Proud goth, ex DJ and music reviewer

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The second Girls Under Glass single has been released with video, called “Dream Yourself Away“, in anticipation for the new album Backdraft, out on Dependant Records. Original singer, Tom Lücke, re-joined the band in 2016, after leaving back in 1989, which has brought back those wonderful vocals that greeted us on the first Girls Under Glass releases and this track can be found on the Deluxe Version of Backdraft.

“It is a positive outlook on life in the present and in future. The text asks to deal with the important issues now and with confidence. The song is directly linked to my time with GIRLS UNDER GLASS back in the days, but it is also connected through the 1980s vibes within me to the present. To me, it nearly appears as if the days in between have never existed. I regard this song highly as a present and it moves me very much to see it being released as a single.” – Tom Lücke

There is a thrill that goes down my spine and I can’t decide if it is from the ringing guitars, the thumping bass or the succulent keyboards, but Lücke’s vocals definitely lend themselves to creating a mesmerising track. So builds the hunger for the new album from Girls Under Glass.

Backdraft (Deluxe Edition) | Girls Under Glass (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/GirlsUnderGlassEst1986?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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The late Burt Bacharach asked us what do I get if I fall in love, but in reality, maybe he should have asked what do we get when Sonikdevil and Mach FoX (Zwaremachine) join forces? For April, it seems to be an EP called New Dead Wave, with FoX as the vocals and Kyle Sonik playing instruments, with the pair cowriting all tracks.

The title track is the starter, and it sets the mood for the EP with a music vibe of that period of time where the 80s melded into the 90s industrial and the unquenchable hunger of the vampiric kind. The possible hint is in the name, “New Dead Wave“. If you were in doubt, this was a horror themed release, there is the guitar filled “Little Monster“, a rock ode to the female terror in your life that wants to reduce you to a tasty jelly mess. Psychedelic effects and a big rock sound stalks, waiting to “Let Us In“, where there is actually a liberal amount of glam rocker style in the offering.

“Garden Of Rust” kind of reminds me quite a bit of the Ramones when they wrote “Pet Cemetery” with that very up-beat punk attitude, though this is at complete odds to the far more electronic “Circus Of The Damned” with FoX channelling a bit of Alice Cooper thrown in for good measure. The reminiscing of crazier times is the punk “Barstools & Broken Fools” and yet there is a story of loss behind the bravado. Of course, the aliens have not been forgotten about, and the last track is “The 4th Kind” that almost has horrorbilly feel to it, which is a really nice end to the EP.

Feels a bit mealy-mouthed to call this an EP when I’ve seen albums with fewer tracks on them. This is a recording that runs the gamut of rock from the wham bam glam 70s, punk, post-punk to industrial, with a sprinkling of psychobilly horror tongue in cheek, giving it the spooky flavour of B grade monster movies, which I think are the best sort. The hills might have eyes, but Sonikdevil and Mach FoX have New Dead Wave.

New Dead Wave | Sonikdevil & Mach FoX | Mach FoX (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/machfoxband

https://sonikdevil.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.facebook.com/SonikdevilOfficial?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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Apparently, the project Habitable Moons is air and atmosphere out of Stockholm, but actually, it is a guy called Peter Lindström out of Stockholm and back in January, they debuted the EP, oddly called….well… EP1. This kind of alludes to the fact that there might be other EPs in the future.

“October 3” kicks off, with highly rhythm intensive textures layering over each other. The pulsating electronics are almost futuristic in nature. Perhaps this is a date in future that we are awaiting with trepidation. There is the feeling of movement and the build-up of something ancient in “Winter Storm, Baltic Sea“, though it does not seem like a violent storm, but rather swells and ebbs with driving rain. The third track is “Cape Breton, Nova Scotia” and the sounds of gulls and guitar give you a glimpse of sun drenched beach running into the ocean, and early morning when the day is but young. It seems at peace with the world as the land wakes up. The guitar looping could be mistaken for church bells, and we even get to hear the voice of the progenitor, Lindström.

Just a small observation of mine was that the Bandcamp player that you can preview tracks on, was not showing any minutes, nor seconds for any of the three tracks, which is something I am not used to and it kind of gave an air of uncertainty as to how long the tracks went for. Maybe I should pick the word “timeless” as that suits these electronic tracks that conjure up visions with their rhythms and experimentation. EP1 runs for approximately twenty-five minutes, but it definitely doesn’t feel that long, and maybe that is what happens on Habitable Moons.

EP1 | Habitable Moons (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/habitablemoons?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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Australians Gerry Hawkins (Cryogenic Echelon) and Lawrie, aka Lawrie Masson (Studio X), are back with a new single/EP for their project Avarice In Audio, called “War Tanz“, tanz meaning dance, on the Alfa Matrix label. 2022 saw the release of the fifth studio album, Our Idols Are Filth and “War Tanz” is the second single.

Slamming electronic beats, Hawkins‘ gravelled vocals and those warbling synths that breakout during the chorus. They are pounding the dance track into your skull, the motivation to stop being a observer inside your own life, in “War Tanz“. Alien:Nation next have the remix, injecting heavenly synths into the more techno influenced version, though those mammoth beats still blast through, highlighted by the tinkling keyboards.

Lawrie is no slouch nor stranger when it comes to the remix, so the Studio-X mix is hardly a surprise. From the beginning, it is stripped down with the vocals at the fore, with hints of synths and it is amazingly effective, and equally danceable. It might be time to bust a move with the “Downer Grooves“, an instrumental to get on down with, and get on up again, which does not appear on the album.

Brilliant heavy beats, evocative vocals and scintillating remixes…. does it get any better than that? Industrial dance music done right by Avarice In Audio and they are calling you to the “War Tanz” against mundane.

War Tanz EP | AVARICE IN AUDIO | Alfa Matrix (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/avariceinaudioaus?mibextid=ZbWKwL

http://alfa-matrix-store.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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Italian band Codice EGO has dropped their EP, Rainbow’s End on April 21st. This three track EP, is the journey of one band member, who found himself confronted with an illness that no one could diagnose and faced with his own mortality.

The title track, “Rainbow’s End” is the first single and is full of a slinky cool vibe, and smooth vocals lending themselves to the Portishead sound, while the throbbing guitar settles below, occasionally breaking out in flourishes. “Errors And Repairs” has post-punk jangliness wending its way through the ebb and flow of emotions in a period of time of being unable to fix the human machine but the most important component is convincing the brain to move on. The last track is the male voiced “Contriver“, the electronics are at the fore with the rhythms pounding from the drums and in an amazingly powerful ending. The survivor looking at what they have gone through.

Post-punk mixed with shoegaze and an understated degree of electronics is a part of the concoction that makes Rainbow’s End so easy to listen to, yet the vocals, fuelled by the ocean deep lyrics, for Codice EGO that make it all gel perfectly.

https://en-gb.facebook.com/CodiceEGO/

https://www.instagram.com/codiceego/?hl=en

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In 2020, ABU NEIN released their first album, Secular Psalms, and now the band, hailing for Malmö, Sweden, are about to drop their next called II, on Progress Productions. But before that happens, there is a new single, “Kissing The Glove“.

From the first electronic beats, “Kissing The Glove” simply oozes dance floor killer, with buckets of seduction drawing you in. The track pulsates and causes a quickening of your heart. The vocals send a shiver of pure joy down your spine while the synths darkly rumble.

This is an impossibly wonderful darkwave track that is gorgeously drenched in eroticism. So what is the mystery of the left hand? Maybe all will be revealed in II, but for now, we have “Kissing The Glove” by ABU NEIN.

▶︎ Kissing the Glove | ABU NEIN (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063707343343

https://www.facebook.com/ProgressPro

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It is hardly surprising that New Orleans is a simmering pot of shrouded bedlam, and there is nothing better than introducing a new band with a debut single. Deep Sleep Atlantic is a duo from the Big Easy, and their dark grungy rock single is “Bipolar Tendencies“.

The impending creeping doom in the beginning of the track is heightened by the singular guitar that is joined by the matter of fact vocals, and then it all takes off. A story of mental health that has coloured the storyteller’s life, conversing with the voices in his head. The drums power through, with the guitar seemingly dancing within the piece and vocals that utterly suit that track in both attitude and sound.

I haven’t moved for days
It’s not that I don’t wanna be
Outside with my friends
But why would I go out when they’re all inside my head

Deep Sleep Atlantic have a big rock sound and they remind me a lot of another US act, Queens Of The Stone Age, not only in sound but also the quirky sense of humour, even in the face of a serious subject. “Bipolar Tendencies” is a very classy first track, so now we await for what Deep Sleep Atlantic proffer next.

Bipolar Tendencies | Deep Sleep Atlantic (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/deepsleepatlantic?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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IMJUDAS is the solo project for Maxx Maryan, who is also half of the Italian duo HELYAN FLOWERS. Maryan has released two EP’s, People Of The Blame and So Untrue, on the Spleen+ label which is a mixture of electronic and post-punk sensibilities.

Both EPs are a mixture of songs off the previous album Yrjudas, however you will find remixes and also unreleased demo versions. People Of The Blame indeed takes the track of that name and giving you the glorious canned anger mix and the Octolab remix which brings a very techno vibe dance track. Madil Hardis gives the track her elegant touch as well as delightful vocals, making it poignant and thoughtful, or you can enjoy the alfa remix and the 2016 demo version. The Neikka RPM mix of the single “Ritual” whirls out into the universe and you are also are treated to the demo of “Tulpa“.

So Untrue follows the same formula with the standout remix of the title track by Elektrostaub, where the guitar has been removed and filled by beautiful synths. There is the slower version by Phil from The Breathe Of Life that pulls at your heart strings and yet another demo of this track. You can hear yet another electronic interpretation of “Ritual” and the demo of “Outcast“.

Maryan really does have a brilliant voice that is the lynch pin between all the tracks and it is really interesting to see the progression between demo, single versions and remixes. It has been stated that this is the last look back at the Yrjudus album….. and what a look back it has been. It might seem too good to be true but you should definitely get into IMJUDAS.

People Of The Blame EP | ImJudas | IMJUDAS (bandcamp.com)

So Untrue EP | ImJudas | IMJUDAS (bandcamp.com)

https://m.facebook.com/IMJUDASofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/maxx_maryan

https://www.facebook.com/spleen.plus?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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A new band from France, CODE 150, released their self titled first EP on April the 1st. I don’t know much about these guys other than they are a four piece band. So, in other words, we will let the music speak for them.

The start is a solemn one with “IRON EAGLE“, as the electronic writhe with an almost siren like wail. The guitars are in attendance for the next track, “BROKEN“, the bass twangs delightfully, with the lead guitar flourishes. It reminds me a little of a slow dance from the heart. The synths definitely give “DANCER IN THE DARK“, a coldwave sound, and combined with the female vocals, it has a beautiful symmetry, that whirls through the chorus. The final track is the sexy “MORE“, and I will leave that to your imagination… or even better, you can go listen to it.

This is a great first release and I implore you to listen to “DANCER IN THE DARK” as it deserves to be a dance floor favourite with its charged rhythms and vocal charm. It conjures up visions of a time when Visage and Ultravox were kings of the new wave scene. Keep an eye out for CODE 150 because I have a feeling bigger things are coming.

CODE 150 | CODE 150 (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/CODE150band

https://www.code150.fr/

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Akustikkoppler (Acoustic coupler) is Hamburg duo, Matthias Schuster (Geisterfahrer, Das Institut) and Malte Steiner (Notstandskomitee, Das Kombinat). They create experimental electronic music and last year they dropped their fourth album. Alles Muß Raus (Everything Must Go), which was mastered in 2021 but the actual recordings were made between 2008 – 2012.

The whole ten tracks are instrumental and they most certainly run along the lines making noises that please them and incorporating those noises into music that they inspire. There is the space like “Heimweg“, with a 70s kitsch feel, and yet it could be a science fiction horror in the cold void. Or the throbbing and wandering nature of “Horses And Carriages Burn“, as spikes of electronics speak up or the oddity that is “Dinge, Die Unter Dem Tisch Lagen” or the things that were under the table, which could be a whole new world with out of place bleeps and reverberations.

It might be experimental but Alles Muß Raus is very enjoyable. There are bright noodling bits and even tracks that have a dance beat, yet overall the album is nearly hypnotic as you become engrossed in listening to everything going on. Akustikkoppler seems to be hitting all the good notes.

Alles Muß Raus | Akustikkoppler (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064120891094&mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://www.block4.com/musicprojects/Akustikkoppler/index.php