VARIOUS ARTISTSEUROPA - Living ON Video (DVD)

I was amazed when I saw that the tiny label "Cohaagen Music" (www.cohaagen.com) released a music DVD that includes about 20 videos by more or less known SynthPoP bands. Bands like Soviet, Neuropa, Gary Flanagan, Fr/action, Ganymede, Brave New World, B!Machine, Cosmicity,
NUKLEON and many more got the opportunity to present their videos on this DVD. So, for people like me, it is a unique chance to experience who is standing behind the band name.
I have to mention that the quality of the videos is between good and moderate which is mainly due to the low budget for the video-production. It lost a little bit of sharpness caused by an effective noise filter - colors and contrast are quite good. "Living On Video" delivers a good to very good 2.0 sound quality and an additional track that includes commentaries by the bands themselves.
The DVD is region-free and in NTSC format. Therefore you need a NTSC compatible DVD-Player and at least here in Austria/Germany a NTSC/PAL60 capable TV. As special Features it delivers an uncompressed PCM audio track, band infos and discographies.
This DVD is a must for any SynthPoP addict and it delivers a short but vivid view to the synth underground.

2XM - Two Faced World (E.P.)

"Two Faced World" is the first E.P. by the Swedish artist Fredrik Sjöberg, who gets support from Anders Höög and Mika Tienhaara. On "Two Faced World" 2XM has some ambitions to fit within the sound of Front 242. That means hard beats, alternating fast aggressive melodies and dark singing. In my opinion Fredrik Sjöberg makes it much better than Front 242. The singing is more melodic, the melodies are catchier and they sometimes harmonically guide the listeners through the songs. "2XM" are showing their excellent skill in creating an interplay of different sounds/effects based on very massive bass structures. The results are propellent songs which will provoke the listeners' attention and keep him breathless.
This E.P. is a must for people who like dark, aggressive music with a Front 242 influence.

DELERIUM - Chimera (2CD limited edition)

In the year 2000 Delerium released the chartbreaker "Silence" feat. Sarah McLachlan that was remixed by DJ Tiesto. Now they are back with another full-length album named "Chimera". "Chimera" comes from Greek mythology and represents a three-head dragon that spits fire.
Well, "Chimera" creates a deep and mystic atmosphere with a huge dose of emotional expressions. The two guys of Delerium (Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber) still rely on female voices which convey all emotions in an effective and smooth manner. In some other reviews I read that hardly any haunting Gregorian chanting and the ethereal sirens are mostly overshadowed with pop and dance beats. I think that Delerium found the right balance between pop and alternative music. On "Chimera" Delerium did a great job of transmitting their feelings. It's done in a simple way, based upon catchy pop music created with acoustic guitars with an electronic background, but without losing effectiveness.
Tracks 1-9 are quite amusing but from track 10 to 13 the music loses intensity and it gets slow-moving and boring. My absolute favourite is "After All" which comes with a very catchy refrain and reminds me of the Swedish band Backlash. The bonus disc consists of one additional song named "Stopwatch Hearts", a remixed version of "After All" (remixed by Andrew Saga) and 3 Videos. On the whole "Chimera" presents mystic, very melancholy music based upon easily digestible pop music with a healthy dose of synth-sounds in the background.

ELECTROSQUAD - Espionage & Operation:k

"Espionage" is the debut album which was released in February 2000. The influence on this album derives from the classic, very minimalist electro-pop music of the very early to mid eighties by Depeche Mode, Human League and finally Erasure. So it's no wonder that "Espionage" emits a lot of charm based on very playful melodies which are held together by minimalist  sound-structures. Beside the 80s influence "Electrosquad" also tried to include a slight 60s feeling which is obvious in the song "Too Young To Know". I am really fascinated by the simple, proper songs which express so much emotion and create an unbreakable mood of love and melancholy.

"Operation: k" was recorded throughout 2000 and released in March 2001. As I really love the simple 100% minimalist electronic sounds on "Espionage", "Electrosquad" went an entirely different way on "Operation:k". In addition to the analogue synths they added real instruments, like guitars, orchestral strings, etc. ... As the title may portray, "Electrosquad" tried to take the Bond influence from the visual to the musical. In my opinion this album is heavily influenced by the proper Brit-Pop à la "The Lightning Seeds". You really would think that the songs were written by Ian Broudie. Well, Synths are now only playing a secondary role and they got displaced by guitars, drums and other real instruments. But the songs are still kept simple and obvious and  still create a romantic, very melancholic mood.