News editors: Mikael Kahrle & Johan Carlsson

Briskeby album two in one week

• Norwegian wave pop stars Briskeby return with their second album "Tonight, Captain" on October 6 (release dates outside Norway vary). The first single "Hey Baby", out now, will be followed by the song "Halleluja". All new songs are produced by Michael Ilbert (Cardigans, April Tears). Two days after the album launch, a huge tour of Norway takes off, which will keep Briskeby busy until Christmas. Debut album "Jeans for Onassis" received a nine in Release and have sold 112 000 copies. /Mikael Kahrle

New release date for Mobile Homes

• The new Mobile Homes EP will be released by BMG on October 13 (two weeks later than the previously announced release date). An album may follow early 2004. The four new EP songs are produced by Kent's Sami Sirviö and Stefan Boman. Mobile Homes hope to play some gigs in connection to the new release and hope to host two release parties.
Stand by for a competiton. /Mikael Kahrle

Precursor to Maschinenfest held in Toronto

Converter live in Toronto.
Photo by: Alex Veronac (Release)

• As Germany's famous Maschinenfest sold out in a reported four days, even with a larger venue this year, American fans flocked to a similar event in Toronto dubbed [tik] co:man:d [sic]. Held on August 31, Displacer (Canada), Manufactura (Columbia) and headliner Converter (USA) entertained industrial noise fans who reportedly came from distances of Ireland, Russia and Mexico. The trio of acts did a two song jam with locals Prospero and s:cage (newly signed to Ant-zen) as a treat to end of the evening. /Alex Veronac

First Amos best of with bonus DVD
• Tori Amos is finally putting together her very first best of-compilation, slated for a November 18 release. "Tales of a Librarian" will include "reconditioned" hits, two new songs, two re-recorded 1992 B-sides ("Sweet Dreams" and "Mary") and a DVD with live material and 5.1 surround remixes. /Mikael Kahrle

More onions from Pluxus and colleagues
• On September 29 (Monday), Swedish purveyors of playful electronica Pluxus release a remix album entitled "Reonion". An impressive array of remixers have given the latest album "European Onion" their diverse treatments; German Jeans Team and Swedish hammond organ junkie Sagor & swing both get to do their thing. Other remixers include Betamax Crew, Andreas Tilliander, Onda Klubben and Ola Bergman.
Read the review of "European Onion" here. /Mattias Huss

New single from In Strict Confidence in November

• Dennis Ostermann and his co-horts will release a new double single entitled "Babylon" (Minuswelt/Sony) on November 3. This single will contain a total of 13 tracks with remixes by L'ame Immortelle, Olaf Wollschläger and several previously unreleased songs. In Strict Confidence's fifth studio album is due out the first quarter of 2004. /Peter Marks

Project-X seeks remixers; all styles considered
• Sweden's Project-X is putting out a casting call to all of their listeners and whatever bands are interested to remix their track "Stay Awake". An upcoming EP will features the versions which the band likes best. Those mixes that do not wind up on the actual CD release will be made available at Projext-X's web site.
Stand by for a Project-X Spotlight. /Peter Marks

Release caught two gigs on Delerium's first tour ever

Delerium's Bill Leeb, Kristy Thirsk, Shelley Harland and Leah Randi live in Toronto 2003.
Photo by: Alex Veronac (Release)

• Long time studio project Delerium finally made it to the live stage, long after after a still-borne tour idea in 2001 to promote "Poem". Release watched the shows in Toronto (Alex Veronac) and Portland (Peter Marks) and both concerts could be considered boring.
The question for many was will the real Bill Leeb please stand up and face the audience? Well, it was Leeb - and Rhys Fulber - hidden behind bands of keyboards while the vocal duo of Kristy Thirsk (Rose Chronicles) and Shelley Harland (Phoelar) provided the focus on the first ever Delerium tour. The ethno dancebeat soundtrack was presented along with background visuals themed of nature as they promoted the recent "Chimera" in 18 Us and Canadian cities. Fulber's project Conjure One opened. /Alex Veronac

Cure live on TV and US festival
• UK's The Cure have taken a brief break from recording their new record to headline a US radio station sponsored music festival called "Inland Invasion III" as a one off gig. Other bands playing "Inland Invasion III" on September 20 are 80's era bands Berlin, General Public, Bow Wow Wow, The Psychedelic Furs, Violent Femmes, Echo and the Bunnymen and Duran Duran. Relative newcomers playing the Los Angeles event are: Dashboard Confessional, Hot Hot Heat and Interpol.
The Cure were guests on CBS talk show "The Late Late Show" and performed "10:15 Saturday Night" from their early "Boys Don't Cry" LP. Later, when asked by host Craig Kilborn one-on-one as to why they don't tour, Robert Smith replied "as we get older, I think we have to make it more special". /Alex Veronac

No more Zwan
• Billy Corgan's new band Zwan is no more. The former Smashing Pumpkins frontman will now try on a solo career. /Mikael Kahrle

Lustans Lakejer and Strasse on the same stage

Lustans Lakejer live in Gothenburg.

• Two legendary Swedish bands will perform live on the same stage for the first time. On October 31, Gothenburg club Romo Night adds Strasse as support act for Lustans Lakejer.
After a shaky comeback, Strasse now plan to return to the sound of their Midge Ure-produced debut "Följa John" from 1981. /Mikael Kahrle

Tinitus line-up complete
• The line-up for this year's Tinitus Festival in Stockholm (November 15) is complete after Sonar (with Dirk Ivens), Spetsnaz and Solitary Experiments have been added. Lustans Lakejer, DAF and Hocico are the previous headliners. A pre-party will be held the day before. /Mikael Kahrle

New tour and box from Mexico's Hocico

Hocico's Erk live in Toronto 2002.
Photo by: Alex Veronac (Release)

• Hocico's delayed 10th anniversary live music event in Mexico City is now planned for October 18 (originally August 16). The duo did play Tijuana, Mexico last weekend to the delight of their local fans. Hocico is to continue on and tour Europe in November with some dates already announced including the first electro Out of Line festival 2003 on November 1 in Leipzig.
Hocico's new retrospective CD box set "Hate Never Dies - The Celebration" is expected to be out to coincide with the band's tour. Three of the CD:s will contain each one of the three old Hocico demo tapes in their original versions. The fourth CD will contain remixes from IC434 (now called Obedience), Haujobb, Dyoxide, Suicide Commando, Terminal Choice, Wumpscut, God Module, VNV Nation, Aslan Faction and Solitary Experiments. Box set highlights include "a bunch of old tracks never heard before" and a multimedia photo section.
See recent Hocico news at Release here. /Alex Veronac

EBM fest in North America

Sonar live in Toronto 2003.
Photo by Alex Veronac (Release)

• Recently, Toronto played host to an exclusive festival highlighting acts in the Belgian label Daft Records. Dirk Ivens (Sonar, Dive) and Eric van Wonterghem (Monolith, Sonar) were flown in to perform. The hard EBM noise sounds were complimented by Canadian natives Iszoloscope, L'ombre and Antigen Shift. Fans came from as far away as Miami to see this event.
Dirk Ivens told Release he enjoyed his recent Dive appearance at M'era Luna Festival and was looking forward to the upcoming The Klinik reunion gig in Antwerp, Belgium this December. He mentioned the charm of the reunion gig for it's uniqueness - it will likely not happen again.
Also, Monolith looks to have a new release out in November.
See Peter Marks' recent Dive review here. /Alex Veronac

A real Fake site
• The Swedish eighties pop band Fake, known for their hit single "Brick", is honoured with a new unofficial site in English. /Mikael Kahrle

Melotron's new single out now

• The first single from the new Melotron album "Sternenstaub" is called "Kein Problem" and is out since one week, prior to the album (October 6). The track "Kein Problem" is a true Melotron hit candidate with airplay and club potential. The single offers two versions of the track and two other songs.
Melotron play Rome, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Athens, Haifa (Israel), Winterthur (Switzerland) and a large number of dates in Germany this autumn. /Jens Krause, Mikael Kahrle

Death in June to tour Scandinavia
• The British industrial innovators Death in June will tour Scandinavia in November. The line-up this time around consists of Douglas Pierce (vocals and guitar) and John Murphy (drums). The band will perform in Norway (Bergen) on November 6, in Finland (Tampere) the day after, then in Sweden (Stockholm) and finally in Denmark (Copenhagen) on November 15.
The support act in Norway and Finland is still a secret, but in Denmark it is Of the Mand & the Moon (who played at Electric Gathering recently) and in Stockholm the Swedish industrial band Deutsch Nepal.
Last time Death in June played in Scandinavia was in 1998 together with Der Blutharsch and Boyd Rice in Borås, Sweden. That gig gave room for a lot of thought about life and society… Death in June emerged in the early 80’s from the remnants of the punk-unit Crisis. The members back then were Douglas Pierce, Tony Wakeford and Patrick O'Kill. In 1985 Wakeford left the band to form Sol Invictus and O'Kill to work with his own projects Sixth Comm and Mother Destruction. Douglas Pierce has continued Death in June primarily as a solo artist ever since, aided by a large number of musicians such as Boyd Rice (NON), Davit Tibet (Current 93) and John Balance (Coil). /Karin Martinsson

Fiends down under
• A more or less new magazine focusing on the darker side of music has now been announced from our friends down under, Australia. The magazine used to go under the moniker Goth Nation but has now been reinvented as Fiend. The magazine will be printed in 9 000 copies and will have some limited distribution also in the US and Europe. Fiend will cover international acts but also takes pride in covering home-grown acts. First issue will be out in November with Type O Negative and Nina Hagen. /Peter Takizawa