label: The Epicurean,  2019, lim 222 copies, playing time: ca. 20 min

label-info:

Acclaimed by Evolver magazine as “already a legend in his lifetime”, singer-songwriter Nikolas Schreck’s initiatory application of music, ritual and theater formally began in 1984 when he returned to the West from a life-changing spiritual pilgrimage in Egypt to found the shapeshifting musical ensemble Radio Werewolf, a nine-year sonic magic operation which concluded in 1993. After pioneering early Los Angeles Gothic and deathrock with the band’s first incarnation, Radio Werewolf’s European phase was hailed by Christopher Walton of the band Endura for “simultaneously pre-empting and giving birth to the dark-ambient and ritual-industrial scene of the 1990’s.”

Schreck has previously collaborated musically with Zeena, John Murphy, Death in June, Non and Sir Christopher Lee, whose first solo album he produced. In 2015’s Kingdom of Heaven album “XXIII”, as music site African Paper noted, Schreck “dove deep into the realms of American pop culture”, breaking genre boundaries by bringing his distinctive dark voice to an eclectic spectrum including Gospel, space rock and neo-classical Prog. Marking a new landmark in Nikolas Schreck’s ever mutating genre-defying musical voyage The Futura Model takes its listeners on a retro-futurist audio adventure in cosmic avant-pop that celebrates the joys of extraterrestrial sex, plunges to the icy depths of interstellar alienation, and soars towards the Gnostic mysteries of the trans-human state.

Recorded in Berlin shortly before Schreck and his band debuted the song at their memorable Leipzig performance Der Schwarze Planet hailed as one of the ‘’Best Concerts at WGT 2017’’, the singer’s evocative Sinatra-in-space croon, masterfully accompanied by the glacial synths of keyboardist Winfried Strauss, the powerful pulsations of bassist Ohnesorg, and the furious battery and percussion of drummer Heathen Rae, propels The Futura Model to sonic regions unknown.

Offering a tantalizing taste of Nikolas Schreck’s forthcoming album, this special limited collector’s edition EP allows you to hear the song performed from three different aural perspectives, including the propulsive Parallel Universe Version and a moody Late Night Supernova Version. In keeping with Schreck’s current practice of continually deconstructing and reimagining his repertoire in live performance, each version of The Futura Model reveals hidden facets of the song’s multi-levelled essence. Perfectly complementing the sleek alien textures heard on the triad of songs is cover art featuring a portrait of Nikolas by Zeena Schreck and typography & design by The Epicurean created exclusively for this release.