Javier Hernando / Angel Lalinde / Alain Wergifosse - Casamata [Industrial Complexx]

Released via the Valencia-based Industrial Complexx label on January 19th, 2k26 is "Casamata", a new collaborational album effort cooked up by long-standing Industrial / Experimental Music pioneers Javier Hernando, Angel Lalinde and Alain Wergifosse who are going back to their roots with this one according to the accompanying press sheet, employing classic original production techniques harking back to the very beginning of the Industrial movent. Over the course of eight pieces and a total runtime of roughly 39 minutes the triumvirate explores a highly experimental sonic realm opening with a collage of layered, yet distant motor sounds and interceptions of harsh and heavy metallic sweeps in "Interior" culminating in hostile Noize eruptions towards the end whereas "El Centro" brings forth a whirling maelstrom of toxic alien sludge - or: lava - in combination with repetitve beeps, drowning echoes of what seem to be remnants of vocals in the very background of the mix and short modulation sweeps of probably electro-acoustic nature. With "Sobrevuelo" the trio explores rather calm, yet earth shaking low end movents, Scanner'esque communication recordings and a brooding, claustrophobic take on Dark Ambient for those who know whereas "Reconstruction" brings forth cold swathes of brittle, ever decaying midrange frequencies reminiscent of respiratory devices embedded into swampy Cold Ambient and an ever intensifying feel of psychic tension whereas "Transicion" fully enters a realm of genuinely evil and abrasive Harsh Noize. Furthermore we see "Corredor" on a rather subdued and minimalistic tip in comparison to its predecessor, allowing for a moment of relief whilst "Exterior" follows up with the sound of ever moving electrical currents and interferences as well as ultra high pitch variations at the upper end of the audible spectrum in combination with ghostly echoing voices before "Salidas" rounds things off in a rather spatial, yet therefore not less intense or hostile take on grinding exoterrestrial Noize music. Recommended for those who can take it.

Ben Wood Inferno - Beloved Bloodbath [Sumo Rex]

Scheduled for release on March 6th, 2k26 via the Sumo Rex imprint is "Beloved Bloodbath", a 19 track celebration of the long-standing band outfit known as Ben Wood Inferno which have been around for nearly a well astounding quarter of a century. Collecting tracks and songs from this period, from past and probably long time sold out releases to previously unreleased material, live recordings from Vienna - "With Her Love (Tango)" - and even Tokyo - "The Red Eyes Of The Blues" - and even alternative remix takes Ben Wood Inferno, along a set of guest artists, deliver an early dancefloor bang0r with the hyper tense, spooky and spiralling quasi GothPunk x Batcave ecstasy of "The Beast Of Hatred" featuring the Japanese singer Garuda on vocals and fall directly back into their trademark Rock'n'Roll X Garage vibe with the thundering "If I'm Out Of My Mind (It's Alright With Me)", go down the classic, shredding and well hounded Rock'n'Roll lane with "Never Enough (Herman)" whilst songs like "Blues Ex Machina" weigh in high octane-fueled drama in parts backed by spooky theremin action and heavy, earthy, muscular riffing with a funky twist. Furthermore the live recorded of "With Her Love (Tango)" sees the band unfold a raw, driven and yet rather hypnotic on stage presence whereas "Hold On To Your Structure" brings forth more uptempo Spook'n'Roll for whirling peaktime dancefloor action, the "Motor Mouth Babe" and its well catchy shout-along quasi chorus, seductive Goth melodies and over the top organ rides presents another well hounded highlight whilst the final cut that is "She Said" waves goodbye with what seems to be a dug up lo-fi demo session approach and a well over the top comedic twist for a closing just to name a few. This is quintessential Ben Wood Inferno and defo a ramp up for another 24 years to come. Go check.

Extensa - Echomora [Gusstaff Records]

Released via the trusted Poland-based Gusstaff Records label on November 28th, 2k25 is "Echomora", the sophomore album effort by the trio operating under the name of Extensa. Put out on the circuit roughly two years afterthei fristling the group caters a nine track and approximately 48 minutes spanning longplayer, immediately drawing the avid listener in to a heavy sonic realm infused by Doom and Sludge Metal, a highly focused wall of noise and hypnotizing feedbacks with especially the opener that is "Stay Asleep!" also catering whirling krautsy, at times almost kosmische Synth whirlings whereas the subsequent "Level 4" is on a livelier, yet not less dense tip catering to already heaving moshpits and spiralling circles of doom. With "Where Is The Pope?" Extensa are answering important questions in a rather ethereal manner, focusing on hovering and sustained harmonic passages and a somewhat shoegaze-y feel backed by thundering drums too heavy for PostRock but still related to exactly that vibewise. "Polimorfia" sees the group at energetic heights, weighing in a well funky Crossover attitude - minus any vocals, though - and therefore hitting the spot for forthcoming concert tours (just imagine them sharing a stage with MathRock legends DYSE... the energy would be enough to tear holes into concrete walls...) and underground radio rotation whilst "The Diffuser of Waves" harks back to more esoteric, floating Metal spheres and the final "No!$€" follows suit, drowning the audience in an almost emotionally overwhelming, yet restrained and never overly distorted sludgestrom for a closing. Defo a well worthy follow up this one which, btw, sports an amazing cover artwork once again. Good stuff.

Album artwork on Instagram!

The Sephardics - Sephardic Dialogues [Umland Records]

Put out on the circuit via Essen's ever active Umland Records label on December 1st, 2k25 is "Sephardic Dialogues" a triple CD album set by The Sephardics quartet in cooperation with artists like the Marseille-based band outfit Biensüre, Oren Ambarchi and percussionist Ramesh Shotham as well as NYC-composer Elliott Sharp for one of the albums CDs respectively. Collaborating with Biensüre on the first album the interpretation of Sephardic songs turns out to be a rather hot and dancefloor focused, percussion driven affair with a surprisingly uplifting twist at the end of the opening piece "Nananina" whilst cuts like "After" rely on seductive Downbeat rhythms and a TripHop-esque vibe as well as the expressive voice of Hakan Toprak whereas "Dicho" seems to go down a more minimalist and thrillingly enchanted sonic route. In conjunction with Oren Ambarchi and Ramesh Shotham The Sephardics are following a rather solemn and melancholia-driven approach in pieces like "A Donde" which perfectly reflects Oren Ambarchi's oftentimes minimalist and stripped down experimentalism, at time even bordering echoes of Post-PostRock for those who know whilst "M-O-R" weighs in fascinatingly off-kilter violins, tongue-in-cheek sweeps and dense, perfectly executed Improv sequences which seem to be rather at home in Contemporary Classical x Modern Composition than in a context of religious tradition whilst "Rosa" even features rather Indietronica- x Electronica-leaning crossover sequences reminiscent of past works of producers like Pluramon on labels like Mille Plateaux. Finally we see composer Elliott Sharp leading The Sephardics into a realm of complex Jazz arrangements and rather seductive groove sequences with "Migrant" whilst further exploring the depth of complex, yet subdued Avantgarde Jazz and longing, sustained non-vocalisms and what seem to be heavy electric guitar solos blown over from afar with "Splash", followed by the yearning string melancholia of "Drift", the deeply spiritual Jazz minimalisms of "Current" and, in contrast, the tender, soft and all embracing vocal storytelling of "Cien Drahmas" just to name a few. Quite a fascinating album which surely transcends the sephardic realm for many a reason. Go check.

Album artwork on Instagram!

The Hunt Is Over. Finally.

That's quite a weird thing to say for someone like me who's been on the hunt for new music for the most part of his life. A fascination which started in the late 80s after discovering AcidHouse, NuBeat, Agreppo and SynthPop at primary school age before becoming a dedicated raver and die-hard fan of electronic music a few years later before stepping into the public light as a DJ in 1997. DJ'ing and hosting radio shows have been a main focus for me for almost 30 years even though - especially in the post pandemic period - they've become less important due to a growing feel of disconnect with most of the electronic music scene, a change in attitude within it, and for the most part a lack of communication skills in bookers, venues and event promoters as well as a lack of reliability - not necessarily in financial terms but in a broader, more general sense and therefore an ever growing feel of being fed up with people and a growing unwillingness to deal with bullshit. The latter is one of the reasons I finally decided to call it quits when it came to working shifts at the record store I used to work at in late 2k24 after more than 25 years.

Whatever this scene had become, I didn't want nothing to do with it anymore. I still felt love for the music, even though the popular trends had never really interested me and I've always rather explored the harsher and more experimental underground things. I had stopped going out to clubs a long time ago when DJ'ing went digital and I had built what I'd always called 'my own bubble' of close friends and artists which seemed to exist in an entirely different universe than the rest of the so-called 'scene'. This bubble still exists and I'm absolutely happy with this tightly knit network of like-minded outsiders and an infrastructure of websites, labels, social media channels, merch and a global distribution partner who's able to get our releases to record stores and online vendors basically everywhere in the world - Australia, China, Japan, the US, UK, all over Europe, you name it. Yet, with all that being said I still felt the urge to hunt for new music on a daily - hundreds of open tabs in a browser filled with DJ mixes I still felt I needed to listen to. Daily stops on Soundcloud to listen to new tracks and podcasts. And - working a dayjob in a vinyl distributors warehouse and physically coming across hundreds and hundreds of freshly released imports resulted in adding a weekly average of fifty plus records to my ever growing Discogs wantlist which soon exceeded my already vast collection in numbers by far. The interest was there, the love for the music still is.

But something changed. The hunt for new music started to feel like a daily grind. FOMO set in. Also the realization that financial resources - and probably the part of my lifespan still ahead... - wouldn't be ever enough to acquire and listen to all the records sitting on my wantlist right now. Or to fully honour the majority of the multi-thousands of sound carriers I do already own. A two metrical ton archive of vinyl records, CDs, tapes and floppy disks, probably hundreds of DJ mixes and other unreleased demos on CD-r as well. Which probably all need to be listened to, catalogued and evaluated a new at some point. So I just stopped. Not entirely but I radically cut back on buying new music and decided to focus on backwards completing my collection and archives for the most part. I don't miss the FOMO and the hunt. At this point I don't really need more music right now. I don't even miss being on the DJ and radio circuit and my return to it is rather unlikely at this point in time. And it feels rather freeing and liberating.

So what does all of this mean? And why am I even posting this?

- For this website not much will change. I do enjoy the regular influx of new music and the process of writing reviews which will be and remain the main focus of this operation. So keep on hitting me with promos - probably at a new address soon - and I'll continue to review those. Probably I might even be going back to write reviews for other publications as well in the future. Yet I might even start to implement other content, commentary, thoughts, observations and other things on here as well as interests are shifting and new things start to inspire me more and more - e.g. I feel myself drawn to abstract art, architecture, film and design rather than to music x vinyl related posts on Instagram recently which some of you might have already seen being reflected in my stories feed.

- The Youtube channel will continue to operate, yet also covering a broader spectrum of topics and probably further exploring the shorts format.

- I even feel the desire to dive deeper into Tumblr culture again and go with whatever sparks my curiousity over there.

- Musically I see myself turning more towards experimental, harsh, unformatted electronic music again - with an ever growing interest in Goth, Industrial, EBM, Minimal Wave, PostPunk, Ingenious Dilletantes and reissues of early experiments in those styles. The curiosity about the dancefloor x club music aspect will most likely be covered by a retiring DJ's vinyl collection I'll be taking over which will also be the foundation of increasing Discogs sales activities on my part. Also two further CD collections I've taken over, including both a ton of electronic music promo CDs and a few hundred Library Music CD albums, will provide me with plenty of music to explore for a foreseeable future.

- The future main focus clearly lies on my label Intrauterin Recordings and its subsidiaries which will most likely resume new release activities within a 6-24 months time frame, with prioritized focus on a backlog of still unreleased music. Studio sessions and the creation of new music are halted for now until most of the backlog has been taken care of. Exceptions might occur for dedicated commission works, remixes and x or physical releases on other labels.

That's the news. For now.

Tanithblog Is Back - Tanithblog 3.0.

Long standing DJ Tanith - better known as Thomas Andreczak to his parents - who's not only been a staple and innovator within the German electronic music realm but also an outspoken voice and commentator on the state of the scene in general has recently returned to the blog format on his website www.tanith.org, sharing bits, bops and thoughts to a German speaking audience whilst also providing a stream of now digitized mixtapes - rudimentary track lists included! - harking back to the early stages of his DJ career via the freshly launched Youtube channel T - Tape Archiv these days. We highly recommend to check in, follow through and join the ongoing discussion in his websites comment section for a reason. Good stuff.

Hugo Race Fatalists - I Made It All Up For You [Gusstaff Records]

Scheduled for release via the ever growing Polish Gusstaff Records label on March 20th, 2k26 is "I Made It All Up For You", the forthcoming ten track album project by the Hugo Race Fatalists - another collaborative offshoot amongst many others thought up and dreamt up by Melbourne-born yet world travelling jack of many musical trades known as Hugo Race. Over the course of roughly 44 minutes Race and a plethora of collaborating artists explore a surprisingly accessible, yet still dark'ish and intimate fusion of Alternative Rock and echoes and echoes of Goth-leaning atmospheres with the most beautiful opener "Against The World" which feels like a love child bands like The Convent, The Cult and R.E.M. could create in a cult setting baptized by DesertRock whereas pieces like "Broken Love" dive deep into stripped down, heart-felt emotions rolled out over a subdued instrumental backing at the very far end of the mix whilst "I Was Born To Fly" turns out to be an intimate amalgamation of thoughtful, inward-looking DesertRock and elements of deep Folk elements with an additional Country-leaning banjo twang backed by yearning electric guitars for roadtrips into the middle of nowhere. Furthermore "45 In The Shade" weighs in a surprisingly muscular AltRock ballad sprinkled with memories of Morricone, yet composed for an imaginary setting dreamt up by David Lynch, "I Collide" brings forth a dreamy fireside duet telling atmospheric tales of foreverness and what lies beyond love whereas "The Comet Drops" showcases Hugo Race's deep connection to Blues and inherent melancholia without failing to provide a silver lining at the horizon captured by most beautiful and softly shimmering string arrangements as a contrast to the songs rather ruminant and self-reflecting feel just to name a few. Probably the most AltPop and song-oriented release on Gusstaff Records we can think of - and yet one that will end up in heavy rotation for more than one reason. Excellence is one. Go check.

bohbi - Factory Dimension [Umland Records 071]

Released via the ever active Umland Records label as their cat.no. 071 on November 21st, 2k25 is "Factory Dimension", the debut album by the Anton Zimmermann-led project that is bohbi. Over the course of seven brand new compositions and roughly 42 minutes runtime Zimmermann on drums and his musical collaborators which, amongst others, include Umland staple Jan Klare on sax and flute explore a heavy, relentless and rather obviously Metal- x Doom- x NoiseRock-infused wall-of-sound attitude based on heavy bass and guitar riffing, thundering drums of doom, intense, yet intensely funky guitar solos and screaming feedbacks in the opening cut "What Am I Doing This For?" before syncopated Broken Beats, mesmerizing pianos, enchanted flute lines and silky, smokey vocals take over in the subsequent "Confusion Or Illusion (In A Memory)". With "The Lightbulb Is Everything" the group x ensemble is back into thundering, earth-shaking and most of all haunted DoomJazz madness, "Monday Night" takes the groups raw and unfiltered attitude into the wee hours of the night without losing its muscular edge whereas "Desolation Swing" even throws a little bit of heavy, yet down to earth BluesRock into the mix, evoking faint memories of voodoo magic and uncharted Mississippi swamps. Furthermore "Martys Maeth (Von Flüchen Und Gerüchten)" has bohbi on a Crossover tip, weighing in both elements of scintillating Sludge / Doom as well as surprising German vocals with a not really HipHop-oriented speak-singing attitude before the "24/7 Grind" waves goodbye on a rather deep, nocturnal but still droning and avantgardistic Jazz tip for those who know. If you fondly remember dark, heavy and still somewhat atmospheric projects like Village Of Savoonga and are still listening to DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing..." on a regular you're about to love this for a reason - imagine this to a be a lovechild of these two poles, with more and heavier guitars thrown into the mix.

Antonio Bertoni / Massimo De Mattia / Stefano Leonardi - Tatzlwurm [Aut Records 144]

Another fresh release on the ever expanding Italian Aut Records label is "Tatzlwurm", a full on acoustic single-take improvisational album affair conceived by Antonio Bertoni, Massimo De Mattia and Stefano Leonardi who, over the course of nine pieces and roughly 55 minutes of total playtime, pay homage to the ancient Austro-German mythological creature of the "Tatzlwurm" - hence the albums title. Put out on the circuit on January 28th, 2k26 the album features an array of non-western instruments interacting with a more traditional foundation of cello, percussion and flute / alto flute, opening new sonic realms touching base with Jazz, Improv and - for the lack of a better term - World Music with the opening piece that is "The Dark Mountain" providing a set of interlaced, ever meandering flute melodies laid out over slow, yet damp and fever'ish tribal drum rhythms before "Axis Mundi" enters deeper, more explorative and enchanted territories whilst adding a probably slightly oriental twist whereas the "Zigzag Wanderer" brings forth dense and dramatic movements, whirling imitations of exotic bird calls, busy percussion harmonies and intense background drums for dancing dervishes and attentive listeners, telling multiple layered stories at once, probably best consumed in the vicinity of open fires and dim, flickering lights. Furthermore super intense, vibrating cuts like "Walking Along The Scream" evoke memories of voodoo, spells cast and hyperrealistic nightmares one doesn't recover from within seconds after waking up whilst the "Return Of The Primordial Stillness" pairs more hyperactive interwined flutes and sparse muscular and somewhat Industrial-leaning drums and percussion to a spine-tingling effect whilst the concluding "Monster's Lullaby" waves goodbye on a rather playful and excited note which might keep the monster occupied and wide awake instead of putting it to sleep. A lovely album which might even speak to parts of the Krautrock community due to its non stop and ever evolving nature.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Raviglia / Orefice / Santimone / Dallaporte / Paoli - Divine Songs [Aut Records 134]

Put out on the vinyl circuit via the Italian Aut Records label on January 14th, 2k26 is "Divine Songs", a five track quintet affair paying homage to the music as well as musical spirituality of Alice Coltrane. Led by Marta Raviglia on vocals the small ensemble opens with the captivating, hypnotic Downbeat-cut that is "Shivaya" which amalgamates longing vocals and vocal repetitions, subtle Indian influences and Contemporary Jazz vibes followed by the deep late night Jazz and soft, intimate Spoken Word approach of the ever meandering "Bombay Stopover" which, in this form, could be regarded as a future Future Jazz classic to be whilst "About Alice" weighs in a beautifully corresponding interplay of Marta Raviglia's voice and Filippo Orefice on tenor sax. On the B-side of this album we see the ensemble on a slow, yet heavy, muscular, powerful and expressive tip leaving room for tectonic bass rumblings as well as extended improvisations whilst also providing a wide dynamic range with "Journey To Satchidananda / Krishna, Krishna" whereas the closing cut named "Ideal Wife" waves goodbye on a rather deep, intimate and romantic tip and rounds off things most beautifully for all fans and followers of Contemporary Jazz on vinyl. Lovely.