Pencil on paper 18″ X 24″

Time Space and Matter

44″ X 27″ Acrylic on Board

The Sedona Effect

The Knitting Factory
Aug 23, 2014
By Doktor john
Brooklyn, NY

Inspired by the gritty extremes of her new digs in New York, singer/actress Kai Irina Hahn brought her EBM band to the Knitting Factory for its debut performance.

First up band Thorazine Unicorn, a very attractive and talented group consists of a vocalist, guitar, bass and drums, but sounds like a lot more, with an industrial Sci-Fi sound, that comes across better on its studio-produced CD than the Knitting Factory’s speaker system. But they looked so good, I think I prefer the live performance.

Opening for Sedona was a very respectable classic-rock-meets-Goth group calling itself The Flies Are Out for Blood, that re-animated the spirit of the Doors with dark, poetic vocals, accompanied by crunching riffs and acid-laced melodies. I would compare them with Gene Loves Jezebel, but without implying anything imitative or lacking in originality.
Around 1:00 am, matching the rhythm of the new hit single, “Cross the Line,” (the video release of which was reviewed in the April 16 2014 issue of The Aq) Kai strutted on stage in the embrace of her full-grown male boa constrictor, Loki. A positively hypnotic, complex, EBM groove made the entire room of spectators sway rhythmically while Kai’s imperative to “Cross this line” was delivered in a distorted, sinister hiss. This was followed by their new single “Evolve Devolve,” featuring a spacey, soundtrack and epic drums. For this, second song, Kai dropped all distortion effects and sang in full, melodious voice. Unfortunately, this track hasn’t made it to the recording studio yet. On the next number, Kai began in full voice, but returned to distorted, breathy vocals, totally apt for the lyrics of the rapidly paced “I Burn.”

After another, this time, bass-driven song, Kai broke for a modest costume change. Wait. Did I say “modest?” Dressed in a red bikini top, corset, tutu and knee-high, multi-buckle, patent leather, giant platform, high-heel, boots, Kai’s costume change consisted of replacing Loki the snake, snuggled like a shawl around Kai’s neck and shoulders, for a tall, fan-like (or perhaps batwing-like) collar rising up behind her neck.

She now manned the keyboard —set on strings — and sang another new song, full-throated, “Between Now and Tomorrow” ending violently, high-pitched and seemingly out of control. The set ended with the notorious Billie Holiday standard “Gloomy Sunday,” performed in anything but standard style. Slowed to a crawl, and with ultra deep droning and deranged-piano arpeggios, Kai growled out the suicidal lyrics in the dramatic style reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich. The crowd screamed for more and forced an encore to be repeated from the preceding set and off their EP, “Cross the Line,” before lining up to buy a copy.

Recently transplanted from London where she honed her vocal skills on German art songs, classically trained lyric soprano Kai has pulled together a small group of musicians to found an Electro Dark Wave band with a very appealing, hybrid sound. The Sedona Effect —every bit a performance art project as it is an EBM band —made a spectacular debut, which should contribute to their rapidly growing fame in the metropolitan area, and allow multitalented, front Kai to establish herself as a kind of Nina Hagen meets Billie Holiday.

Album

TVMALSV

Band
Cocksure

Metropolis

By Doktor John

Lovers of old-school industrial who are waiting for a modern, novel reinterpretation of their genre will find TVMALSV by the irreverent band, Cocksure, to be right up their proverbial alley. Brainchild of Chris Connelly (KMFDM, Ministry, Pigface, Revolting Cocks) and Jason Novak (Cracknation and Czar) with guest appearance by Richard 23 (Front 242), this nine-track album contains all the elements they are listening for and more.

From the first cut, “Skeemy Gates,” to the pseudo-reggae finale, “Cokane in My Brain,” listeners are served up a techno-industrial slurry of mesmerizing rhythms and distorted vocals serving up cheerfully aggressive rap at various cadences in a matrix of organized, sonic chaos.

Echoes of the ancestor bands appeal to and entice the fans of Ministry, Front 242 and especially Revco, but Cocksure takes the audience a couple of steps further with a harsh, industrial-strength version of the rap style associated with hip-hop. Nasty topics, hoarse and rapid-fire vocals are suitably wedded to relentless mechanical beats and occasionally melodious background noise.

Dictionary.com defines “cocksure” as “overconfident.” The Urban Dictionary offers a more vulgar definition. I’m sure Connelly and Novak self-identify with both.

Combichrist
April 5 2014
Theater of the Living Arts

By Doktor John

Philadelphia PA

Atlanta-based aggrotech band, Combichrist performed at the Theater of the Living Arts on Philadelphia’s famous South Street, the third stop on a 28 city U.S. tour that will cross the country and end up back in the deep Southeast in May.

The opening act, William Control, did an admirable job of warming the crowd. Exhilarating and bizarre, William has an eccentric presence, dressed and groomed like a Jersey Boy at the height of the Four Seasons reign in the 1960s, wearing a snug shirt-and-tie, vest and sporting a perfect pompadour, totally discordant with his satanic persona and demagogic style. The image was subverted by the glimpse of tattoos sneaking up his neck above his starched collar and beyond the French cuffs of his sleeves. His take on music was totally weird but entertaining. His on-stage antics were casually mind-boggling, as he violently swung the microphone cable, vehemently chain-smoking and exhorting the adoring, predominantly female, crowd of fans to chant vulgar and evil slogans along with him. The beautiful blond Ash Costello in a black vinyl miniskirt joined him for a couple of songs. William Control’s performance and many of his songs like “Only Human Sometimes,” “Strangers” and “Razor’s Edge” were disturbingly unforgettable.

At around 9:30 pm and after a considerable pause, the theater went dark, the video screen lifted and an orchestral fanfare with a heavy martial groove filled the air. Toward the end, the band members took their places. The ominous, British-accented and robotic voice that is the introduction to “We Were Made To Love You” commented in flat, emotionless tones,” We love you…now die.” Terrifying in a hideous, red-illuminated, full-face mask, Norwegian native and frontman Andy LaPlega burst on stage, his harsh and raspy voice screaming the main theme of that track from the new 2014 album, “We Love You.” The crowd, who, at that point, remained stationary, took up its venomous mantra of “Hate, disorder, love, destroy”.

The relentlessly driving “Today I Woke to the Rain of Blood” and “Blut Royale” charged the audience up, and soon a violent, but comradely mosh pit broke out in the center of the horde. The venue staff was exceptionally accommodating, allowing the dancers free reign as long as no one was being seriously injured. A “girl pit” spun off with one statuesque brunette who discarded all inhibitions as she led a small crowd of punkish beauties who made up a significant subset of the spectators.

The set list in general went back and forth between entries from the new “We Love You” albums and their classic favorites such as “Throat Full of Glass.” One exception was “No Redemption” a classic guitar metal piece that is the soundtrack from a video game.
The melodious “Denial” offered a slight respite from the relentlessly driving, punishing style of most of the other songs. The track “What the F… Is Wrong With?” eloquently posed that perennial question — that all of us have asked — in the form of a rousing anthem that is from an album of a similar name. Sixteen songs made up the main body of this breath-taking show.

The final song, “Love is a Razorblade” ended the set, but the enthusiastic crowd demanded more, so the band returned to the stage to perform “F… That S…” and “Sent to Destroy,” which together captured the quintessence of Combichrist’s “Techno Body Music.” Lovers of this kind of hard-edge, mean-spirited style of music couldn’t possibly have asked for more.

The R Bar
March 9, 2014
New York, NY
By Doktor John

Female-fronted Brooklyn-based, dark electro band The Sedona Effect put on two screenings of their newly-released (January 2014) music video “Cross the Line” at the R Bar on Manhattan’s Bowery on a recent Thursday night to a large crowd of black-attired, dark wave fans. This band is the solo project of German-born, classically-trained soprano and dramatist Kai Irina Hahn who has recently come to NYC from London where, it can assumed, some of her conversion from lyric opera to EBM and industrial developed.

The video features a mesmerizing, layered electro-industrial track that builds through several crescendos. On screen are Kai, in the form of a femme fatale — alternately bathed in eerie, blue and red light — and in the background phantom-like, masked and fetish-clad characters.

Kai hisses her call to “cross the line.” During a black-&-white segment she holds the blade of a knife to the throat of a lethargic young male and succeeds in seducing him into final action. A large and slithering, spotted snake weaves its way throughout the video, bridging between several scenes, reminiscent of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. So —come to think of it — is Kai herself! Just the kind of thing to awaken the amoral side of the poetic persona. Parts of the video were actually shot at the RBar.

Besides the video, there were live stage performances featuring duets of performers, the first a “Celtic Kabuki” with Duchess Wendi and Sean Monistat who wore a deer-antler helmet. The second featured Ess Moonking and Kai herself performing parts of the choreography of “Gloomy Sunday,” a cabaret piece that she staged last year at Bizarre Bushwick in Brooklyn where Kai now resides.

A pair of very interesting photo exhibits was held as backdrop to the video release party. Anka Jurena’s work was largely b & w and quite creepy, and it included some available prints of Kai intertwined with her snake. Jesse Kleitman’s photography display featured traditional subjects, colors, filters and Photoshop enhancements.

The turnout was excellent and the video was well received, which portends an even more successful launch of The Sedona Effect’s upcoming album “Vortices,” due out in the fall of 2014.

QXT’s Art Series IX: Kaliyuga

March 21, 2014
Newark NJ
by Doktor John

Number nine in the series of art and media exhibitions held every other month at QXT’s, Newark’s iconic underground dance club featured a fascinating array of displays. Curated by multitalented impresario, Ben Faresich and his artist partner Nicole Zanetakos, who collectively conduct their operation under the title “Dactsaurylus,” this occurrence, as previously, featured around thirteen exhibits with displays of paintings, drawings, videos, electronic music and installations. An artist in her own right, Nicole comes up with a unique theme for each alternate-monthly exhibition based on her wide-ranging knowledge and interests. Ben, a remarkably accomplished photographer, works on developing Nicole’s ideas and helps bring them to fruition.

Many exhibitors were highly accomplished, i.e. attaining a professional level of proficiency. Other works were more raw and amateurish, rich with sincerity and honest ambition. The emphasis as always was on surreal, dark—even horrific—imagery. Training among the exhibitors always runs the gamut from those with graduate training in art through those who have never shown their works before to those currently enrolled in art schools.

Repeat exhibitor Charlie Garlette, who runs Bent Nail Studio, displayed some stunning, “DieselPunk” installation pieces impressive for their elaborate, electro-mechanical and mysterious nature. Flashing, multi-colored lights flickered around the base of a columnar array of metallic constructs, atop of which sat a fluid-filled, illuminated tank containing a biological specimen of god-knows-what creature. Behind and separate from this installation sat a diorama of sorts on a shelf, at its center a creepy bare tree upon which were arrayed true-to-life casts of Charlie’s fingers —eerily lit in dim blue light and set against a background of an electronic board.

Artists came from as far away as Long Island, spectators from as far as Brooklyn. A raffle was held that permitted lucky attendees to leave with artworks that had been generously offered as prizes by the artists.

Raffle winner and model Jessica Graves receiving prize from artist Celine Paz. Rob, DJ NueMatic in back. Curator Ben Faresich at far right

QXT’s was full like I’ve never seen it, although I wouldn’t say it was uncomfortably crowded. A great mix of goth, industrial and New Wave kept the dance floor packed with the frenzied and the enraptured.

Filmmaker Ryan Polukord showed his film, “Danger Zone,” a project he has been working on for two years. He took the time to film some of the artists at the show, and is working on a promo video for QXT’s Art Series. Rob Simscuk (AKA DJ NueMatic) performed his original electronic music, ranging from atmospheric and dark ambient to drum-and-bass for dance.

Look for a recurrence of this event at QXT’s in late May, or better still attend the Dactsaurylus-curated art show scheduled to take place at the easy-to-search Seed Gallery on Market Street in Newark on Saturday, April 26th.