Posts Tagged ‘Stream’

Legacy postpunk-shoegaze outfit Lowsunday has shared ‘Soft Capture’, with a new video by Jer Herring. This is the second single from the Low Sunday Ghost Machine – White EP, following ‘Love Language’. Released via Projekt Records and ranking second among Post-Punk.com’s Best EPs of 2025, this is the band’s first record of all-new material since 1999.

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Born in the mid-1990s within the local Pittsburgh scene, Lowsunday (initially known as Low Sunday Ghost Machine) emerged as a “retro-futurist” pioneer, blending darkwave and shoegaze long before the genres saw their modern revival. Their legacy was cemented with their debut album Low Sunday Ghost Machine and the 1999 masterpiece Elesgiem, both of which were re-released via Projekt Records over the past 18 months (for their 30th and 25th anniversaries, respectively).

The band dissolved, leaving behind a cult reputation for mercurial sounds and blistering guitar work that set the stage for subsequent generations of alternative artists. Following a nearly 25-year period of inactivity, the band resurfaced as a duo in 2025—consisting of original members Shane Sahene (vocals, guitar, synth, bass, drums) and Bobby Spell (bass, guitar, drums).

“With ‘Soft Capture’, we wanted to layer vintage synths over a droning bass line, topped with a wandering guitar melody. As the guitar descends, we felt it taking on a darker tone, but then it creates a bit of a silver lining as the melody climbs back up. We used the lead guitar feedback almost like a theremin, letting it melt through the background,” says Shane Sahene.

“Lyrically, we were thinking about the traps of life and the ways we often submit to things, but the song eventually circles around with an optimistic glimpse of having the opportunity to run away. We feel like the backing vocals on the chorus are what really bring that sense of strength and hope to a situation that might otherwise feel like a surrender.”

Serving as both a reflection and a resurgence, the White EP ushers in a welcome return, marked by superb production and a renewed creative clarity, bridging three decades of distinct sonic legacy with balanced doses of escapism, dreamlike sounds, drones and feedback. This first of a two new EPs planned this year, their crystalline shimmer, classic song structures and melodic hooks shows their atmospheric sound to be as timeless and relevant as ever.

The White EP is a natural expansion for Lowsunday, building upon guitar-driven atmospheres, synth textures, emotive vocals and drum beats. A confident return to form that explores darker yet more expansive sonic territory, they bring atmospheric noise and, at more delicate moments, a dream pop air of deeper melancholia. Distilling years of sonic exploration and inspiration, lyrically and sonically, classic post-punk rhythms and atmospheric layers merge to express raw and genuine emotion.

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Hunter As a Horse (HAAH) is the South African musician and vocalist Mia van Wyk. Based in the Western Cape, she has spent the last few years self-releasing a diverse series of singles and EPs that combine electronically-focused songs with intense, melancholic lyrics that are given a darkly cinematic production.

Having recently signed to Metropolis Records, the first HAAH single for the label is ’Lighthouse’, an extremely personal song that weaves together mythology and psychology. Inspired by Carl Jung and ‘shadow work’, it is about how only the broken can truly understand each other. “But, one who was broken and is now healed has greater power to lead the broken through the dark night of the soul because they know the territory,” explains van Wyk. “It’s like if someone who died came back to guide the lost back home. I’m ignoring every warning about how you can’t save someone and declaring that I can. It’s about fearlessly challenging somebody else’s demons.”

Seamlessly genre-hopping between alternative, indie, electronic and dream-pop, with diversions into alternative dance and even nu-goth, the songs of HAAH have been described as mysterious, apocalyptic soundtracks for the strange happenings of our time, with the UK newspaper The Guardian commenting: “Brings to mind the mesmerising atmospherics of Lamb and Zero 7. Dark and very lovely indeed.”

The song lyrics of van Wyk are a mystical ride through her strange and synchronicitous life. Deeply authentic, they are inspired by death, addiction, astral visions, CPTSD, melancholia, nostalgia and magical thinking.

Hear ‘Lighthouse’ here:

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HUNTER AS A HORSE | Mia van Wyk

Damage Control is an electro-industrial music project centred around its current core members Bill Barsby, Richard Thacker and Alex Wise, who are all based in Australia, plus Markus App from Germany. Both Barsby and Thacker are originally from Birmingham, England.

Having collaborated with a number of other like-minded musicians from all over the world on their well received 2017 debut album, Ultranoia, they have repeated the trick for its long-awaited follow-up, Oblivion Grid, a release date for which will be announced shortly. As with the first record, they have also retained the skills of Canadian producer Chris Peterson (Front Line Assembly, Noise Unit, Unit:187) and engineer Greg Reely (Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Fear Factory).

‘Rage’ is released today as the first single from the new album and features the Danish musician Leæther Strip aka Claus Larsen on vocals. “We like working with guest singers and have always loved Leaether Strip since the early ’90s industrial and darkwave club scenes,” states Barsby. “We were curious to hear what the combination of our song, Claus’ vocal and Chris’ production would sound like.”

Peterson adds: “Ever since my first conversations with Bill Barsby over a decade ago that led to the first Damage Control album, I believed in the project and that he was making music from his heart that was something special. This is also the case the second time around and holds true with the artists we were lucky enough to have come on board; we all wanted to help and be a part of it. The result is a wonderful release with a variety of songs that is their best work yet. It is a testament to the creative spirit and joy of making and sharing music that attracted so many valuable contributors to lend their talents over the time it took to realise.”

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Following the success of their debut single Bad Odour, Hull’s explosive punk outfit Culture Clash return with the dramatic new single Sanitizer inspired by 70s & 80s slasher horror movies like Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), Basket Case (1982) & Maniac (1990). 

Produced by renowned local indie producer Adam Pattrick & released on Warren Records, the track follows a serial killer called “The Cleaner”, a school janitor who, having been driven mad by years of messy teenagers, kills anyone who doesn’t clean up after themselves. With this song, the band were keen to create something grungier & heavier than their normal punk sound, which was initially inspired by Nirvana’s album Bleach, with songs like Swap meet & Floyd the Barber being a key focus, as well as The Misfits, with its horror-based theme.

Vocalist Kaii states “This song is important to me as it represents a shift in our song writing format. ‘Sanitizer’ takes Culture Clash as a group of vague floating ideas & shoves those ideas into a bag creating a tight concept of what we are as a band & what we want to do – in short, it gave us a sense of direction”.

The video’s a direct homage to various horror movies & follows the band being murdered by The Cleaner for various crimes against cleanliness! The deaths are mainly carried out practically with real fake blood & each is a reference to a different horror movie – Rymer’s death relates to The Evil Dead 2 (1987) with lots of blood, intense camera movements & facial expressions, Freddie’s death is a homage to Psycho (1960) with him being killed in the shower & Kaii’s death is inspired by Death Becomes Her (1992) as he gets a hole cut through his torso.

Comprising of Kaii Boulton (guitar, vocals), Freddie Abbott (bass, guitar, BVs) & James Rymer (drums, BVs), Culture Clash describe themselves as a three-piece noise making machine that mixes various musical influences with a big serving of distortion in a witch’s cauldron, who then serve it up straight to their audience. They focus on mixing many elements from their influences (The Misfits, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Nirvana, Bikini Kill, Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Pixies, The Cure & Talking Heads) to tell a narrative that they hope people will relate to.

According to Kaii, Culture Clash exists as a band because “the sky looked nice one day” & he thought it would make a good album cover! Having spent 30% of an early recording session talking with their producer about Star Wars (a mistake they will not be repeating), this determined group have learnt from their mistakes! Headlining gigs in their local area during 2025, Culture Clash are definitely on the rise. Be sure to keep up ….

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Laptop’s new protest anthem ‘Confused’ explores a fractured America: the disco at the end of the world.

‘Confused’ is the emotional and ideological center of On This Planet and the most definitive song Laptop has ever released. Written in the immediate psychological aftermath of January 6, the track does not recount events so much as diagnose the mental fallout of living inside them. Certainty masquerades as truth, spectacle replaces substance, and fear is recycled as identity. The song captures the disorientation of watching democratic reality fracture in real time, filtered through the eyes of someone glued to the news and overwhelmed by noise. Rather than offering answers, “Confused” leans into the unease. Lyrics like “They claim that they’re abused” and “Not quite the Reichstag fire” anchor the song firmly in the present, while the recurring chant of “The Con” functions less as a slogan than a warning. There is a dry, unsettling irony threaded throughout, a recognition that when everyone sounds convinced, certainty itself becomes the least reliable narrator.

Musically, ‘Confused” is Laptop at their most hypnotic and rhythm-driven. Built on a circular, Afro-influenced groove recalling Fela Kuti’s forward momentum filtered ‘through the nervous minimalism of Talking Heads’ Remain in Light era, the song accumulates tension instead of releasing it. Recorded initially in Valencia and expanded in Nevis, a place the band came to call the inspiration island, the contrast between physical calm and distant chaos sharpens the song’s disquiet. Escape, the song suggests, may be part of the problem. The accompanying video pushes these themes into visual satire. Framed as a CNN-style broadcast, Charlie Hartman appears as an unnervingly composed news anchor delivering chaos with media normalcy, while fragmented correspondents report from vaguely defined locations. Jesse Hartman looms as an ambiguous figure, part tyrant, part media creation, part projection, never fully explained. The result is less parody than mirror, a world where information, performance, and power blur until belief itself feels optional.

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Formed in the late ’90s, Laptop released three albums with Island Records with praise from the NME, The Guardian and others for their stylized blend of synth-pop & irony. Now a multi-generational project with Jesse Hartman joined by his son Charlie Hartman, they are not observing the present from a distance. ‘Confused’ is the sound of living inside it — aware of history, aware of danger, and quietly aware that even the people telling us what’s happening may not know what to believe themselves. Yet for all its tension, ‘Confused’ is not humorless. Like much of Laptop’s work, the song is threaded with a dry, unsettling irony — the kind that emerges when reality itself starts to feel absurd.

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The Devil’s Door sees And also the trees (AATT) present a quiet storm of an album. At times filmic, poetic and intense, with an undercurrent of dark psychedelia, it follows The Bone Carver (2023) and Mother-of-pearl-Moon (2024) in completing a trilogy of releases by the current line-up of one of the original UK post-punk acts.

The new record features signature AATT tropes that include poetic lyrics, orchestral guitar and soundtrack influenced songs inspired by newsreel, oil paintings and folklore. However, it also adds some surprising instrumentation – including guest violinist Catherine Graindorge – that skews the album towards a soundworld where John Barry meets Béla Bartók.

Ahead of the album, they’ve unveiled a video for the song ‘The Silver Key’. Watch it here:

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AATT formed in 1979 in rural Worcestershire, an environment that has provided a constant inspiration to a group whose music has often explored the dark underbelly as well as the beauty of the British countryside. AATT are renowned for their captivating live performances, a unique style of mandolin-like electric guitar, evocative lyrics and dark jazz rhythms – not to mention a creative independence fiercely preserved for over four decades.

The group have a long standing relationship with the Cure and have both played and worked together since the early ’80s. As part of AATT’s 2026 touring schedule, they will be special guests of the Cure for three shows at the Festival de Nîmes in southern France in late July. These will be preceded by early spring dates in Belgium, France and Greece:

7th March  NAMUR (BE) La Nef De L’Eglise Notre Dame D’Harscamp
18th March  TOURCOING (FR) Le Grand Mix
19th March  ANGERS (FR) Joker’s Pub
20th March  LORIENT (FR) Hydrophone
21st March  CHERBOURG (FR) Espace Culturel Buisson
22nd March  PARIS (FR) La Gaité Lyrique
4th April  ATHENS (GR) Death Disco Indoor Festival 2026
24th July  NÎMES (FR) Festival de Nîmes
25th July  NÎMES (FR) Festival de Nîmes
26th July  NÎMES (FR) Festival de Nîmes

Founded by singer Simon Jones and his guitarist brother Justin, AATT have maintained a continuous presence on the post-punk and alternative rock scenes worldwide. The group have released sixteen studio albums to date.

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Shape Navigator is the electronic alter ego of composer, musician and sound artist Peter Coyte, who initially announced himself with a series of ambient meets prog house singles on Guerilla Records in the mid-‘90s, subsequently collaborating with Coldcut, Seal, David McAlmont, Heartless Crew and poet/author Salena Godden.

The years since have seen Coyte establish a first-rate reputation as an electronic and experimental music artist, including significant contributions to sound art and installation projects, plus ongoing collaborations with filmmakers, theatre directors, choreographers and more. His work blends sonic experimentation with emotional depth, creating immersive experiences that engage and intrigue audiences.

Now, three decades since his last single, Coyte has today released a brand new one. ‘Sternenabfall’ (German for ‘Star Litter’) is available on Bandcamp, and is a radio edit of a track included on his long-awaited debut album, Journal, which is scheduled for release on 27th February. A full digital release will follow imminently.
‘Sternenabfall’ is described by Coyte as “a kosmische drone journey built from modular synths and an ARP AXXE. It was written for International Drone Day 2025 and was inspired by Harry Sword’s book Monolithic Undertow.”

The track title frames the music as a reflection on beauty and aftermath: a cosmic soundscape that mirrors humanity’s habit of leaving debris in even the most vast and sacred spaces, blending deep-time drone history with an ecological warning.

A video for ‘Sternenabfall’ has been created by sound artist @diz_qo, who cryptically comments: “If the Tea Rooms of Mars could sell you your wildest dreams. If a two dimensional Generation Game was placed on the Voyager disc. If the Shape of Navigation was a cuddly toy. If the stars fell one by one.”

The single also includes the original 20 minute live performance at International Drone Day 2025 where Shape Navigator devised the eventual track.

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SHAPE NAVIGATOR | Peter Coyte photo by Martin Elliott

Alternative prog quartet HOLOSOIL are welcoming the new year with their newest single ‘Spirals’. The band presents a stunning music video, showcasing a hypnotic dance performance choreographed by Sofia Stadler. Featuring the circle of creation as the main theme of their newest work, the Berlin/Helsinki based quartet show themselves in bold, yet almost hidden waves, playing with tempo and elements of alternative and indie.

The single follows on prior released tracks ‘Cracks’, and ‘Look Up’. Additionally, the band has also announced their upcoming debut EP, to be released digitally April 2026 (InsideOutMusic).

Watch the video for ‘Spirals’ here:

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The band shares about the track:

“HOLOSOIL’s 3rd single is a mystical anthem of heterogeneous essence, swirling through genres and textures, in the image of the world itself.

The lyrics are about an existential spiraling of humanity back to where we come from. Falling from illusions of linearity – into the cosmic spiral of ancient and future merging in a never-ending circle of creation. How our striving for progress ironically is taking us back to the ancient wisdom of nature.”

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Finnish band, THE FAIR ATTEMPTS has just unveiled their latest single – the gothic rock-inspired, ‘Ghost Within’.

‘Ghost Within’ examines the internal monsters: negative self-talk, doubts, pride before collapse, and the subtle ways the human mind feeds on its own fear. The song portrays self-awareness as a mirror maze, where reflection offers no clear exit.

“This is a theme I’ve touched on in other songs because it’s something I struggle with. Ghosts may be coming to get you,” says frontman Timo Haakana, “but there’s one already inside you.”

Written during a year of deep introspection and creative pursuit, ‘Ghost Within’ depicts the emotional core off the forthcoming full-length album, Null Guide. It’s not about defeating your inner ghosts, but learning to live with them.

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The dark electronic acts Dawn Of Ashes and Suicide Commando have today released a collaborative single entitled ‘Penumbra’. It is the first track to be issued from a new album by the former, Anatomy Of Suffering, which is scheduled for release on 20th March via Metropolis Records.

The single arrives on the eve of an ‘Acts Of Destruction’ tour of the US west coast by Dawn Of Ashes that commences in Los Angeles, the city where the group was founded by Kristof Bathory at the turn of the millennium.

“‘Penumbra’ channels the raw intensity and atmosphere of early ‘00s dark electro-industrial music, evoking a powerful sense of nostalgia while remaining uncompromising in its aggression,” explains Bathory of his alliance with Suicide Commado (the Belgian artist Johan Van Roy). “This single sets the tone for what lies ahead and serves as a fitting prelude for the destruction yet to come.”

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