Recorded in Berlin in late 2002, "Still" features Renkel at acoustic guitar, zither and "preparations" (whatever they are) and Luca Venitucci (also in Ossatura, here at accordion, flight-case and objects). Starting with a rather sparse playing, the interaction between the two musicians soon gets more, ahem, cohesive, though it could apparently sound like a paradox with this kind of radical improvisation. But Renkel and Venitucci are skillfully able to make their instruments/objects talk to the listener; proving faithful to the title, silence and rather quiet pauses give much needed breath to their dialogues.

Now, how can you go wrong with a layout like this? Stark black and white, pictures of skulls, piles of metal junk, bugs and chemical plants. Screloma is Japanese and plays noise, but not exactly Japanese harsh noise. Distorted beats play a big part here, and most tracks have this nasty techno backbone, à la Hypnoskull let's say. I'm really not a fan of this kind of noise-cum-dance rhythms, but Screloma does a decent job at it, I guess. The title track is the most interesting one, a bit less beat-oriented, with distorted vocals buried deep within the distorted electronics.

A double cd release from this US composer, who has been active in minimalist and computer music since the 1960s, as a member, among other things, of the Sonic Arts Union with artists like Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley. The first disc, "My Dear Sigfried", is based on the long-running friendship and correspondence between the renown English "soldier-poet" Siegfried Sassoon, and The New York Times journalist and writer Sam Behrman (possibly David's father, but I could easily be wrong). It opens with Sassoon's 1917 "Statement against the war" to go on with letters, memories and poems, and it is obviously a (filtered) spoken-words based work, with vocalists Thomas Buckner, Eric Barsness and Maria Ludovici accompanied, but also electronically arranged, by Behrman himself at keyboards and electronics, Ralph Samuelson at shakuhachi, Peter Zummo at trombone and Tom Hamilton at engineering and effects. The exception is the last track, "Everyone sang", where Sassoon's poem is turned in an almost lithurgical chant. I admit I'm generally not a fan of vocal-based works, but, that said, this is an important release in times of war - and, unsurprisingly, it was recorded "in the dark days of 2003". Disc 2, titled "QSRL: 5 pieces", collects five tracks, composed between 1969 and 2002, of minimal drone music mostly based on hand-made synthesizers and pioneer computer-performer interaction. A very worthwhile document of early computer music, with fresh and remarkable pieces like 1969 "A New Team Takes Over" (with press conferences by the 1968 Nixon administration drowned in amazingly pre-glitch electronics, sounding like Mika Vainio at his harshest!) and the static drone of "Pools of Phase Locked Loops".

This sixth release of the successful Interbreeding series is the companion disc to chapter V, "Terrorland". Also released as a single full length CD this new part offers again a strong quality in art, this time influenced by the classic "Alien" movie themes conducted again by Wilhelm "Deaddreamer" (www.deaddreamer.com). As usual also the music has some nice surprises and exclusives to offer. Spain’s best act PAIL make an excellent Dark Electro opener with "Society in Ruins", while BLC’s own THE PAIN MACHINERY return with splendid combination between Electro and Powernoise called "Active Armour". A new full length CD by this marvelous Swedish Industrial acts called "Hostile" is already on it’s way. RETRACTOR, signed to Black Flames from Poland, give an unreleased track "The March to Stalingrad" and like the title aptly describes – so it is! Hard and uncompromising Terror-EBM for the march on the dark dancefloors. The always well productive duo BRAINCLAW return on this Interbreeding comp with a promising outlook to their next CD with a special remix of the title track "Dead Monsters". With TACTIL VISION we have here the first time that an act can get a three-play appearance on this comp series. This one-man project combines dark Electro-influenced themes with some live experimentations – well, not my cup of tea. BLC’s own SYNAPTIC DEFECT return with a cold and almost Powernoise-like instrumental piece called "Morgue" and the Metropolis recording artist BATTERY CAGE give a special remix in their typical American-influenced Industrial style with some guitar sounds. Former BLC act AGONOIZE return with an unreleased remix of their track "Sexual Violation" which is miles better than the original version. And also FILAMENT 38 created a special Interbreeding Mix of their track "Suffocate" which follows their remarkable EBM/Electro lines. As I said, also this new and already sixth part of the Interbreeding series has a lot of goodies on board and it is worth the investigation. You have to hurry up because both Interbreeding V and VI are almost sold out and only a few are still available from the BLC website. Track listing:Part I : Act Of Coercion01. Pail - Society In Ruins02. The Pain Machinery - Active Armour03. Retractor - The March To Stalingrad04. Pine Tree State Mind Control - Incinerator05. Y-Luk-O - Ein Lied Von Der Freiheit06. Brainclaw - Dead Monsters ( Remix )Part II : Interlude In Experimentalism With Tactil Vision07. Tactil Vision - Escala08. Tactil Vision - Fleshtone09. Tactil Vision - Mass TransitionPart III : Destruction by Inches10. Synaptic Defect - Morgue11. Battery Cage - Dead Morning ( Vers Remix )12. Agonoize - Sexual Violation ( Dark Edit )13. Filament 38 - Suffocate ( Interbreeding Mix )Part IV : Benediction14. My Villain - Man Himself15. Para Normal - Numbers

Lately with the east expansion in Europe we can notice a lot of new and promising labels and acts hailing from countries like Russia or Poland and it seems only to be a question of time until they get big and famous. There is a lot interesting stuff to find behind the formerly iron curtain and also Monopolrecords from Kladno / Czech Republic make a convincing debut here with three man project NO NAME DESIRE. Declared to be an old-school EBM project they present us here their official debut CD "Wastelands" and indeed – here are a lot of influences which could be heard in a different form by classic or veteran acts of the scene. NO NAME DESIRE luckily avoid it to swim with the current Futurepop-/Hellektro virus and give the listener a good debut. "Estrangement" is an excellent instrumental opener which produces a scary atmosphere through some dark synth layers and frightening samples. "Cute Overdose" or "Graven Image" are designed to give you new food for the dancefloor with steady beats and 16-tel bass line sequences. The vocals on this whole album are luckily well placed, mostly hard and dramatic but without overused distortion. The track "Cry and Whispers" then tries to break out from the current EBM structures and can convince with a wider melodic input. The final track "Orden de la Buena..." is an instrumental piece with Spanish samples and reminds a bit on comparable HOCICO instrumental works. This "Wastelands" is an excellent debut and can easily grow to be a secret favorite if you give it a few rotations. NO NAME DESIRE are surely not the new inventors of Electro/Industrial music but they give us here a remarkable musically sign. Check them out if you want to hear stuff besides the current hypes.