Gee, you get to the weekend and the outlook seems dismal? Do you have an abnormal fear of gnomes and strange alcohol? The double sided single “SynkkyydenJaLonkeroidenVaikutuksesta” by TerrorroT featuring TFG (TONTTU), will probably instil the appropriate levels of terror, while you belligerently rock your body in the naughty corner.
Like a bad dream on acid, “LonkeroidenOikeudestaTonttuvapaaseenElämään” burbles at you in a crazed manner. What does it all mean? Only the gods of lost souls probably knows
Ahh, the delicate vocals of TFG sooth your heated brow in “SynkkyydenVaikutuksestaKasitykseemmeTontuista“. The gnomes could be suffering the worst hangovers of their cantankerous lives….I am of course guessing, but he does not sound like he is having a picnic, unless the picnic is in the seventh realm of Hell. Please ask the gnomes for details on this party. Cranky bastards.
NightTongue might be based in Los Angeles, but, CarisaBiancaMellado (vocals, bass, synth) and AndrewDalziell (vocals, guitar, cello, drums) are originally from Australian shores. However the darkwave group would not be complete without members ElleHaert (synth, keys, vocals) and JessicaReuter (drums, vocals), and August 18th saw the release of the single, “HumanThings“.
Left to right: Elle Haert, Carisa Bianca Mellado, Andrew Dalziell, Jessica Reuter
This tracks threw me for a moment. It was like travelling back in time to the 80s, to when 4AD brought us the cream of the dreamy shoegaze and dark indie bands, such as CocteauTwins. The vocals are delicate and floating, both entrancing and seductive, drawing you into a world of where we have passed the veil. The Dalziell’s guitar adds to the otherworldly swirling flight of fantasy.
Medallo’s singing is angelic and when entwined with the vocals of the others, becomes like spun gold thread of an intricate spider’s web capturing your ears and imagination. “HumanThings” return to dust and maybe the unknown might reclaim us, but you can still enjoy the tenebrous sounds of NightTongue…. while you can.
Should you dare slip into the wooded areas of Marietta, Ohio, after dark, you might happen upon the ambient and industrial musing of PressedFlowers. Blake Pipes is the man bringing forth the electronic magic/madness in the single, “The Ascension.”
‘I composed “The Ascension” using, among other things, the sounds of hammers on large nails, the sounds of vehicles barely able to bear the weight of their load, and a mess of synthesizers. These elements were each stretched to their limits and sculpted carefully into place. In the track, there is a choice to make, a choice to stay or to go. The choice is made to go. The path forward is not necessarily a pleasant one, but neither is the path back. Too often, we can only hope to outrun what we try to leave behind.’ – Blake Pipes
This track is saturated in growing dread, from the scraping metal into the nails being knocked in. There is a near Hitchcock shower scene , which prevails and then collapses into what could be described as the warblings of an estranged classical orchestra, which is oddly satisfying. It is an intriguing use of elements and experimentation. There is a horror filled majesty with “This Ascension” by Pressed Flowers.
Since their inception in 2013, Costa Rican band, Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos have been creating guitar based gothic rock music, which very much pays homage to the brilliance that is The Cure. Maniki has always been the driving force, however, 2023 has seen a change with the line-up including members Janice Black and Eva Red in creative roles. As expected, this has brought about a change in sound, which can be heard in their sixth studio album FRACTALS.
When you come to the end of this existence, most people will dwell on how that life was lived and how we treated the ones we love the most. “The Last Light” is a moving tribute to the nearest and dearest, that any slights, or reservations to show care were regretted. The synths wind their way through the guitar flourishes and the touching lyrics are icing on the cake. Next is the sonically sublime single “Supernova” with the thrumming bass, mimicking the unbridled desire for your lover. Moody and punctuated synths, herald in “Hyenas”, a slower track with weighted singing, that are highlighted by feminine vocals, giving the track an eerie atmosphere of impending doom.
The tendrils of sax coil through your speakers, binding you within the dead sexy ambience of “The Cell”, a track in a 1930s noir throe. “Once And For All” is about the passing of your one true partner in crime, and the hole that is indelibly left, which can be heard in the words Hiéreme de muerte! or Wound me to Death!. This is yet another single and the bass echoes that wound, while the synths capture our attention converging into a funerary vortex of sadness, for nothing lasts forever. The serpentine feel of the music in “Into The Sun” is quite fitting. The image of a snake is part of this lament, of earthly destruction by the normally unseen, and unnatural forces, where the Morning Star has won.
The vignette called “Paralysis” is a sweet duet accompanied only by a lone guitar, and is followed by the intoxicating “Love You Like The Ocean,” with it’s delicate timelessness that encapsulates a passionate devotion. Languid and deep like that huge body of water, twinkling with refracted light and hues of darkening blues. The sunlit shores of a “ADifferentWorld,” with the profound swirling ownership of a place that is yours alone and yet it will decay around the immortal. There is a taste of Latin flamenco in the evocative “RememberMe,” and yet the track waivers with the rich vocals and even richer instrumentation.
FRACTALS can be viewed as a exploration of one’s mortality but, for myself, it is revelling in the warmth of a life lived, having known a great love, a story of joy that transcends death. Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos have made FRACTALS an album that questions does love go on after the body ceases in this world? A part of my shadowy being truly hopes that love defies death and lasts an eternity, and FRACTALS is a gorgeous gothic exploration of abiding rapture.
In 1997, TheCure released the iconic Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me album, and on that album was the track “AllIWant“. Now, in 2023, Now After Nothing, have covered “AllIWant” and released it as a single. MattSpatial and MichaelAllen of NowAfterNothing can also lay claim having CarlGlanville (U2, JoanJett) doing the mixing and the mastering by JohnDavis (Placebo, TheJesusandMaryChain), while the guitars are courtesy of MarkGeminiThwaite (PeterMurphy, GaryNuman) and HowardMelnick (AstariNIte).
“I’ve never been one for recording covers but ‘All I Want’ holds a special place in my heart. I instantly gravitated toward the song when I first heard ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ as a kid. I was captivated by the sound and the multiple perfectly woven melodies. Years later, I thought about the feel and energy of the song during my first attempt at song writing. I gave my first song the working title ‘Sonic Goth’ as, in my mind, it sounded like Sonic Youth meets The Cure. Truth be told though, what I ‘wrote’ was a blatant rip-off of ‘All I Want.’ The noobish-ly named ‘Sonic Goth’ never came to be a fully-formed song, and likely never will. Rather than rip of the original, it makes more sense to pay homage to it even more blatantly. So here it is…my cover of The Cure’s ‘All I Want.’ Oh, but in my version, it’s ‘Doll’ not ‘Dog’ – I am an aspirational feminist, after all.” – Matt Spatial
The guitars have a heavier, more modern sound but ring true to the original, and the synths add an air of floating graceful darkness. The vocals by Spatial don’t try to emulate Robert Smith because, honestly, no one sings like our eye liner wearing floppy hero, and this works really well, giving an authenticity of becoming a NowAfter Nothing track… even for just a little while. The essence of a dream for this is “All I Want.”
I don’t think I can quite explain how much Glaswegian band, The Jesus And Mary Chain (JAMC), held me in awe, as a kid in the 80s, with drawling vocals and waves of guitar reverb filling your ears. Label, FuzzClubRecords, is poised to release the live album for JAMC, aptly named Sunset666, on August the 4th, where all tracks were recorded at the Hollywood Palladium, in Los Angeles, in 2018. The single “Half Way To Crazy” has been dropped to give us a taste of what you can expect on the album.
Rightly so, the quality of the recording is actually beautiful and clear. William Reid’s Gibson guitar transports us away, together with his brother, Jim Reid’s distinctive vocals, reminding is of what a magical powerhouse JAMC have always been.
“Half Way To Crazy” was originally released on the 1989 album Automatic, and the new Sunset 666, has all up, a whopping seventeen tracks, including “Blues From A Gun“, “Just Like Honey“, “Teenage Lust“, “Some Candy Talking” and “Head On“. Apparently, the recording isn’t a mirror, with occasional wrong notes, and imperfect timing, but that’s the point of live music, because it is alive at that very moment of time, and it has been captured in all its raw brilliance. As far as sonic rock music goes, The Jesus And Mary Chain have been responsible for creating songs that you feel in your gut, but also hugely influenced other musicians to push the rock envelope. This is bliss.
21st of July saw the release of the single “Burial” by Milwaukee based ChokeChain, the project for MarkTrueman. Written and produced by Trueman, while the mastering is by EricOehler, at SubmersibleStudios. Excitingly, this single heralds the new album Mortality, which will be out in September the 22nd, on PhageTapes.
You can almost taste the anguish in Trueman’s vocals, raw and reproaching. The rhythms are unrelenting in their pounding, while the wailing in the background is like klaxons going off, creating an atmosphere of cloying terror that you still must find yourself moving to. Propelled by claustrophobia, each throbbing note is driving your heartbeats. They say death is cold, but the industrial aggression of “Burial” by ChokeChain is smoking hot.
Harsh Reality Music has been a purveyor of electronic music since 1982 in Memphis, Tennessee, and they have released the latest MadMasks single “Structures.” Based in the French Alps, MadMasks has been around since 2013 and is made up of duo, ZioVoodoo and DominiqueStela.
For one dollar US on Bandcamp, you can purchase this thirty-five minute epic. The guitar strums away as the electronic waiver and fuzz. I believe I hear a ghostly female vocal in the mix, a sighing phantasm into the computerised morass. Eerily ambient, interspersed with twinkling chimes, there is the ebb/flow of the synths and a sombreness that feels un-naturally ancient and alien. “Structures,” by MadMasks, is a perfect experimental and atmospheric electronic piece that invades your senses.
As a kid, were you enchanted by movies such as BladeRunner, Tron and JohnCarpenter’sTheThing, and their futuristic soundtracks? Then the music of NikkFail might be for you. Milan based Fail has also found inspiration in this genre, and has released his debut EP FuturoPresente.
As the title of the EP infers, the instrumental “FuturoPresente,” is the now futuristic sounds building your anticipation, as the blatting bleeps mix with the tinkling synths, giving a sense of foreboding in the current climb. You have the “Supervillain” given a voice by Fail. Like a modern day PinkPanther with only evil intent. This alter ego however does his villainy in plain sight with the acclaim of the people. Can someone say politician.
There really is something very old school industrial about “Sirens“. Possibly the anguished vocals or the stalking rhythms and swirling electronics, but this is possibly my favourite off the EP. The last track is haunting instrumental “SerialK.G.“, that winds its way uncomfortably through your subconscious.
The premise behind FuturoPresente is the fact that so much of our subculture science fiction made in the 80s, had their future timelines set in what is, now, our present day. Did some of it come true? I will that leave thought with you, but if you need a soundtrack for those inner thoughts, or just damn well enjoy retro electronic music, then you really can’t go past NikkFail.
Australian’s love claiming New Zealander’s as our own, and quite frankly, the talented KierenHills is no exception. His crust punk, crossed with industrial stylings with the project SchkeuditzerKreuz, is perched to release a new full length album on the 25th of August, named NoLifeLeft, and a packed tour of Europe, over this September and October (which is well worth every cent). For now, you are able to listen to “SecondLife,” the latest single off the album.
Photo by Jeremy Belinfante
Instantaneously, the pummelling, heavy as fuck rhythm grabs your ears, with a taste of black metal gloom, as the claustrophobic pall tries to suffocate the breath out of you. Hills snarls and growls lyrics such as ‘free to kill, free to take a life away’, a protest of the constant gun related killings in America, where the victims and families seem to have no voice. The loops and synths ooze discontent at the failing system.
“I’ve always had a policy of playing anywhere and everywhere with SK. I’ve played in a lot of weird and wonderful places in the last 3 years – in sheds and video stores, in the forest and in car parks, house shows, club shows, in-stores, and pub shows – under bridges and in skate parks. Anywhere at all. So, I wanted to do that for the video.
I found an alleyway choked with long-dead street bounty – sofas and white goods and old guitars, and pots and pans and cupboards and sheet metal, and building waste and everything that gets left behind when people move on or move up. All long left in the elements to degrade and die. So, I set up there and played to a few friends – interspersing my usual walls of sound with throwing stuff around and bashing on things in the pile, more or less rhythmically along with the music.‘ – KierenHills on the video for “SecondLife“
The video is beautifully shot/produced by Shaye at DMWCFilms, filmed in an alleyway in Sydney. This track hits hard, not only in the voluminous reams of auditory crush, but also the overwhelming disappointment in a society where guns mean more than people’s lives. The vinyl records for the album are already on pre-order from BadHabitRecords (AUS) and SorryStateRecords (USA)
Onyx Music Reviews 