Author: soundsandshadows (Ken Magerman)

I am the writer of the music review page Sounds and Shadows and lead singer of the band Amaranth.

It’s been a long time since I had the spoons to write reviews. Friday, is Bandcamp day. So this is what I’m listening to.

Featured By

It’s been a tough few months. Finding the spoons to write with my voice has been a challenge. So I have a lot of albums stacked up in my Bandcamp list. I’m feeling hopeful tonight. Going to try and summon that spark and share some of what is making these dark days bearable. As always if you have something you want to see reviewed put it in the comments below.

Manticore Kiss – Intertwined – I am genuinely upset this EP has not gotten more attention. The Vancouver duo was recorded by Jackknife studios. As we all know everything Jason touches is gold. The band features Kat Bastow – Vocals, Keyboard, Electronics and Ari Mansell – Vocals, Cello, Violin. It has a unique and expansive electronic sound of world beat synthpop somewhere between the soulful depth of Dead Can Dance and shimmering beauty of Erasure. Both vocalists are talented and inspired. A crystal ballroom waltz in perfect syncopation. This album was a magical pool to dive into and transport you to a fantasy world of beauty and lost romanticism. I was staggered by how immersed in a dream every song left me. These are dark and challenging times. To create music so easy to get lost in is a balm I didn’t realize how much I was longing for until I was lost in it. The harmonies were a true dialog that added depth and perspective to the story. A captivating surprise that made an instant fan of me.

Favorite Track: Forever – This dark tone and winding melody was absolutely mesmerizing. The synth pads were full of movement and gorgeous refracted light. The lyrics are imagery rich poetry and painted by perfectly synched harmony. This is like a Tolkien prose in musical form. The chorus is a spiritual hymn that makes your heart thump in your chest.

https://manticorekiss.bandcamp.com/album/intertwined-full-ep

Jean-Marc Lederman – The Bad Tempered Synthesizer – It can be so difficult to review Belgium composer Jean Marc Lederman, it seems everything new he does pushes hard against the caul of artistic boundaries as to what I think of as “songs” in the traditional sense. Every new release is such a dynamic experience that teaches me something as a songwriter as well as about my own human journey. This 12 song album was is an homage to Wendy Carlos an American composer who helped develop the original Moog. A true pioneer who changed the face of modern electronic music in so many ways. Jean Marc spins a bleep bloop tale of expression and change without ever uttering a word. It feels like a racecar driver putting a prototype car through it’s paces, taking what the engineer had made and conducting a series of tests that showed the absolute limitations of sound and emotions capable by a single instrument. I feel like every new release is a challenge to what is possible to create within the concept of being a musician. An unfettered freedom of firing a rocket towards the sky not caring where it comes down. It makes me hopeful that this kind of courage and ambition can still be celebrated in the modern era. Where it feels everything has been done. The past, the future, the respect to those who came before, and the brazen chaos. All here in a glass bubble, frozen in a moment in time. This record is not pop hits, not hooks, even though the songs are pleasing. This is high art, designed to set you on the road, and allowing you to take your own journey.

https://jmlederman.bandcamp.com/album/the-bad-tempered-synthesizer

Abbey Death – Death is For the Living – July 2021 single from Darktonica independent couple Abbey Death. I really love the lofi minimalist tone for how much is going on. Valarie is a tempting whispery invitation luring you towards deaths sweet embrace. Nex descends on the chorus with a harsh jagged glass terrifying tone. The blend is a culmination of the romanticism and fear or the unknown in one. The late 90s flavor guitar lead builds the tension for the layered vocal choir at the end. It’s nostalgic in a way seldom seen, a throwback to the late 90s’s early 2000s. A Steel teeth and silk cloth style that flows and leaves me excited for what is next.

https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/track/death-is-for-the-living-featuring-addam-robert-paul-name-your-price-download

Armalyte Industries – This is an amazing celebration at an outstanding price. Armalyte is setting a standard for boutique labels and celebrating 20 years of putting out music that carves the line between rock/metal/industrial. 24 tracks with some of the biggest names in the genre, and some of the hungriest new sounds for the future. The online live stream highlighted the best aspects of the current industrial scene, lifting each other up. This compilation is sawblade sharp and electrically charged. An old school exhibition that puts on display all the label has to offer. A chance to hear collaborations by the likes of <PIG> and The Joy Thieves, Industrial mainstays like Spankthenun, and exciting new trend setters like Der Prosector. This is a must have to find 5 new bands you didn’t know were your future favorites. I love the quality, the execution, and what a compilation like this represents. Mastered by Jules Seifert at Epic Audio Media.

1.DROWND – Lust (Demo) 02:43
2.Cubanate – Transit (2021 Remaster) 05:50
3.Chemlab – Exile On Mainline (Demo) 04:05
4.PIG X The Joy Thieves – Badland(er) (Blowtorch Blues Remix) 05:24
5.Jim Davies – In Shadows 04:15
6.Seething Akira – Paralysed Algorithms (The Algorithm Remix) 04:03
7.Der Prosector – No Amnesty / Car Bomb 2021 09:00
8.i! – Kingdom Of The Snake 07:32
9.Haloblack ft. PIG – Punch The Deck (Dirty) (2021 Remaster) 03:38
10.Skatenigs – Hell; And Back (Ten Feet Tall Remix by The Joy Thieves) 04:54
11.Dead Animal Assembly Plant – Colors Under Attack (Live @ Primal Recording Studios) 04:14
12.Concrete Lung – Destructive (Live from Lockdown) 03:49
13.Tayne – Coherent (Live @ SS2) 02:02
14.Featured – Shelter 04:07
15.Paresis – Higher Plane 2021 05:20
16.Khaidian – Evasion (Khadian’s Star Chamber Remix) 04:17
17.Je$us Loves Amerika ft. Chris Connelly & Gord Young – The Great Pretender 05:01
18.Be My Enemy – Metalhead 04:21
19.K-Nitrate – C-Resistor 04:28
20.Needleye – Cut Myself (Punish Remix by Marc Heal) 03:44
21.Digicore – No You Don’t 03:10
22.Flesh Eating Foundation – Words Without Echo (First Echo Version) 03:32
23.SPANKTHENUN – Right Father 05:43
24.Chris Connelly – Teddy Bear’s Picnic

https://armalyte.bandcamp.com/album/armalyte-xx

Monsieur Pompier’s Travelling Freakshow – Teatime Terrors – Wow what a fresh fun take. The fever dream carnival cacophony of sound. Elements of of Zappa, Man Man, synthwave, and Syd Barrett. The lyrics are a clever, humorous, psychedelia space opera. It’s so exciting to see a band throw caution to the wind and create something truly strange and beautiful. I think the greatest power of this record is the creativity of the characters. Each song is a page from a vibrant comic book concept transported into pixilated retro mono synth songs. I really hope to see this album played live someday, because it sounds like a magical party brought to life. On Cleopatra records.

https://monsieurpompier.bandcamp.com/album/teatime-terrors

nino sable – The AHHH – New lofi minimalist terror trance single from Nino. This track is straight up nightmare fuel with a haunting growl and skin crawling poetic lyrics. You need to listen to this track, not right before you go to bed, but you need to listen to it.

https://ninosable.bandcamp.com/track/the-ahhh

Rohn – Lederman – Watch Out – I know, I have already talked about Jean Marc in this review. Michigan native Emileigh Rohn has an uplifting electricity in her voice that fills me with hope and energy. Her recent tracks with John Fryer’s my new favorite get stuff done music. Now she teams with another living legend in Lederman to focus that fire into a swirling slow motion golden whip. Add in top tier remixes from Assemblage 23, Mark Hokings, and Leatherstrip and COP has put out another home run single. After working with electrosynphonic masters to create emotive sonic paintings like this, the only question that remains is. What will she do next?

https://rohn-lederman.bandcamp.com/album/watch-out

Cult Of Alia – Offerings – New grinding mist rolling future sounds from David Wright on Cold Transmission. I love the fusion of darkscene genres here. The vocals drip from the microphone with sensuality. The songs all hold this enveloping mist quality filling the city streets and holding it’s listeners hostage in the darkness. The creative use of digital sounds add a deliciously unplaceable flavor and build the tension. Split Seconds in particular is such a cerebral thriller of fear and longing. This makes me want to slow goth wave my arms on a dancefloor.

https://cultofalia.bandcamp.com/

C Z A R I N A – Wonderland – I love a good dark pop as much as anyone. This new single from Czarzina is a napalm fire burst. Perfectly crafted, full of soul, and a hook that releases technovirus tendrils and plants itself in your head. We talked recently with her in a podcast that will come out Friday 8/7/21 about how this song was based on her experience of moving to Spain where she learned the spiritual history of the region. Easy on the ears, piercing to the mind. <chefs kiss>

https://czarinaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/wonderland

Red Meat – Manchester UK’s dancetastic hard edge industrial is a album every DJ needs to download and use to blow the walls apart of every dance club in the world. Rhys Hughes has that filthy Uncle Al sex voice which makes you want to shake your body harder and meaner than you ever have before. It’s that perfect mix of glam and grime skirting a razors edge of the danger you want to stick around for. I love hearing music that isn’t my style, but is delivered with such quality I can’t help myself being drawn in by it. This whole album is pure club magic that makes me long for sweaty bodies spasmodically jerking in time while the crumbling walls of a filthy warehouse thrum in the darkness.

https://dronemcr.bandcamp.com/album/homo-vulgaris

daddybear (Feat: Grabyourface) – Science Fiction – Wow Matt Fanale really brought it with this new single. Teaming up with Marie of Grabyourface was a perfect icing on the cake. This is a jam of hypnotic proportions and the message is you must move. Marie’s voice is a smoky sensual alien being both exotic and alluring. The single also has a really cool trance like bside and a holographic wavy Sawtooth remix. Turn the club speakers to 11 and feel it flow through you.

https://daddybear.bandcamp.com/album/science-fiction

Steven Archer Rants part (I’ve lost count)

on By 1 Comment

Steven Archer is the amazing talent behind Ego Likeness and Stoneburner as well as fantastic visual art. You should listen to it and buy said visual art, but for now….. 🙂

https://stoneburnerofficial.bandcamp.com/

https://egolikeness.bandcamp.com/

We are all behind the curve right now

We are all excited for shows to start back up. I personally have been working towards my upcoming tours for a year and a half. As have many bands. We all want to get out there and blow your faces off. All of that said I wanted to throw something out there. Our scene is not young. Most of the “back bone” acts, all those bands you take for granted that play at all the festivals or come through on tour all the time, have been doing this shit for a long ass time. And all of us are aging rapidly. There’s a meme going around that says “guest list is canceled” because bands and venues need your support. I’m all for that and hopefully all of you will understand how much everyone on this side of the ticket counter needs you. Last night I did my first DJ gig in two years. It was a wonderful experience to see old friends and do the thing. But let me tell you, over the past couple of years the arthritis in my hip has gotten much worse (don’t try to stop a car with your hip, kids.) And a casual survey of my fellow compatriots tells me I’m not alone in that. My point being that, our scene for as amazingly accepting of the whole range of humans can occasionally be kinda snarky (I know, right?!?) with the things it takes for granted. Support isn’t just a financial thing. Support is accepting that everyone is two years older than they were when you last saw them. Bodies change, people slow down, artists go in different musical directions and on and on. Maybe try not to lock into the idea of “getting back to the way things were.” That big black pirate ship has sailed. You know people complain from time to time that the scene is ,”stuck in the past?” Well, now is the time to embrace the new world! Instead of expecting shit to pick back up the way it was, consider this whole thing an experiment in Tabula Rosa. A chance for all of us in the “wear a lot of black, dislike the sun, like sounds that go boom and collect dead shit” community to look at the big picture and appreciate what is happening now. It’s easy to take our scene, the venues, DJs, bands, publications, record labels and the rest of the infrastructure that keeps it moving (out of love, because ain’t nobody getting rich doing this shit) for granted when it’s a constant thing. But now all of us know what it’s like when all of it comes to a rapid crashing end. We all know what it’s like to miss the life we just accepted was always going to be there. It’s the new normal, the new model world… If you aren’t vaccinated. Get it done. Go out to club nights! Tip bartenders. Tip DJs. Buy band Merch! Tell promoters how much you appreciate them. Maybe ignore the fact that some artists are shaped slightly different or a bit slower than they were last time you saw them. And appreciate the fact that they are still up there in spite of the new pains in their bodies or the fact that the covid depression caused them to gain weight or maybe their shows aren’t as tight as they could be, because it’s difficult to get together and practice. Because believe me, all of us are painfully aware that our bodies have changed. And as much as we want to get on stage and be the pure vision and vehicle for the music that we see in our heads. The reality is what we see in the mirror or experience trying to walk up stairs reminds us every day that time moves on. But we are still going to get up on those stages or in those booths and venues and do what we do. So, if you have any petty observations about shit like that, how about keeping them to yourselves. Celebrate the fact that we are finally able to get together and do horrible things to each other in darkened clubs and not take the whole thing for granted. –

Steven (Ego Likeness, Stoneburner, and a dude who needs to get his hip replaced at some point)

6/18/21 Bandcamp is donating 100% of our share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Featured By 1 Comment

I have been thrilled to watch as the Goth/Industrial community grows more diverse. Hats off again to Bandcamp for really putting their money where their mouth is to support both bands and the rights people of color. I will go through some of the things I am currently listening to so you can add to your list and support a great cause.

LEATHERS – Reckless – The long anticipated EP from Shannon of Actors. A unique departure from her other projects and really highlights her essence which is more collaborative in Actors. It’s sleek, it’s beautiful, it’s as light as an angel dancing on a pin. I love the silky billowing synths and how they flow off the shoulders of her voice. The sound is such an immersive dream which slides along the borders of reality. I spend moments dwelling on how something so beautiful manages to remain so relatable.

https://leathers.bandcamp.com/album/reckless

Favorite track: Take your pick, but I will go with Missing Scene. Something about this swooping shoegaze LUSH 4AD vibe. Her voice is reverberating like a tuning fork yet ringing so clearly. I hear this song and even on earbuds I feel like I’m in an old opera house with a towering sound system feeling wave after wave wash over.

October Noir – Cover Type O Negative: Love You To Death – Loving the sound of this band. Does it emulate the band they are covering in a lot of their sound. Yes. Type O is an amazing sound though. It’s ultra bass Steele vocals. It’s crunching power chords. It’s chest pounding bass guitar. This cover is rich with extra layers and complexity. It feels like a love letter to a band now beyond the veil. You can really feel the time and dedication placed on taking apart and reanimating every aspect.

https://octobernoir.bandcamp.com/track/love-you-to-death

Dea Decay – Magic Lantern – This is a beautiful fun romp from Florida artist Dea Decay that came out in December 2020. A spicy club crashing electronic explosion. No vocals but instead a steady stream of adorable wicked anime samples. It’s non stop energetic explosion of adorable imagery and and surreal colors.

https://deadecay.bandcamp.com/album/magic-lantern

Favorite Track: Catronica – A little secret here, when the new netflix She-Ra came out I was blown away. It’s so wonderful and pure. This song really captures that energy and highlights my favorite character Catra. It’s sharp claws bounding around with reckless abandon.

SHIV-R – Kill God Ascend – Brand new album from the Australian electronic apocalypse know as SHIV-R. I love the expansive fantasy metal destruction fed into a machine brain and turned loose on an unsuspecting populous. Pete Crane is a force of nature in the industrial scene and has a glorious gift for poetic imagery in his lyrics. If you are a fan of the violent industrial power of Front 242 and shaking your body in dangerous convulsions, this is your jam. I’m also impressed by the range shown on tracks like Spark, a truly lovely brain infecting track of pop industrial glory. Or Black Turns Blue a downtempo marching chant of a ballad. This record is a journey. Crane’s voice is one of those charismatic characters that feels at home in every setting the music places it. This is the wonder of modern industrial.

https://blindmiceproductions.bandcamp.com/album/kill-god-ascend

Black Angel – Prince of Darkness – I am LOVING this modern trend of returning to guitar driven true gothic rock. Matt Vowels has done it again. This is sizzling and sensual dark driving glory. I just don’t get to make this comparison enough but this album holds that emotive blistering power of Love and Rockets. Deep brooding rich vocals, whip snap percussion, but it always comes back to the V8 power of these guitars. Everything is foot to the floor speed and slides. It’s a non stop action flick of adrenochrome and dark intent.

Favorite Track: Serene – What a gorgeous highway 51 desert hard hitting ballad. The vocals croon and tantalize as the dust rolls by on an empty stretch. I love song for outlaws.

PALAIS IDEAL – The Art of Crashing – I’ve been waiting for the follow up to the 2019 release Pressure Points with baited breath. I was disappointed only by the fact it was three tracks and not twenty. This release is a perfectly blended sound of quality crafting, unique flavor, and infectious hooks. It’s one of those releases I can’t imagine who I could play this for and have them not enjoy it. It really has a universal appeal. It feels kinetic, like Depeche Mode “Construction Time Again”. I always enjoy John’s voice, but this EP really highlights how many different things he can do while sounding distinctly himself. It’s the true mark of a singer who has found his themselves and are owning it. The other greatest power of PI is, like all great prog genre, the two components know each other and their instruments so intimately. It really feels like two blended minds working without barrier. It makes the guitar and bass lines dart, bend, and twine together in perfect syncopation. I will be playing this…. A LOT.

https://palaisideal.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-of-crashing

Favorite Track: You can’t go wrong but Results is damn near perfection. From the opening guitar riff, the workout routine bassline, and John’s drive and grit. This song feels like an instant classic from out of time I somehow didn’t hear. It also holds the higher concept lyrics and hope PI always wins me over with. 10/10

Because the World is Cruel, and Promises Get Broken

Featured By

It was a long hard week for me. Time to lose myself in someone else’s head. Who are the songs transporting me to another place?

FIRES – Changeling – New single from Aedrea. The title here really tells the story. Such a bold metamorphic shift in sound. In particular the vocals have this wispy Chelsea Wolfe quality full of fairy fire flickering promise. The music is a shifting fantasia, almost an entire film score journey in five minutes. Tender raindrop keys, crushing storm front guitars, and bisecting buzzsaw percussion. A cacophony of sound and beauty. As an added bonus it contains a Bside called “exit/Void” with a spoken word poem surrounded by sinister overtones. Another glorious example of the captivating burning mind.

https://firesae.bandcamp.com/album/changeling

hallowed hearts – Ruins – NYC’s Hallowed Heart have a new 5 track EP. I love the opening concept of ruins. The things we left behind. The memory of who we were for future strangers to find and wonder at. These are not songs for the dance club. An energetic medium tempo darkwave for walking the dark streets. Pulling the collar of your coat up to stave off a bracing wind. A grey and bleak musical tone offset by the courage of Alex Virlios vocals that cover a wide range and spew forth challenge to cast light on the sullen path.

https://hallowedhearts.bandcamp.com/album/ruins

Stand Out Tracks:

Supernova – A lovely beckoning open with locomotive punching guitar sounds. Virkios vocals start by painting a rich baritone at home in the post punk style, but then crackle with energy for the chorus. I loved the punch and diversity of sound here. Real feelings of introspection and self discovery.

Circle – Beautiful firefly rising ballad to break the pace of the EP. I love the way the guitar lines push forward and guide the voice here. It’s a beautiful and maudlin song of spiritual longing. Two minutes in the ballad takes on real power and teeth.

Overall: This is an album that takes you to very specific moments and paints a picture in the mind. It’s a journey worth taking and a moment worth looking for.

IAMTHESHADOW – Everything in this Nothingness [Still] – I have waiting long for this release on Cold Transmission Music. A re-release of the Portuguese darkwave darlings debut 2016 album. Pedro and company have been tantalizing fans with rich passionate heart bursting serenades. Getting to return to the opening stanza of their journey and combining it with the years of experience and musical wisdom is an experience to waken the ears and minds of their fans. The music is a crystal pool of water on an autumn night. Beautiful, bracing, and teeming with life. I’m going to now repeat a sentence I have uttered in every Iamtheshadow review I have written. “Pedro Code has the best baritone voice in modern goth/darkwave.” It is a force of nature that moves the heart like a poem by one of the great masters.

https://iamtheshadow.bandcamp.com/album/everything-in-this-nothingness-still

Stand Out Tracks: Every Freaking Song

Wait, thats not all. In addition to the album, they released a companion remix album and it is such a brilliant homage by some of the top artists in the scene….and me 🙂 It Includes Kill Shelter, Thewalkingicon, Antipole, Crying Vessel, The Frozen Autumn, and yes Amaranth.

https://iamtheshadow.bandcamp.com/album/everything-in-this-nothingness-remixed

I think what was so impressive with this was the extreme level of talent, as well as a deep personal admiration everyone involved had for Iamtheshadow. There is nothing more engaging for a remix album than when you can really hear a reimagining full of love for the source material. I’ll be selfish for a moment and say getting to sing a duet with Pedro was a dream come true and a terrifying challenge. Collin did a masterful job remixing the song as well. Again hard to choose a standout track, because every song was a passionate love letter to an artist we deeply respect.

White Cauldron – Nine Hells – Wicked release from last year that somehow fell through the cracks on me. The nearby Colombus Ohio band is really hard to place in a box. Sharp spinning blades of Industrial, clashing with jittering witchouse, textural keyboards, and a coven choir of misty swirling vocals. Throwing so many elements together could cause you to be lost in the miasma, but the mix is precise and razor blended to let every element find a voice. I’m not sure how many members the band has beyond Bess but the ultimate power of the release is that feeling of 20 clashing minds swirling around and finding focus like a spectral eruption in a cemetery.

https://whitecauldron.bandcamp.com/album/nine-hells

Stand Out tracks:

Empty Tomb: This song is the cacophony at it’s best. The overlapping harmonies ranging from Nu Metal spitting to banshee haunt wails are a powerful and unnerving effect I found myself captivated by.

Die This Death: This opening bassline has such a filthy stank on it. It rises and grooves like a buzzing swamp consuming a corpse. The rapped out vocals almost put me in mind of Cypress Hill. Just such a unique and conjured ritual of darkness and decay.

Overall: This is a complex listen for all it’s parts. It often rides the line between background chill and chaos dance mix. With everything going on I found myself constantly surprised how easy it was to get lost in the flow of it. I want to take this ride again.

Astari Nite – Pocket Full of Posies – Look if Astari Nite has a new single, I am here for it. That said, holy crap this is a jam. An enchanting garden of mythic colors and romantic poetry. It bounces between complex layers and stripped down emotional delivery. The vocals are that beautiful teardrop smooth Robert Smith croon which makes my heart well. This band continues to impress with every release.

https://astarinitengp.bandcamp.com/album/pocket-full-of-posies

It’s time to start reviewing Twitch livestream DJ shows. First up Hate Mior Isolation – A Soundtrack to the Life and Death of Ian Curtis

on By

This pandemic has changed things. The world we left is not the one we will return to. Even as vaccination rolls out and tours and festivals start booking. A giant void was left in the fabric of our reality and club Dj’s headed to places like Twitch to fill that void. It wasn’t enough to spin Spotify or Mixcloud playlists. People hunger for an interaction. To have a story told. A “Radio show with a strong visual component” Hate Mior. The people who have embraced this new medium have broken a never before done artform which is creating a modern day electronic salon for music fans from around the world to congregate and discuss culture and music in real time. I will start by reviewing a very special 5 hour show by Toronto Street artists/Clothing creator/and DJ Hate Mior and their show to commemorate the life and death of icon Ian Curtis (Joy Division).

https://www.twitch.tv/hatemior

https://www.twitch.tv/hatemior/clip/KindTrustworthySalmonPipeHype-1hbfCfSy4qdUdKo3

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1042696401

This piece is a journey, a story of one of the most known and tragic figures of our genre. Ian’s words and unique musical style were taken too soon but left a rippling effect which burned hard in the imagination and inspiration of generations to come. It opens with the fitting David Bowie classic “Rock and Roll Suicide“. Hate then appears on the screen with the flat lined supernova readout that is homage to the Joy Division “Unknown Pleasures” album. One of the most recognizable images in T Shirt history. Their face is emotive and playful. Stark in Black and White. Projecting the range of an experienced theater performer. Then The Sex Pistols No Fun rings out. It’s hard to separate The Pistols from Joy Division. Legend has it the band was formed at one of their early shows.

At the 25 minute mark Hate lays out what the concept of the show is and why it is important. Also the role the visuals play in the story. Because this isn’t a radio program. It’s a multi media experience. They site reference material like “Touching from a Distance” by Ian’s widow Debra Curtis and the film Control. I love how the story starts at the true beginning. The number one hit in England during Ian’s birth “Why Do Fools Fall in Love“. The narritive progresses to Ian’s early family influence and what it was like growing up in a factory town like Manchester. Matching up the video to the film “Jason and the Argonaughts” which was sited as playing a dramatic role in his development. I love this attention to history. It is clear early on this isn’t just a setlist. It’s a biography set to music.

Ian Curtis is best known for the power of his lyrics. It was truly transformative poetry of the depths of the human condition. Here Hate calls out specific lyrics and the impact his early loves played on those later verses. A story then goes into Ian’s love of mime and performance. How this connected to David Bowie. Then the most important part, how it connected back to Hate’s own life and experience in performance. Because the new roll of the streaming Dj is also as a performer who makes a personal connection with the audience. The Dj is no longer the the one who chooses the music, but a part of the story themselves. This brings Kate into their idea of Ian and Debora’s personal mixtape. I think the other aspect worth noting is Kate does not hit play and put their headphones on. They take this journey with you. In movement and facial expression.

“Kate has an unhealthy knowledge of this band. The setlists were weird until I realized where the show was going.” It felt like going through a museum with the best tour guide on their roster. The stories, background, and history allowed you to see the paintings for yourself. Just gave all the best behind the scenes insight to make everyone who watched feel like an expert.

Setlist: PROLOGUE: David Bowie – Rock n’ Roll Suicide John Peel Announcement

: The Death of Ian Curtis Sex Pistols – No Fun Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant PART 1: Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers – Why Do Fools Fall in Love David Bowie – Sound and Vision The Doors – Light My Fire Neu! – Wave Mother The Velvet Underground – Candy Says Nektar- It’s All in the Mind Mott the Hoople – All the Young Dudes Roxy Music – More than This WARSAW YEARS Warsaw- No Love Lost (early recording) Warsaw – Warsaw Warsaw – The Drawback Warsaw – They Walked in Line Warsaw – Tension Warsaw – Lost Iggy Pop – The Passenger Buzzcocks – Lipstick The Fall – Firey Jack The Drones – Persecution Complex X-Ray Spex – Oh Bondage! Up Yours Delta 5 – Mind Your Own Business Gang of Four – To Hell with Poverty Martin Hannet & Joy Division – Noise Drums Sine Warmup N.F Porter – Keep On Keeping On Joy Division – Interzone Frank Sinatra – My Way

In between the sets you hear the famous Henry Rollins rant, along with a Bill Burr quote. I love the full picture here of adding other voices to how Joy Division effected them. Shout out for the Bootblacks spin who I think has a direct line the flavor and magic Joy Division captured. From here the set veers sharply into a tribute to Joy Division the way it was meant to be heard. 1st pressing vinyl, obscure cuts, and a Martin Hannett homage. Kate calls out the people who support them, which is such an important part of the modern stream. People have a longing to be connected to what they are seeing. The best streaming shows understand this and make the experience interactive.

PART 2 – THE RISE AND FALL OF JOY DIVISION Joy Division – Shadowplay (First television appearance) Kraftwerk -The Man Machine Joy Divison – Day of the Lords Joy Division – Twenty Four Hours Joy Division – Insight Martin Hannett & Joy Division – More N4 Drum Programming Joy Division – Transmission (Arrow Studio 1978) Jou Divison – Transmission (12″ original vinyl) Joy Division – Incubation Joy Division – Dead Souls (live at Les Bains Douche) Joy Divisio – Isolation Joy Division – She’s Lost Control (original first UK press vinyl) The Captain and Tenille – Love Will Keep Us Together Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart Section 25 – Girls Don’t Count Section 25 – Colour Movement Sex & Violence Parts of Ian Curtis’s recorded past life regression therapy (originally recorded by Bernard Sumner) FINAL CURTAIN A Certain Ratio – All Night Party Joy Division – Ceremony (Live at Birmingham University) Joy Division – Disorder Joy Division – Decades Joy Division – Digital Joy Division – The Eternal Iggy Pop – Nightclubbing Iggy Pop – Mass Production Martin Hannett & Joy Division – Atmosphere Buildup MUSIC VIDEO: Atmosphere David Bowie – Warsazawa

The game has changed and Djs haven’t just had to adapt. They have had to create a new medium of art and experience. This was a history lesson, a street performance, and a psychology paper rolled into musical format. If this is the future of streaming shows that the pandemic has made for us. If this is the way the world connects online to become a little closer, a little smaller. I say the future looks bright and is starting to heal the pieces of what this isolation has made. Where will it end?

I’ll work on more stream reviews soon, who are some of the ones you love? Comment below