Date: July 1st 2007

For mp3 samples and ordering, please go to the catalog page.

- Latest additions -

Shift - Unable To Abide The Silence Of The World CD (Unrest Productions)
Stalnoy Pakt - Russia's Awakening CD (ALF Produkt)
Stalnoy Pakt / Anthesteria / Mikhail Vavich - Dedicated To The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 CD (Der Angriff / Indiestate Distribution)
Erthad - Gma CD-R (Zhelezobeton)
Cataclyst - Monuments Of A Rubicund Age CD (Zhelezobeton / Tantric Harmonies)
Various Artists - Black Square CD (KultFront)
Oleg Kostrow - Imago CD (Solnze Records)
Solomon Schwartz - Et Son Orchestra CD (Solnze Records)
Ait! - Romanticismo Oltranzista CD (Punch Records)
Various Artists - Spectre Decade - Anniversary Compilation 1996 - 2006 CD (Spectre)
Loss - You Are What Eats You Vinyl (Spectre)
Xiphoid Dementia - Embalmed In Purity CD-R (Existence Establishment)
Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte / Profile - L'Ultimo Vero Bacio CD (Old Europa Cafe)
Stratvm Terror - Pariah Demise CD (Old Europa Cafe)
Deuterror - Le Gueule de Guerre CD (Steelwork Maschine)

- Restock -

Endura - Black Eden (Red Stream)
Hermann Kopp - Nekronology (Red Stream)
Riz Ortolani - Cannibal Holocaust Original Soundtrack (Red Stream)
Novy Svet / O Paradis - Destello de Estrellas en la Frente (Punch Records)
O Paradis - La Boca Del Infernio (Punch Records)
Messer Chups - Hyena Safari (Solnze Records)
Messer Chups - Black Black Magic (Solnze Records)

-----------------------------------------------

- Detailed list of additions -

Shift - Unable To Abide The Silence Of The World (Unrest Productions)
First self-released CD album from this UK power electronics unit, partly inspired by Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian". Rumbling, sizzling noise loops with loud bass and buried, barely audible vocals, somewhat reminiscent of DVT at times.
(CD, jewel case in slipcase, 12 €)

Stalnoy Pakt - Russia's Awakening (ALF Produkt)
First full-length CD from Alexander Lebedev-Frontov's other main project. While Linija Mass takes its aesthetic inspirations from Futurism and Soviet socialist realism, here the focus is shifted to militarism and nationalism, possibly in a manner related to the kind that is re-surfacing in Russia these days.
The sound is closer to ambient / martial industrial, but whereas most Western European projects in this field aim to infuse themselves with a sense of often overblown heroic bombast, Stalnoy Pakt's take on the genre turns marches into dehumanized machine-like processions and hymns into oppressive drones. Utterly bleak and captivating.
(CD, oversized sleeve with silver-inked artwork, 13 €, last copy)

Stalnoy Pakt / Anthesteria / Mikhail Vavich - Dedicated To The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 (Der Angriff / Indiestate Distribution)
Label info: "This split release is a commemoration of one of the most tragic pages of Russian history in the 20th century - the Russo-Japanese War. This lost war became a deep scar in the national consciousness of that period and turned out to be among the most painful and powerful incentives for the following first Russian revolution (1905) and the further eventual decline of the Russian monarchy. This CD is an attempt to revive the deep anxiety and the premonition of the upcoming relentless social shock which had overwhelmed the Russian nation in those times. Stalnoy Pakt presents maybe its most melodic tracks to date here, the distinctive band's multi-layered dark ambient fused with old military Japanese song samples and old Russian lyrical narrations, sometimes adorned with piano chords or martial drums . Anthesteria's cold gloomy tunes are combined with choir chants and gramophone record samples that aggravate the atmosphere of the dull waiting for the imminent disaster. The album is concluded with an authentic historical recording of the classic track of the period called "Na Sopkakh Manchzhurii" performed by a very famous singer of that time, Mikhail Vavich. This funeral waltz dedicated to the victims of this war drives the overall feel of despair and grief up to the highest limit. The album could be compared to the best examples of historically inspired works but with its own very special and purely Russian depressive mood. An absolute must!"
(CD, A5 sleeve with inserts, 15 €)

Erthad - Gma (Zhelezobeton)
Active since the late 90's but without any official releases until now, Erthad's first output on physical format is the sort of obscure discovery from the Russian scene that makes Zhelezobeton a reliable source for new releases that go beyond what's already established or tamed by familiarity. Recorded in 2002 using processed voices and software synthesizers, "Gma" compiles 6 tracks of serene yet expansive robotic meditations, at times approaching some form of mantras for nano-technological organisms. Soothing but not ambient in nature, the closest comparison I can think of would be another Zhelezobeton act (Degeneral) crossed over with Sshe Retina Stimulants, but that's still not close enough to what can be found here.
(CD-R, pro-printed color sleeve, 9 €)

Cataclyst - Monuments Of A Rubicund Age (Zhelezobeton / Tantric Harmonies)
Label info: "A strange project that for a moment united Peter Andersson (raison d'Etre) and Johanna Rosenqvist (ex-Institut, Koeff) in the distant 1992. Cataclyst's music combines the melancholic beauty of early Raison D'Etre and Necrophorus, the harsh industrial rhythms of Institut and tribal-elements of another undeservingly forgotten project of Peter - Svasti-Ayanam... What makes this product differ from other works of the Swedish industrial scene is the atmosphere of remote fairy worlds in which you smoothly sink into while listening to "Monuments of a Rubicund Age". Peter and Johanna have woven an infinite labyrinth of mirages, walking through which will be a pleasant surprise for both the fans of ambient / experimental / industrial and more conservative gothic lovers. [...]"
(CD, oversized sleeve, 12 €)

Various Artists - Black Square (KultFront)
Follow-up to the Red Square compilation, also released on St Petersburg label KultFront. This time round, the participants include Bardoseneticcube, Anthesteria, Ganzer, Cyclotimia, Ekran (Anthesteria + Kryptogen Rundfunk), Reutoff (whose track here is one of their best pieces), Sal Solaris, Necropolis, Bunker, Misery and SS-18.
(CD, matte-laminated cardboard sleeve, 12.5 €)

Oleg Kostrow - Imago (Solnze Records)
"Imago" is a soundtrack to a theatre play by the same name written by Maxim Kurochkin. The material here is composed and recorded by Oleg Kostrow, one of the two members of Messer Für Frau Müller. Pretty much indistinguishable from MFFM, the tracks on this CD feature the same combination of light-hearted lounge / exotica with playful Jean-Jacques Perry-style electronics.
(CD, jewel case in slipcase, 13 €)

Solomon Schwartz - Et Son Orchestra (Solnze Records)
Traditional Jewish folk songs performed as twist tunes, supposedly by the enigmatic Solomon Schwartz back in 1963. If this is indeed the real background story or a cleverly concealed side-project involving Solnze staff we'll never know, but this album is a gem of positively euphoric, joyous and catchy music. Mazel Tov!
(CD, cardboard sleeve, 12.5 €)

Ait! - Romanticismo Oltranzista (Punch Records)
Label info: "Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. AIT! is back at last to reveal himself with a new kinky show for those of you having lost their heart in a dark Italian discotheque, some thirty years ago.
With a couple of hard-boiled songs and a boxful of extremist love letters this obscure erotique one man orchestra gets its stylish fists right into the face of today's fashion kids. Too strong to be pussy. Too pussy to be romantic. A bizarre cup of circus fun served in a Jess Franco ballet dance through hell.
Remember the mirrorballs and watch this whole unique striptease from lounge to funk to rock'n'punk. Everything in here, more than a spicy cocktail. All shaken not stirred. A punch of its own!"
(CD, digipak with 28-page booklet, 13.5 €)

Various Artists - Spectre Decade - Anniversary Compilation 1996 - 2006 (Spectre)
Everything's in the title really. With exclusive tracks from Loss, Ah Cama-Sotz, Empusae, This Morn' Omina, Antigen Shift, Iszoloscope, Hybryds, Hypnoskull and Kraken.
(CD, embossed wallet sleeve, 13 €)

Loss - You Are What Eats You (Spectre)
2 new tracks of soaring cinematic orchestration colliding with a personalized and emotional take on power electronics. If you missed out on the 3", here's your chance to make up for it. While you're at it, pick up the full-length CD on Spectre as well.
(7", 8.5 €)

Xiphoid Dementia - Embalmed In Purity (Existence Establishment)
Full-length release from this US project run by the person behind the Blood Ties zine. Over an hour's worth of dynamic ambient noise with a nice level of detail and variation. Comes in a nicely illustrated DVD jewel case.
(CD-R, DVD jewel case, 10 €)

Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte / Profile - L'Ultimo Vero Bacio (Old Europa Cafe)
Label info: "A long obscure Crime Jazz Industrial soundtrack for Hard Boiled and Pulp situations, Night Club, Femmes Fatale, Revolver and Vendetta. In debt with Chandler, Hammett, Cain, Spillane, Thompson, Goodies, Williams, Ellroy, Malet, Izzo, Giovanni, Le Breton...
True Malavita Industrial from Rome. For the first time presenting many female voices, this is for sure their more obsessed and glamorous dark-mafia-jazz album so far!"
(CD, digipak, 13 €)

Stratvm Terror - Pariah Demise (Old Europa Cafe)
Label info: "Second official album by this Raison D'Etre side project devoted to cold Scandinavian-style power electronics. Originally released in 1996, Pariah Demise has been re-mastered with additional extra material from the Germinal Chamber tape out at the same time on OEC and now deleted, plus one previously unreleased bonus track from 1996. [...]"
(CD, clear jewel case, 13 €)

Deuterror - Le Gueule de Guerre (Steelwork Maschine)
Label info: "After two net-releases titled "Agrippen" and "Cortharis Lex", which are still available for download on his website, Deuterror offers us his new work and his first release on CD, "Le Gueule De Guerre". A fable on the faith that animates man and keeps him standing, going beyond the limits of minimalist dark ambient or the violence of extravagant noise. Deuterror develops his theme with drones in turn overwhelming and disturbing, vindictive frequencies, making "Le Gueule De Guerre" a severe statement embittered with disillusionment."
(CD, digipak, 13 €)