Claus Larsen of Leaether Strip is married to Kurt Grünewald-Hansen. Last year Kurt desperately needed a kidney transplant and, after many months of waiting, Claus donated one of his. All went well, but over the last 2-3 months Kurt's health has suffered again and he has been in a hospital 90 minutes' drive from where he and Claus live in Denmark since before Christmas. It is a very difficult time for Claus and Kurt.

'A Heart so Divine' is written for Kurt and proceeds from Bandcamp sales will go towards the costs of Kurt's continued medication and treatment, as do sales of the many other fine Leaether Strip releases available on Bandcamp.

Claus and Gary would be very grateful if you support their cause!
'A Heart so Divine' will be officially released on March 20th 2020 but is already available to pre-order from Bandcamp!
https://leaetherstrip.bandcamp.com/
Music by Gary Watts
Words and vocals by Claus Larsen
Artwork by Vlad McNeally (Kallisti Design)

leaetherstrip.bandcamp.com

Today, 34 years ago, American Industrial band Ministry released their second studio album Twitch (12/03/1986). Unlike their synth-pop sounding debut album With Sympathy and due to the influences of bands like Front 242 and Cabaret Voltaire, Twitch received a more dark and aggressive production approach by Adrian Sherwoord and the bands head and voice Al Jourgensen.

Over The Shoulder, accompanied by a video directed by Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle /Coil) was the only single taken from this album.

In 1990 Twitch was reissued on CD and contained two extra tracks, being the exclusive tracks on the Over The Shoulder 12” single until that time.

Tracklist Twitch:
1. Just Like You
2. We Believe
3. All Day Remix
4. The Angel
5. Over the Shoulder
6. My Possession
7. Where You at Now? / Crash & Burn / Twitch" (Version II)

CD bonus tracks
8. Over the Shoulder (12" Version)
9. Isle of Man" (Version II)

DISCOGS

On 12th March 1980, renowned long term BBC radio journalist and DJ John Peel (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004) played Joy Division's Dead Souls for the first time after he discovered the track as a B-side on the 7" Licht und Blindheit.

This single, with Atmosphere on the A-side, was released in 1980 as a France only and limited edition of 1,578 copies. The 7" came with a 3 page colour gatefold booklet with a translation, text written by Jean-Pierre Turmel, a painting by Jean-Francois Jamoul and a photograph by Anton Corbijn.

Belgian industrial act REALITY'S DESPAIR is proud to announce the release of their new full-length release, Melancholic Disposition.

While the lyrics deal with societal and human decline, the supernatural, the occult and aliens, musically REALITY'S DESPAIR can be categorised as ebm / dark electro with a strong 90's feel and with heavily-distorted vocals.

"The album consists of rhythmic tracks that take listeners away in the 90's, when EVIL’S TOY and the early works of the SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS clanked the scene. Elements of Old-school EBM add rhythm, so some tracks may fit Post-Industrial dancefloor. Good smooth album, which can be called a great return to the 90's. Again."

- Reflections of Darkness

BIO:

After releasing two demo cd’s and an EP between 1996 and 2000, it was long overdue to revive this dark electro/ebm solo project, REALITY'S DESPAIR back in 2017.

The one man project is based in Antwerp (Belgium). All lyrics and music are produced, mixed and mastered by Demarcation.

The revival of REALITY'S DESPAIR led to a first self-released album in April 2018, Societal Collapse, followed by Human Transitions in March 2019 and Melancholic Disposition in February 2020.

For fans of: Suicide Commando, Evil's Toy & Terminal Choice

www.facebook.com/realitysdespair

Today it’s exactly 35 years ago that The Sister of Mercy released their first studio album First and Last and Always. It was released on 11 March 1985 through Merciful Release and WEA, with Elektra Records handling the US release.

The album was recorded during the second half of 1984 and multiple recording sessions took place in various recording studios. It was mixed and produced by David M.Allen who also produced for the likes of The Cure, Depeche mode, Wire and The Human League.

Less then a month later, on 1 April, lead guitarist and band co-founder Gary Marx played his last concert with The Sisters of Mercy before deciding to leave the band. Later Eldritch would suggest the song ‘Walk Away’ was directed at Marx.

Although Wayne Hussey and Gary Marx wrote and sang some of the initial lyrics for some of the demo tracks, Eldritch eventually wrote all the final lyrics as they would appear on the finished album. Both Wayne and Marx re-used some of those lyrics later for their own projects The Mission and Ghost Dance.

Two (demo) songs that didn’t make the album, Serpents Kiss and Wake, would later be re-recorded and released by The Mission.

To represent Dr. Avalanche, The Sisters Of Mercy’s nickname for their drum machine, an Oberheim DMX drum machine was acquired for the recording of this album.

The album went silver (with 60,000 sold) in the UK on 30 October 1987 and gold (with 100,000 sold) on 8 May 1989. Its highest position in the UK album charts was no. 14. In Germany, the group's second largest market after the UK, the album went gold (with 250,000 sold) in 2011. Its highest position in the German album charts was no. 40.

Nevertheless, the production of the album left the band initially in enormous debt. According to Andrew Eldritch, the album recouped the production costs only by 1988.

First Last And Alway - Track listing

2006 CD re-issue Bonus Tracks

The Sisters Of Mercy - Personnel

• Andrew Eldritch – vocals, sleeve design, mixing
• Craig Adams – bass guitar
• Wayne Hussey – guitar, vocals
• Gary Marx – guitar
• Doktor Avalanche (drum machine) – drums

DISCOGS