Norway’s MayflowerMadame is back with a new single called “PaintItAllinBlue.” This is the second single off the yet to be released new album, Insight, out on the NightCultRecords label.
Photo by Astrid Serck
Looking at the cover, there is a hand with a wedding ring and the lyrics most definitely allude to a relationship where someone has given everything to another and it hasn’t been a healthy partnership. Their signature dark and heavy bass is present with the flowing dreamgaze guitars. The vocals reverberate sublimely as we are drawn into the song.
It is interesting that hands seem to feature so prominently visually for MayflowerMadame and it makes me wonder if it is about the act of holding onto a person or an ideal and the pleasure or pain that this can cause. “Paint It All in Blue” is blissful post-punk, holding you in a sea of forlorn and of course this is a beautiful thing.
Some of my favourite bands are based in the ephemeral shoegaze sound, and I am going to thrust before you Talking to Shadows, a four piece from Baltimore, who Onyx last reviewed when they released the single “Soma.” Band members, Cat, Ron, Greg and Alex, dropped the single “Valentina” on the 26th of June.
If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Cat’s singing, then you are missing out. Smooth and evocative, that only enhances the dreamlike quality, swirling around your ears along with the guitars. There is that wall of guitar noise that lifts you up and takes you away….all of it wrenching a little at your heart.
It would be a shame to try and dissect the lyrics, which have both a visceral pain and at the same time utterly poetic, meaning you should just sit back and just lose yourself in the dark depths of that which is “Valentina.” Cat and the lads are influenced by possibly the most wonderful dreamy guitar group ever in CocteauTwins and it shows. No, they aren’t LizFraser and Co., but then I would be disappointed if they were a carbon copy, and this is TalkingtoShadows making their own beautiful music.
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.
Drawing a spotlight onto music that might have gone under your radar is something we relish at Onyx. So, if you haven’t heard the EP Intimacy from France’s DistanceH, then we are here to tell you that you might just be missing out. ManuH is a producer and man behind the darkwave/post-punk project and he invites different female vocalists to write the lyrics that they then perform for their track. Intimacy is the debut EP release for DistanceH, that came out in January of 2023.
There are two tracks featuring BlueSaigon’s delightful vocalist, Ophelia. The sassy single “Bitch16” with it’s pealing guitar work, and the dark, dirge like wonder that is the last track “LeadenSkies.” Ophelia goes from oozing seduction, to an emotional outpouring so pure and haunting.
“Waters Of Woe” is another single that features the vocal talents of Marita Volodina. It both surges and spirals down with the guitar, powerful and evocative with Volodina stirring those pools of sadness.
LisetAlea makes up the triumvirate with the ultra smooth ode to lover’s promises “TimeToRush,” that lilts and caresses your ears. The last track is “Twilight” and it is glorious both with it’s female vocals and musically with the effusive shoegaze ephemera.
Label, 4000Records, on September the 1st, saw the debut release of post-punk, Brisbane band, StartTogether, which also, is sadly, their farewell album, called FounderInOddity. The line up for the recording of the album is GerardLawrence (guitar, vocals), EmmaWalton (bass, backing vocals), DemetryMalahoff (guitar, synths) and JamesBoothroyd (drums).
Photo by Madeline Randall
“ImposteringTheNascent” or pretending to come into existence, is the jangle shoegaze filled starting instrumental that introduces you StartTogether, wandering from brusque to enchantingly dreamy. One cannot help if the heart cares, and so there is the sweet “SquireJeffersonCareInstructions“, as the music cries out, while we are introduced to the dulcet vocals of Lawrence. You might think the track “Lookfar” is a quiet affair, but you are plunged into peeling walls of guitars for the chorus and vocals that are filled with longing, and the poetic lines ‘Assemble me Tireless moil And mark An incendiary soul‘ are simply golden.
There is a joy in the music of “SeparateBeds,” yet the lyrics bely this with a certain amount of cynicism, while I hear echoes of TheStrokes mixed with TheChurch. Another instrumental in the form of “Skeptics,” in truly entrancing as the music dances around your ears, propelled by the rhythms conjured by the drums and delightful light guitar that graces your senses, and drops into a murky morass of sound, changing up the feel. Last track is also the title track, and befitting this role, “FounderInOddity” encompasses the essence of StartTogether’s poppy hooks with the robust guitars.
Not the first time 4000Records has brought us a release that marks first and last album of a project, and yet we should be eternally grateful, because they have captured the crux of StartTogether, as well as fellow defunct Meanjin band, BalloonsKillBabies, giving us heavenly slices of glorious brilliance. StartTogether has given you post-punk, drenched in shoegaze goodness and FounderInOddity deserves your utmost attention.
NightTongue might be based in Los Angeles, but, CarisaBiancaMellado (vocals, bass, synth) and AndrewDalziell (vocals, guitar, cello, drums) are originally from Australian shores. However the darkwave group would not be complete without members ElleHaert  (synth, keys, vocals) and JessicaReuter (drums, vocals), and August 18th saw the release of the single, “HumanThings“.
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 CocteauTwins. 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. “HumanThings” return to dust and maybe the unknown might reclaim us, but you can still enjoy the tenebrous sounds of NightTongue…. while you can.
I don’t think I can quite explain how much Glaswegian band, The Jesus And Mary Chain (JAMC), held me in awe, as a kid in the 80s, with drawling vocals and waves of guitar reverb filling your ears. Label, FuzzClubRecords, is poised to release the live album for JAMC, aptly named Sunset666, on August the 4th, where all tracks were recorded at the Hollywood Palladium, in Los Angeles, in 2018. The single “Half Way To Crazy” has been dropped to give us a taste of what you can expect on the album.
Rightly so, the quality of the recording is actually beautiful and clear. William Reid’s Gibson guitar transports us away, together with his brother, Jim Reid’s distinctive vocals, reminding is of what a magical powerhouse JAMC have always been.
“Half Way To Crazy” was originally released on the 1989 album Automatic, and the new Sunset 666, has all up, a whopping seventeen tracks, including “Blues From A Gun“, “Just Like Honey“, “Teenage Lust“, “Some Candy Talking” and “Head On“. Apparently, the recording isn’t a mirror, with occasional wrong notes, and imperfect timing, but that’s the point of live music, because it is alive at that very moment of time, and it has been captured in all its raw brilliance. As far as sonic rock music goes, The Jesus And Mary Chain have been responsible for creating songs that you feel in your gut, but also hugely influenced other musicians to push the rock envelope. This is bliss.
When the guys from the Swiss band, FarAwayFromAllThis, asked if I remembered them…. well, of course! The shoegaze/alt rock stylings of duo VEGA (guitars) and IX (vocals, bass, synthesizer, drums) are highly rememberable. And, too that end, we have the latest single, dropping on the 17th of July, called “ToDreamTheUniverse.”
The bright and upbeat beginning is a front. The glorious guitar laden wall of fuzzy sound, is crowned with the vocals that want to float away to other realms, unbound from this world. Delicate at times, causing shivers down the spine, and melodious shoegaze noise that reminds me ever so much of the late 80s rise of the genre, which then proceeded to mould the alt rock sound of the 90s with grunge. With the return of Scotland’s TeenageFanclub this year with a new album and touring, Far Away From All Of This are just adding to the mounting joy that this style of music brings, as they take you on the epic journey “To Dream The Universe“.
We are delighted to bring you a nice slice of post-punk gothy goodness in the form of a new single from New York’s’ BlackRoseBurning. GeorgeGrant (bass/vocals/keys), LuisInfantas (drums) and FrankMorin (guitars), are on the verge of dropping their brand new album Ad Astra, and “Sing To Me (E.L.E.)” is the first single, released on the 23rd of June.
There is such a burst of overwhelming joy from the first strains of music. Ringing guitar with not quite chip tune synth, court your ears. Grant’s vocals come across between an ode to that which is lost and the sadness of being emotionally tortured by said loss. It is a rollicking track, foot tappingly quirky and yet it still pulls at your heart strings.
For those that do not know what an E.L.E is, the clue is in the song itself, that it means Extinction Level Event, say like a meteor hitting the Earth. BlackRoseBurning are staying true to the mission statement, with their love of science fiction (as well as science fact!), fuelling the rocket engines of creativity and shooting them out into the stars, giving us aliens music to marvel at and enjoy… even if there ever is an E.LE., I would want BlackRoseBurning to “Sing To Me (E.L.E.)“.
Have you ever sat, watching the sky in the dark, taking in the celestial bodies, through the substratosphere? Los Angeles darkwave band, The Sea At Midnight, have released the single, “Atmosphere“.
The vocals are tantalising, peaking your interest with the delicate bass, reined in drums and tinkling guitar. There are swells where the music lets loose, floating in the confines of a vehicle, no longer under control, but rather left to the whim of chance.
The production and mixing is by Chris King, the mastering was done by Patrick Hills at Earthtone Recording Company, while lilting saxophone was provided by Tony Bevilacqua. When you hear such tracks, you can’t help but be taken back to the original spaceman, Bowie’s “Major Tom“. A tale of leaving the Earth and floating in the unknown and boundless expanse of the heavens. “Atmosphere” is a tasty post-punk treat from The Sea AtMidnight.
Onyx Music Reviews 