by on

The album PASSIVE, is a gift that keeps on giving, with JE T’AIME releasing the single “Blood On Fire“, with a music video. The album is out on Manic Depression Records and Icy Cold Records, and it it always interesting to see what this French goth rock trio are doing.

The video depicts a girl in a never ending cycle of drinking and partying, though she doesn’t seem to enjoy it all that much, with the single as her theme track on a cassette walkman (oh my…. do people still use those?). A song about self destruction, all set to a fast pace rhythm, those bright synth lines and post punk, jangly guitars.

It is a slick looking video, beautifully shot in the streets of Paris at night and the story line fits in perfectly with the music. It is a really good little track, bouncy and lively musically, dark lyrically. Have a listen to “Blood On Fire” and get a bit of JE T’AIME in your life.

PASSIVE | JE T’AIME (bandcamp.com)

JE T’AIME (facebook.com)

Music | JE T’AIME – Music (jetaime-music.com)

JE T’AIME (@jetaime_music) • Instagram photos and videos

Manic Depression Records & Events | Facebook

Icy Cold Records | Facebook

by on

From Paimio, Finland, Eenian Dreams are beckoning you with their newest single, “Beacons (chroma null)“, released on September the 1st. Pauliina (vocals) and T. C. Newman (synths, producing) are the duo that make up this electronic project, founded in 2021.

There is anticipation at the start to see where the piano style goes to and then we aren’t disappointed. Pauliina’s vocals are electronically contorted though this seems to fit the ambiance of the track. There is such pain in the lyrics, a sadness that consumes all in its wake, a promise that there is a point of no turning back. The electronics are sympathetic and swell beneath the vocals

What do you do when all all hope seems lost for a planet that we are destroying? Most definitely write a song about it, because silence is being a complicit accomplice. It is almost like the vocals are the modern world, unnatural. I can see why they call this dreamy music, as it billows and wanders through your ears very pleasantly. “Beacons (chroma null)” are used as warning signals and Eenian Dreams have lit theirs in a beautiful manner.

Beacons (chroma null) | Eenian Dreams (bandcamp.com)

Eenian Dreams | Facebook

Eenian Dreams (@eeniandreams) • Instagram photos and videos

by on

Viral Records have released the new Dirt Factory single, on the 10th of September, ahead of the fourth album, due on October the 1st. “Troops Of Death” is the latest offering from the Aussie duo, Michael Gillman and Daniel Allen, with a bonus four remixes from both local and international talent.

The original mix has Daniel with far less distorted vocals and he sounds fantastic as the beats fall around him, stalking you to extinction. The synths graduate in tone causing a sense of creeping doom. The NOVAKILL – Boots On The Ground remix is harsher, with Craig Saunders injecting a cleaner edge that cuts like a knife and a techno style rhythm. Rob Early of 11Grams has taken the track and turned it into a dance floor phenomena, and the synth absolutely fly around in a storm.

The beginning of the Cosmos Synthetics remix seem understated, until it goes into a glitching deconstruction, like a horror movie with no escape, with what sounds like electronic shaking breaths. Last is Roger Menso, whom is NyteShayde, with the Crazy Shady remix and this is the only track to incorporate a guitar into the mix, giving the track a more Korn/nu-metal styling, heavy and metallic.

The theme is apocalyptic, genetic engineering of soldiers, who feel nothing, stop for nothing and everything is the objective. The cyber future which makes for a pretty cool single. Michael and Daniel have created a darkly oppressive track with a catchy rhythm, to get your imagination fired up and the remixes are great additions to enjoy.

▶︎ Troops Of Death (Single) | Dirt Factory (bandcamp.com)

Dirt Factory | Facebook

HOME | Mysite (dirtfactory.wixsite.com)

Viral Records Australia | Facebook

by on

My first introduction to KMFDM was through the trail blazing album ANGST in 1993, out on the Wax Trax! label, though this pioneering techno/industrial/EBM group have been around in one form or another since 1984. They are about to drop their latest album HYENA and the 24th of August saw the release of the first single of the same name.

The guitar work, though heavy, has a certain twang to it… you can almost hear the jingle of the spurs… but those guitars purr under the vocals of Konietzko, pulsating and driving home the savagery of the world. Always the rhythm building and lulling, yet always pounding on. The female vocals are a nice finish to the tribal ending

This could be where KMFDM meets Mad Max on the plains of the Wild West (pew pew) and African animals (and that was before I saw the new logo on Bandcamp). They are riding across the badlands, in a world where there is much turmoil and danger. Now one could say that this might not be a typical KMFDM track…..but then honestly you are kidding yourselves if you think that. The big guitars are there as well as Sascha Konietzko’s rasping vocals, the electronics and that high energy dance floor rhythm. KMFDM is doing it again, but with “HYENA“.

KMFDM (bandcamp.com)

KMFDM | Facebook

by on

In the dark alleyways, underpasses, subways and clubs of Chicago, you might run into the Glampire pack of Plasmata, lead by Trent Jefferies. 2021 saw the release of the five track EP “Portraits Of Pain” which we reviewed back then and now Plasmata are releasing three remixes off the EP, starting on the 23rd of August, with the single “Leviathan” which has been given the treatment by William Faith (Faith And The Muse, Bellweather Syndicate, Christian Death).

The guitars swirl in a vortex lifting you higher and higher, a solid wall of twanging wonder which compliments the vocals utterly. There is even the added whip like beats in this (which was a thing in the 90s and made me giggle a little). Faith’s playing is sparkling and reminds you what a great guitarist he really is, while Jefferies vocals going from growled to sensually smooth, are just the jewel in the track.

You could knock me over with a feather with this mix. It retains the basis of the song but it literally has become the monster, beautiful, guitar filled and hauntingly sinister. The original was a industrial hybrid and Faith has turned the track into the gothic maelstrom. Good grief. Love it. You need this in your life.

Leviathan (William Faith Leviathaneurysm Remix) | Plasmata (bandcamp.com)

Plasmata (facebook.com)

Plasmata (@plasmataband) • Instagram photos and videos

by on

If in the mood for a little gothy post-punk, then we have the happily titled, “Everyday A Fresh Atrocity” from the Candy Coffins. Released on the 23rd of August, this five piece from South Carolina, are whetting your appetite for the October drop of their second album, Once Do It With Feeling.

The lead guitar chimes out with the rhythm backing up and the deep bass building up the beats with the drums. The synths definitely add an air of the The Cure, but lead singer Lathren does not try to emulate the iconic Robert Smith, rather choosing to give his own style, which is laid back and plaintive.

I wonder if The Cure and Echo And The Bunnymen are influences for Candy Coffins, because from where I stand, they remind me very much of these bands. In any case, even in the deep south, post-punk can be found and it is sounding good!

Candy Coffins (bandcamp.com)

Candy Coffins | Facebook

https://www.candycoffins.com/

by on

I literally made my head hurt thinking about what post post-punk is… Anyway, so we will tell you about Melbourne group, Leaching, with their debut single “Radiate“. It was released on the 18th of August and it is the epitome of post-punk style, with the extra bonus of two b-sides which are not exactly b-sides… but we will get to that..

There is something so simple to the music that transports me back to the 80s. Maybe it is the guitars or the staccato drum beats from the machine or the fact the synths swirl in the depths below the guitar or it could be the echoing and slightly aloof vocals in “Radiate“. The second track is a cover of the Go Gos track, “Automatic” written by Jane Wiedlin. Leaching’s version actually might be faster than the original and it is far more filled with the sounds of electronics, which flow nicely. “Commit Then Redefine” is the last track, tortured and twisted around the guitars. A funeral dirge worthy of the Pornography era Cure.

So “Radiate” is the announcement that Leaching has arrived, “Automatic” is there because maybe this was a defining song for Steven Smith, who wrote the other two tracks and pretty much plays all the instruments on this recording as well as the vocals. September sees their first album, End Themes released on Spooky Records, so “Commit And Redefine” is a preview cut to entice you. Are you enticed yet? We rate this single ‘I would definitely go to the pub to hear them live!‘ just on the strength of listening to “Radiate“.

Radiate Single | Leaching (bandcamp.com)

Leaching | Facebook

https://www.instagram.com/leachingband/

by on

From the island of the long white cloud, what could be better than one musical Muse? Me thinks two and we are bringing you the premiere of the new single “Walking On Air“, from New Zealand songbird, Justine Ó Gadhra-Sharp’s EP, Sidhe, with the extra added bonus of the remix done by ex-pat Aussie and Robots In Love front woman, Elenor Rayner, whom is a master of the mix.

Justine Ó Gadhra-Sharp

Both version are available, with the original in the style of Siouxsie And The Banshees from the 90s, reflective and flowing with an emphasis on the beats, delicate and questioning.

This remix takes this track and makes it ten times sexier, looping, gliding and constricting like a boa snake. The Rayner version is smooth and yet full of reverb and hard edges as well. Sensuous and tantric until the end.

The original is sweet but the remix takes this song to a new level of va voom. Still slow but with more purpose and the ability to give you goosebumps, due to how electrically stimulating “Walking In The Air” has become. These two Muses are a worth every penny to be heard together.

https://justinesidhe.bandcamp.com/album/walking-on-air-single

https://www.facebook.com/justinesidhe/

https://robotsinlove.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/robotsinlovemusic/

by on

FabrikC is Thorsten Berger from Germany, and he has joined up with the UK’s Jay Taylor of j:dead, to create “High Time (Chinese Takeaway)“, which was released on August the 19th, on Stay Beat Productions. But hang on uno momento…… many moons ago, FrabrikC had an aggrotech track called “Chinese Food“. Coincidence? I think not, as this seems to a modernised and vocally weaponised version, hence the Chinese Takeaway byline.

Taylor is screaming and cajoling us magnificently, sweetly singing to you before slapping you vocally around the ears. The music definitely has a far more smoother feel to it, less static filled but still rhythmically hard hitting and punchy.

This is guaranteed to fill a dance floor with happy campers of the dark kind, just as the original did. It is a really nice mix of vocals versus electronics and Berger’s ability to re-invent this track, married to Taylor’s singing talent is a winner. So if you like Chinese food, then “High Time” to get some Chinese Takeaway.

High Time (Chinese Takeaway) | FabrikC (bandcamp.com)

Music | J:dead (bandcamp.com)

FabrikC | Facebook

J:dead | Facebook

STAY BEAT Productions | Facebook

by on

Painted Romans are Mats Davidsen (vocals, guitar, programming) and Jan Ottar Nystad (synth, guitar) from Trondheim, Norway. They have revisited the single “Formation“, released on the 19th of August, with fellow Norwegian, Karl Morten Dahl of Antipole, remixing the track and Pedro Code of IAMTHESHADOW, producing and mastering

There is that underlying swell of menacing synths below the delicate guitar, with Davidsen’s vocals in hushed reverence. There are more electronics in this version where the rhythm has been brought to a greater prominence. As always, the guitars are dreamy post-punk candy.

It was a nice post-punk/darkwave track before the remix, after the remix it has become super shiny and opalescence. It feels bigger, if that makes sense, like going from a nice flat screen to 3D. This just pops and adds extra beauty to this heart felt track, “Formation (Antipole Remix)” by Painted Romans.

Formation (Antipole Remix) [Single] | Painted Romans (bandcamp.com)

Painted Romans | Facebook