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Never ones to sit on their laurels, the crew of Beauty In Chaos (BIC), with guitarist Michael Ciravolo, firmly at the helm, have been joined by Julian Shah-Taylor (vocals/synths), for a brand new single, “Kiss Me (Goodbye)“. Just adding to the mix is long term BIC collaborator Michael Rozon on bass/piano/drum programming and drummer Pete Parada of Face To Face and The Offspring fame.

Photo by Tish Ciravolo

There is an 80s electronic vibe throughout this track, though the guitars most certainly are at the fore, in the rich, surging chorus. Everything will turn out fine, sings Shah-Tayler, even if we are watching the world burn, so with the sweet lyrics and up tempo lilt to the music, you can believe him.

Shah-Taylor might be channelling the Thin White Duke, aka Bowie, especially in conjunction with the video. There is something warm and familiar about “Kiss Me (Goodbye)” that really resonated with me and maybe it is the 80s/goth glam feel. The track is both delicate and stirring, and the vocals are perfection. “So “Kiss Me (Goodbye)” as there is only Beauty In Chaos.

KISS ME (GOODBYE) ft. Julian Shah-Tayler | BEAUTY IN CHAOS (bandcamp.com)

http://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/

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May 5th saw the latest single for Irish lads, Arctic Lights, made available to the public on Bandcamp and May the 12th for other streaming platforms. Edward Butt and Liam O’Callaghan are Arctic Lights, and “Somebody” is the name of the track.

Do you chance to dance with the Devil when the music stops? Those rich indie tones of the jaunty guitar, combined with a decent paced rhythm, are the backdrop to the succulent vocals. Their logic is, if you release the inner beast, there is a time that the music on the dancefloor will stop and then you are going to have to dance with the Devil. There is always a price to pay. Everything that Arctic Lights has so far released, have been indie pop/rock jewels, and “Somebody” is no different.

Somebody | Arctic Lights (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/ArcticLightsCork

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Norwegian, Erlend Eilertsen of Essence Of Mind, is about to release the second album under the project name Lights A.M., on the Alfa Matrix label, called Stories Without Words Vol. 2, on June the 23rd. However, we get our first listen through the single “Not Ready For This“.

An element of foreboding and lament is in the electronics, as they waver and chime through the instrumental track. Ancients drum whilst the low murmur of the droning electronics is in stark comparison to the gentle synths, that hold the lilting melody of what has passed. Subtle, beautiful and memorable is “Not Ready For This“, which you are utterly ready for by Lights A.M.

Stories Without Words Vol. 2 | LIGHTS A.M | Alfa Matrix (bandcamp.com)

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

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

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

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There is some really brilliant darkwave music coming out currently, and the Antipole & Paris Alexander album, Crystalline, out on Young & Cold Records, on May 12th, is most certainly one of them. However, for now, sate your cravings with the latest single, “Bleached“, out on the 27th of April.

“Bleached is about a lost soul battling darkness and light. They still have an optimism and so strive for a more positive future. It is also set against a backdrop of Brexit and current social and economic struggles in the UK.” – Paris Alexander (Brighton, UK)

“We wanted to combine nasty-sounding moody synthesizers with ethereal guitars.” – Karl Morten (Antipole) (Trondheim, Norway)

From those first smooth synth lines, you just know who this is. The guitar strikes true and clear, and when you hear Alexander whisper,’take me‘….well, just damn. You can hear the murkiness Morten mentions that creeps under your skin, while the rhythm carries you ever forward into the crumbling city, beneath darkening skies, hoping for something to change. “Bleached” is the darkwave dance noir, and it is a thing melancholic beauty from these bards of shadows, Antipole & Paris Alexander.

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

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

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

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

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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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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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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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Over a year ago, some guy called Garrett Cooper, in South Australia, decided to create a new project called Brave Mistakes. He then thought that he might put out one original song a month, for a whole year. When you listen to each of the tracks, you can hear the progression as Cooper developed his singing talent and grew more comfortable in his role of songwriter. Somewhere on this journey, he has found like minded musicians and Brave Mistakes is now a fully fledged band. A new single has just dropped called “Unchained Melody“.

The style is simple and straightforward, with guitars interlacing delicately, between plucked and strummed. Cooper’s singing is definitely the focal point, smooth and rich like honey, as the lyrics roll of his tongue. The track is saturated in longing, for time and distance can be unkind to lovers.

Sounds familiar I hear you say. Yes, it is a cover of the 1965 song, first performed by The Righteous Brothers and made famous yet again in the movie Dirty Dancing in the late 80s. This solemn rendition is near spine tingling, the musicianship stunning and I swear Cooper’s vocals get better every time I hear him. A perfect version of “Unchained Melody” to slow dance with your dearest, by Brave Mistakes.

Unchained Melody | Brave Mistakes (bandcamp.com)

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

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Italian band, Codice EGO, are back with a new single, “Errors And Repairs“, which is off their soon to be released EP, Rainbow’s End.

A whirlwind of guitars and shifting drum rhythms greet us. The vocals are an island, constant amongst the rolling instrumentation, telling a story of how something happened to them without any known reason, weaving her spell, drawing you into the musical web.

The EP is based around a sudden and unexplained illness, experienced by one of the band members. “Errors And Repairs” is part of this story, a disconnect between the sickness and struggling to comprehend why and how. This is a deeply personal journey, laid bare for the listener by Codice EGO in a raw and yet stunning track.

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

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