Hello titty bois and titty girls, this is Eddie LaFlash from Decent News and until Ken decides I’m too shitty at writing reviews I’ll be doing this for a while. Today I’ll be covering a single that Ken sent my way. IN FIRE AND IN BLOOD by ∆AIMON.
First off I’ll start with the title track. I want to start off by saying that this single has an incredible mix. Starting with these reverbed piano swells that lays a base melody for the track. It lays down a catchy yet ambient passage that gets interrupted with a cascade of strong ass synth pads before these Dave Gahan-esque vocals punch you right in the feelings. The song structure here is good, it directs you exactly to where the progression should leaving you with a very non jarring listen which is exactly what a great track like this should have. I would’ve preferred the female vocals to be a little higher in the mix, but that doesn’t matter because this track holds its ground so well.
Now we move onto the title track except this one has Wrecked in parenthesis. Now remember that bit I said about track one being a non jarring experience? Well, if you’d like a more jarring experience then the Wrecked mix will blow your fuckin pp off. While all of the elements and structure are present in this version, the kick has a breath of punchy distortion added aswell as some more frantic and upbeat hi hats. Dynamically, this has a little more looseness in the groove. One of these versions is guaranteed to tickle your fancy.
Track 3 is a cover of Scarecrow by Ministry. Now I’m not the biggest ministry fan (surprise) but that in no way effect how I feel about this cover. The crows in the intro got some “OOOOOO” points from me. That combined with the driving bass and the buttery sawtooth lead makes this track a nice long smooth drag off a cigarette. Then the chorus hits you abruptly and you get a little spooked and you drop your ciggy into your lap, but its okay. It’s a good spook, and you just go back to smoking your cigarette.
Overall, its a great listen. There’s alot of variety between the 3 tracks in this single that should hit everyone’s taste buds. ALSO, ∆AIMON gets even more “OOOOOO” points for having acoustic drums on this release. Not that that matters to me, its just cool to see and it definitely shows with how dynamic the percussion is on this release.
As the world tilts and tumbles and the chill settles into the land. What is the new music that I am feasting on this Bandcamp day? I just did the review and interview with Raymond Watts and I am a bit star struck and over the moon. You all know S & S for new up and coming bands so lets talk about what just came out.
Death Loves Veronica : Our dear friend from San Antonio has not been idle during the pandemic. Another new single and one with a totally different feel from her previous material. Lovely grinding old school industrial with her slow whisper burning ember voice. I love the gentle drone and build. A very David Lynch broken mind story. Veronica keeps finding ways to deliver and stay fresh.
The Unquiet Grave: This amazing compilation really needs it’s own review. I think Amaranth was set to be on it at one point. 32 Tracks with a huge variety of goth styles. Put together by Athan Maroulis this is the best value you are going to get in goth music. A great way to find 10 new bands you are into for $10.
The Ghost Of Bela Lugosi:(Poisoning of Every Seed) Another scorching new single from Vin. It really rattles my mind just how different every new track sounds. Everyone is a masterwork. This is a flowing newwave disco jam with 80s Depeche Mode flavor and punk rock sleaze. Vin lets the shining beauty of his voice gleam through on this one with more polish. Another genre shift, another hit.
Blindcopy: Hot new single “Blacklight” from Memphis electronic artist Jack Alberson. Loving this bopping Information Society style with some southern soul. The way this track keeps bobbing and weaving you can never quite grab hold of it in the best possible way. The motion and energy created is hypnotizing. 5 remixes one from our dear friend Melodywhore.
Caput Medusae – Dreamy new single from German darkwave artist called “Kiss Me Deadly” This track is always lurking around the corners and moving through the shadows. Tina Mar has a voice that is always in your periphery but always surrounding you. This is music I want to hunt ghosts in a abandoned mansion.
White Mansion : Speaking of haunted mansions, Cold Transmission’s Arkansas post punk stars have a lovely new synth driven single “Alone”. The song has a lovely isolated New Order “Movement” feel. The bassline is a thrumming pulse and the vocals convey a loneliness and you can taste on your tongue. Wonderful single but I would be remiss to not mention the remix by label mates Kiss of the Whip . Tristian took that dark moody power and refracted it through a prism to highlight all the best elements.
Black Rose Burning: (Open The Gate) I just need so much more of this style and quality. NYC artist George Grant released this gorgeous EP of ultra dark acoustic singer songwriter jams with a true goth aesthetic. His voice is so passion Peter Gabriel but that ever driving percussion acoustic rings like The Cure “Wish”. Sometimes to find the next evolution you need to strip the concept down to it’s bones and I am drinking deep of the marrow of BRB.
Actors: Last but certainly not least is a new single from Actors called “Love U More” and holy shit. I didn’t know exactly what to expect but this surpassed whatever I had in my head. We did a live reaction of the video which I will post soon. It’s all the things I loved about “It Will Come To You” and more. Jason’s vocals are blended perfectly and float on a cloud city of synth glory. Shannon’s vocals are brought to the front and make a perfect contrast. The tone is much darker and has a force of soulful pop with a deep message. I really can’t stress enough that you need this. This band is the future and I am here for that future.
It’s October my darklings, the month of spook, where goths can be goths. So I need to start thinking about my Halloween soundtrack. I’ll fire through the latest batwings and eye lashes of newt falling into my cauldron.
Swansect: Kill Pop Goth – Adrian is always thrashing like a madman in a new direction. Always producing something he hasn’t done and something I hadn’t heard a million times before. Track #1 Horse of Grass has this cool percussion driven guitar strike. Almost a folk goth tempo with vibrating underwater vocals. Track #2 Kain is my favorite and has this sinister Tones on Tail Daniel Ash sex appeal. The words are in Norwegian telling the story of Cain. I love the old school batcave rockabilly riff. Swansect always takes you to a place in your mind with the music, and usually that place is a nightmare.
SpankTheNun: The Bunker Tapes II– This album is mixed by the legendary Claus Larson (LeatherStrip). Out of Texas Eric Hanes does a hard and nasty industrial, full of chant and eye beam precision. Track 2 Fight and Breed is a building whisper that holds aggression on a greasy chain to make a tension build you can feel on the back your neck. I think what really sets this above the bar are how clearly the vocals ring for industrial music. It has a bit of effect, but you can savor every growled line. Some amazing remixes here from Melodywhore, Sapphirra Vee, and Assemblage 23. My favorite track was Lies and Hate which unleashes a real Nitzer Ebb feel. I think what impressed me most of this album is how it never has to turn the volume up to 11 to hit you in the fucking teeth with it’s power. It’s a real skill to project that much rage without screaming.
Vazum: Rated V – Ok I know I recently reviewed the Detroit band Vazum, but they did this new release specifically for Halloween with a monster/ghoul theme. It’s stalking creature abomination horror full of heavy guitars and sinister keys. Zach unleashes and inner demon from behind his usually lovely lilting vocals to send a shiver up the spine. I said the same about the previous album Vampyre Villa but I love the use of 90’s alternative mixed into the horror. Emily has a soulful Concrete Blonde vocal style that is the perfect offset in every song. Each monster has it’s own tone and flavor, my favorite was Werewolf . This one really let Emily shine on vocals and truly laid out the primal transformation. Cool lyrical poetry, “Copper turns to gold, sell our gold for silver”. There is so much going on here stylistically. We had an interview with them last week (which will post soon) I am really bummed I hadn’t heard this to discuss before hand.
Vanity Kills : Chapter 2 Enemy – Hard rocking cyberpunk from Cardiff UK. The real beauty captured here is the driving rock 90’s aggression of Helmet phase shifting into pixilated time dilation of club smashing electro-core. The intensity almost rides the line of metal. Yet the distinctive dance stomp is catchy and clean. For personal preference I wish I could hear more of the lyrics and feel the melody lines. The music really placed me in an empty room of drywall I found myself smashing out of, I wanted to know more about why. Favorite track was “This is Gonna Hurt”, it had such a punch it made me picture Clutch smashing synthesizers on a flaming stage. This one shows great promise for the future.
UnderTheSkin: End This Summer – New single complete with some outstanding remixes from Poland. This one is a Cure heavy darkwave bird of prey soaring on a night sky. Mariusz has a beautiful and captivating voice. The bassline of the song is everywhere beneath the soaring wings. A powerful track in crafting and execution. So who could successfully remix such a track? Ash Code, Shad Shadows, Kill Shelter, and Antipole with Paris. Now that is a heavy weight endorsement of some of the great production tunesmiths of our scene. A lot of individual flavor here for each remix on an absolute scorcher of a track.
Twin Tribes: Shadows(Matte Black remix) – Holy shit how did I not know this was coming out? Also why does Matte Black get to remix Twin Tribes and I don’t? Ok now that petty jealousy is out of the way, this is my favorite Twin Tribes song. The song I discovered them from. I didn’t even recognize it at first in the best possible way. This is everything I want from a remix. It has taken their glorious violet energy and fired it through a prism to create something new and beautiful. I am jaw dropped on the floor right now. Buy this immediately.
Panic Priest: When Daylight Disappears – Brand new single from Jack, and it’s another burner. Such a master of blending sizzling guitar licks and neon streaming synths. His bellowing baritone voice is an trap I can’t stop falling into. This song is a prayer to the darkness that surrounds us. I want to sit on a Chicago roof staring at the moon as the city sleeps below.
Klack: Two Minute Warning (Depeche Mode Cover) – This is a beautiful cover with a beautiful and tragic story behind it. Claus Larsen (Leatherstrip) recently lost his husband Kurt after a long battle with sickness. It left a lot of medical bills and the community really rallied around him in this tough time. All proceeds go to assist their family. I’ve always loved this song and Klack of course didn’t disappoint to capture it’s energy and majesty.
Today is the day when Bandcamp (The one music streaming and distribution company that seems to care an iota for musician’s) waives it’s fees and gives everything spent, to those making the music. It’s been a tough few months in particular and I am in the middle of Sotember (The month each year where I recharge and drink nothing stronger than Earl Grey tea)
Death Loves Veronica : In The Silence
Newest single from Texas darkwave sultry star Veronica Campbell. This song has a brighter more open tone than previous offerings. It really highlights the elegant purity of her voice. Also included is a beautiful synth rich remix of “In The Silence”. A cascading waterfall of cool crystal sound.
I have been waiting for someone to put raw emotion and sass back into the darkpop genre. This album crackles with mid tempo dance beats to fill the back walls of the club. The lyrics are an inward journey with an 80’s Madonna soul. Beautiful modern layered vocals to create movement and build. It’s one of those sounds that flows through your earbuds and into your nervous system and flexes attitude through your body. I feel like other people can hear these songs through my movements when I listen.
Chicago retro-synth dreamboats Wingtips have done this fitting tribute to criminally underrated 90’s Aussie pop band Savage Garden. I love the interlocking vocal duet here. The frosting sweet swirl of keyboards and chimes on this song make my heart dance with delight.
Firebrand driving doom dance with a nice sprinkle of Industrial guitar and finger firework keyboard work. I really like the effective chanting vocals which hit right on the needle of what I want from a club jam. Extra bonus remix layers on some teeth and glitch for a aggro feel. Stomp your feet and scream obscenity.
Listen to Klack or I will attack, and you don’t want that. A fresh new feel here from Matt and Eric. I really have enjoyed every evolution of this project. This has a Construction Time Again DM flavor. It has clever carefully placed samples. The beats have a real shake that ass groove. The keyboard melody lines are beautiful retro hooks. I really fell hard for these breathy cleanly delivered vocals. It’s something I hadn’t heard from them before and immediately wanted more of. The lyrics really became a strong suit here. This is an album plucked out of the timestream and dropped hard in 2020.
Kim Bell and company have released this lovely shadowpop with misty daybreak darkness. It has a dreamlike quality, with a Til Tuesday retro flow. I really like the front edge of Kim’s delivery on the vocals. This really gets me excited for the future direction of the project. Now on Swiss Dark Nights
I will always buy every GoFight release. I will never regret my decision. Jim Marcus understands the blending of body gyrating dance music in the way an Indian executive chef understands the blending of spice. The layering of elements allows you to get lost in what kind of a song you are listening to. His voice is that perfect growling beauty snapping at your heart with desire and terror. Another single, another home run.
I think this band from Toronto now on Cold Transmission takes the award of the day for something I had no idea I needed and now can’t live without. The scope of tempos here run from blistering car chase to lullaby shouting fuck. Gorgeous dreamy vocals that would make Robert Smith raise an eyebrow. I’m not sure where this was hiding but it just took my 2020 by storm.
Lately I have really been immersed in music that takes me somewhere. A picture of sound that swirls and shakes me. Something where I don’t focus on the words or melody but drown myself in the image from 1000 miles away. Trying to see it all. Here is some of what is taking me there.
Stoneburner – (Beauty Is Terror) I feel like watching this project from Steven Archer is like seeing a blacksmith always sharpening a blade with a whetstone. Each album just keeps getting cleaner and sharper. You really can see the sound itself gain more technique and mastery with every release. It builds on itself and takes new shapes. In particular the vocals on this album are both more of an instrument but also crisper and more distinct.
Beauty Is Terror – Title track slams hard out the gate. I’m hit first by the construction. The efficiency of every sound there. Nothing overpowers or takes away. Keep yourself from fucking up. The cymbal crash sounds seem to strike at just the right moment to feel like the sound is cooking but the tempo is in reality a steady medium groove. This song feels like the early moments of an origin story. Someone just coming into their power in defiance.
Are You There The Way I’m Here – This his me like a concrete brick sledge hammer. It’s so different from everything Stoneburner. It’s smooth, sleek, sexy, it’s almost like Peter Gabriel doing triphop industrial. Again I love the connected story of this record. It isn’t so much the lyrics as the natural progression of each songs sound. Two stars synchronized across the black.
London – I love when songs are places. When you hear a song and are immediately been to a place you have been. Wet old brick walkways in a dark city full of tight alleys. The doubled vocals here, one electric and buzzing. Another chanting and organic to make a glorious effect. This song is a reflection, both the puddles on the street and the way it leaves you thinking about actions.
I know I often gush about Steven’s work, but I really believe this is the best music I have ever heard him produce to date. Take my recommendation and buy it. You won’t be sorry.
Carrion – (Testament Ov The Exiled) If Stoneburner was a hero’s journey rising then Testament ov The Exiled is the hidden horror lurking in that alley. It drones and stalks, but with the smoothness of a predator you never see. Whispering to you. Just the quick glimpses of Flashing yellow eyes in slashing distortion. It’s the atmosphere that builds the horror here. Like an old Vincent Price movie that never needed to show you the monster to scare you. This is music to test your bravery against. Light a single candle. step outside the comfort of your door, and test the strength of your courage.
eHpH – (Infrared) – This is a turbulent time, you can taste it in the air. Division and fear are everywhere in the soul of America. This album takes that tension and spins it into thread. Weaving a tapestry. Heavy use of samples and thick pad sounds. Who says you can’t dance and think at the same time. This is a sound hungry for revolution. Fernando’s vocals come from behind a distorted shadow but ring clear. The fighters of freedom wear masks and carry an axe. I love challenge and FLA dance beats.
