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In January of 2023, electronic musicians, R. Missing (USA) and Levingtquatre (Belgium), released the single “Death In A Constellation“, but August has seen the track given a second breath of life via a remix, from the Norwegian Antipole, aka Karl Morten Dahl.

That delicate guitar work, so prevalent in Antipole, trickles over your senses, invading that space under your skin that raises goosebumps. R. Missing’s vocals are sweet and light as air, lulling you into an intoxicated stupor, and the electronics are never far from the surface.

The original version is definitely a more electronic affair, whilst the remix has a far more warm quality, and I think this gives it a very intimate feel. Also, it is produced by Pedro Code, of the equally wonderful IAMTHESHADOW, and that darkwave touch shines through. There is a simplicity to the whole track, which is just divine to listen to, echoing in the depths of a star cluster… a dark shoegaze dream that is “Death In A Constellation,” the Antipole remix..

Merch | R. Missing (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/rmissingmusic

https://linktr.ee/rmissing

Music | Levingtquatre (bandcamp.com)

http://www.le-vingt-quatre.com/

Music | Antipole (bandcamp.com)

http://www.facebook.com/antipoleband

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Gee, you get to the weekend and the outlook seems dismal? Do you have an abnormal fear of gnomes and strange alcohol? The double sided single “Synkkyyden Ja Lonkeroiden Vaikutuksesta” by TerrorroT featuring TFG (TONTTU), will probably instil the appropriate levels of terror, while you belligerently rock your body in the naughty corner.

Like a bad dream on acid, “Lonkeroiden Oikeudesta Tonttuvapaaseen El​ä​m​ä​ä​n” burbles at you in a crazed manner. What does it all mean? Only the gods of lost souls probably knows

Ahh, the delicate vocals of TFG sooth your heated brow in “Synkkyyden Vaikutuksesta Kasitykseemme Tontuista“. The gnomes could be suffering the worst hangovers of their cantankerous lives….I am of course guessing, but he does not sound like he is having a picnic, unless the picnic is in the seventh realm of Hell. Please ask the gnomes for details on this party. Cranky bastards.

Synkkyyden Ja Lonkeroiden Vaikutuksesta | TerrorroT feat. TFG (TONTTU) | PANICMACHINE

https://digital.panicmachine.com/

https://terrorrot.bandcamp.com/

https://nodevotionrecords.bandcamp.com/

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Night Tongue might be based in Los Angeles, but, Carisa Bianca Mellado (vocals, bass, synth) and Andrew Dalziell (vocals, guitar, cello, drums) are originally from Australian shores. However the darkwave group would not be complete without members Elle Haert  (synth, keys, vocals) and Jessica Reuter (drums, vocals), and August 18th saw the release of the single, “Human Things“.

Left to right: Elle Haert, Carisa Bianca Mellado, Andrew Dalziell, Jessica Reuter

This tracks threw me for a moment. It was like travelling back in time to the 80s, to when 4AD brought us the cream of the dreamy shoegaze and dark indie bands, such as Cocteau Twins. The vocals are delicate and floating, both entrancing and seductive, drawing you into a world of where we have passed the veil. The Dalziell’s guitar adds to the otherworldly swirling flight of fantasy.

Medallo’s singing is angelic and when entwined with the vocals of the others, becomes like spun gold thread of an intricate spider’s web capturing your ears and imagination. “Human Things” return to dust and maybe the unknown might reclaim us, but you can still enjoy the tenebrous sounds of Night Tongue…. while you can.

Human Things | Night Tongue (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/nighttongues

http://nighttongue.com/

https://www.instagram.com/nighttongue/

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Should you dare slip into the wooded areas of Marietta, Ohio, after dark, you might happen upon the ambient and industrial musing of Pressed Flowers. Blake Pipes is the man bringing forth the electronic magic/madness in the single, “The Ascension.”

‘I composed “The Ascension” using, among other things, the sounds of hammers on large nails, the sounds of vehicles barely able to bear the weight of their load, and a mess of synthesizers. These elements were each stretched to their limits and sculpted carefully into place. In the track, there is a choice to make, a choice to stay or to go. The choice is made to go. The path forward is not necessarily a pleasant one, but neither is the path back. Too often, we can only hope to outrun what we try to leave behind.’ – Blake Pipes

This track is saturated in growing dread, from the scraping metal into the nails being knocked in. There is a near Hitchcock shower scene , which prevails and then collapses into what could be described as the warblings of an estranged classical orchestra, which is oddly satisfying. It is an intriguing use of elements and experimentation. There is a horror filled majesty with “This Ascension” by Pressed Flowers.

http://pressedflowers.bandcamp.com/

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21st of July saw the release of the single “Burial” by Milwaukee based Choke Chain, the project for Mark Trueman. Written and produced by Trueman, while the mastering is by Eric Oehler, at Submersible Studios. Excitingly, this single heralds the new album Mortality, which will be out in September the 22nd, on Phage Tapes.

You can almost taste the anguish in Trueman’s vocals, raw and reproaching. The rhythms are unrelenting in their pounding, while the wailing in the background is like klaxons going off, creating an atmosphere of cloying terror that you still must find yourself moving to. Propelled by claustrophobia, each throbbing note is driving your heartbeats. They say death is cold, but the industrial aggression of “Burial” by Choke Chain is smoking hot.

Burial | Choke Chain (bandcamp.com)

https://chokechainebm.com/

Facebook

https://instagram.com/choke_chain

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As a kid, were you enchanted by movies such as Blade Runner, Tron and John Carpenter’s The Thing, and their futuristic soundtracks? Then the music of Nikk Fail might be for you. Milan based Fail has also found inspiration in this genre, and has released his debut EP Futuro Presente.

As the title of the EP infers, the instrumental “Futuro Presente,” is the now futuristic sounds building your anticipation, as the blatting bleeps mix with the tinkling synths, giving a sense of foreboding in the current climb. You have the “Supervillain” given a voice by Fail. Like a modern day Pink Panther with only evil intent. This alter ego however does his villainy in plain sight with the acclaim of the people. Can someone say politician.

There really is something very old school industrial about “Sirens“. Possibly the anguished vocals or the stalking rhythms and swirling electronics, but this is possibly my favourite off the EP. The last track is haunting instrumental “Serial K.G.“, that winds its way uncomfortably through your subconscious.

The premise behind Futuro Presente is the fact that so much of our subculture science fiction made in the 80s, had their future timelines set in what is, now, our present day. Did some of it come true? I will that leave thought with you, but if you need a soundtrack for those inner thoughts, or just damn well enjoy retro electronic music, then you really can’t go past Nikk Fail.

Futuro Presente | Nikk Fail (bandcamp.com)

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Nikk Fail | ReverbNation

Nikk Nokk Blackstarfuries (@nikkfail) • Instagram photos and videos

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Australian’s love claiming New Zealander’s as our own, and quite frankly, the talented Kieren Hills is no exception. His crust punk, crossed with industrial stylings with the project Schkeuditzer Kreuz, is perched to release a new full length album on the 25th of August, named No Life Left, and a packed tour of Europe, over this September and October (which is well worth every cent). For now, you are able to listen to “Second Life,” the latest single off the album.

Photo by Jeremy Belinfante

Instantaneously, the pummelling, heavy as fuck rhythm grabs your ears, with a taste of black metal gloom, as the claustrophobic pall tries to suffocate the breath out of you. Hills snarls and growls lyrics such as ‘free to kill, free to take a life away’, a protest of the constant gun related killings in America, where the victims and families seem to have no voice. The loops and synths ooze discontent at the failing system.

“I’ve always had a policy of playing anywhere and everywhere with SK. I’ve played in a lot of weird and wonderful places in the last 3 years – in sheds and video stores, in the forest and in car parks, house shows, club shows, in-stores, and pub shows – under bridges and in skate parks.  Anywhere at all. So, I wanted to do that for the video.

I found an alleyway choked with long-dead street bounty – sofas and white goods and old guitars, and pots and pans and cupboards and sheet metal, and building waste and everything that gets left behind when people move on or move up. All long left in the elements to degrade and die. So, I set up there and played to a few friends – interspersing my usual walls of sound with throwing stuff around and bashing on things in the pile, more or less rhythmically along with the music.‘  – Kieren Hills on the video for “Second Life“

The video is beautifully shot/produced by Shaye at DMWC Films, filmed in an alleyway in Sydney. This track hits hard, not only in the voluminous reams of auditory crush, but also the overwhelming disappointment in a society where guns mean more than people’s lives. The vinyl records for the album are already on pre-order from Bad Habit Records (AUS) and Sorry State Records (USA)

No Life Left | Schkeuditzer Kreuz (bandcamp.com)

Facebook

Home | Schkeuditzerkreuz

Schkeuditzer Kreuz (@schkeuditzer_kreuz) • Instagram photos and videos

Home | Bad Habit Records (square.site)

Sorry State Records: punk, hardcore metal, garage, crust, vinyl

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Kicking off July with a bang. We are talking the new industrial single “ROTATIONS” from UK artist MATT HART, with the added extra bonus of a remix by SERAPHIM SYSTEM, aka Jon Stancil, from the USA. This is the ongoing human versus machine, cyber saga of epic proportions.

“8 HOURS AWAKE. 8 HOURS ASLEEP. THIS IS THE WAY OF THE TIME MILL.” This is the mantra here, for there is not time for anything, except digging into the ground beneath, for the humans to escape their electronic assassins. The synths are ripe and juicy, while the beats are rampaging, forcing you to move that body. HART’s vocals broker no argument for this is how thing must be, as the shifts rotate through continuously, like a colony of ants, slaves to the rhythm for survival.

The SWAGGROTATIONS REMIX has the massive slamming beats and screaming electronics. It summons a feeling of utter panic, suddenly dropping into drum and bass, before whirling off, pounding your skull into a pulpy mess.

MATT HART’s original version is chock full of scintillating synths, club floor filling rhythms and rounding vocals, building the air of a will so stubborn, one shall do whatever to avoid elimination. With the SERAPHIM SYSTEM mix, we definitely find ourselves with a different beast. Harsher electronics, mixed with dub and dropping bass, combined with the crushing beats. All of this is a reflection of the desperation and even loss of humanity by the survivors…. ah well, at least they are doing it in style, while carrying out “ROTATIONS“.

Music | MATT HART (bandcamp.com)

ROTATIONS (SERAPHIM SYSTEM SWAGGROTATIONS REMIX) | MATT HART (bandcamp.com)

Facebook

https://www.instagram.com/matthart3808/

Music | Seraphim System (bandcamp.com)

Facebook

http://linktr.ee/seraphimsystem

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German industrial project Neon Insect has released another single as of May, with the title “Implant“. Nils Sinatsch is Neon Insect, whose forte is delving into a cyber-punk future of apocalyptic proportions.

The flesh screams in defiance as the cybernetic additions consume the body, taking away pain and everything else that makes a human feel. Nils‘ gruff vocals are the programmes and nano bots seeking to assume control, as they pulsate through their victim,

It starts with a few changes of enhancement, until the machines decides mankind is frail and prone to breaking. The road to human race’s doom seems to be paved in the industrial dance rhythms of Neon Insect and his “Implant“.

IMPLANT | Neon Insect (bandcamp.com)

https://www.neon-insect.de/

https://facebook.com/neoninsect

https://www.instagram.com/neoninsect/

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The wizard of techno-industrial dance, Simon Carter, is inviting you to join your weird brothers and sisters in the mystical coven through the latest EP, Initiation. Released at the end of May, Simon has said that these four tracks were cut from the up coming 2nd album with collaborator Fabsi, because they didn’t quite fit the overall sound but gelled well together for the EP.

The curtain raiser is “Seher (Initiation Countdown),” a call to the floor for all the warriors of dance and a taste of what is to come. There is a mixture of psytrance with EBM in “Hexennacht Rave” that interchanges, giving the track ebb and flow, building the energy, bewitching your senses. Big bass beats wub into your chest cavity, cut by the voice speaking at you about reality versus dreams, and you are waiting for your next techno hit in “Dancefloor Delusion.” The last track, “The Magic Coven (Welcome To the Coven),” is slower and pulsating with power, hypnotic suggestion from Carter’s deep spoken words, that you join the witches circle.

May black cats and bats fill your dreams while Carter fills your ears with techno delights of the strange kind, bidding you to indulge in the Saint Vitus dance macabre. Welcome to the Initiation.

Initiation | Simon Carter (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/HumansCantReboot

https://simoncarter.contactin.bio/

https://www.instagram.com/simon.carter_official/

http://www.twitch.tv/sy_carter