LUCKYANDLOVE‘s new album, Humaura, has an interesting dichotomy running through it. The band love analog synths, Moog synthesizers, drum machines, and other electronic instruments and deftly use them to create lovely synthwave and dark wave music…
…and yet Humaura opens with “I Am Human” – a song that encourages us to “cut the wire” and back out of all this technology that consumes and does more to separate us than keep us together. Shut off your phone, stop binge-watching shows, get outside and breathe for a bit.
Then come back for the dance party that is “Feelz So Good,” because you do feel good after a break from the cyber-world. You always do. You always remember how good it feels to be present. “Run on Run” is a saucy tale of finding and walking away from love with April Love repeating “Just let me go.” to her former lover, as they’re not “the only one who can have some fun.” Speaking of love, “Name of Love” has some of Love’s best vocals on the record as the song goes from dark wave to electro-disco.
“Lonely at Night” is pure goth-wave as Love relates to all of us feeling isolated in the darkest hours of the evening. “You’re the only one who gets me,” Love sings on “Down to Black” – in which she happily (as happy as you can get in a goth dance tune, that is) sings about finally finding someone who understands her.
Loren Luck ups the percussion on “Secret Is Out,” which is about a vampire who needs to reveal their nature to a lover but is debating the decision. Will it bring relief or misery? “Hawks Do Cry” is another showcase of Love’s excellent vocals. “Melt in Sunshine” might refer to the vampire in “Secret Is Out.” It’s a slick track, with some of Luck’s best beats. It almost becomes dream pop at some points.
Again, it’s an interesting dichotomy – An electro record made with modern and analog technology that encourages you to put away technology, investigate yourself, and find love and human connection. In other words, LUCKYANDLOVE have delivered one of the most important messages of the year.
It’s easy to forget that the gap between Portishead‘s second album and their literal Third album was eleven years long. They’d put out two perfect trip-hop records and then faded out after drummer and songwriter Geoff Barrow became uninspired with music, underwent a divorce, and moved to Australia.
He started tinkering with music again in 2003, eventually landing on one of the tracks that would be on Third. That led him to link back up with keyboardist and guitarist Adrian Utley in 2005 and things blossomed from there.
They, along with singer Beth Gibbons, started collaborating on more tracks and Third emerged seemingly out of nowhere, surprising fans and critics alike. The surprise came from not only Portishead releasing an unexpected album, but also from the unexpected sound of it. Gone were the trip-hop elements, replaced with krautrock, synthwave, and dark wave.
“Silence” opens the record with industrial percussive beats while Charlotte Nicholls‘ cello haunts the entire track and its abrupt ending pulls the rug from under you. “Hunter” sounds like something you’d hear in a Twin Peaks episode if the show were scored by Can instead of Angelo Badalamenti. “Nylon Smile” has Gibbons singing about how she’s trying so hard to accept love and give more in a relationship that’s already boring her. “The Rip” almost becomes a sea shanty with Utley’s simple guitar picking, but then it transforms into a synthwave hypnosis session.
“Plastic” is jagged and weird (in a good way), reminding me of giallo film music at times. “We Carry On” goes almost full krautrock with its throbbing beats and unsettling synths as Gibbons sings about tastes she can’t describe and putting one foot forward to get to the next moment. The shoegaze guitar power chords from Utley are sharp on this track. “Deep Water” is an acoustic track that’s almost a lullaby.
“Machine Gun” is an immediate contrast with industrial thumps and hisses while Gibbons sends out siren song to hypnotize the sailors working deep in the hold of a passing ship. “Small” gets close to trip-hop, but keeps a darker edge to it that gets under your skin and into the back of your skull.
“Magic Doors” is the no wave song Barrow started writing in 2003 that eventually led to Third‘s creation. Vintage synthesizers are all over the album, with the final track, “Threads,” being no exception. The band used a detuned sound of a VCS 3 to create a spooky effect that resembles a clarinet played by a wraith. Jim Barr‘s guest bass is like a slowly boiling contents of a cauldron found simmering in a dark woods.
People are still unraveling Third, myself included, all these years later. It’s worth the effort.
Take some flute, add synthesizers, mix them with early morning sun bouncing off the Partheon in Athens, Greece, and have it served up by a former noise rocker. What do you get? Ston Elaióna, a beautiful ambient album from John Also Bennett.
I’m not sure how to describe this album, or even if I should. It’s something best experienced. The opening title track is like falling into a dream. “Gecko Pads” is inspired by a lizard Bennett saw on the wall of his apartment studio. “Hailstorm” mixes soft synths and flute with the quiet ticks of the titular storm Bennett recorded in Athens.
“A Handful of Olives” almost ventures into drone music with its long synth notes, but Bennett’s flute turns the song into a lovely stroll through a grove. “Sacred House” refers to the home of the Oracle of Dodoni (as does the mist-like track “Oracle” later on the record) and sounds like a record played by a ghost. Heck, “Seikilos Epitaph” is a composition found carved on an ancient pillar (the oldest known complete musical composition to exist).
“First Lament” is a song Bennett has been performing for years in different forms. Here it’s like something you’d hear drifting over a mountain path as you approach a temple you’ve been climbing toward for days. “Easter Daydream” is, I think, the only song on the album with percussion…and that is a field recording of a church bell across the street from Bennett’s apartment during Holy Week. Finally, if you buy a physical copy of the record, you also get “Lonely Melody.” Remember that ghost playing a record earlier? Well, now he’s doing spectral tidying of the haunted house to keep his mind off the fact that no one comes around to listen to his spooky records.
Again, it’s better to experience all of this than to read about it. Grab a copy of it, sit with it, and let it drift around and through you.
I’m going to call the September 25, 2025 Thursday night late shows of Levitation Austin 2025 as “Day Zero” since the official festival doesn’t start until September 26th. “Day -1” would’ve been September 24th when you could’ve seen Mdou Moctar, Beach Fossils, Strange Lot, Water Damage and other good bands.
The main festival has a new home — the Palmer Event Center pretty much in the middle of the city, and only has the “pub crawl” events (shows at various venues downtown) at night. As usual, there’s always at least one good band playing the Thursday night before Levitation to entice you into coming to town early. This year, “Day Zero” had several: Warmduscher and Starjunk 95 among them, and I opted for two other shows out of six you could attend.
I first went to Stubb’s BBQ for what would be the only show I would attend there the whole weekend (which felt odd): Kumo 99, Martin Rev, and Boy Harsher.
Kumo 99 kicking off Levitation with a good start.
I’d only heard one song from Kumo 99 before coming to Austin, so I didn’t know what to expect apart from some electro music. What I got was electro plus synthwave plus Japanese vocal punk rock. I was impressed, and so were a lot of others judging by the size of the line at their merch booth after their set.
Martin Rev will hit you with a key-tar and then put you in the Sharpshooter.
Up next was the legendary Martin Rev — one half of synth / punk pioneers Suicide. He came out in ripped-up leather pants, a sleeveless shirt, and goggles suitable for alpine skiing or for Brett “Hitman” Hart cutting a professional wrestling promo. What followed was a weird, loud no wave noise set that left most of the audience (who didn’t realize who he was) baffled. Rev was hammerfisting his keyboard through most of the set, bludgeoning us with distorted din. He sampled Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, and The Trammps at various points while singing / talking with so much reverb in his microphone that one guy in front of me just yelled, “What are you saying?” during a brief break in the noise. Rev even did a bizarre cover of Sam the Sham & the Pharohs‘ “Wooly Bully” at one point. A woman next to me said, “I hope I can be that cool at (age) seventy-seven. I’m ready for bed by eight and he’s out here doing his thing.” That “thing” being not giving a damn what people think and giving them more of an experience than a performance.
Boy Harsher winning over the crowd at the first note.
The crowd (with a big goth and queer contingent. Hell yeah!) for Boy Harsher was huge by the time they took the stage. They played much the same set as when I saw them at Levitation France months earlier — packing in pulsing synthwave with great electro dance beats. I found out from the woman next to me that they’d played a DJ set from the back of a truck the previous day and had done a record signing at End of an Ear in Austin. That’s way cool.
Johnny Jewel “covering” Chromatics.
Speaking of way cool things, I walked a half-block after Boy Harsher’s set to Elysium where I caught Johnny Jewel‘s great set of his film score and other music – which included a set from Drive, a salute to David Lynch, and even a different version of Chromatics‘ “Lady.” He played various clips from Lynch films, Twin Peaks, giallo films, and other oddities throughout it.
Desire instilling that in all of us.
Up next, and closing out Day Zero, was one of Jewel’s many side projects — Desire. They played a long set of lovely synthwave and electro-dance tracks, mostly about wanting, finding, and / or losing love. The crowd loved them, and the trio work well together. They even played two New Order covers (“Bizarre Love Triangle” and “Blue Monday” – with Jewel on lead vocals for the second) and Taylor Dane‘s “Tell It to My Heart” — which was a natural fit for lead singer Megan Louise.
It was a late night, but worth it. There’s a lot of good synthwave at Levitation this year, and Day One will end with more…but first there will be a lot of metal.
Keep your mind open.
All right, all right! I’ll get on it…And you spelled my name wrong again, David!
Jasamine White-Gluz got out of the city to make Bugland, the newest No Joy album, experimenting and collaborating with Fire-Toolz (AKA Angel Marcloid) for an record that is difficult to categorize, but why should we even bother to try? Why not just sit back and enjoy it?
Starting with electronic bloops, bleeps, and beats, “Garbage Dream House” gets things off to a weird, wonderful start – mixing buzzing guitar chords with synths and processed drums while White-Gluz’s voice bounces off the back wall at some points and nuzzles your ear the next. The title track crunches and munches like an early Garbage track and White-Gluz’s reverb-soaked vocals practically lift you off the floor.
“Bits” has more 90s electro-rock vibes to it, practically begging you to blast it on your headphones as you hit the mid-mark of your treadmill workout. “Save the Lobsters” is based on a true story of White-Gluz smashing open lobster traps washed up on beaches so she could get the creatures back into the ocean. Her vocals are often drenched in distortion or echo effects, seemingly putting you under the water with the freed animals.
“My Crud Princess” not only has a great title, but also a sparkling energy bursting through the slightly sludgy (cruddy?) drum beats. “Bather in the Bloodcells” reminds me of My Bloody Valentine if they turned down the volume a bit and covered Elastica.
“I Hate That I Forget What You Look Like” is a stunner about grief that, for some us, is all too relatable. The snappy drums and synths grow like a mind almost spiraling into panic, but catching itself just before toppling into madness. The psychedelic closer, “Jelly Meadow Bright” is almost eight minutes of trippy bliss, nearly fading out halfway through it and then returning with a wild saxophone-led acid-jazz / industrial freak-out.
Again, I’m not sure how to describe Bugland…apart from it being one of the best releases of 2025 so far.
Annie-Claude Deschênes presents the first in a series of remixes of “Main de Fer“, her latest single released in April. Produced by Shit Robot (DFA Records), it is available now on all platforms. The track is out now via Italians Do It Better (US) and Bonsound (ROW).
“I chose Shit Robot because his unique sound and creative vision felt like the perfect match to reimagine Main de Fer in a bold, new way”, explains Annie-Claude. The Irish producer and DJ, known for his affiliation with the DFA Records label, brings an analog touch to the track by using a variety of synthesizers and sequencers straight out of the 90s. “This was one of those great projects where you fire up the machines and everything falls into place really quickly. I was very excited to get started on this as the original vocals are great and the energy of the track is infectious”, adds Shit Robot, who also mixed the final result alongside LCD Soundsystem member and Grammy Award winner Korey Richey.
Annie-Claude Deschênes will perform at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg on September 18th and at Rialto Hall at POP Montreal on September 25th before embarking on a European tour in October. This series of dates will take her to Brussels, Strasbourg, Lyon, Luxembourg, and Paris, among other cities, after which she will return to Canada for dates in Toronto and the province of Quebec. She will also be part of M for Montreal’s official selection in November. See the list below for all tour dates.
Multidisciplinarity is an integral part of the creative process of Annie-Claude Deschênes, who continues her perpetual personal quest of uniting music and performance art by bending the pre-established conventions of stage presence. A key figure on the Montreal independent music scene for almost twenty years, she made her mark as a singer, musician, songwriter, performer and visual artist with Duchess Says and PyPy, two bands that are renowned as much for their electrifying performances as for their artistic sensibility. Over the course of her career, she shared the stage with a number of internationally renowned bands, including The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Black Lips, The Hives, The Hot Snakes and Buzzcocks. Duchess Says and PyPy’s extensive touring has taken her all over North America and Europe, playing venues and festivals (Primavera Fest, Eurockéennes de Belfort, OSHEAGA, Sled Island, etc.) as well as unconventional locations such as golf courses, factories and churches. Her exploratory approach to staging and sound design takes a new direction with this solo project: the urgency that characterizes her work remains, but frustration and aggression give way to introspection and vulnerability. Annie-Claude Deschênes explores and reinvents herself under her own name, driven by a constant need to create outside of her comfort zone.
Inspired by minimal pop and the pioneers of electronic music, LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE, her first solo album released in spring of 2024, is as danceable and melodic as it is disquieting and dystopian, proposing to set the table differently by deconstructing the social codes of politeness imposed on us. LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE earned a spot on the Polaris Prize long list and garnered attention from international media outlets such as KEXP, BrooklynVegan, CLASH, The Guardian, Les Inrockuptibles and Radio Nova, as well as landing on several year-end lists.
Tour dates: 09/16/2025 – Berlin, DE – Berlin Experience (Reeperbahn Festival) 09/18/2025 – Hamburg, DE – UWE (Reeperbahn Festival) 09/19/2025 – Hamburg, DE – MOPO Stage (Reeperbahn Festival) 09/25/2025 – Montreal, QC – Rialto Hall (POP Montreal) * 10/03/2025 – Brussels, BE – Botanique (Festival FrancoFaune) 10/04/2025 – Mulhouse, BE – Motoco (Festival Microsiphon) 10/07/2025 – Reims, FR – La Cartonnerie 10/09/2025 – Longwy, FR – The Long Way 10/10/2025 – Strasbourg, FR – La Grenze *** 10/11/2025 – Lyon, FR – Le Sonic 10/14/2025 – Luxembourg, LU – Les Rotondes 10/16/2025 – Tours, FR – Le Super 9 10/17/2025 – Metz, FR – Les Trinitaires 10/18/2025 – Troyes, FR – Midi O Halles (Festival Off Off Off) 10/22/2025 – Dunkirk, FR – Le LAAC *** 10/23/2025 – Paris, FR – Le Hasard Ludique *** 10/31/2025 – Toronto, ON – Wavelength @ St. Anne’s 11/07/2025 – Alma, QC – Café du Clocher + 11/08/2025 – Jonquière, QC – Côté-Cour + 11/15/2025 – Rimouski, QC – Salle Desjardins-TELUS +
* Opening for Bolis Pupul *** Opening for Camilla Sparksss + Opening for Choses Sauvages
LA-based electronic duo LUCKYANDLOVE returns with their banging anti-tech angst anthem‘I Am Human’, delicately fused together with pulsating molten kicks, abrasive fuzz-laden analog synths and confident sensual vocals. Calling out to make our own choices and take back our lives, this song underlines the need to reconnect with being Human before its too late.
Evoking a brand new art school originality, LUCKYANDLOVE is the raw sonic experiment of Loren Luck and April Love, whose live analog synth beats, Moog instrumentation and beautiful, harmonic vocals trigger an immediate download of fuzzy sunset synthgaze, blue-black neon darkwave, and tigerprint electro punk.
‘I Am Human’ previews the duo’s third album ‘Humaura’(hu • mau • ra), which the duo define as the atmosphere that emanates from the feelings of the human spirit void of technological control. This album was recorded, mixed and mastered for digital release by Grammy award-winning engineer Be Hussey (Modern English, Swervedriver, The Church, Alcest, Twin Tribes, Boy Harsher, Luna, Kim Deal)at Balboa Studioand Catwaterfor the digital music, and mastered for vinyl and lathe cut by Grammy-nominated engineer Nicholas Townsend (Cheap Trick, Weezer, Garbage, Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Grimes, Iron Maiden) at Townsend Mastering.
“To me, ‘I Am Human’ is a sci-fi track. It’s call to arms for screen zombies to disconnect. I read Martin Heidegger’s ‘The Question Concerning Technology’ in grad school and I like when he says that we shall have questions concerning technology and, in so doing, we should like to prepare a free relationship with it,” says April.
Loren adds, “I think there are a lot of people that actually hate technology, but would never have the guts to say it. Personally with this song, we are breaking the chains, going back to a simpler time of human creativity and free thinking,”.
Transcending genres in a league of their own, LUCKYANDLOVE’s visceral, urgently-present dark electro-pop appeal continues to stretch through time and space. Their ‘Lucky + Love’and ‘Transitions’albums earned them a global fan following and led to US and UK tours, while their tracks ‘It’s a Mistake’, ‘Animal” and ‘Summertime Frolic’ featured in the indie hit‘Tiger Within’, featuring Ed Asner’s final film performance.
This salty-sweet duo blend raw analog synth sounds with driving punctuated percussion and punchy analog bass, complemented by enchanting lyrics that emit a range of emotions from melancholy and sorrowful glom to a state of blissful trance.
LUCKYANDLOVE’s influences absorb the resonant specters of last century’s darkwave gods —Siouxsie and The Banshees, Cocteau Twins, and Bauhaus, looming large from where industrial galaxies formed as the needle hit the vinyl groove urging all Doc Martens to march to basement dance floors.
As of August 5, ‘I Am Human’ is available from fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. The full ‘Humaura’ album, slated for release on October 3 via SRD – Southern Record Distributors, can be pre-ordered from either Bandcampor the LUCKYANDLOVE Store. On October 11, LUCKYANDLOVE will hold their record release party at The Slipper Clutch in Downtown Los Angeles via Deathrecordzz Presents with appearances by Warsaw Pact, Amore De Paris, No Exits, and a DJ set by Echolust.
Keep your mind open.
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There’s an obscured beauty and a slithering cool that oozes throughout First Taste of Heaven– It’s raw and driving, powerful and playful, all with direct songwriting that is as revelatory as it is mysterious and compelling. Nuclear Daisies is made up of Austin players Rob Glynn (ex Temple of Angels), Alex Gehring (Ringo Deathstarr) and Robby Williams. Together the three created a record that is literally and figuratively– an eye-opening, DMT-soaked view at a world in chaos– not to mention a new vision for 90’s alternative and big beat for the next generation.
First Taste of Heaven is about life in all its glory and shroud– a post-apocalyptic journey through celebration, love, heartache, pain, acceptance and finally transcendence– physical, spiritual and even supernatural. And though the creation of the record was based on personal trials and tribulations, it also offered escapism from that same harsh reality in the form of catharsis and healing.
“Infinite Joy”, available today announces itself with the snap and the thump of a breakbeat and a snarling bassline, starkly contrasting from Gehring’s breathy, seductive vocals which drive the track. The juxtaposition adds drama to pensive lyrics that mine the dredges of mental health and the road to recovery. “The lyrics perfectly express the depths of depression and the hopelessness that someone can feel to claw their way out of it,” admits Gehring.
Nuclear Daisies tracked First Taste of Heaven at Hungry Dog Sound & Studio in Austin, Texas with Williams at the helm over the course of a year. Their inspiration was less obvious – “I’d say it wasn’t specific productions but more specific vibes that we wanted to emulate,” specifies Williams. “We had clear visions of how we wanted certain songs to not only sound, but feel too– very sci-fi and dystopian. One song we wanted to feel like attending the vampire rave from ‘Blade’– tense, pulsing, but also a little bit dangerous. We wanted a different track to feel like the underground rave at the end of the world from ‘The Matrix’ – just sort of this lawless party of no rules at the end of days. There were also times when Alex would be in the booth and we’d say ‘sing it like you’re crying’ or ‘try it like a dead choir member.’ There are a lot of wild influences in there that come from disparate places and not just conventional ideas.”
First Taste of Heaven is droney, cacophonous, and antagonistic yet serene and with melodic pop sensibilities that hook into you and don’t let go. It’s the follow up to their 2022S/T debut which featured hit single “Heaven In Your Head”. Nuclear Daisies will soon see its reissue via Portrayal of Guilt Records in addition to the release of First Taste of Heaven on August 1.
Ryan Lee West, known to many as the man behind Rival Consoles, has put together his ninth album, Landscape from Memory, “from a scrapbook of discarded audio snippets” (according to a press release sent me) and synths and sounds made in hotel rooms and other spaces after taking a year off from music and, for a little while, losing his creative spark.
Thankfully, Rival Consoles found the energy and drive again and has released a fine record of ambient music, dance grooves, and atmospheric sonics. “In Reverse” starts the album with Radiohead-like synth bumps and bubbles and acoustic guitar that drifts in and out of those synths like happy birds coasting between trees. The beautiful “Catherine” is a song for West’s love, who helped him rediscover his love for composition and creating soundscapes.
“Drum Song” is well-named for its thumping, bumping beats. “Soft Gradient Beckons” is the sound of a happy, robotic bird waking up with the sun. It perfectly floats into “Gaivotas,” and that nicely drifts into the almost-industrial dance track “Coda.” “Known Shape” is an almost weightless dance track that feels like something you’d hear in a spaceport lounge. The fade out of “Nocturne” will make you feel like you’re calmly walking into or out of a fog.
“Jupiter” pulls you in like its namesake’s gravity and gets your toes tapping as you slide into orbit and feel your molecules vibrating. “In a Trance” (made in a New York hotel room) might put you there, and the ethereal “If Not Now” will help you stay in that meditative state for a while longer. The synths on “2 Forms” sound like they’re half-awake but still helping you dance at 3am.
“Tape Loop” has a twinge of suspense to it, and the title track closes the album with an uplifting energy – the kind that West found while making the track and the rest of the album while dealing with…well, everything everyone is dealing with right now.
Memory is often fuzzy, and creating or describing a landscape from it is often wrought with inaccuracies. This landscape created by Rival Consoles, however, feels lush and familiar…even in the darker parts. It feels like the right place at the right moment – which is right now.
Keep your mind open.
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Just as we were starting to come out of the pandemic, Chicago’s Pixel Grip emerged from the weird state we were all in and gave us Arena – a wild record of dark wave, cold wave, techno, industrial grind, noise rock, and music designed to get us back into the groove of partying and screwing.
I mean, the album opens with throbbing bass and a song called “ALPHAPUSSY.” It’s a hot industrial track that grabs you by the throat (and crotch) and doesn’t let go for over three minutes. It picks up where Lords of Acid‘s “Pussy” left off. “Club Mania” thumps and bumps to keep the dance floor jumping. “Snap your neck, just to watch me walk up in the place,” says singer Rita Lukea – taking command of the club and your eardrums. “Take a break like a Kit-Kat candy bar,” she advises. You should probably take her up on it.
“Ruby” slides into sultry and spooky sounds, setting up perhaps a sexy liaison or a deadly encounter – your choice. The rolling synths (courtesy of Jonathan Freund and Tyler Ommen) of “Pursuit” sound great, and “Play Noble” is a neat switch for the band – briefly dabbling with electro-pop that mixes with dark synths in a cool combination as Lukea suggests, “Let’s stay up ’til the morning. This is your moment.” I hope you’re hydrated, not only for that invitation, but also for the following track, “Demon Chaser” (with guest vocals from MONĀE), which is nothing short of a hot, pulsing make-out track.
Just go ahead and put “Dancing on Your Grave” on both your Halloween and bedroom playlists. You’ll thank me and Pixel Grip later. The growling sound of it is like a panther circling you in the parking lot of a strip club while a murder of crows watches from the roof.
“Alibi” is brighter than most of the album’s tracks, and is a nice change because it shows off Lukea’s voice and how she can easily switch to lovely electro pop vocal stylings with seemingly no effort. They almost go full-synthwave on the closing track, “Double Vision,” which is another good showcase for Lukea’s voice and gives Freund and Ommen a great chance to show their love of Giorgio Moroder.
This whole record is dynamite. Get into this arena as soon as you can. You’ll like it there.
Keep your mind open.
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