In the last number of years music fans have suffered loss after loss, idols who it seemed would outlive time itself passed into the ether. The rapture of legends was unforgiving to our heroes, the immortal figures such Prince, David Bowie, Chris Cornell, George Michael along with a greater parade of souls left us with their legacy in music
Only a year ago today it home that another shining talent had succumbed and slipped away unexpectedly.
The soaring passion of Dolores O'Riordan is measured with the uneasy and ripped emotions which heralded her passing. An obvious and true talent such as hers can sometimes bring fourth turmoil as if you knew them personally. When you question why, you may feel this way, the answer is simply through a relatable appreciation of the personal words Dolores sang. Those lines of song let you Inch into her world, creating a connection, for a time it felt that as Dolores would sing the world stopped to listen.
The Cranberries as a band had become a soundtrack to the nineties, singing along to their songs became easy very quickly, even if you were not their biggest fan or even knew who they were. Looking at the impact of their career early on, a picture builds of both the bands importance and the inspired vision of O’Riordan.
The Cranberries debut album in 1993; 'Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We', is a phenomenal work of cleverly constructed songs with harmonious-crescendos and of course O'Riordans athletic vocal, rich and perfectly delivered with an effortless dramatic tension. The two single releases 'Linger' and 'Dreams' are still radio staples twenty-six-years after their release.
A realization quickly followed of the importance of Dolores and The Cranberries especially here in Ireland, a band which had released lush, lovelorn songs in the past were about to turn the critics inside out with their follow up album, the expectation of more of the same was blissfully torn apart with the 1994 release 'No Need To Argue'.
This album had a darker theme, an almost 'night' to the previous albums 'day', preceded by the radio unfriendly but steady grunge explosion that is 'Zombie'.
Heavily distorted guitars with which O'Riordan could sing over, at times turning into the sound of pure, emotional pain.
To those expecting another tune such as 'linger’ were more surprised than disappointed, which shows the character strength within O'Riordan and the band to follow their heart as a musical compass and not what is wished of them by fans, record companies and the FM-radio of the day.
This highlights perfectly the importance of the band, to survive such a change in direction, in saying that the album 'No Need To Argue' went on to sell in excess of seventeen-million copies, going number one in five countries. The case in point was increasing the volume increased the sales and popularity, what may have been viewed at the time as being commercial suicide led to wider acceptance.
Risks such as this are rarely taken in music, and voices such as that of Dolores O'Riordan are few and far between,and sadly missed.
“Suddenly something has happened to me
As I was having my cup of tea
Suddenly I was feeling depressed
I was utterly and totally stressed
Do you know you made me cry? Whoa oh oh
Do you know you made me die?
And the thing that gets to me
Is you'll never really see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is I'll always be in doubt”
Animal Instinct-The Cranberries

Kevin Burke jan '19

With an eerie hum Zwaremachine embraces early ebm/industrial soundscapes while keeping a persistent darkwave experimental approach.

Thoroughly deranged, Zwaremachine will trash your sense of disbelief a minute into the first song and continue to do so all the way through.

In January 2019 Zwaremachine will be performing 3 shows in the Netherlands and Germany.

The final show will be a performance at Downhill XIII New Years Edition sharing the bill with Portion Control (UK) and Henric de la Cour (SE).

Zwaremachine (USA) - Minneapolis' own fully realized industrial worship.

This outlet of visual artist Mach Fox embodies the provocative sights and sounds of second wave industrial music.

Influences from some of the top acts of the genres can be heard in the songs from "Be A Light" the first full length album released in 2018. With a clear focus on classic sounds and modern production he describes the style for this album as "Minimal Hypnotic Industrial Body Music."

TOUR DATES

SAT.JANUARY 19th 2019
Wave Invasion at POPEI - Eindhoven.NL

THURSDAY JANUARY 24th 2019
Zwaremachine LIVE at Unsound Methods - KIR Hamburg.DE

SATURDAY JANUARY 26th 2019
Downhill XIII New Years Edition at Poppodium Nieuwe Nor (Heerlen.NL)
Henric de la Cour (S) Portion Control (UK) Fïx8:Sëd8 (DE) Zwaremachine (US) Katharoi (NL)
DJ Kitty & special guest DJ set by Dirk Ivens (Klinik/Absolute Body Control/Dive/Sonar)

www.zwaremachine.band

The Weathermen, featuring Bruce Patient, who also took care of Tuxedomoon’s visual performance aspects with his films, lights and theatrical act, and Jean-Marc Lederman, the Belgian hero who worked with Front 242, Fad Gadget and Alain Bashung in the 80s, also known as Kid Montana. Together they made electro with a twist and even scored a world (club) hit with 'Poison'.

The Weathermen, named after an American extreme left-wing organization that once committed attacks on the Capitol and the Pentagon, finally came to an and when Bruce Patient died in 2016 but luckily Jean-Marc Lederman still has a lot of gems in his vault. Among those gems, the original live-backing tracks that were used during the scarce tours the band made that give us a view of the disturbed living environment of the duo. With these backing tracks, two limited editions are now made available through Dans Les Profondeurs, the archive-sub-label of Wool-E Discs: a double CD with both the backing tracks and a complete live performance that was recorded in Hoogstraten in 2009 and a vinyl LP containing 6 tracks and which obviously comes with a download card for the full 22 backing tracks.

Don’t hesitate too long as both items are much wanted and very limited.

danslesprofondeurs.be

Dunkelheit Productions is proud to present the new, epic 25-minute release from Lousberg, "The Death Of Humanity;" a dark ambient masterpiece.

For fans of: Raison d'être, Klaus Schulze & Brian Eno

"The Death Of Humanity" will be available in CD edition on 1.1.2019 and vinyl edition mid-February.

Digital edition is available NOW at: https://dunkelheitprod.bandcamp.com/.

With “The Death Of Humanity,” Lousberg achieves what most composers fail to do in a lifetime, much less a career. Transcending styles of dark ambient and dungeon synth, Lousberg is responsible for the merger of worlds; both specific and abstract. Intensely contemplative, “The Death Of Humanity” offers itself as an existential soundtrack.

Lousberg guides a select few textures through landscapes both subterranean and otherworldly, somehow molding them as one in a 25 minute epic composition. Essentially, “The Death Of Humanity” exists somewhere between heaven and earth; between the universe and darkest corner of a remote location of the listener’s room. Warm, low tones merged with high, cold planes. Through cavernous landscapes and perpetual colonnades. Through timeless loneliness and endless emotional collapse, what Lousberg creates is both intensely human and otherworldly.

Lousberg gives soundtrack to previously unchartered parts of the soul. Is this “The Death Of Humanity” or an “imitation of life”?

www.dunkelheit-produktionen.de

This month forty-years ago Blondie released their punk-pop crossover in the danceable “Heart Of Glass”, although eventually reaching the number one slot in both the U.K and U.S charts later in the year along with grabbing top spots in five other countries. The days of Blondie being simply a cult New York act ended and instead was replaced by mainstream stardom.

A perfect slice of disco was the release that would secure the legacy of Blondie, although not a new track its roots hail back to the mid-seventies. Inspired in some way by the dance floor filler “Rock The Boat”, it did appear on the bands seventy-eight release ‘Parallel Lines’, in-fact ‘Heart Of Glass’ was the third release from the very successful album.
‘Heart Of Glass’ was the result of Debbie Harry’s lyrics and Chris Steins experimentation, far from the sound which echoed within the walls of CBGB’s at the time.

Chris Stein:”When Debbie and I were living in our top-floor apartment at 48 W. 17th St., I often messed around on a borrowed multitrack tape recorder. It let me record a rhythm guitar track and then layer melody and harmony lines on top. I wrote and developed my songs this way. In the summer of 1974, I wrote a song and referenced the catchy feel of “Rock the Boat” by the Hues Corporation, which was a big hit then. Debbie and I began calling it “The Disco Song.”

Debbie Harry:”The words I came up with expressed a very high school kind of thing, of falling in and out of love and getting your feelings hurt. But instead of dwelling on the pain, the words sort of shrugged off the breakup, like, “Oh, well, that’s the way it goes.”

Blondie did come under fire for selling out as it was seen, although, they had covered 'Lady Marmalade' and 'I Feel Love' at gigs, even Debbie Harry proclaimed her love for disco's production superhero Giorgio Moroder, in the scheme of Blondie’s music this was a natural progression for the band.

The sound of Blondie hinged very much on the raw punk sound combined with R&B and the girl groups of the sixties such as the Shangri-Las, given the heights which German krautrock had on music in general by crossing that commercial barrier, unknowingly or not, Blondie and the song itself did help pave the way for EDM and the the future.


Lyrics;

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

Once I had a love and it was divine
Soon found out I was losing my mind
It seemed like the real thing but I was so blind
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

In between
What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good
You teasing like you do

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

Lost inside
Adorable illusion and I cannot hide
I'm the one you're using, please don't push me aside
We could've made it cruising, yeah

Yeah, riding high on love's true bluish light

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out I had a heart of glass [radio version]
Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass [album version]
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

In between
What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good
You teasing like you do.



Kevin Burke January 2019
Stein/Harry quotes courtesy of WSJ