WL//WH Weekly Post-Punk / Darkwave / Dark Synth Tips

Weekly Post-Punk // Darkwave // Dark Synth Tips – DECEMBER #50-23

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

  • Italian Darkwave /Post-Punk one-man band IC2 “Give It A Try” single

After a rather quiet 2023, the Italian one-man band closes it with two singles in a row, the latest pulses into gloomy and shadowy ’80s British post-punk worship, building a haunting, dramatic spectrum of desolation and doom with menacing gurgling bass lines, sinister piercing ethereal guitar bleeds, and hypnotic punchy snares, encircling ghostly distressed vocals in an unescapable, unyielding pressure to “Give it a Try.”

  • Oakland, CA-based Punk-fueled Neo-Goth duo, 55CASTLES “Dissociation” single

After hosting the latest video, the Californian neo-goths are confirmed as a group with a distinctive, at the same time vaguely psychedelic and profoundly dark off-kilter approach, to build a creepy surreal poetic aura of swirling dread, through a booming and crackling bed of hollow, thumping, and chiming percussive patterns, along with sinuously sinister meandering basslines, haunting glittering keyboard skies, and insistent bleeding guitar wails, echoing atop ominous baritone brooding into massive swells of intoxicating, dissociative delusions.

  • Cardiff, UK goth pop /dark wave /synthpop solo project Fading Indigo “Galleries” single

Fading Indigo‘s new single races along the misty and shadowy edges between Coldwave, and Synth-Pop with urgent hypnotic drum programming, sneakingly throbbing bubbling basslines, obsessive glaring key oscillations, and enveloping uncanny icy synth swirls, to wrap restless ghostly vocals, looking for identity whilst surrounded by droning waves of angsty malaise.

  • UK-based electro /rave /industrial /post-punk project of French musician/DJ and producer Jerome Tcherneyan and Czech performance artist and DJ, Barkosina Hanusova, aka Years Of Denial “Stagger Lee” off of upcoming V/A “HONORIS V – TRIBUTE TO NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS” final chapter of “Honoris” tribute album series [Unknown Pleasures Records]                                                                                           
  • Bremen, Germany-based experimental /ethereal /dark ambient /darkwave /post-punk /coldwave project of Anna Nin (aka None), aka Glaring “Milky’s Way Out” from the album “Shoegaphex”
  • Viennese post-punk /experimental electronics music and performance project of Didi Disko & Maren Rahmann, aka Laut Fragen – “Goldene Inseln” single on Numavi Records
  • Swedish minimal /coldwave /synth post-punk trio Monoton tid “vågorna (demo)”
  • Polish kraut /minimal wave /early electronics duo from Niebuszewo, Brenda i Funky – “CYBERNETYCZNE IGRASZKI “off of the cassette album “Cybernetyczne Igraszki” via Syf Records
  • Lugano, Switzerland darkwave / ‘Canzone Italiana’ /post-punk /synth-pop solo act Infesta – “Fastidio” from the upcoming debut album “Passerella” LP 12″ [Dee Dee’s Picks]
  • Pittsburgh, PA electro-cabaret /darkwave /avant-pop duo Heather Shore & Kegan Heiss, aka Hemlock for Socrates “Silent Crowd – Meeting in the Dark Variant”
  • Early ’80s North Wales synth-pop /new wave band, Blue Party – “Wednesdays” (Claustraphobia Remix 2023)
  • Vancouver, WA post-punk /darkwave /coldwave solo project, This Cold Night “Nostradamus” from “Harpy’s Song” 2-track single from an upcoming LP
  • Besançon, France post-industrial /new wave /synthpop solo project of Vague Scare‘ singer Laur, aka Other-ed “Soy City Blues” single
  • Brazilian post-punk /synthpop duo Prenome “Silêncio” single on Systemica
  • Santiago, Chile Coldwave /Synth Pop duo VIOFLESH “Emotions” single
  • Rubi, Spain dark wave /new wave /post-punk /synth-wave project of DJ-producer Jaime El Energúmeno, aka ALQA “Sed De Venganza” (Niños del Brasil Cover)
  • Russian synthpop /post-punk /new wave solo project from Ekaterinburg, Roobanok “Highrise (Stereopolina Remix)” single on SkyQode
  • New York dark electronic /synthpop project of David Budet, aka Teledeath “Let Me In” single
  • Chicago, IL dark future electro-pop project of Brian Mitchell, aka Midnight Midnight “Valentine” from the EP “A Wave and a Whisper”
  • Portland, OR coldwave /synthpop /darkwave solo act A.S. Valentino “Let Me See Your Sin” off the upcoming 2024 album “Summoning” via Psychic Eye
  • Brooklyn, NY based ambient minimal synth electronic duo consisting of Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride aka Xeno & Oaklander “Hoplite (Demo)” from V/A “DAIS223” (digital version of the cassette-only compilation included in the Dais x Retrospekt CP-81) [Dais Records]
  • Toronto‘s industrial electronic pop project of Robert Alfons (fka Trust), aka TR/ST “Robrash” single on Dais Records
  • Norway industrial /synthpop duo Xenturion Prime “Embers (Midnight Resistance Remix)” single on Progress Productions
  • Montreal-based electro-art-punk /austere-disco act AUS!Funkt “You Don’t Know How To Fix This” from the EP “Limits Are Set”
  • Brussels based ambient /drone /EBM /coldwave /electropop producer and Antibody label head (Orphan Swords, Figure Section), Yannick Franck/RAUM “Future Unsolved” from “The Belgian Wave (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” album [Antibody label]
  • Parisian EBM /noise /techno /post-punk /synth-punk duo Modern Men “Antifrance” single [SOZA]
  • Mexico City goth-wave /darkwave /post-punk band, Blood Dance “Blood Dance by Blood Dances – Addictive Remix by Fran KA of Corpus Delicti
  • French synthwave /minimal synth act LA MAIN “A Weeping Song” off of upcoming V/A “HONORIS V – TRIBUTE TO NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS” final chapter of “Honoris” tribute album series [Unknown Pleasures Records]     
  • Moncton, Canada-based Doom Metal /Gothic Rock solo project of Jason Schatsle (aka Wardruid), Gothnetic – “Flowers” single
  • Coldwave /Post-punk /Darkwave project of French artist, songwriter, performer, and engineer frelu, aka NLIGHT “Social Anxiety” single
  • Louisville, Kentucky post-punk /darkwave duo of former members of 9voltRevolt, Stephen Beasey and Brian Cain, AKA Who Saw Her Die? “A Very Vampire Christmas” fundraising Christmas single [Goths for Sanctuaries]
  • Riverside, CA post-punk /darkwave /coldwave band Perpetual Midnight “You Don’t Fit In” single
  • Los Angeles-based goth/dream pop/post-punk solo project, CLOSED TEAR “Secrets” from the album “Secrets” a collection of songs written between 20212023
  • New York goth /art-rock /post-punk trio Isolation Society “Why Should I?” from the LP “Post Mortem”
  • Salt Lake City, Utah two piece band Post-Punk/ Goth/ Darkwave/ Deathrock/ Dark Punk band Opaque Shades “Oscura” single
  • Saint Petersburg-based dream pop /new wave /synth-pop band (Fka Castletroy), Каслтрой “Нелюбовь” from “Моральные беспокойства” EP
  • Bogotá, Colombia coldwave /dark wave /synthpop solo project (aka отмеж), Desasociado “Actress”
  • London-based French electronic synth-punk/post-punk duo Zeropolis “The Soul of a Man” from V/A “AnalogueTrash: Label Sampler Vol. 7” compilation via AnalogueTrash                                                        
  • Las Vegas, NV post-punk /gothic rock duo Pitch After Dark “Turn It Around” single
  • Munich, Germany-based new wave /post-punk /minimal cold wave duo Yakima Jera – “Fire” single
  • Turkish Post-Punk /Dark Wave duo from IstanbulDUCTAPE “Golden Apes” (2000) from V/A “Scattered Light – A Reflection Of The Music Of Golden Apes” 25 years of Golden Apes compilation                         
  • Khust, Ukraine post-punk solo project Театр Абсурда “Погляд” single                                               
  • Russian gothic /coldwave /post-punk trio based in Moscow, Войлок [Voilok] – “Несчастливая любовь” from “Любовь, в которой мы тонем” EP                                                                                                           
  • Santiago de Chile-based, Spanish coldwave /darkwave solo project of Fran H., Ingreso Cadáver “La Matanza” from “Asperger” EP                                                                                                                                   
  • Tallinn, Estonia sovietwave /dream pop /new wave /post-punk band Товарищ Астроном [Tovarish Astronom] “Убежим” from the album “Прогулки”
  • French New Wave/Post-Pop-Punk-Rock singer-songwriter Atom In Waves “Cure” from the debut EP “Dancing with ghosts”
  • Toronto, ON shoegaze /new wave /post-punk duo StillWaves “It Still Burns” (single) from their upcoming debut LP “Undiagnosed” via Safe Sounds
  • L.A. shoegaze /post-punk /dream goth band Velvet Wounds – “When after now?” single
  • London, UK post-punk 4-piece Hygiene “15 Minute City” title track of the 7″ EP ”15 Minute City” via Static Shock Records
  • Glasgow’s indie pop /jangle /art-punk band Water Machine ‘Art Fair’ off ‘Art Fair / Blisters’ 7″ single on Fat Cat Records
  • Toulouse, France rrriot post-punk trio Radical Kitten “Uppercut” title track of upcoming second cassette/vinyl album “Uppercut” via Hidden Bay Records and many more DIY labels
  • Cardiff, UK indie rock /post-punk band Slate “St Agatha” from first 2-track 7″ single “Tabernacl / St Agatha” via Brace Yourself Records
  • Saxon, Switzerland cold wave /indie rock /post-punk father, son and daughter trio Erosions “The Lake” from the debut LP “Another Darkside”
  • Swedish dark wave /indie rock /post-punk band Dead Satellites “December” fourth single
  • Bergen, Norway /São Paulo, Brazil darkwave /drum&bass /trip-hop duo Melt Motif – “This Is the End” from the remix collection LP “Vandalism Vol. 2”
  • Greek dream pop /shoegaze dark wave instrumental solo project Urban Space “I Know This Is a Dream” single.
  • Austin, TX new wave /synth-pop trio Night Drive “Summerwaves (Winter Version)” single
  • Stoke On Trent, UK soundtrack /electronic /synth project of Phil Heeks, aka The British Stereo Collective “Come What May (ft. Rebecca Denniff)” A Gothic Elegy for December charity single [Castles in Space]