Los Angeles based industrial rockers SkumLove released a new single in time for Halloween, after signing to Candlepower Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records. The track is “Blood And Roses,” a cover originally released in 1986 by The Smithereens, a band that has been criminally underrated.
The bass has a swagger to it like it owns the streets, and the lead vocals are growly and raw. There is a disjointed feel to the chorus as it goes on, as if it is all becoming too much, overwhelmed to breaking point. The lead guitar is almost sympathetic above the turmoil.
There is a very quintessentially Smithereen’s sound, especially in those guitar riffs and you can hear this still, which is not a bad thing. It is the source which is build upon by Skum Love, attaching a harsher musical style whilst still staying true to the morose tale of love gone wrong. “Blood And Roses” is like Frankenstein bringing to life his monster…. it is not quite the same, but just as loveable.
Artur Ziganshin is a darkwave/electronic musician from Ljubljana, Slovenia, who records under the moniker Shishi. For his latest release, Shishi has curated a short movie for the track titled “Blood Tape – Addiction is the Vampire.”
The overall feel of the electronics is weighted, heavy with inner tempest, but it is the vocals that truly capture your attention. Shishi reminds me of Chris Corner of IAMX, as his singing has that aching clarity, loaded with emotion. It is devastating in its beauty and nestled in a jewel of cinematic track. The video is an expression of torment and hunger, made in black & white, with filters of purple and left to your interpretation. Vampires and “Blood Tapes” make us very happy.
Our favourite goths from Doncaster, in the UK, have dropped a new single. “Never Coming Down” is the new track from the Peak Flow duo of James and Jools.
‘…..the track explores the emotional intensity of entering a new relationship, the feeling of being simultaneously euphoric and completely vulnerable. It captures the rush of a connection that can make your heart race, while leaving you torn between surrendering to those feelings and protecting yourself from getting hurt.’ – Peak Flow
The guitar and clattering drum machine bring such a heart felt joy, enhanced by the echoing synths. Of course the vocals are buttery smooth, even whilst singing about the delight of new romances, yet also the regret of suffering in the past traumas of love gone sour, which they wish never to endure again. I think most of us can agree to the adage, once bitten, twice shy, because giving over your heart completely leaves you open to also having your heart broken. The video is shot in a lovely monumental graveyard in black and white, so check that out. You should dance to “Never Coming Down” and I am sure the lovely lads of Peak Flow would promise to never break your heart with this post-punk rip snorter.
Singer/songwriter Adam Dawe (Lunar Seasons, Novus Wild) and composer/guitarist Karl O’Shea (Balloons Kill Babies, inovo, Sarah Stockholm, Ghostwoods) make up Daylight Ghosts, based in Brisbane, Australia. It has been a moment since we last heard from them, but now they are back from the dead with the single “Lazarus.”
The start feels like a threat to violence with a taste of metallic electronics, carried through in the rhythms of the electric guitar, mollified by the acoustic guitar. Dawe could be the vocal embodiment of Marc Bolan, though the message is not one of unity or love, which is clear from the lyrics kick in. It is meaty and unapologetic.
Sheesh, talk about whiplash. The surprise I felt on the first listen is not quantifiable. This folkie duo have brought on the industrial in order to give “Lazarus” teeth, with a message that our voices, allegiances and ideals impact the world around us, pushing the narrative that not fighting for what is right will have lasting implications. And if you though that was serious, you need to check out the even more angry man’s angry man, HOSTILE ARCHITECT aka Mitch Kenny, and his remix which is actually a bit creepy in an apocalyptic sort of way. You cannot change the world unless you stand up, stop pretending that you are dead, come back to life like “Lazarus,” and join the children of revolution with Daylight Ghosts.
Blue Door Music Productions released the latest Paris Alexander single called “4000 Revs” in September, with Brighton, UK, based Alexander bringing you his post-punk based dark style.
‘4000 Revs is a driving song that evolved many years ago, whilst driving north through Provence, having visited the south coast of France. I was a passenger whilst my friend drove his raspy old black Alfasud 1.5 ti ( yes, I remember those details clearly ) and the experience left a great impression on me. The darkness, the silhouette of the mountains and the sound of the engine as its revs hovered around 4000 rpm with the many gear changes, as the car took us up and down the twisty roads. It was the perfect time to feel present and yet reflect on life. It was movement and it was being still. It was a moment in time I felt compelled to capture and so 4000 Revs remains a soundtrack to those memories.‘ – Paris Alexander
And ooh, the synths sound church like in the holy reverential way, maybe alluding to a higher realm of thought and existence in that moment. The programmed rhythms are there, but it is the bass guitar that is the heart of track and the thrumming of that motor which is the company of Alexander’s musings. His vocals are soothing, set low in the mix, becoming one with the starlight vehicle pulsing and tearing up the miles, surrounded by the night. In my honest opinion, this is a perfect darkwave track. “4000 Revs” is danceable, yet also a song to simply listen to and get lost in that point of time.
Taehyung Kim is known as T.K., a composer of contemporary classical style music. Hailing from Seoul, Korea, they released the single “Light” in August
“Light” is a neo-classical piece, performed predominately on piano, with minor accompaniment by strings. The piano at first feels ever-so bright with what could be a described as a poignant grace before you begin to notice the negative spaces between. They hang hauntingly between the notes, seemingly even absorbing the sounds, highlighting each key struck, emitting an air of yearning drifting in memory until the end. Just like yin and yang, T.K. explores the fact that without darkness there can be no “Light.”
Jonas Moberg is based in Gotland, Sweden and Culture Yob in Hastings, UK, but when they come together they form the mighty dark electronic unit known as Death Strip. October sees the cheeky single “Flash Back” grinding its way into your psyche.
The initial beat could almost be mistaken for a scratch in a vinyl record, until the synths and programming sync in at the rhythmic rate of 136 BPM. You can hear the European techno-house influenced industrial of the late 90s/early 2000s, though all is draped in a majestic sheen of darkwave and the vocals keen, mewl and howl for what came before, and now is shadows of the past.
“Flash Back” is a fun dance number and it reeks of nostalgia for the years of our youth, when we were sexy and extravagant, where life was being lived to the fullest. The music video is full of images of yesteryear and it consolidates message of the track and is a visual time capsule. Death Strip bring on the memories of living big in the tremendous “Flash Back.”
Kasumuen Records brings to you high definition thrills and spills, in the form of the new single “Victory Girl” by Melbourne based band Velvet Parade, an Australian super group made up of Ripley Hood (lead vocals) of Lime Spiders, Vincent J Kramer (guitar) of Cold Harbour, Peter Azzopardi (bass, backing vocals) of Claire Birchall’s Phantom Hitchhikers, Ashley Jones (keyboard) of Matt Malone’s Holy Spirits and Fraudband’s Don Drum (drums).
I had forgotten how rich Hood’s vocals can be, like bourbon whiskey, that slowly burns at it goes down, bringing the drama, and “Victory Girl” is a perfect tune for his singing. The other elements of the track are equally important with the strikingly rolling drums setting the pace, the stoic charged guitars adding the wonderful twang of consequence, and, of course, the piano that creates a touch of class in a town full of dust, trampled dreams and a love won, then lost..
There is a rawness to this track, and it brings the same chills down the spine as Nick Caveand the Bad Seeds’From Her To Eternity and points to a sound so profoundly Australian. Grippingly disjointed at times, that resolves into a grandiose upheaval of boudoir southern gothic honky-tonk, a perfect mixture of maudlin and yesterday’s personal regrets. The debut LP from Velvet Parade will not be far behind, which has been recorded, mixed and mastered by Loki Lockwood and Dugald Jayes, so all I can say is that I am down for this and a whole lot more…..
For some of us, certain rules seem more like a suggestion such as cuddling bears or snogging large cats. This brings us to the new maxi single “Kissing Lions,” by Massachusetts band Ghost Painted Sky, a gothic trio consisting of David Strong, Lisa Wood and Michael Boudreau. The single heralds in the soon to be released second album titled Failure Blooms.
Sinuous post-punk guitars greet your ears. “Kissing Lions” has Wood’s vocals in a deep register, casting a mournful pall across the track that has its roots firmly planted in The Cure’s Pornography era. There is a claustrophobic quality, where the lyrics pour forth the lament of an existence based in humdrum.
There is a Effervescent Remix of the single and a brilliant B-side called “My Words Are NotMy Own,” that is a complete change of direction as it is very much an electronic affair, and it is a magical thing to hear them fluidly change from guitar based, into synths.
“‘Kissing Lions’ describes those mostly vain attempts to seize on anything that creates a fleeting feeling of being alive for a moment amid relentless waves of the humdrum, doldrums, and failure, which so often end up being misguided and ultimately just creating a thicker mire even more strangling than the original situation one sought to escape… bad decisions that bite back and create further downward spirals.” – David Strong
This single and the new album have been mixed and mastered by William Faith, which is kind a mark of quality. Love, love the grittiness of the subject melded with the dark 80s post-punk sound. So the question is, do you take the safer, more mundane path of existence or do pucker up with the king of the jungle for the quick thrill and find yourself the favourite treat with the gooey centre?
There is something a bit odd about the Australian gothic music scene. We have a knack for having local talent, that will go on to delight the rest of the world with their often unique sound, and yet, in their home country, are relatively unspoken about. I am talking in the league of Dead Can Dance, Subterfuge and the mighty Ikon. When lead singer, Michael Aliani, left Ikon, he went on to to found another band called Chiron, with fellow ex-Ikon member Dino Molinaro (electric bass), in Melbourne, anno domini 1997. Chiron are now a trio, joined by Ivan Bullock (electric guitar, electronics), for the latest album called A Dark Beauty.
PHOTO BY PETER CASAMENTO
The first track is the title track and title tracks are always a good indication what to expect from an album. There is a wonderful electronic heaviness between the programmed drums and synths, while the guitars are the release and permission to be above the almost ancient memories. Low whittering of the electronics, combined with the drumming and languid guitar, create a discernible eeriness in “Flesh and Blood.” The vocals echo through the chorus, and the emphasis being in the line ‘the end of twilight,’ a reference to the decay of both flesh and blood.
The single release off the album is “The Hunted,” which has the driving rhythm section that is not interested in slowing down. Aliani’s singing is punchy and breathy, like he fleeing something in the darkness, while the delicate guitar could possibly be the guiding light The final original track is “Oblivion” which guests the vocals of Yvette Winkler of Vaselyne. Do not mistake this as Chiron going out on a whisper, but rather it is definitely a post-punk, bass lead dance along the road to nigh, where the synths give the impression of infinite depth.
There are also four bonus re-mixes that includes a cinematic unreleased track called “Slipping Away – Mansfield Mourning,” that could be set on the misty Moors by Chiron. “Flesh and Blood” gets the treatment by Athens (Greece) based Paradox Obscur, Australians Imbibe, from Canberra, take on “A Dark Beauty,” and Melbourne’s SIRUS put their spin on “The Hunt.” All three of these bands are electronic based and this brings a different sound to each of the tracks.
There has been a revival in the Australian gothic scene, and it has been a joy seeing new bands bring their sound to the darkwave banquet, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it is lovely hearing from the stalwarts. Chiron have the history behind them and brought to bear their bountiful talents, creating a rich and textured album in A Dark Beauty, where the title gives away the whole theme. Finding the light in the darkness that illuminates the exquisite symmetry of life and death, through haunting lyrics and melodies matched with the brilliant vitality of post-punk music. She is A Dark Beauty indeed…
