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When Rainer Weichhold was thinking about the remix of Nicolette’s ‘No Government’, I wondered if he’d heard the Alec Empire remix. “I’ve not heard that one,” he told me. Well, it’s not such a great surprise as Empire, as someone once said, “has made more remixes than most people can take drugs (or have had hot dinners!)”. Not the best analogy really, but the same sentiment applies to Empire’s musical tastes as he’s served up the whole pig roast of acid, industrial, punk, techno, hip hop, ambient, noise and even plain old rock ‘n roll.

After a successful spell in London that included setting up genre-defining label Digital Hardcore Recordings (including Atari Teenage Riot, EC8OR, Shizuo, Christoph de Babalon and Cobra Killer), Alec decided to return to Berlin. The story goes, he was sick of “reading about Revolver” (the Beatles album), so he bought a Russian synthesiser and together with Nic Endo, they went onto develop The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven sound.

Recorded at the wonderfully named Hellish Vortex Studios in Berlin, these ten tracks are more of a look at a golden period of electro heaven past rather than future. If you’ve got this months’ Mojo and enjoyed the OK Computer cover disc, you can’t help spot the reference points of Tubeway Army, John Foxx, The Human League et al with a healthy dose of Nine Inch Nails industrial punk electro Goth Berlin Bowie-ethic to boot.

‘New Man’ opens the set as an announcement of the metamorphosis of nu-wave electro; nu-rave presumably being so last year? That said, there’s enough electro-punk to dance around to like ‘Down Satan Down’ (this is no dub track). It’s not all in your face as my current favourites are the downtempo (and longest) track, the part Cope/Bauhaus/Velvet Underground inspired ‘1000 Eyes’ and the massive Hellish Vortex session mix of ‘On Fire’. This is a track with huge remix potential, whether DJ Hell dance floor or experimental noise metal.

‘If You Live Or Die’ could be Stadia Rock while ‘Robot L.O.V.E.’ and ‘Bug On My Windshield’ are as likely to be played by Zane Lowe as in some underground Berlin night club/warehouse/art installation. With fans like Miss Kittin to Patrick Wolf, is Empire leading the rise of nu-Berlin 2008? Most probably. Off the top of my head, I don’t think anyone else could have pulled this off with such style except for perhaps St. Julian de Copeland himself.

The extensive European tour with his band starts next week in Germany and the only UK dates are currently confirmed are London (Dingwalls — a bit different to a Peterson/Forge gig) on 5th March, Exeter (6th), Manchester (7th) and with new dates are being added as the word spreads, best keep an eye on his MySpace site.

By the way, great artwork by Endo, early contender for album cover of the year.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘New Man’, ‘Bug On My Windshield’, ‘On Fire (HVS Mix)’, ‘Robot L.O.V.E.’, ‘1000 Eyes’,

Reviewed: Alec Empire - The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven (Eat Your Heart Out) Cat. No. EYHOCD001 Release date: 18 Jan 2008 (Europe) UK (March 2008)
Tracklisting:
1 New Man (3:46)
2 …If You Live Or Die (3:43)
3 Ice (As If She Could Steal A Piece Of My Glamour) (3:59)
4 1000 Eyes (7:16)
5 Down Satan Down (Dub) (3:28)
6 On Fire (The Hellish Vortex Sessions) (4:28)
7 Robot L.O.V.E. (3:47)
8 Death Trap In 3D (3:19)
9 Bug On My Windshield (3:46)
10 No/Why/New York (4:21)

Links:
www.eat-your-heart-out.com
www.myspace.com/alecempire6666 [‘On Fire’ “…. where you in Hamburg when I DJed it? haha the sound engineer from the club went insane!!! Turn the bass DOWN NOW!!! you are destroying my system!!!! aaaahhhh …” Alec Empire, 19.01.08]
www.digitalhardcore.com
www.myspace.com/digitalhardcorerecordings1
www.myspace.com/nicendowhiteheat
http://www.the-hellish-vortex.com
Mojo Magazine : Label for the British music magazine MOJO, generally for the issuance of a free disc in each monthly magazine. www.mojo4music.com : V/A — Ok Computer February 2008