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Hisham Zreiq is a Palestinian visual artist and film maker living in Germany. He is also an electronic musician and the Goddess Asherah Project is his outlet of experimenting with ambient soundscapes which in essence could be a soundtrack for one of his movies. August has seen the release of the album The land of Joy, which contains thirteen instrumental tracks.

The album is full of light with its chimes, oriental styled sounds and rhythms. It flows with the titles fitting so well and the feel of each track is conveyed through the music. “Delight” invokes a taste of India and it truly is a delight to listen to, while “Frisky” has playful bleeps that run at a whirlwind pace. The land of Joy should be listened to when you want to unwind or need to be taken away to a place where you can be free to dream. The Canaanite Goddess Asherah has the power to grant you joy in the electronic world.

The land of Joy | Goddess Asherah Project (bandcamp.com)

https://hishamzreiq.com/

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The saying is the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and this could be said for young Norwegian guitarist Ja’kob, son of yet another amazing guitarist Karl Morten Dahl, better known as Antipole. They have joined forces with Pedro Code, from IAMTHESHADOW, to release the single “Walk With Me.”

Ja’kob

Pedro Code has a voice that could make you melt with it’s luscious tones and his contribution of vocals and lyrics sits so very well in the guitar laden music being laid down. Those guitars roll and play around each other in a mesmerising dance, which is beautiful to behold.

The music video is set between a Norwegian forest and a shuttered room, a play of light versus dark, of open spaces in contrast to the claustrophobic setting Code finds himself in. “Walk With Me” is delicate and at the same time sombre with the smooth deep intonations of Code. Antipole is a man that can make a guitar speak volumes and I can also see a long career in the music industry for Ja’kob,

Walk With Me (ft. Pedro Code) | Antipole & Ja’kob | Antipole (bandcamp.com)

Facebook – Antipole

Facebook – IAMTHESHADOW

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I love me some perfect post-punk and sometimes it is made even better when there is a story behind. Los Angeles goths, The Sea At Midnight have dropped the track “Wait For Rain” and I learnt something about the Colorado River.

This is literally the perfect darkwave track, a mixture of spine tingling guitars and haunting synths. The chorus is evocative to the point that you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck raise as the synths sparkle against the dirge of the guitars.

Colorado is currently in drought and has been for approximately twenty years, which is a predicament I cannot even get my head around knowing what it is like enduring maybe four years, but knowing there will be huge rains later. The lyrics are truly disheartening, like you can feel the desperation of the farmers and residents as they watch their world become a dust bowl, desperate for soaking rain. The vocals are so very engaging and the music really beautiful. Living in hope and “Waiting For Rain” is a perfect song from The Sea At Midnight.

https://theseaatmidnight.bandcamp.com/track/wait-for-rain

https://www.facebook.com/theseaatmidnight

http://linktr.ee/theseaatmidnight

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Stuff has always been a great off the cuff description that could basically mean anything. “Stuff” is also the new single from Naarm (Melbourne) based duo Roles, who showcase their electronic eclectic experimental craft.

Yeah, the dulcet tones of Love are going to be the focus with the rather cute electronics bleating and blooping off-kilter, in a discordant fashion which makes it oddly endearing. There is the chiming in of a guitar to punctuate the beat and a feeling of whimsy throughout.

The video Roles has created for the track is them entertaining a beanie wearing skeleton, through the streets and parks of Melbourne as well as divining tarot cards and in general having a good time. It’s amazing!!! ‘Stuff” is quirky and just plain fun, rounded out by the music video, and let’s face it, growing up isn’t half as much fun as peering through the looking glass of a child.

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Home – Roles (rolesband.com)

Home – Roles (rolesband.com)

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Dutch musician, Jelmer Luimstra, has released in June, the new EP, Words under his project name April Afternoon. The EP contains four tracks of diverse electronic goodness.

You have to wonder what someone is going back to when they say they are ‘going back to the bitter end.’ Yet here we are with “I’m Going Back,” a boppy poppy track, completely at odds with the lyrics. The delightful “Modern Lovers” was the recently released single, which kind of reminds me of a mix between Culture Club, Nik Kershaw and Ultravox… you know, that sprinkling of 80s magic.

Actually the beginning of “The Chorus” was giving me “Always the Sun,” (The Stranglers) vibes, however the lighter pop comes streaking through and you get a bit of a rap/spoken word into the mix from Luimstra. My favourite track off the EP has to be the shadowy and more thoughtful “Walking Through Your Day,” as it asks ‘if not now, when?‘ The track has this slick futuristic feel through the electronics and a war of light versus the dark fought via those synths.

Words is very much rooted in the 80s electronic sound that so many great bands used and inhabits many memorable tracks. As I have said, the gem is “Walking Through Your Day’ which I really love. It’s a track that makes you want to hear it again, plus the other three tracks are pretty great as well. From April Afternoon, it’s not just Words, as there is music as well!

Words | April Afternoon (bandcamp.com)

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Heather Shore and Kegan Heiss are the cool kids from Pittsburgh. Their cool factor lays in the fact they are duo behind the avant-garde post-punk project Hemlock For Socrates, who have a new single out, titled “You’re Not Here.”

Shore’s vocals are the focal point, lilting and mesmerising within the pulsating electronics. The guitar adds an air of experimental surrealism, as the track divulges a relationship where one never seems to get close enough to truly understand or know the other, as if they are hiding who they really are.

With “You’re Not Here,” you can almost taste the traces of sadness and frustration, while the static electronics give the impression of a glitch in the human. Hemlock For Socrates always seems to pull off the coupling of ethereal and bohemian, creating something beautifully evocative.

You’re Not Here | Hemlock for Socrates (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/hemlockforsocrates/

https://www.instagram.com/hemlockforsocrates/

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We are going back to January of this year, and Dire Path are a Greek darkwave based band, who released their debut EP, Unloved. They describe themselves as a darkpop duo who are unsure on how this story ends yet, and this, gentle folk, is all I know about them

This four track EP kicks off with “Distance,” and almost instantly I am hit with the fact that the vocals are very much the focus rather than inhabiting within the music itself which is refreshing. This is a mixture of guitar and synths both having their time in focus, and somewhere I am sure I heard the voice of a female singer delicately chiming in. A winding guitar intro guides us into “From The Dream,” leading you along a path of memories past. The synths light the way, as the the pace picks up and the guitar drives us on.

The title track “Unloved,” has a very early 80s feel to it and a bleakness, as if nothing can fill a hole, as the lead singer bleeds out, and yet there are still these amazing jangling guitars tethering us. “The Path” has a beautiful play between bass and guitar. It wavers between sorrow and intense loneliness, yet there is still a glimmer of hope.

Dire Path seem to be a mix of 80s post-punk with modern darkwave, and the more you listen to the tracks, the more you realise how intricate the musicianship is. With Unloved as their first release, we will be watching with great interest how they grow and what they do next. They might admit they are ‘unsure how it ends,’ but I would say it is is a pretty wonderful beginning.

Unloved | Dire Path (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/dire.path/

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Beauty In Chaos is the gothy super group that revolves around lynch pin Michael Ciravolo, and the latest single “Holy Ground” featuring the vocal talent of Kommunity FK’s lead singer, Patrik Mata. Both this and previous single “Diving For Pearls” featuring Wayne Hussey (The Mission), can be found on the new album Dancing With Angels.

Photo by Kevin Estrada

‘A Watcher, a Supernatural Being, descends upon the planet below. He became transfixed, curious, & seduced by the women & Earthly pleasures & mysteries found. Ever since The Beginning this Being roamed the Earth creating Nephilim. What seems like an Eternity, The Being becomes a Fallen Angel, jaded, decadent, & tired having used & having been through every Earthling on the planet. The Fallen Angel shares its interpretation of how this planet used to be considered Holy Ground, but now it is not. The only thing that The Fallen Angel yearns for is to return back Home. Back to The Gate.’ – Patrik Mata on the premise behind the lyrics of “Holy Ground.”

Ciravalo’s guitar will call you into the sacred space that is the “Holy Ground,” with Mata serenading you from the perspective of a angelic being whom has fallen from grace. Both a beautiful and terrible tale with a soaring chorus that entwines the vocals of Mata and Ciravolo, that could be heaven sent and is very much Beauty In Chaos.

DANCING WITH ANGELS | BEAUTY IN CHAOS (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic/

http://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/

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What happens when we have Boris Williams, best known as a part of The Cure and Jem Tayle who was one half of the now defunct Shellyan Orphan, join forces? It seems we get a Vamberator with the debut single “Sleep the Giant of Sleeps,” which is the first taste of the soon to follow full length album Age of Loneliness, out on Unifaun Productions.

For a moment, at the beginning, you are taken aback at some of the first musical notes, which could be mistaken for the baying of the Loch Ness Monster… well that might be an exaggeration, but it is kind of cool and launches into a rolling myriad of rhythms, piano, guitar and electronics. There is the amazing taste of a classical element throughout and Tayle’s vocals exude a confidence and perhaps a certain weariness, which lends itself to the theme of the song about the pursuit of hopes and dreams, but they are forever, seemingly, out of reach.

The duo are joined by Charlie Jones on bass and Joe Nye supplying backing vocals for “Sleep the Giant of Sleeps” and it is really a damn fine song. You might ask why and I will say this. Any track you can listen to multiple times, and you find new and exciting things within, is a treasure I find pure joy in, plus the more I replayed “Sleep the Giant of Sleeps,” the more I was sucked into it. Avoid disappointment and check out Vamberator.

Sleep the Giant of sleeps | Vamberator (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/Vamberator/

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Mon ami, lend me your ears for I will enlighten them with the music of The Antoine Poncelet Band, in the form of the May single “Drowning Men.” The band is made up of members Antoine Poncelet (vocals), Peter Quilla (guitar), Mark McClemens (bass, backing vocals), Justin Wright (drums) and Greg Bullock (keyboards), with Ingrid Larsen (backing vocals).

Tendrils of keyboard delicately introduce you to the beginning of “Drowning Men” before we launch into the twanging guitar, leading into Poncelet’s beseeching vocals. The drowning man, if you try and save them, could possibly pull you under and it is also a metaphor for modern life, that can grab you and take you under the unsurmountable waves. ‘What would you do?’ demands Poncelet as the dark bluesy “Drowning Men” grooves on. So what would you do? Save the man or listen to The Antoine Poncelet Band?

Drowning Men | The Antoine Poncelet Band (bandcamp.com)

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http://www.theantoineponceletband.com/

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