The Very Best Of ‘Track Of The Day’ 2020
Another year of “Track Of The Day” around the world, always with a particular focus on first-time bands … in the hope of having been useful somehow, here is a very partial annual selection.
- WILD ROSES Of WINTER “Incineration” [ Helsinki, Finland Darkwave / Neoclassical / Ethereal Wave duo]
solemn, forlorn, atmospheric dirge, encompassed by the tragic and deep unveiling of poisonous emotions, bearing the burden of obscure woe and sorrow
- CHEMICAL WAVES “Denied (feat. BEDLESS BONES)” [ Rome, Italy Coldwave/Darkwave/Post-Punk solo project]
vortex of warped searing guitar chords that chime, squeak, twang, and lately frantically wail on top, interspersed by tinny, eerie piano notes, of frigid, angry, resentful female vocals, turn into decaying haunted howls, suffering vane alienation in a shallow immortality
- BLUME “I Miss You” [Edmonton, Canada Lo-Fi /Psychedelic /Dream Pop /Shoegaze one-man band]
mesmeric tingling web of crystalline mournful guitar melodies, depicting dreamily abstract blurry impressions of reclusive and sad reiterations of devouring pain and wistful resignation, embodied by achingly ecstatic drifting distant male vocals, hypnotically melting undulations of unrelenting obsessive loneliness with tender regret, ”I miss you every day.”
- UN.REAL ”Lovely One / Islands” [Isabela, Puerto Rico first Shoegaze band]
an intoxicating immersion into a hazy and silent night, both wistful and vulnerable, infused with sheer intensity, dense sensations, and profound emotions
- DIAMOND IS FOREVER “Connection” [Gothenburg, Sweden Shoegaze /Post-Punk band]
as intimate and enveloping as it is vigorous and passionate, the band’s distinctive and refined take on post-punk, shrouded in a dark and emotive atmosphere of familiar charm, breathes of heartfelt energy and powerful emotional thrusts, pulsing and vibrating relentlessly like a troubled heart
- DESOLATION YEARS “Nights Illusion” [Berlin, Germany Coldwave/Darkwave/Electronic project]
ooze their way into an obscure sensual and alluring ambiance of mystery and desire, pushing the boundaries between fantasy and reality, as deep haunted quivering male vocals, dripping fear and shame, haloed in the echoed deceptive refrains, ” Nights Illusion”, into dark soaring lusty atmospherics of lost hope
- RASHA “Sufoco” [Brazilian Post-Punk /Darkwave /Coldwave duo]
desolate dramatic droning synth washes increasingly threaten the falling dismal female whispers, as they grow colder, taunting and laughing bitterly under an isolated shroud of impossible dreams
- GARDEN TAPES “Cold Black Eyes” [Oslo, Norway Dark Psychedelic Pop duo]
an immersive, mesmerizing and cinematic dark sound that, as the title suggests, harmoniously sculpts magnetic, frigid yet simmering emotional-ridden soundscapes, shrouded in paralyzing cold obscurity, wandering lost into the stifling and mysterious maze of an unsettled and disoriented soul
- CARLO ONDA “Schnee Fällt” [Swiss Italo Disco/Coldwave/Synth-Pop/Minimal Wave one-man-band]
glittering disco balls of the High-Nrg and Italo Disco rhythms ricochet, creep and ultimately merge with the mechanical cold, bleak and noir-ish soundscapes of the Minimal-Wave
- BONE PIXIE “Porcelain” [UK Post-Punk /Coldwave /Darkwave solo project]
melodic gauzily glowing wistful synth flows vibrate, meander and finally swirl more urgently in the shadow, gently pierced by uncanny melodies of guitar filigranes that shimmer lost in the distance, around ecstatically forlorn reverbed vocals that stutter, flicker, and fade, oozing sheer vulnerability lost in a haze of suffering and impending darkness
- CHEMICAL CLUB “Waking Up The Same” [Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico Bedroom Indie/ Post-Punk /Synth-Pop duo]
blurred at the same time enveloping somber introspective mood of wistful nostalgia, loss, and hopeless romance, that reverberate over sad detached male vocals that long and reminisce into a bittersweet awakening down the lonely path of realization
- THE DEATH OF POP “The House That We Built” [London, UK Indie Pop /Dream Pop duo]
approach to the refined pop aesthetic of unique bands such as Prefab Sprout, Blue Nile, Scritti Politti, and in some ways Steely Dan with some late ’60s British psych-pop leanings…seem to master the secret formula for the perfect melody
- FLESH OF MORNING “Death Becomes Bitter” [Austin/Boston Darkwave/Minimal Synth/coldwave duo]
the duo seem to deliver a gripping and minimal synth-laden dark wave sound, dangerously danceable, brooding and moody, with a melancholic and contemplative edge
- Lomarðian “Unseen” [Auckland, New Zealand Indie/ Guitar Rock/ Shoegaze duo]
dense, intense and shimmering instrumental texture constantly pulses and churns like a slow flow of lava beneath, to give form and shape to the inner turbulence and melancholy imbued by the emotionally torn mesmerizing vocals
- ANGEL-MAKER “Over Corrector” [Indianapolis Goth Post-Punk/Darkwave live band/solo project]
awash by sweeping mournful airy synth imbued with dreamlike melancholy, whilst husky impassioned male vocals sorrowfully yearn in a dreary disconnected reality
- KONDRATIE [Кондратий] “Mgla / Fog” [Perm, Russia Punk-Punk /Coldwave /Darkwave one-man-band]
an array of spectral and eerie foreboding synthetic melodies, dangerous mechanical rhythms, and malevolent vocalizations to establish a cloudly nightmarish dark pathos, at the same time dramatic and enthralling, laced with poetic lyrics delving into gloomy shades of vintage Russian despair
- PROCESAMIENTO DIGITAL DE SEÑALES “No Título” [Mexico Post-Punk /New Wave /Coldwave duo]
winding heart-pounding gloomy bass throbs and warm plaintive deep vocal tones with subtle glacial synth expansions and the surgical mechanical precision of the rhythm section lit with minimalistic bright guitar textures, to create something truly emotional and powerful, synthetic and organic at the same time
- BLANCHE BIAU “Myosotis” [Zurich, Switzerland Post-Punk/Wave artist and producer]
spectral moods of desolate melancholy, embued by shy, fragile female vocals fearfully releasing broken dreams into fate’s treacherous hands
- GRIMDELUXE “The Gate of Truth” [Amsterdam, The Netherlands ‘Goth-Wave’ one-man-band]
an unlikely alchemy between Ian Curtis’ gloominess and Stan Ridgway’ unemotional, spoken words, avowing confessing wry and surreal lyrics into the tapestry of disenchanted melancholy
- TENDER TONES “Red Lovers” [Paris, France Indie /Shoegaze /Synth-Pop duo]
soft breathless male/female dual vocal harmonies, whispering distant fears into the spinning angsty and excruciating whirlwind of lost dreams
- BRIGITTE HANDLEY | MATAHARI RANCH “Köln” [Australian New Wave /Post-Punk /Synthpop collaborative project]
besides being a genuine tribute to a city, is a compelling, introspective moody journey into the futility of modern human existence’
- RESPLANDOR “Adore (Robin Guthrie Mix)” [Rotterdam-based Peruvian Shoegaze /Dream Pop /Noise-Pop band]
sad, breathy dual male/female vocals glide brittle and aerial, suffering and longing in a mist of ethereal darkness, counterpointed by radiant subtly piercing soaring guitar melodies exuding shimmering hopeful sights of a likely reunification, ‘someday.’
- SYSTEME PARADOXE “Paris Barcelone” [French Cold Wave /EelectroCold music project]
projecting towards turbulent and somehow sensual eddies of inner turmoil, furrowed by dense shadows of glacial desolation and profound sadness, while unfolding into a powerful imaginary narrative of moving and immersive cinematic frames in blurry black and white
- BENEATH US “Pale Blue” [Texas goth/coldwave/post-punk/darkwave duo]
drowning in the black tides of an apocalyptic wasteland along with clearer, resigned deep vocalizations, now raw and exposed, void of humanity and hope, that surrender completely to the pitch-dark sea of despair
