From the 2nd until the 5th of June the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig will celibrate its 26th edition.

These bands already are confirmed:

Aeon Sable (D) - Ah! Kosmos (TR) - Amanda Palmer & Edward Ka-Spel (USA/NL) Weltpremiere - Angels & Agony (NL) - Annwn (D) - Autodafeh (S) - Azar Swan (USA) - B-Movie (GB) - Besides (PL) - BFG (GB) - Black Nail Cabaret (H) - Chemical Sweet Kid (F) - Corde Oblique (I) - Cryo (S) - Cuelebre (E) - Da-Sein (E) Weltpremiere - Der Blaue Reiter (E) - Desperate Journalist (GB) - Eden (AUS) Europa-Premiere - Eisfabrik (D) - Esben And The Witch (GB) - Hautville (I) - Hørd (F) - Hexperos (I) - Ianva (I) - Illuminate (D) - In the Woods... (N) - Iszoloscope (CDN) - Jarboe (USA) exklusives Akustikkonzert - Klangstabil (D) - Landscape Body Machine (CDN) - Larrnakh (H) - Lebanon Hanover (GB) - Lucifer's Aid (S) - Masquerade (FIN) - Mlada Fronta (F) - Moon Far Away (RUS) - Nikolas Schreck (USA) - Noisuf-X (D) - Nox Interna (D) - Ohm (CDN) - Peter Bjärgö (S) - Peter Heppner (D) - Pouppée Fabrikk (S) - Principia Audiomatica (HR) - Red Mecca (S) - Rotersand (D) - S.P.O.C.K (S) - Saigon Blue Rain (F) - She Past Away (TR) - Shireen (NL) - Sixth June (SRB) - Skinny Puppy (CDN) exklusives Konzert in Deutschland 2017 - Soviet Soviet (I) - Sylvaine (N) - The Agnes Circle (GB) - The Devil And The Universe (A) - The Mission (GB) - Vain Warr (USA) ehemals Blacklist - Virgin In Veil (FIN) - VNV Nation (IRL/GB) - Whispering Sons (B) - Wires & Lights (D) -

www.wave-gotik-treffen.de

Two years ago Austra started writing Future Politics in response to what they saw as a fast approaching dystopia. They meant it to be a call to imagine something different, a better future. At the time Donald Trump was not even on the radar- now here we are, confronted with his election and the impending dystopia is suddenly a reality. Their long planned release date now has the horrible significance of also being the day he takes office. This record is their commitment to envisioning something different as humans, something outside of the current systems of say what you want, take what you want, and give nothing back.

austramusic.bandcamp.com/album/future-politics

Contemporary Brussels, ancient Rome and ancient Greece; composer Wim Mertens’ Cran aux Oeufs is a musi-fiction tryptic that questions the connections between song, poetry and truth. It combines ensemble work with – for the first time since 2005’s Un Respiro – a solo album for his distinctive piano and voice.

The first part, Charaktersketch, takes Europe and Brussels 2015 as a central theme and refers to the changed position of the West as a bearer of cultural and economic values and power.

What are we, locks, to do? is the second part of the tryptic and Mertens’ 10th solo album for piano and voice. It mixes myth and reality to consider the political and cultural influences in Egyptian Alexandria of the 3rd century BC. The compositions form a constellation to the poet Callimachus, the royal family Ptolemy and Queen Berenice II.

In Dust of Truths, the final part, Mertens refers to the navy Battle of Actium, Greece, 31 BC when the future emperor Augustus defeated the Egyptian warships of Cleopatra. Was this more a civil war dispute within the Roman Empire than a conflict between Rome and Egypt?

The 30 compositions suggest that man is no longer there for music but music is there for man. Cran aux Oeufs seeks out something more true than truth that renders this something untotalisable. Therefore, the concept of truth must be evacuated. Post-Truth. Feitenvrij. So it becomes more concrete, everted. Ratteketak.

Out now, available through your favourite retailer.

www.wimmertens.be

Mick Harvey, now solo, but known from his long history as a Bad Seed from Nick Cave, just released his new album Intoxicated Women on Mute Records !

On this album, a beautiful cover of Je t'aime..Moi Non Plus (Gainsbourg) was recorded, together with Andrea Schroeder. Enjoy this fantastic version of Ich Liebe Dich...Ich Dich Auch Nicht here below !

www.facebook.com/mickharvey4ever/?fref=ts

Los Angeles' Drab Majesty are currently touring Europe. On Friday the 20th of January, they released their new album The Demonstration.

Drab Majesty was initially a solo project of Andrew Clinco but in 2016 it became a duo, together with Mona D.

You can see the band perform at Fantastique Night XLXI on the 17th of March in Brussels (together with Cold Cave !).

drabmajesty.bandcamp.com