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!

German electronic/industrial artist NEON INSECT is pleased to announce the release of their highly-anticipated full-length release, New Moscow Underground.

For fans of: Ministry, Skinny Puppy & Front 242.

Neon Insect, now under new licensing agreement with New Dark Ages, will release New Moscow Underground on CD on 15th September. First pressing limited to 100 copies in digipack format.

New Moscow Underground - A dystopian concept album by NEON INSECT

It’s the 26th year, after the New Russian Empire put an end to World War III, when nuclear bombs rained down on North America, burning down the biggest cities in the West and the South. It's the 26th year after the Imperial forces raised their flags, took away the identity and hopes of a free country, and forced Orwell’s nightmare upon the last survivors.

Now, we’re living in New Moscow; a city guarded by cyborgs and fanatics who believe Stalin is still alive and kicking. Many of us have been exiled to Old Manhattan where we are left to fight for space and food. Even worse is that our children have been taken away to be raised as the workforce to produce cruel war machines.

“New Moscow Underground” is a story told through songwriting (“Dear Cyborg”), edgy industrial tracks (“This Is Our City,” “h4CX”), and also calm and thought-provoking songs (“Mazerunner,” “Blossom”). If you allow it, the mixture of brutal and aggressive tracks with sad, yet hopeful pieces will create a soundtrack that transports you into the world as a cyborg or a rebel yourself, thus pulling your mind directly into the action of New Moscow.

"...a fantastic and powerful romp through electro-industrial, IDM, ambient, and cinematic sounds. It's harsh, it's calming, it's panicked, it's destructive, but most of all it is easily one of the better listening experiences I've had this month."

- Brutal Resonance

"(Glitches) shows both his ability to create atmospheric soundscapes with stomping dance beats, as well as, appropriately, glitch-inspired tracks. Musically, there is a lot going on in these songs – lots of quality synth sounds, interesting percussion, and excellent accents without ever becoming too much or becoming cluttered."

- ReGen Magazine

BIOGRAPHY:

NEON INSECT is an alias of the German industrial musician, visual artist and audio engineer Nils Sinatsch. He was born in 1987, on 30th January in The Hague (Netherlands). As a young child, Sinatsch received lessons in playing the trumpet and French horn. He played in several orchestras before he started composing industrial music at the age of 17 in 2004.

In 2006, he signed his first record deal at Koi Records, as a member of the Industrial project Eternal Nightmare. He released three LPs and several smaller releases since then, as well as remixes for European dark electro pioneers such as Leaether Strip (“Japanese Bodies”) and The Eternal Afflict (“San Diego”).

Throughout his career, Nils Sinatsch played many concerts within the Gothic subculture, before he started to pursue a career as a freelance composer for radio plays and video games in 2012.

In 2015 he was hired by indie game developer W3 Studios to compose the soundtrack for their game “Abatron." He left the studio in September 2017 after completion of the soundtrack.

With Glitches (2018) Nils Sinatsch released a mainly electronic album including several collaborations, featuring vocals by Claus Larsen (Leaether Strip), Twill Distilled and himself, as well as a remix by talented French producer Enlia.

On 30th August 2019 a new concept album New Moscow Underground will be released on cassette and digital formats. Thanks to a new licensing deal with New Dark Ages, Neon Insect will see its first CD release (ltd. 100) for New Moscow Underground. “Fist, Hit, Cracking Bones” is the first single taken from this album.

neoninsect.bandcamp.com/releases