I broadcast an online radio show on Darkside Radio most Mondays. This is the playlist from November 17, 2008.
I've been scouring for new, cool stuff. This is a bunch of "new-ish" ebm and industrial I've found. Still on the lookout for new goth stuff. If you know of any, let me know.
It doesnt happen that often that a band can prove 20 years of experience, Suicide Commando can ! Started back in 1986 and influenced by EBM legends like Klinik, Skinny Puppy, Front 242 SUICIDE COMMANDO today became a legend themselves. Not just because of their remarkable long state of existence, but also because this Belgian one man commando (from Johan Van Roy) over the years bombed us with numerous clubhits like see you in hell, desire, hellraiser, love breeds suicide, face of death, cause of death:suicide, bind torture kill, godsend … just to name a few.
::1986 ::
Johan Van Roy starts experimenting with electronic music under the name Suicide Commando.
:: 1989 ::
Suicide Commando releases its first tape. That same year Suicide Commando also makes his first appearance on vinyl, taking part to the “electronic” compilation LP (Climax productions).
:: 1992 ::
After several other tape releases (“this is hate”, “crap”, “industrial rape”, “go to hell” …) the hypnotizing track “intercourse” (originally released on the “into the grave” tape in 1991) is released on the german “rotation II” compilationLP (Kugelblitz records).
:: 1993 ::
Suicide Commando releases his 9th (and last!) tape called “electro convulsion therapy”. In the meantime 4 other tracks are released on the “induktion, varianz und deren folgen” compilation CD (Kugelblitz records), including the small clubhit “never get out”. Suicide Commando also makes its first steps on stage, playing as support act for Plastic Noise Experience.
:: 1994 ::
Suicide Commando is signed to the german OFF BEAT label and releases its first full length CD “Critical Stage”, including clubhits like “traumatize”, “necrophilia”… and featuring Dirk Ivens (Dive) as guest vocalist on one track (“where do we go from here ?”). Several other tracks (including the club hit “save me”) are released on different compilations during ´94 und ´95.
:: 1995 ::
Suicide Commando releases ist 2nd CD called “Stored Images” (OFF BEAT), including remixes of “T.V.-obsession”, “intercourse”, “save me” … and including new dancefloor smashers like “murder” and of course “see you in hell” (the biggest Suicide Commando hit until now!)
:: 1996 ::
Suicide Commando start their “critical images” tour.
10 YEARS of Suicide Commando! To celebrate this 10th anniversary Suicide Commando releases the “Contamination” EP, including new tracks and remixes from “see you in hell” and “traumatize”. This EP is also released as a limited boxset (2000 copies, sold out!),
including the regular EP + 3” bonus CD offering some old and previously unreleased material.
:: 1997 ::
Suicide Commando releases a new mcd “State Of Emergency” on the german O-files II sampler (OFF BEAT). Suicide Commando plays at the legendary Zillo festival in Germany in front of 5000 people. The “contamination” CD is now also released in the USA on Electric Death Trip records. This american edition includes 3 bonus tracks.
:: 1998 ::
Suicide Commando releases the new cd “Construct-Destruct” (OFF BEAT), including new clubhits “desire” and “better off dead”…
Along with the new cd Suicide Commando also releases another new limited edition called “Reconstruction” (on 2500 copies only, already SOLD OUT!), including the regular CD + bonus disc offering new material and remixes from bands like :wumpscut:, Dive, Plastic Noise Experience and Pierrepoint.
Suicide Commando start their successfull “Conquering Europe tour” together with the american Velvet Acid Christ.
:: 1999 ::
“construct-destruct” is licensed in the US by Possessive Blindfold Recordings. The album reaches the N° 10 position in the CMJ charts.
Suicide Commando releases “Chromdioxyde 1”, a compilation including only old & previously unreleased demo matreial from the period
between ‘88 - ‘94. The Compilation reaches No, 7 position in the DAC
Suicide Commando starts working on the new “mind strip” cd.
:: 2000 ::
2000 without any doubt became the most successfull year in suicide commando’s career so far.
In May suicide commando returns with a first single “comatose delusion”, taken from their forthcoming album. This single brought suicide commando to the absolute top of the international alternative scene.
Even more success gained the 2nd single “hellraiser” ! Both singles reach the N° 1 position in the german alternative charts (DAC).
In October suicide commando finally releases their long awaited “Mindstrip” album (available as a limited boxset as well), which also reaches the N° 1 position in the DAC album charts.
The cd also is released in the US via Metropolis and is getting an amazing response.
End of 2000 suicide commando start their “mindstripping 2000” tour throughout Germany …
:: 2001 ::
In 2001 suicide commando returns with the “Love Breeds Suicide” EP (Dependent), containing several remixes of the song “love breeds suicide” (original version on “mindstrip”) and including another new clubsmasher “dein herz, meine gier” … Once again this release reaches the N° 1 position in the german DAC charts.
:: 2002 ::
After doing several more concerts and festivals accross Europe, suicide commando returns to the studio to start working on their new album which is planned to come out in 2003. In the mean time they release the “Anthology” dcd, a compilation of the best and biggest suicide commando hits up so far, including all clubhits like “hellraiser”, “see you in hell”, “love breeds suicide” … and offering some exclusive new remixes and rare versions. A must have for all true fans!
:: 2003 ::
2 years after the last “love breeds suicide” mcd, suicide commando return with a brand new single entitled “face of death”, which reaches N° 1 positions in numerous charts (DAC, DUC, NAC …) all over Europe. The limited edition version of the single (including an extra disc with more remixes and rare versions) sells out in only 2 days ! End of the year the long awaited “Axis of Evil” album finally is released worldwide through Dependent (Europe) and Metropolis (USA …). The album immediately conquers the world in no time and reaches No. 1 positions all over the globe and turns out to be the best selling suicide commando album up to date. The limited edition of “axis of evil” (a luxurious boxset with extra dvd including videoclips, interview …) sells out in no time. The album was voted “best album of the year” in the legendary german alternative charts (DAC). To promote their new album suicide commando hit the road with the “axis of evil” tour, supported by Interlace and Tactical Sekt. This tour turns out to be their most successfull tour up till today and is getting huge positive response by both press and audience.
:: 2004 ::
Beginning of 2004 suicide commando continue their 2nd part of the “axis of evil” tour which brings them to countries like Switzerland, Italy, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden … and in summer 2004 they do an extended summer festival tour with successfull shows at WGT, Zillo, Castle Party, M’era Luna and Infest. In between they still manage to finish and release a new double single (cause of death:SUICIDE + one nation under god), also available as limited edition and taken from their latest “axis of evil” album. The single once again reaches the N° 1 spot in several alternative charts.
:: 2005 ::
In 2005 suicide commando finally gets back into their studio to start working on new material. The first result of this new work gets released in November 2005 as a limited double a-side single called “Godsend/Menschenfresser”. The single gets released on Johan’s brandnew own label NTP (short for Noise Terror Productions), a new division of Dependent. The single is the first sign of the new album which is scheduled for early 2006.
In between suicide commando still manages to do some more live shows and festivals throughout Europe.
:: 2006 ::
Early 2006 sees the release of the long awaited new studio album from suicide commando called “Bind, Torture, Kill”, named after the famous serial killer Dennis L. Rader aka the btk strangler. The album gets released in 2 editions, a regular cd edition including 11 new tracks (including a remix version of “godsend” and a special cover version of Tommi Stumpff’s classic “massaker”) and a special limited edition including a bonus disc, sticker and postcard.
The album once again makes it to the top of several alternative charts like the DAC, BAC, REWC … and was voted as “album of the month” in the german Orkus magazine.
:: 2007 ::
To celebrate 20 years of SUICIDE COMMANDO (1986-2006) the band releases the special limited and luxury X20 boxset in Europe (NTP/Dependent), including not less then 4 discs (a “best of” CD, a remix CD, the very first SUICIDE COMMANDO live DVD and the “fuck you bitch” bonus single). End of 2007 both the “best of” CD and the “remix” CD also got released as seperate discs in the USA through Metropolis Records, their US license partner.
Also end of 2007 SUICIDE COMMANDO return with the song “hate me”, their first new material since “bind torture kill”, released on the “noise terror volume 2” sampler on NTP/Dependent, their last release on NTP/Dependent before closing their doors.
:: 2008::
SUICIDE COMMANDO start working on brandnew material for their upcoming EP and new album.
Contrary to popular belief, these bands are not Industrial. Not goth either, by the way. I hope people will find this as a good guide to knowing your genres. This also serves as a list of bands that all sound the same, at least the dark electro ones.
These are just off the top of my head so if you want to add a band to the list, that's okay.
Music Suitable to be the Soundtrack to Stargazing and Imagined Space Travel
Quoted from my previous journal of this nature:
With all of these “greatest *insert genre here*” lists being posted all over Last.fm, I thought I might try something a little different; something that would get people thinking about broadening their horizons, while still allowing them to hear the same kind of music they enjoy listening to, in terms of mood and tone.
These are all very atmospheric albums that convey to their listeners the imagery of the void of space, whether the lyrics (if there are any) actually reflect that imagery or not. These albums will instill a sense of darkness as well as enlightenment and you’ll find yourself answering the beckon call of those glimmering stars and planets…
On a late-night stroll, you come upon a soft, grassy hill. You decide to stop for a while and lie at the top of it, face up, arms comfortably placed behind your head. Before you is a perfectly clear night sky. There are no obscuring clouds or city lights, no bothersome company to distract you… You romantically feel there is nothing standing between you and the mystical beauty of the stars.
You visualize yourself piloting a shuttle through space with no real destination, celestial bodies passing you by. There is a strange assortment of noises coming from the anachronistic technological machinery all throughout the space vessel: harsh metallic sounds and banging noises, gears grinding, liquids bubbling, steam escaping, monotonous and repetitive beeps, bizarre transmissions coming from your radio.
You are trapped in solitude with no clue how to get home, but this is how you wanted it. Years spent on end aimlessly floating through the void, you realize you are not only exploring space, but yourself. Introspection dominates your endless waking hours and you’re left pondering the self for all eternity.
You rise to your feet just to get a closer look at that flawless night sky…
Let me introduce you three (not yet popular, but promising) dark electro bands!
I'm not related to anyone of them, I just enjoy their music very much and hope you also will. I will not try to describe their music, better to simply listen to 1 or 2 songs.
1) Control Alt Deus
These guys are from Portugal and they play the best dark electro I've ever heard, and have a very bright future ahead of them. They have a demo, a live album, and some songs posted on myspace.
Best song imho: dead cell, you are dead, shut you in the dark
2) The Sadistic Czar vs. The Empress of Loveliness
This weird name stands for an excellent two-piece hungarian act, the musical mind, Ádám Bérces (who has experimented in various genres) featuring a beauty who writes the lyrics and (of course) does female vocals. Note that they are goddamn young!
They have only released a demo so far, which is available at last.fm or at myspace.
Best songs imho: Blessed Darkness, The Astral Pretender
3) :10:
This is a one man project from US, not typical dark electro, but check out if you like creepy, cinematic music with some weird sounds and excellent beats! He has collaborated with some female vocalists, most notable is Chiasm. The guy is also a great visual artist.
:wumpscut:
Labyrinth 
