Rumraket catalog/roster is expanding with a good act coming from U.S.A., called Canon Blue. This one man project is headed by Daniel James. He moved to England because of University matters and traveled back to U.S.A. landing in New Orleans in 2005. He left Louisiana returning to his native Virginia just before the flood tragedy. All these experiences were filling his soul with emotions and the right way to express them was through music. So, he build up a little studio into his bedroom and used his grandmother's upright piano and started to work to the songs you can find on COLONIES. Filled with ideas and particular melodic/pop intuitions, the album musically finds Daniel at his creative pitch containing tiny electronic/acoustic ballads as well as particular electro dancey folk songs like the opening "Treehouse" and "Pilguin pop". On these ones, relaxed piano/guitar moments meet rhythmic extravaganzas and orchestral arrangement: like Bjork without the minimal approach and with more ideas. Most of the tracks are inspired ballads where you can appreciate the vocal and melodic attitude of an American guy helped by Chris Taylor (of Grizzly Bear) for the mix and by Cristian Vogel (acclaimed solo artist, producer remixer, etc) at mastering. If you appreciated Mika but you need something more alternative, give to Canon Blue a listen.

Released as a digital download album and also available as a CD-r at Portion Control concerts, ONION JACK IV is the new album which follows the November 2006 release of "Filthy white guy". The ten tracks are build up forming a unique 35 minutes long soundtrack where the tracks fade one into the other or one is the continuation of the previous one. Reading titles like "Pearly king and queen", "Cosh boy", "Onion freak" or "All men need the gods" as well as the album's title, I feel this album like a critic to modern U.K., where the Union Jack turned into a stinking rotten onion. I'm hazarding such thing also because the music is able to induce a disturbing sensation on the listener because often the atmosphere created by the duo sonically paint an isolationist canvas opened by the industrial dub of "Pearly king and queen" to arrive to the bright ambience of "Sunbeam" (the only track which has a different and more relaxed atmosphere) passing through the electro pulsating "Cosh boy" and "Lambeth", the semi ambient "Onion freak" or the ambient industrialism of "All men need the gods". I also noticed that the time sensation seems dilated and while listening to the album you have the sensation that ONION JACK IV could be the soundtrack of one of your days and that it ain't one of your best ones...

Hailing out of France, here comes the debut full-length album of this act now signed to the small French underground label La Chambre Froide and with the helping hand of the German Rupal Records. Behind :A7IE: stands Guillaume "Gyom" Letellier and he could already gain some attention with a compilation appearance on "In This Cold Terrific Room 2", released by this French label two years before. Gyom is also responsible for the business actions behind LCF, be it CD releases of some promising French artists (note: nowadays well-known acts like OBSZÖN GESCHÖPF and TAMTRUM have started their trail of victory thanks to the help of the LCF team...), be it the organization of some live events, or be it some DJ works nationwide. With :A7IE: he now likes to offer us his kind of Harsh EBM assaults – and indeed, "Distress" can be called as such. Like expected, this isn’t the music stuff for the weak: harsh 4/4-on-the-floor smasher pieces featuring the needed doze of "filth" available in the mighty bass and kick works, with an ominous male vocal performance – Hellektro par excellence, a bit comparable with acts like DIOXYDE for example, but also filled with some scary and moody moments ("Prelude" or "Le Lapin Blanc" – the best track here!). That this all isn’t the reinvention of a wheel seems to be clear, nevertheless this debut convinces totally, also thanks to some well chosen artists offering remix works for this CD. It’s appreciated to have Jan L. of X-FUSION to produce this release – this also has saved his appearance for the creation of a remix on "The Cage". Also included are Germany’s WYNARDTAGE with a remix on "Messiah", the already mentioned TAMTRUM working on the same track, and the Argentinean-based musician FSJC (ex-SUICIDE SOLUTION) offering a speedy and hardcoristic interpretation on the classic "Pray". By the way, :A7IE:’s smasher "Pray (This Agony") isn’t available here in its original version – a good point for the owners of the "In This Cold Terrific Room 2" compilation, because this saves the value of this comp. "Sick music for sick people", so a slogan out of the info sheet accomplishing this release. It fits well...

New release for the well-known German NoiTekk label and this time they like to present the long-awaited debut of one of the most promising newcomer acts out of the US-based Hellektro army camp – Chris C. a.k.a. XENTRIFUGE. After having discovered his work for the first time on BLC Productions "Interbreeding VII: The Flesh Harvest/Natural Enemies"-compilation (track "Entombed"), I kept my fingers crossed for an official release. XENTRIFUGE’s audio results have often been named Hellektro or Harsh EBM – that for sure fits somehow, but it is also to mention that Chris’ works feature a constant Powernoise influence. His tracks offer a very disturbing outfit, a massive noise and disturbing inferno accomplishing to the already straight tunes. Think on acts like ALLIED VISION combined with outputs of comparable colleagues like LIFE CRIED (...and indeed, here’s a collaborative track with Mr. Death Condition offering the vocals on "Paragon Void") for example. That this all doesn’t end in total sound climax belongs on the fact that Chris understands it well to integrate a gripping Dark Electro-minded melodic content. By all included aggression it is appreciated that Chris never seem to leave his musically base – it is recognizable that he has tried out a lot to work on his very own authentic kind. Maybe Chris has already found his special niche in the scene, but this release deserves the unreduced applause at first. This is a must-have release if you’re supportive to this genre!

"Walking Target" is the new album by artist Ashtech and producer Gaudi, two UK transplants originally from Italy who have made the UK their home and their sound. The Ashtech sound is a fluid electro-dub melange of deep bass lines, long reverbs, funk guitars, reggae beats and Jamaican MCing that screams London all throughout. 13 tracks of trance-inducing, upper-body-swinging, chill-party-going deep dub where occasional MC's lines will wake your ass up from your hazy dream of strobe lights and dark dancefloors to keep it bouncy and keep up the motion. You can hear influences of Nick Manasseh, Jeremy The Equalizer, Prodigy, Bill Laswell, Surya, Almamegretta (whom he collaborates with steadily). Labels such as On-U Sound, Asphodel, Different Drummer, Select Cuts, Echo Beach would have been perfect for this release, but Interchill was quick at securing Ashtech to their roster. This album is the real deal. It certainly doesn't sound like two Italians making music (at first I didn't even know they were from Italy and I would have put my money on London for sure). If they are on a quest to evolve into an authentic London imprint, then they are certainly there.