The 2024 album, AgeofLoneliness, by Vamberator, is a commentary on the modern phase of human existence, in a world that is more connected than ever with social media, and yet people feel more isolated than ever before. Jem Tayle (Shelleyan Orphan) and Boris Williams (The Cure) are Vamberator and their latest single off said album is “I NeedContact,” and Rolo McGinty (The Wild Swans, The Woodentops, The Jazz Butcher) has remixed said single.
A build up of low and building elements greets you, before Tayle’s mellow vocals caress your ears. The music wanders with his singing, a testament to an ongoing, internal ache. Slow and measured, there is a sweetness in the sorrow and longing for something more.
As we get older, we have a lot of acquaintances from throughout the years, but true friends, those circles shrink. Youth is full of excitement and love, then at some point, you realise love in the modern age is hard to find. “I Need Contact” is a poignant reminder from Vamberator that you aren’t alone in how you feel and RoloMcGinty has delicately taken the track and given it an almost classical feel.
Let’s go back to January of this year and visit an EP from Copenhagen’s Sanity Overdrive called god.clear (). The man behind this project is Paweł Mielcarek (Anthropoid Idol, ex-Haemorrhagic Diarrhea), and he meshes dark synthwave with nihilistic industrial.
We kick off with the short lived intro “Invocatio,” which leads into “L’autoportrait binaire,” filled with the drone of an electric guitar, the focal piece, while the synths is the softer foil, making the grinding guitar even more aggressive as it gathers speed.
The electronic knocking rhythm is soon joined by the guitar in “Nur-noch-leben,” building up the growing suspense. The air is becoming thick with the ever pervading pressure of the pounding beats and driving guitar.
The final track is the galvanic “Black Screen,” as the guitar buzzes angrily with the pounding beat. It is a cohesive explosive attack from a well oiled machine, asserting its dominance, thundering in fury, with the ominous synths raising the foreboding portent of something this way coming.
There is a bleakness to the music that the industrial aspect feeds into and the synthwave is often used as the emotive over tones, seeking to coat each track in variants of darkness. SanityOverdrive’sgods.clear() EP is an abrasive sonic journey.
Melbourne’s Velatine are back with a new single, as well as a new singer. Loki Lockwood dropped the single “Oh See Me, The Siren,” with Holly Purnell debuting as the vocalist.
‘I love coats, leather coats, biker jackets, military coats, I’m obsessed. So I’m down the local thrift shop and trying on some women’s furs [love them too]. But I never seem to find the right one but I try. I put one on, the sleeves are too short, I push them up and I hear someone say ‘looks cool’. I turn around and I’m looking at this striking woman who says to me ‘you’re looking for a singer aren’t you’? ‘How do you know’? I replied. ‘I’ve seen your ad and I’ve been thinking about it’. Why hasn’t she I think? She looks the part so I ask. I get the ‘not sure whether I’m good enough or my voice is right’. ‘Well if you don’t try you’ll forever wonder’ I say.’ – Loki Lockwood
In the video, our siren Holly is saturated in deep red tones, and somewhere in the back of my mind, there is a knocking. Something familiar and then it hits me. She reminds me of a young ShirleyManson and not just vocally. The attitude is sassy and she is not going to put up with anyone’s preconceptions. In that vein, the music is equal parts sneering nonchalance and peerless seduction, for this composition created by Lockwood.
Lockwood has used synths in the chorus in such a way that heightens the feeling of suffocation and in his chameleon way, he has the ability to fluidly change from gothic rock to a more electronic sound, and everything in between, without a second thought, which keeps everything fresh. It seems Velatine might have found their gothic goddess in Holly and this means there are exciting things in the works. Find yourself drawn to “Oh See Me, The Siren,” because no one can resist creatures of the night.
When you are a band who is all about horror in real life and movies, the Halloween season is very important. Who Saw Her Die? (WSHD?) get very excited around this time, gracing us with their joy of all stories gruesome. Recently they released the Mothman EP, which you should check out, but they have dropped the fresh corpse of Dead or Alive’s track “Something In My House.”
This is not the disco version. It has been pared down to its bones and rebuilt like Frankenstein’s monster. It rumbles and groans, with the slow stalking beat and slightly lisped growled vocals of a broken and murderous heart. The synths add to the ghostly atmosphere.
A curse on the houses of Stock, Aitken and Waterman for their perversion of Dead OrAlive, who originally started off as the far more gothic Nightmares In Wax, but I will concede that without them, we might never had “You Spin Me,” (which I hated for several decades after spinning it every Friday night for two years) and “Something in My House.” The WSHD? cover is so different and yet so much in the vein of tongue in cheek that it was always was meant to be taken for. Hello? Police? There is “Something in My House” and it is all the fault of Who Saw Her Die?!
Portland’s Ceremony Shadows released the single “Future Past Collapse.” in September. This diverse trio, made up of musician/composer Timo Kissel, with vocalists/lyricists Anastasia Darkwater and Jakub Jerzy, and for the single, they are joined by JanaCushman (Darkswoon) and Annalisa Rose (Glori) vocally.
Jerzy’s vocals are the anchor in the human world, deep and unfazed by the electronics, while the backing singing is so precise and together, it almost seems unreal, as if they could be the computer code, enticing you in with their glossy cadence, All is enhanced by the dreamy synths, which could belong to a much more ‘innocent’ era.
The band has said that “FuturePastCollapse” was written about how AI could soon rewrite what it means to be a human, where talent and artistic ability no longer will be required for mass production, leaving us longing for the days of old. Indeed, this track feels like a link between when we were the masters of our tech and the onset of AI controlling what we hear and see, however, for now you can revel in the non artificial intelligence of CeremonyShadows.
RonnyFlissundet and KristianLiljan dropped their EP DancingDrone back in June, through their project RuleofTwo. Based in the capital of Norway, this duo blend electronics with whatever moody genre takes their fancy and due to being rather prolific, in October they released the single “Cloud Nine.”
There is something classically 80s about the synths that makes you think of groups like Depeche Mode and Erasure. Maybe it is the play of dark notes with the lighter ones, or maybe the graceful vocals that intertwine in delightful harmony
“CloudNine” is about taking your life into your own hands. Stop waiting for the right time and permission to live in the moment because in the end, all those moments are fleeting. It is an important message that most of us don’t understand until we reach a certain age. The music is really glorious in the way it soars, with a hint of regret, but more so a joyous refrain of freedom. Also, give Rule of Two’s music video’s a look, reminiscent in style of another Norwegian band, a-ha.
NØIR and SilverWalks may not have been heard from recently, but that does not mean that they have not been busy. Athan Maroulis (NØIR, SpahnRanch, Black Tape For A Blue Girl) and Daniel McCullough (Silver Walks) have collaborated again, recording a cover of “Nothing Stays” by Cyberaktif, and originally released on the Wax Trax! label.
There is a sacred reverence almost for this track. The reflective vocals bear a lament about how everything must change, an acknowledgement of time marching on. Maroulis’ unmistakeable vocals, with Veil’s delicious backing singing are in perfect sync with the electronics, that blink away, filling all the dark spaces, which leaves you nearly breathless in the utter beauty of “Nothing Stays.”
Maroulis laid down the vocals in New York, and the programming in Lancaster PA, by McCullough, also adding backing vocals from ValentinaVeil (VV & the Void) recorded in Berlin, mixed in LA by DanEvans (DieWarzau) and and mastered by EricOehler (KLACK) in Madison, WI.
The rest of the EP contains remixes from Luna of S Y Z Y G Y X, David Dutton of genCAB and Oehler of KLACK, with each surprising you with how different all three tracks truly are. NØIR vs SilverWalks’ cover version, eerily still has that SkinnyPuppy sound that remind you that Cevin Key and Dwayne Goettel were in Cyberaktif, along with Bill Leeb of Frontline Assembly. This is so close to perfection.
RobFenn is based in Manchester and since 2024, his project BrutalPink has been creating dark electronic music and September has seen the release of their third single “Heartache” that features London based German songstress, MadilHardis.
Bleeding through is the eeriness of a human’s sadness. Hardis‘ vocals echoing and stretched over the droning and looping electronics. The pain is unrelenting, especially when you are unable to let go of it, living this misery everyday and never learning from the experience.
The word that comes to mind is claustrophobic, as “Heartache” envelops your senses, crushing them. Hardis effortlessly draws you into this world with her, a world that Fenn has created, which is cloying and desperate throughout. BrutalPink and MadilHardis swing the “Heartache.”
Eirene and ParisAlexander reside in the UK, while BruceCourtney is The Stave Church, hailing from Texas, and they have combined their electronic darkwave talents in order to create the single “Inner Sanctum.”
I don’t think the electronics could sound anymore urgent and determined, the synths swelling with dark waves of growing internal power. Eirene is the angelic voice asking for release into the light, a soul stuck in the shadow of an abusive relationship and finding the voice to announce her freedom. Alexander and Courtney have built a sonically pleasing song with great depth that challenges you to not find yourself dancing along. “InnerSanctum” is something a bit different from Eirene and Alexander due to the TheStaveChurch’s influence and really I would love to hear a bit more of this.
Most people know of Ultravox, though many think of Midge Ure, but before “Vienna” and “Dancing with Tears In My Eyes,” there was originally Ultravox!, fronted by the utterly English and completely electrifying John Foxx. Beborn Beton’s Stefan Netschio (vocals) and A State of Flux (synths), have covered the track, “Dislocation,” with Kill Shelter’s PeteBurns contributing guitar.
“This cover was my break from synthpop’s familiar comfort zone – an opportunity to embrace something much heavier and darker, more visceral, a side of me that’s rarely heard.” – Stefan Netschio
The guitar is a low growl, in the bleak menace that is heightened by the warbled and warped synths. Netschio brings an animation to the lyrics that speaks of a modern disconnect to society and still stays true to the whole idea that life will continue on, even when you are not plugged into the system. Burns’ turns in some blistering guitar riffs, searing and screaming, like a beacon to drag your attention back, even while conveying a plumenting feeling of implosion.
“Inspired by the hugely influential work of John Foxx and Conny Plank, we layered analogue synths with studio-driven detail to echo the pioneering spirit of the Systems of Romance period.” – Arc, A State of Flux
“After discussing the approach, I leaned heavily into my Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew influences from that era, using abstract, angular processed guitar riffs as soaring sonic textures to reflect the song’s fractured core.” – Pete Burns, Kill Shelter
“Dislocation” was originally off the third Ultravox album, Systems of Romance, that came out in 1978, and was co-produced with the German legend Conny Plank. It was to be Foxx’s last outing with the band as he forged a solo career, inspiring other synth based new wave artists such as Gary Numan. This new version is far weightier, the music thicker and a much harder edge than the original, This is a song for the modern era, written forty-seven years ago, and lovingly darkened for a new audience. I love JohnFoxx and I think this is a brilliant cover of “Dislocation” by StefanNetschio and A State of Flux.
