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Some people out there are just so talented musically. One of these is Gold Coast based musician Jed A Walters with his newest project, Chiffon Magnifique. We previously looked at his debut under that moniker and it seems a shame to not display the wonders of the second single, “Ice Witch” which was released the 3rd of March, 2022.

Just a few seconds in, you can tell this is going to be good with the cold electronics and the unfaltering drum machine. Walters has said he has started to enjoy playing more guitar and it used to spine tingling effect here. The versus are in German and almost spat out with near poisonous contempt about a woman whose heart was as cold as the tundra she came from. The synths are scintillating as he proclaims in English, you’ve done it now and in an extra twist there is a near manic saxophone towards the end. And for those that have not guessed yet, it is about a relationship gone sour and a bad breakup.

It is really worth watching the video because there is the translation of the German and also you get the pleasure of watching a well made shoe-string budget video of Walters being chased across the Robina parklands by the evil ice witch (which I will tell you is no mean feat in Queensland weather being an ice witch!). Chiffon Magnifique showcases the growing prowess in electronic/post-punk music that I can only see Jed A Walters growing stronger in. Hurry up with the damn album. We need it!

Chiffon Magnifique (bandcamp.com)

Chiffon Magnifique | Facebook

Chiffon Magnifique

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So Z Cluster have been a little quiet recently, though hardly surprising with Covid-19 locking down both Sydney and Melbourne, where one each of the duo live and then the pandemic progeny are also an after effect….so congratulations are due. However, INfest8 & Sai Jaiden Lillith, somehow have found the time to write and record a new single….which is leading to a new EP. Huzzah!! The latest tune is called “The Rapture” and it dropped on the 28th of February.

Fuzzy beats with a guitar that is trying to wind up and Sai’s vocals provocatively imploring are just the start. It is that slow burn that leads you to be engulfed in a blaze of euphoria. Cheaps Coffins has taken “The Rapture” and remixed it into something huge, which is lying in wait to rip into you. He has brought in his more metal/industrial influences and made “The Rapture” into this amazingly tortured spectacle, with a Middle Eastern touch.

Not going to lie. I heard Nine Inch Nails in the delivery, those waves of attacking lyrics that pull back like waves on the beach after they have crashed. The Cheap Coffins remix is not the first we have heard from him and at this rate definitely not the last! There really is nothing stopping you from checking out Z Cluster’s “The Rapture” especially when it is priced on Bandcamp for free!

ZCluster (bandcamp.com)

ZCluster | Facebook

Music | Cheap Coffins (bandcamp.com)

Cheap Coffins | Facebook

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The 4th of March is the day Brisbane band, Daylight Ghosts unleashed their latest single, “Golden Hour” which is off then soon to be released debut album Urban Umbra, Adam Dawe (lyrics, vocals) and Karl O’Shea (acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, sleigh bells, keyboards) are the duo responsible and Karl is so very lucky I didn’t know about the sleigh bells or that would have been questioned vigorously in the interview that will be available after Urban Umbra is released on March the 25th. A stalwart of the Brisbane music scene, Matt Dodds was involved in programming, production, mixing and mastering.

The acoustic guitar and glockenspiel are such simple instruments and yet they convey such emotion and warmth. The synths are like a virtuoso filler, giving the song a fuller feel as it proceeds. Dawes’ vocals are heart-wrenching and poignant as he sings about all beautiful moments will draw to a close.

“Golden Hour is a song about beautiful moments and the cruel realisation that they have to inevitably end” explains vocalist/lyricist Adam Dawe. “It’s a personal reminder to make the most of the moments as they all have an expiry date and nothing lasts forever. To enjoy the last rays of light before the sun inevitably sets for the day.”

Life is full of moments of realising that that particularly wonderful instant will fade and it is bittersweet but there is also the realisation that there will be many more of those moments in time. The video was created with director/DOP Rhys Tyack, with the band members in the bush looking completely wrecked and human crows waiting for their last moments. Even O’Shea’s bandmate from Ghostwoods, James Lees had a hand in making the video and it is jolly well worth a look. So, sit back and relax in the glow and gorgeous warmth of the “Golden Hour”.

Golden Hour | Daylight Ghosts (bandcamp.com)

Daylight Ghosts | Facebook

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You might not know it, but Hong Kong has a pretty big underground alternative music scene. Deer Mx are a Mexican duo living in HK and creating their own style of electronic/industrial music. They dropped a new single on February 16th called “אIV (Out Of The Mountain Of Despair)” and no, I have no idea how to say the symbol part. Adriana (vocals, guitar) and Miguel (synths, programming, bass guitar, piano) are the members of Deer Mx while Alfonso Rosales (drums) and Peter Enderberg (guitar) joined them in the studio. The song was produced by the band and mastered by Magnus Lindberg.

I have found Deer Mx make this great bouncy pop inspired industrial music. There are the fuzzy tones mixed with the piano, the guitars wailing out for your attention, the drummer keeping them all in time while Adriana just sings over it all. She sings of oppression, control, sanctioned violence and mentions April the 4th which is the day Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated and also the day the Hong Kong flag was also changed.

Does that sound like a mess? Absolutely not! Everything has a purpose and a place in this tune, blending to create a quirky and danceable piece. It also has something deep to say and in the current world climate there are wars for heart and minds on the world wide web as much as there are running battles in the name of freedom on the ground. Let Deer Mx prick your ears and maybe your conscious as well.

אIV (Out of the Mountain of Despair)  | Deer Mx | Deer (Mx) (bandcamp.com)

Deer Mx | Facebook

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Sequential Zero are back with a new single, released on the 28th of February on Mantravision label. “Third Sequence” is not the name of the single but rather the third release in sequence for the three piece group. Australians, Ant Banister (Sounds Like Winter, Def FX) and Colin Gallagher (Burnt Souls) with American, Bruce Nullify (Orcus Nullify) are the nucleus of the band and each release so far has been a double “A” side.

The first track off this double single is “My Darker Side” and these guys are very open in the fact that they have a very early 80’s electronic sound with this gorgeous guitar glimmering through the synths. For a song that searches one’s self doubts, I find this track very heartwarming. The second track “Adjusting Expectations” is a truly interesting piece. Written during covid, when shows were being cancelled further and further into the future and restrictions were placed on where people could even go, keeping the live musicians wondering if they would ever return to what they love. Bannister does sound tired of it all with the glorious guitar work behind him, the piano as the disappointment and the synths the hope trying to break through.

There is a pure simplicity that evokes tremendous feelings of joy and sadness within Sequential Zero’s music. Both tracks are a little more bleaker in content then previous releases but there is no light without darkness. It really is a brilliant little darkwave project the lads have going and hopefully it will become a bigger project with the support it deserves.

Third Sequence | Sequential Zero (bandcamp.com)

Sequential Zero | Facebook

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Looking for some post-punk to whet your appetite, then Norway’s Painted Romans could be the drink you were looking for with the February 25th release of the new single, “The Begging Existence“. Painted Romans were a trio but as of recent have become a duo with Jan Ottar and long term member Mats Davidsen, however they are rising to the challenge of forging ahead.

Existential crisis or taking what is eked out to you even though it is like a kick to the teeth could be the theme of “The Begging Existence“. The harsh drum machine taps out ferocious beats whilst the guitar jangles away. There is what sounds like a horn instrument and it is underpinned with keyboards that interject a lightness in the post-punk darkness. Davidsen’s vocals are raw and imploring.

There is a touch of The Bolshoi and early Gene Loves Jezabel with this track and its swirling tones. It drives along at a great pace and fuses the 80s sound into a post-punk/gothic delight. You should check out the Painted Romans and their “The Begging Existence“.

The Begging Existence (Single) | Painted Romans (bandcamp.com)

Painted Romans | Facebook

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Teknovore came into being in 2020 as a solo project of George Klontzas, who was formerly in the bands PreEmptive Strike 0.1 and Croona. The debut album, The Theseus Paradox, is soon to be released on Infacted Recordings, but before then Klontzas is tantalizing us with his remixes with j:dead and a new single which was released on the 25th of February called “Anachronist“.

“Anachronist” with guest artist RNZR (Ruinizer) is…. how do I say this… epically huge. It is literally a maelstrom of incoming pounding beats and a hail of synths. Those agrotech vocals fit this so utterly perfectly. You wonder how the two remixes could actually be any better than this. The Aircraft Bureau’s mix is full of these amazing techno rhythms and swirling nearly imperceptible voices in the background. It builds and is an electronic delight. Wait…. is that throat singing in the mix?

You know you want to hear the XOTOX remix and it does not disappoint. In true XOTOX fashion, this is full of those chunky beats and highly strung keyboards climbing higher and higher. You get lost in that doof doof beat and then sadly it ends. Beyond excited to see another track included called “Save Me God” featuring Siva Six and Z’s voice is so distinct. He isn’t asking to be saved but demanding and taunting. There is blistering guitar work and you hear electronics being used in a lower, far more subtle register, like something old and dark lurking below.

“Save Me God” is a cover which originated with Israeli psytrance/industrial/metal band, Dark Soho and it is really is spectacularly done, while it was a stroke of genius having Siva Six bringing in the raw texture. The “Anachronist” remixes are such tasty pieces of brilliance but the single itself, shines so bright with those massive swelling beats and succulent synths that you can’t help but let it suck you in and away.

https://infactedrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/anachronist

Teknovore | Facebook

Infacted Recordings | Facebook

Ruinizer | Facebook

xotox | Facebook

SIVA SIX (OFFICIAL) | Facebook

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Ava Vox is the singer/songwriter, Elaine Hannon, who was born and raised in Dublin and in the 80s was the lead singer for the goth rock band The Seventh Veil. That band went by the wayside in that decade but Ava Vox has brought back to life one of their tunes, “Alone Again” and released it as a single on February the 9th.

Heavy subject matter indeed, for this is a track about domestic violence and while the music does not always sound sombre due to the post-punk jangle of guitars and seemingly decent pace of the drums. Her voice is full of the expressed sadness of knowing that once in the cycle, the victim falls foul of repeated abuse, with the offer of ‘garlands‘ ie pretty words, to fall into the ‘talon‘ clutches again, unable to break free.

Maybe because this was originally written in the 80s or because of it being a post-punk piece but it made me think of the Australian band Divinyls and their song “Pleaure And Pain” which is about an abusive lover. Like Chrissie Amphlett, Ava Vox is a gutsy female singer who belts out the truth while feeling that pain. To that end, Ava Vox is part of the wonderful Irish gothic/post-punk tradition and this track will be on her, soon to be released, second album, Immortalised.

https://avavoxmusic.bandcamp.com/

AVA VOX | Facebook

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VVMPYRE is a fairly new gothic act on the scene and the man behind VVMPYRE is one mystery man. He is one very lucky fellow in getting the talented Caitlin Stokes of Corlyx, to perform guest vocals on the newest single “Offering” which dropped on the 14th of February. Extra bonus points for having the other half of Corlyx, Brandon Ashley on guitars plus as well as mixing and mastering at DTuned Brighton Productions.

I was thrown a little when I first listened to this track. It was a bit like being thrown back into the early 90s and flashbacks to Inkubus Sukkubus especially with the electronic instrumental beginning. Stokes singing is so smooth and alluring like the unwrinkled skin of blood sucker. If you still haven’t quite got this gist yet, she is the vampiric queen in your dreams, demanding your tribute in the form of her feast. There are low, almost moaned looped tones beneath everything, the drum machine which heralds the build ups in the guitar and haunted organ.

Corlyx have been moving to a more goth/darkwave sound, so this track seems like a natural progression for Stokes to be involved in. The different layers conveys that love of the British Hammer Horror Movies which often had Christopher Lee as the devilish Dracula and a bevy of busty beauties accompanied by organ music, whilst the vampire hunter Peter Cushing was trying to eradicate his sworn foe. “Offering” is a dance track but also a gothic tale of the night and a blood dance that calls to the children of the night. So open up a blood vessel or two (or not because that could get a bit messy) and enjoy the exsanguination of the “Offering” by VVMPYRE.

VVMPYRE (bandcamp.com)

Vvmpyre | Facebook

Corlyx | Facebook

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Jean-Luc Courchet is the man behind the experimental post-punk act called Spiryt. February the 14th saw the single “V” drop with guest vocalist Kimberly from Bow Ever Down gracing the track. Courchet is from Toulon, France while Kimberly is based in Maine in the United States.

From the opening piano, you can tell this is going to be an introspective number, as the notes seem to hold their own woes. Kimberly’s vocals break through, clear and full of the weight of the sadness in the lyrics. A tale of judgement and being left behind for not being able to be what others deem acceptable. Often the tale of alternative types or those that do not conform.

There is a simplicity in the music that makes it charming and very heart-felt. I know that Kimberly almost always writes her own lyrics and that they come from a place deep inside. While she has sung and played piano, Courchet has wound his music around her, like the coils of a serpent. It is a bitter sweet and darkly touching track in “V“.

https://spirit5.bandcamp.com/track/v

The Spiryt page | Facebook

Bow Ever Down 0fficial | Facebook