Great things are in store when you straighten out and recollect after a crisis, a fact that also goes for the field of music, as Pride And Fall's fifth album "Red For The Dead - Black For The Mourning" shows. The three Norwegians - Sigve Monsen (vocals), Per Waagen (keyboards, programming) and Svein-Joar Johnsen (guitar) - not only took some time off due to personal upheavals, but even switched production equipment several times to finally realize the album they had on their minds after many trials and tribulations.
This may be the reason for the dark and heavy sound of "Red For The Dead - Black For The Mourning", an album as rife with electronic pathos as "In My Time Of Dying", which has been the group's masterpiece so far. Their new record might well be their strongest, since they manage to enhance their forceful music with a sadness otherwise atypical for the electro scene. As the title suggests, there's a certain sentimentality to the songs, which range from restrained dance hits with contrastingly weighty sequences (‚Broken Men', ‚Angel At The Pillar', ‚Pale') across the melancholic title track to the nine-minute epic ‚The Sentiment Was False'. All compositions impress with captivating choruses thanks to the fabulous performance of front man Monsen, whose vocal lines are urgently catchy. In this way, the trio proves that it has only improved on its strengths throughout the years - and true class not least shows in refraining from cheap sadsack clichés.
With respect to the title, the band explains: "According to Chinese burial tradition, you would protect yourself from a dead person's spirit by wearing black. It is the colour of mourning. The dead can be dressed in any colour except for red. To dress the dead in red will leave them restless in their grave. Pride And Fall's new album is just that: the black hole in your subconscious that you never want to seek, the freezing shivers you feel as you see the sun go down for the last time when endless night is about to begin."
Let's not withhold another detail: Two masters have co-produced the album - Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand) and Christer Cedergren (Anathema) -, a feat that was really worth it: powerful record, powerful sound.
Release date: 26.08.2016
Available editions:
- CD
- 2LP/2CD "complete edition" in gatefold cover incl. large-sized booklet and bonus CD "Broken Men"; limited to 500 copies
Forward thinking with a retro touch SIGNAL~BRUIT is influenced by the floating atmospheres of the founders of Berlin School Tangerine Dream, the minimalist melodies of Jacno, the repetitive obsession of Clock DVA and the sound textures of Duet Emmo.
SIGNAL~BRUIT transform electronic music worlds and minimalistic art- and video-design into an exceptional audiovisual experience.
Creative mastermind behind SIGNAL~BRUIT is Member U-0176 who lives in Marseille and can already look back to a considerable discography. With his Electro-Band „Celluloide“ he released several albums, singles, EPs and started with „Thee Hyphen“ his first solo-project. Member U-0176 also appeared as remixer for bands like Nitzer Ebb and Mesh.
„Planisphère(s)“ is the title of the first Signal~Bruit album and will rise to the creative spheres of meshwork music in november 2016”.
The long-awaited follow up to “Automation Baby” is being released in FOUR different versions: as a regular CD edition, as a limited 2LP edition with special vinyl remastering and 180g pressing, as 2 CD Artbook Edition with 48 pages including lyrics plus 6-track bonus CD a- and as box set (500 copies) containing the 2LP, Artbook Edition plus hand numbered certificate for hardcore fans.
All formats are released on August 26, and we can only say that our anticipation gets fully rewarded. Here is a new video teaser for the Single “Kill Your Darlings”. The full clip will follow shortly.
Lastly, this is what Mark and Rich have to say on the album:
„We really set our sights high and have poured our hearts and souls into creating “Looking Skyward”. The album takes you on a journey of energy and emotion set to a moving soundscape of electronics, driving rhythms, atmospheres, samples and noise. We set out to push ourselves as far as we could and produce an album that we would want to own and love. We hope that we have achieved our goal and that you all enjoy the results for many years to come."
How do you top a burner such as MESH's "Automation Baby" from 2013? Back then, the band not only hit the top 30 but also released a future fan-favourite ("What can possibly come after this?", they cheered) with strong singles, ruling the clubs and your home stereo alike. Also, the duo had written its heaviest and most energetic songs so far. The just reward were more successful tours and an ever-increasing fan base. MESH have long since progressed from being a mere scene band.
Therefore, they did not even try to apply the formula of "Automation Baby" to "Looking Skyward" once more. Although the advance single ‚Kill Your Darlings' reminds of ‚Born To Lie', the album's mood and sound are different.
After all, Mark Hockings and Rich Silverthorn have also changed their approach to producing. "Following up to ‚Automation Baby' was difficult because we really saw it as our ‚baby'", singer Mark confesses. "For ‚Looking Skyward', we juggled with different ideas, used smartphones, laptops or tablets and walked the streets with audio recorders making samples. The demos were recorded all over the world, we even wrote our own software and made photos in abandoned factories, not to forget a great video."
Apart from that, the focus of "Looking Skyward" lies on the music itself. Whereas its predecessor marked the Bristol natives' "Sturm und Drang"-period, this record is more accessible and in part poppier (‚Last Man Standing', ‚The Fixer').Analogue synthesizers (‚My Protector') and classical ballads (‚Before The World Ends') convey a certain retro charm, so it is different while still maintaining MESH's core strengths - an equally synthetic and organic melancholy or wistfulness supported by Mark's incredibly strong singing and Rich's intense arrangements.
"Looking Skyward" is MESH second fabulous album in a row. "We set out to push ourselves as far as we could and produce an album that we would want to own and love. We hope that we have achieved our goal and that you all enjoy the results for many years to come."
Release date: 26.08.2016
Available editions:
- CD
- 2LP in gatefold cover, printed inner sleeves, 180g, PVC protection sleeve, 500 copies
- Book 2CD, hardcover, 48 pages, 2CDs incl. 5 bonus tracks
- "Complete Box", 2LP, 2CD book, LP incl. tracks of the bonus CD, poster, 500 copies
The longstanding and prolific experimentalist project, Controlled Bleeding, will return with its first proper studio album since 2002, entitled Larva Lumps and Baby Bumps, this summer on Artoffact Records. An eclectic mix of industrial, progressive rock, jazz and heavy metal influences, Larva Lumps and Baby Bumps will be released as a 2CD digipak and digital download on August 26, with a 2LP edition, housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve, to be released on September 23.
Originally formed nearly 40 years ago in 1978, New York-based Controlled Bleeding remains one of the most hard to classify and avant-garde experimental projects. The band's output ranges from brutal noise to eclectic industrial, from avant-jazz to prog rock, and its works have appeared on Tone Casualties, Wax Trax, Broken Flag, Soleilmoon, Sub Rosa and more. Controlled Bleeding today is Paul Lemos, Anthony Meola, Mike Bazini, and Chvad SB.
Stay tuned for more information on Controlled Bleeding and Larva Lumps and Baby Bumps, out this summer on Artoffact Records.
With a first video teaser electro pioneers X-MARKS THE PEDWALK reveal the title of album no. 9 in a long band history since 1988. „SECRETS“ is currently under construction. Sevren Ni-Arb and Estefanìa are working in the studio and they hope to announce a release date soon.
