The saying is the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and this could be said for young Norwegian guitarist Ja’kob, son of yet another amazing guitarist Karl Morten Dahl, better known as Antipole. They have joined forces with PedroCode, from IAMTHESHADOW, to release the single “Walk With Me.”
Ja’kob
PedroCode has a voice that could make you melt with it’s luscious tones and his contribution of vocals and lyrics sits so very well in the guitar laden music being laid down. Those guitars roll and play around each other in a mesmerising dance, which is beautiful to behold.
The music video is set between a Norwegian forest and a shuttered room, a play of light versus dark, of open spaces in contrast to the claustrophobic setting Code finds himself in. “Walk With Me” is delicate and at the same time sombre with the smooth deep intonations of Code. Antipole is a man that can make a guitar speak volumes and I can also see a long career in the music industry for Ja’kob,
Mon ami, lend me your ears for I will enlighten them with the music of The AntoinePoncelet Band, in the form of the May single “Drowning Men.” The band is made up of members Antoine Poncelet (vocals), Peter Quilla (guitar), Mark McClemens (bass, backing vocals), Justin Wright (drums) and Greg Bullock (keyboards), with Ingrid Larsen (backing vocals).
Tendrils of keyboard delicately introduce you to the beginning of “DrowningMen” before we launch into the twanging guitar, leading into Poncelet’s beseeching vocals. The drowning man, if you try and save them, could possibly pull you under and it is also a metaphor for modern life, that can grab you and take you under the unsurmountable waves. ‘What would you do?’ demands Poncelet as the dark bluesy “DrowningMen” grooves on. So what would you do? Save the man or listen to The Antoine Poncelet Band?
Swedish label ProgressProductions have dropped the new ABUNEIN single “Unwanted.” This is the darkwave band’s first single off their soon to be released third album.
The quick build up to the guitar and vocals, is like a release of dopamine to the system. The guitar work is darker and oppressive, especially when joined by the swirling winter soundscape synths, painting a bleak picture, with the vocals as the focal. Those vocals are beautiful and yet ooze a icy quality.
The beginning of this track became well ensconced in my head for quite a while, and in the back of your brain you can hear those sultry vocals just making your day a little more sexier. ABUNEIN have definitely make “Unwanted” a track to dance your little dark hearts out.
Those Norwegian lads Mayflower Madame are back with a new single “A Foretold Ecstasy,” out on the label NightCultRecords. Even better is the fact that this single heralds the release of their third album. Things to look forward to from Trond Fagernes (vocals, guitars, bass), Ola J. Kyrkjeeide (drums) and Kenneth Eknes (synth).
Bring on the post-punk goodness with those deep bass lines, while the synths sweep through like a cold breeze across a lost soul, with the warmth only found in the chiming guitar. The vocals are smoothly aloof and lost in the distress of the character portrayed.
“AForetoldEcstasy” could be about the act of sex being the only thing that brings the main character any modicum of pleasure which seems to be very fleeting, while everything else in grey and pointless. Whatever it is about, the music is beautifully elegant and atmospheric, and ultimately, MayflowerMadame are wonderful to listen to.
Giglinger are a post-punk rock band from Finland, who have been around since the 90s. In December, they released a four track EP called React, which is also out on limited 12″ vinyl, and has its international release in the European Spring of 2024.
The first track “Murder,” greets your ears with a sonic front of guitar, which becomes layered with even more guitar and feedback, fed by the ever present drums. The vocals chime in, gravelly and forceful on occasion but this is all about the guitars being centre stage. With no time to waste, it is straight into “Chant.” Altered vocals are anguished and pushed to breaking point, while the guitars surge and boil
The rumble of bass and more completive guitar rolls into the glorious “MIA.” This possibly the most shoegaze like track and it is truly breath taking, whisking you away. “Prague” is the heaviest of all the tracks, in a progressive rock vein. Building in volume and strength, while the low vocals almost imperceptible, creeping in, before they ring out clear and stark.
There is something very familiar about Giglinger’s music and it isn’t that I have heard the tracks before, but rather it is more the way they evoke the love of soaring shoegaze guitar and the irreverence in sticking to a set pattern, rather following the music. This style means some pieces are much longer but in essence never feel over extended, A solid EP for Giglinger.
Now here is a conundrum…. Washington based project Zabus has dropped two albums within three months of each…this year. Soooo, I have decided to showcase the latest release, The Future Of Death, which is out on the non-profit label SaccharineUnderground. JeremyMoore (Thee Rise Ov Sadistic Youth, Zero Swann, Garozde) started Zabus in 2023, joined by fellow musicians Peter Hallock (Garozde), AlkaneShimizu (ZeroSwann) and, for this album, JeroenAchterburg. By the way, is it just me or is the cover channelling NewOrder’sMovement?
From the get go, there is the jangly guitar with reflective echoing and sweetly morose vocals. The guitars do not seem to want to follow the script as evidenced in “Columbarium” where they go from Southern Gothic plucking to wandering through the track, all the while the electronics blow through in the background. “Subversion” is in the territory of causing your skin to gooseflesh with its haunting simplicity, slowly tracing ephemeral fingers, raising ghosts of 80s British post-punk bands in their wake.
Necro means death and graphs are a pictorial way of representing data, so possibly the track “Necrographs” is about wanting an organised knowledge of what happens after the last breath has left the body. The ability to quantify the final moments and beyond if there is one, “Necrographs” eerily drones with rhythmic oddities holding it together, while the synths wend their way, with the occasional instrumental scream into the void.
The drawling “Captor” leads you down a road of torment of when lovers no longer feel that pull and yet cannot leave, maybe due to fear. The heavy bass is beautiful in “Retribution,” married to the fabulous striking guitars and clicking beats. Honestly, the guitars are the feature of this track and I really adored it. We are thrown into the far more experimental and psychedelic “The All Light,” filled with reverb and distortion, and I can’t help but smile as it reminds me of Bauhaus in some ways. There is also some pretty intense imagery within the lyrics.
There is that Southern Gothic feel again in “BurstOppression,” and it is eloquent in both tone and vocal imagery, with a true sense of loss and complete hopelessness, dropping us in an expansive desert of mortality. Last track is “Solstice,” and it is poignant and dark. Perhaps it is looking back to a point in history where life was given so that life could continue, in the form of sacrifice or mayhap star crossed lovers, but it lets your imagination run wild with the possibilities.
Moore’s vocals are very reminiscent of IanAstbury and are a delight to behold. For me, this is the essence of gothic/post-punk music. There are the tried and true expressions of the style from the guitar flourishes, introspective lyrics, brooding vocals and looking through a romanticised lens, a vision of dark beauty encompassing life, death and spirituality. However there is also an experimental pushing of the boundaries, asking instruments to make sounds that they are not necessarily meant to make and not sticking to set musical formulae, which makes Zabus just that little more exciting. Both “The Future Of Death” and “TopographyOfIconoclast” are really worth treating your ears with, so you might savour the intricacies of weaving more traditional gothic, with something I would equate in the region of when you first hear EinstürzendeNeubauten and it just blows your mind.
For those that remember the 80s, or are connoisseurs of goth/post-punk music of that period might be familiar with the band Siiiii, a UK band that sprung onto the scene from 83-86, with PaulDevine as the lead singer. Devine released his debut solo album called We Are The Compass Rose, the beginning of 2023 (you can read the MichelRowland review here —-> https://onyxmusicreviews.com/2023/02/26/paul-devine-we-are-the-compass-rose/) and in October, he dropped a second album, titled ADHD.
You know when the first instrument you hear is a deep, rolling bass, that you are in for something rather exciting, and so we are plunged into the punk affair that is “Leader ofthe Free World.” With the snarled vocals and grating guitar, it is a sneering two fingers in the air with contempt. “TheTardigradeSong” is dedicated to the micro animal who is also known as the moss piglet or water bear. One may ask what is so impressive about these creatures until you realise that they are near indestructible and in that light, the track conga lines, engaging with indifference of the humans, as the tardigrade will be here long after you are gone. The sawing guitars squeal and reverberate, collapsing into charming wistful chiming, over and over again in “RememberedVoices.” Everything is delicately layered into a powerful wall of noise with Devine’s poetic prose stirring the ghosts of yesteryears.
They say youth is wasted on the young, but also that time flies fast for a mortal soul and this feels true of “She Was Married in June,” a delicate track, with beautiful instrumentation with the air of an olde lament. The tragedy of a life so fleeting while the natural world continues without noticing the loss. “Dulle Griet” (Dull Gret) also known as Mad Meg, was a female of Flemish legend, who supposedly led an army of women into the Mouth of Hell to plunder. Peter Bruegel the Elder immortalised her in his painting of the same name, and there is debate as to whether the artwork depicts Meg as a shrew or a woman brave enough to face her own demons. And true to form, this track is a harsh descent into the madness that is the painting, portraying a lady who will broker a world created by men no more, stalking the Devil, before setting her intent on destroying God. RebeccaAntrim is responsible for the vocals of DulleGriet and they are wonderfully cutting, where you can feel in your bones her aggrievement.
There is a surreal presence in “Stillness,” a sinuous calm before the storm, the focus being between Devine’s vocals and the soaring guitar, foreboding and at odds with itself. I love the juxtaposition of punk music married to lyrics written in a much older form of English in “Mary’sAle.” Both bewitching and modern, using the English language as ornamentation and gilding the track in golden hues. The jauntily joyous feeling “One Skin for Another,” tinkles with guitar shoegaze swirls and couldn’t be much further in difference to “The Song of Just Because.” With its southern twang and Cool Hand Luke style vocals, you can imagine sitting on the open plains in twilight, though nothing is so simple. “O Happy Day” holds the promise of a 50s do-wop for the damned, and yet there is a sweet reminder that maybe, in the end, we should just enjoy the each day as it comes. The last track “Leaf” is an ephemeral piece, immersed in a classical fashion, a spoken word experimental tale that captures your imagination with its sorrowed sweetness.
For those wondering why the album is called ADHD, this is because the musician behind it all, is neurodivergent. PaulDevine recorded all these songs in one take, no practice runs with the other musicians, and it really is a tribute to the craftmanship of the tracks, as well as all the contributing talents. Each track feels fully formed and gloriously intricate, exploring the depths of Hell, the brevity of life, love and even celebrating the smallest creatures most people have no idea exist. ADHD is a plethora of styles held together with dark romanticism and is a modern classic.
The album Crystalline was released in 2023 and spawned the intensely rich single “Bleached,” via the Norwegian and British collaboration of Antipole & ParisAlexander. US based musician, Mareux has taken “Bleached” and given it a 2024 remix treatment.
MAREUX AND ANTIPOLE
The low rumble of electronics perfectly showcases Alexander’s ghost in the machine style whispered vocals. The synths and programmed rhythms, sinuous in their way above the oppressive fuzzed undertones.
There is an unease created with the mechanised mix by AryanAshtiani (Mareux), that slowly ignites and bristles with smouldering intent, building on a track that already dripped in sensual tension. “Bleached” remixed by Mareux just proves what great songsmiths Antipole&ParisAlexander are.
Label NegativeGain has dropped the newest single “NecessityMeal” from Florida’s darkwave based AstariNite, a follow up to their previous Thin White Duke inspired track, “BowieInDaydream.”
From the beginning, there is an air of tension, set by the stressed and wavering synths, matched by the keening guitar. The vocals tell a tale about not living up to expectations, having fears and even needing drugs in order to appear perfect. Those vocals lilt and melt over you with dark intent, while the drums power on.
On first listen, the track feels off kilter, a loss of control is conveyed, and yet it is this state of honest disclosure that truly brings “NecessityMeal” into focus. It is the seeing beauty in what is not perfect, because in the end, perfection will never fuel creativity. If Bowie had been a goth, I can imagine he might have sounded like AstariNite.
When you mention a video with floating Margret Thatcher heads in it… well, that just piques my curiosity. Bite Marcus is an independent musician from Manchester, and his single “Society! (There’s No Such Thing),” is the third, just before the release of the debut album, Amalgamation.
There is something delicate about the electronics and programmed rhythms in “Society! (There’s No Such Thing),” which leaves you focused on the smoothly executed vocals. An exercise at dissecting the current British politics, where the ruling party seem to have forgotten the people they are meant to be working for.Â
The bonus track is a demo called “G O D ! (Is A They/Them),” a clever hybrid of two other tracks, ie LadyGaGa’s “G.U.Y” and Whitey’s “G.I.R.L.” It is subtle and wonderfully dark, and for a demo it feels very complete.
This is something that is very close to my heart…. music with something to say. The commentary condemns the Tories for their seeking status and making money out of those who need the most protection. “Society! (There’s No Such Thing),” is a call to notice the injustice and recognise the treachery, served to you via a post-punk track that hits all the sweet spots. All there is left to say is BiteMarcus before Marcus bites you.Â
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