In recent years, French atmospheric rockers Klone have built their name on making music that is as deeply introspective as it is sonically powerful. Le Grand Voyage, the band’s first release for UK post-progressive specialists Kscope on 20th September, is an album brimming with that sense of searching and self-discovery, its 10 tracks living up to its name in unabashed no-stone-unturned existential exploration.

Much of the inspiration for the tracks including “Hidden Passenger” have come from pondering on the great philosophies of life, those eternal unanswered questions like who we are, where we are going and, ultimately, what happens next. This uncertainty and confusion surrounding mortality, the notion that something or nothing awaits us, unleashed the creativity in the French art-rockers.

This path led us here

To be what we are

To each other, now

Life is only a scar

LISTEN TO “HIDDEN PASSENGER” HERE

Guillaume Bernard, Klone’s guitarist, gives us a further insight into the album’s inspiration: “Me and Yann, our singer and lyricist, were watching documentaries about near death experiences, and what happens after death? what is the spirit? those kinds of questions. We found it an exciting and a mysterious subject to think about – what really happens? We feel that we create music that is deeply connected to the universe. We used a lot of reverb, almost as if we were to touch everything in space… we want our music to resonate in the cosmos!”

What Klone have created is bold in sonic ambition, twisting dark guitars and electronic ambience into a modern masterpiece that feels excitingly new, yet in many ways feels like a contemporary take on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon.

The first single & opening track from Le Grand Voyage, 'Yonder', bridges the gap between this latest opus and 2015 studio full-length Here Comes The Sun. Mixed by Francis Castes at the Sainte Marthe studio in Paris, Guillaume describes the music as a “natural and logical continuation of the song The Last Experience which concluded our previous album.” Watch Klone performing “Yonder” live at this summer’s Hellfest HERE.

Le Grand Voyage will be released on CD, LP and digitally and is available to preorder here:- PRE ORDER NOW HERE. Digtal pre-orders receive “Yonder” & “Hidden Passenger” as instant downloads.

Having racked up a lot of interest on home soil after previous albums Here Comes The Sun and Unplugged, Klone are now looking to focus on and extend their international operations. They’ve performed in the UK with cult grunge heroes King’s X and French metal titans Gojira, toured with Devin Townsend and landed supports for Helmet, Orphaned Land and Anneke Van Giersbergen.

The band has confirmed they will be supporting the release of Le Grand Voyage with an extensive live campaign. They began with this year’s Hellfest & Into The Grave Festivals and will soon be embarking on their headline shows.

Festival

27-29/09 - Germany - Euroblast Festival / Cologne

France headline dates – tickets on sale now

12/10/2019 – Nantes - Le Ferrailleur

17/10/2019 – Lyon - Hard Rock Cafe

18/10/2019 – Grenoble - L’amperage

19/10/2019 – Cannes - Mjc Picaud

26/10/2019 – Strasbourg - La Laiterie

02/11/2019 – Marseille - Jas Rod

08/11/2019 – Poitiers - Le Confort Moderne

09/11/2019 - Savigny-Le-Temple - L'empreinte

15/11/2019 – Niort - Festival Rise & Fall

28/11/2019 – Orleans - Le Bouillon

30/11/2019 - Audincourt - Le Moloco

Klone are:

Yann Ligner : Vocals

Guillaume Bernard : Guitar

Aldrick Guadagnino : Guitar

Florent Marcadet : Drums

Jean Etienne Maillard : Bass

Matthieu Metzger : Sax / Samples

Facebook & Instagram @kloneband

https://www.facebook.com/KLONEBAND

Twitter @KloneOfficial

youtu.be/MDw7qqrxJd8

Industrial rock band CHMCL STR8JCKT are pleased to announce their recent signing to iconic label Cleopatra Records.

Wrtchd Thngs will be available on CD and digital formats on August 16th, 2019. The album was produced by John Bechdel (keyboardist of Ministry, ex-Fear Factory, ex-Killing Joke).

For fans of: KMFDM, Ministry & My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult

"I've had the new CHMCL STR8JCKT album running on repeat since I got it in my hands. Finally an industrial album I really can relate to instantly. Harsh but with melodies and great lyrics. A must have for a lover of old-school industrial with passion, balls and heart." - Claus Larsen (about the self-titled debut)

"With their sophomore release, "Wrtchd Thngs", Chmcl Str8jckt doubles down on their hard driving old school industrial rock. This album is raw, pulsing, and seething. From the infectious guitar on "Ode to Pekinpah", to the pulse-pounding Baphomet, to the guttural Black Vulture, there is something for every industrial lover." - Brian Fitzpatrick, author of Sci-fi thriller "Mechcraft"

"it's been amazing to see the band grow into this unstoppable force and to see them create some of the best music I've heard in years." - Steve Thomas-Green, DJ Ghost Wave Radio

BIOGRAPHY:

Northern New Jersey's Chmcl Str8jckt fuse old school metal guitars with classic Wax Trax! era industrial music to bring you sinister Industrial Rock with a vintage flavor.

Releasing their self-titled debut in 2017, they quickly got many excellent reviews and airplay on countless radio stations and internet platforms. In 2018, while writing their new material, they offered up their debut tracks for remix to other international industrial artists and put out the 18 track remix release, called "RMX". Featuring artists like Leaether Strip and Adoration Destroyed, this also came out to rave review and much airplay. Chmcl Str8jckt has become known for a strong, engaging live show, with dark imagery and select theatrics to enhance the disturbing themes of their songs. They have been direct support for My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and opened for acts such as Orgy, Christian Death and Skold.

Chmcl Str8jckt has recently finished recording their new CD Wrtchd Thngs with John Bechdel (keyboardist of Ministry, ex-Fear Factory, ex-Killing Joke) producing....releasing in August 2019 on Cleopatra Records.

chmclstr8jkt.bandcamp.com

Today, 38 years ago, Soft Cell's version of ‘Tainted Love’ reached the number one position in the British hit parade while it also became the best-selling single of 1981 within the UK. The song also pushed through to the eighth position in the American Billboard Top 100, in which it lasted no less than 43 weeks. It became also a (number 1) hit in most European countries. Although Soft Cell's version was substantially different from the original version, the original version from 1964 performed by the American Gloria Jones, was re-released in the footsteps of Soft Cell’s success. The song was composed by producer Ed Cobb and originally released as a b-side which did not reach the hit parades.

Soft Cell brought the tempo down and replaced all acoustic instruments and electric guitars with synthesizers and drum computers. The song is said to have been recorded in a day and a half, with Soft Cell singer Marc Almond’s first vocal take being used as the definitive vocal track for the single release.

On the 12” release, the song changes halfway to a medley with ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ originally by The Supremes.

The single also announced the release of the Soft Cell debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. An album that was also released as a video album with the title "Non-Stop Exotic Video Show”, hence the original video clip below. Later, in 1991, a new version was recorded with a video directed by musician / director Peter Christopherson (RIP). The latter also covered "Tainted Love" in 1985 with his cult band Coil. Marc Almond can also be seen in Coil’s video clip.

In 2001, Marilyn Manson also successfully ventured into a cover version of Tainted Love. His version managed to penetrate hit parades almost all over the world, in some countries even up to the top 10.

Meanwhile, more than 1.35 million units of Soft Cell’s "Tainted Love" have been sold!

Tainted Love

Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away from the pain that you drive into the heart of me
The love we share
Seems to go nowhere
And I've lost my light
For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night

Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all

Oh tainted love
Tainted love
Now I know I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
You don't really want it any more from me
To make things right
You need someone to hold you tight
And you'll think love is to pray
But I'm sorry I don't pray that way

Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all

Oh tainted love
Tainted love
Don't touch me please
I cannot stand the way you tease
I love you though you hurt me so
Now I'm going to pack my things and go

Tainted love, tainted love
Tainted love, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love

DISCOGS

Today it’s exactly 42 years ago that Iggy Pop released Lust for Life (29th August 1977). It was his second solo studio album and also his second collaboration with David Bowie, following The Idiot that was released earlier in the same year. As well as achieving critical success, it was Iggy Pop's most commercially popular album to date, and remains his only Gold-certified release in the UK. The recording sessions for this album took place at the Hansa Studio by the Wall (Berlin) between April and June ’77, almost immediately after the The Idiot promotion tour which ended on 16th April.

Pop has stated, "David and I had determined that we would record that album very quickly, which we wrote, recorded and mixed in eight days and because we had done it so quickly, we had a lot of money left over from the advance, which we split.”

Lust for Life reached number 28 in the UK Album Chart and is his second highest-performing release in that country after 2016's Post Pop Depression. Initially the album did well in the US too but the sudden death of Elvis Presley (16th August 1977) caused record label RCA to quickly reissue Presley's catalogue and any promotional focus for Pop's album was lost.

Bowie, Pop and engineer Colin Thurston produced the album under the pseudonym "Bewlay Bros”, a name retrieved from a track on Bowie’s album Hunky Dory.

Besides probably the most popular track Lust For Life, The Passenger also found its way to alternative clubs and dance floors all over the world. Even if it was initially released as the b-side track of the 7” single Success.

Siouxsie and The Banshees made a cover of The Passenger in 1987 for their all-cover-versions album Though The Looking Glass. Iggy Pop praised their version and stated: "That's good. She sings it well and she threw a little note in when she sings it, that I wish I had thought of, it's kind of improved it … The horn thing is good."

David Bowie covered Tonight (minus the opening lines referencing drugs) with Tina Turner, along with Neighborhood Threat, on his 1984 release Tonight.

Lust For Life (tracklist)

A1. Lust For Life
A2. Sixteen
A3. Some Weird Sin
A4. The Passenger
A5. Tonight
B1. Succes
B2. Turn Blue
B3. Neighborhood Threat
B4. Fall In Love With Me

DISCOGS

We still have two headliners to announce for this year's BIMfest, so let's hear that drum roll....

One of these headliners was initially planned to perform on the 2017 BIMfest edition but sadly had to cancel last minute due to health problems of one of their members. We are talking about the British electro-punk-rockers of The Cassandra Complex who, by the way, already presented a very energetic show to the BIM audience back in 2008.

The other headliner is Die Krupps! For everyone who thinks that these Germans have said goodbye to the world of EBM music due to their present and evolved style, there is some great news: Jürgen Engler and co have pledged to perform an exclusive and purely electronic live-set on BIMfest 2019!

Fans, therefore, will be delighted to be able to hear some of their greatest songs, taken from classic Die Krupps albums such as Volle Kraft Voraus (1982) in their almost original form. Also some of the newer Die Krupps songs will be given an old school treatment for this occasion!

Furthermore, BIMFEST, like always, has a very varied line-up with other great acts like Enzo Kreft, Zweite Jugend, Raderkraft, Rein, Sturm Cafe, Motor! K, Torul, Fïx8: Sëd8 and The Devil And The Universe.

To hope to see ‘One million (th) happy customer (s)’ at BIMFEST would, of course, be slightly exaggerated, but there will be a lot of people who will conclude "Lärm Macht Spass" when seeing this bill! Let’s join the rhythm by machines at BIMfest 2019!