It’s been quite long since our last EP-based post and we have a lot of them to review. This is going to be the first one of at least a series of three that I will try to publish this week.
Let’s start with Italian band SiS Felix, which released a first demo in 1987, although they split up a bit later. They made their comeback in 2012 and since then they have released a couple of EPs with new material, the first one Figures (2019) and this Rebirth that was published a few months ago. The EP consists of four tracks of Goth rock with great atmospheres. If we had to choose one song, it would be the title one. We hope the band will continue releasing new material.
Broken Hearts and Robot Parts III is the name of a COP International compilation with five artists, some of them already known by the readers of our web. Deathline International is an industrial band from California that has recorded a cover of the legendary band The Vibrators with the collaboration of a good bunch of musicians such as Jello Biafra and John Fryer and Anjela Piccard from Black Needle Noise. John Fryer’s project also appears with a remix done by Christopher Hall of “Time,” one of their last singles. Yvette Winkler, who also collaborated with Black Needle Noise in the past, appears with her band Vaselyne and the melancholic “Waiting to Exhale,” a perfect track both vocal and music-wise. Rohn-Lederman contribute with an exclusive track, “The Anchors,” another proof of the impressive creative moment they are living. Last but not least, JUNKSISTA are an electrocrash/EBM German duo that I first listened to thanks to their remix for Jean-Marc Lederman and Emileigh Rohn’s project.
In Vaselyne, we find Dutch singer Yvette Winkler and Frank Weyzig [ex-Clan of Xymox] who have released this four-track EP. It starts with an incredible cover of Tori Amos’ “Winter” that also appears in an acoustic version. The EP also includes a new track, “I Surrender,” and its instrumental version. In the first one, we can be fully delighted by Yvette’s voice and the second one is a great to appreciate the work of Frank Weyzig. This is the second EP of the duo after a hiatus. The first one, entitled Waiting to Exhale, included the song that can also be found in the COP International compilation, an instrumental version and a demo.
In 2020, I wrote a few lines about The Funhouse Collective, one of the side projects of Johnathan Mooney, also half of Johnathan/Christian, the authors of this four-track Together, We’re Alone. They are an original darkwave duo that has been releasing music since 2013. For me, the best track is the title one, a beautiful duo with Elisa Mammoliti. Also, the EP includes the solemn instrumental “My Beautiful, Broken Butterfly,” a fun version of Adam and the Ants’ “Never Trust a Man (With Egg on His Face)” and the powerful “My Dying Words.”
