Weekly Post-Punk / Darkwave / Dark Synth Tips – October #43-21
PICKS OF THE WEEK:
- Ukrainian Darkwave one-man project from Zaporizhzhia, GROTTA “Враг / Enemy” (Single)
Darkwaver from Zaporizhzhia, who deserves more attention, returns with a heartfelt and gripping one-off single that unbridles forceful and pounding percussion, buzzing throbbing basslines along with sizzling and tinkling synths to fuel painfilled, helpless baritone howls and menacing atmospheric echoes into a relentless achingly cold ecstatic trance both immersive and treacherous, ultimately majestic and cathartic.
- Madrid-based coldwave /darkwave /post-punk /new wave solo project of Marco Torremocha, aka DUNKELWALD – “Babbulkund” from the debut “VAHO” EP
Debut EP from Madrid‘s solo project that, while clearly harking back to the 80s UK post-punk sound and aesthetic, works from beginning to end, while enclosing its best in its central heart (“Babbulkund” and “Salvación”), 5-tracks of gloomy, intense and introspective coldwave sing in the Spanish language, the last one is a cover of the seminal, curiously never much known over here, Hispanic-Swedish darkwave band Décima Víctima, driven by bleak melody-carrying pulsing basslines, retro-charged pounding drum machine, constantly washed by swirling evocative enveloping synths, rare penetrating guitar parts, and emotional vocals laced with sorrow and anxiety cap it all of. A fine example of a bygone dark sound shaped into something cohesive, fresh and truly enjoyable.
- Belgium Post-punk /Darkwave /Dark-pop project of Kevin Hensels, AKA HIGHER DIMENSION “Colder nights” from the debut EP “Faceless Company”
A journey about climbing back out of “the abyss” called “life” wandering through dark, moody and melodic 80s UK guitar-driven new wave/post-punk sound, subtly pervaded by a gothic spleen, steeped in a looming cold blanket of brooding and melancholic hazy atmospheres gleamed by reverb filled emotionally piercing guitar lines, and, as in the stand-out “Cold Nights”, the deep forlorn lost male vocals resound vigilant through the pain.
- Trans-Atlantic Dark Wave project of André Savetier (Košice, Slovakia) and Raymond Nelson (Lewiston, Maine), AKA Deus Faust “Mitternacht” from “Hallowe’en” EP on Wave Noir
- Mexico City industrial /electronic /goth /darkwave solo project, RITUALZ “Ray Of Light” (Single)
- Swedish darkwave /synth project of Erik Marklund from Stockholm, Mellowlands “Lovecraft” (Single).
- Woodstock, New York occult horror soundtrack /goth /black metal /dark synth electronic solo project Hororhaus “Eternal” (Single)
- Berlin-based goth dark electronic act LITHIX “Misconception” (Single)
- North American ambient /goth ethereal /dark wave /electronic songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Alethea Leventhal, AKA Ships In The Night “First Light” from the album “Latent Powers” on Cleopatra Records
- Paris, France ambient /shoegaze /darkwave /post-punk band Ruin Of Romantics – “We Dead Hearts” from the LP “Velvet Dawn” on Music of the Void
- Tennessee experimental /goth /dark electronics /darkwave/post-punk project of Daniel Holt, AKA Human Figures “Wayfaring Song” from the cassette mini-album “After An Ordeal” (a collection of early works) on popnihil.
- Latvian-based coldwave /synthwave /new wave /electro producer Dmitry Distant “Cold” (The Cure cover) new single on Garden of Dystopia
- Leipzig, Germany new wave /post-punk /dark wave band Dear Agent “Brilliance” from the EP “Private Eye”
- Ontario experimental old-school /industrial /EBM project by Daniel Belasco of Canadian synthpop act Glass Apple Bonzai, Razorback Hollow “Season of the Witch III” from the upcoming EP “The Third Kind”
- German minimal wave /coldwave act Psychedelic Headshot “Ohne Hoffnung” new single from the album “The Single 2019-2021”
- Mexico City-based analog synth project of Rogelio Serrano, aka Equinoxious “Proelium” (Single)
- Italian electro / synth wave solo project from Turin, ZOLTAN FREITAG “Neon Rain”
- Toronto, Ontario coldwave /synth wave /minimal synth musician ALAN HARMAN “Phosphene Activity[190-180]” new single
- Leipzig, Germany techno /coldwave /darkwave /synth solo project, нат.аша “ma.ers” (Single)
- German Coldwave /Post-Punk solo project SUBSTANCE “Completion” (remastered)
- Oakland‘s industrial /coldwave /minimal synth solo project, Amusement Machine – “Empathy” off “Manipulations” LP on BODY MUSICK
- French darkwave /synthwave solo project NAM’S “Spiral Pain”
- Amsterdam based electronic /post-punk /new wave /darkwave one-band man Grimdeluxe “Anxiety” off “Demo mixtape 2019” EP
- London, UK coldwave /darkwave /synthwave solo project from Athens‘ musician, Night in Athens “Cold” from the debut LP “METROPOLIS”
- Hamburg, Germany EBM /new wave /synthpop /NDW solo project Ernst Leben – “Minimalist” from the cassette debut album “Bald wirds ernst”
- Perth, Australia experimental /post-punk /electronic act arphaxad84 “bête et méchant” single
- French cold /industrial wave project of Marie Lando, aka GRABYOURFACE “Rob the Bank” new single on Negative Gain
- French EBM /Synth Wave /Electronic duo Fontaine SMC – “Another Day Another End” off of upcoming “I Was A Soldier” EP 12″ [Raw Culture]
- French goth /coldwave /post-punk project from Paris, CONTRE SOIREE “Back From Hell” from the upcoming V/A ” Utopia Vanished: From Enslavement to Reiteration” on VEYL
- Paris-based French–Italian darkwave /synthpop /coldwave duo of Cecilia Dassonneville & Adriano S. Iacoangeli, AKA ECHOBERYL “La Dame en Rouge” from the new album “Mother Solitude and Other Dark Tales” on their own label Mother Solitude Records
- Buenos Aires, Argentina EBM /darkwave /techno /synth-pop act LAS ERAS “Telefono” from the “2021” EP
- Saint Petersburg/Kazan lo-fi /synthwave /synth-pop independent one-woman-project created by Karina Morgunova, AKA Stereopolina [СТЕРЕОПОЛИНА] “Киногерой” from “Суперлуние” (LP)
- Santiago, Chile lo-fi /indie /synth-punk trio Relámpagos “Nosotros solas otra vez” from 7″ EP “Memoria del fuego” on Gemelo Parásito Records and Discos Lou Fai
- Ukraine electro-pop/post-punk/avant pop duo band Зэ Джозерс [Zejozers] “Дурний” (Single)
- Bremen, Germany post-punk /synth-pop /synth wave solo project Traumatin “Genug”
- Coldwave /Synth-pop solo project of the London/Berlin artist Raquel Torre, aka Lacquer “Reputation” from “Elusive Realities” single
- Boston, Ma veteran electropop 4-piece FREEZEPOP “The Ghost Rejoins the Living” maxi-single
- US/Canada/Switzerland New Wave /Synth-Pop /Synthwave act DEAD ASTRONAUTS “Strangers in a Room (Cult Of Alia Remix)” from upcoming remix album “Silhouettes Redux” via Cold Transmission Music
- London UK Experimental /Electro /Dark Wave /Psychedelic /Synthpop /Art-Rock trio STASH MAGNETIC “Our Blood (Magnetic Mix)” new single (included the Duncan Grey Rmx).
- French gothic industrial synthpop band (also known as PORN), Pure Obsessions & Red Nights “Dive deep into the night” single on Les disques Rubicon
- Buffalo, NY Alternative /Dark Wave /EBM /Synthpop solo project THIRD REALM “Obsession” new single on Morbid Attitude Records
- Stockholm based Polish minimal electronic/EBM solo project La Santé “1:5:67″ (Single)
- Columbus, OH mid-80s post-punk /gothic rock band THE WAKE “Emily Closer (Kill Shelter Remix)” from “Mixers & Elixirs” EP on Blaylox Records
- L.A. Synth Wave /Post-Punk solo project Nass Zuruck “Serenade” track 2nd track out of 3 off upcoming EP
- NYC coldwave /post-punk collaboration between label mainstays LEAD BLOCKS and AUGUST SPIES (both from noise rockers Nazca Plate), aka Threatening Aura “Bad Acme” from the single “Off the Grid b/w Bad Acme” on Label of Goods
- Swedish post-punk /goth-gaze band THEN COMES SILENCE – “Nightmare / The Dreamtime” (Motörhead cover) from “HORSEMEN – Death” part of The Horsemen project of seventeen cover versions spread over four digital-only EPs
- Darkwave/post-punk collaboration Bone Pixie, UmbrÆternal, Scotty Sunday “I Want Out” (Helloween cover)
- Brighton, UK post-punk /gothic rock 4-piece THE LAST CRY “Outsiders featuring Anne Marie Hurst” from the new album “Lifeline”
- Belgium Dark Wave /Goth Rock project UmbrÆternaL “Crimson Gold” second single from the upcoming debut album
- German Goth /Darkwave /Post-Punk band URBANDONED. “Devotion” (Single).
- Polish Gothic Rock /Death Rock /Post Punk band from Poznań, Yakutian Cult “Highway” (Single)
- German 80s formed darkwave /post-punk trio DAYS OF SORROW “Lost” the first single from the forthcoming new album “Soulmate Sister”.
- US post-punk side project of Damián Antón Ojeda (aka Sadness), Camaleónica “En Pleno Deseo” first single
- Manchester UK-based Goth /Darkwave band SPIRE CIRCLE “So Many Times” (Single)
- Ukrainian Post Punk /Darkwave trio based in Slovyansk, Delirium “Цербер” new single
- Charleston, West Virginia darkwave /indie rock /post-punk 4-piece Static Fur “Chant” from the new EP “Insomnia”
- Rennes, France based shoegaze/coldwave/post-punk band DENNER “She Radiates Darkness” (Raven Studio Summer 2020 Sessions) from the upcoming ltd. vinyl 12″ EP “Together in Obscurity” on Meidosem Records
- Los Angeles-based post-punk /new wave /coldwave solo project, The Sea At Midnight “Orbiting Heaven” from V/A “You Are Still Not Alone” Halloween fundraising compilation on Darkness Calling
- Philadelphia goth post-punk 4-piece THE IRE “Rahu” from debut “CS” EP
- L.A. based dream pop /new wave /post-punk solo project WISTERIA “Taken” new single.
- Tacoma, Wa darkwave /goth rock project of Poppet, Cross✞Chapel “Retribution from the Grave” from the EP “Antiquities…”
- New York goth post-punk solo project Pazz Kluger “Fairy Tales” from “Fairy Tales” EP
- China-based UK late 80s post-punk band Concrete God “Orient Express” from the new EP “Nothing”
- Brazilian synthpop /post-punk /new wave duo Pontagulha “Noite de Dezembro” from the debut LP “Perante o Caos” on Systemica
- Houston, TX goth post-punk solo project Death Of The Last Beautiful Jaguar “Faces In The Dark” from the debut album “Death Of The Last Beautiful Jaguar”
- Dallas, TX 5-piece darkwave act SEVIT “It Can’t Rain All The Time” from the 2-track single “It Can’t Rain All the Time (Hangman’s Joke Featuring Eric Draven)”
- German lo-fi /coldwave /post-punk project German Bot “Gezeiten” from the new EP “Gezeiten”
- Bryansk/Moscow, Russia coldwave /post-punk band Predznanie feat. Blazh – “Плен” from the new album “На расстоянии“ on Русский пост-панк
- Udine, Italy synth wave duo Sun’s Spectrum feat. Nomotion “Last Time” single (goth dancefloor collaboration with UK-based Italian goth rockers Nomotion)
- Belarusian new wave /post-punk solo project from Mogilev, Зубы:) “Она хочет твоих денег” from the EP “Солнца нет”
- Spanish Darkwave/New Wave solo project from Alicante, Nueve Desconocidos “Desaparecer” new single on Casa Maracas
- Swedish synth-punk /post-punk 4-piece from Gothenburg, SINTFLUT “Niedertracht・Infami” from Demo EP
- Montreal, Québec deathrock /dark punk /post-punk DIY solo project CLONED “Suffering” from the cassette second album “Miasma”
- L.A. post-punk funk music band Traps PS “Generic Volume” from the LP “And the Enclave Clap” (collection of unreleased tracks between 2010 – 2016) on Mock Records and Papermade
- London based lo-fi goth fuzzy post-punk band fronted by Summer Cannibals’ Jenny Logan, DEATHLIST “Blue / I’m not free” from forthcoming LP “Tearing Up / On Fire” out on February 2021
- Bergen, Norway garage /rock’n’roll /synth-punk DIY outfit Flop Machine “Drink Blood” (Single)
- Gomel, Belarus post-punk/indie rock 5-piece Худший Друг [Worst Friend] “Один в пустой квартире (А. Барто)” from the new EP “Один в пустой квартире”
- Polish ghost-rock / dream-pop duo of singer Rafał Tomaszczuk (Agonised By Love) and instrumentalist Andrzej “Andy” Turaj (God’s Own Medicine), aka Hidden By Ivy “Claustrophobia” new single
- Prague, Czechia ambient /industrial /neo-classical act AutopsiA “Be the Absolute Night” from the album “WERKSTATT”