The second part of the cd released by Moloko + in 1999, this new work by Belgian collective Die Fabriek took two years in the making. First off, the packaging is CRAZY. AFE has always had a taste for elegant, if not elaborate, covers for its cdr releases, but this is probably the most complex and outstanding one (not considering the Teddy Bear box - but only because that is food for psychiatric research): a vinyl envelope with a toy-like cardboard top, housing a sleeve made of "alien skin" plastic (a green-brown textured material) with a stenciled DF logo, plus an inlay card, anti-alien stickers and a set of close encounters-related postcards (my fave was the "alien abduction pregnancy test" ad)... plus the cdr, of course. Whew... if it took so long to describe it, imagine what must have been like to put it together! On to the musical aspect: I'm sadly not familiar with DF's production over the years, but these veterans have covered industrial, musique concrete, kraut rock, plain weird stuff etc. Anyway, this must be one of their most accessible releases, because it's full of "proper" music... yep, and quite melodic too. Beside being the layout designer, Hue - mind of the Italian electronic projects Sparkle In Grey and Normality Edge - has participated in the recording adding beats and mixing samples provided by the DF core group. I think his hand shows in the more rhythmic tracks, like "Spacewalking" (a great opening, sort of space-shoegaze-electronica) or "The comet dance". But as a whole, the work could be only labelled as (modern) kraut-psychedelia; think of a mix of LA Düsseldorf, Ash Ra Tempel, Pink Floyd and Boards of Canada and... no, you won't get close anyway. Lots and lots of trippy guitars: strummed, flamenco-ed, delayed, looped... This is my main problem with the cd - I'm generally not a fan of 70's psychedelia, and at times I find this a bit over the top for my tastes. But it's successfully assembled, and if you dig your electronica trippy and sweet, you'll find this work a gem. It surely evokes ancient times when aliens kidnapped people for sexual experiments, but also had some kinky appeal.

Infinity Interrupt is a duo consisting of Jacob Fisher and Jason Walker. This band hails from the Chicagoland area. Antarctica Starts Here is a very diverse album not like anything I've heard before. Every track on this album would be very fitting for a sci-fi soundtrack, thats for sure. Track five- Half-Life 23 stuck out the most. Haunting background vocals from Christine from Flutter- a an chicagoland ethereal band compliment this track, jacob sings, "we he send his angels or has we fallen from the sky?" while samples of over dubbed movie scores take over. This band has the most things going on in each track. Track after track is like a space ride to infinity literally. Infinity Interrupt plays on August 28th, 2004 at 836 w. Aldine, Chicago, Il ..come check out this band definately from another world. 5-stars

Paolo Veneziani is an Italian electronic musician who has lately focused his activities on graphic design, while still releasing music now and then, as in a recent mp3 release on TIBprod. TIBprod itself re-releases Veneziani's early compositions, namely "The first floor" (1996-1997, 6-track cdr) and "The puddle ep" (1996, 4-track cdr), with a new layout. Considering that they were conceived and played quite a while ago, I think they've grown up quite well - Veneziani's ambient electronica is not my cup of tea, but it still has interesting edges that make the listening experience worthwhile. Imagine a mix of synth-driven cosmic ambient, minimal beats and some more recognizable soft melodies, and you'll get the picture.

Imperfect is definitely industrial but what the term industrial usually conjures is not what this is. Downtempo, very mechanical in personality beats plug forward while subdued bassy melodies lethargically pursue their ends. This is one of those industrial acts that truly touches on the idea of industrial in some primitive way. Machine-y beats chugged through distortion march ahead like a slow, deliberate but determined army. Such slow-groove electronically generated music may not be immediately hooking but once you've sunk into it you will find that it moves along to the beat of its own drummer, so to speak, and that it has all the capability to carry the discerning listener along with it. This is contemplative, if dark, industrial, not aggro-industrial. Open-minded listeners are encouraged to experience this instrumental escapade.

There's almost a certain playfulness, in a quiet avant-garde way, to this dish of serious electronica. Roughly speaking, you could call this jazz run through experimental Muzak with a dab of mild industrial. Quiet and non-aggressive but strong in personality, this music finds different little elements vying with each other, much like the different instrumental elements in classical music, which this also resembles in its own strange way. Essentially containing the flavor of classic instrumental compositions (with a touch of exotic world, now that I think about it) but spiced and altered by the outside-the-box electronic experimentation of the artist, The Electronic Symphony Project is one man replacing an entire orchestra and doing so in an engaging and understated way.