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Swedes Hatif have released a new single called “Broken Bucket,” which is the first track off the next to be dropped album, on the Town And Towers Records label.

The lilting guitar swaps at will with the intense synths, which sprinkle everything with their illumination. The vocals are sonorous and call us to the lyrics, where you can hear a message that is about broken systems and the turmoil that follows, destroying all before it.

The line ‘from the thought to the pull of in your index finger, from the plan to the act never stop to linger‘ in the chorus is exceptionally powerful. That act of pulling the trigger on a weapon has ripple effects that can be far reaching. The more I hear Hatif, the more they feel like a really exotic reincarnation of fellow Swedes, Covenant, and I think their stance in using music to take a stand is both compelling and wholly enjoyable. Don’t be the “Broken Bucket” for it holds nothing and this song means everything.

Broken Bucket | Hatif (bandcamp.com)

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Metropolis Records have welcomed Texas based electro-rock project SINE on-board, with the first single on the label released at the end of September, called “Trauma Bondage.”. Rona Rougeheart (vocals/drums) is the nucleus of the group and this single has Curse Mackey (Pigface, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult) contributing musically, mastered by Jurgen Engler of Die Krupps, and cowritten/coproduced by producer AwareNess with Rougeheart.

The rhythms are a guarantee that this is taking you to the dance floor to strut your sexy stuff. The synths are a mixture of techno nostalgia and cocktail noir, which are divine and work so very well with the mostly spoken lyrics by Rougeheart, which she imparts her intention to make her target undergo great anguish.

“Trauma Bondage” works so very well. It has this very classy sound and you really cannot pick anything bad about this track as it flows in perfection. You don’t need to suffer to enjoy “Trauma Bondage” by SINE….unless you really want to.

Trauma Bondage | SINE (bandcamp.com)

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Skirted Records is a Pōneke (Wellington) based, Aotearoa (New Zealand) label, and they have released the EP “Pass-On-Ings” by a project called DSLB, which is the experimental electronic spawn of Chrissie Butler, who is also one half of Mr Sterile Assembly.

So, we start on “1” with its gradual build-up of horn noise, with minute wavering within their held notes, so if one listens carefully, plus a growing drone in the background. Those held notes are intense and seemingly take on a life of their own. The warbling and rattling nature of “2” makes you think that this is a machine. What sort of machine? Who knows, but the rhythmic noises it makes are very pleasing, and sounds it makes are like the motor had lost its casing, as it is left to run.

In “3,” for the first minute, the sound is so low, you are not sure if anything is playing at all, but gradually you perceive the gentle beeping, as the music blooms, delicate and reverberating. Slowly emerging strains of melody are extruded, like a sea shanty in syrup, and maybe it was suddenly consumed by the waters, for all goes quiet. Track “4” is the loudest, though for me, it might also be the most poignant, as if there is a loneliness within the horn like sounds, calling out to the world without any reply, other than the random rhythms.

There is a fragility to the EP, with the music a mixture of instruments and electronic programming. The softest of sounds holds as much attention as the loudest, with each note and drone weaving a soundscape. DSLB is opening up new worlds with Pass-On-Ings.

Pass-On-Ings | DSLB | skirted Records (bandcamp.com)

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Sleek Teeth are a dark electronic duo from California, and they have released their third single “Operating” on the 20th of September. As far as I can tell, the band has been around since 2023, which is when they debuted the single “Gone.”

Instantly, you hear the old school influences like Front 242 in the electronics. The vocals are smooth and seeming sweet, though we know that not everything sweet is innocent, and there is something sinister below the surface. The clatter of rhythms and chiming of computerised bells/chimes, lulls you onto the dance floor.

This is a fine example of electropop, with its roots firmly in the industrial past, and Sleek Teeth are operating in between these lines. If you enjoy “Operating” then you should check out the other singles for this relatively new project.

Operating | Sleek Teeth (bandcamp.com)

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From the wilds of Ōtepoti (Dunedin), in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Robots In Love have crept on us, and then slapped us with a new single “The Sequel.” Elenor Rayner (vocals, production), Alex Burchell (drums, production) and Tony Lumsden (bass) are now the core of the group, which was begun a year ago by Rayner.

You are lulled into a false sense that this is another electronics only track. That is until the guitar strikes in. Robots In Love are finely balanced between punchy vocals, soaring synths and pounding rhythms, fuelled by the metal inspired guitar work. The chorus just hits me like a nursery rhyme, with its slightly sing song rhythm. but also for mentioning people and steeples, which makes me think of Here Is The Church.

Robots In Love are evolving with every single, growing in confidence as a group and it really shows. “The Sequel” absolutely kicks arse. It is heavy and ballsy, and it kind of reminds me of the 90s when you could mosh to your favourite industrial rock bands. Rayner’s vocals run the gauntlet of sweet to full on dark and brooding rock goddess. Those chords reverberate with the energy of Pop Will Eat Itself and yet…. it is modern and speaks of this generation, the children of the digitally programmed age. Buckle up people because it is about to get intense in here with “The Sequel.”

The Sequel | Robots In Love (bandcamp.com)

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Virgin Prunes were a visually provocative goth rock/post-punk band from Ireland, and Fionán Martin Hanvey, aka Gavin Friday was a main vocalist, which is no mean feat as there were three lead singers at one point. Friday has gone on to be an actor, composer, and artist to name but a few of his endeavours, and now after thirteen years, he is on the edge of releasing a new, studio album, titled Ecce Homo. These are the words Pontius Pilot addressed the seething crowd, after Jesus had been flagellated and crowned with thorns, and it basically translate to ‘behold the man,’ and “Ecce Homo” is also the first single.

“Ecce Homo,” for me, is a track about watching the world crumbling into a morass of hatred, religious hypocrisy and general destruction of this planet, knowing it all has echoes in the past. Although this may sound like a depressing concept, it is also a song of hope, that there is time to make things better, for humanity has such a capacity for acts of beauty and kindness.

The vocals of Friday deliver the lyrics, which are like a punch to the guts and the electronics are catchy. The heavens could have broken open, with the voice of an angelic female and at the end, I swear, you can hear what could be a Islamic call to prayer. What can I say? Gavin Friday is back and if the single is anything to go by, the album Ecce Homo is going to be something special.

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Cicadas could be the rock stars of the insect world. They are the loudest, live two to seventeen years, shed their carapace and come out in Summer to mate and spent most of their lives hibernating. “Cicada” is also the latest single from Lunar Paths‘ Diane Dubois and Kevin Hunter.

Kevin has recorded live drums and it just adds to the dramatic tribal timelessness. There are samples of traditional Greek (Cretan) instruments that Diane has fiddled with and the electronics dominate the track, often matching the sounds of cicadas. They have incorporated live recordings of our little insect friends.

Diane graces us with her vocals as well as her lyrics that pay homage to the sound that marks the feel of Summer in the outdoors. The whirring and heat can be felt, often heralding in a storm after a day of building humidity and “Cicada” takes on a mystical ambience for a creature that spends most of it’s life growing up underground, to come forth for a finite period of time. Lunar Paths are going to entrance you.

Cicada | Lunar Paths (bandcamp.com)

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In 1986, Siouxsie and the Banshees released the album Tinderbox, which yielded the all too catchy single “Cities In Dust.” Now in 2024, Naarm (Melbourne) based Velatine, have covered “Cities In Dust,” featuring for the first time the vocals of Sasha Tyler, along side the ever present lord of darkness himself, Loki Lockwood.

Electronics herald in the recognisable chords to the track, but this is not the same creature as the original. The synths strike a harpsichord tone and the singular guitar has a lot of impact. Tyler’s voice is true and strong. She is not Siouxsie Sioux, for there can only be one of those, however I think she is perfect for this reinterpretation, and her vocals are like honey.

Indeed, the eldritch is strong in this track, and I swear at any moment I am going to hear Vincent Price laughing into the pall of gothic mist covered horror. Why horror? “Cities In Dust” is about the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, seemingly wiped from existence by the powerful explosion of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. The Velatine version is a little sparser… more electronics and maybe this has upped the ante when it comes to the eeriness factor. Out on the Spooky Records label, visit Bandcamp for name your price before you go dancing at the Lares Shrine.

Cities in Dust | Velatine (bandcamp.com)

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Erik Drost and Randall Frazier are members of The Legendary Pink Dots, however they have another project called orbit service together. Frazier (synths, samples, vocals) and Drost (guitars, reverb sparks, synths) recorded the EP, i’m not supposed to be here, between the US and Netherlands, releasing it in March of 2024.

At the start of the first track “i’m not supposed to be here,” there are clicks so low, that they are almost imperceptible at first, unless you are truly listening. The electronics gently wub and it takes you by surprise when Frazier’s vocals join in, not quite at a whisper, but then quiet enough to cause your breath to hitch in awe. There is a guitar being strummed creating an air of simplicity and yet this is track is far from that. The instrumental “hazy visions” has an amazing soundscape drawl, guiding you into another realm awash in sound and light, while being swept by a stellar winds

An off-kilter unease greets us along with Frazier’s vocals in “new look.” Winding while being slow moving, there is something disconnected within the sound, as if the moroseness has broken the electronics, causing them to break free. Last track is “sedative,” and again we return to a chiming lightness, where the instrumental points the way to a calmness.. though in the end, is it all an illusion?

There is a paradox between the songs and instrumentals, though we need illumination in order to define the gloom and this is how the EP strikes me. The dichotomy makes you appreciate the finesse and musicianship orbit service pour into their music, and i’m not supposed to be here is perfect the way it is.

i’m not supposed to be here | orbit service (bandcamp.com)

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We are going to touch the dark musical mire that is the harsh, ambient electronics of German based VERFÜHRERVERGELTER, in the new EP From the Void​:​ Silicon Signals to a Dead Brain.

“Aschewüste” is the ash desert and that wasteland is present in your ears. Abrasive and sand blasted by storms, echoing with the past where something abominable happened. The looping electronics grate and gouge at your psyche. Next is the lurking “Deathpile,” which slowly consumes the will to live and the Reaper could be knocking on that door. The music vibrates and rolls with the death throes, in anticipation of a painful cellular end. Starting to to get saggy skin due to a lack of collagen? No worries for there is a “Silicium sale,” and in truth I involuntarily shivered a little as it has a sharp cruelty to the tone. Behold the unbridled electric guitar as it brings you into the “Untitled Abstract Void.” Shards of light try to penetrate but this is pure darkness that will break the mind of the strongest if you ponder it too long. A yawning abyss of terror echoing the fear endlessly. Maybe there is nothing more terrifying than the thought of never reaching a weekend, perpetual groundhog day for the whole week, over and over again. “Bonus: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday Tuesday…..” drones on without joy or meaning, only with the intense ticking letting you know that there is no rest.

What does it all mean? Hmmm, I might take a guess that this could be about a body on life support. The brain no longer present but the nerves keep trying to contact central control with no response. VERFÜHRERVERGELTER has unleashed another release of infernal doom that can drag its cold fingers and nails across your soul and make you ponder From the Void​:​ Silicon Signals to a Dead Brain.

From the Void:Silicon Signals to a Dead Brain | VERFÜHRERVERGELTER (bandcamp.com)

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