It’s that time again. The Sounds and Shadows Darkscene singles chart. Where you our group of Artists, Djs, Reviewers, Promotors, Labels, and Superfans vote on your favorite song releases in the month of June. These are your votes tallied and awarded from top to bottom. This month we have some amazing bangers from an eclectic group of artists in the broad “Darkscene” genre. If you have a single releasing in July or know someone that does, make sure to add it to the poll in the Sounds and Shadows Facebook group or Patreon.
Mari Kattman – Swallow
SINE (Textbeak Remix) – Attack
The Static Architect – Bitmask
Odonis Odonis (Feat Actors) – No One Left
GoFight – Machine Rock
Girls Under Glass (Feat Mortiis) – Backdraft
The Vulgar Parts (Dread Risks Remix) – Tu As Perdut Tes Droits
A Covenant Of Thorns – Idols
Dead Lights – I Am Electric
Spank The Nun (Batavia Remix) – On The Run
Mari Kattman – Swallow – There is zero mystery how this track showed up at number 1. Total unadulterated banger. This track slithers through the electro rain forest untethered. The delivery Mari gives of sizzling beauty spewing forth a poignant political message crucial to this time. Soul and execution in equal measure. This was the number one pick by a margin, and for good reason.
2 SINE – Attack – Textbeak Remix – Two of my favorites here teaming up to lock down spot #2. Texas ElectroCaberet artist SINE remixed by Detroit noisepainter Textbeak. This is smokey, electro hex witch energy magic. I love the glitch and chaos blended into Rona’s haunting vocals. This is a slam dunk.
3 The Static Architect – Bitmask – New single from SoCal noisetronic artist Nick McLaren. I believe this is their first time on our chart. Production levels here are FIRE. It sounds very retro, very red hot machinery on fire reckless feel. Yet these synths are moving so precisely and building with a purpose. The vocals had a Downward Spiral controlled fury, I’d love to get a larger dose. Another band on the chart that really imprinted their name in my mind and said pay closer attention.
4 Odonis Odonis – No One Left (Ft. ACTORS) Award winning Toronto retrowave band Odonis Odonis teaming with one of my all time favs Actors is a recipe for a sweet treat. This exceeded all expectations. This band is shooting like a rocket for a reason. I am yet to find anything that Jason couldn’t touch and make better. This song was a whole other rung on the ladder. It has that life affirming energy that those truly great songs of the past had. To make your moment brighter. This isn’t one of those songs though, it is brand new. It is ours. It holds that same power.
5 Go Fight – Machine Rock – The man, myth, legend of Chicago Industrial Jim Marcus. Rather you are a fan of Die Warzau or the latest project GoFight Jim has a gift for blasting the hardest industrial beats with a sensual vocal line and bouncing energy that stretches the definition of Industrial music. This newest single is bursting with sexy douse the world in gasoline and let’s see what happens energy. Until I am proven wrong, my stance remains if Jim puts out a song buy it immediately sight unseen. He is yet to disappoint.
6 Girls Under Glass feat. Mortiis – Tainted – German Based veteran artist on COP International with a brand new release full of classic Industrial sound contrasted by rising choir vocals in rapid bark cadence from the lord of dungeon synth himself Mortiis. Powerful flow and anthem energy make for a banger collaboration from both artists.
7 The Vulgar Parts – Tu As Perdu Tes Droits (Dread Risks Remix) – So Dread Risks the remixers I know well. The Vulgar parts from Perth Australia I am just learning about. using one word to describe, frantic. Bubbling energy hot and pressurized from under the crust. Nice blend of lifting pierce vocals and sinister growl. I really like how the guitar is held back in reserve for the exact moments it will cause the most impact. You have my attention.
8 A Covenant of Thorns – Idols – I just did a full review of this album and didn’t even pick this as one of my stand out tracks but it’s a haunting whisper with a sizzle of Roxy Music glam. Scott-David delivers with construction time rapture and waterfall reflective beauty.
9 DEAD LIGHTS – I Am Electric – UK Glam goth band returns to our charts with this dark bouncing synth blazer. Nice rich baritone vocals offset by shimmering lip gloss harmony. Jackhammer drum concussion driving color splash keyboard waves. Wonderful music to work out or smash glass windows to.
10 spankthenun – On The Run (Batavia Remix) – Texas based thunderdustrial band Spankthenun remixed by Florida electrospice couple Batavia for this Tron laser car chase with demon growls and sparkling explosions. Installment 3 of Bunker Tapes releases at the end of August and features glorious new material and remixes from top electronica artists.
In 1992 midwest goth troubadour Scott-David Allen began a musical journey called A Covenant Of Thorns which would burn a thick black candle in homage to the early forlorn roots of gothic music. To celebrate genuine emotion and the beauty found in darkness and pain. The concept of using our darkest moments to draw strength and celebrate those closest to our hearts. A vocal talent of superb beauty with lyrics of poetic elegance. Five EPs and Four albums later Scott David has imprinted a lasting mark on the goth scene leading up to his collaboration on “Tiny Gods Who Walk Beside Us” a compilation to save my cat which introduced him to Dan Milligan (The Joy Thieves). The two would then form The Burying Kind, my favorite new Shoegaze band of the last 5 years.
In May 2023 we received the eagerly awaited new album “Ashes” recorded at A Handful of Nothing Studios. Mastering by living legend Gordon Young. With Artwork by Greg Rolfes. I don’t know if this is always taken as the compliment I mean it, but the first word that comes to mind when I compare this record to previous beloved work, is maturity. A wisdom and elegance of sound. A communication in a relationship rather than expressing emotions after the fact. Ashes has a depth of sound made from living in the moment, rather than reflecting on the past. Every delivered line feels sung to the listener, rather than a description of narrative events. I was one with the concept, not a voyeur.
The Synths always play a staring role in Scott-David‘s work. These have such an organic feel. I hear horns, saxophones, organs, the guitar work charges to center stage in a way I don’t always feel from ACOT. Perhaps an influence of Gord being felt. The peaks and valleys feel effortless and vast. The darkscene of 2023 often feels obligated to bury the words of songs under oceans of effects. Here every word cascades out with clarity and shows the faith Scott-David places in his own voice to carry the story.
Stand Out Tracks:
Halos : This song has the emotive sway of a wooden ship on slow stormy waters I feel present in things like New Order “Ceremony“. Try to run away, trying just to feel nothing at all. The vocals here ring with such truth. Accent guitar pin pricks and a chorus with a smooth unexpected cadence. A pleading prayer for hope in the darkest moment. Also this includes a lovely sax sound around 4 minutes that always tugs my heart strings.
Grace (Like The Back Of A Fist) : This is a undeniable BANGER of the highest accord. This one has the edge, that shadow laced maturity I was discussing. No Boyish forlorn Robert Smith here. This is R rated danger and menace on a cold empty road surrounded by monsters. Shadows parting for a force of hope more menacing than the things in the ditches.
This album is beauty, it is inspirational, it is a blood red lantern in the darkness. It’s one of the best things I have heard so far this year. Sometimes you can take the best part of tradition and forge them into something new. Something that lives in this moment while casting a light backwards. I can’t wait to hear where A Covenant Of Thorns goes next.
Part of Seraphim System’s Bandcamp description states that, “…SER:SYS architect “BL4KJ4K” focused his musical abilities to craft rave tunes that will help you slam your skull into your chest cavity.” If this is what the kids are calling “rave” music these days, I’ve definitely been missing out on something.
With Mutant Menagerie & Grimoire, their newest release, SER:SYS takesus down a dark and desolate path that would scare the living hell out of the glow stick crowd. From the opener, The High Priestess, to a very faithful cover of Slipknot’sSurfacing, SER:SYS clearly lays down the rule that says this North Carolina electro powerhouse ain’t nothing to fuck with.
One of the main things to notice about MM&G is the de-emphasis of melodic elements, focusing instead on uncompromising drums and profound lyrical content. Taking The High Priestess for instance, SER:SYS hits hard right out of gate lyrically and paints a vivid, articulate and somewhat disturbing picture. I’m still digesting such lines as…
“Nothing will ever change Nothing new is to be expected This is not what I wanted out of life”
The beat on Mutant Menagerie dips deceptively into drum-and-bass territory before distorted vocals belt out the darkly poetic lines…
“Misshapen and grotesque Hideous form and flaw Stitched together and born by lightning Given existence from the minds of madness This contagion spreads like disease Infecting any which come too close Keep my distance and sanity My mind never writhing with twisted form”
Contrition features Dark Machine Nation and is a sample of SER:SYS’s affinity for dipping into Latin for lyrical content; the other being the track Quid Est Veritas?. GRENDEL and Ratio Strain also make contributions to MM&G as well on You Do Not Recognize the Bodies in the Water and Black Aura respectively.
The title to Guns Don’t Make Goth Music, I Do actually made me chuckle a bit, but as I follow the voiceover listing different gunmakers concluded with the title line, I can’t help but think that this is SER:SYS’s make-art-not-war statement track.
I could go on, but only listening to MM&G for yourself will do true justice to SER:SYS and the unique in-your-face quasi danceable sound they have created.
In conclusion, Mutant Menagerie & Grimoire is a the kind of relentless sonic assault that grabs the listener’s ear and twists hard.
Chris Corner, the singer, writer, and producer known as IAMX, is a force of nature. Having started out by forming popular trip-hop band The Sneaker Pimps in the 1990s, Corner has since evolved into one of the most exciting artists in dark electronic music. But before continuing my review of IAMX’s most recent album, Fault Lines1 and a stop on the Fault Lines1 tour, I must give full disclosure that Corner is my favorite artist and that I’m part of the IAMX Patreon group (who call themselves the Tribe or the Cult). Needless to say, I am beyond thrilled to be able to include his answers to some interview questions so that you can also hear about the album and tour directly from the man himself.
Fault Lines1 exudes raw emotion. Its unique beauty within the IAMX discography lies in the increased urgency of that emotion, reflected in the kinetic sounds and explosive voice. Combined, they show an artist deeply disappointed by human beings while staunchly refusing to giving up on them. He seems to be communicating his deepest concerns about what becomes of us once we give in to the darker thoughts that fuel our division. The beats are harder, the synths more frantic… and although the lyrics are damning of the “fanatics” Corner mentions, there are still passionate pleas not to give into our darker impulses of division in an age where we are too often being forced to think of those we disagree with as “the enemy” the media around us.
Corner relies on confessional lyrics that are often highly introspective and self-reflective. After commenting that this album feels like a raw response to the world since 2020, I asked Corner how changes in life since then have affected his writing.
“Covid changed us all. It felt like a pivotal historical turning point in many ways for western culture. Yet personally I felt very comfortable leaning into the quiet and reclusion that covid brought. I’m a very selectively social person anyway so lockdown was just a more intense version of my life. But it did give me more time to be obsessively observant and being exposed to all the world’s issues every second of every day just confirmed what I’ve always seen in humanity. The ignorance, the self-destruction, the fracture and division. Unfortunately, the modern media and hunger for car crash sensationalism just amplifies everything into a grotesque caricature. The scum keeps floating to the top and even more so in a culture yearning for cheap dopamine hits and echo chamber affirmation. What happens out there has to become a catalyst or motivator for the opposite. I feel the pushback will increase. The altruism, deep self-love, need for peace and balance and openness. This record is a tiptoe into calling out the horrors and signaling the need for change and personal growth.”
Disciple, the hard-hitting opener, throws us into the harder edges of IAMX world. The higher notes of his chorus are more raw than any in the past, soaring urgently, yet backing off just at the last moment as if to rein in his growing desperation. We move onto the first of a few direct social commentaries in Fault Lines. IAMX offers a dizzying dance between exhaustion at the ridiculousness of the times we live in and pushback against the fait accompli of our immovable division in this world. As we enter the softer pulsing synths in the next track, In Bondage, we see a submission to the flesh “in the dark arts” as being the only answer. It leaves us with a haunting mantra, “Nothing changes but my blood flow,” slowing down the song to an increasingly halting heartbeat. The X IDmoves on to ask the listener to find self-love and revel in the basic fact of our existence with a rousing and emotive chorus and bridge, screaming through distorted vocals…
I am alive/I am alive/Oh say it to yourself say it to yourself!
IAMX then slides gently into Radical Self-Love, showingus the delicacy and beauty with which he can touch on some of the darkest questions the times are forcing us to ask ourselves. This song is a ballad in the vein of This Will Make you Love Again and Alive in New Light, sliding between tenuous to fierce piano and soaring vocals that softly question before climbing towards a call to action on taking one’s own mental health seriously. The choruses are written with a call and response, internal dialogue that depicts the conflict we have when trying not to hate those who are doing so much to harm us and the wider society we are trying to exist in.
Breathe slow with me/When our darkness turns us into total enemies/Find your mercy/When the anger grows and it overwhelms me
Show me your, show me your/Radical self-love
He asks further how we are meant to function in this state of mind:
Conflict junkies/Our judgment kills the feeling there’s a you and me/Find your mercy/When the anger grows and it overwhelms me
All of these questions feel urgent, heartfelt, and so very relatable.
The title of a favorite later track, Thanatos, uses the Greek word for ‘death.’ But, in classic Freudian psychology, it is also the drive within and among individuals between Eros, the positive drives of life, love, creativity, sexuality, self-satisfaction and species preservation, and the opposite drive of aggression, sadism, destruction, violence, and death. I read this in the lyrics and sound, feeling an undeniable sense of watching our progress towards Thanatos with a growing sense of horror. The screaming chorus: Do you bury your dreams in apathy? seems to me a clarion call to action. This is paired with the most urgent, driving beat and synths of the album. Starting out menacing but muted, they rise toward a climax of frustration at allowing ourselves to be so overwhelmed that we choose to do nothing.
These questions and pleas to give a damn and look after our mental health are no surprise to those familiar with IAMX’s work, deeply informed by his own battles with mental illness and insomnia. He is a passionate supporter of The You Rock Foundation, which works with musicians who have struggled with their own mental health challenges, and has often held mental health gatherings recent tours, this tour included. This album feels like an acknowledgement of our shared mental struggles against the increasing darkness we’ve faced since 2020.
Fault Lines1 tour stop at Crucible, in Madison, WI
After I Speak Machine had to bow out as opener after a few shows in on the tour, Madison’s own Carrallee stepped into the opening spot. Her show highlighted her lovely, sensual vocals that slide over dreamily distorted synths. She is a welcome and rising force in the darkwave scene, after having been a folk singer/songwriter. I look forward to dancing to her noir-informed beats on songs such as Morning Sun and Heaven or Hell.
The large crowd grew in its excitement as the time approached for IAMX to take the stage. The energy as they burst onstage was electric. All three masked, the slow lead into The X ID was punctuated by Chris asking the audience, “How do you feel?” through distortion that he would use off and on throughout the set. The song was a gorgeous way to start the show, setting the tone for a high octane experience. Launching into the luscious Sailor, Janine Gezang, longtime IAMX band member, collaborator, and Queen, amped up the energy as only she can, stepping in front of her keyboard to do a shimmy in her body suit and mask. The vampish interactions between Chris and Janine began in earnest and the crowd ate it up. Dramatic builds and pauses leading up to a chorus would prove to be a regular feature throughout the set. The final chorus ended with Chris releasing all his vocal prowess into I wanna be a sailor screams.
Photo courtesy of Fe Gaffney
I had asked Chris about the trials of looking after your voice on tour.
“It’s not easy to find a solution to truly feel secure with vocals on tour. It’s often a source of anxiety and pressure since really the whole thing pivots on the relatively fragile muscle in my throat. Not just how practiced or fit it is but the shit that goes in there night after night. The stage fog, the unclean public venues, the screaming sweating audience throwing billions of bacteria into my face! It’s amazing that it survives one show when you think about it. But fun aside I try to rest a lot, retreat a lot, hope a lot, and warm up like crazy. Somehow I get through.”
Photo courtesy of Victoria Jayne
Shortly into the set, the masks came off, and the visuals suddenly came into focus. Two video screens strategically placed at either side of the stage showed off a mix of natural elements and phenomenon that so often show up in IAMX videos as well as clips of the band and BDSM imagery. These added to the drama and energy of the show, and are so appreciated by a visual nerd like myself when so many bands I see live do so little in that area.
I was thrilled to hear them do Screams. This song is beautiful and delicate storytelling and, with a lovely extended build to the chorus. At the end, before the last chorus, he hugged a fan at the front and let the song end with delicate drums and piano. There were other hugs and shouts out to the very dedicated fans, and the gratitude from the band was tangible.
Next was a major highlight, starting with Janine’s menacing German nursery- rhyme-style vocals that weave their way through I Come with Knives. This song really allowed live bandmate Jon Siren to show off his incredible drumming skills with a heavier focus on the beat. The energy between Chris, Janine, and the audience was electric.
An excerpt of I Come With Knives courtesy of Jen Wilson
Speaking of Janine, her constant enthusiasm and musicianship is such an integral part of the IAMX experience. Whether she’s doing really cool stuff like her muted bass beat to lead in Exit, to her constant dancing, she’s a joy onstage.
Photo courtesy of Victoria Jayne
Chris donned an Elizabethan ruff, offered by a tech, to launch into his cabaret-style, waltz-beat work, including President and Bernadette. The chorus of President was joyful and cathartic.
Happiness and No Maker Made Me seethed with defiance and rage, especially in their choruses. For me, they proved exceptionally cathartic. Whenever Chris screamed, “Liar!” or “No maker made me!” repeatedly, it felt like so many moments of rage I’d felt in recent years were being summoned… and expelled, if only for that moment.
The band took on a softer tone for the final song of the night with This Will Make You Love Again.
An excerpt from No Maker Made Me courtesy of Jen Wilson
As any musician will tell you, touring since Covid is such a different beast. But IAMX had a surprising response when I asked how it feels in 2023.
“Oddly It feels settled for the first time. During Covid I experimented with faceless electronic modular synth tracks and managed to do a few solo shows. Just me and my modular. Back to the roots of early IAMX. This laid the template for the new record and the edited band performance. I feel I have more control over my sound and leaning out the band elements has somehow created more power. It all feels like streamlined IAMX on steroids. Similar but smarter and meaner. I admit that Covid really fucked with us as an independent project. There are new financial and practical challenges in our industry and specifically the alternative scene. But on a more positive note I’m very happy with the shows and I sense the hunger growing out there again in my beautiful people.”
Courtesy of Jen Wilson
As the last notes of the show were played, I looked at my fiancée, feeling thrilled, refreshed, and so grateful to finally have seen my favorite artist, with her, in my home away from home, Crucible. No other artist has moved me so deeply, and sharing in that live experience after such a long wait meant the world.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know another one of The Tribe, Fe Gaffney, who had driven hours to get to the show. I asked her to share what her favorite thing is about seeing IAMX live.
“My favorite thing about any IAMX show, next to seeing the band and hearing my favorite music, is seeing familiar faces. The fans feel so deeply for his words and music, we all have this near tangible connection to each other, this overt belonging. I’ve never quite felt a connection to an artist so strongly as IAMX, and this is an overwhelming sensation being in a room with so many others feeling the same way. Over the years, so many familiar faces have connected and contributed to this online community, forming a tribe. Chris and Janine recognize this incredible collection of fans and have more than shown their respect for their fans over the last few albums.”
The head and the heart are constantly challenged by IAMX’s work. This translates beautifully to the live experience, creating an invigorating exchange of energy. I asked Chris what he gets back from the audience each night.
“It’s difficult to put into words the intensity of the emotional exchange we feel. It’s the superpower source of the purpose of IAMX. It’s visceral sexual universal unspeakable love. It makes me feel accepted, understood and hopeful for humanity.”
Look out for a second album to pair with Fault Lines1, set to come out later in 2023…
You can see IAMX live in North American again this year at Cold Waves, Chicago, on Friday, Sept 22. They will then embark on the European leg of the tour (dates below).
A link to the You Rock Foundation can be found here.
The new IAMX album can be purchased here on Bandcamp. Carrallee’s debut album, Scale of Dreams, can be purchased here on Bandcamp.
Crucible Madison setlist:
The X ID Sailor After Every Party I Die Fault Lines Screams I Come with Knives Exit President Disciple Happiness No Maker Made Me Bernadette This Will Make You Love Again
Remaining North America and European 2023 Tour Dates (link here for tickets):
22 September Cold Waves Festival XI, Chicago, IL
26 September Bratislava, SK 28 September Prague, CZ 29 September Budapest, HU 30 September Graz, AT 01 October Vienna, AT 03 October Sankt Gallen, CH 04 October Munich, DE 06 October Barcelona, ES 07 October Madrid, ES 09 October Brussels, BE 10 October Paris, FR 11 October Cologne, DE 13 October Leipzig, DE 14 October Hamburg, DE 15 October Copenhangen, DK 17 October Utrecht, NL 18 October Frankfurt, DE 21 October Berlin, DE 22 October Warsaw, PL 24 October Wroclaw, PL 25 October Brno, CZ 27 October Stockholm, SE 28 October Gothenburg, SE 30 October London, UK
Black Nail Cabaret are a dream of a modern dark synthpop act, and exhibit A would have to be their 2020 album Gods Verging on Sanity. Their danceable tracks are worthy of any dancefloor, where their more sultry numbers are worthy of happenings after the club. The record soars with swaying songs like “No Gold” and “Private Religion,” while the lead single “My Casual God” is one of the most intimate, stripped down tracks in a genre that runs the risk of throwing too much seasoning into a single pot. The Hungarian duo of singer Emese Arvai-Illes and producer/multi-instrumentalist Krisztian Arvai know how to make darkness, sadomasochism, and even abject hatred sound incredible.
For their semi-live album Woodland Memoirs, the duo added three musicians to make a full band experience. Guitarist Tamás Számvéber, saxophone player Márton Barják (ex-CsizmáSKAndúr), and drummer Péter Laskay help Emese and Krisztian reimagine eleven songs from their catalog, reaching from their 2012 debut album Emerald City to the aforementioned Gods Verging on Sanity. Recorded among the elements within the Agostyan Arboretum in the band’s native Tatabanya, Hungary, while combining elements of jazz, hard rock, and lounge music with the band’s dark pop sound, every song gets a fresh coat of paint, with nearly every new version working just as well, if not better than, the original article.
There are two songs which stick out as the ones which get the most dramatic facelifts, those being “Veronica” and “Bete Noire.” The former goes from a flirty, synthpop tale about forbidden love into a sleazy, sax-laden number with a driving guitar line and Emese hitting some uncharacteristically high notes. The latter, one of the band’s best-known songs, takes the pulsating beat of the original and turns it into a slow, crawling Sabbathian monolith with some of Számvéber’s best guitar work on the whole project. The urgency of the studio version is swapped out for an unease and an untapped power on this version, and it makes for one of the stronger improvements on this record.
The video for “Veronica,” shot by Richard Besenczi.
The one problem spot for me was “My Casual God.” Maybe it’s an issue of sentimentalism, as that’s the song that got me hooked on BNC, but this new version of such a calculating coldwave track is a completely different song, save for the melody, and in that change something deep in the core of the song is lost. Redoing this song under the circumstances which Woodland Memoirs was a big swing, and I wouldn’t call it a total miss, but I’m not exactly at this version’s mercy like I was the original’s.
Part remix album, part live album, completely swinging for the fences, Woodland Memoirs is for the fans. I personally hope that the idea of a backing band is one that lasts beyond this project, as it created a unique listening experience, especially when taken for the full eleven-track ride front to back. The limited edition artbook is something to behold as well, with gorgeous photography by Dora Hrisztu-Pazonyi that frankly makes me sad there isn’t a full recording being released, only the snippets put out by the band and their label on YouTube. Even then, while I wouldn’t recommend this for the uninitiated or newer fans of the band, this is a captivating listen who like their dark pop with a bit of jazz thrown in, to say nothing of the helpings of hard rock throughout.
Woodland Memoirs is available now via Dependent Records.
