Web Site Reviews
RIP Magazine
Very Cool indie record label site roster includes the labels' bands Testify, Sielwolf, The Fair Sex, Plastic Noise Experience, and DHI. It features audio ("Real Audio" would be perfect for this site), video clips
(clear up that hard drive, the long versions of the clips take up to 12-14 megs of space!), interviews,upcoming events and catalogs (you can also order any Van Richter album online). All in all , a great indie site, and a must for all you industrial music fans out there. - J. Gordon
Cyberia Magazine
Webbed head I finally got over to the Van Richter Records web page
http://vr.dv8.net/, and let me tell you,well you have
no choice it is good. Very quick loadup,nice dark color and tons and tons
of video and audio clips for their artists. The VR roster include
SIELWOLF,TESTIFY,and THE FAIR SEX among others. Each band gets a link with
discography and lyrics!! I thought that was pretty cool. Of course the
Sielwolf lyrics were in deutsch so that did me-who actually took a
pass/fail in first year german no good. Naturally the rest of the bands
have english lyrics. You really want to get to the Van Richter site.
Superpop DJ Pool
Aggro Industrial. A hot genre, fast becoming hotter. With the success of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Ministry and others, the genre is in hot demand in the stores and venues. across the world. Van Richter Records specializes in the sound of aggro industrial, also covering other sides of the electronic scene as well. The label concentrates on finding European bands, which they believe are the leaders of the genre, to market in North America. Van Richter has national distributuion through Navarre Corp., and has invested heavily into the internet, with one of the most comprehensive indie sites, which includes full press kits, video, music samples,and much more. Van Richter's 1997 release schedule includes new titles from Sielwolf, The Fair Sex, and Testify. Check out the Van Richter website at : http://vr.dv8.net/ e-mail: vrichter@netcom.com
Campus Circle, Glass Eye
While Van Richter Records may be "your aggro industrial record label,"
their website (http://vr.dv8.net/) is a fine example of on-line presence for
any indie label. Each band on the roster has a page, and their is plenty of
audio action, even whole CDs (through Audionet). The site uses Quicktime for
video previews. There is a whole slew of interviews and reviews uploaded
from a variety of magazines and a chat space. Of course, there is all the
retail information on how to obtain their products. The only weak point I saw
was that the links page only had a few, general links. Even this, though,
led to alot more than it first appeared. Overall, this is a very good page
and I could take some pointers on it for its design, which eases navigation.
Van Richter represents Testify, Sielwolf, Plastic Noise Experience, The Fair
Sex and Death & Horror Inc...." - Tom "Tearaway" Schulte
Van Richter Records Offers Electro-Industrial Line-up at AMP3.com Download Songs from Six Hard-Hitting Industrial Acts
Grinding machines, pulsing rhythms, strangled guitars, and often horrifying vocals- these are common elements to the Van Richter Records sound. AMP3.com is proud to include Germany's Girls Under Glass, Sielwolf, the Fair Sex, Plastic Noise Experience, and Testify, plus Canadian band Death and Horror, Inc.
First blending heavy metal with technology in 1986, Girls Under Glass are among the early innovators of the Industrial sound. Their cover of the John Carpenter film theme, "Halloween," is among the gems offered by Van Richter. An eerie instrumental, "Halloween" builds upon Carpenter's tension by leveling blasts of electric guiar at the listener at just the right moment. You might also be familiar with "Ballroom Blitz," a 70's bubblegum hit by the Sweet, but you haven't heard the song until you've listened to Testify's version. With vocals that sound like Nosferatu himself, the song evokes images of Dante's Inferno as imagined with electric guitars.
Intense doesn't begin to describe the sound of German band Sielwolf, who have been creating their brand of metal-noise since 1989. The music is loud, fast, and angry, incorporating otherworldly vocals with scalding rhythms. Death and Horror, Inc. rely on a techno-edge, but don't hold back when layering on guitars and vocals. Formed in 1987, Death and Horror, Inc. take their place next to Skinny Puppy as one of the key innovators in the history of Industrial music. Completing the Van Richter catalog are the cyber-metal band The Fair Sex and aggressive-hardcore-electronic-industrial band Plastic Noise Experience.
Whether you prefer metal or techno, take a chance on this new music from the Van Richter catalog. Prepare to be destroyed! - Doug Cornell
Liquid Music Network
SPOOKY HALLOWEEN PICKS (digital downloads):
There are a lot of spooky songs hidden in the LMN Store. We've picked out a
few of our favorites and put then into this audio grab bag. Whether you like
snickers or candy corn-we've got something for everyone's musical sweet
tooth.
The most obvious pick comes from our friends at Van Richter
Records, a label whose specialty is in the industrial music genre as well as
the sub genres: aggro, electro, darkwave, noise, and ambient. It's the
Girls Under Glass cover of the theme song from John Carpenter's movie,
"Halloween." This track is on the Girls' appropriately titled album,
Nightmares. For more industrial mood music, check out other artists on Van
Richter's label: Testify, The Fair Sex, Plastic Noise Experience, Sielwolf
and DHI (Death and Horror Inc.).
If you like your music Aggro, Dark, Electronic, or Ambient then you've no
doubt heard of Van Richter Records.Van Richter Records was formed in San
Diego, CA in 1993 by long time loyal fans of the Industrial Music Scene.
They felt there were a lot of great bands coming out of Europe at the time
that weren't getting the exposure they needed in North America. It was a
great opportunity to make a presence with the Industrial Scene, which was
dying in the states. Van Richter is a Dutch name meaning richter scale.
The company felt this to be appropriate being located in Southern
California and representing Europen bands. The name and image was perfect!
Industrial music, though never given the respect it deserves is a very
important genre as it incorporates so many other genres into it as well as
spoken word and advanced technology.
Since their formation Van Richter has been very selective in it's artist
signings focusing on developing the careers of leading artists in the
Industrial Music genre. They now have a powerful and varied roster with
some of the leading Industrial bands including: Testify, The Fair Sex,
Plastic Noise Experience, Sielwolf, Death and Horror Inc., and Girls Under
Glass. These artists cover the entire spectrum of Industrial Music
including Aggro, Electro, Darkwave, Noise, and Ambient.
The top priorty of Van Richter continues to be "quality not quantity" in
their releases and here are just a few of their 2001 releases to keep your
eyes on: Girls Under Glass "Frozen", The Fair Sex "The Dark Ages", Testify
"Triviality Beyond Acceptance", Various Artists "Horror Movies": featuring
the best of the genre covering classic cult movie titles.
If you have cistomers requesting artists like Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn
Manson, Ministry, and White Zombie you may want to take that opportunity
to download Van Richter artists. For more information, check out
www.vanrichter.net and for information about songs available for download
from Van Richter artists, please contact Sylvie St. Hilaire at
sthsy@touchtunes.com - Hallie Volman, The TouchTunes Insider
An introduction to Van Richter Records
In between police scanner chatter and stories about disease of the
week charity walks, us editor types have been known to relieve the
boredom (yes, it's true, journalism isn't all glamour and
excitement) by gasp listening to music.
Tired of the local radio sounds, I stumbled upon a web radio stream
a while ago that brought back memories of industrial bands like
Front 242 and KMFDM.
Now, I know that whole scene may not be in vogue with the
mainstream, but I've since discovered that there is a thriving sub-
culture of diehards still banging away in the triangle where
electronica, metal and techno come together.
As an old-school headbanger, I've always gravitated towards heavier
music, and in recent years acts like Rob Zombie and Nine Inch Nails
have filled the gap.
So imagine my pleasant surprise to come across this treasure trove
of all things industrial, from angst-ridden aggro to crunchy near-
death metal and ambient synth-laden electro.
Van Richter Records was founded in 1993 in San Diego as way to give
some North American exposure to European industrial acts unsigned
on this side of the pond.
It's since expanded in scope to incorporate home-grown talent, and
music by its stable of artists is available at select CD outlets as
well as from its own website and, more recently, on iTunes.
Many of the indie label's acts hail from Germany, such as Girls
Under Glass, Plastic Noise Experience, Sielwolf and my favorite,
Testify. Canadian artists include Toronto's Death and Horror Inc.
Much of the German material is re-released older material not
originally available here, but a lot of it stands the test of time.
In particular, Testify's mix of pounding beats, grinding guitars,
layered synths and snarled lyrics combine to give that sense of
impending doom and musical intensity that I'd been craving.
For a slightly more "accessible" introduction, check out their
killer cover of Sweet's Ballroom Blitz.
Girls Under Glass combine creepy, electronically altered vocals
with heavy synths and a big dance beat on tracks like Future
Assault. A cover of Madonna's Frozen gives it an even more ethereal
quality than the original.
Plastic Noise Experience, who sing in their own language, recall
some of the works of 242 and Front LIne Assembly and so may be a
bit more "old-school" industrial, yet no less intense.
Sielwolf are probably the angriest and noisiest of the bunch, with
more of a metal influence. Ministry fans will like tracks like the
heavy industrial Magnum Force.
DHI's rerelease of its early '90s Transmissions from The Chemical
Land is what I remember industrial being all about stripped-down,
machine-like beats and angry lyrics shouted over stabbing guitars.
For more information on any of these bands, check out
vanrichter.net or search them out on iTunes. Happy headbanging! - Jon Manchester,
News Editor The Daily Courier Kelowna B.C. Canada