February 2005

.The Vanishing : Still Lifes are Failing (Fatal).
Dark-Wave-goth-punk at its very best! This is post classwar first class, travelling from distant to gagged vocals, screaming out of breath straight to heart of your exploded self. "Love Bits" is a Bauhaus-like track with a terror tenor sax and it sets pretty much the tone and the darker shades of darkness. "Skin" is echoing from the dungeon, open sex and senses, raw pleasure and pain: one among many. A (black) trip a (dark) track. Don't get me wrong, though, The Vanishing are not using prechewed punk clichés, not frozen goth meat: this album is dangerously powerful, obviously addictive, artistically and politically political and controversial. The melodies are crossing and overlapping in thick and deep layers over repetitive riffs. The vocals are hammered in angst and anger. Although the band digs into an inheritage of Siouxsie Sioux, Gitane Demone, Adult, Lydia Lunch, Semiautomatics, these influences are nevertheless acknowledged and referred, uit not copied. The Vanishing sound like The Vanishing, as simple as it sounds: they are not afraid of taking the risk to serve their warm guts on a silver dish. The moto is raw, I promise you, ready as they are to feature a dirty -ROUGH- demo version of Idle Eyes and a dark magic mix by Hanin Elias of Still Lifes. Sweet, sweet infamous blasphemy!

.The Konki Duet : Il Fait Tout Gris (Active Suspension).
Another one of these reat bands that we were introduced to thru the Toxic Girls (Nightmare for (13) boystars) compilation. If you don't have it yet, get it! And check out Tsunami-addiction, its creator is one of the most inspiring person on the planet (www.tsunami-addiction.com) Let's go back to the record, though. The Konki Duet is a trio. The Konki Duet is sewn with the thread of dreams, that of the most delicate beauty ever imagined.Their music is fragile and intimate, their approach personal and complementary. They are kissing electronic poetry on your ear, wraping a warm violin around your neck when it's cold outside (and inside). Stories are made and unmade in the same whispering tone, whether they are told in French, English or Japanese. Some of these tales from the heart and soul, strings and beat will move you to tears, including this amazing cover of "Fade To Grey" ("Il Fait Tout Gris", which gave its name to the whole album), with its drumming heartbeat over a flying violin. Make yourself a cup of hot hocolate, sit on the sofa, press play and.... lose yourself (in the clouds). www.thekonkiduet.com

.Thee Heavenly Music Association: Shaping the Invisible (Rehash records). (reissue with a bonus track!).
Hellen Storer is from Manchester. The BabesInBoyland crew met her some...10 years ago, when she played with the British all-female punk band Fluffy in a hot and somky venue in London's Camden area. We must admit we had more or less lost track, spotting her only sporadically in bands like Jack Off Jill or Fireball Ministry. It is therefore with the greatest pleasure that we found her again in this drum-guitar driven synth/computer-enhanced in this Heavenly indeed association (with Dave Hillis, producer for Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains). The style is pretty different from the previous work of the band members though. On this album, they build complex, atmospheric (almost psychedelic) songs, with some guitar riff explosions bent into repetitive, hypnotic sentences.This record is located where Ride, My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain meet : for all the late 80s/early 90s indie addicts. No bitter nostalgy, though, just perfect indie pop, including a soft electrico-ethnic version of Running Up That Hill....ok, on that one you might get nostalgic.
www.heavenlymusicassociation.com

.Shane Cough : Intraveineuse (Enrage Production).
September 2000: the Rennes (Britany)-based band released their first album Delight in Disorder on which was the true marvel "Logan."
February 2005: the long-awaited follower finally hits the record stores near you (well, the good ones at least). This time Shane Cough went to Sweden to record with Adam Kvilman. The general sound of Intraveineuse ("intravenous injection" in English, just in case you're a bit slow today) makes it appear as the perfect 2005 lp: it is very well produced and coherent, and will undoubtfully please most people. The contingent of Shane Cough fans will most probably be expanding. This record has it all: the omnipresent aggressif guitar riffs feeding from the pseudo metal wild side, the catchy electro hit that sticks to your head (the "earworm" in German) and the minimalisexperimental track to keep some creative credibility.
The perfect ending, in flaming beauty with "Flames", on which the vocals are directly inspired by Hanin Elias'... which is again perfect for a track so "DHR"
One more thing I almost forgot: Adam Kvilman was also producer for the Rasmus, no wonder I wanted to give the record to my 14 years old sister: she's gonna love it.

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