ABD Editor: January 2009 Archives

Dancing Ferret Discs has announced that they have reached a deal with fellow Philadelphia label Metropolis Records to take over the release of new material for Angelspit in North America. In late 2008, Dancing Ferret Discs announced they were ceiseing to release new material, and become a catalouge only label. Dancing Ferret Discs has been working hard to help it's artists find new labels and partners to release their work.

"We'll make sure Angelspit's existing releases stay in print and are easy to find, and Metropolis is a perfect fit to handle their new albums and help continue pushing them to greater heights in the US," said DFD head Patrick Rodgers.

z00g, one half of the duo that is Angelspit, expressed his excitement at working with Metropolis: "Angelspit are very excited to be working with Metropolis in the USA, the home of some of our favorite bands like KMFDM, Combichrist and Front Line Assembly. We anticipate creative and touring possibilities will increase through this partnership and look forward to painting hell red with Metropolis."

Patrick Rodgers indicated that Europian releases for Angelspit will be handeled by a different, Europian based label, however that deal is still in the works. Information has yet to be released on what label that may be.   

"Banished Psalms", the second full length released from the New Jersey based electro act, has been mastered and is being prepped for release. In anticipation of the release, Chris Reject, mastermind behind the project, has posted three songs off the new album on the band's myspace page. Tracks posted include "Dressed in Filth", "Bloodstained", and "More to Tarnish". An official release date for the album has yet to be posted. "Banished Psalms" will be released on Hive Records in the United States, and NoiTekk in Europe. The new tracks can be found at www.myspace.com/lifecried

Nitzer Ebb's management announced today that their latest record is complete and being finalized. Management also announced that the band is still looking for new partners for the release, and that they are open to consider any companies or individuals interested in a partnership of sorts. An unorthodox post on Nitzer Ebb's myspace states "...maybe some of you have thoughts or connections that you can send our way. It's a new mellinieum and new business models are the call of the day. If you have any thoughts, interest, or can point us in the direction of a label, production entity, artist servces company or other avenue you think we should consider... please contact me..."

Apoptygma Berzerk released their new album, "Rocket Science", today. The band has caused turbulence within some of their fan base in the past, some of whom feel Apop is straying too far from their synthpop/futurepop roots. These fears were compounded a month or so ago when the band released a single from the album: "Apollo (Live on your TV)". The track, which sounds more like a generic rock song than Apop, was, for the most part, ill-received by fans. It will be interesting to see if the band continues its trend towards a more rock oriented sound with this album. "Rocket Science" hits store shelves today.

It was announced Wednesday on the Festival Kinetik website that industrial legends Skinny Puppy would not be performing at the festival in May. Festival Kinetik is a four day long industrial and EMB festival in Montreal, Canada, and boasts a line-up of over 35 of the most talented artists in the scene today. It was announced in the fall that Skinny Puppy would kick off the festival by headlining the first night. However, according to Festival Kinetik's website, due to a conflict in Skinny Puppy's schedule, the band will not be performing. While Kinetik acknowledges it agreed to cancel Skinny Puppy's performance (which had been under contract), it makes clear that the reasons for the cancellation lie on the band and its affiliates, not the Festival.

German Futurepop duo Seabound seemed to have nothing but bad luck January 16th when the band played in Austin, Texas. After braving frigid temperatures during the east coast branch of their US "Alliance Tour II" (with De/Vision), the band had hoped to get a much needed repreive in Austin. However their luck did not improve.

According to a statement from Martin Vorbrodt on the bands myspace "That same night, I had circulatory collapse due to physical exhaustion. We both recovered pretty well and decided to continue the tour, but please bear with us and don't expect juggling plates or other artistic performances on stage."

We hope the band's luck improves for the rest of their US tour. Dates are still scheduled in California, Colorado, and Florda.

In 2007, Assemblage 23 released "Early, Rare, and Unreleased: 1988-1998". The album featured previously unreleased work from the time period before the band had label representation. While the release is still available digitally, physical copies sold out quickly. Due to popular demand, Assemblage 23 has assembled another album of previously unreleased works.

All tracks on "Assemblage 23 - Early, Rare, & Unreleased: Volume 2" are being rerecorded using the same equipment as the originals, to ensure the best quality but retain the original feel. "Volume 2" will be available strictly a limited edition pressing of 1000 copies (digital sales of the album will also be available). The upcoming release is now available to preorder at assemblage23.com. "Assemblage 23 - Early, Rare, & Unreleased: Volume 2" is being released on 23db Records.

 

Chesler, the man behind the NYC based electro/EBM Project "The Horrorist", posted a free downloadable track off of the project's upcoming album. The track, entitled "Born This Way" features dark, introspective lyrics and sampling combined with an old-school electro sound. The next Horrorist album is scheduled to be released sometime in early 2009.

Born This Way can be listened to and downloaded here:

http://thingstocome.com/discog/TTC-018/index.html

Legendary dark electro act Project Pitchfork prepares to release its latest studio album: "Dream, Tiresias!". The album is set for release February 27th, 2009, and features bonus remixes from [:SITD:], Noisuf-X, and Die Krupps. The album will be released as a limited edition digipak with bonus art and remixes.

Apple iTunes has just announced it intends to make all music on it's iTunes store DRM free. Since the beginning of Itunes, all music purchased is "digital rights managed", meaning songs purchased off of iTunes are limited in whom they can be shared with, what devices they can be placed on, etc. The addition of DRM to all iTunes songs, originally, was a condition that major labels demanded before they were willing to offer their music on iTunes. It's no secret that, since the beginning, iTunes would rather have their music sold DRM free, however labels would not agree to it.

  The self-proclaimed fathers of industrial rock, KMFDM, have announced that they plan to release a new album, Blitz, on March 24th 2009. The 11 track album will be released under the Metropolis Records imprint KMFDM Records. This album will coincide with KMFDM's 25th year in existence; a land mark few bands can boast to have reached. More information is expected to be released soon.