Indiestate Newsletter 2/2006

DER ANGRIFF

ANTHESTERIA - Nebesnaya
CD | Der Angriff No. 24 / IST 035
Fold-out Digisleeve | limitiert auf 300 Kopien

Lableinfo:
The second Anthesteria album tells a story of a journey through a fragile world of emotions and perceptions known to everyone, sound realization of the author's diary. The atmosphere of the ghost winter city, the decadent but charming open-air museum called St.-Petersburg, which was the hero of the first CD "Beyond Nimbostratus" is still here, but it's just a scenery or background for multiplying illusions which make up the charm and value of human life. Keeping the trend established in their debut, Anthesteria added martial drums, recitative voice and some ethnic elements in a number of tracks. Raison d'être-like dark ambiance meets neo-classical strings and analogue synthesizers, at times the result sounds as depressive as some early Coil stuff. As its predecessor, "Nebesnaya" is also accompanied with a photo-booklet which adds a visual dimension to the album.

RITUAL FRONT - Lightning Over Crimson Hill
CD | Der Angriff No. 25 / IST 036
Fold-out Digisleeve | limitiert auf 300 Kopien

Labelinfo:
Following by the debut 7" released on the same label a year ago, here is the first full-length record of one of the most interesting Russian newcomers on dark-folk scene, Ritual Front. The album is dedicated to Crimson Hill, or Vottovaara, a mountain in Karelia, which was considered as a halidom by former inhabitants of these Northern forests. There were severe battles for this peak during World War II, and afterwards they started to call it Death Hill as well. Fueled with the energy of this special place, full of symbols, "Lightning Over Crimson Hill" is a manifest of resistance against mediocrity and dullness, hypocrisy and hollowness of the modern world. Complex musical structures which incorporated acoustic guitars, passionate voice, strong but ascetic keyboards, beautiful piano melodies and martial drums makes the record to be something more than just a collection of songs. Being rather a sonic universe in a vein of such DIJ albums like "Wall Of Sacrifice" or " The World That Summer", the debut CD of Ritual Front is a fresh look on a dark-folk as a style, which makes it "a-must-have" for all the fans of such music.

EWERS TONKUNST

CISFINITUM - Coniunctio 
2CD | HHE 009 CD / IST 037
Fold-out Digisleeve | limitiert auf 500 Kopien

Labelinfo:
Cisfinitum is one of the oldest and well-known projects on Russian industrial scene, and shortly after their well-acclaimed 7" on Drone, Ewers Tonkunst is happy to present another international release of this remarkable project. This 2CD-set contains the tracks from the most gloomy and profound albums of Cisfinitum - "Landschaft" (released in 2001 as CDR by IVB Records) and "Malgyl" (previously unreleased), which have been recorded in 1999-2001. The material has been remastered and recompiled to become the new entity called "Coniunctio". Newborn album consists of two parts, "Worlds Of Retribution" and "Heavenly Russia", the first one contains most dark and depressive tracks, the second one presents brighter side of Cisfinitum. Going through the desperate landscapes of today's dying spiritless world, the listener comes into the sacred and surreal inner space of an immaterial land full of light, mysticism and universal melancholy. One of the most beautiful and heartful records ever done in the drone ambient style, "Coniunctio" could remind of the best and saddest Maeror Tri albums or legendary HOEDH "Hymnus", but the irrational Russian essence within Cisfinitum's music makes it unique and completely original. The real masterpiece which we are really proud to release!

REUTOFF vs ANTLERS MULM - Kreuzung Eins
LP | HHE 008 V / IST 031
limitiert auf 300 Kopien

Labelinfo:
This release will start a series of collaborations between Reutoff and other projects. The details of the series - the title, other participants etc. will be announced later. The collaboration with Antlers Mulm includes 6 tracks, 2 different remixes of Antlers Mulm track "Schau unseren Jubel" made by Reutoff and two different remixes of Reutoff track "Die Sunden der Vater" made by Antlers Mulm, as well as exclusive track of each of the band. The result turned out to be one of the most melodic and melancholic release for both of the projects. The beauty of eschatological sadness and profound nostalgia of the past revealed by the delicate sounds of this record, atmospheric and fragile but with some inner strength inside. A must!

FORTHCOMING FIRE - Siberian Summer
MCD | HHE 007 CD / IST 032
Spezielle Hochglanzverpackung | limitiert auf 500 Kopien

Labelinfo:
This MCD from the pre-Von Thronstahl project contains 5 tracks. The first track, "William Lovell", has been released on the long sold out Hyperium compilation in 1992. Based on the early novel from Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853), a famous german romantic writer, it explores the embarrasment of the ambigous mind and delicately expresses the exhausted and unstable soul suffering. As one of the most romantic and fascinating composition of FF, we think it deserves to be released again as a brilliant in a crown of another perfect songs. "Siberian Summer", the title track, is charming ballad with russian lyrics sang by Rada Taratununa, comes in a version, different to the one included in the recent FF album "In Flammen". "Watching Rome Burn" is also released in a new version, less guitar-oriented and more electronic. "Velvet Little Lady", a nice dark-wave song of yearning and sadness, and "Licht eines erloschenen Sterns", an electronic cold meditative piece with post-apocalyptic mood, are previously unreleased. The overall result is a dark-folk/dark-wave record full of integrity and beauty.

diverse INDIESTATE Labels

QUATTRO BRAVO EBALLIEROS - 1995-2005
CD | Quag twenty five / IST 023
Pappfolder mit silbernem Druck | limitiert auf 300 Kopien

Labelinfo:
First official CD from this Reutoff side-project known for their brilliant track on "Tutti A Casa - a tribute to Ain Soph" compilation. This is a special compilation to celebrate 10 years of QBE existence. Formed back in 1995, long before Reutoff started, this weird urban-folk/apocalyptic-chanson project with a touch of psychodelia and russian alcoholic madness have recorded more than a dozen albums for private use which are now waiting to see the daylight. Each album is a documentary of a night alcohol fuelled session. The 22 best tracks from those albums chosen by the fans have been included in this compilation, 4 of them have been remixed and rearranged especially for this release. The music reminds of Novy Svet, Mushroom Patience, late Ain Soph and sometimes even NWW, but it has more tragic russian feel and weirdness inside. This compilation could be considered as a herald for the complete album releases on Steinklang and Indiestate which are planned for 2006.

CLAUSTHOME - Radiophare [lampe d'ambiance]
CD | Indiestate | IST 034
Fold-out Digisleeve + Insert | limitiert auf 500 Kopien

Labelinfo:
Clausthome is another project of the Latvian band Claustrum known for their great release on Old Europa Cafe. "Radiophare" brings the listener first class radio-noise in a vein of Bad Sector, Arecibo or SETI/Lagowski. This material was gathered during two years (under project research named Clausthome) using different ways of radio waves scanning, data gathered by radio telescopes and archives of universe research data servers. It was a sound analysis experiment, where material and after-processing of both Earth and cosmic authentic static radiation were used, applying different sound alteration programs and sampling methods, as well as sound synthesis creating music environment. It is a process of translation and transformation that leads towards awareness of that potential environment, which can be created using the gathered material. The CD also contains 3 videos made by members of Clausthome for some non-album tracks, one of them called "Untitled Radio" starts the upcoming series of audio-visual works by the same name.

andere Labels im Vertrieb von INDIESTATE

ALEXEY TEGIN - Gyer [sacred tibetan music of bon tradition]
CD | Monotone | OM 001 / IND 025

Labelinfo:
Alexey Tegin is making the sacred ritual of tibetan pre-Buddhist Bon tradition. Being rather traditional than industrial record, "Gyer" is nonetheless to be compared with such industrial ritual legends as famous Sigillum S "Bardo-Thos-Grol", early Ain Soph and Current 93, since it is far more darker than everything you could find in the ethnic/traditional department of the music shop. The frightening throat singing and shivering tibetan bells put you in trance and this trip is not for the weak.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Thalamus II
CD | KultFront | KF-II / IND 030
Handgemachtes, versiegeltes Artwork + Beiheft | limitiert auf 500 Kopien

Labelinfo:
The compilation which is dedicated to the second post-industrial festival Thalamus II which has been held in May 2005 in Pskov, North-West Russia. The definition of "post industrial" is not purely musical, it means also the space-time continuum we live in - Russia, the beginning of the XXI century, the age of dead industry… As it usually the case with Heilige Feuer, each of the participants has contributed two exclusive studio tracks for the compilation. The music varies from noise to dark deep mystical ambient, from dark folk to esoteric rituals. Most of the projects are unknown for international audience, but they are worth listening being a new breed of Russian industrial scene. Besides new works of well-known Cisfinitum, there are also tracks from Lunar Abyss Deus Organum (the new incarnation of Lunar Abyss Quartet), EKRAN (side-project of Anthesteria with Kryptogen Rundfunk), Majdanek Waltz, Noises Of Russia (Shumy Rossii).

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Red Square
CD | KultFront | KF-III / IND 031
in Spezialumschlag + Inserts | limitiert auf 500 Kopien

Labelinfo:
The third release of the Russian label KultFront is a compilation entitled "Red Square". 16 Russian industrial projects have contributed exclusive tracks for this compilation. There was a simple task given to the musicians - to try to express their attitude to revolution in general and to National-Bolshevism in particular. Maliciously, tricky, pathetically, cosmically, intelligently - it's all went different. That's why the result is a very diverse in style and hard to listen all-at-once, but distinctly rich flavoured industrial mass. Fragile cardboard sleeve symbolizes the frailty of existence while the CD itself is done in the form of steel armoured train wheel. Just as revolution absorbs absolutely everything, the music and design of this release include completely incompatible, sometimes diametrically opposed things. Intro and Outro contain the recordings made during revolutionary mass-meeting in St. Petersburg at November 7, 2004. Among the contributors are: Linija Mass, Rupor Udara (pre-Anthesteria), Majdanek Waltz, Noises Of Russia (Shumy Rossii), Kryptogen Rundfunk, Nazi Bastards From Aldebaran and many others…

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Comrades In Lost…
CD | Semema | IND 026
enthält Multimedia-Track für PC

Labelinfo:
This compilation presents one of the most-promising industrial scenes today - the Latvian. This country's noise music is almost totally unknown to the international audience, which is really sad - those isolationists deserve bigger publicity. The sound and creative approach of the Latvian bands are varied, but the tracks in any of genres of today's industrial has its own unique and recognizable Baltic feel. Together with music of Claustrum and Traur Zot which is known for their recent Old Europa Cafe and Indiestate releases, the compilation also contains tracks from Devnoise, 2ot, Barodarho and Knauzers. A great introduction to the upcoming heroes of European noise - to taste!

CYCLOTIMIA - One Day In Wasteland
Video | Seeds Of Time | IND 032
erhältlich als V-CDR und VHS (PAL) | limitiert auf 111 Kopien

Labelinfo:
Contains a collage of TV recorded reports on CNN, BBC and EuroNews from the tragic NYC events in 2001 with a playtime of 25 minutes, featuring a background soundtrack by Cyclotimia. Music is close to their album "Wasteland" - dark and electronic. An additional feature is "Same Place" by Cyclotimia - a fast moving collage of clips and images, well worked into a short music video.

BAD SECTOR - Kosmodrom
CD | Waystyx 015 / IND 033
limitiert auf 795 handnummerierte Kopien

Labelinfo:
Brand new album of the famous italian project. Dedicated to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Russian space investigations. Comes in a special plastic box with excellent booklet containing essays on Russian space history and other similar topics.

HUM - Germ Of Passion
CDR | Ultra Low Fidelity 9 / IND 024
Handgemachte Verpackung

Labelinfo:
The great drone ambient from the one-man projekt who lives in 30km from Moscow on the edge of an industrial town just on the side of a big forest. This contradiction is reflected both in his sounds, sometimes more harsh and urban, sometimes more light and natural, and in his music's mood which expresses the yearning of modern man's soul to its archaic roots. Hum uses only old-fashioned tape-technique and analogue synth loops, without any samplers or computer features except the final mastering. The result is excellent - the sound is clear, warm and soothing and at the same time very nostalgic, reminding of early Zoviet France and Maeror Tri. At the same time the atmosphere is very special, it is very peaceful and calm but inside all that grace the sorrow is hidden. Hum has released a 7" on Drone a year ago, the first CD release is planned on Indiestate later this year.

Alle Titel sind in Deutschland auf Anfrage bei TESCO Org. erhältlich.