News

September 1, 1999...

• Today is the official end of The Kettle Black Zine. We will no longer be accepting submissions for review (or for anything else). A few more reviews may be posted in the next week or so as they come in from the other writers so check back if you'd like. Thanks to all who supported the zine for the year that it existed. I look forward to keeping in touch with many of you for other reasons. Sincerely - J Mundok

• Nifty Quote - "Electronic Music...to a lot of people, the phrase brings to mind space music, computer beeps and blips, and stodgy engineers splicing tape. This is NOT what I do. It is a very rapidly expanding and creative form of art. It is on the frontier of modern music. It is something I hope to help gain more respect for. What do I mean by digital audio art? A lot of things. For example, I might start by creating waveforms from scratch and edit like crazy. I might compose something electronically or accoustically and digitally edit it to get something new and different. I might create a composition from samples. It's all about CREATION. It's all about making something NEW. It's all about being different."
  --Damien Moody, electronic musician: Website

• Cool Link - Check out this cybercast, I know you'll like it...http://www.cyberage.cx/

August 14, 1999...

• Cool Links - Check out the Imperial Orgy at: The Orgy Web Site

• New Releases - The latest release from Fusion Audio Recordings is now available. NEBEL by German minimal-ambient artist Stillstand is the label's 4th release. Stillstand's Martin Steinebach describes this release, his second, as "music to drive through fog to". Considering NEBEL's foggy, mystical quality this is an accurate description. NEBEL is available by mail order for $6 (postage paid within the US). See Digital Intersect's mailorder catalog at http://www.digital-intersect.com/catalog.htm

  Astral Prune's latest, a collection of house-inspired recordings, titled ACID RESERVOIR is now available on cassette through Digital Intersect's Tape Distro http://www.digital-intersect.com/tapedistro.htm

  New CD's from Zzaj Productions:
  CHARLIE SAIBEL: Some rawkin' r&b that'll get you MOVIN'!

  TEXAS TWISTER: Elton Houck is now selling 2 fantastic volumes of indie musicians work on our page(s).

  CONTINUUM: John Alkins plays some original solo piano compositions! This is truly inspiring music!

  PSYCHEDELIC LANDSCAPES: Features spontaneous singing/vocals by Zzaj, with unique sonic paintings by Ernesto Diaz-Infante!

  WHERE SHADOWS SPEAK: This CD has more traditional poetry by Zzaj, supported by musical adventures by Ernesto Diaz-Infante!

  For ordering info from Zzaj Productions: http://www.olywa.net/rotcod/CDS.htm

• Free CD's - Fusion Audio Recordings is giving away free copies of some of their latest releases to randomly chosen visitors to the Digital Intersect web page. All you have to do is follow the "Free CDs" link and fill out the contact info entry form. This month they're giving away a couple copies of the new CD from Laced, A BARREN WASTELAND WAITING TO HAPPEN. Click www.digital-intersect.com for more...

• DI Compilation Deadline Extended - The deadline for submissions for the upcoming Infinity Paradox compilation has been extended to September 17. For more info on submitting a track for this compilation see the compilation info page. www.digital-intersect.com/compilation.htm

• Nifty Quotes - "To me, trance music is a hypnotic thing, and a seductive one. It gradually draws the listener into a light stage of hypnosis. It lifts the person out of his or her everyday routine and 'trance ports' them into an altered state in which one's thoughts can travel. To me, trance music is an abstract construct rather than actual instruments. It can be rock guitars, it can be world beat drums; it can be synths, it can be factory machines, it can be pretty, it can be dissonant, it can be gentle, it can be aggressive, it can even be environmental. Oftentimes, it can be more than one of these things at the same time. This is deep music that leaves much for the listener to come back to, again and again." --musician Barry Craig, of the band A Produce. Web Site

  "Imagine discovering an instrument that is modeled after the flow of life; that can serve as a direct extension, radiator, and articulator of a composer's view; that embodies the collective thoughts of visionaries in the sciences and the arts; that invites the composer to enter into a circuit with activity and meditation; that beams energy to the composer's center, which transforms and reflects it into unique and ephemeral forms analogous to that center's perspective, biases, inclinations and tendencies. IMAGINE THAT INSTRUMENT. It is an electronic wave instrument, a "SYNTHESIZER". Electric waves that offer a synthesis of perspectives, a virtual history of science and art to the real time composer/performer." ­-Intelligentsia Web Site

August 9, 1999...

• New Releases - Jack Kettle records has released the first full length disc from Jesters Longevity. "Analog Dub Report" mixes ambient, trance and some serious-ass dub for a super sonic buffet of experimental sound. The limited edition special box packaging is available NOW from JKr. Visit the web site for details

  London based independent label Fi Sci Records has released 'eclipse of the moon and falling star' the first album of Fi Sci fellow travellers including Kumo, Nostramus, The Lord's Garden, Hotel Full of Cops, Chalk Hill, Mikey B, Ute, Brett Schieber, Luminous, listen.to/the_sound, Hungry 5 Thousand, New Era. Check out the web site here.

  Germany's own Serge Blenner, is pleased to announce the release of his latest album, "ARS ORATORIA." Blenner's latest effort boasts 21 compositions at over 72 minutes of his special blend of electronic, contemporary, space, orchestral, progressive ambient, symphonic music. You can sample some tracks in RealAudio G2 format and order the CD at the official web site

  Here's some new stuff from Don Campau's Lonely Whistle Distro:
  + LIARS PARADISE an intriguing look at deception and confusion.Swirling voices and strange sounds by Cincinnati’s MATT FRANTZ. CD
  + GRAPHIC VERSES another MATT FRANTZ production with emphasis on tortured self imagery. Imagine a weirder Reznor.CD.
  + ANTHONY DISTEFANO unique electronic landscapes. (cassette)
  + AMY K outstanding folk rock from this wonderfgul singer songwriter. Do not miss it! (cassette)
  + CLIFF BROWNE JR. "The History Of Clowns" great lo-fi pop (cassette)
  + FOUL LICK "Explorting The Bulbous Drain" very strange eclectic madness K7
  All cassettes and mini discs are $5 postpaid and all CDs are $10 postpaid. Trades on tapes only at this time. Click here for details on ordering.

  Rainy Days is the debut album from Liquid Fiction. Tom Vota has created a masterpiece of pure synthpop, paying tribute to bands such as Depeche Mode, Cause & Effect, and OMD while creating a fresh sound entirely his own. Brian Hazard of Color Theory produced the album and provided backup vocals. Liquid Fiction's dance beats, catchy melodies, and thoughtful lyrics are sure to please lovers of both the old and new generations of electronic music. Check out the official web site

• Magazine - DESCENT no. 5 magazine $7 us / $8 world
  the "death issue" featuring COIL, BLOOD AXIS, BOYD RICE, DER BLUTHARSCH, VALEFOR, DREAM INTO DUST, ORPLID, TURBUND STURMWERK, ERNTE, and many more, plus uncountable reviews. glossy siver & blue cover, 60 pages with very few ads and excellent design. very few in stock and selling out everywhere quickly. Please see www.chthonicstreams.com/catalog.html for ordering details...coming soon:
  VALEFOR 7" dedicated to the art of AUSTIN OSMAN SPARE
  A MURDER OF ANGELS 'while you sleep' CD (the sound of damnbient)
  CHTHONIC STREAMS WEBSITE NOW UPDATED

• SMP On Tour - Beginning September 1st, SMP, Seattle's only elektro-punk-cyber-rap band is plotting another strike on America's club circuit. They'll be performing in clubs across the country starting in the Mid-West and bringing it full-circle wrapping up in Northern California early October. SMP's live show is not to be missed. Their sound is an intense fusion of alternative rap and industrial dance. Combine it with the bands natural flair for all things percussive, raw rap-punk vocals, spark-shooting metal grinders and occasional pyrotechnics and you have an amazing over all experience. official web site for details

• Cool Links - "Delores Darling" is a collection of bizarre-crime stories set in pre-Olympic Atlanta. It features a lovable, but psychotic woman seeking Heaven through bizarre and often deadly good deeds. Check it out here http://deloresdarling.8m.com

  World Music-Jazz-Ambient-Persian-Indian Fusion Label at http://www.xdot25.com

  TWISTED HELICES band page: http://www.twisted-helices.com/th/ - "twisted self-indulgent avant-garde experimental free music"

July 30, 1999...

• Upcoming Release - For the next Neutron Project album, “The Harlequin Shadow,” Issac Neutron has started to experiment with music generators which create sounds out of data/bitmaps/text/fractals. Neutron says, “I still want to keep that [ambient] atmosphere but I want longer songs and more weirdness. I’m fed up with ‘structure’ (even though I never really stuck to it) and I want some otherworldlyness inhabiting my speakers. Happiness is an empty sequencer and a blank floppy disk.” Check out the Neutron Project website.

• Cool Link - Sound Traffic Control is a San Francisco-based media arts assemblage that features a unique, real-time spatial audio system through which musicians, engineers, conductors, sound designers, and DJs can work together as an interwoven, surround-sound orchestra. Performers in STC’s events vary according to ever-changing flight-plans and film scripts. After years of research and development, and numerous prototype performances here and abroad, a fresh crew has emerged to help navigate a live 3-D musical instrument. Sound Traffic Control is also a metaphor: the air traffic controllers in the 3-D surround hub pilot airborne musical cargo ships from different parts of STC’s sound world, utilizing separate and simultaneous taxis, takeoffs and landings. The audience members are passengers who roam runways intersecting the dynamic musical trajectories.

• Artist at a Glance - With songs ranging from minimal melodic to heavy electro to danceable EBM, Decoded Feedback began in 1992 with the collaboration of Marco Biagiotti and Yone Dudas in Aosta, Italy. Their distinctive individual cultures (Italian and Canadian) and the perspective differences that exist between man and woman merged to form a unique hybrid style of dark electronic music. As a result, their musical arrangements transcend not only national and continental boundaries, but also the boundaries that exist between the sexes. In the beginning, their goal was to combine the spirit of punk with the cold perfection of electronic music, but as time went on, their sound developed more into the dark electro-industrial sound they embrace today.

July 19, 1999...

• The collaboration concert via Internet between american composer PAULINE OLIVEROS and argentinian band REYNOLS will be Friday August 27th at 7PM (Buenos Aires) and 6PM (New York) [please check time difference in your place]. Pauline Oliveros will play his microtonal accordion with Monique Buzzarte (trombone) and Kevin Mccoy (computer processing) at The Thing (New York). Reynols (Miguel Tomasin -drums & voice-, Robeto Conlazo -electric guitar-, Anla Courtis -electric guitar-) will play at the I.C.I. (Buenos Aires). The event will be available in real time (audio & video) on the Web.

  Beyond this netcast will be soon available a “remix” album that Reynols made with Pauline Oliveros live stuff, that is called “Pauline Oliveros in the Arms of Reynols.” White Tapes (Prince St. Station, P.O. Box 646, New York 10012, USA. russ@matador.recs.com) will release it as a CD+Tape in a limited, numbered and spraypainted edition with bagged sand.

  Pauline Oliveros composer, performer, philosopher and author has influenced contemporary music extensively through her works with improvisation, electronic music and Deep Listening Meditations. Reynols is a Buenos Aires-based band leaded by a drummer who has Down’s Syndrome that currently employs self-designed homemade electric guitars and diverse other instruments. This netcast is a sound embrace from two distant worlds.

• Capt. Rootbeer, of the talented experimental-synthpop band Port, has a noteworthy side project called Zillion Kisses. It’s an album of emo-pop-rock in the fine tradition of The Cure, with hilarious soundbytes from the film “Waiting for Guffman” sprinkled throughout. Check out the Zillion Kisses website for a couple of free sample tracks.

July 9, 1999...

• Cool Link - Music ramblings features tons of concert reviews, album reviews, and interviews; the DiY guide to making music; the Cheesy Primus Page; the Twisted Helices band page; the Free Music Philosophy; and more!

June 12, 1999...

• Coming Soon - Drew Maxwell of the indie band Redshift announces that his next album will be recorded by Tom Ferris, songwriter for Moev and producer for Ministry, FLA, and Skinny Puppy. Maxwell (based in Charlotte, NC) has been working with Ferris for over a month now, recording tracks in Logic and sending them via Hotline to him in Vancouver over cable modems. Maxwell will also play guitar on the upcoming Moev album, as well as tour with the band as a guitarist.

• New Release - Jeff Danos of Testube announces the release of his new album, “Bioplaza.” Danos describes Testube as “emotionally charged electronic synth textures created to replicate human dreams and intuitions. Through the use of extensive synthetic layering and ambient textures, I attempt to create kinetic atmospheres of emotion. I have never really considered my music to be true ‘industrial’ music, although that is the easiest category for people to group me in. I admit to being heavily influenced by industrial, ebm, aggrepo, and the new wave of the mid-to-late eighties.”

• Coming Soon - An upcoming 2-CD compilation from Palace of Worms will include 22 bands each contributing a song dedicated to a different Tarot card from the major arcana. Among the bands will be DREAM INTO DUST, EACH DAWN I DIE, VALEFOR, AUTUMN TEARS, THE SOIL BLEEDS BLACK, 4th SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE, LORETTA’S DOLL, ENDURA, BLEEDING LIKE MINE, ARCANTA, and DEAD LEAVES RISING. The set will include Tarot cards created by TSBB’s Michael Riddick. The set has been organised in collaboration with BLACK magazine in Germany. An autumn 1999 release date is anticipated. For more information, see the Chthonic Streams website.

• Cool Link - The Left Leg is an illustrated web-based monthly magazine that recently debuted as “independent music’s most misunderstood” venture. With articles, columns, cartoons, poetry, music reviews, and plain old twisted stuff, this is one of the most disturbingly entertaining zines you’re likely to come across.

• Cool Link - Audioparagon is an electronic music resource site with reviews, news, and an “Obscure Track of the Week” feature with several RealAudio and MP3 files.

• Resource - Don Campau of Lonely Whistle music and distribution has released his 1999/2000 Contact Sheet of cool websites, home recording artists, independent small studio productions, radio programmers, zines, and e-zines. To receive this free resource, send an email to campaudj@jps.net or write to Don Campau, PO Box 9162, Santa Rosa CA 95405.

May 5, 1999...

• On 26 April 1999, DREAM INTO DUST 'the world we have lost' CD was released on the european cult label ELFENBLUT (a division of MISANTHROPY). The 50-minute+ CD brings together most of the elements heard so far in the work of both DREAM INTO DUST and its previous incarnation DECEMBER and expands them further. Waves of dark orchestral strings, dissonant acoustic guitars, pounding rhythms, and chunks of distorted noise are the apocalyptic backdrop for lyrics filled with sadness and decay. A range of vocal styles are used, from clean to breathy, to gutteral and spoken. A seamless hybrid of industrial, neoclassical folk, and gothic/doom. Experimental sounds and rhythms become songs, and flow into one another as part of a larger whole. Check out their Web site for more information.

• NO PIGEONHOLES broadcasts home tapes and small studio productions from around the world. Don Campau accepts all styles of music or sound for airplay. He can also send you copies of the show on tape if you send him a blank C60 for each hour your want. Check playlists here or listen to NO PIGEONHOLES by following the links at KKUP.com (U.S.) or radioMarabu (Europe).

• Android Lust has announced availability of their new CD "Evolution," which is now available for order. A tour is also in the planning stages. Find out more from their Web site.

• Middle Pillar has added many new items to its extensive online catalog, including new material from such groups as Android Lust, Aphex Twin, Coil, and Vampire Nation. Check it out!

April 20, 1999...

• Chocolate Grinder's Oceans can now be ordered in Australia through Ground Under Productions.

• A remix by Kelly Stewart has just completed for Seattle's Noxious Emotion. It was done for the track The Unknown from their latest release Symbols. Check out www.adsr.com for more info.

• Dead Composeur has couple of new tracks recorded that are on their website.

• Chocolate Grinder, Dead Composeur & Luxt will play the Gordon Best Theatre, 216 Hunter St. West, Peterborough, Ontario on Thursday April 29/99. All ages welcome, $4 in advanced, $5 at the door which opens at 8pm.

April 10, 1999...

• The Kettle Black contact information has been updated on the contact page. Submissions are now being accepted for review. Thanks to Craig, Michael, Deon and Gub for the help. And thank you for supporting these pages. Unfortunately the printed versions of The Kettle Black are no longer available. Please continue to support underground music and zines.

• A new streaming audio "Captive Jukebox" has been added to the Captive Audience website, offering new, unreleased, and yet-to-be-released music from the band. This virtual jukebox was designed and programmed by Captive Audience. Check it out here

• Mysterio Tribe Productions announces the release of the long awaited ph balance album on DAEMON RECORDS...more information

• Port has released an incredible new album called "Breaking Up" based entirely around one telephone conversation. Go to Cuddlebot Recordings for more

• Bedazzled has released a new sampler for only $5 (postage-paid in the US; Canadian orders add $1; all other foreign orders add $3) and features 14 Bedazzled tunes. The first seven are exclusive tracks from: AN APRIL MARCH, THE CURTAIN SOCIETY, DIFFERENCE ENGINE, THE FREED UNIT, HALOU, JOHN SIMS, and SIDDAL. We've also included one album track from each.Go to the official web site for more

• DIE SONNE SATANS : ARCHIVE COMPENDIUM CD
  from germany's DARK VINYL comes a new collection of unsettling dark ambience from the vaults of this respected but sadly defunct underground outfit. swirling waves of effected keyboards and other ethereal touches, with a disturbing undercurrent that sucks the listener in. uniquely shifting and pronounced textures separate them from the other artists in this genre, making this a must for ambient and experimental fans alike. experience an alternate sonic universe hovering just outside reality. the true soundtrack of the cosmos. ...for pricing and ordering info

• DREAM INTO DUST full-length CD out 26 april 1999 on ELFENBLUT RECORDS...more on DID

February 22, 1999...

• Captive Audience has been formally commissioned to provide BMW Deutschland with several pieces of music to accompany commercial video footage.For the last two weeks, the band has been in the studio preparing exclusive extended instrumental versions of several songs for BMW. Keep your eye out for BMW cars driving to the beat of Captive Audience. OFFICIAL WEB SITE

• Skully Records is looking for Rockabilly influenced music with a darker sound and subject matter for a Gothabilly compilation. Anyone interested in this project send a demo of the material to Skully ecords 47-22 39th Pl 2nd fl Sunnyside, NY 11104 USA attn. Kevin. More: OFFICIAL WEB SITE

February 8, 1999...

• CurrentNinetyThree and Christoph Heemann in stripped down form will be playing 3 shows in New York at TONIC. On March 4 and 5 as CurrentNinetyThree will be Michael Cashmore, Christoph Heemann and David Tibet. Christoph Heemann and Special Guest will play a show on the 6th. Tickets will be limited to 150 per night. C93 WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS

January 31, 1999...

• Beggars Banquet is offering you the opportunity to build your own Bauhaus CD. The CD is available for $15.89 plus applicable shipping through February 15. Follow this link to see what I'm talking about: Click Here For the Skinny

• There will be a Jarboe Benefit Concert at Bowery Ballroom in New York on Feb 10 featuring M.Gira (ex-Swans ANGELS OF LIGHT), The Moonlighters (ex-Helmet and Pain Teens), D.J. Otesfu (A.K.A. J.G. THIRLWELL), Maggie Estep and more. Visit the official SWANS site for more: OFFICIAL WEB SITE

• The Chris and Cosey and CTI Records web site has been overhauled and they are now accepting credit card orders: OFFICIAL WEB SITE

• MIDDLE PILLAR has released the "what is eternal" compilation blending apocalyptic folk, darkambient/experimental and neoclassical styles. The disc is available only as a special digipak lImited edition of 1000 and featurings exclusive tracks from Dream Into Dust, Loretta's Doll, The Machine In the Garden, Jarboe and more...The compilation can be ordered through the Cthonic Streams web site: OFFICIAL WEB SITE

January 25, 1999...

• Captive Audience will appear on a new compilation album entitled The Smell of Success Vol. 2. Published by Gajoob, the CD will be distributed nationwide in May. Captive Audience's track "Bring Your Pillow--Gajoob Mix" will be featured on the CD, and a profile of the band is slated to appear in Gajoob Magazine. Official Web Site

• Ryan of Flatline Construct has joined Toronto's Chocolate Grinder on electronic percussion. Meanwhile, Flatline Construct's "Audible Resolve" CD will be released in Late January 1999 by the White Tapes label. This release will be limited to 50 copies. Web: Flatline Construct and Chocolate Grinder

• The second issue of In_Faction, the electro, industrial and experimental zine, is now available by sending $2.50 ppd to: In_Faction, P.O. Box 127, Cottekill, NY 12419. This issue features Mentallo & The Fixer, Sielwolf, Contagion and more. Official Web Site

January 17, 1999...

• "As one aflame laid bare by desire", the new black tape for a blue girl album, was released by Projekt on January 12: Official Web Site

• Issue #3 of the Digital Intersect zine is now available featuring Coil's John Balance, Japanese noise merchant Merzbow, Eric Pounder & Dropstar: Click Here to Order

• "Across For Show", Mara's Torment's new album, was released on Baby Bat Boy Productions. The album is 10 tracks of dark ambient instrumentals and features the artwork of Katie Miranda: Official Web Site