Darkwave band, DICHRO has just unveiled their latest single & video, ‘Mercy’ from the forthcoming full-length album due out in August via Distortion Productions. The song carries a message that we should have mercy not just in our every day encounters, but free one another from judgement for choosing how to believe, if we believe, and what we believe. If we can start seeing one another with empathic eyes and hearts, perhaps we can rid our global atmosphere of so much fear and uncertainty. ‘Mercy’ is an outreach piece.
Says vocalist, Charmaine Freemonk: “We are reaching out to ask that everyone calm down a bit, take a breath, and be more conscientious of our actions. It is a heartfelt plea that we consider whether we are helping or harming one another, practice empathy, and if we cannot help, to at least not harm."
Post-Punk duo, SUPERNOVA 1006 recently unveiled their latest single, ‘How I Need You’ via Negative Gain Productions.
‘How I Need You’ is a semantic continuation of SUPERNOVA 1006’s Chains album. It was planned to release it as a bonus initially. However, it looked isolated and self-sufficient. Therefore, it was decided to make the song an independent work. Its distinctive feature was a return to the old sound, characterized by the “stringiness” and buoyancy of a cold sound.
‘How I Need You’ gives the feeling of being immersed in a big cold black lake in which no one lives with the silence and comfort of a lonely existence. It is a sonic journey through a cyberpunk landscape, filled with pulsating rhythms and melancholic melodies.
The single release also features remixes from artists such as Casket Cassette, Giirls, CULTTASTIC & Blind Seagull.
“’These Things’ was the last song written for Delights Of My Life. Often the last song is written with the aid of what has come before it, the other songs on the record. We have one song to write, or so we think, now then, what shall it be and why? I think that I asked this question. We will never know. And I also think that I thought that it might be novel to have a song with a very clear form (four times through a melodic verse, with a tag at the end that wraps it nicely). That, and that the record may very well appreciate a song with little to no improvisation. A straight curveball!
Eric Cazdyn, who made the ‘These Things’ video (and around 18 other videos for my music) may have heard the song similarly. He has certainly given me that impression. What I see in the video is a very simple movement or gesture, but with an immense amount of minimal detail. Well, that is how I often describe the dance of Angela Schubot, although she is just on the verge of dancing here in this video. She dances like vegetation. Or, she shows me again and again that vegetation is a dancing world.”
The latest single, ‘Forget About You’, from ‘nouveau post-punk troubadours’ Monta At Odds’ is pitched as ‘a dark-natured opus about resisting attraction, especially when the bound proves hazardous.’
The trio, consisting of Mikal on vocals, Krysztof wielding the baritone guitar, and founding member Dedric polymathing on all other sonics are aiming for a ‘danceable mixture of eras past and present to match this raw but crisp sound.’
It’s very much of the school of neo-new wave / post-punk from circa 2004-2006 – think of Editors breaking through, Interpol’s Antics, and the likes of The Organ, and The Cinematics – particularly The Cinematics, in fact – with the electro element of She Wants Revenge’s debut. It’s post-punk with that clear contemporary slant, and a heavy dose of New Order’s buoyancy and accessibility. There’s shade around ‘Forget About You’, but a lot of sunlight and vibrancy, too: the crisp, clean, vaguely brittle guitars positively jangle against a thumping disco beat, and the melancholy is cut through with eyes cast to bright blue skies and a forward-facing optimism.
It’s only while writing this that the fact 2004 was twenty years ago has begun to register. What goes around comes around, of course, but twenty years is a generation, broadly – it seems, in my ever-lengthening experience – and the time it takes for kids to start picking up their parents’ record (or CD or whatever) collections and start drawing influence and inspiration. I say ‘or whatever’ because I do worry about the future. I worry less about styles rolling round in a repetitive cycle than what music will be coming through another twenty years from now. How is it going to go when it comes to teens raiding their parents’ Spotify playlists and finding nothing but Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and, er, does anyone listen to anyone else? Of course I’m dramatizing slightly, but the point is that so much of the mainstream has become focused on quite literally a handful of artists – and what will be their legacy? Does Sam Smith capture an element of the zeitgeist beyond his identity? What does Dua Lipa speak of, and who does she speak to? A part of the problem is that where we used to have shows like Top of The Pops, The Tube, The Roxy, The Chart Show (with its alternative charts and other segments) and the Top 40 on Radio 1 (followed by something rather more alternative), the charts were pretty open and it was possible for stuff that wasn’t slick major-label sonic wallpaper to chart. This meant that it was possible to encounter something different without having to go to great lengths to seek it out. Now what do you do? Where do you go? How do people source music beyond the endless pumping of algorithms?
‘Forget About You’ hits me with a sense of nostalgia I had not anticipated, and which isn’t welcome: for some, nostalgia brings golden-tinged fuzziness and a warmth, an uplifting sensation. For me, it’s more like the sand tricking down in a sand timer, a slow-sapping pull in the guts, a seeping sadness. 2004 was twenty years ago. Less ‘yay, good times’ and more ‘fuck, I’m that much closer to death and twenty years have evaporated with depressingly little to show.’
Nostalgia isn’t a defining element of ‘Forget About You’: that’s simply something I bring to the table, highlighting the way that reception and perception colour the way an individual responds to music. It’s uptempo and catchy, bouncy even, and ultimately danceable, and neatly balances darkness and pop.
It’s a good day when two of our favourite Australian alternative acts come together to release a single, especially when that single represents the best of both, and comes on with a bustin’ cyclical riff reminiscent of Bleach-era Nirvana and packs everything into a magnificent no-frills, no-fat two-and-a-half minutes.
Today is that day, when Mannequin Death Squad unveil ‘Safe and Warm’ featuring DZ Deathrays.
Anglo-Finnish progressive metallers Wheel recently announced the release of their much-anticipated third studio album Charismatic Leaders on the 3rd May 2024 (InsideOutMusic). The album was meticulously crafted to meet Wheel’s ever-heightening benchmarks and recording with engineers/co-producers Daniel Bergstrand and Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) stretched from August to December 2023. The end result, mixed by Forrester Savell, has consolidated all the gains of what came before: singer/guitarist James Lascelles, lead guitarist Jussi Turunen and drummer Santeri Saksala’s third album represents their heaviest and most conscious music to date.
Today they launch the albums third single, ‘Disciple’, and you can listen now here:
The band will be celebrating the release of their new album with their first ever shows in Australia (supporting label-mates Caligula’s Horse) as well as their first ever North American headline shows. Later in the year the band will return to Europe for further headline dates, and you can find the full list below:
31st October – Olympia, Tampere, Finland
1st November – Sawohouse UG, Kuopio, Finland
2nd November – On The Rocks, Helsinki, Finland
7th November – Lutakko, Jyväskylä, Finland
8th November – Finlandia-Klubi, Lahti, Finland
9th November – 45 Special, Oulu, Finland
15th November – Logo, Hamburg, Germany
16th November – Melkweg Up, Amsterdam, Netherlands
17th November – 013, Tilburg, Netherlands
19th November – Rebellion, Manchester, UK
20th November – Cathouse, Glasgow, UK
21st November – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK
22nd November – 1865, Southampton, UK
23rd November – Underworld, London, UK
24th November – Thekla, Bristol, UK
26th November – Kavka, Antwerp, Belgium
27th November – Luxor, Cologne, Germany
28th November – Colos Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany
30th November – Backstage, Paris, France
2nd December – Komplex, Zurich, Switzerland
3rd December – Legend, Milan, Italy
4th December – Backstage Halle, Munich, Germany
5th December – Analog Music Hall, Budapest, Hungary
Australian purveyors of caustic and slow-burning sludge, Sundowner, have dropped a music video for a new song titled ‘Substance Abuse’, which is taken from the band’s second full-length album Lysergic Ritual due out on April 20th.
The album sees the band continuing its heavy dirge of grim, feedback laden, nihilistic sludge first offered on their 2021 debut album Guns, Knives And Tyre Irons. Lysergic Ritual is the best representation we’ve put together of what Sundowner is; just dirty, noisy, heavy sludge,” says the band.
“Having previously done everything on our own: recording/mixing/mastering etc, this time we decided to bring in Jason Fuller from Goatsound Studios to mix the album and Dav Byrne from Iridium Audio to master it, both based in Melbourne, Australia.”
Intoxicated, bluesy and corrosive riffs permeate the album from beginning to end, all mixed with an aggressive and intense mid-tempo swing and violent hardcore punk passages; for the burnt out and downtrodden.
AA
Drawing on inspiration from the likes of Eyehategod, Iron Monkey, Buzzov-en, Weedeater and a slew of other miscreants, Sundowner play sludge intended for those set on personal annihilation to drop out of life and embrace the sacred ritual of the riff. It’s an uneasy listening for troubled times.
‘Inspired By Me’ is the second single to be taken from ‘In This Light’, the forthcoming fifth album by Swedish dark-pop act Principe Valiente. Marking a bold evolution in the group’s decade-plus journey, ten meticulously crafted new songs lay bare the signature ethereal soundscapes and dreamy ambient allure that initially propelled them onto the alternative scene with the release of their self-titled 2011 debut album.
’In This Light’ is a symphony of mellotrons, samplers and analog synths harmonising with the celestial resonance of Rickenbacker 12-string and Gretsch guitars played by Jimmy Ottosson, further enriched by melodic piano and distinctively distorted driving bass all enveloped in the enigmatic voice of singer Fernando Honorato.
‘Inspired By Me’ follows the new album’s introductory single, ‘Something New’, which signalled a shift in direction for the current duo line-up with its dream-pop approach.
Amidst Wardruna’s songwriting hibernation, the group resurface to offer a taste of their next album with the single release and music video for the song ‘Hertan’ on 5th April.
About the new single Einar comments: “’Hertan’ is the proto-Scandinavian word for ‘heart’ and that is exactly what we explore in this in this song and film. The duality of the heart with the rhythm, flow and pulse we can see, hear, and feel in nature and in all forms of life – and the more abstract idea of the heart, The rudder on the ship of emotions, our decisions, and our true desires.”
Once again, Wardruna teamed up with Finnish director and photographer Tuukka Koski for the video production of Hertan. Koski has previously directed Wardruna´s videos for ‘Raido’, ‘Voluspá’, and ‘Grá’. This time, the production mainly took place during some freezing nights in northern Finland at the island of Hailouto.
“It is always a true pleasure to create art with Tuukka and his colleagues at Breakfast Helsinki! His experience and eye for detail as well as the ability to always conjure up next-level material, is very inspiring to be part of. Three days, three locations, no sleep but a lot of heart. This is how it went down. Hope you will enjoy the result!” – Einar Selvi
Seattle’s ‘turbowave’ pioneers, DUAL ANALOG just unveiled their new single, ‘Slave’. The song challenges perceptions and takes listeners on a journey through the complexities of desire and intimacy.
At first glance, "Slave" may seem to explore themes of S&M, but as with all things DUAL ANALOG, there’s more than meets the eye. The lyrics, cloaked in provocative imagery, actually delve into the realm of dissatisfaction and disappointment in sexual encounters, turning the traditional narrative on its head.
“We wanted to play with perceptions of sex and challenge our audience to think beyond the surface,” says vocalist Chip Roberts. “The S&M angle is like a lure, drawing listeners in, but once they dive deeper, they’ll discover the true essence of the song.”
With its pulsating beats, hypnotic melodies, and raw, emotive vocals, ‘Slave’ captures the essence of frustration and longing, painting a vivid picture of the complexities of human relationships. As with their previous releases, DUAL ANALOG delivers a sonic experience that transcends genres, blending elements of post-industrial, Neue Deutsche Härte, and aggrotech to create a sound that is uniquely their own.
Aural Aggravation 