Colony 5 - Lifeline / Colony 5 CDM (May 2002)

Colony 5 was founded by P-O Svensson and Magnos Löfdahl in 1999. Colony 5 appeared with the song "Liquid Love" which is also a track on their debut album Lifeline, on two Compilations Monument 6 (Memento Materia) and Shadow Dancing (A Different Drum), followed by "Stay Young" on Monument 7. Unfortunately Magnos Löfdahl left the band in August 2001 after Johan Nilsson joined in March 2001.

At the moment there are two releases available, the full-length album 'Lifeline' and the Maxi-CD 'Colony 5', which comes with amazing remixes and 3 additional tracks, which are much more than ordinary 'b-side' tracks. Lifeline starts with the first single release "Colony 5", that surprises listeners with full basses and spatial sounds. They abduct you into Futurepop with Science Fiction related lyrics form the beginning. While C5 made use of alienated voices in the song Colony 5 they can convince with excellent singing on the following track "Trust You". C5 also packed some Industrial, EBM and Techno elements into their songs which makes Lifeline to a very interesting and varied album. The songs have high bpm (=beats per minute) between 115 to 140 and are absolutely suitable for excessive dancing. Catchy refrains let the music sound more melodic and defuse the hard synth-melodies and drums. In real this fact (high beats combined with melodic singing) is a contradiction but C5 really understand how to create music that match the vocals and that make the listener bound to the songs and cannot escape its influence. Without any doubt, Lifeline is an excellent album and Colony 5 did well with the combination of melodic singing and future sounds.

De/vision - Unplugged / Live at PopKomm 2001

Many people will wonder how it is able to record an unplugged album by a SynthPoP band. Well, with this unplugged album De/vision did the proof and all doubter may become silent. This album was recorded on August 2001 in Cologne by the German music-channel Viva 2 during unplugged session for "Overdrive". It also comes with a video-track of "Heart-Shaped Tumor".

De/vision only used their Keyboard for synthetic strings and fewer effects. All other instruments, drums, guitars, piano are played by guest-artists. The use of live instruments, especially the superb drums give their songs the necessary kick and make their songs more sensitive and realistic. The recording and mixing quality is excellent. Also Steffen's voice can convince on the whole line. The guitar comes over very clear, the piano sounds harmonious and the drums have the necessary pressure. It's a very amazing album that gives the impression that you feel De/vision in front of you.

Statemachine - Less Then Perfect E.P.

After a break of about 2 years, Statemachine are back with an e.p. That comes with 5 new songs inclusive several remixes of 'Less Then Perfect' and a remix of the 'Breakdown' track 'Battered And Bruised'. 'Less Then Perfect' creates a deep atmosphere that is based on dark SynthPoP and melodic singing. Especially the aggressive singing perfectly goes well with the compact and heavy synths. The upper part of the refrain reminds me of 'Fly On A Windscreen' by Depeche Mode but let the music sound more 'friendly'. With "Thinking Out Loud" Statemachine created a wonderful ballade that is based on piano playing and unobtrusive melodies in the background and light percussion. I also have to mention the song "Paint It Black" that is made in the same style as "Less Then Perfect" and also represents the maturity of the band. Very interesting is the use of synthetic French horn in the second ballade "You Can't Always Get What You Want" that was combined with rhythmical slow drums. But the singing cannot really convince as it sounds too wailing.

The remixes of "Less Then Perfect' and 'Battered And Bruised' don't reach the quality of the originals. Only the club remix of 'Less Then Perfect' shows some promise and has a very good beat but unfortunately it's only a dub mix with cut singing. Therefore it gets stuck at the beginning that is really a great loss.

DEPECHE MODE - One Night In Paris DVD

One Night In Paris is the first live DVD by Depeche Mode, filmed by Anton Corbijn during the Exciter Tour 2001 in Paris. The set includes the 117 minutes live concert and an additional DVD with backstage interviews, and lots of goodies (pictures, bonus video-clips, and a multi-angle version of "Never Let Me Down Again").
The technical data of DVD 1 calls for special attention. It uses an anamorphic 16:9 aspect ratio and 5.1 Dolby Digital - unfortunately no DTS and no separate Stereo 2.0 stream! The picture quality is quite good -- sharp details, and less noise. The sound quality isn't as good as the picture quality, and on players with an inferior 2.0 downmixing, the music sounds too thin and without bass. On a Denon DVD-1600, I had to turn the volume way up for a respectable volume. Dave Gahan's voice, which is sometimes pressed and weak, sounds as if it was forced to the foreground. The excellent backing vocals by Jordan Bailey and Georgia Lewis support the sometimes weak voice of Dave Gahan. I also missed being able to hear the screaming and singing audience, especially in parts where Dave invited the audience to sing along.
On the whole, it's a live album that was mixed like a studio recording with good blending of instruments (live drums by Christian Aigner (Austria), and keyboards by Peter Gordeno). But, I do question the 5.1 Dolby Digital, as they didn't make good use of its features, and considering that some players have problems with downmixing to Stereo 2.0.