Apparently while that warhead monkey of G.W. Bush is gearing up for the oil war that is gonna make him richer and probably leading a nation partly destroyed by nuclear retaliation, somewhere else somebody else is already scoring the soundtrack for those terrible events as they unfold. Geska recordings, together with BoneyardPress.com who published this CD's very fine designer and compiler Steph Dumais' comic series "Zombie Commandos from Hell!" (www.raisinlove.com/zombies) and Optikon records, have dropped this electronic nuke into the battlefield triggering musical burst of impressive firepower and ammunitions of samples and sequences shooting off from all over the world. This zombie war's combat team is composed by Milligramme, Headscan, Implant, Mimetic Data, Cage Decay, Empusae, Negative Format, Tarmvred, Mlada Fronta, PTSMC, SMP, Mind COnfusion, Andraculoid, Flint Glass, Babel-17. Readers of Chain D.L.K. should be familiar with at least half of these names and thus should also know that the type of sonic explosions involved range from industrial/power noise to electronic/dark-electro all the way through dance/techno tunes. The nice thing is that most bands followed the topic and contributed war-themed tunes and some were able to actually draw a picture of it that goes beyond simply the use of speech sampling from war movies. This one is standing out of the crowd, that is if there will be a crowd left after Bush destroys all evil in the world except for himself. By the way check out Steph Dumais's art work, really cool guy, really great work!

Echo is a new revelation and one of the most exciting, seductive and high quality jazz-electronic ensembles that I have recently come across, if not ever... A perfectly balanced fusion of lounge electronics, soundscaping origami, jazz progressions, occasional drum'n'bass grooves, pop flavors, Brazilian vibes and experimental sparkles delivered with minimal instrumentation but extremely effective results and loaded with emotional intensity. Opening with a stunning version of the ever green classic "I've got You under my Skin" and sporting highlights such as the relaxing chill-out "Sparks from a Wheel", the cryptic and lullaby-ish "Night and Day", the enchanting Brit-ish "Everytime we say Goodbye" (she sounds just like Annie Lennox), the rupturing and moody live-drum'n'bass "Can't walk Away", the experimental and popping "Secret Life", the deep-bass "Love for Sale", the smoothly jazzy and vaguely latin "The Girl from Ipanema", the easy and latin-groovy "Surrender" and the chill-out joint "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning"... Originals and standards define the blurry balance between jazz and electronica in a way that only a NYC-based duo (even though Joy is originally from the UK and Takuya is Japanese) can achieve: with a simply magical synergy! And since I practically mentioned every song of the record you should have understood the caliber of "Echo", as one of the best and most promising newcomers out there. Of course the term newcomer does not apply to the individuals themselves involved in the Echo project. Eclectic singer Joy Askew (www.joyaskew.com) and her beautiful and dynamic voice boasts a crowded discography with credits including Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson and more; Trumpet/Keyboard player & programmer Takuya Nakamura has a history of collaborations in the electronic scene (Nerve, Organic Grooves) as well as in the jazz scene (Clark Terry, Bob Moses, Ravi Coltrane); Mark Wood softly strums his Brazilian guitar strings in a Romero-ish style without ever getting intrusive on Takuya's downtempo grooves; the amazing Swiss d'n'b drummer Yojo bangs the skins on one of the tracks too; and the mixing is left to the magic hands and ears of Roli Mosimann (whose credits include the Young Gods, Faith No More, Smashin' Pumpkins among others and who mixed Echo at my good friend and partner Fran Cathcart's recording studio Severe Sound).Echo has followed me everywhere, in my car, in planes, on intercontinental trips and home... I can listen to this over and over without ever getting tired of it. I have listened to this record a million times already and love each and every tune... Whether you've been good or bad, you just owe it to yourself to get this record, because I can guarantee you are gonna fall in love with it! Absolutely amazing and wonderful!

Three reasons why I like this band: One-originality; Two-positive lyrics; and Three-they can make you dance. Endora is a four piece electronic band making wave in the state of Illinois and other parts of the United States as well. A new breed in synth-pop, electro, futurepop, and ebm. Have already recorded numerous of tracks and been getting club and radio play. A five song demo was sent to me and indeed impressed what I've heard and couldn't stop playing the disc. The kick off track futurepop "Perfect Isolation" have a couple of breakdown bridges and stands the ep out very well with a ebm beat. "Smile" have a Depeche Mode feel, which kind of reminds me of their "Some Great Reward" era. A great love song with catchy synth melodies. A remake of Anything's Box "Carmen" was done in a beautiful way using only piano and strings. Endora is no stranger to the electronica scene. They've been around a couple of years and have performed in clubs, the House of Blues and been interviewed live on a radio station. The band's new and second singer, Johnny Quale, voice puts you in the mind of Dave Gahan. On the Mp3.com's Chicago artist page they're listed as top artist in Chicago area, 8th straight month. In one less year their Mp3.com website has been up and surpassed the 5,000 play mark. The band is releasing a full debut album sometime this year in 2003. Take a peep at their website and listen to the samples of their music, you'll see why everyone loves ENDORA!

The title couldn't be wronger because it's a fortune that Maurizio Dami a.k.a. Alexander Robotnick is back from the vaults of the 80's. To tell the truth he never called it quits, but after so many years spent dealing with other different projects (Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici, Masala,The Third Planet, Alkemya, Govinda to name few) he's back to his origins: electronic music. The ten songs of OH NO....ROBOTNICK are based on a good mixture of ambient, tehcno and 80's electronic music (which on tracks like "Supermarket" or "Je T'Envoie" remember me the D.A.F.). The aim of the sound and of the tracks' structure isn't to astonish because here you won't find an hyper produced sound based only on effected samples. Instead, here, the structure and the melody it's making the difference, because where many bands fail by producing cool sounds without a real song, Alexander wins by bringing us ten beautiful tracks based on rhythm, dance atmospheres, energy and coolness. Welcome back, Alexander Robotnick!

"Here we are with four new tracks. We are not human. We play with your hearing sense and we like it. We don't care about letting you identify us or letting you listening to our voices. We like samples and electronic music because we are sons of a digital bitch who we never met". This could be a good introduction if I was Primitive Painter and I think it quite describe their sound which has got apparently a casual structure. Also their track's title are disarming. "Armadillo In The Snow", "Mantra", "Peoples Parasite" and "Foetal Attraction" seems to be played by the Residents during an acid house session and this is quite fun. Maybe... or is it just scaring???