It is strange how eighties had so many good bands around the globe that had been unknown outside their country. France in the eighties had Kas Product (their two albums have been reissued the last summer) that were a sort of French version of Pink Industry and they had also Candidate. Candidate were a electronic duo, just like the two bands I mentioned. I know that Pink Industry were three people in their latest days but their core was formed by Jayne Casey (also formerly of Big in Japan) and bassist/keyboardist Ambrose Reynolds. Anyway... Candidate were active in the mid eighties / early nineties with their mixture of electronic seductive music before passing to experimental forms of music and theatrical productions. VOTE DON'T VOTE isn't exactly a reissue of their releases, because the CD contains sixteen unreleased tunes coming from their 1987 ÷ 1990 late studio recordings. Their style made me remember a lot bands and no one precisely. The opening track "Up and down" remember me a little early Eurithmics while the other tracks are more new wave oriented less pop a little bit more experimental giving also a little space to guitar rock riffs. Cécil voice is able to catch immediately the listener's attention with its great personality (no heavenly vocalizations) while Bidou build a solid melodic structure based on TR 707 rhythms, guitar riffs and simple bass lines. A great version of Iggy Pop's "Nightclubbing" with a sharped razor guitar will prove you that with few sounds is possible to create a good ambience. There are no weak moments and on some tracks also Bidou duet with Cécile, creating a good balance. VOTE DON'T VOTE is their fifth release and now I wish I could be able to listen their old stuff. What about you?

I first heard Ikon on the compilation "Ceremonial" in which they provided an amazing cover of Joy Division’s "Shadowplay." I liked it, so I picked up Flowers of the Gathering, which reminded me of old Clan of Xymox - still kind of a rock feel, but with a lot of synth and atmosphere. I had not really thought of them for a few years until this album arrived in my mailbox. This album downplays the atmosphere in favor of a more gothic rock feel; this is a lot more guitar oriented than the earlier releases that I have heard. For the most part, this album is your standard gothic rock, sort of reminding one of old Rosetta Stone. "Psychic Vampire," the single off this disc, is pretty good for the dance floor, but I’ll be honest - I miss the old atmospheric sound.

But that’s just part of the story here. It’s not all just gothic rock and there are some standout tracks here. For example, "God Has Fallen From the Sky" is a nice track that sounds a lot like Death in June circa "But What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?" Considering the fact that Ikon has covered a few DIJ tracks, it’s pretty obvious that they have been influenced by DIJ and this track shows it. "My Crucible" and "Path of the Unknown" are also quite good, having a nice mix of synth and guitar.

But there are some tracks here that seem a bit out of place with the rest of the album. For example, "Ashes of Blue" is a softer track with female vocals that just doesn’t seem to fit here. "Slaughter" is a bit weird with some tribal chanting and whispers. Doesn’t seem to fit with the goth rock thing. But kicks into synth and keeps chanting and whispering going. I like the track - sort of like Dead Can Dance meets old Ikon – but it seems out of place here.

Over all, if you thought older Ikon was too mellow and wanted them to rock, you’ll be happy with this disc. On the other hand, if you want the atmospheric, dreamy Ikon, you won’t find a lot of that here.

Their debut release was good, this one is way much better and is having a good resonance 'cause of the many u.s. connections it has. The italian readers of Chain dlk probably know this band has become quickly popular as "the band with the drummer of Massimo Volume", but for those who just know the last band, there's no other musical relation with Franklin Delano. The sound of this release brings near to those coming out on Perishable label and not just for the fact Rutili, Massarella and friends (Califone, Red Red Meat, Loftus, etc.) are appearing as guests here and there, but for the fact also Franklin Delano are reinterpreting american folk music to create something new. If on their debut Delano sounded really focussed on songwriting, on "Like smoking gun in front of me" the band has gone far away into an acid trip and started mixing elements from Califone, Jackie O' Motherfucker, desert rock a-la Calexico with fading drones that arise from the back of the scenario. Brian Deck was sitting behind the mixing desk giving it all an "american-sensation" as you can get from the title (the cd is coproduced with File 13 from Chicago). Differently from their previous album the band has put more emphasis on long instrumental passages cast into the framework of "folk ballads" with a good result. Everything is surprisingly good, let's say sometimes it works much better than many releases on Perishable, this cd is just a bit too long since sometimes it feels without a couple of tracks it would have been almost perfect. After their recent u.s. tour they've had some line up changes, I can assume the sound is probably changing again, but this' a good picture of their "lysergic" period: sometimes it sounds like a well done mix of Perishable's "folksters" and Kranky's "droners".

I can't even remember when was it the first time I've heard about Ataraxia, but I sure remember the first time I've heard their singer's voice on the record of this old friend of mine (Mox, the drummer of Monumentum), she was singing Visage's immortal "fade to gray" and the result was a gothic death march that blew everything away. I don't even know if the band's singer is still the same but there's no doubt Vittorio Vandelli focussed a lot the work of Ataraxia on talented female vocalists as you can hear. This' a special acoustic performance that comes along with the Autunna et sa rose cd in a classy digipack limited to 2000 copies on the portuguish Equilibrium label. While I don't think anyone into Ataraxia's medieval music will be disappointed by these acoustic reinterpretations (the four piece consist of piano, vocals, guitar and drums/percussions), I think "Strange light" (that's the title of their cd) could introduce many goth and "borderline" listeners to some of these decadent, enchanting ballads. The recording it's nothing but excellent, above all considering it's a live set. Some of these songs keeps the original phatos untouched even if without their original arrangements. I wouldn't say this a good "collection" to introduce the band but anyhow it could be a good way to start.
Autunna et sa rose is more classical music, this trio (soprano, cello, piano) is not medieval at all since what we have here is classic-contemporary-chamber music with a classic background (I suppose). I know many will be disoriented by the opening track since it sounds really close to that contemporary classic "that's not for everyone", but since the folks at Equilibrium haven't gone mad all of a sudden, right from the second track you'll discover how this split release together with Ataraxia makes really sense. Autunna's composition wander much more around the piano (at last the pianist is the composer, therefore: why not?) and both the vocals and the cello cross the piano works giving strength to the whole plot. Personally my taste for classical music is oriented somewhere else but I can't say I remained untouched by some passages composed by Saverio Tesolato. I can't say if the definitions: "neo-classical" music will be misleading or not but while Autunna's piano could be also compared to some of Nyman most inspired and classical passages, Ataraxia obviously have a strongest medieval/ancient feeling. If you're a fan probably must have release, if you're new to both of the bands this' all is interesing anyway above all the Autunna's cd (but that's a personal opinion).

Born in 1999 thanks the will of Rico Hüllermeier (keyboards) and Rosa Unrau (vocals) Silvery started to define their music style and after a first period of side projects and other distractions, the band started to record "Sinners and Lovers behold each other", their first official demo-album. Their music contains different influences: goth, synthpop, pop and metal. They worked hard and even radio and clubs in U.S.A. gave them attention. On 2004 they recorded their first album "BlackBox" and after a year "High class high on Silvery" saw the light. The album contains twelve tracks (there's also an hidden track at the end of "The morning") that range from the electronic pop rock of "Searching for my lost lover" and "No way out", the metal rock of "Joy" (the most energetic track of the album along with "Hollow") and the rock ballad of most of the remaining tracks which start with a slow rhythm just to give some energy during the refrain. Personally I found the production of the album too polished and focused on Rosa's vocals. Each track tend to have a luscious effect: it is like the song must seduce the audience. Probably the band is trying to reach a wider audience (the same of bands like Garbage) but in my opinion sometimes some sort of wilderness is needed.