When the winter will start to blur at the edges and spring is escaping from the frozen ground, Berlin hosts a small but nice festival, that became established as a constant and a must-go for enthusiasts of guitar-based Wave, Post Punk and Goth Rock over the years. Brought to life by the hometown guys of GOLDEN APES, the coming March, 21st will face the sixth edition of the DARK SPRING FESTVAL so far and like in recent years the billing results from the band's personal musical preferences and tastes, far beyond any trends, mainstream frames or aspects of profit.

Housed again by the BiNuu club (under it's former name Kato one of Berlin's most history-charged scene venues), following bands and artists will celebrate an altered form of the springtime's arrival: the German Occvlt-Goth Icons of MERCIFUL NUNS, the energized Swedish Shoegaze/Post punk outfit PRINCIPE VALIENTE, the Goth & Darkwave veterans THE LAST CRY from England, Italy's most promising Gothrock export THE STOMPCRASH and last but not least the GOLDEN APES, which as hosts wont miss the chance of completing the line-up.

The accompanying aftershow party will see the DJs Thomas Thyssen and Martin Oldgoth behind the turntable, what promises a splendid sonic mixture to shake your bones to until the dawn creeps in.

www.facebook.com/darkspringfestival

"DER ZELTWEG - ITALIAN TAPES INDUSTRIAL MUSIC 1982-84" is an edition of 500 copies on 160 gram black vinyl.

First 50 copies come with a limited hand-made art cover, hand-numbered and adorned with a different unique single page of the 'Mathematisches Arbeitsbuch' / Der Neue Koschemann book, edition of the year 1964. Exclusively for sale only through the Mannequin Records online shop.
For a brief moment Turin was Italy’s Sheffield, producing an astonishing number of DIY electronic groups. In the context of a wider Europe, Italy has never been thought of as a hotbed of minimal electronic music, but Mannequin Records compilations Danza Meccanica: Italian Synth Wave 1982-1987 have shone a light on a scene little heard, even within Italy’s borders. But the history was still incomplete.. some new horizons now must be unveiled, showing that between the years of 1982 and 1984, the city of Turin in northwest Italy was home to a quiet underground renaissance of experimental electronic music.

Inspecting all the bands we released in the past years, Musumeci represents one of the most rare and unknown. But..the reissue of the two super rare demo tapes that they recorded in 1985 ("Schwarz Morgen") and in 1986 ("Zusammen") and a 12'' containing a couple of unreleased tracks plus a TRAXX edit, were just the beginning. We are really now proud to put the lights on their own tape label Der Zeltweg, with a selection of their 1982-1984 side projects Errata-S-Corrige, Gasdehyde and Herpes-Z. All the demo tapes we had the pleasure to listen simply take no prisoners. Expect aggressive early industrial sounds, with dirty and pulsating rhythms, in the vein of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. Without being snobbish, we deeply believe that "Der Zeltweg" compilation will be one of the 2014 underground highlights. Sick!
First 50 copies come with a limited hand-made art cover, hand-numbered and adorned with a different unique single page of the ‘Mathematisches Arbeitsbuch’ / Der Neue Koschemann book, edition of the year 1964. Exclusively for sale only through the Mannequin Records online shop.

"Into The Future" is an edition of 400 copies on 160 gram black vinyl, first copies including an hand-numbered replica of the original booklet designed by Giacomo Spazio.

On a cold autumn evening in Milan in 1981, Nino La Loggia met Giacomo Spazio for the first time. The two had the same passion for music: Kraftwerk, Joy Division, DAF and the whole new scene of proto-electronic wave headed by Cabaret Voltaire. Together they decided to start the musical project called 2 + 2 = 5, a tribute to Orwellian dystopia. Shortly after, Cha Cha Hagiwara joined the band. Already a keyboard player in Jeunesse d'Ivoire, she enriched the band's raw sound with sonority and resonance which we can now define as analog. After several gigs around Milan, Turin and Switzerland, in 1983 the trio entered the studio to record their first LP titled '...Into The Future', now reissued by Mannequin Records for the 30th Anniversary.
Mastered by Rude 66.

PLASTIKMAN has announced details of a new EP, EX Club Mixes, out digitally on 26 January, with a 12” release following on 30 March 2015.

EX Club EP follows the release of EX, Plastikman’s first album since 2003’s Closer, and sees tracks from EX remixed by some of the most distinguished producers out there. ‘EXhale’ is reworked by Berlin based producer and Resident Advisor’s Top DJ of 2014 Dixon, while German producer and DJ Recondite – voted Resident Advisor’s Top Live Act of 2014 - takes on ‘EXplore’, Tale Of Us aka Karm & Matteo Milleri, who were recently awarded #2 in Resident Advisor’s Top DJs of 2014, remix ‘EXpand’ and Grammy-winning Dubfire remixes ‘EXposed’.

Both Dixon and Recondite’s remixes premiered at Richie Hawtin’s ENTER. in Ibiza to a huge response. Listen for yourself to Dixon’s remix of EXposed here: http://bit.ly/17YpxBY

Richie Hawtin is many things – an extraordinary DJ, creator of the ENTER. experience, mastermind behind the M_NUS label, technological innovator, art aficionado – in 2011 he collaborated with British sculptor Anish Kapoor for an installation in Paris. Before this, though, and perhaps most famously of all, he was and is Plastikman, an electronic music phenomenon whose followers are legion and fanatic.

Between 1993 and 2003, Plastikman created an astonishing body of work, one that didn't so much define a time and place as explode them, expanding the dimensions of Detroit techno and redefining the possibilities of electronic dance music. Across six albums (Sheet One, Musik, Recycled Plastik, Consumed, Artifakts (B.C.), and Closer) and numerous singles such as ‘Spastik’, ‘Plastique’, and ‘Sickness’, Plastikman evolved into one of contemporary electronic music’s most distinctive voices: minimalist, psychedelic, seriously groove-laden, and ever mindful of the transcendent properties of electronica.

Since the initial performance of latest album EX at the Guggenheim Museum, NY, in 2013 at the invitation of Raf Simons of Dior, Plastikman then went on to present the show at Sónar festival in Barcelona in the summer of 2014 and releases EX Club Mixes on 26 January (digital) / 30 March 2015 (vinyl).

With a small releasetour of their selftitled debute album, Fire Within has set the tone of 2015. A mixture of oldschool Powerrock, Hardrock and Symphonic Metal blows out of your speakers from the first track “Despair”. The album is quiet diverse in the choice of songs but all within their own Fire Within sauce. The second Track “For Your Heart Alone” takes you to a more rock oriented feel and the fourth track “Fire Within” takes you to a more symponic metal feel.

Even an instrumetal progressive song “Progress” can’t be missed. The last two tracks on the album, “Reality”, which is one of the songs the audience really always sing along with during live gigs, and “Fate” where there is more focus on the keyboards and heavy guitars. Besides a cover of Abba, Kraftwerk and Nightwish their gigs are filled with their own songs which will be brought to you in a powerfull, dynamic and energetic show with plenty of room for the intruments, guitars, bass, keyboards and even drumsolo’s will be heard.

www.firewithinnl.weebly.com