dark wave
Nite Fields – A Voyeur Makes No Mark [LRR010]
Culminating in four years of recording sessions in Russia, Australia and Northern Ireland, ‘A Voyeur Makes No Mark’ is Nite Fields’ second LP. It’s the follow up to 2015’s ‘Depersonalisation’. If ‘Depersonalisation’ was an album of loss and self-destruction, ‘A Voyeur Makes No Mark’ embodies a self-possessed, buoyant, confrontational figure – though no less anguished with self and the world at large. More outward looking than the Nite Fields debut, and with a redefined aesthetic, themes of rebirth and redefinition carry throughout the album immortalised in principal songwriter and protagonist Danny Venzin’s delicate web of sound. Found within the 8-track LP are sounds rarely heard and even lesser played by the Western hemisphere. Utilising a sonic palette inspired by Venzin’s new surrounds whilst living in Moscow, a purposeful decision was made to incorporate local recording equipment and instrumentation. The results are stark yet richly atmospheric.
Exhausted Modern – Datura EP [AH002]
Exhausted Modern joins the Artificial Horizon family and delivers a caustic mix of brutish and combustible electronix in keeping with the style that has seen his productions supported by the new wave of artists from Europe and beyond that seek to bring the future sounds of Acid, EBM and Techno to the present. From the contorted modulations of Dysphoric Experience to the emotional and melancholic closer ’Seagulls in a Harbour’, Exhausted Modern’s Datura EP twists and turns at every step, each track capable of sending any listener into certain frenzy.
Hesperius Draco – Oberwave Mix 074
Frust – Stone I EP [OR61SE]
Oraculo Records presents the new side project of Blind Delon featuring and a special remix of Antoni Maiovvi of Giallo Disco Records. Dark Italo or minimal synthpop could perfectly define what FRUST is; hypnotic glacial synths and mesmerizing cavernous sad voices for darkwave lovers.
VA – Aleatory Chaos Second Chapter [OR58]
Aleatory Chaos compilation has been one of the most successful releases to date at Oráculo Records, both in sales and in pro press reviews. Now it’s time to reveal a new chapter including dark synth and dark guitar / post – punk future hymns by newcomers such as Etalon & Snem K, Dissident and Pindrops or by already known projects as Synths Versus Me or The Present Moment.
Neugeborene Nachtmusik – Take me to your healer [ET064]
Neugeborene Nachtmusik returns to Enfant Terible with his second full-length album. You get served six long tracks of post-industrial mixed with post-techno. All trance indulging, all hypnotic and all based on dark beats.
VA – Vital Impetus [JUNE14]
June Records latest compilation welcomes new artists on the label, the Australian newcomer Lbeeze, Raum-Zeit (Toni Quiroga & Eindkrak), Mannequin Records’ boss Alessandro Adriani, Morah (Phormix), Penelope’s Fiance and Outermost & Venus Volcanism.
Exhausted Modern – Ampér [BT31]
Co-founder of Endless Illusion, Exhausted Modern returns to brokntoys with a limited white label. Ampér shows the Czech producer running the gamut accross 6 tracks covering melodic acid, hypnotic slomo grooves and celestial electro.
1/2 GOTT – 1/2 GOTT [UV048]
1/2 GOTT is the new project of Sneaker from Dresden/Berlin and Scannoir from Zurich, who share their love for EBM and Synth Pop not only when DJing but also when producing. In several nights and with the help of a decent group of instruments, they have evoked a series of tracks that can certainly be subsumed as New Swiss wave. The first record is entitled 1/2 GOTT and will be followed by GOTT in the foreseeable future. The result is music that sounds as if the Iron Curtain had never fallen. Although Sneaker likes to step to the microphone, he leaves the vocals to Scannoir, who gives the perfect counterpart for the menacing beats with his deep laments. The tracks are little masterpieces in the matter of repetition with whipping drums and off-beat percussions. However, they cannot disguise their hymn-like gesture. This must be the sound of a sunrise over the industrial area.
VA – Death Of The Machines Vol. 1 [MNQ127]
Mannequin Records presents the first of a new serie of compilations underthe ‘Death of the Machines’ serie, the dancefloor/experimental oriented side of the label, dedicated to new artists. Connecting music producers from all over the world, this new compilation will unearth names who are already building strong grounds for the future.
INIT – Wildcard [HVN049]
INIT’s music has the rare quality of transforming bleakness into a soothing experience. In the duo’s new EP, ‘Wildcard’, this mechanism is more intense than ever. And that might be because of the particular circumstances that surrounded its inception. Two years ago, Nadia D’Alo and Benedikt Frey decided to move from Darmstadt to Berlin. Adjusting to a rough area of a big city when coming from a quiet town necessarily brings a change of perspective. For Nadia and Benedikt, that meant experiencing the city life as outsiders while trying to figure out what they wanted from it. ‘Wildcard’ is the sonic result of this process, and proof that changes always bring growth.
Lebanon Hanover – Let Them Be Alien [FP024]
It’s been almost six years since the release of the band’s critically-acclaimed debut album “The World Is Getting Colder”. Since then the half Brit-half German duo have established themselves as one of the most powerful and successful genre-defining acts throughout Europe, scoring 5 heart-throbbing albums and numerous performances all around the world, making them one of the most successful bands of the cold wave / minimal wave scene. Lebanon Hanover’s the 5th album “Let Them Be Alien” is available via Fabrika Records. Exploring the sonic and emotional range that the audience have learned to expect from Lebanon Hanover, “Let Them Be Alien” is built up in emotional vocals, liquid chords, dramatic keys, and distorted digital waves where the duo recalls the eerie clouds of industrial and goth 1980’s. The album depicts the dark honesty and profound feelings of two alienated personas with true romantic hearts yet feeling socially unrest. In each track, William and Larissa tell a different story which will sweep the audience through a deep, conscious, continual and wistful trip, and ultimately keep them anchored in feelings.
Margenrot – Zangezur [KLAMM14]
The debut album by Siberia-born, Moscow-based artist Margenrot aka Lusia Kazaryan-Topchyan – a dark and mesmerising journey into the subterranean, inspired by her Armenian roots and murky sounds of 80-90s industrial music. The album shares its name with a conflict-ridden historical region in southeast Armenia. Margenrot’s inspiration, however, goes beyond geopolitics, and is rooted in the myth of the region’s name. According to Armenian folklore, the name Zangezur came into use after Timur’s conquest, who conquered the Syunik province after a renegade Armenian prince sabotaged the area’s alarm bells. As the province fell, its inhabitants wondered why the bells never rang, giving birth to the phrase “the ring is in vain,” or “zange zur” in Armenian.
Jaures – Lafcadio Champsai [ORKL-W-02]
Dormir – In Pursuit [BRXPR001]
Burning Rose and Pelvis Records meet in the middle to dish up Dormir, a two piece machine from Melbourne, Australia featuring Morgan Wright (formerly of Melbourne hardcore act Imprisoned) and Harry Maslen (formerly of Postblue). Two tracks of blacked out vocal electronics originally released on cassette are now brought to the floor with remixes by Leo James (Canyons, Berceuse Heroique) and Cop Envy (Opal Tapes, Templar Sound).
Sam De La Rosa – Earth Wart [MNQ109]
Sam de la Rosa, best known under the alias Samuel Kklovenhoof of the band Led Er Est and with Karen Sharkey of The Coombe, is back on Mannequin Records for a stunning 4-tracks electro-wave-experimental release. Texas born but strongly connected with the New York cold wave and disco scene from mid 2000, and the Wierd Records family, Sam’s music is a clever mix of post punk, electronic hybrids, experimental pop and catchy melodies.
Group Rhoda – Wilderless [DE186]
Group Rhoda is the solo electronic music project of Mara Barenbaum, based out of Oakland, California, one half of Max and Mara. The project started around 2009 with a debut album ‘Out of Time, Out of Touch’ in 2012 on Night School Records. ‘Wilderless’ is Group Rhoda’s third full length and first for Dark Entries Records. Each of the these 7 songs draw forth tones of tropical darkwave and soft industrial, while negating the sound of conformity and control. The album explore themes of societal and spiritual displacement, contemporary serfdom, the depths of empathy, regeneration through destruction, and the tyranny of claiming recognition and power. Lyrics are poetically expressed through allegory and explore archetypes rooted more in abstract observation rather than hard line experience. Through transgression and imagination, Group Rhoda explores the arc of songwriting interwoven into stark electronic environments, and creates a bridge between the corporeal and the dream worlds.
Sumerian Fleet – Pendulum [DE178]
Sumerian Fleet is a trio formed by Dutch producers Alden Tyrell and Mr Pauli, joined by Zarkoff after their 2010 debut EP. Sumerian Fleet have returned to release their sophomore LP ‘Pendulum’ of all new material as well as a remixed version of “This Game Has No Name” from Zarkoff’s other band, FFFC. ‘Pendulum’ contains 80’s Dark Wave/EBM inspired tracks with an industrial tinge, 8 songs of vintage dark electro with a Gothic tinge and a touch of bass guitar. The album’s been put together in a way that the listener can connect the dots, create a narrative, and become immersed in this attitude that the band’s trying to convey, such as Vigny’s idea of accepting despair: ”A calm despair, without angry convulsions or reproaches directed at heaven, is the essence of wisdom.” All songs were initially recorded at Mr Pauli’s studio in Den Haag, with overdubs and additional recordings at Zarkoff’s Sensorium Studio in Croatia, and then final mix downs at Alden Tyrell’s studio in Rotterdam.
L’Avenir – Soir [CBR012]
L’Avenir is the cold synth side project of veteran electronic musician and sound artist Jason Sloan. Known throughout the space and ambient music scenes for his contemplative electronic soundscape work for over a decade; Sloan founded L’Avenir as a side project in 2012 to explore his long time love of synthpop and minimal wave music created purely from analog and vintage equipment.
The Hipodrome Of Music 