Tag: Ego Likeness

Who are Some Of the great ladies of the Goth/Industrial scene today?

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Music in general has always been a bit of a boys club. Sadly I feel like ladies have always faced an uphill battle particularly as producers and song writers. The goth/industrial scene has had it’s share of amazing and talented ladies as well as a progressive view, but it has never been a 100% fair shake. Since I have been getting back into the cutting edge of new music I have been overjoyed and amazed at the influx of talented female led performers currently putting out wonderful art that adds to the discussion and furthers the diversity of this scene. So I thought I would take a moment to highlight some of my favorite new artists creating music that places emphasis on the female perspective and makes this genre richer. I can’t add everyone I am listening to but i feel excited that it took me just a few moments to have several amazing artists currently enriching this scene. These will be quick hits, but I have more extensive reviews of many of the ladies featured.

Hante – Hélène de Thoury has an amazing voice and textural songs of beauty and effortless grace. She has such an unspoken coolness to her songs that paint a picture in your mind. I am transported every time i listen to her.

Sunshine Blind – Caroline Blind was an artist I grew up listening to that helped shape and mold me and changed my worldview of music. She has continued to make amazing music with the power and beauty of her voice. I always describe Sunshine Blind as a Steel gauntlet in a velvet glove. This is a cover she did of the Swans “Godamn The Sun”. It’s simple, striped down, and amazing.

Black Nail Cabaret – Emese Arva is a freaking force of nature. Her presence and power remind me of the first time i heard Annie Lennox. Her voice is pure raw energy, strength, and beauty. Wonderful range and a revolutionary song writing style that makes me want to charge up a hill and believe in a better tomorrow. I challenge you to listen to this song and not feel inspired!

S Y Z Y G Y X –  Luna Blanc has a voice that feels like a slow drink of whiskey in a club owned by David Lynch. It’s smokey, immersive, and full of desire. Can’t get enough.

Cliff and Ivy – Ivy Silence is a dear friend and all around wonderful human. Hailing from Alaska with her husband they do a sharp edge stabbing dark goth rock full of punk sensibility. Her voice is raw and unapologetic and as it crashes through you with sultry fierceness.

Kaelan Mikla – From Iceland is an amazing female group that hits on every level. It’s driving, fierce, gorgeous music filled with simmering intensity and textural beauty. They are truly a cutting edge sound for the modern age. Every time i listen to them i get lost in the picture they paint with every song.

Corlyx – Holy shit i love this band. Caitlin Stokes has a clear and fearless beauty and style. She really captures the raw sexuality and intelligence of the modern scene. This new album has a filthy glittering glory reminiscent of the 90s but with modern flare and strength.

Audrey Burne – I always love when i can give props to a fellow Michigan band. Lilith Gates of Audrey Burne is a immensely talented and haunting vocalist that has a lovely Natalie Merchant lilt and wonderful stage presence. I’ve had the honor or sharing a stage with her and they have a wonderful driving dark rock feel that really captures a room.

https://firesngp.bandcamp.com/track/show-me-life

Fires- Aedra is a freaking force of nature. She sings with such intensity and burning passion about her experience and her song writing ability really pushes the boundaries of industrial electronic music. This album really changed the game for me this year.

Angel Metro – Soft, sultry, understated glory. Virginia’s Angel Metro does a wonderful blend of subtle dance beats and lilting tender beauty. She really exposes her inner most feelings for every song and this courage lends the tracks a real power.

Schedule IV – Stephanie Strange again from Michigan is a friend and amazing energy on stage. This is perfect precision post punk glory that blends her high range intense vocals and intelligent lyrics to create an entrancing and intimate experience. One of our favorite bands to play with and wonderful people.

Lorelei Dreaming – Laura Bienz leaves it all on the floor every night. I’m starting to reflect on how many of these amazing ladies i actually got to share a stage with. The energy, stage presence and political savvy combines with the intelligence of the lyrics to create a wondrous and unique experience. Do yourself a favor and bask in the fiery glow of this album.

I Ya Toyah – Chicago based Ania Tarnowska brings a fierce and rocket fueled electronic dance symphony of raw sensual strength to every performance. I love these explosive pop hooks blended with crashing dance rhythms.

Leathers – Is the sultry synth dream darkness of Shannon Hammett of Actors. It’s so great to see when a performer in a band of the quality of Actors finds her own voice and shows the ability to create such staggeringly beautiful music like this with her as the center piece. I love how far this reaches from the sound of Actors to really allow her voice to shine because it is one that deserves to be front and center.

Ego Likeness – So Donna Lynch has had a long, successful, and storied career and I could have picked a lot of songs newer than this, but it’s my favorite so I’m going with it. Donna is a hurricane of passion and darkness. She has been taking on intense topics in her art for a decade and creating beautiful songs about the horror which resonates with the feminine experience and having an intimacy of truth for decades.

https://nowherenowrecords.bandcamp.com/track/dragonfly?fbclid=IwAR3QR3MKDGuVWBQoA78u_s_okui5EkkmvAMrpmJBP2_xub88iZ8s3k8ODVo

Bess – Aussie dark alternative rocker Bess Linda is making churning sultry dance beats full of world beat toms and off kilter warm toned vocals to shake a dance floor.

Bones Uk – This recommendation came from Collin Schipper, filthy wide room fresh sounds. It’s pop hook sensible but cutting edge in your face intensity. You aren’t wrong “Beautiful is boring”

Death Loves Veronica – Veronica Campbell is a slow, back beat, sultry drive down a long empty road. It’s effortless tension, and subtle whispers of reality laid barren with brutal honesty.

SINE – I must admit I heard about SINE and Rona Rougeheart  through her collaboration with Curse Mackey. However once i dug into the power of her art for itself I found an intense flurry of disco dance beats underneath powerful vocals and world building soundscapes which captured me and brought me to my knees to beg for more.


VV and The Void – Valentina Veil has a wonderful whispering smoke swirl style. Really great at building tension in her songs to feel like a story.


Dissonance – Cat Hall has such a rich soulful voice with I feel gives a unique flare to her dark dance electronic sound.

Lingua Ignota – Kristin Hayter voice is one of the most intense things I have ever heard. It makes me realize i am not trying hard enough as a singer. Ferocious intensity shot forth like a flame thrower.

Hide – Raw, intelligent, and political. Gabel is a force of nature attacking change through the unnerving unapologetic fury of her art. This band makes me think, it makes me think about why i need to be better.

Wingtips – The duo Wingtips from Chicago features the amazing keyboard stylings of Hannah Avalon. Her stage presence and beautifully blended synths help make up one of the great new bands of the last few years.

Bootblacks – So many of these bands listed are for the vocal stylings. Lets not forget some of the amazing women who play instruments in this scene like Alli Gorman of BootBlacks. A straight up shredding axe master of the highest degree. Her riffs are creative and nuanced and such a big part of what gives this band it’s signature sound. This band has a very bright future and she is a backbone of that sound. New album out this year from Jacknife studios.

Cliff and Ivy – Alaska deathrock due that bring an intensity and punk flavor. Ivy has a poetry and fist first attitude which is captivating as it is rocking. Wonderful human as well that cares about lifting up others.

https://cliffandivy.bandcamp.com/album/the-best-of-cliff-and-ivy

Pilgrims Of Yearning – I think what I love most about Juls and POY are the way they express a wandering sense of displacement that comes through so clearly in their music. It’s rich, flowing, and organic. A lot of organic elements and her voice is in constant motion. I think this speaks to the passion for her heritage and the shadowy soul of her delivery.

https://pilgrimsofyearning.bandcamp.com/

The Blue Hour – Marselle Hodges has a made for coldwave spiritual sirens call from the vein of Dead Can Dance. Their music is the rustling of wind through trees on an autumn day. It’s gentle and powerful at the same time. She is also a frequent collaborator with goth superband Shadow Assembly and does all her own videography work.

https://thebluehour.bandcamp.com/

Normoria – Angel Moonshine is the forceful and silky voice of this industrial dance devastation. Her voice is a laser beam of focused light against crunching guitars and smashing drum beats. I can’t listen to this and not be impressed with the moxie and dripping power.

https://normoria.bandcamp.com/

Eva X – Glorious Canadian dark pop that is sensual and heart pumping dance delirium. I really love the way she changes emotion and delivery within a single phrase. It add so much complexity for a pop style music. The theatrics and emotion help add layers that set it aside from electronic dance beats.

https://eva-x.bandcamp.com/album/a-softer-world

Morgue VVitch – Tara Saavedra has such a fantastical shimmering voice and production style. I always feel transported. The layering and electronic sound crafting are first rate.

https://morguevvitch.bandcamp.com/track/midnight-sun-of-summer

Sarah Graves of HAEX helped put out one of the hardest industrial opus’s of 2021. I love the raw unbridled delivery of every track.

https://haex.bandcamp.com/album/aethyr-abyss-void

Leah Lane of Dallas based RoseGarden Funeral Party is a force both on the guitar and with her sky splitting voice. She puts the rocker edge in gothic rock and continues to establish herself as one of the most prolific names in the modern scene.

https://rosegardenfuneralparty.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-wake-of-fire

BARA HARI LA electro explosion dance artist and designer is an amazing producer that oozes with feminine power and terrifying beauty. Soulful darkpop that is as intricate as it is powerful.

https://barahari.bandcamp.com/album/dark-new-day

I know I have missed so many impressive female artist which drive and push the boundaries of this scene. Just looking through what popped into my head without much through fills me with hope for a brighter, stronger future of diversity of the dark music scene. I hope you find something here you give a try to expand your horizons with.

Kat Squared was kind enough to put all these bands together on a Spotify playlist

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DIY Band Promotion for 2019: by Steven Archer

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Dear bands and other independent artists/ business folkin, there are two types of you out there.

Type one: You do the thing because you enjoy the thing, it’s a hobby. But you don’t feel a pressing need to bring it into the world at large. If it happens, cool, but you aren’t concerned either way.

Type two: You make beautiful horrible things because it is what you do. You have total faith in not just the quality of what you make but the content. You have things to say, and you want the world to hear those things. You recognize that you’re not gonna get rich in the industry so let’s assume you’re in on that particular joke.

All you type ones can read the following if you want but it doesn’t apply to you. Now for the rest of you type two vampires…

As I have said before, this new record is the one for me. The one I’ve been promising myself I would make for years. Consequently I’ve taken everything I’ve picked up over the last 20 years in the industry and gone full force with it. Unfortunately almost everything I learned prior to a few years ago is no longer relevant. A few ideas still apply.

Rule One: If you think that you can just sit back and let your label, publisher or other infrastructure do all the work for you, you deserve your lack of sales.

Rule the Second: WORD OF MOUTH IS ESSENTIAL, and cannot be purchased.

https://stoneburnerngp.bandcamp.com/

Rule the Third: People pay for what they respect. And they respect things when they understand the work and ideas involved in it. Pulling the curtain aside to whatever degree helps build that relationship. People steal (download) things they don’t have a personal stake in. Getting a glimpse behind that mask at the actual person who made them makes a huge difference. I dealt with two and three by creating a special “support the artist” package. Where people would get access to a special Facebook group to that I uploaded demo files of the songs, broke down process stuff showed early versions of the videos, and they got copies as soon as I got the masters back.

“But Steven aren’t you worried that one of them will upload the files somewhere?”

No, I know my fans, and just to be safe, the versions of the files I gave them are slightly different than the final release. Nothing anyone will notice. I changed the length of the space between the songs, and customized the ide tags so that I could track them if they ever popped up. In addition to creating the eternally needed income, it also helped develop a rabid and vocal set of fans for the record. People who were invested in the record as well as building a personal relationship between myself and the fans (which is awesome!) Which was essential when it first dropped.

Rule Four: The world is a distracting place. You need to go to your customers. Be the squeakiest of wheels. Don’t want to be annoying? Too bad. You love the thing, you believe in the thing, if it’s really that good people you know will understand or at least tolerate it and everyone else is just a potential customer.

https://stoneburnerngp.bandcamp.com/

Rule Five: NO ONE WILL JUST “come to you,” because you are good. I’ve known a few people over the years who said shit like “I don’t need to book shows, if they want me they will come to me.” It’s a buyers market, galleries/performance venues, THEY DON’T NEED YOU. There are thousands of artists and bands coming to them. You are not special, and in fact if you adopt this attitude you will not just not be special, you will be seen as a problem.

Rule VI: Go to the DJs. Sure your label has a DJ pool. And those DJs get shit from them every month. And by shit I mean a bunch of files and rows of text. That’s all you are to them visually, they have no attachment to those words, those ones and zeros. Go to the DJs directly. Ask them if they want copies and send those files personally. That’s the kinda shit people remember. And it helps build and maintain those relationships. Are you still just a line of data? Sure, but at least they have a more personal connection with you.

Rule Seven: Talk to blogs, talk to Facebook groups, do giveaways. Go to club nights, have cd release parties. Do online listening parties. “But Steven people will download my music for free from those.” So what? Does it get them to the shows? We have people come up to us all the time at shows and say “I downloaded you’re entire catalog and now I’m going to buy them.”

Rule Eight: Put real effort into promotion. We live in the future, this year alone I’ve made seven music videos. Not clips of footage pulled from YouTube. Videos with sets built, homemade green screens, that I shot by myself on my iPad, and edited in premiere. You don’t have to know a ton of tech stuff. If you can use a DAW, you can use premiere. If you don’t have a visual eye, work with someone you know to help plan the shots.

(Free Pro Tip: set up the video as a series of static shots. This allows you to control the lighting and you only have to worry about shooting from one place. )

You don’t have to spend a ton of time. The most involved video I did for the Stoneburner record involved four days of set building in the garage and one of shooting. The one I did right after that took three hours to build the set and two hours of shooting. Minor Monsters I did in the living room in maybe five hours. Stick to good solid concepts and keep everything as simple as possible. Because….


Rule Nine : FACES MATTER. Sure you can be artsy if you want on your cover and other promo material, but the simple fact is our brains are wired to respond to faces. Seeing them creates empathy with the person they are looking at. It creates the perception of a relationship or at least an understanding of the other. That’s part of why the videos are so important. The other reason is because it gives you an easily digestible (and not so easily downloadable) way of sharing your music. People don’t like just sitting and listening to some random song. But if you give em something to watch it’s much easier to hold them.

Rule X: Put your fuckin money where you’re fuckin mouth is. We are not even close to stable when it comes to our finances. But Facebook advertising is really inexpensive and it’s worth it. In the last month my least viewed video had been seen 6k times and the most viewed, over twice that number. Each video was boosted once for $30.

Rule XI: No one will love your child as much as you do. Not your friends, not your label (they have a whole nursery to worry about, work with them, but do your own as well) not even your biggest fans. And more importantly it’s not their job. It’s your child to raise, it’s your brand to make, it’s your art to let drown in an ocean of lists of file names and distracting media.

Rule 12: Think outside the box. For instance, write “how to” articles for webzeins….And finally, merchandising is your friend. You can print on demand pretty much anything these days. Shirts, mugs, bags, towels, prints. Portals are easy to set up and once they are up and running you don’t have to do anything. The orders come in, the jank is shipped directly from the manufacturer. Is it more expensive than the traditional way? Sure, but you don’t have a room full of stock rapidly losing value as time passes. Obviously for situations where you need to have the merchandise on hand you will have to go through printers. But for day to day sales, it’s a great way to go.

Steven Archer is an award winning artist, author, a founding member of Ego Likeness (along with his wife Donna), and Stoneburner, as well as a few other projects. He’s a hired gun drummer for various industrial bands including Velvet Acid Christ, Mindless Faith and others. His has written music for NASA and film. Donna and his most recent book “witches,” was nominated for a Stoker award

Review of Stoneburner: Technology Implies Belligerence

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Band: Stoneburner

Album: Technology Implies Belligerence

Label: Negative Gain

Members: Steven Archer (Ego Likeness)

https://stoneburnerngp.bandcamp.com/

Brand new video Minor Monsters released 7/1/19

So here is another album I have had for a while and have played many times fearing the daunting task of trying to describe the intense emotional and musical impact of this record in an effort to do it justice. Steven Archer is a mainstay in the goth/industrial scene from his band Ego Likeness which I have reviewed before. Their credentials in this scene are indisputable with several albums to their credit that have all hit the mark. I have thoroughly enjoyed the previous Stoneburner albums however with “Technology Implies Belligerence” Steven has achieved another plane in his musical expression and I will do my best to capture some of that concept in this review. I’m put in mind of Phillip K Dick when he wrote the Valis trilogy. An artist who had critical and commercial success that had earned the freedom through his labors to produce a piece of magnificent art that tested his own boundaries and redefined the genre. This record was completely un-tethered and unapologetic in it’s scope and daring combining sounds and concepts which pushed the edges of synthesis through technology . It is brave, it is meticulous, and it addresses poignant themes which speak to the struggle of current human existence.

To appreciate the full scope it has to be said that Archer is a modern artistic renaissance man. Playing in several projects on a variety of instruments. In addition he is a noted visual artist (I was lucky enough to have him do the cover art of my own album). As a visual engineer he made a series of accompanying videos with practical effects he created himself. This album also broke ground in the access he offered to fans with an interactive discussion group where he shared technique and answered questions on every stage of the creative process. A truly novel and cutting edge idea for the modern digital age. Industrial music often pays homage to the cyberpunk ideology of science fiction and Archer has dug deeply into some of his literary keynotes making the songs a thesis on one of his favorite works from Peter Watt’s “Blindsight” dealing in first contact higher conciseness and personal freedom. This blending of literary theme, visual expression, and musical emotion formed a groundbreaking multimedia art piece in a point and click surface world.

Ok we have gotten this far and I haven’t discussed the music yet. Stoneburner features many of the staples of industrial music. Syncopated distorted guitar sounds. Pounding drumbeats in body blow intensity. With effect laden vocals lashing out in varying cadence. Where Archer pulls back the throttle and rises towards uncharted ground is in the use of world beat percussion sounds layered with pinprick sitar guitar riffs. Listening while watching the sound wave file really gives an appreciation for how much thought went into the purposeful dynamic shifts and emotional crafting. Not known as a vocalist Archer dives in with passion and intensity filtered through a barrage of electronic effect using his voice and samples as an additional driving percussion instrument to unleash a sincerity and terrible beauty with the raw power of his words. Can you take the diverse expressive sounds of Dead Can Dance and force them through the meat grinder of Coil’s chaotic destructive power. I wasn’t sure until i heard it happen.

This is a concept album, you need to hear it all song to song. However I will speak to some standout tracks:

Dry Gun – This song astounded me. The percussion is intensity held at bay with greasy chains. This dancing pinprick guitar lines lending an eastern feel with a guitar effect from Roger Waters. The swooping cello synth pad and jagged leading dynamics create such primal movement that when the unorthodox vocals samples come in you are already dancing with reckless abandon. This song owns your body.

The Angel of Abscess – Brooding and dark intro spreads out with subtlety and danger. I really enjoy the grinding metal effects. Stevens vocals come in with a distant chant while new sounds are added and built. A desolation and fear scrolling through the emptiness of darkness. The repeating melody line has an almost Celtic feel which seems to get faster and faster until you are hurtling towards oblivion in a rapidly decaying vehicle.

Identity by Diagnosis – You can’t travel to the edge without questioning the reality you are seeing. This song brought me back to the questions of my own minds perceptions. Again achieving that frantic sense of speed and motion while maintaining a medium pace without relying on volume to create intensity. I think what amazed me most in this record was the deliberate effort that seemed to go into every decision and every note. If you have ever had to find reason in the modern world of chemical science you find yourself empathizing with this storytellers journey.

Overall this was a staggering emotional journey of a record that found a way to do something so difficult in the modern times. Touch on new and undiscovered ground in music. I honestly feel like this record will be something we look back on as a new beginning of a branch of future sounds to come. Try and really breath in the power of that statement. I hear so many new albums these days and this isn’t something I say lightly. If you are a person that appreciates art for what it is capable of stirring in human emotion. If yours is a mind that quests for a deeper challenge and greater understanding. You owe it to yourself to get this album and play it loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

Ego Likeness: When the Wolves Return

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Band: Ego Likeness

Album: When the Wolves Return

Label: Metropolis Records

Members: Donna Lynch- Vocals/Words/Piano/Synths::
Steven Archer- Guitar/Vocals/Synths/Drums/Programming::
Mike K. Johnson- Drums::
Mindcage Rick- Drums::

https://egolikeness.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-wolves-return?fbclid=IwAR0SDspl-fqH_3VkagiU7J6ziC2Cqs2o5dh22P6T7yJCrLqqGYRnCEFVpXQ

https://www.facebook.com/Egolikeness/


http://www.egolikeness.com

So once again I am stepping outside the box and trying something different by reviewing an album that came out in July 2015. I have been keeping these reviews generally to new albums but while waiting for their newest release I will take some time to discuss the glory of Baltimore’s greatest dark couple. . I actually love discovering a band in reverse, finding the new album first then working my way back through the catalog and watch in reverse as they evolve. Makes me feel like Merlin. For me the album When the Wolves Return really highlighted what was possible when you bring a true partnership into your music. Often when I hear modern darkwave electronica I tend to pull apart all of the different elements and feel them at different times. It’s almost impossible to do with Ego Likeness. Donna Lynch and Steven Archer are in such total lockstep in their music. It really has no seams or edges. Every song is a twisting snake of smoke. Or in this case a wolf pack circling you in a clearing. Mike Johnson who I am convinced may be the only drummer left in goth music because it seems he is playing in about 73 bands and touring with them all. (Potential cloning experiment) is so sought after for a reason. Simply he is consistently outstanding in his style and ability to place subtle touches along with electronic elements. For as electronic as this music is with flavors of Switchblade Symphony, Rasputina, Dead Can Dance or Skinny Puppy both the music and Donna’s dynamic vocals have such an organic flavor. This is a rock band with a bleeding heart in it’s mouth, that just happens to be played over a grinding jerky machine cacophony. This album in particular holds such rawness, I don’t know exactly what was happening in their lives at this juncture but you can really feel a lot of it was splayed open and held up raw to the listener.

Donna has a vocal style that to me is all about dynamics. Her lows are growls and chants. Her highs are lovely and revealing. She is a true bard, you can hear the contents of her lyrics are just as important to her as the way she sings them. “I am blessed, I am cursed, never sacred, never worse” Steven is a painter both on the canvas and on the keyboard. A bard needs a stage and this album has such fierce driving drumbeats and rising falling cascades of synth sound. Needles of bright guitar burn and twist but never overshadow. Those pounding drumbeats are the beating heart of every song and the story is told in every tempo and range. I know I am getting a little gushy on this one, even for me. I have really been digging deep on this album lately in preparation for going to see their show this weekend but also because it is a turbulent moment in time for me and this album is a tempest of processing emotion.


Standout Tracks:

Leave a Light on Thomas – The album opens with this sky splitter. It’s a tiny echo whisper from Donna. While Steven smashes together giant symbols of sound. Tiny dancing melody notes. I also love the effect of Donna’s electric sounding echo voice. I’m not sure who Thomas is but I love this pleading call for him to have faith in this dark moment. This song is pure emotion and waves.

Darkness – I love this track on it’s own. It has another medium tempo but with an almost fantasy feel of hero’s traveling a a bleak and dangerous land. The music edges forward and uses large brass sounding warmth. Then the electric Guitars crash a call to battle “I’ll call them in to cast you out” Another band I have reviewed and love 11 Grams do a remix of this song which is one of my favorite polar opposite remixes. Truly a ying and yang when heard back to back yet it is still one voice.

When the Wolves Return – Holy shit what a heart wrenching ballad. “There is nothing to forgive, it’s the price you pay to live” This one really can make me a little misty. Swelling, giant, synth pads of loss and regret. Then at 3:30 the drums start marching to a sound of triumph! The music builds to a fevered crescendo. I hate to be such a nerd but hearing this song reminds me of the first time I read the Return of the King and you realize the boats are full of ghost soldiers repaying a debt. Sorry Spoiler alert. It’s pure majesty and triumph.



This album is a must own. This band is a must see live and I am giddy with anticipation for the chance this weekend. If you don’t know this record you need to grab hold of it by both ears and cling to it tightly.