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September was a big month for some really good electronic music and Sweden’s Hatif, most certainly delivers some quality releases, which leads us to the new single “Heredity.” Under license to the label Town & Towers Records, the duo of  Markus Majdalani and Johan Eckerström, seems to not currently have an album attached to this new track.

Photo by Daniel Kwon

The electronic clicks take up a flamenco style rhythm and Majdalani‘s singing is smooth and entrancing, then it kicks up an extra notch of cool with the harmonising. The synths move from light to dramatic keeping you on the edge of your seat, while the programming spasmodically still clicks and whirrs.

I’m going to be a bit cheeky and say Hatif could be channelling the spirit of another classic Swedish band Covenant, and that is not a bad thing with the harmonies and building electronic textures. Hatif have said their music is easy to listen to, and I have to say I completely agree with them. “Heredity” is part of the growing legacy that Hatif are putting down.

Heredity | Hatif (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/hatifband

https://www.instagram.com/hatifband

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In 2021, the Seattle project, NewVersionOfBlue released the EP, Waves, however, in September of 2023, the title track has been given another lease of life, using anime to create an entertaining new video to accompany it.

There is a laid back vibe for “Waves,” with the vocals relaxed and soulful. The waves roll in and out, and this is the same in life with people and events entering our lives and then leaving us, often a little more changed. The song has a groove about it that reminds me a lot of the experimentation of Gorillaz. This is a NewVersionOfBlue floating in the tide of “Waves.”

Waves | NewVersionOfBlue (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/newversionofblue

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We are going back in time…well….back to the beginning of 2023, when the single “Kill Me” was released on Bandcamp, by Oklahoma artist, Saturn Dethroned. I actually know nothing about Saturn Dethroned, but I am guessing this is his debut track.

The rhythms from the beginning inform you that this is industrial, with the machine working, to be joined by a growing surge of fuzzing electronics, almost serpentine in its winding sound. “Kill Me” grows from slow simple clunks, into a instrumental track that builds like mental breakdown, throbbing and overwhelming. If experimental industrial is your thing, then you are going to get a kick out of the Saturn Dethroned track “Kill Me,” and the best thing is you can download it off Bandcamp for name your price!

Kill Me | Saturn Dethroned (bandcamp.com)

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The latest single from Robots In Love is here, with a video included, for the track “Gossip In Your Head.” Ex-pat Aussie, Elenor Raynor, who is based in Ōtepoti (Dunedin), is the driving force behind the project, and the other current members are Alex Burchell on drums, guitarist Pierre Higbee and bassist Tony Lumsden.

“This year, friends The Sound Key played me some of their music and I was particularly enthralled by a song called ‘Gossip in Your Head’, and so it was recorded in the Robots In Love studio with Pierre Higbee on guitars and Alex Burchell on drums. Alex then produced a remix which was even more atmospheric than the original recording, emphasising the haunting vocal harmonies. The depth of emotion in the remix captivated everyone who heard it, and so it became the A-side of the single release: a masterpiece of beautiful dark pop.” – Elenor Rayner

The gossamer tendrils of this song are hauntingly beautiful and are only enhanced by Rayner’s delicately phenomenal vocals. The words are weighted by melancholy, as the speaker seems to have an internal discussion, torn by the voices that feed self doubt, plucking at mental health. I love there is such a simplicity to the music that showcases the play between the vocals and guitars. Robots In Love have most definitely brought out the darkness in “Gossip In Your Head,” and it is a jewel of a track.

Gossip In Your Head | Robots In Love (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/robotsinlovemusic

https://www.instagram.com/robotsinlove/

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Just when you thought you might finally be safe from space invasion and laser beam, pew pew extermination, you find more DEATHCOMET in your life, and he’s back with album DEATHCOMET 16!! Hmmmm…. the last one we reviewed was DEATHCOMET 14. Sooo, it seems we skipped an album, however, that just means more for your experimental electronic listening pleasure, from the New South Wales region of Australia.

I find my teeth are set on edge listening to the disturbing drone of “new hunt for alien life” which stops and becomes the guitar torturing oddity, “desperate attempt,” as it tumbles over itself, creating a tubular vortex of sound. A looping guitar screaming greets your ears, perpetuating an overload for the ten minute long “neptune belial,” as you wait for the subtle changes in pitch, but this does nothing to prepare you for the track “satanic dimensions,” where you are almost assuredly hearing the anguished voices from the pit itself, as the harsh noise eviscerates your senses.

“all systems go” continues from where “satanic dimensions” left off, however it has incorporated an eerie demonic electronic choir, which is driving the unholy star drive straight into the inferno that is “cosmic ball,” yet another track clocking in at over ten minutes. The psychedelic effect of “masks” really hits you after listening to such constant noise, and it feels as if the aliens really are invading your brain, which leads in nicely to the last track, “aliens calling“. Yes, finally the little grey guys are melting your brain with their sonic vocals as everything burns to the ground.

DEATHCOMET 16 is experimental noise that starts by rubbing your brain against sand paper, and then just builds into a new world order, intent on cellular annihilation, so the alien hordes don’t have to worry about cleaning up the carbon mess. Alien industrial metal in the form of DEATHCOMET is a mighty powerful thing.

DEATHCOMET 16 | DEATHCOMET (bandcamp.com)

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SEVREN NI-ARB (synthesizers, computers, programming, vocals) and
ESTEFANÍA (vocals) are X MARKS THE PEDWALK, and the Munster electronic aficionados have dropped the first video “Fading Waves,” that heralds the coming of their latest album, Superstition, which is due out in November on the label Meshwork Music.

Paramedics race to save the life of a young man, laying on the ground. The music’s rhythm heightens the ambulance crew’s attempt to restart his heart, as it fades away and flatlines. The casualty joins the multitudes that these courageous first responders cannot always save. There is something sublime about the play of synths and vocals, beautifully tinged with thoughtful sadness. X MARKS THE PEDWALK, as always, are masters of the synthpop genre and “Fading Away” is aimed straight for your heart.

Superstition | X Marks The Pedwalk (bandcamp.com)

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X MARKS THE PEDWALK | SUPERSTITION | meshwork music (meshwork-music.com)

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We are lucky at Onyx to have the premiere release of the video with single “Luftmangel,” from Vlimmer on the Blackjack Illuminist Records label. Berlin local, Alexander Leonard Donat is a man whose energy knows no bounds, as this new single does not appear on the brand new album, Zersch​ö​pfung, that dropped at the end of August, but rather a track that did not vibe with the rest of that particular album, yet worthy of its own release.

Donat’s vocals, as always for me in these recent releases, really make his music a bit special and there is no exception in “Luftmangel.” The bass laden electronic undertones, serve to highlight the throbbing and pulsating synths, a juxtaposition of heaviness versus buoyant light. Those dark accents just make your senses quiver in delight and you can hear a harkening back to early Gary Numan.

‘“Luftmangel” (German for “deficient air”) is about my grandmother and her final days. She didn’t opt for any life-prolonging measures when she was diagnosed with pneumonia on top of feeling absolutely exhausted due to decrepitude. One day before she died, lying in a hospital bed, she told me that she had a nice life and she was ready to go, which was pretty overwhelming for me. I was the last person ever she had a conscious conversation with, and I’m grateful for that. The song was initially written for the “Zerschöpfung” album, but at the end it didn’t fit the mood and, with a heavy heart, I decided to throw it off. However, to me it has some kind of old school, original Vlimmer vibe circa 2017/18, and I’m happy to release it as the new single.‘ – Alexander Leonard Donat

It is those dark tones that gives us the foreboding of something emotionally overwhelming and watching a loved one leave this realm is a sadness we bear and yet there is a gratefulness in being privileged to having them in your life. “Luftmangel” comes to us all, but there is so much beauty to behold in a human life and, indeed, in the single from Vlimmer.

Music | Blackjack Illuminist Records (bandcamp.com)

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In another era, Diane Dubois and Kevin Hunter, were part of the UK goth scene, that parted ways in the 80s, and fortuitously reclaimed that friendship during the covid pandemic, forming the project Lunar Paths. The end of August saw them release their latest independent single, “BURN“.

The looping and abrasive electronic samples and synths set the background for the echoing vocals of Dubois, as she goes from whispers to full throated and delicious croons. All the while, Hunter’s rhythms set the pace ranging from tribal through to thumping out the driving time signature.

I can’t deny that this Lunar Path track, while very experimental in nature, definitely reminds me very much of early Siouxsie and the Banshees, who also were extraordinary pioneers of post-punk music. “BURN” was written by the duo as they conversed about the fires raging in Greece, where Dubois has a home. An idea about the world on fire has given us a track that can set you ablaze, from Lunar Paths.

BURN | Lunar Paths (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/LunarPathsMusic/

https://www.lunarpaths.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lunar.paths/

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The goth-synthpop princess, Miss FD launched the single “Distractions” in August, out on the label Quantum Release Records. Not only does Miss FD compose, sing and produce, but she always has something interesting to impart through her music.

Synths wail like sirens, for there is an emergency at hand. The urgency is free flowing and Miss FD’s vocals leave you with no uncertainty that you proceed at your own peril. There is a gruffness, wanting to draw your attention as the driving rhythm gives you focus from the distractions of the everyday.

A cry out to humanity, for the sake of the planet to recognise the fact people are causing mass effect destruction, that will take themselves out and a good chunk of the creatures we share the planet with. Miss FD is channelling the voice of the Earth, because it cannot, but you can be sucked into her “Distractions“.

Distractions | Miss FD (bandcamp.com)

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Miss FD : Gothic, electro-industrial, synthpop, and oontz.

Miss★FD (@missfdmusic) • Instagram photos and videos

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For those getting into the dirtier industrial metal of the 2000s, Sweden’s Deathstars has to come to mind. “Blitzkrieg” was a single off their second album, Termination Bliss. Fellow countryman, Fredrik Croona, aka Against I, has covered “Blitzkrieg,” released on September the first.

August also saw the release of Against I’s first album, Carnival of Excess, however, “Blitzkrieg” is not one of the tracks and appears to have been recorded on a whim by Croona. Whatever, it is a harsher, more stripped to the bones version…. or is it? It carries the same intensity, but there is a heavy electronic pall pervading and the vocals are screamed over all, because in the end this is Against I with “Blitzkrieg,” which overwhelms the enemy in a singular swift strike, taking you by storm.

https://on.soundcloud.com/AuQp9

https://advoxya.bandcamp.com/album/carnival-of-excess