“Menticide” is when you try to brainwash another person with the intent of control. It is also the new single from Miss FD released on August 5th and let’s face it, I know a fair few people who wouldn’t mind being brainwashed by the lovely Miss FD.
The unrelenting rhythm is the constant background noise that media outlets use to influence your thoughts and memories. Global gaslighting. The vocals convey the act lulling you into a false sense of security, while the electronics glitch and frizz.
A serious message within a dance track, of an era where everyone is plugged into some type of online construct, owned by a few who want to control the masses. The music is indeed hypnotic and alluring with synthpop princess, Miss FD.
Berlin band, Golden Apes, have returned with a new EP, From The Sky, released on July the 29th, out on IcyCold Records. You know anything recorded at places called Blackstone Studios & The House of Zarathustra have got to be good. Peer Lebrecht (music, words, synths, vocals) and Christian Lebrecht (bass) are the founding members, joined by Gerrit Haasler (guitars), Frank Flenz (guitars) and Joe Tyburn (drums) making up the Golden Apes, and we might soon be graced by a new album in the future, because even though there has been a little bit of a break since the last full length release, Kasbek in 2019, does not mean music has not been in the collation……
Title track and first single lifted is of course “From The Sky“, and the first notes roll into a torrent of wondrous sound, taking flight. It is glorious to hear the guitars and Peer’s sonorous vocalisation with a tale of falling from grace due to secrets held. “Hold Me” isn’t quite the ballad you might think from the name, full of fear and pain but also hope that another’s touch will anchor your soul. A sentiment echoed by many who desire contact.. There is something very sensual about “A New Day’s Dawn” but also driving as the guitars push this along with the mammoth drumming. I would happily dance away to this and I have a feeling the track is going to amazing live.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, then there is the whirling “Hole (In My Head)“. A wall of angelic sound and it is mesmerising. The track ebbs and rushes you making this feel as old as magic. “Satori” was a single released originally in 2021, but for the EP it has been given a make-over called the 2022Mix. It is a beautiful track, a ballad of love and passion in limbo. The last track is the Gravitas mix for “From The Sky“, by Voyna. Those familiar with Voyna, will know this is the name of PeerLebrecht’s solo project. The mix is devoid of guitars in preference for synths, which of course brings a new facet to the track, surreal and mirrored, seemingly otherworldly.
Errmm….God damn, I love those deep rich vocals from PeerLebrecht. They are like sweet syrup pouring into your ears. The music itself is equally as satisfying, forbidden dark wine given to you to savour and become drunk on with the gothic headiness and textures. Golden Apes are in fine form with “From The Sky“, which points to the fact that the next album might just have us intoxicated..
In California, you might meet a “Deal3r“, in the form of the latest Male Tears single, released independently, on July 15th. Comprised of members JamesEdward and FrankShark, this goth/ darkwave duo have been going from strength to strength, after being started by Edward in 2020.
Might be more than a touch Euro dance style mixed with future pop and lashings of creamy dark, sexy vocals. Instantly likeable with those club friendly rhythms and spiralling synths.
I’m sure you have probably met these creatures in your clubs and bars. They are seen as the pinnacle of perfection in the scene with all the right accoutrements and connections but it is all a facade, a lure and a means to an end. There is a huge cavernous sound to this track, almost verging on what could be taken as being live and if MaleTears sound anything like this on stage…. what a glorious thing to behold.
May saw the release of French darkwave project, SPIRYT, with the album BLOOD TWINS. jluc Courchet has joined forces, yet again, with US vocalist Kimberly Bow Ever Down to create an experimental project spanning across two continents.
There is a blurring of reality and fantasy throughout the whole album, such as the track “In Cold Blood” and the imagining of shooting another down in their dreams. Experimentation with time signatures, which create an on edge mood, along with the unorthodox arrangements, while there are discordant notes that right themselves.
A definite industrial element creeps in with the clashing and bristling electronics, grating and pointy. You still have ballads, such as “V“, though these are more about surviving another’s love that tried to crush them. It might sound a little odd but I hear a lot of another band, from the 90s, in Kimberly’s vocals and the music. Inkubus Sukkubus lingered in the back of my mind as I listened. SPIRYT’s “BLOOD TWINS” might not be witchy but there are just as many elements that make your toes curl in a most delightful way.
Brought to you on the German label, Blackjack Illuminist Records in Europe and self released in their homeland, Social Union is the Aotearoa (New Zealand) darkwave/synthpop project with their latest EP, Fall Into Me.
With the title track, “Fall Into Me“, kicking things off and it feels old school synth with beautiful rolling vocals entwined with the electronics, smooth and tugging at your heart strings. “Choke” has these lovely guitar jangles infiltrating the tune which gives this track a nice dark feel with the lyrics about needing a friend but instead, being put in a situation of wanting to escape.
Staccato beats between the drum machine, guitar and synths, herald in “Abscond” and the vocals fall into your ears, while the vocals in “Our Hands Don’t Fit“, are gorgeous as they sit hand in hand with the guitar. “Fall Into Me (Social Sport Remix)” just kicks this track into a new realm. Bass heavy with touches of power noise and trance, that pierce your insides in a rather pleasant way and this would be great on any dance floor.
What can I say? It is pretty lush mix between the vocals, electronics and guitar work. Social Union holds your attention with their wonderful compositions, borne of light thrown on murky corners, matched with soul touching simplicity. Fabulous darkwave coming from New Zealand that easily matches the likes of Twin Tribes or She Past Away.
Gold Coast based, Jed A Walters, dissolved his previous project, Tesla Coils, which was well loved in the Brisbane scene and began something new in Chiffon Magnifique. This latest incarnation is a lot more serious in manner with lashings of electronic/darkwave/post-punk creamy bits and the newest single “Cyanide” is a perfect example of this. Not only have we been able to listen to the latest single but Chiffon Magnifique have been doing a few live gigs for the release, which I was lucky enough to attend one of these.
It is a breezy, winter evening in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane and I rock up the the pirate bar, O’Skulligan’s. It is dark inside and I spot a few of the regulars of the scene, from there it is not long until Chiffon Magnifique are on stage, bathed in red lighting. Everyone moves towards the stage and before we know it, Walters with his friend, LindsayBright-Mync, helping out on bass and synths, start up the show. Every track has a different feel or texture to it and when they strike up the debut single “Abomination“, there are squeals and cheers from the masses as they dance.
Of course, the song of the show is “Cyanide” and from the start of the drum sequence and those spooky guitar notes, you won’t be able to stop yourself from dancing like Saint Vitus’ Dance has you under it’s spell. Lurking under all, are those deep bass lines, as you drift off to the land of dead, in a whirlwind of guitars and synths.
Walters really has a knack for writing great, solid minimal wave with danceable rhythms and catchy hooks, in the vein of an outsider looking in, whom feels far more at home in the shadows. Also, a consummate professional and showman on the stage, if you get the chance to catch Chiffon Magnifique live….do it! Added bonus is the fact he is a really lovely fellow. You will not be disappointment in the live experience and neither will you in giving “Cyanide” a listen or ten. Warms the cockles of my small dark heart.
People might recognise the name Jasyn Bangert and that is hardly surprising as the lead singer of the ever popular God Module but he is also the fellow behind the synth pop project Hexheart. Funeral Flowers is the second album from Hexheart, which was released on June the 17th.
From the first track, “Erase Yesterday“, there is actually a profound sense of joy, as if the whatever happens, there is always a tomorrow or sparkling rivulets of synths such as “RED“, which for some reason reminded me a little of early New Order. “OV ME” and “(bottom of) BELOW” feel like the lead up to the first single off the album, “The Funeral Party“. If that sounds familiar, then you would be correct as it is a cover The Cure track, though this version has a far more jaunty vibe to it than the original, off the vaunted Faith album.
Keeping in that mode, “See In The Dark” with the chiming guitars and dance beat, while the cosmic “PsychicFriends” spirits you away with the pulsating rhythm. There is the wending “After This“, that bops it’s way through to the last track, “(so far) BELOW” which is the only song that sports a slightly harder edge in it’s melancholy.
Most electronic/industrial artists seem to have more than one project on the go and Hexheart is very synthpop orientated, so utterly different from God Module. There is a air of Birthday Massacre, mixed with The Cure’sDisintegration, with that lilting guitar . I am still not sure if I like an album completely with electronically altered vocals, though I know Bangert is using them to create a theme throughout, the semi human or slightly detached to humanity but I would love to hear him sing a few of these tracks in clean vocals as I think that it would be magic to hear these dreamy pieces given extra soul breaking warmth.
Mmmm, okay. A new single from a project called omyügen which is titled “come with me” (yes this is all in lower case). Where does he come from and where is he going? Yeah, I have no idea because he is not on Facebook nor Bandcamp and don’t feel like playing stalky stalker currently but I will tell you that his music is of the post-punk and darkwave persuasion, with production by slxxshy.
The vocals are pretty trippy, like tape that is being eaten by a tape-recorder making it both interesting and creepy. A mantra to how the world in general is screwed up and that omyügen will show you the light. There is a constant hypnotic tune on guitar, playing in the background, lulling your senses into a false sense of security while the vocals invade your brain. The synths are there as well, adding to the wonderfully happy lunatic asylum feel that everything is burning….and that is completely okay.
The London based band, History Of Guns, has us “Running In Circles” for the newest single off the soon to be released album, Forever Dying In Your Eyes. The trio of Del Alien (vocals), Jamu Knight (guitars) and Max Rael (synths, programming) are giving you a slice of their punk inspired gothic/industrial world.
In true punk modus operandi, the vocals of Alien are so at odds to the music, a wail of disconcerting gravity amidst the sea of the throbbing drum machine and scintillating futuristic synths of Rael. Into this mixture, Knight’s guitar work stokes the fire that makes this track of doubt and questioning burn.
“The story of our lives never goes in a straight line from birth to death. Sometimes we get stuck, and it feels like we’re not moving at all; or worse, just endlessly running in circles, like dogs chasing their tails, and you feel like you’d do almost anything to break out of it.” – Max Rael
The video for this track looks pretty slick, with the guys transposed into the everyday world. “Running In Circles” is like looking at two sides of a coin at the same time, the dark with the light in perfect harmony and Alien’s singing like oil drifting across water, not mixing so much, as colouring the music.
2009 is when Australia’s goth rockers, IKON, released the album, Love, Hate And Sorrow, and last year was the band’s 30th anniversary. Elenor Rayner is Robots In Love, ex-Aussie now based in New Zealand and she has taken the fourth single that was taken off that album, “Torn Apart” giving it an electronic makeover in the form of a remix, that came out on the July the 11th.
The beginning bell like notes herald something a bit special and those tones pepper through the track, giving it a mystical effect, in stark contrast to the electronically altered vocals, metallic and slightly cold. The bass heavy beats kick in, drowing in sorrow, while the vocals come clean, giving the song an ever more keenly felt expression of sadness.
When I compared the original to the remix, it was surprising how much more emotion Rayner pulls out the track, as well as making it sound almost like a different song. IKON have always made amazing music and Robots In Love has really capitalised on this talent for songwriting, polishing “Torn Apart” with an electronic pearl essence shimmer.
Onyx Music Reviews 