Category: Industrial

Sing Me Songs That Make Me Feel Something

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Red wine and a shining moon. Here I sit once again after a long and chaotic week. I reach out for the solace of other peoples dreams and thoughts in music. The world is waking up from a long nightmare. The scene is wonderfully awash with exciting new talent and ideas. Here are some of the glorious sounds I am hauling into my boat.

Chiasm – Missed The Noise – Always excited to see amazing art created by a fellow Michigander like Emileigh Rohn. This album is arranged by legendary producer John Fryer. There is nothing better than two top talents forming a bond and producing something better than the sum of the parts. Emileigh has a voice that gives you a gut punch of energy with every phrase. This feels like the montage scene in a film where our heroine levels up her power. It feels like actualization with every electric build and feint. The music is so finely honed, each song a story that digs it’s hooks in and allows the charisma of the vocals to shine like a beacon.

Top Tracks:

Noise – The glorious workout of crackling electric light. This song just blasts in wave right out of the gate. The vocals are power animal bright light. If I had to pick one word to describe, inspiring.

Missed – A total shift to darkpop drifting glory. The opening chimes and quacky sounds. I think you strangled my sweet mind. This is such a dynamic and visual sound. Windblown flowing silk in a posh apartment watching the worlds spin past. This song really puts on display the powerful teamwork of these musicians. Again with the powerful mantra of self actualization. Those deep vocal contrasts really add a noticeable line between the experience and viewpoint.

https://chiasm.bandcamp.com/album/missed-the-noise

Overall appeal: This is a album for everyone. It has lots of delicious pop and feminine power with an expert craft and emotional energy. Highly recommend.

Hide Tepes/ Blakmoth – Filther – The back and forth rocking sonic duel of our own Hide Tepes and Maryland’s Blakmoth. A wonderful collaboration of oily sonic darkness. There is a wisdom achieved at a certain point in life where you realize you can no longer walk the journey of those making music at the absolute cutting edge of modern music. If you listen though, you still know when you hear it. That difference when someone is truly taking the adventure for you and exploring new and terrifying ground. That’s the feeling inspired by this subtitle and and creeping Synth driven psychological terror. It’s music that grabs your hair and smashes your face in a mirror. Leaving you exposed to gasp at the bloody mess and the terror in your own eyes. This is not a casual listening album. It’s a test of your empathy and fortitude.

https://blakmoth.bandcamp.com/album/filther

Overall Appeal: This is not a pop album for easy listening. It’s a blending introspection of abstract thought and feeling. Enter at your own risk. If you do find yourself of a courageous heart and an open mind. This is the cutting edge music of tomorrow.

Nuclear*Sun – Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself – So cover albums are a tricky thing, often you are getting someone at a lower experience level trying to find new space in an established song that meant something to them. Tal Kliger has brought a talent and hungry energy to covers of friends as well as inspiration. The overall sound razor skates that place between EBM and Industrial with a highspeed light footed agility. Bouncing vocals skipping between a growl and a ringing clarity. You can really hear the love and devotion to the musical process in these tracks. it’s blazing heat and energy that captured me and left me hungry.

https://nuclearsun.net/album/couldnt-have-said-it-better-vol-1

Top Tracks:

February War – A cover of Rabbit Junk. This was driving punk rock stinging beats and glitchy vocals. Stabbing and edge of control flavor. I love the guitar bends and smashing drums. A poignant assault on the senses and emotions.

Insurgence – A cover of Sean Payne but with smashing and razor sharp execution. Grab a bat and start smashing. Hard leaning Front Line Assembly vibes full of high concept and obliteration. I loved the parking lot fist fall energy and dark streetlight tone.

Overall Appeal: If you like it hard and nasty with a familiar feel this is your jam. Fans of Industrial/EBM/ Metal edge will find red burning glory here.

Bow Ever Down – Lost In The Woods – Kimberly Kornmeier sizzling darkpop from 2020 which left me swaying and captivated. The synthy star sparkle spins are a wonderful atmospheric journey. Their voice is an icy and bracing powerful clarity. They have a honesty and power that rings forth with every delivered line. It’s vulnerable and indomitable at the same fine. The music has a soulful and serious tone. A shattering crystal castle of faced disillusionment growth and regret. I also love the use of samples to set stories that allow the vocals to show the emotional range of the story portrayed.

https://boweverdown.bandcamp.com/album/lost-in-the-woods

Top Tracks:

Bury my Body – This song is full of that glorious smashing glass effect. It’s as beautiful as it is cruel. A challenge with sharpened blade to anyone that would dare step inside this protected circle. Kimberly’s voice is emotive and clear as ice.

Grey – More raw wound self introspection. Intense and powerful vocals delivered with beauty and subtilty. The concepts are timeless and modern. “I’m a monster and I’ll kill you from the inside out”

Overall Appeal: Definitely pop hook appeal. Definitely has soul. A nice organic quality added by the vocals. If you like darkpop with a strong female protagonist these are stories you can relate to and drive down a dark road summoning your strength.

A Cloud of Ravens – Another Kind of Midnight – New album from Brookland band ACOR, which has left me immediately captured and ready to dive into this deep pool. This record is a perfect blend of the homage to the past and the modern construction of the future. Well deep power and resonant vocals carry these stalking shadow woven songs. It’s concrete wilderness and Peter Murphy poetry. Ringing guitars and driving basslines carry a heroic journey through a desolate land. The power of this story is to make the situation always seem so bleak but leaves a glimmer of hope in every song. We have an interview coming out soon that provides a glimpse behind the curtain to this emotional hand quivering delivery.

https://acloudofravens.bandcamp.com/album/another-kind-of-midnight

Favorite Tracks: All of them

Overall Appeal: Fans of old and new school goth will find a beautiful blend in this release. I feel into it’s grasp deeply and had a huge replay factor.

Mark E Moon – Old Blood – Old and sinister music and vocals from Cold Transmission and the Isle of Man. I have been a fan or Mark E Moon for a while but this new record is a huge step forward in shadowy transmission and feeling that rips open your skull and pours raw unhinged emotion directly to your mind. It’s stomping, unforgiving and full of truth. I picked this record up and couldn’t find a way to put it down. Released on April 2nd you can get two tracks now with preorder. It has a sense of poetry and theater that has been lacking in the modern goth scene. It rides the line between beauty and grit. I can’t remember the last time I heard a band take such a monumental step forward from a previous album I enjoyed.

https://markemoon1.bandcamp.com/album/old-blood

Overall Appeal: Huge, if you love goth and darkwave this is exceptional execution with poetic and romantic lyrics. It’s fresh and furious with driving guitar lines that set a standard for future genre releases.

Ash Code – Fear – Dark and dangerous new EP from the always impressive Italian act Ash Code. More racecar raw energy and city slick metro tone. I also feel a lot more edge in these tracks that the warmer synthesized last release. This just dropped yesterday and already is calling to me for constant playtime. Wonderful blending of vocals and sound. I hate to use another car metaphor but when you have a perfectly tuned engine and everything is humming just right. That is the sense of craftsmanship and streamlined beauty of Ash Code. The movement and transitions are effortless and graceful. It’s an effect that feels perfect in a club or at home over a bottle of wine. On top of that they pulled out all the stops having the songs remixed by top name artists like Clan of Xymox, Molchat Doma, and Forever Grey.

https://ashcode.bandcamp.com/album/fear

Favorite Track:

Indifference – Beautiful whispered vocals behind rapid fire heavy bass line. The rising synths are walls of color on a grey ground. I find myself getting lost in the beauty of construction. Listening to Ash Code makes me feel cooler than I am. That’s the true power of this band. To transfer some of their effortless appeal just by listening.

Overall Appeal: Immense, this is for fans of Post Punk/Darkwave/Synth but really has a relatability to fans of any dark music. It’s just well done. This is a band at the top of the game in their genre.

Video Review of Slighter “Complicit”

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Hot new video release from Portland’s electronic dance rage band Slighter. This song has such a creeping sludgy sex appeal. Colin Cameron has a filthy vocal delivery which stalks you like a hunter beyond your vision. I love the contrast of the glitchy sound and booming bass with those whispered promise melodies. The video is an amazing ghost in the machine view. Innocence is dangerous, inside of us”. I love the hard build in this short banger. A hungry snarling club growl for your next playlist

https://confusioninc.bandcamp.com/album/complicit-single

Available on bandcamp now!

Chaos Magicks – Ritualistic Darkwave and More…

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Ever since I heard the dark classic “These Remains” by the Thrill Kill Kult, I have been hooked on that sinister sound. It’s not quite dance music, but it’s not “not” dance music is it? It always made me feel like I was a character in a movie that snuck their way into the VIP room at the club only to find they stumbled into some modern pagan ritual, ala the masked ball from Eyes Wide Shut, but with the classical music soundtrack replaced by something akin to Skinny Puppy fronted by Chelsea Wolfe.

Take a ride with me and let’s listen to some of the artists that I think are exploring some of  these same sonic pathways today…

Cult of Alia – The Only Angel – This new track from Cult of Alia, the side project of David Wright from Creux Lies, gives me the feeling of a being in a 80’s vampire flick where the blood junkie in question stalks his prey from across the crowded dance floor. They lock eyes and the hunt begins. Great synth sounds and the pulsing beat gets your butt moving… Definitely looking forward to more from this project!

https://cultofalia.bandcamp.com/track/the-only-angel

Bara Hari – Weapon – Samantha Franco hits us with Weapon! Inspired by her experiences with the exploitative men in the music industry, she delivers an all too important (and honestly all too familiar) reminder that we need to get our shit straight and be fucking decent human beings to each other. But let’s be clear… This track is a serious jam. I love the video concept and I can totally see her kicking ass like the Bride in Kill Bill.

https://barahari.bandcamp.com/track/weapon

Owl Theory – Heaven in Reverse – This E.P. of dark, seductive, electronic pop came about from Jarod Gibson of Odonis Odonis doing a gothic / darkwave take on Harry Styles song ‘WOMAN‘. That track anchors a collection of dark pop that flows from the ambient soundtrack stylings of the title track, to the trip hop vibes of the track “Spin”. I love this record… once I start playing it I get lost in the sound and before i know it, it’s over and I gotta spin it again!

https://digitalmarkt.bandcamp.com/album/heaven-in-reverse

SØLVE – SVNT LACRIMÆ RERVM – Atmospheric synths paired with punishing industrial beats. This dark and powerful track is steeped in cinematic ritualism… Every time I listen to this song, it lingers in the corners of my mind and teases me with its aftershocks, making me want more.

https://slve.bandcamp.com/track/svnt-lacrim-rervm

Sidewalks & Skeletons – ETERNAL REST – This track, featuring frequent collaborator Cash for Gold, throws shades of Crystal Castles for me, but they pair it up with some thick urban beats and blazes a dark path of its own. I love how they can take an airy synth typically found in traditional dance music and make it heavy enough to smother you.

https://remissionentertainment.bandcamp.com/track/eternal-rest-feat-cashforgold-2

I could go on and on, but I have to leave some room for the rest of the Sounds and Shadows gang to work in.

Hit this playlist at https://bndcmpr.co/7711ef1f  to hear these tracks and more!

It’s March Bandcamp Day! Let The People Rejoice!

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That old familiar feeling, sitting late at night on Stella number 6. A quiet falls over my house. Other than my earbuds blasting the latest in wonderful new dark music which I will now share with you. Our new Sounds and Shadows Facebook group has exposed me to several new bands and DJs so I will dig into that now. May the muses strike you and help you find something inspiring on this list like I did.

The Gothsicles – Animal Songs – Anyone who reads this page knows I am a goth who does not take himself to seriously. I think goth music should be stretched to the utmost limit of the definition. So when I hear a band that takes that way further than I could even imagine, believe me I am all in. When I first heard bands like Violent Femms in my youth it was extremely inspiring. I have a voice that does not fit the music I play. Brian Graupner has achieved the same concept and turned it to eleven. The music is Star Destroyer laser beams of energy burning through the universe with reckless abandon. His singing is an infectious wail spewing forth educational and spicy cadence you can taste burning down your throat. This album takes on a really interesting concept. All of the songs are about animals, written from that perspective. It also has some great guest vocals including MC Lars and FIRES doing a rap. This record isn’t a lot of ups and downs musically. Just keeps blasting you like a fire hose. I think it is a true testament to what Graupner accomplished by having the lyrics and clever delivery be the dynamics that hold your attention.

https://thegothsicles.bandcamp.com/album/animal-songs

Favorite Tracks: All of them

Rock the Quokka – This track has the same bouncing intensity but with a funky bounding adorable energy. The lyrics are brilliant and transport you into the tall grass and brilliant sun.

Naked Mole Rat – I want to hear Aedra (FIRES) on everything. Here she is dropping amazing bars and her sharp edge sultry voice is an amazing addition. It blends well with Brian screaming Pink and Furtive. All these songs really do make you feel and empathize with these animals. It’s a memorizing effect.

Stag Beatle Professional Wrestling – Here the idea of making the beetles do another thing close to my heart, pro wrestling just slayed me. The music has wonderful 90s electronica industrial beats. Just pure fun right up your gullet.

This record just captured me entirely. If you buy one thing this band camp Friday my recommendation is it is this. It inspires me to make goth music even more fun. Obviously the world is ready.

The Hanging Freud – Nowhere – Delicious Glasgow slow droning darkwave. Lots of swirl and down tempo with singer Paula Borges giving rich melting chocolate to pour slowly on that buzzing synth. Definitely hearing big audio heaven sound stretching. Sometimes in a mix you can feel one aspect or another too far away. Here everything feels underwater in equal measure and it gives the music a surreal quality. The tension is great and gives this feeling of being on a submarine sinking closer to the crush point. Watching out the small glass circles and seeing the world grow darker.

https://hangingfreud.bandcamp.com/album/nowhere

Favorite Track: Power over you – Definitely the sharp point of that sinking feeling. A stalking Bioshock copper glow sound. This isn’t a song you are hearing, it is a record playing from the spirit world creeping through the veil into your human ears.

Blind Colour – Ink Project – Rhythm Spirit – Ok this is a little outside my usual wheelhouse. This is slow sexy textural electronic beats. Renunciant of triphop like Portishead. It’s hard to box it in just one place though because the songs cover such varied group and have a real visceral imagery. This is an album to close your eyes to, lay back, and picture yourself floating. I found a calm meditation washing over me as each track flowed like liquid into the next. The craft and patience of these songs are fully on display. This whole project streams like a movie where your imagination are the pictures.

https://blindcolour.bandcamp.com/album/ink-project-rhythm-spirit

Favorite Tracks:

Blink Feat: Yazmyn Hendrix – Slow grinding space flight. Quasars and stars pass you by. Hendrix voice has a southern soul and smooths the staccato beats of the music with a dreamlike flow.

Slow Suicide Feat: Fifi Rong – A stronger and funkier gravitational pull. Fifi has a whispered spoken word style with a little Suzanne Vega flow. Gently dipping her hand in a calm pool to create expanding ripples. Then she reaches up with a beautiful chorus melody. “I’m a mess, I confess” the balanced rhymes never let your head leave this perfectly constructed vision.

Ashbury Heights – Wild Eyes – Now I understand I am a little late to the game on Ashbury Heights, I can tell you I have rectified that mistake now. Just magnificent construction and expansive rising dance club banger energy. Madil Hardis has a sunrise voice that sets light upon the shadows. Anders Hagstrom has a perfect piercing counterpart. I played this single 4 times and just couldn’t stop shaking and swaying. The lyrics were relatable and left you deep in the pop hooks. Precision layering of the vocal harmonies with modern crystal clean movement. I need to listen to A LOT more Ashbury Heights.

https://ashburyheights.bandcamp.com/track/wild-eyes-feat-madil-hardis

Long After Midnight – Painkiller – Close to home is Grand Rapid Michigan’s Long after Midnight. Really liking how much rock is mixed into this Industrial Rock. The mastering was done by  Jules Seifert so everything is smooth as an Aston Martin’s fender. Ross Martin’s vocals are crisp and powerful to cut through the progressive hard edge of the music. Mike Nolan is juggling a lot of moving parts here to give the music a sense of complexity and movement. Really exciting taste of more great things to come. I need to play with these cats once shows start again.

https://longaftermidnight.bandcamp.com/album/painkiller-ep

Heavy Water Factory – it’s not what you think – Let’s keep things in the Michigan. Jesse James McClear has been a pioneer of the Detroit Industrial/Techno scene for a few decades now. This new EP highlights what he does best. The hard stomping echo of Detroit Industrial with the tight corners and revving engine of electronic dance. This EP is all instrumental but speaks volumes with the razor changes and subtitle details. It’s an endless motion and sinisterly honed vision. The bleep bloop bop is not glitchy or crushing. Instead it endeavors for something sleek and calculated. This is night time driving soundtrack through a collapsing city. Could I have appreciated some vocals? Sure. However not having them didn’t stop me from plunging in and riding this wave of emotion.

https://heavywaterfactory.bandcamp.com/album/its-not-what-you-think

Glass Apple Bonzai – The Blush – For my final review lets pick a great story from a wonderful human. Daniel Belasco had two friends effected by the winter storms in Texas and released this smoking hot synth danger to help them. This track has their beautiful signature layered new wave spun candy. The vocals are vaulting hurdle after hurdle and popping effortlessly between ranges. Spinning in a spiral of technicolor bright energy. The B side track Fire in the Sky is a deep crooning highway driver. I love this come hither version of Daniels voice. The chorus is a gorgeous open hook of cool mint candy cane. Feel good about snagging great music and helping folk in need.

https://glassapplebonzai.bandcamp.com/

Interview with Bill Weedmark by Eddie LaFlash

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Good whatever time of day it is that you’re reading this! Ken said I could interview anybody in the whole wide inner circle of industrial music so I thought long and hard and chose homeboy Bill Weedmark. If you’re on facebook at all you’ve definitely seen him at the forefront of many of the scene pages. I took a deep dive skinny dipping session with our lovable friend here and asked him the hard pressing questions that’s on everyone’s minds.

EL: You seem to have your finger on the pulse of the scene, you mod several band groups (OMF for 3teeth, Dreadfully Possessed for GosT, Nuclear Family for Nuclear*Sun and others, and the Anti-Hearts for Night Club). How THE FUCK have you made these connections and how do you have the mental strength to handle all of these groups?


BW: Kind of random chance really, but it all ties back to 3teeth and OMF. I got to know those guys online a little bit after they opened for Tool…I loved their stuff, got hooked, and created a subreddit for them. That ended up leading to modding OMF when it got big enough to need a cat herder, which is where I got to know some of the other artists from chatting with them in there. Then I met up with some of them on tour and became friends and it just kind of happened organically after that.

It’s surprisingly not as much work as you’d think. There are so many cool, progressive, amazing people in this music scene, so for the most part these groups are awesome communities that lift each other up and share art and support each other. I don’t have the patience for the bickering and drama in groups so I don’t get involved with groups that have a lot of that.

Probably Bill Weedmark

EL: What do you look for in a group that you’re hearing and interacting with for the first time? How should aspiring bands interact with their fans to ensure they hang onto them for life?


BW: Passion is key. I don’t personally care if an artist has the best production values or the biggest budget, I just want to hear in their work that it matters to them. That’s kind of intangible and subjective, but it’s a gut feeling of “Oh yeah, they love doing this.” That will show through in everything they do. I’m also much more likely to check an artist out based on good word of mouth from other people in music groups, too.

As far as fan interaction, I think authenticity is the most important thing. All of the newer artists which have become big favorites of mine are themselves online. They’re somewhat active in groups or on their own pages, they answer questions, stay moderately accessible. It’s a tough balance I think and it takes time, and not everyone has the free time for it and not everyone wants to be open or accessible. But just engaging like a human being rather than spamming links to your stuff once a day at noon and never TALKING to people will always get me to pay attention, and it seems to build a more genuine connection with the fans. It doesn’t have to be a daily thing, but just popping around and being a person and even chatting about a movie or something is more engaging than people realize.

EL: Now with the industrial scene (and any scene for that matter) aesthetic seems to play a big role in terms of fitting in. Whether it be robot beep boop looks or just a heavy goth appearance. Are there any tropes and clichés in this scene that makes you role your eyes? And do you think looks are just as important as the product being released by a band?


BW: I’m very much over the edgy “let’s be offensive for attention” trend that seemed to be big in the 90s/00s, like adopting pseudo-fascist clothes and logos, but thankfully that’s dying off. But as long as it’s not an offensive appearance, I don’t think looks alone are hugely important. It’s cool to have a unique look but I’d rather have a unique sound or voice to listen to. Tristan Shone of Author & Punisher is usually just wearing jeans and a t-shirt on stage but no one would deny that he’s got a unique aesthetic and sound. I think the logos, art, and iconography around an artist are more important than an on-stage aesthetic, especially right now with touring being dead and global audiences…people will find an artist online way before they’ll find them at a show. But you can’t go wrong with black and leather and rivets, can you?

EL: What got you into industrial music?


BW: The Mortal Kombat soundtrack! I grew up in the sticks and didn’t even know what industrial music was back in 1995 but that soundtrack set the stage for my musical taste. Gravity Kills, KMFDM, Fear Factory…that soundtrack is still awesome. Then a few years later The Fragile came out and I fell down a huge rabbit hole of everything NIN, everyone who ever worked with or toured with NIN, Trent’s infuences, and that was that. Led me to Ministry and Skinny Puppy and PIG and on and on.

EL: Do you have any experience playing an instrument? If so, how many sublime songs can you play?


BW: I do! I play bass, and I think I’m actually pretty good at it. My problem is I can’t WRITE music for shit, but I can learn new songs fast. I’d probably be a good session bassist because I’m good at picking things up and playing them right but suck at being creative and have no ego. I was also a pretty bad-ass trombone player back in the day and rocked a trombone solo in a polka song in high school band. I think that was my musical peak. And I currently know zero Sublime songs but I’m pretty sure I still remember the Meow Mix theme, does that count? ‘Cuz it’s what I got.

EL: Fuck Combos


BW: Combo brand stuffed-pretzels by the Mars Corporation are a tasty snack, available in multiple flavor varieties. Pepperoni Pizza is my personal favorite but there’s a wide selection to choose from, and I hear that guy from Decent News LOVES them.

Literal Shit

EL: Alright, desert island scenario. So you’re stranded on a desert island, you have 3 albums, 2 movies, 1 complete TV series on DVD and an unlimited supply of 1 breakfast cereal. What do you pick?


BW: Three albums…definitely The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails. Then I guess Shutdown.exe by 3teeth and Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live by Pink Floyd. Cheat a bit and take two double albums. Movie picks would be The Terminator and Heat, I’m a sucker for great shoot-out scenes. TV series, maybe recency-bias but I’m going with The Expanse. And Honey Comb. Honey Comb is delicious, and their mascot is a cracked-out ball of fur that somehow made it past the concept stage, which is incredible.

EL: Let’s say you have Charles Barkley money and you’re putting together a festival. Pick 3 headliners and 7 supporting acts. Also what energy drink is sponsoring this event?


BW: Headliners are Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, and Duran Duran. Support is Gary Numan, 3teeth, PIG, Stabbing Westward, Curse Mackey, HEALTH and GosT. Sponsored by Powerthirst, they have GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF ENERGY. Just like this festival.