Music Reviews, Interviews, and more of the worlds top dark wave/post punk/goth/industrial
Really excited for the podcast with DC band SYZGYX where they discuss Sierra, ELZ and the Cult, Moris Blak. As well as Pasta sauce, John Carpenter, and keyboards. As always linking the bands we discussed
https://lazerdiscs.bandcamp.com/album/gone
https://elzandthecult.bandcamp.com/album/psychodrama-cold-transmission-edition
https://morisblakngp.bandcamp.com/
It has admittedly been tough to get behind the keyboard in October. I have had a lot of focus on my band and lots of shows I needed to see. However I wanted to take a moment to call out a few important releases this month.
First and foremost is a new single from goth legend Caroline Blind of Sunshine Blind. Sunshine Blind was so important to many of us that fell in love with goth industrial music in the 90s. It really opened my mind to how something could be both delicate and beautiful at the same time as ferocious and intense. The album, ” Liquid,” was a CD I played until the scratches looked like grooves on a record. I just had the pleasure of seeing her open for Stoneburner in Detroit, and it was like being transported back in time. This first single in far too long is a cover of my favorite Swans song, “Godamn the Sun“. It is moving in it’s nihilistic humor and gloom. I feel like this version takes everything wonderful about the original and adds a level of stark contrast from the gorgeous soul of her voice. The ringing acoustic guitar and timed delivery has an almost Leonard Cohen feel in it’s poetry. This is a must hear for lovers of dark music.
The lovely lads from Texas Twin Tribes have done it again. Their first single from a sophomore album, Ceremony’s, shows another level in the electric progression of one of post punk musics fastest rising stars. There is a smooth synthesis to the flow and texture of these singles that is surpassing the already brilliant Shadows. Each song is a Ceremony that brings you inside it’s ritual and core. The personal connection created from these songs makes it a contender for album of the year.
Our dear friends in S Y Z Y G Y X have unleashed a Halloween single called, “Samhain”. They always have a spooky, atmospheric edge, spurned on by Luna’s truly unique vocals. For this cemetery dance jam, they turned the danger up to 11. Feast on the nightmares in sonic explosive form.
Ghost of Bela Lugosi, the man too intensely punk rock to ever hold between the lines, unleashed this searing napalm of a single. I am always surprised how much every song he releases is so different and so good. This one is an unapologetic throat punch of melodic fury. It’s hard to sit still just to write about it.
Carrion N.O released a new single, “Through the Eyes of Flys.” Another Halloween sinister noise assault in the vein of the Goblins. Full of atmospheric terror and slow building tension. I don’t want to run into this song in a dark alley.
And Screw it, a band named Amaranth I am pretty fond of, made a new single, and I think it is peachy keen 😉
9/13/19 saw the release of so much great music that brought my blood to a screaming level of excitement that just doing a song of the day was not enough. I’ll fire through some of these wonderful premiers.
S Y Z Y G Y X – just released a new album on Negative Gain/Cold Transmission called “Fading Bodies”. Available for pre-order right now. Holy fuck, this record hits a new stride. It’s everything that worked well on “The Graveyard Compilation” but done bigger, tighter, weirder. Luna’s voice is way to the front and lets her haunting ghostly song wrap you in glowing chains. This is a band you will be hearing a lot from in the future. Look for our interview with them next week.
https://syzygy-x.bandcamp.com/album/fading-bodies
Antipole – Brand new record out “Radial Glare”. They are now officially the most reviewed artist on Sounds and Shadows with three records. Karl has continued to refine and grow the sound of interwoven intricate post punk guitars but has brought the vocals way forward and used frequent collaborators Paris Alexander and Eirene to make this heartfelt belt of bleak winter energy take life and drive forward into the crystalline beauty .
https://antipole.bandcamp.com/album/radial-glare
Ships in the Night – The Charlottesville VA group has released a series of remixes including one by Thomas Duerig of “The Purge”. Beautiful bright beam vocals racing by sinister dance beats and poetry of doubt and hope.
Bedless Bones – Your new favorite band from Estonia and another incredible Cold Transmission release. A mystical trance of beauty and darkness, “Sublime Malaise” feels like a coven started a dance club in a haunted forest on a stormy night.
https://bedlessbones.bandcamp.com/album/sublime-malaise
Sombre – New video release for “Black Skin Twins”. It’s a new version of the song from “Linsay” stripped down to leave Cedric’s voice exposed and brimming with emotion. The percussion from the acoustic strings add an organic truth that lets you focus on the words.
I will probably write more on all these releases but so much happened today I needed to share my excitement. Delve into all of this. Each was enough to excite me.
Band: SYZYGYX
Album: The Graveyard Compilation
Label: Cold Transmission
Members: Luna Blanc and Josh Clark
https://syzygy-x.bandcamp.com/album/the-graveyard-compilation
Do you know that feeling when you watch a truly suspenseful horror film? The first time you saw Suspiria, or The Exorcist. When you are gripping the edge of your chair uncomfortable, unnerved, feeling your heart race faster in your chest but you can’t look away. You know this is just a film and not happening to you but are still overcome with a terrifying dread that the world is monstrous and mysterious. That you might not have as firm a grasp on what is real as you thought you did? That is what I felt the first time I heard Washington DC TerrorElectroGoth band SYZYGYX.
SYZYGYX is An astronomical term denoting the disposition of three celestial bodies on a line. This is an incredibly deep and bad ass band name. This album is a compilation of “Broken Mirrors” EP (Burning Grave Records), “Encounters” EP (Cold Transmission), and “Is That All There Is” (Burning Grave Records). ” A very impressive body of work that all has an extremely avant garde tactile feel that creates a wonderful range in style and structure over the course of one collection. There are some elements of this unique sound that really tie everything together. For one Luna has such a wispy sensual voice that is full of haunted beauty. The music isn’t edgy or industrial, it has a medium pace dance beat. With a lot of subtle percussion notes to build tension and add flavor. The synth sounds are so wide ranging and expressive. When Josh adds in contrasting resonant monotone driving vocals it creates a dialog. A superb and fringe effect.
I really enjoy a band that makes higher concepts and chic visual sound feel so effortless. When cool has a sound. How could you get Ladytron and The Goblins to create a soundtrack for a Italian horror film set in the New York club scene? To me that was the clashing contrast of elegance in SYZYGYX.
With 16 tracks that were chosen as standouts from the EPs it’s hard to pick favorites but lets give it a go.
Avoid the Void – Luna’s gentle whisper over this lancing synth sound. The snapping drums. There is something so Siren like in her calling voice. “You’re nothing, you are a waste of skin” I can’t argue. I think this song really struck me for the subtle touches which is what the band does so effectively.
Velvet Lips – What an offbeat and interesting phrasing on the vocals. The drums seem almost at odds with the melody creating this terrifying tension. Shrieking background sounds and subtle hints of beauty to the dark and sinister texture. The bridge change up almost feels like throwing the song in reverse while going 60 mph. It jars me, it captures me, it leaves me transfixed and wondering. The ending drum beats are like metal bars on steel drums and have this infinitely east coast alley feel.
Runaways – The closer is the perfect encapsulation of what this album is working towards. Luna’s voice is bouncing between her sharp stabbing and her breathy soothing. The Synths have a continual build. It definitely feels like running away from something but with no destination in mind. The voices of consequence on your shoulder calling you towards a change. Then the vocals become clear and the synth becomes a spaceship taking the journey to a strange and foreign place.
Overall the album is vast, hard to place in a box, and sinister. That’s what I felt made me love it more and more. Each block of songs stepped outside themselves and the whole of the sound stepped outside of the norm. It’s strange, it’s beautiful, it’s thought provoking. This is music for a private dance party not everyone is invited to. An intimate music. A puzzle to be solved together.