Upperwave Selections Vol. 2 / Bodywork Selections Vol. 2 / Bonus Tape Vol 2 [Miseria Records]

EBM, INDUSTRIAL, POST-PUNK, PREMIERES Carlos GrabStein, Miseria Records, Red Industrie, Violet Sword

Miseria Records kicked off at the end of last year with a double release in which the label stated from the outset its artistic direction and its range of styles, based mainly on musical genres that emerged in response to post-punk and industrial, according to the platform, a selection of the best of Goth, Industrial, Synth Punk, Wave, EBM Techno, New Beat and Noise.

For next September, Carlos GrabStein‘s label aka 89s† is releasing a second volume of Bodywork Selections and Upperwave Selections, the two albums released as the label’s debut, and another second volume of Bonus Tape, with a non-existent first edition.

In order, the first album is Upperwave Selections Vol.2, and if there is one thing to note about this release, it is that all the tracks featured have been carefully selected to introduce the listener to a soundfield full of textures and heartbreaking, degraded vocals, as evidenced by tracks from Laura Schen, Paradox Sequenz, Savage Grounds and Compulsions Analysis. Or also in extreme and forceful environments with the cuts of XTR Human, Secret Mutilator, Hammershøi and Alekzandra, or synthetic passages like those of El Ojo Y La Navaja, Leere Städte, Zack Zack Zack and IVUR.

If the selection of the first album was energetic because the average speed of the tracks could perfectly be around 160 bpms, the compilation of Bodywork Selections Vol.2 is built with a calmer rhythm, around 115 or 120 bpms on average, however, the cadence is the only thing that distinguishes both albums, since the attitude is the same. From the first listen, the parameters are quite similar to the previous album, with the corrosive sound of Éstudy, Violet Sword (project run by Francesco Baudazzi “Violet Poison” and Federico Spadavecchia “Frequencies.eu”) and Textbeak, the electronic textures of Termination_800, Ana Gartner and Male Tears, and the psychotropic melodies of Jemek Jemowit, Velax, Red Industrie, 89s† and Red Deviil.

The third and final album in this saga of releases is Bonus Tape Vol.2. This compilation takes in a wider variety of styles, and although these tracks must surely be the ones that have been discarded to form part of the previous two albums, at no point do they make it any less special, as the diversity and heterogeneity of the performances is one of the main attractions of this compilation. El Víbora, Madmoizel, Laura Krieg, Ferdinand Cärclash, Letter H, Abby Knives, Chris Shape and Su Eko, Visitor, Alpha Sect, Human 80, Kline Coma Xero, Rudiment and Unconscious and Carnuntum are the artists who contribute to this third album.