Fanfic Love Nights In Berlin

Back when I used to do radio there used to be this guy named Marco. Marco was a cool kid. He was all combat boots and Front Line Assembly t-shirts. He was Belgian and was the only person I knew who could say Einsterzende Neubauten. He did a show where he played industrial/nu beat and he used to play tapes because the stuff he had was so underground it didn't know it existed yet. He also ALWAYS ran over his allotted time, which used to drive us metal kids NUTS.

Why am I telling you this? Well this band called Fanfic from that most European of areas, Texas, seem to look like they'd be some sort of post electroclash unit but in fact may actually be the children of Marco! Fanfic create dark electronic pop which has its roots closer to old school industrial and Depeche Mode than it does anything post 2003. These guys write songs you pull rope to while smoking illegal Clove cigarettes.

Are they good? Oh heck yeah they're good. They're so good in fact, that you'll want to don a trenchcoat and speak with a thick Belgian accent after listening to them. So why not get in touch with your inner goth and join Fanfic in a graveyard!

Download: Damaged
Download: Touchmachine
Download: Nights In Berlin
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Nitzer Ebb Returns!

Industrial-electro pioneers Nitzer Ebb are returning from a 15-year hiatus with a new album that renews their unique take on industrial. Nitzer Ebb has a way of meshing a variety of different genres into a musical melting pot of powerful rhythms, minimal sequencer bass and hooklines and fierce, chanted vocals.

After originally reforming in 2006, the band’s increasingly active profile included 2010 European tour activities with Depeche Mode and at major festival shows, as well as embracing the challenge of returning to the studio. The result is a piece of work that sounds fresh and modern but without denying their past: the new album, Industrial Complex, is slated for release in North America on November 9th, 2010 thru Artists’ Addiction Records.

Industrial Complex is a musically and vocally diverse work that illustrates the band’s skill at getting to the essence of each track, making it as perfect on the dance floor as it is at home on headphones. Judging by the single, "Promises," it's as if the band never went on hiatus to begin with. In fact it's as if it were 1989 all over again, and Nitzer Ebb had stormed the studio(Yeah I know that a Meat Beat record) and taken it over. "Promises," sounds like the Chemical Brothers before the Chemical Brothers and is pretty much guaranteed to slaughter the dance floor at every goth night between here and Timbuktu.

Welcome back guys.

Download: Promises

Timo Maas Takes On an Infected Mushroom

I don't really need to tell you who Timo Maas is. Unless you've lived under a rock since the turn of the decade you've pretty much been exposed to this UBER DJ somewhere in your travels. Of your tits or in a shop you've heard something this guy has done.

Of course, Timo Maas is no stranger to reinvention. In a DJ career that he estimates has now spanned “a good 27 years”, Timo’s musical palette has taken in epic breaks for Perfecto (‘Ubik’), the globe-straddling, still ubiquitous remix for Azzido Da Bass known to the world as ‘Dooms Night’ and a solo artist album for Warner which saw him work with r n b princess Kelis (on ‘Help Me’) and Placebo front man Brian Molko.

Ask Timo where his sound sits and where he is going and the answer will be more lateral than literal, a feeling rather than a carefully-thought out specific answer. “Essentially, what I love is the possibility to experiment. We can work spontaneously and some days we just listen to 70s psychedelic rock – it’s totally open minded In 2010, we will release a few albums – a Mutant Clan album and a few collaborations in the pop direction and sophisticated direction. And scores – but that’s the future, that’s the target.”

As if to prove a point, he's just remixed, Infected Mushroom and given them this gothy sort of industrial feel that would have been massive circa 1992. It's as if Ministry was still one of the biggest bands on the planet and Timo had joined them. That's not a bad, thing and it's intriguing to hear a guy who is more known for creating super huge trance anthems give a tune an industrial edge. It's impressive stuff indeed.

Download: Smashing The Opponent

Spencer Product Bites

Do you miss the days when Ministry were at the top of their game? Do you miss the hilarity and ironic nature of the Revolting Cocks or 1000 Home DJ's? If you do, then you'll love Spencer Product's We Bite.

Disguised as a "electro" artist this American takes all the classic elements of those Wax Trax bands (broken synths, distorted vocals, inane lyrics, etc) and gives them a 21st century spin and comes up with a pill munching, alcohol swilling, party patrolling monster that really sounds like the best song Al Jourgensen (a poster child for champion partier if there ever was one) never released.

We Bite is a cross genre monster that will appeal to your inner goth, inner American Apparel wearer, and inner party demon. This is a blast from the past that probably has no idea that it's a blast from the past and that's what makes We Bite great. Throw in a couple of remixes and you have a single that's bonecrushingly amazing.

Download: We Bite
Download: We Bite (Designer Drugs NY Nite Mix)
Download: We Bite (Tronik Youth Remix)