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June 29, 2012

Blackfield Festival 2012 – Jun-23&24 – Gelsenkirchen: Viva Music Review with Photos

Blackfield Festival celebrated its fifth edition with a first-time sold-out arena on Jun-23&24 in Gelsenkirchen. In the already traditional Amphitheater of Gelsenkirchen, the festival was set up as a middle-sized event to the minutest of details. Not only the amphitheater was made-to-fit the crowd and its access to and fro, but it provided excellent venue facilities. All bands were rigorous about their stage time and the schedule allowed everyone to be entertained by a musical diversity which was at the same time well-thought and respectful of people’s tastes and interests. The setup of the festival was complemented by a large array of facilities and the food served met all tastes. Add to that the number of shops for gear and clothing, jewelry and fragrances, as well as the wonderful medieval fair, and you tick all the boxes of a dream festival. Unfortunately, the weather was not so welcoming, but however, did not actually impact the audience, who stood against a first day of scorching sun and wind, and a second day of drenching rain and dark skies.

Viva Music’s presence at the festival was enriching and educational – we have of course met before decent and respectful organization of events, and Blackfield is one of the festivals which actually commit to people’s well-being while on the premises, but we were constantly overwhelmed by the friendliness of space, people, and concept of the festival. So our thanks go to the Blackfield organizing team, to our fellow artists, journalists and music fans – with them, the event felt like a blessing, and within minutes of its end, we would have started this experience all over again! Go back to top

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June 14, 2012

Desdemona – “Endorphins”: Viva Music Album Review

Filed under: Album Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , — admin @ 10:19 am

Tracklist: “Bring in All” * “Desdream” * “Poison” * “Jealous Sky” * “Devil’s Game” * “Sorrow” * “Let’s Play Love” * “In Flames” * “Euphoria” * “XXX

About Desdemona:

Endorphins” is the title of the fourth album by Polish band Desdemona. In Poland the band is often regarded as one of the representatives of the dark independent scene. Their new album brings new energy to the scene, with combinations of diverse musical styles such as industrial, metal, electro and even dubstep with a fresh, intriguing and energetic set of songs. Desdemona toured so far with Tiamat, Pain, opened for Type’O’Negative and Katatonia and on several festival occasions shared stage with VNV Nation, Front Line Assembly, Dreadful Shadows, Deine Lakaien, Clan of Xymox or Suicide Commando. (source: press release)

Desdemona – “Endorphins”: Viva Music Album Review:

Released on May-28 with Danse Macabre and distributed by Alive!, the new album from Desdemona is a wonderful occasion to let yourself immerse in a hot energy bath without being scalded one bit by their flaming electro of their devise. Upon listening to the album, it becomes clear, if need be to confirm, that Desdemona take their work seriously and are thoroughly engaging and enchanting. Although the album comes after a certain amount of time away from the studio (with the exception of one EP of 2011, their studio work dates from the early 2000’s), you can feel a firm hand (or more!) in the album’s concept, layout, sound and production.

Bring In All” is a great overture for the album, with sleek sounds and enticing vocals wrapped up in a deep electro atmosphere. Just as convincingly, the advance of “Desdream”, with its convincing tempo, and with its darker hues, makes a good addition to today’s electro spectrum – it has nothing short of the scene’s greatest! A Viva Music favorite, “Poison” is teasing and conveniently dark; and provoking, too. With fierce, valiant vocals, at the same time sexy and ready to combat, “Poison” is a dark electro masterpiece that reminds in intensity and genre, but by no means  by comparison early Skunk Anansie songs. We also loved just as much “Jealous Sky”, which makes a great addition to the album, with a lighter but more dance-oriented pattern, as well as the ensuing “Devil’s Game”. “Sorrow” sounds fresh and intriguing, with sufficient elements of composition to make it rich and at the same time light. The second Viva Music favorite of the album, “Let’s Play Love” is very mobile and captivating, and coming up next, “In Flames” explores the darker core of danceability, so you should really give it a try. “Euphoria” adds an extra metal flavor to the electro and dark foundation of the album and plays eagerly with sound and vocals to an amazing effect, just before the final unleash of “XXX” takes by surprise and leaves a very plausible aftertaste.

Endorphins” is a good listening experience, and diverse, too. Not only does it convey a variety of emotions with eloquent musical illustrations, but it also shows that quality electro does not come with a country of origin label on it – which is something that we always are happy to see more of, anytime. Enjoy!

DesdemonaOfficial Website | on Facebook | Discography on Discogs

June 13, 2012

E-tropolis Festival: Date Postponed, But New Acts Announced

As festival authorities just confirmed, the third E-tropolis Festival at the Columbia compound in Berlin has been postponed. Already bought tickets remain valid for the new date!

Initially scheduled for September 2012, the alternate date has been set to 23.03.2013. The postponement of the entire festival became necessary, after the original date collided with the agendas of various high-profile artists. In order to provide you with the strong musical line-up, the festival is acclaimed for, featuring the best of EBM, industrial, electro- and synthpop, we decided to pull the plug and to reconfigure the control board again, in order to gather up a diversified billing for the system re-boot in March. Finally we don´t need to hold back any longer, what will offer a total blast of electronic dance music!

Before we get to the new announcements, all fans of NACHTMAHR, DIORAMA, GRENDEL and [X]-RX shall feel relieved. All four of these previously announced bands agreed to the postponement and will perform at the E-tropolis Festival in March 2013.

Accompanied by a large bite of “now more than ever!”-attitude we meanwhile managed to add 7 striking reasons for your festival-trip to the German capital of Berlin:

COVENANT * DAF * WELLE: ERDBALL * LEÆTHER STRIP * MELOTRON * SOLAR FAKE * AUTODAFEH

In addition to that we have even more artists in the pipeline, soon to be announced! So anticipate the electro-event of the year with us and salute spring 2013 in Berlin with a threefold thundering: “Darker:Harder:Louder!” – no holds barred!

Tickets: As usual, original tickets and our highly-requested 5+1 group tickets are exclusively available from our festival ticket shop www.etropolis-festival.de/tickets. Additionally standard festival tickets are available nationwide on all CTS/EVENTIM, ADTICKET and TICKETMASTER outlets! Tickets are priced 38,00 € plus charges and shipping. Tickets bought for the festival date in 2012 stay valid for the new date! (source: press release)

For further information visit the festival’s official page and their Facebook page.

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