Category: Live Reports (Page 26 of 37)

HEAVEN 17 + BLANCMANGE Live at Bedford Corn Exchange

Following the success of their joint gig at Manchester Academy earlier this year, two of Synth Britannia’s best loved combos HEAVEN 17 and BLANCMANGE have been doing the rounds on ‘The Tour Of Synthetic Delights’.

In 1984, former HEAVEN 17 member Ian Craig Marsh declared to Smash Hits that BLANCMANGE were his favourite band while a link was first forged back in 1981 when Martyn Ware produced the demos that eventually got BLANCMANGE signed to London Records.

BLANCMANGE arrived on stage in their current live trio incarnation all clothed in lab coats with front man Neil Arthur staring at the crowd like an eccentric but cool university professor. Opening with ‘Game Above My Head’, he waved a telescopic inspection mirror like a golf club as if to substantiate the impression! The set comprised predominately of crowd pleasers such as ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me’ while ‘Living On The Ceiling’ appeared midway through and was effectively turned into a terrace chant as the audience sang the main theme.

But best of all was an emotive ‘Waves’, now reworked and sounding even more like early OMD than ever before. A nod to BLANCMANGE’s most recent album ‘Blanc Burn’ came with the groovy ‘WDYF’. Meanwhile a charismatic Ian Curtis meets David Byrne intensity made its presence felt on blistering ‘Happy Families Too…’ versions of ‘I Can’t Explain’ and ‘Feel Me’. In all, it was a synthetic delight from the lean and mean Mr Arthur to warm up the evening’s proceedings.

HEAVEN 17 began their part of the bargain with ‘Circus Of Death’, an old HUMAN LEAGUE song from Martyn Ware’s days in the band. Always known for varying their setlists regularly with assorted League numbers and cover versions, one of the attractions of this particular H17 jaunt was the promise of new material, the first since 2005’s ‘Before After’.

On a likely direction, Martyn Ware said in May 2013: “it’s still in the birthing stage but I think we want to make it very electronic and stripped down… we always start off with this intention but it always ends up epic!!” In Spring 2014, Glenn Gregory added: “At the moment, it’s fairly loose… I’m doing that deliberately, the drum tracks are very basic and I’d say as guide, the tracks are more like the electronic side of ‘Penthouse & Pavement’ than ‘The Luxury Gap’ or ‘How Men Are’” – the first of the new tunes aired was ‘Illumination’.

An electro funk groove in the vein of ‘Penthouse And Pavement’ developed into a FULL FORCE / LISA LISA / CULT JAM romp. And with a fabulous Stylophone styled solo to boot, it was as if THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘Crash’ album had gone right! The second new song ‘Pray’ began like early HUMAN LEAGUE, its metronomic avant first half transforming with slap bass runs and rhythm guitar via ’Young Americans’ era Bowie into that synth soul hybrid which HEAVEN 17 have been known and loved for.

Of course, the hits were present too like the still sadly relevant ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’, ‘Let Me Go’ and ‘Come Live With Me’ plus a pleasant surprise in the newly revived 1984 ode to nuclear apocalypse ‘Sunset Now’. And the glamourous soul sistas Billie Godfrey and Rachel Mosleh gave their all to a wonderfully extended and exuberant ‘Temptation’… yes DEPECHE MODE, this is how to breathe new life into your best known song and it doesn’t involve tedious drum solos!

To finish, there was a cover of Bowie’s ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ with Ware adding some mad Eno-esque squelches via his Roland V-Synth. Meanwhile during ‘Being Boiled’, live keyboardist Berenice Scott maintained her position as “possibly the sexiest lady ever to have got behind a synthesizer” when she left her stand to almost come to the front of the stage with her Roland AX keytar and demonstrate the beauty of the synthesizer.

The Bedford leg of ‘The Tour Of Synthetic Delights’ was a fantastically entertaining evening that proved heritage events with key acts from the Synth Britannia era can be both nostalgic and credible if the line-up is right. Promoters take note… it doesn’t have to be a cheese fest like ‘Here & Now’!


HEAVEN 17 ‘Illumination’ b/w ‘Pray’ is available as a limited edition 12” vinyl single from www.heaven17.com

https://www.facebook.com/heaven17official

BLANCMANGE ‘Happy Families Too…’ and ‘Blanc Burn’ are available on CD from www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic


Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
15th November 2014

MUS_IIC Festival.01 Featuring WRANGLER, GAZELLE TWIN + MINNY POPS

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MemeTune, the acclaimed London studio and label curated its first festival just down the road from its base in Hoxton at Shoreditch’s Red Gallery.

Although lacking in natural ventilation, the sociable art space proved to be a fine venue to host live electronic music with several luminaries from the music scene present including Hannah Peel, Serafina Steer, James Nice, Anais Neon, Martin Swan and err… Bobby Gillespie! Proceedings started at precisely 7.41pm with cult Dutch combo MINNY POPS who are probably best known for being signed to Factory Records and supporting JOY DIVISION at the notorious Bury gig in 1980 which ended in a riot.

Formed in 1978 and named after the 1967 Keio Minupops 7 rhythm box and not the dodgy children’s entertainment show produced by Mike Mansfield, it began with vocalist Wally van Middendorp standing in the audience, blindfolded and silent for what felt like 10 minutes before holding a placard which announced “FAC57 NOT FUC57… Secret Story revisited” and launching into the track itsellf.

It was all very art school and prolonged, but there appeared to be a glint of sly Low Countries humour lurking.

A new song ‘Patti Hurst’ followed as coruscating guitars, mournful string synths and the band’s trademark drum machine reverbed around the venue like INTERPOL trapped down a well.

Wally van Middendorp was charismatic if nothing else with his dead fly moves and deathly baritone… it all rather made JOY DIVISION sound like STEPS. With their early albums ‘Drastic Measures Drastic Movement’ and ‘Sparks In A Dark Roomm’ out now as 2CD deluxe packages via Factory Benelux, MINNY POPS’ polarising experimentation is being re-investigated by a new audience if nothing else.

With the level of the PA raised a notch, the rumbling sub bass caused part of the lighting rig to judder and drop off the front of the stage just before the fierce and uncompromising GAZELLE TWIN commenced her set. Sounding tune-based in comparison with MINNY POPS, GAZELLE TWIN aka Elizabeth Bernholz stalked the stage like a caged animal, occasionally dropping to her knees to (almost) worship her loop pedal.

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In what was the most minimal of set-ups, a hooded programmer / sample player triggered and manipulated a tiny podium-based sample pad whilst Bernholz projected a completely asexual persona. With her facial features disguised with a sheer stocking mask and dressed in a deliberately unflattering hooded track suit tucked into a pair of sports socks, the cumulative effect was to focus the listener on the music.

Bernholz admits to being a nervous / anxious performer, donning a mask and anti-fashion dress code in an attempt to distance herself from the standard “LOOK AT ME!” stage persona – if anything, this unique approach makes GAZELLE TWIN even more voyeuristically watchable.

Unlike much current electronic music, there was very little common frames of reference here, songs from current album ‘Unflesh’ drifted into each other, shards of melody occasionally appearing, then disappearing and the vocal hook “It’s coming at me” of the album’s title track being the most memorable of the evening.

What impressed most was Bernholz’s vocal range and ability to switch into different styles, this combined with a charismatic stage presence meant that the Red Gallery crowd were held in rapture fully for the duration of their 40 minute set.

With the headline act WRANGLER approaching, it became apparent that most of the Red Gallery audience were here to see Stephen Mallinder’s new outfit as the crowd significantly filled out during the break after GAZELLE TWIN.

In the seminal ‘Made in Sheffield’ documentary, another former CABARET VOLTAIRE member Chris Watson ruminated as to what the ‘perfect Cabaret Voltaire performance’ would be, whether it was driving around Sheffield city centre in a van blaring out their music or even in a public toilet somewhere.

But tonight the Shoreditch venue with its superb sound system suited WRANGLER perfectly, the gloomy and arty ambience although initially intimidating, suiting the dark / dystopian sound of the band to a tee. On the left of the stage, John Foxx’s right hand man Benge spent most of the performance hammering away at a minimal twin pad drum synth whilst on the other side of a centrally placed Mallinder was Phil Winter who handled synths and MIDI controllers.

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With just one album under their collective belts, most of the evening material was taken up with tracks from ‘LA Spark’ with the title track, ‘Lava Land’ and a Kaoss Pad driven ‘Mus_IIC’ all getting strong outings. The biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for a faithful version of The Cabs’ ‘Sensoria’, the sequenced riffs and danceable drum patterns getting the crowd really moving.

What also impressed was the use of front screen projection onto a curtain in front of the act, the recognisable WRANGLER “W” logo and a variety of semi-3D computer graphics appeared to float hypnotically in front of the band during their hour set. Drawing the set to close, the final track of the night was a re-worked version of ‘Crackdown’.

Despite the dark nature of their material, Mallinder and the rest of WRANGLER seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves throughout and the combination of the diverse acts on the bill made this a perfect way to enjoy a Saturday nights electronic music. On the strength of tonight’s event, it can only be a matter of time before we get MUS_IIC Festival.02.


With thanks to Steve Malins at Random PR

WRANGLER ‘LA Spark’ is released by MemeTune

GAZELLE TWIN ‘Unflesh’ is released by Anti-Ghost Moon Ray / Last Gang

MINNY POPS ‘Drastic Measures Drastic Movement’ and ‘Sparks In A Dark Room’ are released by Factory Benelux

https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Wrangler/1389558817973207

http://www.gazelletwin.com/

http://minnypops.com/

http://memetune.net


Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai and Paul Boddy
23rd October 2014

 

SIRO-A Live at Leicester Square Theatre

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Japanese interactive theatrical performance combo SIRO-A have been making a splash in the UK with guest appearances at ambassadorial culture events such as Hyper Japan and Japan Matsuri.

They also won the ‘Spirit Of The Fringe’ award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2011. Steadily, their audience has been building and they are now back with an autumn residency at the Leicester Square Theatre, deep in the heart of the London’s West End, for a third successive year.

Their name is derived from the Japanese word for ‘white’.

SIRO-A are often seen as Japan’s answer to BLUE MAN GROUP, the acclaimed international multi-media mime act… but err, white! Now if Neo from ‘The Matrix’ took the blue pill and went clubbing, then SIRO-A is what he might see.

SIRO-A’s show was a dynamic, theatrical slice of entertainment fusing tightly choreographed mime, computer generated visual effects, optical illusions and a Technodelic backbone… musically, there are some parallels to YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA’s same titled album of experimental rhythm construction and sonic interplay.

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The music was controlled by on stage DJ Kentaro Homma, while to his side was visual director Daichi Norikane who blended the show’s distinct aura. At the front though were versatile performance artists Fumiya, Toshiya Arai, Keiji Miya and Yohei.

Strangely as people took to their seats, the foursome were mingling with the audience and true to Japanese stereotype, having photos taken with them… little did they know they were about to become part of the show!

With a sharp electro soundtrack, SIRO-A had the crowd immersed in their own iPad game with a series of sketches that required lightning sharp human interaction with the pre-programmed graphics and laser effects while clothed in bizarre but futuristic costumes. Imagine six Chris Lowes dressed as Lieutenant Commander La Forge of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ moving to the music of PET SHOP BOYS ‘Relentless’ crossed with LOGIC SYSTEM. It was a highly enticing spectacle but also witty and humourous.

There was a tribute to Nintendo’s Mario who literally danced across the stage with the performers using only hand held screens to catch the fast moving projections while a series of white cubes were also used to colourful effect in a similar fashion to PET SHOP BOYS ‘Pandemonium’ tour while synchronised to a mutant chiptune. Indeed, SIRO-A and PET SHOP BOYS would make a rather interesting visual combination.

Siro-A game

In a break from technology, there was a homage to cinema with amusing tributes of films such as ‘Skyfall’, ‘Rocky’, Rambo’, ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Singing In The Rain’ but with the visuals and even characters from those movies amusingly transformed on the screen into block capital letters.

Then there followed an affectionate send-up of Japanese culture with Sumos, Ninjas, Samurais, Yoko Ono and Pikachu all referenced before a Pythonesque animated foot stamped the end to the proceedings.

The show was then temporarily halted as SIRO-A endearingly filmed selected members of the audience shouting and waving to camera. The final two girls who participated were asked to scream the word “HAPPY”… and in a flash, all the segments were sampled and manipulated into a hilarious rendition of PHARELL WILLIAMS ‘Happy’ promptly danced to by the troupe!

But to finish the main part of the show, SIRO-A gave a rapidfire performance of their calling card routine ‘Barcode Man’. A frantic cerebral cacophony of white light polarised against a sea of black, the robotic moves combined with hypnotic but enjoyable technopop to demonstrate why SIRO-A have been impressing audiences around the world. As effectively non-verbal entertainment, SIRO-A have overcome any language and cultural barriers with the bonus of being able to be enjoyed by all generations.

And in less than an hour, it was all over. There was a short encore synching the photos from the pre-show mingling to an ensemble dance finale but SIRO-A left observers wanting more. And that’s how it should be. Theatre experiences in the West End can often be gruelling affairs to those more used to a live gig setting. But SIRO-A did not outstay their welcome and formed a perfect bridge between visual theatre and electronic music. They are a wonderful futuristic adventure into escapism.


SIRO-A flyerWith thanks to Georgina Hayward at Team International

SIRO-A have regular matinee and evening performances at the Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BX until 11TH JANUARY 2015

For more information, visit the SIRO-A website or Leicester Square Theatre for tickets

http://siro-a.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/SiroAUK

http://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/


Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th October 2014

An Evening with BERNARD SUMNER


Chapter & Verse – NEW ORDER, JOY DIVISION & Me

The history of JOY DIVISION and NEW ORDER is so fascinating, it is unsurprising that two films ’24 Hour Party People’ and ‘Control’ have been made using elements of those stories. However, those productions have been focussed around Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson and the short life of JOY DIVISION singer Ian Curtis respectively.

Books about the period meanwhile have been a plenty, starting with the Mark Johnson’s ‘An Ideal For Living – A History Of Joy Division & New Order’, progressing to Mick Middles’ ‘From Joy Division to New Order – The Factory Story’, ‘Touching From A Distance’ by Ian Curtis’ widow Deborah and more recently, ‘Unknown Pleasures’ by bass player Peter Hook.

But now, Bernard Sumner, a founder member of both iconic bands, has finally opened out to tell his side of the story with the publication of his memoirs entitled ‘Chapter & Verse – New Order, Joy Division & Me’. With luminaries present such as Daniel Miller and Arthur Baker, the NEW ORDER front man launched the book at a special event at London’s Waterstones book shop in Trafalgar Square with The Guardian’s Dave Simpson steering the conversation.

Sumner described it as containing “the stuff that matters” with “answers to questions that have never been asked”. While NEW ORDER’s hedonistic antics have been widely documented elsewhere, ‘Chapter & Verse – New Order, Joy Division & Me’ only touches on them. Instead, Sumner’s account is more personal and emotional. But it also contains his well-known sharpness and wit.

In the ensuing chat, Sumner reflected on his tough but happy childhood in Salford which he suggested had hardened him to overcome the tragic events that were to follow. This inevitably led to a discussion on the late Ian Curtis; Sumner had attempted hypnotic regression to persuade the enigmatic JOY DIVISION singer to escape his death wish in the weeks before his suicide.

This session was recorded on cassette and has been transcribed as an appendix for the book… it does not make easy reading but it is a intriguing historical document that puts into further context, the mindset of Ian Curtis. “It was my feeble attempt to try and unlock something that might be causing him all the troubles he was having” Sumner added. But Curtis is remembered by his friend as “a good guy” who woke up “from a dream only to find that the dream was actually happening” and that “love was literally tearing him apart”.

Interestingly, although having now spent almost 37 years in the business, Sumner confessed he was not into music until his late teens but the change came via the emotive Ennio Morricone soundtracks of the Sergio Leone directed Spaghetti Westerns such as ‘The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly’, ‘For A Few Dollars More’ and ‘Once A Upon A Time In The West’.

Anyone who has listened closely to ‘Elegia’, ‘Ruined In A Day’ or even ‘Blue Monday’ will recognise how these soundscapes helped shape NEW ORDER’s aural template plus of course, the band have been taking to the stage accompanied by the haunting melancholy of ‘The Ecstacy Of Gold’. On the profound effect these movies had on him, Sumner pointed out “what had gone before was corny John Wayne films, the Indians were bad and the cowboys were good! Suddenly, you had these weird Italian Western films that were shot in a spectacular way and EVERYONE in the film was bad, no-one was good!”

In the corresponding open Q&A with the attentive and appreciative audience, Sumner hinted as to the direction of the new NEW ORDER album with good news for anyone who may have been disappointed by ‘Get Ready’ and ‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’; “It’s quite electronic in nature” he announced.

On why the more recent NEW ORDER albums had been more guitar focussed, he commented that at the start of the noughties, electronic music had become “a bit too compartmentalised for my tastes… you couldn’t just write a good electronic song, it had to be about what genre it was, and that ‘you can’t play that piano sound, it’s not allowed anymore! You can’t use that beat’… so when you start applying these kinds of rules to music, it becomes boring”.

But he said: “electronic music has become more open and free” and after his break from synthesizers, he had “fallen in love with them again”. There were also clues as to the form the artwork would take with the news that the legendary Peter Saville would be on board as with NEW ORDER’s other albums.

“Peter’s got more and more minimalist… one of the ideas is to put a simple line across the album… but in nice colours!” quipped Sumner to laughter from the audience. But apparently when Sumner met up with Saville a few weeks later to green light the concept, the perfectionist graphic design icon apparently said: “yeah, I’ve been thinking about getting rid of the line!”. Chuckling away, Sumner told everyone: “You should see his business card, you need a magnifying glass to read it!”

Before the Q&A though, Sumner concluded the main part of the evening with a few words about his estranged former band mate Peter Hook, the departure of whom is discussed in greater detail within the book. Asked if it was strange to carry on as NEW ORDER without the Bass Viking, Sumner sheepishly replied: “It would have been stranger carrying on with Hooky! We didn’t get rid of Hooky, he decided to go. I hope he’s happy in what he’s doing… even though he called me a c*nt!”

Overall, ‘Chapter & Verse – New Order, Joy Division & Me’ is a good, informative read with an endearing, self-deprecating sense of humour. Considering that Sumner has had to face the premature passing of close friends such as Ian Curtis, Ruth Polsky, Martin Hannett, Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson, that he has been able to maintain such positivity over the years is a considerable achievement. And with NEW ORDER having signed to Mute Records, the story continues into its next phase. Whatever happens now, it’s just ‘A Means To An End’. After all, Sumner has already crammed more into his life than most people have twenty times over.

In book’s postscript, Sumner notes: “This book is about what it means to be truly alive. It’s about operating outside the system and beating it. It’s about surviving catastrophe. It’s about hanging on to some of the things you once valued as a kid and how, along with that, just having fun can lead to – and in fact is – success. You just have to take a few steps back from life occasionally to see things how they ought to be”.

Trivia fact from the evening: The song ‘1963’ was named so because it rhymed with the word “January”!


‘Chapter & Verse: New Order, Joy Division & Me’ is published by Bantam Press

http://www.neworder.com/

https://www.facebook.com/NewOrderOfficial

http://www.neworderonline.com/


Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
3rd October 2014

DIE KRUPPS Live In London

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Whilst the whole Industrial genre of electronic music continues to struggle with its identity and overall sound (the cancellation of the recent Alt-Fest hardly helping the cause), there is always going to be a place for the innovators, those that lead and don’t follow, and such was the case at a packed Garage in Highbury.

Just getting into the venue to see DIE KRUPPS was an event itself.

The early start of the gig meant that following an Emirates cup match against Benfica, waves of Arsenal fans swept down the Highbury Crescent towards the nearest tube. Meanwhile, a motley crew of EBM / Goth and Industrial fans gallantly fought against the red tide the other way towards The Garage, prompting a few stares of disbelief and sideways glances at some of the more exotically attired DIE KRUPPS devotees!

Fortunately black and red didn’t mix in any confrontational manner and both parties wound their way to their destinations happily. DIE KRUPPS are rightly cited as a huge influence on the Industrial / EBM music scene, their 30 year career inspiring the likes of NITZER EBB, FRONT 242, DEPECHE MODE and most significantly the German masters of Industrial Metal, RAMMSTEIN.

The band now comprises of founder members Jürgen Engler on vocals and PROPAGANDA’s Ralf Dörper on synths, alongside guitarist Marcel Zürcher and American drummer Bradley Bills.

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DIE KRUPPS have adopted LOU REED’s ‘Metal Machine Music’ as a way to describe their sound and this is a pretty adept way of giving identity to their songs, each track centred around big, sequenced analogue basslines, crushing guitars, live / electronic drums and chanted lyrics. The set opened with ‘Ein Blick Zurück Im Zorn’ from current album ‘The Machinists of Joy’ and this pretty much set the tone for the evening with its fast-paced 16 step sequenced bass intro and tough, but melodic / anthemic chorus.

The track that followed, ‘The Dawning Of Doom’, really showcased how indebted RAMMSTEIN are to the band for pioneering the combination of electronics and heavy guitar textures, to the point where Til Lindemann’s group wrote ‘Tier’ as a tribute, incorporating the main riff of this DIE KRUPPS track into it.

Most of the night’s set was divided between the current album and the previous one ‘The Final Option’, but there was an extra treat when five songs in, ex-CLIENT and DUBSTAR’s Sarah Blackwood joined the band for their amped-up version of VISAGE’s ‘The Anvil’ in German, ‘Der Amboss’.

Although The Garage sound crew seemed a little unprepared for the appearance of Miss Blackwood, the band delivered a superb version which the crowd loved, especially as it gave frontman Engler a chance to use his custom-made ‘steel-o-phone’ on the anvil-bashing sections of the track.

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Highlights included ‘Robo Sapien’ with its Teutonic string line intro and chanted chorus and ‘Part Of The Machine’ which was driven by a KRAFTWERK-style hi-Q drum pattern and a catchy-as-hell high-register synth hook from Dörper. Following a thirteen song set, the band were brought back out for two encores, the first with ‘Machineries of Joy’ and ‘Crossfire’ before then for one final track ‘Bloodsuckers’, which saw Engler stood atop of his ‘steel-o-phone’ soaking up the adulation of the crowd.

It could be argued that after experiencing a DIE KRUPPS gig, they don’t have that one killer stand-out track, yet conversely this fits in with the whole machine-led / factory production-line aesthetic where songs are rolled out one after the other, and when that particular song-mould is such a strong one, why mess with die formel.

What was refreshing about tonight’s performance was that it avoided all the usual Industrial music clichés, there were no dubious synth / trance riffs or distorted 909 kicks, just a band that had stuck to its guns with a sound that eventually influenced many others to follow.

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Ralf Dörper was impeccably cool throughout, whilst his fellow band members put on a crowd-pleasing and energetic show that belied their 30 years in the industry. The turn out at The Garage will have certainly reminded DIE KRUPPS how appreciated they are and if you get a chance to catch this legendary band live, it is certainly worth it if you appreciate a harder-edged electronic sound to your music and want to be Part Of The Machine.

Setlist:

Ein Blick Zurück Im Zorn
The Dawning of Doom
Risikofaktor
Essenbeck
Der Amboss (with Sarah Blackwood)
The Machinist of Joy
Part Of The Machine
Schmutzfabrik
Robo Sapien
Metal Machine Music
To The Hilt
Nazis Auf Speed
Fatherland

Machineries of Joy
Crossfire

Bloodsuckers


‘The Machinists of Joy’ is released as a CD and download via Synthetic Symphony

http://www.diekrupps.de/

https://www.facebook.com/diekruppsofficial


Text by Paul Boddy
12th August 2014

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