Artoffact Records partners with German label Dependent to release classic Haujobb!

End of June will see a physical release of Homes & Gardens 2.0 as a double CD along with the four track Homes & Gardens MCD as a bonus, limited to 500 copies only. This will be available through Dependent’s website in Europe, while Artoffact will handle the North American version. Only 250 copies will be made available to the North American market, so act fast!

The remastered digital version of the album has just been made available through various online portals like iTunes, Musicload and Amazon in Europe, and a North American digital release will be distributed soon. After the announcement of the release, fans demanded a physical version, so Artoffact teamed up with Dependent Records to make this possible for North America. The original Homes & Gardens, released in 1993 on Off Beat, has been out of print for years.

The new re-release will come in a triple-gatefold limited pak with stellar artwork and fantastic high-quality remastering. A must-have for fans!

Go here to listen and order!!

S.V.D’s digital only EP “No Ordinary Man” is now up on both iTunes and Amazon.com:

iTunes:http://tinyurl.com/crqb3x
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002074VC4

Or go here to listen and order!!

That Spring smell is in the air, and with it we know that Montreal’s Kinetik Festival is just around the corner! For years now, Kinetik (formerly Coma) has been a growing and significant part of Canada’s industrial scene, and 2009 cements the Kinetik Festival’s status as North America’s premier festival for dark EBM, noise, industrial, and synthpop music. Not only has the festival expanded to include a fourth day, but this year will see several big name acts hit the stage including Project Pitchfork, Das Ich, Winterkalte, Ayria, Grendel, Assemblage 23 and more!

Artoffact Records presents the official Kinetik Festival Volume 2 double-CD compilation which includes 32 killer tracks from the festival’s world class line-up. Nearly half the tracks are compilation exclusives, while several more are hard-to-find rarities. Interlace, Noisex, Memmaker, Life Cried, DYM, Assemblage 23, and many more provide exclusives. Several other big name acts are remixed by the likes of Imperative Reaction, Combichrist, Suicide Commando, Blank, and Ashbury Heights. The compilation will be strictly limited, and as Volume 1 sold out shortly after 2008’s festival, expect Volume 2 to be snapped up quickly too.

Disc 1
1. Interlace - Nemesis *
2. Project Pitchfork - If I Could
3. Terrorfakt - No Frequency (Imperative Reaction Remix)
4. Memmaker - Kobenhavn (Version) *
5. Ayria - Blue Alice
6. Marching Dynamics - Tapping Intelligent Nature
7. Cervello Elettronico - What You Want *
8. Grendel - Soilbleed (Agonoize Remix)
9. Amduscia - Impulso Biomecanico (Grendel Remix)
10. Reaper - Daemon (Gudfried Mix)
11. God Module - Victims Among Friends (Suicide Commando Remix)
12. Soman - Tears (Xotox Remix)
13. Accessory - Tanzflaechenmaan (Ashbury Heights Remix)
14. Unter Null - Prophecy (Blank Remix)
15. Life Cried - Dressed In Filth *
16. DYM - Bitrated (Instrumental Mix) *

Disc 2
1. Winterkalte - BDUW
2. Noisex - Mexiko *
3. Imminent-Synapscape - Aléa
4. Mimetic Fake - Once There You Start
5. Architect - Moonshine Live Version
6. Iszoloscope - In The Face Of Descent (Kinetik Cut) *
7. Caustic - BBB (Everything Goes Cold Remix)
8. Adversary - Dresden (Death In Montreal) *
9. Left Side Neighbour - Sirens *
10. Icon Of Coil - Android (Combichrist Remix)
11. Das Ich - Kannibale
12. Assemblage 23 - Naked (Daniel Myer Remix) *
13. Pride And Fall - Paragon (SITD Remix)
14. XP8 - I See Her (Kinetik Edit) *
15. Headscan - Lolife (Interlace Remix)
16. FGFC820 - Existence (Combichrist Remix)

*Exclusive track

Go here to listen and order!!

Check our releases page…the new XANDRIA RAVENHEART is now available as a digital download and in limited edition (with bonus tracks)!

Go here to listen and order!!

Coming in April on Artoffact Records… Xandria’s highly praised Ravenheart receives a re-release with five bonus tracks!! The album is already availabe on iTunes are this link:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=305284340&s=143441 !

Whenever a tender voice rouses a glittering tear from your eye, whenever a resonant melody resembles a free flight through an endless sky, and whenever the pure energy of a song penetrates your body like a powerful breath – that’s when you experience the very essence of music. This intense energy does not pour forth from a rigid system of stylistic constraints and predictable factors, but from an unbridled emotionality – from a consistently reinvented and rewoven network of profound feelings and thoughts.

That Xandria still won’t allow themselves to be squeezed into one pigeonhole with other acts but insist on composing their own, highly original scores is corroborated by their successful effort to turn their sensual world into music: even more than its predecessor, “Ravenheart” ventures beyond the archetypical patterns of the music landscape. Xandria and their multi-facetted album no longer fit into the sinister-romantic framework of your standard gothic outfit, although all the relevant elements can still be found in their arrangements. It would seem that vocalist Lisa and her three band mates have outgrown stylistic limitations, concentrating instead on colourful details, innovative ideas and direct emotional access to their melodies. The result consists of fifty intense minutes of multi-layered, contemporary rock music that defies conceivable, straightforward description.

The chorus part on the title tack, “Ravenheart”, is only one of the many innovations that Xandria have invited into their creative process. Next to orchestral passages, the band have increasingly oriented themselves to the imminent, straightforward live effect of their material, which resulted in a lot of effort going into their guitar riffs, drum rhythms and experimentation with a host of unusual effects, sounds and instruments, like the sitar. Producer José Alvarez-Brill, famous for this cooperation with Wolfsheim, not only supported the band’s self-finding process but also contributed his own ideas. The work on the album went on for months – working on and within themselves – and lead to a dozen songs on a silver disc, entitled “Ravenheart”: a stylistic big bang devoid of any market- compatible limitations. Released on Artoffact Records and available April 14th, 2009.

01. Ravenheart
02. The Lioness
03. Back To The River
04. Eversleeping
05. Fire Of Universe
06. Some Like It Cold
07. Answer
08. My Scarlet Name
09. Snow-White
10. Black Flame
11. Too Close To Breathe
12. Keep My Secret Well
Bonus tracks:
13. Eversleeping (Single Version)
14. Drown In Me
15. Pure
16. So Sweet
17. Ravenheart (Orchestra Version)

After a very successful 2008, with one of their biggest club hits to date (the collaboration with mind.in.a.box), Massiv in Mensch will return to kick off the year with a digital-only remix album aptly entitled Hands on Massiv: The Remixes. Collecting rare tracks in remixed form, some from out of print compilations, and some previously unreleased gems, Hands on Massiv is a collection of 12 mixes that span Massiv in Mensch’s career and showcase some of their biggest hits.

http://www.artoffact.com/releases.php !

What else is great about the collection is that fully half the tracks are remixed by Artoffact Records recording artists, including of course two very special mixes by Massiv in Mensch themselves. But aside from Massiv in Mensch, Hands on Massiv features the remix work of Individual Totem, Standeg, Headscan, and newcomer V01d, so that it is not only a vital piece of the Massiv in Mensch story, it’s also essential for fans of the Artoffact label. Filling out the collection are also remixes from Epsilon Minus, Implant, as well as several DJs from the German EBM scene.

The result is a completely coherent work that complements the Massiv in Mensch canon while introducing work from many Artoffact artists. Released digitally on Artoffact Records and available February 24th, 2009.

1. Der Kotzbrocken (2 in 1 Remix by Massiv In Mensch)
2. Dark Rave (Vocal Mix 2008 by Massiv In Mensch)
3. Green (Green Hill Mix by Individual Totem)
4. History (Nearfield Mix by Standeg)
5. Bitterfeld (Mix by Marc Shake)
6. Clubber Lang (Dubber Lang Mix by V01d)
7. Endless (Mix by Epsilon Minus)
8. Clubber Lang (Mix by Headscan)
9. Mein Letztes Bonbon (Pureminor Retouch by DJ Timesplitter)
10. Radius 17 M. (Mix by Implant)
11. Bitterfeld (Mix by HTJV)
12. Toast (Loher Ostmark Mix by DJ Nightflyer)

Available February 24th everywhere and right now at the Artoffact Store!

You can also pre-order at Amazon.com

Kobold returns in 2009 with a new digital-only EP including two new tracks and two remixes of Blowback! More details, full-track streaming, and purchase options are on our releases page: http://www.artoffact.com/releases.php !

1. Blowback - Untermenschen
2. Blowback - Asunder
3. Dressed Dark States
4. Torn

Available February 24th everywhere and right now at the Artoffact Store!

Having scored top marks in Side-Line, Ritual, Zillo, Gothtronic, Released, Darkroom, and many others, Standeg’s record UltraHighTechViolet was just reviewed by Connexion Bizarre and received 9/10!!

“Atmosphere” is a term that’s very loosely bandied about when discussing music. Every now and then, though, something happens to make you rethink your definition of the term, and Standeg is just one of those things. Understated, cerebral and deeply engaging, the electronic compositions of Björn and Sven Jünemann are something to behold.

From the first deeply resonant piano notes - insistently tugging at you to pay closer attention - of “Replikant”, the immense emotional charge the Jünemanns have imbued this album with is an unmistakeable presence. Despite its generally soft overtone, this music cannot remain in the background for long: Standeg makes its presence known and leaves its mark. Although the musical style itself is nothing particularly new - downtempo EBM with a more melodic focus, as performed by acts like Ivory Frequency or Forma Tadre and perfected by acts like Haujobb (of which the Jünemanns were founding members) - it is done with such grace and style that you can’t help but sit up and take notice. In a word - goosebumps. Tracks like “Revolv|ex|” (a 12-minute odyssey of constantly evolving, never boring, soundscapes, rhythms and textures, replete with harsh industrial stabs amidst moments of piercingly clear string melodies) raise the hair on my neck in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time.

But despite these similarities with their alma mater, Standeg show enough of their own creativity and expertise to make “Ultra High Tech Violet” a winner in its own right. In fact, this album doesn’t even need the added legitimacy of their upbeat, dance-oriented cover of the Haujobb classic, “Homes and Gardens” to make it an attractive and worthwhile addition to any collection. The brooding, dissatisfied trepidation that permeates the majority of the album makes for chilling (not chillout) listening, as well as generating an air of menace that Yoda would have done well to warn Luke away from. This is the real dark side of the force, and it’s excellent. If it wasn’t for the over-dependence on their previous successes as a foundation element of Haujobb, “Ultra High Tech Violet” would be perfect. As it is, it comes damn close.

Two years after the well-received debut The Taste of Copper, Kobold returns with a follow-up EP called Blowback. The EP will feature two new songs and two remixes of the title track. Details to follow, though be warned: this EP is too excellent to pass up!

1. Blowback - Untermenschen
2. Blowback - Asunder
3. Dressed Dark States
4. Torn

Released February 24th, 2009.

After a very successful 2008, Massiv in Mensch will return this year with a digital-only remix album aptly entitled Hands on Massiv: The Remixes. Hands on Massiv collects twelve Massiv in Mensch remixes and will include collaborations with Individual Totem, Standeg, Headscan, Epsilon Minus, Implant, and newcomer V01d.

1. Der Kotzbrocken (2 in 1 Remix by Massiv In Mensch)
2. Dark Rave (Vocal Mix 2008 by Massiv In Mensch)
3. Green (Green Hill Mix by Individual Totem)
4. History (Nearfield Mix by Standeg)
5. Bitterfeld (Mix by Marc Shake)
6. Clubber Lang (Dubber Lang Mix by V01d)
7. Endless (Mix by Epsilon Minus)
8. Clubber Lang (Mix by Headscan)
9. Mein Letztes Bonbon (Pureminor Retouch by DJ Timesplitter)
10. Radius 17 M. (Mix by Implant)
11. Bitterfield (Mix by HTJV)
12. Toast (Loher Ostmark Mix by DJ Nightflyer)

TWO ARTOFFACT RELEASES NOW SHIPPING!!

Order now to get limited edition goodies, free downloads, bonus tracks, free buttons, and a free Artoffact Records compilation!

Listen and Buy on our releases page!