Dark wave – Page 3 – 7th Level Music

Kinlaw takes a “Hard Cut” out of you on her new single.

Kinlaw is an artist. She’s an opera singer, she’s a choreograhper. She’s a performance artist, she’s a student of psychoacoustics and neuropsychology. She’s not a dancerwho happens to make music. She’s not a composer who happens to have a movement practice. All of her work is connected, completely symbiotic, ruthlessly in conversation with itself, focused on community. She’s been living and working in New York City for over ten years, popping up as a member of several notable musical projects, while earning commissions from institutions like the MoMa Ps1, Pioneer Works, and the New Museum, and working on performance pieces scored by SOPHIE, Caroline Polachek and Dev Hynes among others.

In 2021 she released her first album under the Kinlaw name, an album called The Tipping Scale, which earned comparisons to Jenny Hval, FKA twigs, and Cate le Bon from Pitchfork, and 4 years later she is returning to announce her sophomore LP gut ccheck, which will be released on 3/21 on Bayonet Records. To announce the record she is sharing its first single “Hard Cut” along with its accompanying video.

Kinlaw says of the track:

“The song is about conditions and extremes. It’s about being fed up. Ultimately, it’s a song that’s about aggressively choosing yourself and offering that permission to the listener.”

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Top 25 albums of 2024: #’s 5 – 1

We’ve reached the top of the peak. Who’s the grand champion? Read on to learn more.

#5: Fake Youth Cult – White Light / Black Noise

This stunning industrial / darkwave album is loud and heavy enough to cause the damage seen on this cover. This album came out of nowhere for me and about knocked me out of my chair.

#4: Maquina – Prata

Speaking of heavy damage, the cover to Maquina’s Prata album appears to feature a piece of steel that’s been shot, pried, scratched, and gouged. It’s a fitting image for a record full of wild noise punk, assaulting post-punk guitars, and grindhouse vocals.

#3: LAIR – Ngélar

This Indonesian funk / psych band was one of my top discoveries of 2024. They blend traditional Indonesian music with psych-rock, South Pacific juke, and other stuff you can’t quite define.

#2: GUM / Kenny Ambrose-Smith – Ill Times

Possibly the best collaboration of the year, this album combines the powers of two excellent Australians to create synth-psych that covers a lot of heavy topics with uplifting beats (i.e., the death of a parent – Kenny-Smith’s father, fear of the future and your place in it). I hope this isn’t just a one-time thing for them.

#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – Synthesizer

I mean, come on. One of my favorite bands creates an album that has a record sleeve that’s also a circuit board that you can turn into a real synthesizer that they also used to make the album. Only APTBS could pull off something like this and make an excellent record to go with it. It’s like a Moebius strip of post-punk psychedelic power that wallops you from the first note.

Onto 2025! Which albums are you anticipating the most?

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2024: #s 20 – 16

Here we are at my top 20 albums of 2024. That was fast! Let’s get to it!

#20: Curses – Next Wave Acid Punx Deux – Secret Cuts

This collection by Curses is a great one of rare goth, darkwave, and synthwave cuts that makes you wonder where these bands have been all your life.

#19: Punchlove – Channels

The wall of sound on this shoegaze record from Punchlove is at times deafening and other times soothing. They’re one of my top picks to be one of the Next Big Things.

#18: Paperkraft – Not C but K

Here’s some groovy house music for you from Japan. This EP was a great debut.

#17: Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol – Big Dumb Riffs

“What if we made an album that was all big, dumb riffs?” Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol asked. Well, they did it, and it’s a lot of big, dumb, riffing fun.

#16: Dion Lunadon – Memory Burn

It’s another scorcher from Dion Lunadon as he packs more energy into this EP than many double albums you’ve heard.

Who’s in the top 15? Come back tomorrow to learn!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Maquina – Prata

Hailing from Lisbon, Portugal, the trio of Maquina combine krautrock, electro, industrial, and shoegaze on their first full-length album, Prata. Trust me, it all works quite well.

Opener “Body Control” unleashes groovy fuzz bass to get your hips moving and then bonks you on the head with hard-edged synths, guitars, and howls. “Denial” has a spooky edge to it (and is a song about turmoil, after all), and there’s still time to put it on your Halloween playlist, so why not?

The beat and pulse of “Subversive” are infectious and will probably cause you to stomp the gas pedal if you listen to it while driving. “Kontakte” (“Contact”) has this weird, almost unsettling bounce to it that might be the throbbing of a UFO engine as it approaches you on a dark night…only to reveal a goth dance club inside it run by sexy aliens.

The opening bass of “Desterro” (“Exile”) brings to mind some of the same energy label mates A Place to Bury Strangers often unleash. Ending with “Concentrate,” Prata comes to a close with chugging drums and growling, simmering danger. It’s like a snake slithering across the room at you…and the snake is an android…and it’s programmed to lead you onto a monorail in the Lisbon of 2099.

There isn’t a bad track on this album, and it makes you want to catch them live. I’m sure it’s a wild experience…just like Prata.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Cold Cave call to us on their new single – “Siren Song.”

Since March, Cold Cave have released a new song on the 15th of each month, culminating in the announcement of their forthcoming album, Passion Depression, on July 15th (album incoming October 15th). Today, Cold Cave have released another album track “Siren Song,” a synth driven dance track of mystery and desire.

Listen / share “Siren Song” on YouTube.

Formed in 2007 by Wesley Eisold, Cold Cave jump started and popularized the resurgence in modern synth and darkwave genres after releasing seminal and influential albums, Love Comes Close and Cherish The Light Years (Matador Records) and were subsequently invited to tour with Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, The Cult and The Jesus and Mary Chain along with collaborations and performances with legends Genesis P-Orridge and Mark Lanegan. Eisold and his partner Amy Lee’s mix of celebrated poetry and urgent romantic new wave grants Cold Cave the rare 100% DIY approach to all aspects of their universe, producing and releasing their own music, involved directly with their fans and curating by their own rules. Spiritual depth and consistency in a media manipulated world. Love enchained and the polarity of truth. Passion Depression is protest music against the war within and without.

Passion Depression will be available on Rainbow Ice vinyl with a Hologram Sleeve or Glitter vinyl October 15th, 2024 (pre-order here).

Passion Depression, track list:

She Reigns Down
Shadow Dance
Blackberries
Hourglass
Siren Song
Everlasting
Holy Road
Octavia

See Cold Cave on tour this summer and fall:

September 5 Santiago, Chile @ Blondie
September 6 Sao Paolo, Brasil @ Carioca
September 7 Lima, Peru @ C Festiva
September 8 San Jose, Costa Rica @ Amon Solar
September 20 Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
September 22 San Diego, CA @ The Observatory
September 27 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
September 28 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
October 4 Brooklyn, NY @ The Monarch
October 5 Amityville, NY @ Amityville Music Hall
October 6 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
October 11 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
October 27 London, UK @ 02 Forum
November 2 Los Angeles, CA @ Substance Festival

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Stephanie at Another Side!]

Review: Nathaniel Eras – Omniaglyph 0

The cover image might invoke suggestions that Nathaniel Eras‘ Omniaglyph 0 is going to be a dark metal album, but it’s actually an interesting ambient trance album full of neat synths, modulators, processed beats, and live instruments.

“Ancestral Memory” is a neat instrumental of layered percussion that builds and builds into a hypnotic meditation. “Encrypted Consciousness” brings in sizzling, snappy industrial beats to flow with the New Wave synths to a neat effect.

Then we get to “Architecture of Thought and The Subversion of Language Systems.” It’s haunting and creepy (Those bells and somber piano chords!) and will make a great addition to your upcoming Halloween playlist.

The EP ends with “Routing Systems,” an ultra-slick synthwave bumper that throbs with gristly bass and pulses with machine beats. It leaves you pumped up and ready for action.

I like the way the EP blends ambience with industrial. Not many people could pull that off this well.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Eclectica!]

Review: Curses – New Wave Acid Punx DEUX – Secret Cuts

Just when you think you’ve heard your favorite classic new wave / no wave / goth-punk / industrial dance track of all time, a compilation like New Wave Acid Punx DEUX – Secret Cuts comes along and drops a bunch of stuff you’ve never heard and makes you nearly lose your mind with “How did I miss this?” types of questions.

This latest gem from Berlin-based DJ Curses brings out a wild mix of stuff that he probably found in a warehouse’s trash bin moments before the place was demolished to build a clothing store no one wanted. Chrome Corps‘ “Body Attestation” starts off the thing with industrial chops, and Curses himself includes a previously unreleased track of his own, “Get Lost,” right after it to keep up the dark vibe. Aura Nox and Christian Koupa‘s “Compound Lies” is a dark wave banger.

Notausgang‘s “Malphas” becomes a meditative synth-jam (even with birdsong at the end). Ghost Cop‘s “You Can Never Go Home” demands to be played at your next dance party. Nuovo Testamento‘s “In My Dreams” (the “Powerhouse Mix,” no less) is like opening a time capsule from the mid-1980s found under the remains of a British disco. Unconscious‘ “LivEvil” version of “Carnivora” is the sound of a robot hit squad coming after you in a 1985 shopping mall.

Gunce Aci‘s “Being in the Shadows” is a gothic dance track that’s phat with bass and makes you wonder if the title refers to being / standing in the shadows or a being that’s in the shadows. Curses gets back into the game with “The Deep End (Redux),” which adds a nice guitar element to the goth sound, not unlike old Wall of Voodoo tracks.

Paresse‘s “Journey of the Heart” (the Guy Tallo remix) brings a bit of ambient into the synths and is a track suitable for late night drives, workouts, or the trailer to your newest film about a fitness instructor trying to avoid a serial killer while dating a cop with a mysterious past. The “Modern remix” of You Man‘s “Third Eye” is the sexiest track on the record, with female vocals samples of “Oh my God…” blending with throbbing bass and smoky synths.

Much praise to Curses for finding these rare cuts and presenting them to us in a great mix. Don’t skip this one if you’re a fan of darkwave, synthwave, new wave, industrial, or acid house.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Eclectica!]

Review: Fake Youth Cult – White Light / Black Noise

Fake Youth Cult is actually Dutch artist Richard van Kruysdijk, who created his new EP, White Light / Black Noise, with minimal arrangements. “The concept behind the songs is: create one song a day with a minimal, mainly analogue setup. Just a few synths, some drum samples, a sequencer and GO!” – he says in the press release sent to me. The result is an impressive work that mixes dark techno with some punk, and one track is even meant for a ballet performance.

The trolling synth-bass of “Visitor” grabs your attention right away, and you feel like you’re about to enter a combat arena filled with menacing robots. “Scorched” is probably how the dance floor is left after it’s played, as it’s full of powerful synths and hot, crashing beats.

Then along comes “Messing,” which will become your new favorite industrial dance track. It hits all the right beats and notes, transporting you to dark clubs in places with leaky ceilings and sweaty people who may or may not be undead fiends. “Smear” roars right by you like an out-of-control truck hauling scrap metal.

“Management” starts off side B (if you’re hearing this on vinyl) with pulsing sounds that mimic a lover’s heartbeat in the throes of rapturous sex. The looped, echoing vocals of a woman saying, “I feel…I see…I touch…I need…More…” are alluring and haunting. “Pulsar,” the closing track, is the one made for a ballet performance. van Kruysdijk often collaborates with dance troupes, and this track, with its relentless kick drum and buzzing, ticking motor-like beats, must create quickened heart rates in the dancers and audience.

The whole EP is like that, really. It’s heart-racing. Brace yourself before you play it.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dan at Discipline PR!]

Cold Cave return with creepy cool new single – “She Reigns Down.”

Cold Cave returns with a new single of dark poetry and high energy any-wave for the spiritually lustful, titled “She Reigns Down.” This single drop marks their first new recorded material since 2021 and is an exemplary addition to their impressive oeuvre.

Since their inception in 2007, Cold Cave have released a number of singles, LP’s, EP’s, and compilations, and have become synonymous with the modern-day resurgence of darkwave and synth-pop. Last year, the band reissued their landmark releases Cremations, Love Comes Close, Cherish The Light Years, Full Cold Moon, and Fate In Seven Lessons on 180gram vinyl on Heartworm Press. Their continuous output solidifies Cold Cave’s past while catapulting them into the future.

Listen / share “She Reigns Down” on YouTube.

Cold Cave spent the majority of 2023 on the road with the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cult, as headliners and more. The group, which features underground luminary Wes Eisold and multi-instrumentalist Amy Lee, continues to carry the torch for modern post-punk.

Look for more news from Cold Cave soon.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Stephanie at Another Side.]

Review: Anja Huwe – Codes

Back in the early 1980s, Anja Huwe was the lead singer (although not originally by choice) of German post-punk pioneers Xmal Deutschland. The band tore across the world, inspiring many and becoming somewhat secret legends before they split up for other ventures. Huwe became a fashion model and visual artist, but music was still in her blood. Now, almost out of nowhere, she’s returned with a new album, Codes, and is exploring what it’s like to live in extremes – be it extreme environments, relationships, or beliefs.

Beginning with gothic, lonely guitar chords by fellow Xmal Deutschland bandmate Manuela Rickers, “Skuggornas” has Huwe confessing, “I don’t regret anything I’ve done. I have lived, and I have sinned.” Most of us can’t admit half of that, and here Huwe is doing it with elegance. “Rabenschwarz” (“Black Raven”) hits with powerful industrial crunch and themes of rebirth.

“I changed myself into myself,” Huwe sings on “Pariah.” The drum beats on it start at a slow boil and are soon cooking a luxurious brew. “Exit” moves around you like a cat that might be an android in disguise. Rickers’ guitar sounds like its being played in an abandoned factory a half-mile away (to produce a cool effect, mind you). “O Wald” (“Oh Forest”) could easily fit into a science fiction movie or the soundtrack to season five of Stranger Things with its computer-generated 16-bit-like synth beats.

“Zwischenwelt” (“Intermediate World”) would also fit on that soundtrack with both its theme of being between worlds and also its misty synths and Huwe’s beautiful vocals on it. “Sleep with One Eye Open” reminds me a bit of early Peter Gabriel tracks with its neat bass line, slightly weird percussion, and Huwe’s delivery. “How shall we face the cold?” Huwe asks on the somewhat stark, yet aggressive “Living in the Forest” – inspired by diary entries of a boy, Moshe Shnitzki, who left his home in 1942 to live in the White Russian Forest. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” she sings on the following, closing track, “Hideaway,” leaving us with hope that more music from Huwe (and Xmal Deutschland?) will come.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]