Tag: William Faith

September Bandcamp Day Is Nearly Upon Us. What Does Your Collection Need?

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I haven’t been churning out reviews at my normal pace, but that does mean I have a glorious golden stack of darkscene music to prime your soul for the Halloween season. I have some long awaited releases to discuss. Some fresh new bands I have discovered. Some spooky new corners of music I have stumbled into. So let’s dive into some of the sexy dark sounds which are haunting the beginning of Autumn

Double Eyelid – Leaving These Stones Unturned – Do you know what I love to hear in the modern scene? An artist no afraid to unapologetically embrace the theatrical melancholy of goth. This is something Toronto based band Double Eyelid grasps well. Ian has a voice dripping with lost lament on a turbulent storm of bass. The song swells and collapses. The lyrics are a confession of buried truth too frightening to face. Powerful revelation in a time of surface reflection.

released August 16, 2022
written by Ian Revell
……………………………………………………….
Ian Revell – Vocals, synth, programming
Sky Shaver – Guitar
Sean Beesley – Additional synth

Produced and mixed by Live Evil Productions
Mastered by Noah Mintz for The Lacquer Channel

Leaving These Stones Unturned | Double Eyelid (bandcamp.com)

SINE – Mantis 2 – Follow up EP to Mantis 1 by the Texas chaos electronica artist Rona Rogueheart. Powerful resonating attacks open the experience. As though you peeled away the smooth edges of Portishead trip hop and revealed something crueler and jagged while maintaining the wet sensual humidity of a packed stone wall club.

Photo by Victoria Renard

Rona Rougeheart / lead vocals, drums, programming
Words by Rona Rougeheart
Music by Rona Rougeheart / Charles Godfrey
Guitar on “Jetset” by Daniel Beaty

*Except:
Written by: Robert James Smith, Steven Severin
Music by Mark Pistel / Rona Rougeheart

Produced by Charles Godfrey / Rona Rougeheart
Recorded at Omenview and Scary American, Austin, TX
Mastered by Mark Pistel at Room 5, San Francisco, CA

Favorite Track:

Virtual Realitease – This track stalks with contrasts and extremes. The thundering club bass, the heavy shimmer of throaty vocals, the razor edge of alure and menace. I love the range of the EP which is always changing the journey. The pastel rain-streaked sorrow of “Je Suid“. This track just hits different though. I’m just not hearing this blend of sounds enough in the modern scene and it has me hooked.

Mantis 2 | SINE (bandcamp.com)

ULTRA SUNN – Summer 22 – Belgian cold wave artist Ultra Sunn on Cold Transmission Music with a double single release that bops with Violator keyboard transitions and sizzling Gahan vocals. A purposeful driving beat of motion while keeping the tempo just below chaos. Expertly mastered by Pete Burns the tone flickers like a bright flame on a distant candle. These tracks both have a place on your summer darkscene party mix.

Summer 22 | ULTRA SUNN (bandcamp.com)

thePicassos – Exhumed – I love nothing more than the chance to shout to the sky about a gifted and haunting band in my own backyard of Michigan. We even have the honor of playing with them at Skull Festival 11/20/22 at Noir Leather in Royal Oak Michigan. This album which dropped August 2022 is a darting ebony fencing match of furious clashing metal that strikes and counters with such speed you lose sight of the precision in the illusion of chaos.

https://www.skulldetroit.com/?fbclid=IwAR2ofT3j53lHO9IsR3rh7By4L-iUBllSsT5v0SZ20YYq3sR4zFMGURd8PBo

Charles Urban

So many glorious and eclectic dark elements at play here. Twangy Latin spice notes in the guitar. Haunted murder ballad Nick Cave tones. The vocals are a roller coaster blend of Gordan Gano and Frank Black. Great use of guitars for percussion, not overdone and adding powerful accent. I looked online to learn more about the band and found little. Luckily I am set to interview them tomorrow for the podcast. Fills me with excitment for a bright future and I am so glad I found them in Michigan.

Favorite Track: Smoke and Mirrors – Part of my love here is the vast range from track to track. This one had huge Pixies “Doolittle” energy. Slashing guitars with a booming clean bass tone. A haunting effortless truth to the delivery. I enjoyed all the songs for different reasons, this one seemed to compile the best flavors of everything going right.

Exhumed | thePicassos (bandcamp.com)

The Bellwether Syndicate – Dystopian Mirror – Chicago show stopper’s have a brilliant new single that roars like a muscle car charging down Woodward Ave. Flames spewing out the engine to chase back the darkness. William croons with an extra edge of piercing determination. The mix is clear but always feels like a toe on the line which makes it feel dangerous, on the verge of shattering the glass bubble. They just took this song on the road with Then Comes Silence from Sweeden. Of everyone I currently follow in the modern darkscene, no one has more “rockstar” energy than William with a mic in his hand.

Released August 5, 2022
William Faith: Vox • Guitars
Sarah Rose Faith: Vox • Guitars
•
Corey Gorey: Guitars (live)
Philly Peroxide: Keyboards • Percussion (live)
Stevyn Grey: Drums (live)

The Bellwether Syndicate (bandcamp.com)

Pilgrims of Yearning – Hadal – Long awaited release from Boston transplants POY which hits the mark perfectly. I love hearing a band grow from album to album by keeping the mystical wanderlust that made their sound stand out, yet graduating their production and layering to make the energy sharper. Juls voice captures a haunting Siouxsie “Superstition” 90s vibe while the guitar rhythms fold and dart like a weaver on a loom. This is a band that really exposes their story with brazen courage and beautiful delivery. A contagious spooky tendril of psychedelic darkness winding around your vision.

Favorite Track: Storms – One because I love the duet, two because I love a banger and this bassline is a live wire flapping on the street in a storm. It gets in your blood and never lets up. Like a jaguar running it is equal parts danger and beauty.

Hadal | Pilgrims of Yearning (bandcamp.com)

A Guide To Cold Waves 2021 Day 1

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What is it all about ?

In the summer of 2012, Chicago lost one of its most loved and respected sound engineers and musicians, Jamie Duffy. His work ethic and ingenuity in the local music scene was a gift to many musicians. His abrupt passing had a profound effect on the electronic and metal music communities he meant so much to. In need of healing and hope, we brought 14 bands together for one magical night that year to raise money for Jamie’s family and say goodbye. But in the end, it was more of an awakening… a rebirth… a breaking wave. The success of the show pushed us to build it into an annual event, stretching over a weekend and moving it to Chicago’s iconic Metro.

Cold Waves means a lot. It is a true culmination of everything great about this scene. People from all over the world coming together to meet and celebrate music, art, unity, and holding each other up through the darkest times. To remember Jamie and everyone who felt lost and alone. A hope that the scene will be there to lend strength to someone else in trauma tomorrow. It’s first and foremost a celebration of what makes life worth living. Music, art, friendship, and empathy. I will be returning for Saturday and Sunday. To see old friends and new. To hear music that will lift my heart at a time I need it most. Lets talk a bit about some of the bands and DJs preforming and think on friends both here and gone.

ALL COLD WAVES ATTENDEES MUST SHOW PROOF OF VACCINATION AT THE DOOR TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, NO EXCEPTIONS.
2. MASKS WILL BE MANDATORY TO ENTER, EXCEPTIONS WHILE IN OUTDOOR SIDE-LOT OR WHILE EATING/DRINKING
3. FINAL LINEUP NOW LISTED ABOVE!

9/23/21 Thursday at Smart Bar doors open at 8pm:

https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/2678031

Tickets still available

The Pirate Twins: Chicago goths legendary couple William Faith and Dj Scary Lady Sarah of The Bellwether Syndicate. They have one of the best followed Twitch stream shows of the pandemic. Offering a blend of old school and new goth/post punk/synthwave. I don’t know if there is a finger more firmly planted on the pulse of the dark scene. The Pirate Twins are as much a part of Chicago as nuclear green relish on hot dogs.

https://thebellwethersyndicate.bandcamp.com/

https://www.twitch.tv/scaryladysarah?fbclid=IwAR1_1e7JE1KhBVCQjDmFr5e_e1jVZNKFbTW4OWZuHnP1ZHGpytJFJgVRp7A

When I think of rock star charisma, I think of William and Sarah

Choke Chain : Milwaukee, Wisconsin razor edge EDM band who has been launching to notoriety with their new album ” Invoking Shadows“. Mark Trueman spews body shocking dance beats and venom charged vocals that infuse the audience with energy like a loa possession. This new EP is mastered by Eric Oehler of (Null Device and Klack) which bursts with a chaotic light and menacing intensity. A great way to set the tone for the festival. Choke Chain came on my radar from fellow Wisconsonite Benny Sweat of Sweat Boys, and has continued to be a rising star for this scene.

Mark Trueman of Choke Chain

I ask Mark what playing Cold Waves meant to him: “Its a great opportunity and Its something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. Finally being able to do it is very exciting”

https://chokechain.bandcamp.com/album/invoking-shadows

Morgue VVitch – Kansas based haunting terror synth from artist Tara Saavedra. A wispy tendril of vocals rises from the metallic cauldron of rising synth sounds. Bubbling percussion pops and crackles from this heady brew and brings the energy to life. I continue to be impressed by their sound, as well as the industry greats who see such promise in Tara and offer remixes for this first single. Names like Ghost Youth, Slighter, Caustic, Stoneburner. When great artists see your value it should be a sign to fans of the genre.

https://morguevvitch.bandcamp.com/

The festival has a long journey ahead. Save some energy. Get a Lou Malnati’s pizza to build a carb base for the energy you will need ahead. Check in with us tomorrow for more tips and tricks for Fridays stacked lineup.