A European re-release of "Punishment for Decadence" is scheduled for May 14th or 20th.
The German music magazine, Zillo, recently printed an article on Bio-tek, which is translated here:
Bio-Tek
Everybody, who has once witnessed one of Jonathan Sharp`s live gigs, knows
that the Englishman is not the person to keep quiet for a long time. The
constant unrest, which inhabits Sharp's body, does not only express itself
in his urge to be active, but has seized his mind as well, which manifests
itself in the fact that Sharp starts new projects again and again. Although
most of them are abandoned as fast and as sudden as they were started, all
of them have one thing in common: The music's quality is beyond all shadow
of a doubt.
Bio-Tek, above all, is the band which could be described as a constant
factor in Sharp's musical life. After we didn't hear anything from this
project for a long time, with "Punishment for Decadence" now there appears a
new album which emphasizes the Englishman's predilection for progressive
Electro once more. After working together with Jean-Luc De Meyer on the
almost legendary Cyber-Tec Project and its hit "Let Your Body Die", the
collaboration with X Marks The Pedwalk on Hyperdex-1-Sect, the rather
experimental solo project New Mind and another side-project Hexedene, Sharp
now has managed once again to put together another Bio-Tek longplayer, which
impresses the listener with its individualistic note. No following of
trends, no repetition of conventional structures and patterns, no, Sharp
breaks through borders, tears down walls, and from the remains he builds his
own (and highly original) construct. A construct, which invites to dance as
much as it invites to reflection, Electro with depths is the motto! Already
the opener "Leviathan", which begins with an ominous sample, before it sets
right off with an electronic drum beat, impresses through straight and
pushing sequences and manic vocals. It has to be played on every dancefloor!
The same goes for "Razorblack", a track which is peppered with rather
unusual ingredients, like pistol shots, the strongly distorted "Steel
Against Skin" and "Shield", the album's secret highlight. The calmer songs
take an almost equal space on "Punishment for Decadence", maybe also because
they best reflect Sharp's present activities apart from Bio-Tek. At the
moment, the artist is working on a sound-library for tv- and
radio-commercials, and it's obvious that you rather seldom have a bang
there. Let's hope that "Punishment for Decadence" is not the last output from the workaholic,
before the industry uses him entirely for its own ends.
It would be a loss!
written by Marc Urban
