Second release for this new label coming from Russia, TRIVIAL PLEASURES is the new Cyclotimia'a release. Known for their previous works released mainly by Stateart, the band composed their most experimental release which is the first of three that will form "L'Electronique Mondial" trilogy. During the twenty five minutes of the MCD the band presents eleven new alienating tracks. The extreme and twisting digital sounds form a sort of delirium which seems to underline the sense of the title tracks. All the titles take their inspiration from the Nasdaq stock market and inside the booklet there are two excerpts of texts that state our actual condition of modern alienation where the stock market is the evil mother of thousands of deranged souls and where the VeryChip, implanted under our skin, will replace our concept of identity. At this point you'll ask yourselves: is this music sounding like alien sounds or are we alienating ourselves to serve an higher hidden power? Cyclotimia doens't have the answer but they have the sound and this should be enough...

From the midi ghettos of the NorthWest (I like that!) arrive Cyanotic, a duo that experiments with power noise, electronics, industrial, ebm, guitar riffs, synth-core and occasionally even hardcore techno, almost gabber beats. I must say I am positively impressed with the quality of their music, their programming and their song-writing. Considering they're a young band and that this is their debut EP you wouldn't expect as much from them, but they really pulled of a well done EP. If you need comparisons think about Bile (with whom they have been touring) or 16 Volt and other bands like that. So if you are into industrial-ebm music (distorted vocals, strong guitar riffs and all of that) you should definitely check 'em out, 'cause they're good.

UV is a trio dedicated to electro-industrial music in its truest form. The band draws inspiration from the gods of the genre, such as FLA, F242, Skinny Puppy, Throbbing Gristle, Klinik and mixes them with newer influences such as Suicide Commando, Sonar, Inertia, Velvet Acid Christ. The aggressive approach and the heavy and pounding rhythmical walls are great and give this CD a very primordial and violent impact. Although some of the guitars or the distorted vocals do sound a little bit cliche, they do achieve to bring back to the table some of that older experimental attitude that has been forgotten or replaced by fast ebm sequencing and mono-tonal distorted vocals. It's impossible, and probably un-necessary, to bring back the masters of the genre, but UV definitely do a good job at carrying along the tradition and blending it with modern sounds and approach to avoid sounding out-dated or like a copy. This CD contains remixes by Dj Cable, Tinman artist Terrorfakt, Text Beak, Y-Luk-O (remember them?), Messab, Nixt, PTI, Coexime's hEADaCHE and Cleopatra artist Razed in Black. Try to catch 'em live if you can.

After the infamous Sony Pictures and MTV conglomerates picked two tracks by Valencia, California based Idiot Stare for the 7th episode of the animated Spiderman series, the band has decided to embark on a remixing journey for one of the two selected songs, the title track "Ghost"; so, besides the original, you get interpretations by Chist Analogue, prophei, Penal Colony, Doll Factory, SMP, Compufonic, Jugend Staat, Inertia, A Different Kind of Cop, REwire, Acidfanatic and Universal Magnetic. What I like about this remix project is that, besides the recurring chorus here and there, the versions are really quite different between each other, which means the involved artists have done a good job at personalizing them and making them unique. The overall result is a pretty aggressive, industrial-metal oriented album that sadly sometimes sounds awfully similar to NIN but mostly introduces us to good electro-industrial music with guitars and angry singing parts. Well produced and solid. Really quite enjoyable!The CD also includes a bonus track ("World Destruction"), as well as a Quicktime video and a 5.1 mix of the title-track.

I can definitely see now that Sin Klub is into heavy shit, and that's cool, but this might just be a little too heavy for the average electronic music lovers out. Then again, if you know no fear you might wanna check out the Thessalonian Dope Gods, who mix some hardcore, some death/trash with electronic textures and industrial beats. This duo debuted in 1992 with a CD that did well and allowed them to be on a number of compilations with bigger names of the industry as well as label samplers from Sin Klub and Re-Constriction (whatever happened to that cool label!?!?). With vocals that range mostly from the gory Rob Zombie or Al Jorgensen type of voice to (occasionally) the sick lullaby style of Trent Reznor (that just goes for the vocals, and like I said only occasionally, I say that 'cause the band has been compared to NIN one too many times when they don't really share much of that sound at all) and a scuffy lo-fi garagey guitar sound that reminds of Ministry, Flugschadel, Bastard and many many other bands outside the industrial-metal scene (think garage/post-core/punk-core scene), the TDG have plenty to bring to the table for all of those out there looking for a stronger dose of whatever you are feeding yourself these days...