David Brichard is the vocals and Frédéric Hyat the guitarist for Belgium electronic band Dresscode, who released the single “Get Rid of Fears” in October. In the video is FlorianGilot who plays live with Dresscode.
Do our fears freeze us into being unable to act or live? This is essentially what the track is about, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Those first notes strike in and as we go on, I am starting to think some of that might actually be the guitar being plucked. The singing is congenial until we hit the chorus, and then they erupt into a far more glorious and harmonious raising of the voices at end the track. “Get Rid of Fears” finishes for me far too soon as I was really getting into, and then it ended, even though it is approximately three minutes long. Ah well, I love the whole finishing with a bang, and Dresscode have made this track smooth and it subtly ends up sucking you in.
November has seen the release of the split single from SchkeuditzerKreuz (Aust) and DecideToday (USA), with the vinyl on Nambour label Bad Habit Records, in the wilds of the Sunshine Coast, North of Brisbane.
“Last year, mid-winter, I did a quick tour run up to Bellingen and Lismore (NSW, Australia). The Lismore gig was something we booked in a Hall out of town and was kind of a make-up gig for one that got scuttled by the plague a couple years earlier. On the bill was Sniffer Dog and Toecutter – someone I had met in Melbourne when he played with Dark Horse, and someone I was keen to make noise with again. At that gig he said to me “you have to meet my friend Robert – your music, your attitude, your touring all match each other so well” and he gave me the contact. So, I reached out and Robert jumped straight in.” – Kieren Hills/Schkeuditzer Kreuz
Schkeuditzer Kreuz
Decide Today
The one track from d-beat, synth-crust master, Schkeuditzer Kreuz, is the cloying “Choke,” and this slower track feels like the air is being dragged out of your lungs. It lurches zombie like at times, and then becomes full of rage and destructive conviction as Hills lets us into his head and what clinical depression can be like when it isn’t a good day.
Decide Today has two tracks, with the first being “Revolutionary Reason (WorldwideIntifada),” and you can smell the sweat in the swarming mosh pit as the beats come in thick and furious. The indignation is palpable with a whole bunch of cleverly cut sound clips strung together, culminating in the powerful hushed tones that the genocide of the Palestinian people is wrong. The second track “The Shit Punx Hate” hits you full throttle, making you start, and then you are serenaded by the list of things that punks dislike such as racism, authoritarians and Nazis, while the rhythms have nail bombed into your psyche and pierced your head.
“Toecutter must have met Kieren and insisted we start talking. Our common ground in music, and the culture surrounding it, was immediately evident. Earlier this year Kieren proposed the split 7” via Bad Habit, which of course I had to say yes to such circumstances, and I mentioned also wanting to get back to Australia at some point. The next day Kieren asked if I was for real, and started planning the tour. I am incredibly thankful to my new friend, Borg at Bad Habit, and Dave (Toecutter) for getting us connected.” – Robert Inhuman/Decide Today
Baron Von Borg is the bloke that runs Bad Habit Records, who is a punk, a punk musician and a connoisseur of music from the top of his head, to the tips of his toes and someone I have a lot of time for. It isn’t surprising that he is in the middle of this whirlwind.
This is a marriage of ferocious punk attitude, punching with a fist full of electronics.
Boston based dark electro project Pneumagnosis has collaborated with Dissonance on the single “Let The Flowers Fall.” Cat Hall (Dissonance) has contributed vocals and lyrics while the music was composed by ScottTheleman (Pneumagnosis).
The electronics bleat and dance while Hall sings about finding the courage to walk away from a relationship, without trying to fix it or ponder what you did wrong. Her vocals waver and bound back in a cacophonist choir around the techno rhythms, which punctuate the wisdom of the words. This is a nice little collaborating trance inducing dance track between Dissonance and Pneumagnosis, in “Let the Flowers Fall.”
SEVERIN NI-ARB of X-MARKS THE PEDWALK has joined forces with his son LMX, and the collaboration resulting in the electronic project DUOPHONIC NOISE CONSTRUCTION. The single “Trauma,” has been released on the MESHWORK MUSIC label.
From when the rhythm kicks in, this is going to be a dancefloor killer. Looping electronics with NI-ARB’s vocals low and visceral, are at complete odds with the more dulcet tones of LMX, that create a dawning break in the overall frenetic pace.
There is something a bit old school about “Trauma” and maybe it is that connection to X-MARKS THE PEDWALK, yet the influence of LMX is felt with the more modern vocal style. It is a kin to talking about rough and smooth or steel and silk, and it works so very well together.
As part of their spooky season, Kentucky’s Who Saw Her Die? religiously drop in October a few singles, and the latest is another horror movie inspired release in the form of “Pleasure and Pain” and “One of Us.”
If you haven’t guessed before, “Pleasure and Pain” is exactly how a cenobite from Hellraiser is going to love you and this is the premise behind the single. The version the band have put up first is the EBM mix and I have to agree in their choice as it really has that classic sound of Hellraiser’s weird modern techno wonder, plus that wandering synth line, matched with the spiritual abyss in the vocals, that vary from seduction to anguished.
The second track goes a bit more old school in the way of The Body Snatchers in “One ofUs.” It is a retelling of the motives of said snatching aliens, a morose dirge that is actually sympathetic of the horror baddies.
Even when October is done and dusted, there is always Halloween to be enjoyed for the rest of the year in tunes like this. To quote The Divinyls, ‘there’s a fine line betweenpleasure and pain,’ so why not choose both with Who Saw Her Die? They have such wonders to show you.
Somewhere in Victoria, Canada, you can imagine there are bears and elk but if in the woods, you might be jumped by the Skull Cultist, also known as Steve Saunders, man of rocking industrial beats. His latest album is named HardcoreRituals.
The first track, “ChwibanMarwolaeth” sets the scene of something tribal and ancient, yet with the encroaching modern music bearing down. This is the lead up for you to drop into the title track “Hardcore Ritual,” and the magical mythos of a bygone era reverberate through the vocals and electronic tones. It builds and breaks down over and again. The cyberpunk influenced “Rivethammer” pounds and loops, revelling in the violence of the hammer. It is probably me, but I keep thinking I hear ‘timber‘ being yelled over and over again.
“Mover” features the crystalline vocals of Gaby Gustafson, who is also know as Eva X along side Saunders, as the music strikes up a rapid pace, while the electronics rattle and throb to keep up. She is the angelic in comparison to his demonic, crying ‘die, die, die.’ Nicole Turner of Orthokeras is the guest vocalist on the “Floor Sadist,” and does anyone have to ask when or where we assume the position?! This track is a mixture of rhythmic noise and dark sexual overtones, which is instantly captivating and bewitching. The last track of the album, “Duskfall,” also features Turner’s vocals, which feels expansive and sounds futuristic
Hardcore Rituals has a grand total of eleven tracks and Skull Cultist keeps you guessing what style he is going to use next, though I like to think the main style is rhythmic industrial. Having the two ladies guest on tracks is a really nice additional, taking things up a notch and I have to say that I really did like “Floor Sadist.” Maybe it is that skull crushing crunchiness but it is very satisfying. In the end, there is a primordial brooding throughout, married to something that lurks within the shadows.
From Brooklyn, New York, the project Dilemma has released the new EP, BecomingAlive on Halloween. Producer AlexElias is the man behind Dilemma and this EP is his darkwave/industrial ode to the gothic scene in the form of a story in four parts.
PHOTO BY SHERVIN LAINEZ
Title track, “Becoming Alive,” most certainly has a dark cabaret noir tone and possibly about vampires, whom come alive at night after the sun has gone to rest. Next is the far more industrial sounding “You Can’t Make Me (Want To Dance),” with its swirling electronics, which are obviously created to get one onto a dance floor.
The oddly named “No Comment” I feel has a very Marylin Manson vibe about it at times. Maybe this is due the vocals in the chorus, though I am rather impressed by the creepy street groove attitude. I do like the guitar in “Peripheral” as it gives this track yet another feel and one feels that Elias is channelling Sopor Aeternus’ Anna Varney at times.
Each track is a song dedicated to a sub genre of the scene…. and if you want to know then you are going to have to have a listen yourself as I think that is half the fun. Full of synths and dark pop hooks, Dilemma are showing the way to Becoming Alive.
Run To Sleep is a very, very new band and their debut single is the industrial “Purity of Sin.” Based in Naarm (Melbourne), this is the project of Jarrad Robertson (guitar) and Michael Johnson (modular synth), and if the name Robertson is a bit familiar, you might remember he is also is member of the dark, gothy rock group Sea Lungs.
The guitar is the focus, however it is the electronics that paint the tone. Heavy and fuzzed out bass like intonations, often breaking down into bleating miasmas of sound, whilst the delicate guitar sinews its way across the wasteland, almost apologetic for the abrasiveness.
There is something very early Sisters of Mercy about this track and I am talking the first EPs. Though an instrumental, it struck me that it is kind of in this vein due to the stark drum machine in sync with the melodic guitar, and the big difference being the heavy concentration of synths. This might be called darkwave industrial and I have to say I am quite enjoying Run To Sleep already.
MeaFisher may no longer be a vocalist for LordsOfAcid, but she is back with her new project Me And My Nightmare, and what better way to celebrate than by dropping the single, “DevilInside” featuring the vocals of EnEsch (Slick Idiot, <PIG>, Pigface, ex-KMFDM) Just when you thought your industrial dreams were fulfilled, DannyLohner, guitarist for Nine Inch Nails just happens to be on the track as well.
Techno inspired synths and rhythms complement the purring vocals of Fisher, when she isn’t letting that devil out in the chorus. Esch brings the demonic to Fisher’s fallen angelic, with his gravelled vocals, and Lohner’s guitar work drives home the grittiness below the sheen of the electronics.
There are also two remixes that go with the single, including one by SebastianKomor (Icon Of Coil, Strategic Command, Zombie Girl). I can see Fisher going from strength to strength, if this is the calibre she is serving up. Have to admit I did first first think of the INXS song of the same name at first, though no fear as this is a completely different beast or should that be devil? Come join Me And My Nightmare and find the sensual “DevilInside.”
Swedes Hatif have released a new single called “BrokenBucket,” 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.
