In a second glimpse of the forthcoming album Headwater (out 26th June), Room40’s Helen Svoboda now shares the sparse and mystical ‘Void of Space’. The song begins with a stark vocal, before close harmonies and pizzicato strings lurch the song into something more quizzical, full of wonder and uncertainty.
The distinctive sonic world of Headwater weaves sixteen threads or ‘earworms’ built around two double basses, two voices, and electronics; heard as singular and combinatory bodies of material. The album forms an abstracted picture of self, rooted in a devolved song form. It can be experienced as a tapestry that blurs the edges of identity; strange, beautiful, evaporative, and fluid, like memory itself.
About the track, Helen says, “’Void of Space’ exists in the in-between, in a daydream, where thoughts evaporate into one another. The lyrics paint this picture, where a stream of thought "climbs up a cloud, but falls through", in a never-ending abstract void of space.”
Filmmaker Angus Kirby adds, “This video is a trip from the vaguely familiar to the unknown. Besides a literal interpretation of the title, ‘Void of Space’ has a celestial quality in its silences and sense of scale. To listen to it is it float through an eerie vacuum. I figured the video should reflect that with experiments with light and empty locations we’re used to seeing populated. Gradually we become untethered until we find ourselves in the titular void."”
Helsinki’s death/doom/industrial metal unit DARK KOMET is proud to announce that their new EP Ghost Of Silver Light has been released today, May 1st.
The second single from the release, “Only Frozen Reality,” is launched alongside the EP with a music video, which you can watch here:
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The EP draws its themes from cosmic nihilism: time, meaninglessness, and life as a phenomenon without purpose on a universal scale. Ghost Of Silver Light builds a cold and alienating soundscape where crushing riffs and industrial beats merge into a hypnotic whole. DARK KOMET offers no comfort – only a glimpse into a reality where meaning is an illusion and existence itself is a contradiction.
It’s dark and as heavy as hell, and quite the hybrid, with snarling vocals and grinding bass cutting through a maelstrom of noise and swirling electronica. Get your lugs round it here.
HEXVESSEL drop the digital single ‘Horse Tears’, which was previously only available as a bonus song with the premium edition of Finnish psych-folk and occult doom band’s latest album Nocturne. ‘Horse Tears’ is a cover track taken from British electronic duo GOLDFRAPP’s debut album Felt Mountain (2000) and features the original former IN THE WOODS… vocalist Jan Kenneth Transeth.
HEXVESSEL comment: “Me and Jan Kenneth Transeth go way back”, singer and songwriter Mat “Kvohst” McNerney writes. "I have toured Europe with In The Woods… in 1996, a stowaway in their van, after tracking them down to Kristiansand as a young blackpacker (as Black Metal tourists to Norway are now commonly known, myself being one of the first in the mid-90s). I have always adored Jan’s voice and the early In The Woods… demo and records are so important to me. It is such a high honour to have him sing this song, one of my most favourite singers of all time doing a cover with us of one of my favourite songs, ‘Horse Tears’ on one of my favourite albums, Goldfrapp’s Felt Mountain! To have his daughter Lea join him, singing this song with him, makes it even more touching. Those that have missed Jan’s voice with that old sound, can take a trip with us to a time when Avantgarde Black Metal was truly influential and alive. For me those albums and sounds, Jan Kenneth’s voice and the atmosphere that goes with it has never stopped being so vital. Let the shivers take possession!”
Cinder Well – the hauntingly stark musical project of multi-instrumentalist Amelia Baker – announces a new album A Blooming Body which arrives July 17th via Hen House Studios (where the album was recorded with Harlan Steinberger). The album is preceded by the lead single and video ‘While the Womb Screams Silently.’
About the track, Amelia says… “This song is inspired by the movie Portrait of A Lady On Fire from director Céline Sciamma. In the film, a woman is arranged to be wed, and because of her intense resistance to the situation, a painter is commissioned to secretly paint her wedding portrait without her knowing. The song is about listening to your inner knowing, which often screams loudly but is ignored for the sake of conforming – constantly trying to break out of the restraints and projections of patriarchy while stumbling over new ones and internalized ones along the way – “pulling at an endless thread of thistle – whose hooks and briars they catch things you thought you couldn’t miss em / while the womb screams silently for you to listen”.”
Watch the video here:
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This album also marks a shift in recording process, with Amelia being just as involved in the production and mixing as the writing this time around. “I strived to record the initial takes of guitar and vocals live, to give the music as much life as possible… As far as arrangements, I also brought in different types of instruments and players – in the past, I would use violin to centre most of the melodies, but on this record there are horns by Amy Sanchez (Kendrick Lamar, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews Band, Kamasi Washington, Florence and the Machine and more), synths by Dylan Desmond (Bell Witch), e-bow and other fun textures leading the melodic instrumental parts.” Other contributors include; Greg Cohen (Tom Waits, John Zorn, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson) and Pete Olynciw (Leyla McCalla) on bass, Phillip Rogers (Hayley Hendrickx) on drums, and C.P.N. Hollywell (Twisted Teens) on vocals.
On A Blooming Body, Cinder Well creates a sound that is both expansive and cinematic, and the kind of experimentation which lead to her composing the original theme song and score for the hit BBC TV series Small Prophets (written, directed by, and starring Mackenzie Crook alongside Sir Michael Palin).
Through endless shifts in perspective, and a sound which knows when to bolster the lyrics, and when to let them speak for themselves, Cinder Well’s music becomes universal on A Blooming Body, laying bare a weight that exists not in guitar tracks or distortion, but the kind we carry with us day to day.
Experimental-rock band Abrasive Trees have announced their latest offering via Italian doom label Argonauta Records. ‘Tao To Earth’ displays the band at a spiritual and psychedelic edge, revealing more of their emotional centre.
Band leader Matthew Rochford said of the release:
“This track is based on a lucid dream and points to themes of finding meaning amidst a chaotic and confusing world. The lyrics were originally written as a poem and we just expanded that to go into an uninhibited slightly prog-rock blast.”
‘Tao To Earth’ is out on all platforms and features an incredible video by visual artist Jess Wooller. There’s an exclusive remix by producer Niall Parker of Gravity Machine via Bandcamp too.
Swiss noise-rock collective Coilguns have returned with their powerful new single ‘Peace Trader’, out now via Humus Records, accompanied by an official video.
The accompanying video, directed by Louis Jucker and shot and edited by Valentin Lurthy, reinforces the track’s raw and unfiltered energy, with DIY lyric subtitles further amplifying its message.
Check it here:
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Recorded by Scott Evans (Thrice, La Dispute, Neurosis), with additional production from Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe, The Armed), and mixed by Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Pixies, Royal Blood), the track hits with a new level of urgency and emotional intensity.
Built to be both punchy and deeply reflective, ‘Peace Trader’ confronts the growing dissonance between ideals and reality. As the band put it: “What is the meaning of laws, when our nations negotiate all?”
Rooted in their own reflections on Switzerland’s shifting identity, from a perceived safe haven for human rights and diplomacy to a more conflicted and ambiguous role on the global stage, the track channels frustration, disillusionment, and a stubborn sense of hope.
The band elaborates: "We grew up being told that our country was a safe nest for human rights conventions, a historical hub for humanitarian organizations, a neutral haven for diplomacy, a sheltering home for those in need, and a centuries-long advocate for peace. Yet, the older we get, the more frequently we see this image turn into a Dorian Gray portrait. We recently witnessed our federal representatives minimize dual-use goods exportations or support partial views on major international law violations. We discovered that our asylum system had silently turned into a racist and humiliating discouragement plan, and we still haven’t been able to make our international enterprises accountable for their colonialist crimes. Looking back at our school history manuals, we wonder where this whole fairy tale has gone, or if it ever existed, but we’d like to allow ourselves, and invite you, to keep believing in the idea that a peace-making Switzerland might one day become an actual thing.”
Musically, ‘Peace Trader’ expands Coilguns’ already wide sonic palette. For the first time, a bass player was involved from the earliest stages of writing, reshaping the interplay between instruments and adding a broader, more fluid dynamic to the composition. From warehouse-recorded drum textures to tightly coiled bursts of noise, the track balances abrasion with atmosphere.
“We wanted ‘Peace Trader’ to be punchy and sad, something that could carry urgent empathy and hope,” the band explain, highlighting the deliberate tension that defines the song.
Wheelchair Sports Camp is certainly not your average act. This genre bending, punk-powered hip-hop project is fronted by Kalyn Rose Heffernan – a wheelchair-using, profanely queer and tiny rapper, with a very distinctly high-pitched sense of humor. Backed by her gimp Greggy on drums, the band combines fantastic beats with an absolutely face-shredding live show. After playing shows everywhere they could, the band expanded into performance art, museum takeovers, politics, prison tours, permanent installations, theatre, film, and now the release of their newest album, oh imperfecta on Alternative Tentacles Records.
They bring together contributions from Jello Biafra (twice), Radio Pete (who happened to come up with the name Dead Kennedys when Biafra was a teen in Boulder, CO, and this is their first time ever collaborating musically), Kimya Dawson (Moldy Peaches), Olivia Jean, Junia-T, Amy Goodman, and some honorary WSC members: Qknox, Michelle Rocqet, Wes Watkins, RAREBYRD$, and many more; to create 11 absolute bangers.
The album surges forward right from the opening track of “Make It Make Sense”, Heffernan takes your attention vocally and holds it there, while bouncing back and forth with Biafra. Only to embrace the raw punk rock honesty of “EAT MEAT!”. This unflinching honesty is carried throughout the album. Heffernan holds nothing back. No matter if WSC is dancing through classic hip-hop flows with “DENIM” or moshing through Olivia Jean’s rock riffs with Jello Biafra on “DEAD,” the vocals and the beats seamlessly bring the different influences together. All while giving us a glimpse into Heffernan’s chaotic life with recorded calls from Kalyn’s wild ass Mama K. as interludes throughout the album.
“In an attempt to unlearn my perfectionism and finish the damn album, I picked up the drums for the first time since middle school and wrote “EAT MEAT!” with Greggy on guitar. It was the most fun we’ve had and it instantly felt good enough for the first time maybe ever? We were on to something… if every dude can play mediocre guitar, why can’t I play shitty drums?“ says Heffernan, “It freed me from having to be the best rapper and out-bar every rapper in the bar. Come to find out I’ve been overcompensating my whole life because I am genetically imperfecta. Osteogenesis imperfecta is the name of my brittle bones disease and I’m realizing more and more how my body has been the center of attention since birth. Described in dehumanizing, demoralizing, and very unbecoming ways, it’s no wonder I’ve always felt like I had to be the best. This album is a collection of songs from the past decade and finished because we simplified: oh imperfecta.”
Postmodernism supposedly not only marked, but celebrated, the death of originality. Some time after the turn of the millennium, postmodern irony and the wit of parody began to evaporate, and now everything simply draws on explicitly stated influences. Art has become an endless treadmill of predictable recycling. There are rare exceptions, of course, and Chaidura is rare indeed.
Chaidura has been on the scene for a couple of years now, during which time he’s birthed an EP, Temple Paradise, and some standalone singles, showcasing styles ranging from JRock to emo, with his bio describing this work as ‘blending visual kei, emo, and alternative rock into a sound that’s heavy, emotional, and honest’.
Now resident in London, but raised in Asia, where, he says ‘beauty is often weaponized as a prerequisite for success’, ‘Plastic Beauty’ is the third single to be taken from forthcoming EP, Liminal. And what a single it is! It’s nothing short of an explosion of ideas– an entire album’s worth and more (hell, many bands with careers spanning decades don’t demonstrate this many ideas), packed into less than four minutes – leaping wildly yet also effortlessly and immaculately from one genre to another with each of the multitudinous segments.
And yes, the presentation is stunning – musically, of course, but also visually – taking cues from Adam Ant and Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ – to forge something that is nothing short of spectacular, while at the same time presenting a strong message. Opening with a soft piano intro, we’re soon thrown into some loungey jazz with an understated drum ‘n’ bass beat before – a mere thirty seconds in – being hit with a ferocious blast of metal. The experience is akin to watching Roger Moore as James Bond being spun at organ-damaging speed in a centrifuge in Moonraker, one where you mind feels as if it’s been separated from your body and transported to another dimension. It’s like all of the new year’s fireworks from around the globe going off simultaneously. And yet, incredibly, it’s got a huge chorus with an instant hook that’ll be an earworm for a week. Nothing short of phenomenal. Now, excuse me while I go and lie down for a bit.
MORTIIS premieres the story-telling and visually impressive music video ‘Violent Silence’, which continues the narrative arc of the previous clip ‘Ghosts of Europa’, as the next advance single taken from the iconic Norwegian artist’s upcoming new full-length Ghosts of Europa.
MORTIIS comments: “Lyrically, ‘Violent Silence’ came into being as an apology to my wife”, the Norwegian admits ruefully. “I had done something stupid again, and she was really upset. I was trying to apologise in a text message – a really long one. The lyrics for ‘Violent Silence’ took a lot of inspiration from those words and that moment. As time goes by and having lived with this song for quite a while now, it gets harder for me to listen to those words. The gut-wrenching sensation of guilt never goes away fully. Musically, it was a very inspiring song to work on – especially with all those crazy fuzz and echo guitars that built up this song towards the end.”
Check the video here:
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The Witches of Dystopia Tour MMXXVI
16 APR 2026 Winnipeg, MB (CA) Sidestage 17 APR 2026 Minneapolis, MN (US) Skyway, Studio B 18 APR 2026 Madison, WI (US) Annex 19 APR 2026 Chicago, IL (US) Reggies 20 APR 2026 Detroit, MI (US) Sanctuary 21 APR 2026 Indianapolis, IN (US) Black Circle 22 APR 2026 Covington, KY (US) Madison Live 23 APR 2026 Pittsburgh, PA (US) Preserving Underground 24 APR 2026 Toronto, ON (CA) Lee’s Palace 25 APR 2026 Montreal, QC (CA) Cafe Campus 26 APR 2026 Quebec City, QC (CA) La Source 27 APR 2026 Boston, MA (US) Brighton Music Hall 28 APR 2026 Brooklyn, NY (US) Meadows 29 APR 2026 Bensalem, PA (US) Broken Goblet 30 APR 2026 Baltimore, MD (US) Metro 01 MAY 2026 Raleigh, NC (US) Chapel Of Bones 02 MAY 2026 Atlanta, GA (US) 529 EAV 03 MAY 2026 Orlando, FL (US) Conduit 05 MAY 2026 Houston, TX (US) Warehouse Live 06 MAY 2026 Austin, TX (US) Come and Take It Live 07 MAY 2026 Dallas, TX (US) Club Dada 08 MAY 2026 Albuquerque, NM (US) Launchpad 09 MAY 2026 Denver, CO (US) HQ 10 MAY 2026 Salt Lake City, UT (US) Urban Lounge 11 MAY 2026 Las Vegas, NV (US) Swan Dive 12 MAY 2026 San Diego, CA (US) Brick By Brick 13 MAY 2026 Los Angeles, CA (US) The Echo 14 MAY 2026 San Jose, CA (US) The Ritz 15 MAY 2026 Eugene, OR (US) John Henry’s 16 MAY 2026 Seattle, WA (US) El Corazon
Either the members of Karobela – who are jointly credited with the lyrics – have had some really shitter personal experiences, or they’re keen when it comes to observing some of the more negative aspects of relationships and social interaction.
Whereas previous single,‘Afterthought’, which came out in December, dealt with being dropped, forgotten, kicked to the curb, ‘Love Letter To No One’ explores, as they put it, ‘the profound emotional turmoil caused by the contemporary issue of ‘ghosting’, capturing the lingering heartache it leaves behind’.
In name, ‘ghosting’ is very much a contemporary issue, and certainly, it’s easier to vanish virtually than in real life. It’s hard to ghost someone who works in the same office or whatever. But in the pre-Internet days, people would just stop writing, stop phoning, and you couldn’t even search on Facebook to see if they were still alive. But one difference in that is the time delay, in that you’d wait days, weeks for a letter, and the time span of the uncertainty was something which elongated gradually: there were no messages unread, no disappearing profiles. And as we’ve come to depend on immediate back-and-forth, even a minute waiting for a message to be picked up can feel like a lifetime. And it’s this angst which is the subject of ‘Love Letter to No One’.
It’s a step up in terms of ambition for the band, being the first track in a projected four-part narrative following the romantic experiences of a female protagonist, and musically, it’s got some beef to it, with a chunky riff and strong vocal delivery that does convey emotional turmoil. In many ways, it’s rock music of the kind that you don’t hear so much at the moment. That said, it’s driven by a disco-tinged beat and has more of a dance-leaning breakdown in the middle.
With a chorus that’s all hook, and tightly packed into a fraction over three minutes, ‘Love Letter to No One’ is a work of precision, and a first-rate single cut.
Aural Aggravation 