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Kentucky based, Who Saw Her DIe?, have started the spooky season with their latest track “Shadow Man.” Stephen Beasey and Brian Cain make up the Louisville post-punk/darkwave duo.

From the oddly, almost out of place tinny rhythms, to the discordant beginning, there is already an air of foreboding, further played upon with the not quite monotone vocals. They snap out of this with the far more menacing chorus of this very anguished and troubled individual. All is dark and brooding.

I am not going to say this could be about the demented killers in the slasher thrillers, but they don’t sound far off it. Indeed, “The Shadow Man” might be lurking just around that corner waiting and with a soundtrack like this, with its unhinged lyrics and crazed vocals. well it is shaping up to be a pretty good Halloween. What do you expect from a band named after an Italian 70s horror movie? More of this hopefully.

Shadow Man | Who Saw Her Die? (bandcamp.com)

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Mea Fisher may no longer be a vocalist for Lords Of Acid, but she is back with her new project Me And My Nightmare, and what better way to celebrate than by dropping the single, “Devil Inside” featuring the vocals of En Esch (Slick Idiot, <PIG>, Pigface, ex-KMFDM) Just when you thought your industrial dreams were fulfilled, Danny Lohner, guitarist for Nine Inch Nails just happens to be on the track as well.

Techno inspired synths and rhythms complement the purring vocals of Fisher, when she isn’t letting that devil out in the chorus. Esch brings the demonic to Fisher’s fallen angelic, with his gravelled vocals, and Lohner’s guitar work drives home the grittiness below the sheen of the electronics.

There are also two remixes that go with the single, including one by Sebastian Komor (Icon Of Coil, Strategic Command, Zombie Girl). I can see Fisher going from strength to strength, if this is the calibre she is serving up. Have to admit I did first first think of the INXS song of the same name at first, though no fear as this is a completely different beast or should that be devil? Come join Me And My Nightmare and find the sensual “Devil Inside.”

Devil Inside (Ft. En Esch) | Me And My Nightmare (bandcamp.com)

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Me And My Nightmare | Electrifying EDM and Dirty-Pop Fusion

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Swedes Hatif have released a new single called “Broken Bucket,” which is the first track off the next to be dropped album, on the Town And Towers Records label.

The lilting guitar swaps at will with the intense synths, which sprinkle everything with their illumination. The vocals are sonorous and call us to the lyrics, where you can hear a message that is about broken systems and the turmoil that follows, destroying all before it.

The line ‘from the thought to the pull of in your index finger, from the plan to the act never stop to linger‘ in the chorus is exceptionally powerful. That act of pulling the trigger on a weapon has ripple effects that can be far reaching. The more I hear Hatif, the more they feel like a really exotic reincarnation of fellow Swedes, Covenant, and I think their stance in using music to take a stand is both compelling and wholly enjoyable. Don’t be the “Broken Bucket” for it holds nothing and this song means everything.

Broken Bucket | Hatif (bandcamp.com)

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Metropolis Records have welcomed Texas based electro-rock project SINE on-board, with the first single on the label released at the end of September, called “Trauma Bondage.”. Rona Rougeheart (vocals/drums) is the nucleus of the group and this single has Curse Mackey (Pigface, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult) contributing musically, mastered by Jurgen Engler of Die Krupps, and cowritten/coproduced by producer AwareNess with Rougeheart.

The rhythms are a guarantee that this is taking you to the dance floor to strut your sexy stuff. The synths are a mixture of techno nostalgia and cocktail noir, which are divine and work so very well with the mostly spoken lyrics by Rougeheart, which she imparts her intention to make her target undergo great anguish.

“Trauma Bondage” works so very well. It has this very classy sound and you really cannot pick anything bad about this track as it flows in perfection. You don’t need to suffer to enjoy “Trauma Bondage” by SINE….unless you really want to.

Trauma Bondage | SINE (bandcamp.com)

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Skirted Records is a Pōneke (Wellington) based, Aotearoa (New Zealand) label, and they have released the EP “Pass-On-Ings” by a project called DSLB, which is the experimental electronic spawn of Chrissie Butler, who is also one half of Mr Sterile Assembly.

So, we start on “1” with its gradual build-up of horn noise, with minute wavering within their held notes, so if one listens carefully, plus a growing drone in the background. Those held notes are intense and seemingly take on a life of their own. The warbling and rattling nature of “2” makes you think that this is a machine. What sort of machine? Who knows, but the rhythmic noises it makes are very pleasing, and sounds it makes are like the motor had lost its casing, as it is left to run.

In “3,” for the first minute, the sound is so low, you are not sure if anything is playing at all, but gradually you perceive the gentle beeping, as the music blooms, delicate and reverberating. Slowly emerging strains of melody are extruded, like a sea shanty in syrup, and maybe it was suddenly consumed by the waters, for all goes quiet. Track “4” is the loudest, though for me, it might also be the most poignant, as if there is a loneliness within the horn like sounds, calling out to the world without any reply, other than the random rhythms.

There is a fragility to the EP, with the music a mixture of instruments and electronic programming. The softest of sounds holds as much attention as the loudest, with each note and drone weaving a soundscape. DSLB is opening up new worlds with Pass-On-Ings.

Pass-On-Ings | DSLB | skirted Records (bandcamp.com)

skirted Records | Ground zero for all things related to DSLB, vegetable.machine.animal, mr sterile Assembly et al

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Sleek Teeth are a dark electronic duo from California, and they have released their third single “Operating” on the 20th of September. As far as I can tell, the band has been around since 2023, which is when they debuted the single “Gone.”

Instantly, you hear the old school influences like Front 242 in the electronics. The vocals are smooth and seeming sweet, though we know that not everything sweet is innocent, and there is something sinister below the surface. The clatter of rhythms and chiming of computerised bells/chimes, lulls you onto the dance floor.

This is a fine example of electropop, with its roots firmly in the industrial past, and Sleek Teeth are operating in between these lines. If you enjoy “Operating” then you should check out the other singles for this relatively new project.

Operating | Sleek Teeth (bandcamp.com)

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From the wilds of Ōtepoti (Dunedin), in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Robots In Love have crept on us, and then slapped us with a new single “The Sequel.” Elenor Rayner (vocals, production), Alex Burchell (drums, production) and Tony Lumsden (bass) are now the core of the group, which was begun a year ago by Rayner.

You are lulled into a false sense that this is another electronics only track. That is until the guitar strikes in. Robots In Love are finely balanced between punchy vocals, soaring synths and pounding rhythms, fuelled by the metal inspired guitar work. The chorus just hits me like a nursery rhyme, with its slightly sing song rhythm. but also for mentioning people and steeples, which makes me think of Here Is The Church.

Robots In Love are evolving with every single, growing in confidence as a group and it really shows. “The Sequel” absolutely kicks arse. It is heavy and ballsy, and it kind of reminds me of the 90s when you could mosh to your favourite industrial rock bands. Rayner’s vocals run the gauntlet of sweet to full on dark and brooding rock goddess. Those chords reverberate with the energy of Pop Will Eat Itself and yet…. it is modern and speaks of this generation, the children of the digitally programmed age. Buckle up people because it is about to get intense in here with “The Sequel.”

The Sequel | Robots In Love (bandcamp.com)

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Virgin Prunes were a visually provocative goth rock/post-punk band from Ireland, and Fionán Martin Hanvey, aka Gavin Friday was a main vocalist, which is no mean feat as there were three lead singers at one point. Friday has gone on to be an actor, composer, and artist to name but a few of his endeavours, and now after thirteen years, he is on the edge of releasing a new, studio album, titled Ecce Homo. These are the words Pontius Pilot addressed the seething crowd, after Jesus had been flagellated and crowned with thorns, and it basically translate to ‘behold the man,’ and “Ecce Homo” is also the first single.

“Ecce Homo,” for me, is a track about watching the world crumbling into a morass of hatred, religious hypocrisy and general destruction of this planet, knowing it all has echoes in the past. Although this may sound like a depressing concept, it is also a song of hope, that there is time to make things better, for humanity has such a capacity for acts of beauty and kindness.

The vocals of Friday deliver the lyrics, which are like a punch to the guts and the electronics are catchy. The heavens could have broken open, with the voice of an angelic female and at the end, I swear, you can hear what could be a Islamic call to prayer. What can I say? Gavin Friday is back and if the single is anything to go by, the album Ecce Homo is going to be something special.

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Cicadas could be the rock stars of the insect world. They are the loudest, live two to seventeen years, shed their carapace and come out in Summer to mate and spent most of their lives hibernating. “Cicada” is also the latest single from Lunar Paths‘ Diane Dubois and Kevin Hunter.

Kevin has recorded live drums and it just adds to the dramatic tribal timelessness. There are samples of traditional Greek (Cretan) instruments that Diane has fiddled with and the electronics dominate the track, often matching the sounds of cicadas. They have incorporated live recordings of our little insect friends.

Diane graces us with her vocals as well as her lyrics that pay homage to the sound that marks the feel of Summer in the outdoors. The whirring and heat can be felt, often heralding in a storm after a day of building humidity and “Cicada” takes on a mystical ambience for a creature that spends most of it’s life growing up underground, to come forth for a finite period of time. Lunar Paths are going to entrance you.

Cicada | Lunar Paths (bandcamp.com)

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Postpunk, Darkwave, Music | LUNAR PATHS

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In 1986, Siouxsie and the Banshees released the album Tinderbox, which yielded the all too catchy single “Cities In Dust.” Now in 2024, Naarm (Melbourne) based Velatine, have covered “Cities In Dust,” featuring for the first time the vocals of Sasha Tyler, along side the ever present lord of darkness himself, Loki Lockwood.

Electronics herald in the recognisable chords to the track, but this is not the same creature as the original. The synths strike a harpsichord tone and the singular guitar has a lot of impact. Tyler’s voice is true and strong. She is not Siouxsie Sioux, for there can only be one of those, however I think she is perfect for this reinterpretation, and her vocals are like honey.

Indeed, the eldritch is strong in this track, and I swear at any moment I am going to hear Vincent Price laughing into the pall of gothic mist covered horror. Why horror? “Cities In Dust” is about the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, seemingly wiped from existence by the powerful explosion of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. The Velatine version is a little sparser… more electronics and maybe this has upped the ante when it comes to the eeriness factor. Out on the Spooky Records label, visit Bandcamp for name your price before you go dancing at the Lares Shrine.

Cities in Dust | Velatine (bandcamp.com)

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