especially fits well with Electronica artists. Musically David seems to lay his focus on a better balance between the styles, he especially allows more and more stylistically different drum patterns to invade the spacey EBM/Electronica music outfit. Compared with "Evolution", the EBM influence comes out a bit more reduced (exception: "Rock The Geek"), but several new and up-to-date-arranged tracks ("Humachine", "Electrolyte" or "Toxic") are increasing with the speed.
It can be generally noticed, that David has perfected several parts of his composition process, although the integration of his vocals is and remains still the part in which he could develop a bit. As for the float of the album, I must admit, that I would have changed the track listing a bit, just because the best pieces like "The Mechanical Fiddler" (brilliant "fiddling" synth drops...), the pummeling "Toxic", which features some typical-303-sounding bass synths and the beautiful layered "Retrothought" do definitely deserve a better and more striking rank in the track list.
Let’s keep out the well-done opening title track "Humachine" and the melodic synth-fanfares of "Between Sheets", I for the most part skip the tracks up to track 6, because these tunes come out to me as average and somehow I have heard them in a more diverse and refreshing kind available on "Evolution".
Track 6 then is the brilliant and nearly 7 minutes long dancefloor-massacre named "Electrolyte", which completely impresses with its staccato-like clap-and-snare-programmings. Thumbs up also for the diverse layers of "In Agony With Hope", while the sequencing work of "Sometimes I Daydream" would be able to bring VOIDE next to international renowned artists like Vangelis on every "Synthesizer Essentials" compilation.
Even if I tend to criticize one or another track of this album, it has to be said, that "Humachine" is an excellent piece of work, which may wouldn’t stand in the shadow of the almighty monument named "Evolution", if I wouldn’t have heard it before. It’s a hard cake with the try to better an own produced monument – some of the new tracks on "Humachine" offer a possible direction, while some others act like repetitions. But I’m sure that David continues to figure out the needed diversity to return even stronger with another new studio album.