Weekly Post-Punk / Darkwave / Dark Synth Tips – AUGUST #34-23

photo by Sally Mann
PICKS OF THE WEEK:
- San Antonio, TX post-industrial /darkwave solo project, ZEN HANDER “Half/Dog” single
Single already part of the last end of May’s charity compilation from Darkness Calling, “Half/Dog” shapes an obsessive distorted headspace of insistent dire piercing low-end stabs, whipped by the hypnotic menace of crisp kicks and slashing beats, along with eerie sprawling glowing synth strains, consumes shattered vocal agony with shocked disbelief and alienating pain, evoking feelings of terror and shame at the sight of the “Half Dog.”
- Oakland, CA goth /synth-punk /post-punk duo 55CASTLES “House Of Cards” single
Californian duo debut properly with a Punk-fueled Gothic Rock number. Steady hard-hitting beats propel a sinister apocalyptic doom built by ominously grumbling meandering basslines, droning fog horn blasts, dire searing flashing synth melodies, and dramatic baritone broods about a couple holding each other tightly as their “house of cards” burns to the ground.
- Leipzig, Germany wave /post-punk band, Mantarochen “Far Away” single
Second single in a row from Eastern Germany‘s Post-punk outfit led by urgent drum beats, lithe murmuring basslines pulse with forlorn resonance along buzzing, scraping guitar riffs, engraving distorted and obsessively winding plaintive melodies, smeared by sparse glaring synth drones, to engulf heavy drowsy breathes, closing their eyes to fly away, in relentless whirring scrubs of angst and pain.
- Dark jazz new solo project of Jason Köhnen (Mansur / The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble / The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation), aka The Lovecraft Sextet “The Horror Cosmic” title track of the upcoming album “The Horror Cosmic” the first soundtrack to a yet to be created movie [Denovali]
- Rome, Italy ambient /dark jazz /doom noir jazz act Waveshard “Ash tree” from the self-titled debut album
- Trondheim, Norway goth /post-punk /darkwave /neo-folk band led by ex-Wallpaper Silhouettes, Mats Davidsen, Painted Romans “Dreaming is Dying” (single)
- UK shoegaze / minimal electronics duo The KVB “Kiss Them For Me” from V/A “Spellbound – A Tribute To Siouxsie & The Banshees” compilation [Cleopatra Records]
- Spanish post-punk /cold wave act from Madrid, Unknown “La Presencia Es Consciencia”
- Berlin-based industrial /darkwave /post-punk /new wave DIY one-man-project of Alexander Leonard Donat, VLIMMER “Teerritt” from the 3rd album “Zerschöpfung” via his own Blackjack Illuminist Records
- Malmö-based experimental /minimal kraut /post-punk /art rock band VED “Black Garden” from “Krapp´s First Tape” EP
- Warsaw-based breaks /leftfield /cold wave /psych-kraut production trio Personal Sauveur – “Praga Medina” off “Levorotatory” EP [Huveshta Rituals]
- Malmö-based, Swedish gothic /post-punk /darkwave trio fronted by Erica Li Lundqvist, ABU NEIN “Lock On Target” from the new LP “II” [Progress Productions]
- Paris-based EBM /coldwave /darkwave /minimal wave /dark electronic duo Echoberyl “Fading Away” maxi single
- Gatineau, Quebec dystopic Dark Wave duo Gabriel and Yseult, AKA Menthüll “Luxe Parfait” new single
- Helsinki-based new wave /synth-pop trio (The Gentleman Losers), LSSNS “Radical Eye” second single from upcoming album “Transit” on Sinnbus
- Dutch New Romantic /New Wave act of siblings Ruben Pol and Matthijs Pol, aka POL “L’Amour Fait Mal” from self-titled debut EP on New Ams
- California synth-wave /darkwave /synthpop duo, MALE TEARS “You are your posts” single
- Russian new wave /post-punk /synthpop /synth duo Synthese “Закрой глаза” from the album “Show”
- Los Angeles‘ industrial /goth /darkwave /synth-pop /elektro body music duo Die Sexual “Bound, I Rise” from “Bound” EP
- German dark electronic /wave /techno goth /EBM trio Die Selektion “Drei Gesichter” from the upcoming album “Zeuge aus Licht” [A Der Katalog]
- Scottish lo-fi /post-punk /EBM hardware-focused project of Mike Smith (aka Crossover Network) in collaboration with Melbourne‘s Up North Label head honcho, E.L.I. Feat LBEEZE – “Comin’ Home” from the cassette EP “Mort À L’intérieur” [Up North Records]
- NYC EBM /industrial techno /synthpop project of Castillo (former Primitive Weapons and co-founder of the label Faktor Music), aka Confines “Easy Go (Semantix Remix)” [SYNTHICIDE]
- LA-based industrial /goth-pop trio Patriarchy “No Touch Torture (Baby Magick of Haex Remix)” from “Forcefully Rearranged” remix LP [DERO Arcade]
- Los Angeles-based Electro /Industrial /Synthpop /EDM musician and visual artist (the Alacrity, ALACRITY), aka Jason Alacrity “Devils Cut (Featuring Carrellee)” from “Criminal Class Remixes” EP [Negative Gain Productions]
- Austin dark electro /industrial duo Dread Risks feat. Corlyx “Trace Amounts (Corlyx Remix)” [Re:Mission Entertainment]
- Belgian veteran dark electro /EBM project led by Jacky Meurisse, aka Signal Aout 42 “Memories” from SA42’s forthcoming album “Ex+Voto”
- German EBM /synth pop /electronic music project led by Matthias Bischoff from Hamburg, M/A/T “Noise” single
- Kansas City, Missouri sci-fi electro-industrial duo Moon 17 “Jellyfish” single
- German techno /coldwave /dark wave /synth-pop solo project based in Leipzig, нат.аша “Kreisverkehr”off the new album “Liebeskreis”
- New York‘s dream pop /post-punk /synth-pop solo project STEREO JULIA “Like Vampires” new single
- German 80s synthpop trio Neon Space Men “Follow Me (Rob Dust Remix Edit)” from “Follow Me – Into The Club” EP
- Asheville, NC electronic /coldwave /darkwave artist ANDERS MANGA “Blood from Roses” from upcoming EP “Blood from Roses”
- Berlin-based elektro rock’n’roll post-punk singer, performer, 80s survivor, composer, MONA MUIR “Hier im Nebel Absurd Minds RMX” from “Hier im Nebel sind wir alle gleich” EP
- London, UK dark electro synth diva Valeria Valuyskaya, aka VELVET VELOUR “Event Horizon” from “Rococo” EP [Jardin de Bliss]
- Columbus, Ohio alternative electronic /dark electropop duo SUMMORE “New Pain” title track of the second LP “New Pain”
- London, UK cinematic /electro /darkwave experimentalist, Nisa Mishap “Ayna” single
- Bergen, Norway /São Paulo, Brazil darkwave /drum&bass /trip-hop duo Melt Motif – “Full Moon – Analog Tears Remix”
- Spanish dark wave /cold wave /post-punk /synth-pop trio Sex Code “Scum” single
- Melbourne-based synth-punk five-piece screensaver “Drainer” off the sophomore album “Decent Shapes” via Poison City Records // Upset The Rhythm (UK)
- Cincinnati, OH industrial /electro-punk/no wave/post-punk band (The Drin, Crime of Passing, Motorbike), THE SERFS “Club Deuce” from the upcoming third album “Half Eaten By Dogs” on Trouble In Mind
- New York-based goth /indie rock/post-punk /new wave solo project Sleeping With Socks “Lost Control” single
- New Jersey industrial /goth /post-punk /darkwave solo project of guitarist and founding member of hardcore outfits The Banner and Grace, aka Pain Sigil – “We gaze upon the spire” from the 4-track “Demo” EP
- Seattle, WA darkwave /post-punk outfit Dark Gray Houses “Drown You” new single
- Phoenix, AZ goth /new wave /post-punk artist Alex Okami “In the Dark” single
- Melbourne, Australia cold wave /new wave trio No Statues “Time Has Passed” first single from upcoming EP on Honeyglider Records
- Bologna, Italy new wave /Italo disco /darkwave /post-punk project led by Gianni Lee (co-founder of the French label Model Workers Records), I Woke Up Chinese “Lost and Despair” from “Issues” EP
- Saint-Petersburg, Russia minimalistic post-punk band LIVINROOM “Moving crowd” (single) from the upcoming album “Should Avoid”
- Bremen, Germany shoegaze /post-punk band MAKIMONO “Euphorie” demo single
- Salt Lake City, Utah dark post-punk trio Mannequin Twin “Threshold” debut single
- Austin, TX darkwave /coldwave /new wave /post-punk project DIE TRAURIGEN “thee hermit” from “hermit” EP
- English gothic /post-punk duo Queen Eleanor’s Cross “Perfect Freak” from “Cardinal” (EP)
- Ukrainian doomer /new wave/ post-punk band Delirium “Місто (feat. 77PID’YIZD)” single [electricity]
- Chillán, Chile post-punk band MONITOR “Pantalla” from the EP “Estructuras”
- Los Angeles-based new wave /coldwave /post-punk solo project of singer, songwriter and musician Vince Grant, aka The Sea At Midnight “Indian Ocean” single
- Monterrey, Mexico coldwave /post-punk band KROOVYS “Tiempo” (single)
- French indie /cold wave band Nice Cold Nation “Êtres contraires” title track from the mini-LP “Êtres contraires”
- Naarm/Melbourne 5-piece Dark Punk /Post-Punk band Beat Panic “Morrslieb” from the second EP “Welcome to the New You”
- Brooklyn NYC noise /post-punk band Clone “Dividing Line” first single from the upcoming debut LP
- Austin, TX alternative rock /shoegaze /post-punk /rock and roll band Queen Serene “Isengard” new single
- New York‘s art-rock / post-punk five-piece Bodega “Images” from V/A “We Are Time Mixtape Vol. 1” compilation [We Are Time]
- Manchester, UK indie /kraut /wave /electronic /synthpop band, W.H. LUNG “High Pressure Days” (The Units cover, 1979) via Melodic Records
- Manchester, UK psych /post-punk band founded in 1979 and led by early The Fall member Martin Bramah, Blue Orchids “The Face Of Time” from upcoming LP “Magpie Heights” on Tiny Global Productions
- Oslo, Norway-based indie rock/ new wave/ post-punk project (Fka TÅSEN TEA PARTY), Unknown Factory “Commitment to loose”
- Polish solo post-punk /looser wave project from Szczecin, Bzdet “WRÓCĘ” from the cassette LP “Traumy wystarczy dla każdego” on Syf Records
- Kazakhstan post-punk /darkwave solo project Moonvampire “Forest And A Victim, Two Bites” from new 2-track single “Forest And A Victim, Two Bites”
- Luxembourg-based fantasy /medieval /neo-classical /dungeon synth act Porcelain Sword “Shattered Glass” from “Porcelain Sword” EP
- Rochester, New York synth-wave /fantasy /comfy /dungeon synth act Hermit Knight “Mithril Heart” from the cassette album “Adventures in Depersonalization” [Fiadh Productions]
- Manchester, UK electronic /dungeon synth project Witch Root “Ultimate Doubts” from the album “Appearance and Reality”
- Swedish dark ambient /drone /doom /dungeon synth act Ghoëst “The Sad Spirit (Part I)” from “The Sad Spirit” album [Dark Dungeon Doom Productions]

Spiky Tales ©Vaptismas Michail