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The first half of the year has seen a lot of really great new darkwave albums, and this includes, Crystalline, the latest from Norwegian Karl Morten Dahl, also known as Antipole and Brit Paris Alexander. This album is now out on the Young & Cold Records label with it being recorded between the UK and Norway, and the production, mixing and mastered by Alexander at his Blue Door Studio.

The album starts with “Perceptions“, which is one of three singles and it is a smooth affair between the synths and Alexander’s vocals, raising your heartbeat with anticipation with the rising guitar. “Nightshade” has been known to kill, yet the solemn delicacy of this track might make you want to live just that little bit longer so you might be able to hear “Bleached“, another single. Bleak and creeping with sorrow, but yet you cannot but be mesmerised by the sensual vocals and dirty electronic bass.

The desolate lushness of “Disjointed” brings a delicateness that sets you up for the third single, “Midnight Shadows“, where you can almost feel the spirits are reaching out to you through the echoing and enticing whispers. that draw spectral fingers up your skin, catching your breath. The rhythms knock away and the guitar draws you into its embrace as you share with Alexander, his hope and anguish in “Marble“.

We find ourselves at the gently flowing “Infractions“, bathing in its warm heart. The track has a Johnny Marr glazing with a pop sensibility. The final track is the sublimely elegant “Sentiments” with the low bass electronics balanced by the both the sweet guitar work and high end synths.

The production of the album is clean and so fluid, making it almost ethereal, and yet the tracks will also guide your feet to the dance floor. Paris Alexander’s vocals truly convey a lot of emotion, sometimes bordering on dark seduction, while Karl Morten Dahl’s playing in this conjures reminders of Robert Smith’s tantalising guitar prowess and form. Each track is devastatingly beautiful, unveiling the never ending cycle of the dark versus the light, with hints of all the shades of grey in between, as Antipole & Paris Alexander take you to the places that yesterday’s ghosts still haunt, in perfect Crystalline.

Crystalline | Antipole & Paris Alexander | Antipole (bandcamp.com)

http://www.facebook.com/antipoleband

Music | Paris Alexander (bandcamp.com)

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

https://bluedoormusicproductions.com/

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

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When was the last time you listened to a piece of classical music? Many will start to appreciate it as they get older, because we grow with life experiences and often tastes develop. In this vein, new US label, Moon Coil Media have signed Western Australian, Father Robert Nixon, OSB and released his neo-classical album, Celestial Void. Everything was recorded at the New Norcia Monastery, then mastered by Sean Beasley, with the lovely cover art created by Greg Rolfe

Yes, you did read correctly. Father Robert is a man of the cloth and God, as the OSB stands for Ordo Sancti Benedicti or more commonly known as a Benedictine Monk. Before Father Robert took his vows, he previously been involved in post-punk, goth and classical projects.

As a classically inspired instrumental album, heavily saturated in piano and backed up by synths, it is unfair to pull apart Celestial Void track by track. Instead I will give you my impressions in general. Some of the tracks are lilting and sweetly calming sanctuaries, such as the “Ode To A Nightingale“, with wending piano strains that gently caress your senses. Others. like “Elude melancholique” are saturated in exquisite mournful gloom, and Father Robert creates darkly beautiful tracks that remind me of pieces such as “Moonlight Sonata” by Bach or the evocative “Clare De Lune” by Claude Debussy.

Most pieces would be in the category of toccata, and it really does not surprise that the Chopin piece, “Valse In C# Minor,” was chosen as the one cover version. Not only is it a gorgeous piece of the Chopin Opus, but in reality, it is a very hard track to play properly due to it being in C sharp and Father Robert pulls it off perfectly.

If I had to choose a favourite track, I might pick “Nocturne In C# Minor” as it has the heart of a Franz Liszt waltz, the difficulty of a Chopin piece and the moonlit supernatural beauty of Vaughan Williams‘ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis“. Father Robert Nixon, is not only a talented musician and composer, but also a theologian, poet and well versed in Latin. A renaissance man staring into the Celestial Void.

Celestial Void | Father Robert Nixon, OSB (bandcamp.com)

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

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What is a dream? There are many theories but they are definitely made up of past experiences, but also plum the depths of human aspirations and creativity. This brings us to the experimental Australian project lixly. Whom or what is lixly? No idea but as far as I know, their release, a leopards head, is their first, and is based on lixly’s dreams.

The surreal hissing before the acoustic guitar throws you slightly, and it seems to be recorded in a room where other things are happening. The spoken vocals are eerie and prophetic, as the track is called “i cannot forget“. Maybe “the song of ereshkigal” is a falsetto version of Neil Young, if Neil was being particularly creepy in a delicate way. Distorted chiming notes, herald in a terror filled and oppressive atmosphere, settling uneasily in the back of your head, in the instrumental “i don’t want to look at the baby“.

“a leopards head” has the heavy and electricized vocals, while the wavering electronics assault your ears with their hit and run tactics, hissing and fizzing with the undefined rhythms. Classical piano strains greet your ears, ghost like, in “a royal audience“, but there is the pitched overriding electronics and what sounds like a person cooing behind it all. The final track “it is no mask“, and the deep voice is back. The music around it is full of violence on an epic scale, brooding and aggressive.

Is it an EP or is it an album??? Mmmm, I leave that up to the listener, but there is no doubt that there is a lot of horror in the dreams of lixly, as they waltz between ambient industrial, acoustic and classical, building tension. This is a dream leopards head with the disturbing and very interesting lixly.

dream leopards head | lixly (bandcamp.com)

https://www.instagram.com/lixlymusic/

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The electronic merry men of British project Decommissioned Forests (DF), have a new release, which is not a new release. How is this so, you might ask yourself?! I shall elucidate. Dream Technicians 2023 Promo is a compilation album, drawing on singles, remixes, the most played on Spotify, and favourite tracks chosen by bandmates, Max Rael, Howard Gardner and Daniel Vincent.

There are tracks from the debut album Forestry, released in 2019, such as the delightful and gauzy “Drifting Into Darkness“, the gothic overtones of “Asleep Under The Leaves” that invoke the ghost of Coil, and and you get to enjoy the stunning “Impermanence“, with the entrancing synth playing that swells, begging for your attention..

The last album, Industry, was released in 2022, and there is “Base“, full of turgid, droning insecurities. DF have added a previously unreleased version of “Triggered“, now called “These Triggers“, which is equally electronic, but this new version almost jumps out at you with a faster rhythm pulsating and increasing the nervous tension. “A Comforting Uncertainty” was also the backdrop track for a short movie of the same name, and its tendrils slowly envelope your psyche, while the creeping doom of the monstrous entity within “Drop Brick“.

You can lose yourself with the transcendental 2022, electronic remix of the instrumental “Impermanent State“, that was the band’s original single, while “Bad Dust“, paints a languid soundscape, with Rael’s voice burbling occasionally in the background, running for a gargantuan 20 minutes and 48 seconds, off the EP Fortean Amps. Dream Technicians 2023 Promo has been put on Bandcamp for free and you really can’t do better than that. One cannot deny the influence of Coil on this project and all three members all admit to being huge fans, yet you can most certainly hear their sound is developing and further becoming very much Decommissioned Forests. Just brilliant.

Dream Technicians 2023 Promo | Decommissioned Forests (decomforests.com)

https://www.facebook.com/decommissionedforests

Decommissioned Forests (@DecomForests) / Twitter

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May the 4th was with you, and it most definitely was with Agent Side Grinder, with their brand spanking new album, Jack Vegas, Out on Progress Productions, the Swedish provocateurs of post-punk, doused in dark electronics, is composed of members, Johan Lange (synthesizer, keyboard, programming, percussion, backing vocals) and Peter Fristedt (modular synthesizer, tape loops), with Emanuel Åström (vocals).

Photo by Haris Mlivic

The not so gentle thrumming pushes into your ears, stirring your senses in the “Waiting Room“, a sensation of anticipation and nervous energy surging forth from this first track. “Number By Number” ramps on the building synths and crashing guitar, while the vocals chant, and “Bloodless” definitely has the air of dark crystalline beauty, as well as show casing the singing of lead vocalist, Emanuel Ã…ström, in the spine tingling, swirling chorus.

There is most certainly an early 80’s, post-punk feel to the maudlin “Madeleine“, as the drum machine rattles and the synths drone, making key changes very noticeable. There is something so very profound in what sounds like wild winds blowing frigid into your soul. “Flaws And Flame” wavers between grimy and angelic remorse, as the electronics screech in the background, before we get a bit funky with the title track, “Jack Vegas“. In Sweden, Jack Vegas refers to cheap slot machines, and the chiming keyboard riff has taken on the edge of a tune of a one arm bandit, after another loss, and the pressure builds, as the machines lull the addicted players.

It is so nice to hear the voices of Ã…ström and Lange together in “Decipher“. You could swear you can hear a harpsicord creating an elegance over the drone and supporting the heart melting vocals. We come to the final track, “The Unravelling“, and honestly, the atmosphere could be described as oppressive and yet sensual, as the electronica caress your nerves.

Jack Vegas has been a very anticipated album, especially after hearing the guys last year, featuring on the Kill Shelter track “The Necklace“. So, after hearing Jack Vegas, I am not disappointed. In fact, it is a bloody amazing darkwave album, and in many ways, Agent Side Grinder are reminiscent of Joy Division, creating beautiful music within the shadowy sphere of human limits and emotions. Perfection.

Jack Vegas | Agent Side Grinder (bandcamp.com)

https://facebook.com/agentsidegrinder

https://instagram.com/agentsidegrinder

https://agentsidegrinder.com/

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51 Pegasi is the designated name of a Sun that was once called Helvetios and 51 Peg is an industrial rock band from Washington. They released their first album back in 2000 called Strange Appointments and now in 2023, 51 Peg unleash latest album named A/Version.

Kicking off with the mood filled “The Distance Between“, which is a bit like an industrial version of Stone Temple Pilots, where the synths wail more so than the guitars. “Cursory Rhymes” is a swelling and emotional track with imploring vocals, which is at complete odds to “Roots Into Sand“, as the ancient mysteries of the Middle East merge with the industrial, as a beast that can not be stopped, forever invading. The modern era is the age of the “Digital Disease“, where computers mean you can exchange information and thoughts across the globe, yet this hasn’t translated to harmony. There are big vocals and soaring guitars throughout.

The beginning of “In Return” actually made me think of the wonderful Japan but then the rock explodes this reminiscing, searing with vehemence. “Werewolf” could simply be about the shapeshifters, but I think the deeper meaning might allude to the animal that resides inside every human, under the skin, waiting to come out if we let it. It is a slower and more thoughtful number. The last track is a cover of the Billy Idol single, “Eyes Without A Face” where musically and especially vocally, 51 Peg give a very Idol performance, without a need for the female backing singers.

For me, it was odd hearing a cover of the Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without A Face“, which is one of his slower songs, because most bands seem to cover “Rebel Yell” or “White Wedding“, so that is a refreshing change. In a way, this is true of the whole album, as I was not sure of what it would sound like by the description but was delighted how well the different influences meld together. The band cite Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Depeche Mode and Gary Numan, yet I also hear Stone Temple Pilots, Faith No More and an undercurrent of 80s electronica. A/Version by 51 Peg is a nice slice of hot industrial rock.

A\Version | 51 Peg (bandcamp.com)

http://51peg.com/

https://facebook.com/51peg

https://instagram.com/51_peg

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4000 Records is a label in Brisbane/Meanjin, championing local acts, and one of their latest releases is from fhae. Ellena Ramsay is fhae, and the album sombre thorax, an ambient folk and experimental offering.

Photo by Amber Ramsey

The first track “soul” is hazy and almost a religious experience that floats with the vocals not necessarily the focus but rather an added tone that stirs within your chest. There is the gentle guitar in “body” strumming in a soundscape of echoes or the mellow, yet ghost like “drain” that slowly trickles past your senses.

The track “love you” is simply electrifying with the stringed instruments in the background while Ramsey’s vocals gorgeously ring through, stunning you into submission through the exposed beauty. It leads into the equally sweet “earth” with its multi-layered vocal track, creating a perfect choir . You can feel the building urgency in the instrumental track “emergency” or be immersed in the languidly moving “disappoint“.

In all, there are twelve tracks, with a few instrumentals in the mix. I can see why there are comparisons to the legendary Cocteau Twins due to Ramsey’s dreamy and honeyed singing, very much in the vein of Elizabeth Frazer. The music of sombre thorax feels as delicate as spiderwebs and entwined with fhae’s vocals of such elegance…. enough to invoke goosebumps in an angelic folk driven extasy.

sombre thorax | fhae | 4000 Records (bandcamp.com)

http://www.4000records.com/

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

https://www.instagram.com/4000records

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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

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Not often that you have a group that is known as a collective, but this is just what Flowers Of Hell is, which a group of sixteen musicians revolving through, based between London and Toronto. The project encompasses both classical and modern alternative rock and in 2012, they released the album Odes, a collection of covers, from bands that have influenced them.

Photo by Greg Jarvis

Now, in April 2023, Odes will be getting its first showing on vinyl with Space Age Recordings. At the time, back in 2012, the legend Lou Reed acclaimed it ‘an amazing, amazing album‘. You can’t get much better praise than from the guy who was the voice for The Velvet Underground, about an album that bears one of their tracks. In fact, they have used the original lyrics that were penned by Reed on the Velvet’s original demo for “Walk On The Wild Side“

There are covers of Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man“, Siouxsie And The Banshees‘ “Last Beat Of My Heart“, and Stereolab’s “Super-Electric” just to give you an idea of the variation in styles. You can even go check out the new video created for the post-punk track “Atmosphere“, which is of course, originally, by the beautifully sad Joy Division. Flowers Of Hell treat both this, and all the other songs with great reverence whilst giving each a classical twist. Odes is a musical salute to the tracks that have influenced generations, and Flowers Of Hell have acknowledged they are building their own wonderful legacy on the shoulders of giants. The release date is April 22nd.

https://flowersofhell.bandcamp.com/music

http://www.flowersofhell.com/

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

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VAZUM have defined their gothic rock mixed with shoegaze style as Deathgaze, and the Detroit duo of Zach Pliska and Emily Sturm have kept themselves very busy. Between 2020 – 2022 they have released approximately four full albums, a multitude of singles and even a ghoulish Christmas EP just for good measure.

Now we have V- (V negative), the greatest hits of this period. All tracks have been re-recorded to reflect their live performances, so don’t expect the usual crystal clear sound but rather, you are listening to a band recreating the live experience.

Sure enough, it feels like we are privy to a VAZUM show as we revisit some of their tracks such as the Siouxsie and the Banshees like “Razor Smile V–” with its swirling guitars or the wonderfully bass heavy “Thief V-” and enjoy the interchange of male and female vocals. If you like yourself some VAZUM, dig really interesting gothic rock or really love the warm style of live music, then V– might be your glass of absinthe.

V- | VAZUM (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/VAZUMROCKS/

https://www.instagram.com/vazum_