Most of you will be familiar with Stephan Groth's successful side-project Fairlight Children from 2004, and the "808 Bit" album has been available digitally for a long while.
However, the CD-Maxi of "Before You Came Along", with remixes from bands like Echo Image, SPZTX and Pleasure has never been released digitally before.
On Wednesday the 8th. April, this CD-Maxi will be launched onto all digital platforms and streaming services, including the Pitch Black Drive Bandcamp page, and we've also included a remix of "Invade My Heart Tonight" done by Kevin Lux that is previously unreleased!
Here's some pre-order links:
Pitch Black Drive Bandcamp: https://pitchblackdrive.bandcamp.com/album/before-you-came-along
iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/before-you-came-along-ep/1506190045
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Before-Came-Along-Fairlight-Children/dp/B086R2C3M8/
For a very long time, hardcore fans have asked us for certain B-Sides, remixes, rare tracks etc. and wondered if we'll ever release them digitally.
So, for a couple of years now, we've been making a list of tracks that are not available digitally, and we soon found out that we at least could make 3 albums out of it.
Now, the first one will be released digitally on all platforms and streaming-services on 1st. April, and it's called "Faceless Fear (B-Sides & Rarities)".
You can already now check out the track-list and pre-order it on iTunes, Amazon and the Pitch Black Drive Bandcamp page through the following links:
- Bandcamp Link: https://pitchblackdrive.bandcamp.com/album/faceless-fear-b-sides-rarities
- iTunes Link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/faceless-fear-b-sides-rarities/1504536641
- Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Faceless-B-Sides-Rarities-Apoptygma-Berzerk/dp/B086DC7TDY/
If you prefer Spotify, TIDAL, Deezer, Simfy, Slacker, 7-Digital or other platforms, you will find it there too on 1st. April, together with the rest of the Apoptygma Berzerk back-catalog!
Reviews and comments here:
- Side Line Magazine: https://www.side-line.com/apoptygma-berzerk-releases-faceless-fear-b-sides-and-rarities-collection/
- SNOOZECONTROL (English): https://www.snoozecontrol.be/english/9073/
- SNOOZECONTROL (Flemish): https://www.snoozecontrol.be/reviews/9078/
Back in 2002, Hard:Drive was the hot-spot label for both Apoptygma Berzerk and Echo Image, but that same year, a release that many people missed out on was "The Computorgirl EP" by Computorgirl. This was a one-woman project where all songs were written by Benedicte Sveinsson, and all the pre-production was done by Jonas Groth. After the pre-production, Benedicte/Computorgirl joined Stephan Groth and Geir Bratland in the APB Studio to record the 4 tracks for the EP with Stephan and Geir as producers.
Since 2002, this CD EP has been a "lost gem", but now, Pitch Black Drive, APOP's new label, have made a deal with Computorgirl to release this beautiful EP on all digital platforms and streaming services.
It is also available physically from the Pitch Black Drive Bandcamp page here: Pitch Black Drive Computorgirl EP, and if you live in the US/Canada, it is available physically from our US webstore The Electric Fox here: The Electric Fox Computorgirl EP.
Both the Pitch Black Drive Bandcamp and The Electric Fox also carry a large amount of other Apoptygma Berzerk, Echo Image, Cronos Titan and other APOP-related items!
Listen directly to the Computorgirl EP on Spotify here: Computorgirl EP on Spotify
It's been a long long while since Apoptygma Berzerk played any gigs in their home town or the surrounding areas.
This summer that will change, as APOP will be the headliner on Thursday the 23rd. July at the 20th. Anniversary of Månefestivalen in Gamlebyen, Fredrikstad.
There will be a full 1 1/2 hour show by APOP + several other bands that evening. Tickets can be bought here: TICKETS MÅNEFESTIVALEN, and if you're only coming for that one day to see APOP, it's the "20 års jubileumskonsert torsdag" ticket you need. That will get you into the festival area from the opening at 16:00 till it closes at 00:00 on Thursday 23rd. July.
Travel by plane to Oslo and enjoy a train ride directly from Oslo to Fredrikstad. You can also take the train to Fredrikstad directly from Copenhagen, Malmö or Gothenburg, so there are many options.
Parking in Gamlebyen is very difficult, so either park over by Kongstenhallen which is a 10 minute walk from the festival area, or take the City Ferry from the city square or Cicignon to Gamlebyen. The ferry from the city square runs every 30 minutes and the one from Cicignon runs every 15 minutes (or continuously when there's a lot of travellers) and is for free, but expect the ferries to be more crowded the closer you get to the festival starting.
Welcome to FRXTA a.k.a. ELEKTRONIKSTAD! :D
Out of Sweden, you have the legendary and long-running Release Music Magazine that have been writing about electronic music since the late 80's, and when they approaced us and asked if Stephan could present them with his list of his 10 favorite albums released between 2010 and 2019, how could he refuse!
The albums are in no particular order, and no explanation is given, just 10 albums!
You can find the list here, and hopefully it will be one for inspiration: https://www.releasemagazine.net/top-10-albums-of-the-2010s-by-stephan-groth-apoptygma-berzerk/
APOP said no to all German festival requests for 2020, except one, and that's the open-air one-day festival in Gelsenkirchen on the 15th. August after a special invite by long time friends and colleagues VNV Nation.
The one-day festival will take place in the beautiful Amphithetater Gelsenkirchen, and the full line-up is: VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk, Actors, Heldmaschine and Steril.
The very first gig APOP ever played in Germany, was the 7th. April 1994 at Kaue in Gelsenkirchen, also then with Steril as the support act, so with this one-day festival, it will be full circle after 26 years!
Tickets can be bought via this link at Eventim: https://www.eventim.de/artist/vnv-nation/vnv-nation-30-apoptygma-berzerk-actors-heldmaschine-steril-2112287/
"It's Apoptygma Berzerk, Jim - but not as we know it."
APOP reinvents itself - again - with an exciting new sound; different from, but complimentary to, the electro rock future pop stylings of previous releases.
On Exit Popularity Contest (a fix-up of the 12" EPs Stop Feeding The Beast, Videodrome and Xenogenesis), APOP founder Stephan Groth distils the essence of carefully selected pioneers to construct a classic yet refreshingly contemporary sound. Varied and vital, it brings instrumental music back into the spotlight, and after the wildly enthusiastic audience reaction to the sold-out performance in Norway last year, it appears he has tapped into a rich seam of electronic pleasure for a new generation as well as older aficionados.
Always a musical chameleon, Groth pays homage to his roots through emulating the analogue soundscapes of innovators like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Klaus Schulze, and the driving motorik Krautrock rhythms of Neu!, Cluster and La Duesseldorf, all filtered through his own unique Scandinavian sensibility. In doing so he has created a vibrant, colourful 21st century palette on which to blend these classic influences from the Golden Age of electronic music.
Exit Popularity Contest demonstrates an admirable musical purity and sincerity, channeling the best of the past to forge a path into the future.
