2020 Electrojazz album from Meat Beat Manifesto member Ben Stokes. Ben Stokes is an OG industrial icon from Chicago who has produced videos for Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Meat Beat, KMFDM and many more.The multimedia project started in 1988 and has three LPs available on Bandcamp. Working out of San Fransisco they did video work on Autoimmune, as well as co writing and producing the new album Man From Mantis. From title track one of Seeing Is Believing I was struck by the blending of EDM sonic imagery and samples to tell a dance floor bardic tale. The track names themselves help lead you on the journey. Seeing is Believing, Seeing, Seen unspool a thread of this unified theme. Ben is known for his video art for some of the biggest names in Industrial, getting a chance to delve into the music of his mind, beyond the visual interpretation of other artists is a glorious new prism. The samples have an amazing 60s instructional video feel ala LA Style. Crispy back beats that unspool a groove, instead of relying on upbeat techno attack.
Wonderful interview here by our friend Rexx on STATIK TV
Favorite Tracks:
DJ Jerks – Track 5 which features a video of amazing stop motion action figure style. A slippery slow beat dance groove. I’m not sure where these samples came from, but they really lend a sense of cohesion to emersed you in a Bioshock world of found footage. This track really have the energy to make a dancefloor cook.
After The Music Has Stopped – I love the slutty muted horn effect and 60’s Barbarella sci fi vibes here. A sexy silver body suit walking bass groove. This is peak cocktail party music.
Disco System – Riding that cowbell into the sunset and I am here for it. One of the most up tempo tracks that really sizzles that line between electro disco and fusion jazz.
At twenty tracks this album is a true journey. In both musical narrative as well as a nostalgic emotional trigger of my youth in the rave scene of Detroit. An ever pulsing heart, a bounding danger, a cold synthetic dream. I am transported back to those humidity dripping walls in some forgotten warehouse as a conductor behind two turn tables moved his hands to control the tempo and emotion of your night.
Overall this record is a wonderful experience to take in the sonic musings from someone so relevant to the visual aspect of this scene. It can be easy to get boxed in by our own talents and Ben Stokes has shown that Electonic music has always been in his soul. This can be as a visionary for others music, or wielding the sculpture himself.
Brand new single and video from Baltimore suicide rock artist STR Helvete! After a two year hiatus Helvete Inc. returns with new collaborator “DrumDaddy” Dan Milligan (Joy Thieves) and producer Erik Gufstafson (Adoration Destroyed) to unleash a savage electronic entropy doused in guitar driven gasoline. Briming with life and corruption this creeping track boils over and fills the dancefloor with green fog. STR’s voice cuts through the static with a subtitle melody.
Lyrics: Revel in this ignorance Confess my sins, kneel and repent But this ever present nothingness is eating me away Kill for unseen entities to justify existence Hold onto faith but drowning in the lies
What is it that you pray for? The Godhead What is it that you prey for? The Godhead
credits
released November 3, 2023
A Major Arcana work Produced and mixed by Erik Gufstafson Mastered by STR Helvete Recorded in The Void
Dan Milligan– Drums STR Helvete– Music, lyrics, vocals
This year is flying by, I can’t believe October is already here. Time once again for our singles chart to highlight some of the best songs released in September voted on by our group of Artists/DJs/Reviewers/Promotors/and Super Fans. Hearing these tracks are a great way to keep your finger on the pulse as well as raise awareness of amazing new bands in the scene that don’t always show up in other charts. If you or someone you know has a single released in Oct in the broad Darkscene genre. Join the group and add it.
Matt Hart – Deep Down City
Black Rose Burning – Fight
Stoneburner – The Great Filter
GoFight – Machine Rock
The Waning Moon – Shred My Wings
Curse Mackey – Dead Fingers Talk
Sapphiria Vee – What It Was
Night Nail – Narcoleptic Dream Catcher
Choke Chain – Mortality
Gazelle Twin – Black Dog
MATT HART – Deep Down City – London Industrial Metal artist Matt Hart is no stranger to the top of the S & S Darkscene chart. I love how every single has a cyberpunk back story. This track would be the perfect scene builder for one of my old ShadowRun Table Top games. A new neon world buried beneath the destruction of the past. Cybernetically enhanced 6 inch platform boot stomps. Designer drugs and laser cycles hugging the corners of plastic streets. Razor production and imaginative concepts.
We reached a place so deep that, All the light has left the darkness, We source a new found light a Strength to fuel our journeys process
A new world built for us, A city designed to survive, Honour, pride, and sacrifice, This is the way of the Deep Down City
Main chamber to the stairwells, Entertainment and the sleep holes, Trains and stations, living districts, All together survival instinct.
Deep, down below We see the glow our home so far down
This is the way, survive the day, Take it from me we’ve paved our way.
2) Black Rose Burning – Fight – It’s so great to see awesome people get the recognition they have long deserved. George Grant from Brooklyn has been a fixture in this scene for decades and people are starting to come around to his top tier voice, immersive songwriting, and complex technique. A science fiction story set in this albums space age world. I love how this tale zooms in on a relationship. In this one a co-dependent one. I think it’s really relatable for most of us at some juncture in life. George’s voice is such a breath of fresh air for it’s unique flavor in a baritone post punk world. It’s funny, as I read the lyrics I built a story of an alien parasite which is both keeping a stranded spaceman alive, while slowly consuming him. A race against time for rescue.
t’s stranger still, to taste a bitter pill And there’s no lines, it’s better to lie all of the time Now I can’t feel you anymore
Cho: Sometimes – we try to forget it all and never make a change Sometimes – we’d rather believe it, and just take the blame Sometimes – we deceive, and we lie, to ourselves Sometimes – it’s brutally painful to let it go – I know
Verse 2 It’s your state of mind, that’s seems so unkind Now there’s no love, just push and shove, off came the gloves And I can’t heal you
Cho: Sometimes – we try to forget it all and never make a change Sometimes – we’d rather believe it, and just take the blame Sometimes – we deceive, and we lie, to ourselves Sometimes – it’s brutally painful to let it go – I know
Bridge: I tried to make you happy But the truth kept shining through I tried to make it happen Dead and Broken, words unspoken so where do we go to now?
Cho: Sometimes – we try to forget it all and never make a change Sometimes – we’d rather believe it, and just take the blame Sometimes – we deceive, and we lie, to ourselves Sometimes – it’s brutally painful to let it go – I know
3) Stoneburner – The Great Filter – Title track from Baltimore sound sculpture and dear friend Steven Archer on COP International Records. I am adoring the emphasis on narrative focus for our top three songs this month. This album and song focused on a controversial theory by Robin Hanson. I love the slow walk 90s bass opening charged down by glitchy cyber rap. The tempo takes it’s time as layers of chaos and tension pile on to a white-hot barrel fire under a bridge.
4) Go Fight – Machine Rock (MekaBeat) – The top of this chart has been full of dear friends and all around awesome folk. So I am excited to see Chicago Industrial Legend Jim Marcus picked near the top. This remix album which features a ton of top talent doing remixes of the June single. This one has a fun 70s shock rock inside a 3d video pinball game flavor. Gyration and hip checks encouraged for this dance floor banger. There is something special about Jim’s “Industrial” voice that takes me there every time.
5) The Waning Moon – Shred My Wings – A newer band comprised of two veterans Ariel Maniki (Ariel Maniki and The Black Halos) and Zac Campbell (The Kentucky Vampires). The combination explores more electronic ground for each of the goth-rock artists. You are still getting a heavy dose of classic Zach early batcave riffs. Ariel croons like a creature risen from the depths dripping with pageantry. This project really reminds you why goth was so cool in the first place. Before the word got so big you forgot what it meant.
6) Curse Mackey – Dead Fingers Talk (Electric Heresy Remix by A Cloud of Ravens) – Currently out on tour Austin TX Industrowave beat poet Curse Mackey is remixed by shooting star Brooklyn post punk band A Cloud Of Ravens. The stairslide bass walk lays a thick path for Curse to fling a barrage of venom from. The idea of creeping zombified flesh swarming towards you was really taken to hear for this reimagining.
7) Sapphira Vee – What it Was – This months chart is so full of amazing artists I love dearly, so it is fitting Sapphira has found her way into this list. The Rochester NY electro sorceress is swirling energies above her head and surrounded by a coven of top tier remixers on the Distortion Records release. I really love the confidence and cadence of this track. Soulful Missy Elliot energy fired over a cool spinning disc. Loving the way she has harnessed her voice and leaned into her truth.
8) NIGHT NAIL – Narcoleptic Dream Catcher – Berlin based atmospheric obtenebrationwave band with the first single on their upcoming Metropolis release featuring everyone’s favorite euro darkscene producer Pete Burns. This opening bass riff is sleek, wet, and captivating. Brandon shows his range and dynamic with these vocals. I love the clarity of his dipping baritone that leaves the overwash reverb in the 80’s and pairs perfectly with what I assume are Valentina backup vocals. A smooth retrospective with newfound complexity.
9) Choke Chain – Mortality – One of the most fiercely honest voices in modern electro-hardcore. This new single is a visceral dive into self confrontation and the horror of depression. It’s a nice build and texture on the music, but Mark’s voice cuts through everything to stand an inch from your face forcing you into his raw reality.
I can’t take it anymore
posessed by death destroying my life every second gets worse it keeps getting worse
dying in your sleep or dying in pain most likely in pain most likely in pain
why do I have to die? im just trying to live
why can’t I just die? it hurts me to live
each minute that passes theres so many who die and at some point that will be you gone forever
cast into nothingness no way to know you existed every thought every memory all for nothing
10) Gazelle Twin – Black Dog – I knew very little about this UK band but I was instantly blown away. A quirky shadow pop with whispered menace and electronic hand drums. True abstract nightmare fuel lit by the glow of analog synths. At 2 minutes 53 seconds it explodes as the dog breaks it’s chain to charge you with frothing chaos. I genuinely regret this was the last song I listened to before bed. Pray for me.
As always, if you or someone you know is releasing a single in October in the broad darkscene genre. Feel free to post it on my Patreon or in the Facebook group. We are always looking to discover the best in new dark music.
I love this extended dance vibe in contrast to the usual auditory architecture of Berlin based Vlimmer. Alexander leads a teeming electro chorus to the desolate crumbling dance floor to stomp through the apocalypse.
“Höhenluft” is a 9-minute techno adventure that meanders through an atmospheric soundscape touching the industrial and post-punk genre. Originally recorded during the sessions for Vlimmer’s latest album, “Zerschöpfung” (released Aug 25), it now stands for its own, widening the sound of the ever-changing Vlimmer chameleon.
One of the great indicators of the Goth Rennaissance we are experiencing is the rise of more and more new festivals. The amount of talent currently in the darkscene added to the return of many legacy bands have led to great value for fans. These festivals have become goth summer camps to meet up with music scene friends often only interacted with online. In the last three years one that I always here praised by bands from around the world is Absolution Fest in Tampa Bay Florida from promotor/dj Mark Paradise from Communion After Dark and co promotor Pete Olen of Endoxa Booking. I think two things have lead to Absolution Fest’s success. 1) They place a focus on fresh up and coming bands rather than only having legacy headliners. 2) Positive people above name recognition. Everyone one I know who has played this festival raves about how every band there becomes friends and lifts each other up. This attitude and positive energy bleeds over into the crowd and gives everyone the sense of connection and community the scene has longed for.
The list of bands this year is staggering. I will go through some of the highlights along with links and information. Starting with the main even page below.
Priest – Swedish synthwave sci-fi EDM. Performance, execution, danger, this is music to do crime to. If you say “Siri, play my hanging from a string jewel heist playlist” this is track one.
Kanga – Once again from the city of angels electronic glitter napalm pop Kanga is an experience not to be missed. Deeply respected in the genre this is glorious textural production you feel in your bones. New Album out October 6th.
Visceral Anatomy – The Alter ego of one of my favorite IL bands Wingtips. This incarnation of the duo place the lyric writing and singing on Hannah for a wonderfully different feel. I love the way their story is being told through a different lens.
Aeon Rings – Florida band I recently made song of the day and reminded myself I need to listen to more. Fierce EDM with Davey Partains piercing lightning quick vocals. They also have a new album out in Oct.
Last Grasp – Florida goth trio I had never heard before this review. First thing that grabbed me, what an amazing jazzy walking goth bassline. When you lay the foundation this well Epiphania it is easy to build on. Matthew DeFeis provides a nice rich Eldrichesque baritone vocal to round out a lovely trad goth feel. I’ll be looking for more.
Light Asylum – My religious devotion to Shannon’s voice is well known on this page. If you have never seen Light Asylum live, you are yet to live your best life. Trust me.
Night Sins – Philadelphia gangstersynth band with tortured baritone vocals and cold iron basslines. I haven’t seen them live yet, but I look forward to the opportunity.
Panic Priest – The magnificent Chicago darkwave crooner that makes every show feel like an intimate experience. violet beam guitar rifts, clarifying synths, and Jack’s top tier vocals are guaranteed to impress.
Double Eyelid – A dear friend Ian Revell coming from Toronto. They also understand how to embrace the camp of darkness. The songs all have razor hooks and interesting stores. This is a band that NEEDS more attention.
Black Rose Burning – One of the most underrated talents in our scene George Grant from Brookland. I’m so glad to see major festivals start to recognize their talent. They just dropped a new album “Ad Astra” Mastered by: Jason Corbett (Actors) and it is nothing short of breath taking. George is the musical genius of goth Peter Gabriel.
Empathy Test – The standout London band that has shot to worldwide notoriety with their dreamy emotive narrative style of songwriting. Another band I am yet to see live but that I can’t wait to. This is a band with headliner energy travelling across the ocean to delight American audiences.
WINGTIPS – The previously mentioned Illinois band also preforming Thursday as Visceral Anatomy. Perfect dream chaos synth music that somehow gets better every time I see them live. That is really saying something as I have seen them 7 times and each one my jaw drops and the connection and power of their performance. If you have never witnessed Vincent and Hannah do yourself a favor.
Helix – Amazing electronic team up of Tom Shear (Assemblage 23) & talented solo producer Mari Kattman. The married couple collaborate seamlessly to create steamy cascading electro art. I love the parts, I love the whole, I love getting lost in these songs.
BlakLight – LA darkpop darting between light and shadow. I always love the Peter Hook (Revenge) shadowsynth vibes I get from this band. I have never seen them live but I’m sure the floor will be pulsing.
NITE – The amazing Mendes brothers from Texas who flutter on the wind between post punk and synth pop. Always icy razor-sharp production and gorgeous glam vocals. A band I keep hearing the growth of with every release.
Additional shout out to Obscura Undead our dear friends in the scene and sponsor.
Obscura Undead
Obscura Undead is a collective of goth creators passionate about new and obscure goth, darkwave, post-punk, and other dark alternative music. Evolving and changing with the chaos is life and lead by Azy Bats, Obscura Undead celebrates five years of commitment to the members and bands of our dark scene, Tampa events, and inclusive goth-erie. We are a zine, a compilation, a mixtrack, a podcast, a promoter, a DJ group, and a supporter in love and darkness of all Goth has to offer.
