IC 434

IC 434 was founded in 1994 by Geert de Wilde (Belgium) and was named after the so-called Horsehead Nebula, a beautiful galactic cloud in the impressive constellation of Orion. As you can expect from the name of the project, the lyrics mainly contain astronomical descriptions, linked with some very personal experiences Geert had with death and other obscure subjects. The mysteries on our planet and in the universe also have an important place in the lyrics, just as animal rights, nature in general and the sickness of our society.

Impressed by one of the concerts in 1996, Dirk Ivens (THE KLINIK, DIVE and SONAR) decided to offer IC 434 a contract on his label DAFT (BODY) RECORDS. Three albums were released on that label between 1996 and 2002. The first IC 434 album, WEATHERING SKIES, was re-released in 2006. The fourth album, which is called BACTERIATE, got a worldwide release in 2008 on INFACTED RECORDINGS.

The sound is completely based on the 80's Korg M1, with only a couple of additional samples. This doesn't mean that IC 434 tends to create a typical old school sound, but just a kind of timeless dark electronic and 'danceable' music, combining elements from now and earlier days.

Geert also started with a side project, PANGEA, in 1998. Some people describe it as a mix of EBM and Goa/Psy Trance. Doing remixes of the PANGEA song 'Permafrost', Guy Van Mieghem asked Geert to join his legendary act VOMITO NEGRO after Gin Devo was fired. Guy and Geert worked on new VOMITO NEGRO songs and headlined WGT Leipzig in 2003. Nevertheless, the future of this EBM classic is unclear.