ethereal

Darkwave/Gothic Rock band formed in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1993 by Johannes Berthold. Scarcely another band among the German-speaking Alternative /(Dark)Wave-scene has polarized media and audience within the last eighteen years as much as ILLUMINATE. Either praised up to the skies or torn apart as „Schlager“ (a German derogatory term for bad pop songs) – be that as it may, for the last decade, Jo-hannes Berthold and his band have left their mark on the Dark scene...

During more than eight years of developing a sound and community, Trespassers William switched several members before forming its current and longest lasting group: Matt Brown, Ross Simonini and Anna-Lynne Williams. The band became a presence on the music scene with their second album, Different Stars, which was originally released only in Europe but later, re-released worldwide on Nettwerk Records (2004).

Kirlian Camera was founded by the keyboardist/vocalist Angelo Bergamini in Parma, Italy in Spring 1980. The band really was born in 1979, called Suicide Commando, but this name was dropped for the existence of a namesake band. So, when Bergamini started to interest to paranormal phenomena, he knew about a special device invented by Semion Kirlian to take photos of the aura of the human body and from this took the name of the group, suggested by Mauro Montacchini.

Stars of the Lid are a band specializing in drone-based ambient music. They list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt, Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as Talk Talk (both bands have tracks named "Taphead"), post-rock artists Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian Eno. Their music largely consists of beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement within the songs.