Altered Zones

While editing my recent interview with Gatekeeper, I stumbled upon the Finnish trio Nightsatan, who seem like they would be equally adept at dressing up John Carpenter for a dark wave costume ball à la Liquid Sky. “There is something really romantic about having all the gear up on stage, having it playing itself,” Gatekeeper's Aaron Ross told me, evoking the richly macabre image of a pipe organ spontaneously executing the first few lines of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. If electronic music is always a creative negotiation between man and machine, these Euro alter egos fall on the other side of the continuum, favoring live drum-pad percussion and hand-licked synth melodies over pre-recorded studio work. Not sure if I can hear the difference, or whether the distinction matters at all, but in both cases, a great part of the bone-chill resides imagining where the automated ends and the human begins. (via Visitation Rites)

MP3: Nightsatan: "Karelian Starmaster (Evil Lucifer)"

Midnight Laser Warrior is out now via Finnish label Solina Records