Cerca:gothic

Zehn Jahre haben die Fans auf ein neues Album der millionenfach gestreamten Gothic-Metal-Band Lake Of Tears gewartet. Das neue Album „Onimous“ umhüllt den Hörer mit wohliger Einsamkeit in gewohnt schaurig-düsterer Manier und ist ab dem 19.02.2021 erhältlich.
Mit ihrer neuesten Veröffentlichung haben LAKE OF TEARS den perfekten Soundtrack für die kurzen, grauen Tage und langen, kalten, dunkle Nächte erschaffen. Nach fast einem Jahrzehnt des Schweigens nimmt uns Daniel Brennare, Kopf und Herz der schwedischen Pioniere der dunklen Musik, endlich wieder mit in seine sinistre Gedankenwelt.

Zehn Jahre haben die Fans auf ein neues Album der millionenfach gestreamten Gothic-Metal-Band Lake Of Tears gewartet. Das neue Album „Onimous“ umhüllt den Hörer mit wohliger Einsamkeit in gewohnt schaurig-düsterer Manier und ist ab dem 19.02.2021 erhältlich.
Mit ihrer neuesten Veröffentlichung haben LAKE OF TEARS den perfekten Soundtrack für die kurzen, grauen Tage und langen, kalten, dunkle Nächte erschaffen. Nach fast einem Jahrzehnt des Schweigens nimmt uns Daniel Brennare, Kopf und Herz der schwedischen Pioniere der dunklen Musik, endlich wieder mit in seine sinistre Gedankenwelt.

Genesis is the brand new album from XIXA, Tucson’s dark, dusty gothic overlords, This album sees the band delve even deeper into their roots and give voice to their most primal instincts.

Mit Album # 5 Diva Futura, orientierten sich NIGHTFALL mehr in Richtung GOTHIC METAL. Die Musik geht schnell ins Blut und hat einen wirklich guten Drive, insgesamt ist die Band sehr dynamisch, was sie aus dem Gothic Metal Einheitsbrei heraushebt.

THERION have always been a band that have challenged themselves to explore new paths, while remaining true to their musical core values. For their 17th studio album, mastermind Christofer Johnsson and his collaborator Thomas Vikström have created something that has been previously unthinkable to the guitarist and the singer. "We have done the only thing that was left of all the different angles to explore", explains Christofer. "We have decided to give the people what they kept asking for. 'Leviathan' is the first album that we have deliberately packed with THERION hit songs."

True to the Swede's words, the album opens with the catchy and swift tune 'The Leaf Of The Oak Of Far' featuring female and male antiphonal singing as well as a choir that seems to have evolved straight out of THERION's breakthrough full-length "Theli" (1996). This is immediately followed by the obvious highlight 'Tuonela', in which Christofer cleverly underscores this hit-track's Finnish vibe by employing NIGHTWISH’s "metal voice" Marko Hietala. Next up in this parade of future fan-favourites is the title track 'Leviathan' that offers classic THERION material with operatic female vocals and a massive choir.

Christofer Johnsson's passion for classic voices, choirs, and orchestral elements as well as his penchant for epic melodies in combination with rock and metal shines clearly through the following sing-along ballad 'Die Wellen Der Zeit', which indicates another nod to German romantic composer Richard Wagner. "Ever since 'Theli', Wagner has been and will always be at the core of THERION", emphasises Christofer. "When we started to combine metal and opera, it was something new and original. Today, symphonic metal has long been a firmly established genre."

When THERION came into being in 1988 by changing name from the already existing band BLITZKRIEG, which was founded a year earlier, Christofer had rather taken inspiration from SLAYER's "Reign In Blood" among other classic metal albums. At the beginning, the Swedes were firmly rooted in death metal, a genre which they helped to define, as witnessed by their debut album "Of Darkness...." (1991). Yet even back then, there were hints of "something else" lurking beneath the rough surface.

The use of female vocals is another core ingredient of THERION today, which developed gradually. CELTIC FROST had basically introduced the female element to extreme metal on "To Mega Therion" in 1985. THERION began with both a female and male vocalist emulating a church like choir already in their sophomore full-length 'Beyond Sanctorum' (1992). With Symphony "Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas" (1993) and "Lepaca Kliffoth" (1995), Christofer continued to developed his trademark sound by gradually drifting towards cleaner vocals and more keyboards. With "Theli", the Swedes had firmly established a reputation of pushing the boundaries of metal in the 90s – among such acts as their compatriots TIAMAT, THE GATHERING, and MOONSPELL that were often referred to as "gothic metal" at the time.
THERION continued to break new ground leaving inspiration for others to follow in their wake: On "A'arab Zaraq - Lucid Dreaming" (1997), Christofer further explored the use of Near Eastern music in metal which he had already begun in 1992, while "Secret Of The Runes" (2001) dared to have Swedish lyrics in some songs. While critics were left confused and fans challenged, THERION were often ahead of their times and vindicated in hindsight. Even the band's 25th anniversary excursion "Les Fleurs Du Mal" has by now overcome the initial shock the album caused and is only beaten in terms of streaming by the classic "Vovin" (1998).
When Christofer faced the question of where to go next after the dramatic "Beloved Antichrist" (2018) had finally fulfilled his musical mission, his answer is "Leviathan" named after a giant sea monster from Judeo-Christian myth that has roots in Babylonic lore: THERION have created a giant hit album – and for the first time in the history of the Swedes, their fans are not asked to explore something new, but simply to lean back and enjoy the best from their band!

Generative music seems to imply a systems approach to music, or a system that once created can utilise randomness in a creative way. The benevolence of nature’s creativity belies this musical term, and can flip the word ‘generative’ to mean to involve constantly flowing creativity with purpose. In Europe there was a time in the Pagan Renaissance when architecture would mirror nature’s generative quality. Sculptures and columns were to imply animation or movement.

That’s where Milan W.’s album comes through in 2020. His music involves the night shadows of Europe’s architecture and its growth. In Bloom personifies itself by showing Antwerp’s influential ‘Night Play’: a term that can relate to many European cities such as Bologna, Vienna, and so on and so on. The leftovers of Renaissance and gothic architecture are everywhere in Europe still; layers of ruins that can generate the impression of simultaneous time periods. Tracks like Spa and Helium Queen reveal and revel in the power of shadow movement that is generated by the night. In Milan W.’s past works, the poignant and simple creative play of dark wave and synth beat music was his vehicle for expression, but now on In Bloom he departs to a touching sidereal impressionism allied with Coil’s instrumental pieces on Horse Rotorvator — an album whose cover portrays the potential powers of the pavilion just as Milan W. is portraying the generative soul and alienation of Europe’s ‘Night Play’. Because of In Bloom we can come to believe that there is a secretive energy in alienation, a playfulness that is alight at Night.

Following 2019’s ‘INSHROUDSS EP’, ‘RESURRECTEDINBLACK’ marks the first Bestial Mouths LP crafted fully under frontwoman Lynette Cerezo’s guiding mind.

Emerging from the shrouds of trauma explored on her debut release as the singular force behind Bestial Mouths, RESURRECTEDINBLACK weaves a world riddled by grief and loss—a world of broken systems, of toxic lands once sacred, of lost saviors and inner voids that may be tented with strong flesh, but remain as raw as the meat surrounding them.

While branching deeper into the searing industrialized electronics and imminently danceable darkwave of the previous EP, RESURRECTEDINBLACK also continues to channel new and experimental paths through the project’s original gothic post-punk roots. Led by Cerezo’s visceral, emotional voice and lyrics, and featuring beautifully brutal production from Brant Showers (AAIMON/SØLVE), Alex DeGroot (Zola Jesus) and Balázs Képli (nullius in verba), it is the journey of a soul shattered—then stapled back together by female rage and self-determination.

2023 Restock

Within the elusive confines of this film awaits an unreleased album that defies categorisation by a musician who in a different time and space would be revered amongst some of the most important exponents of progressive rock, dark ambient, Krautrock and pioneering synthesiser composition - not to mention sound design and art-house film scores. As a protégé of François Bayle and Luc Ferrari who had studied classical music before immersing himself in found-sound manipulation and oscillators, Alain Pierre quickly became an enthusiastic go-to man for sound sculpture and technical studio proficiency in Belgium’s small film industry.

To the many generations of dedicated fans of the visual work of Philippe Druillet it might seem virtually impossible to adequately “score” the alien, futurist landscapes of the man who many called the “space architect” (on account of his space age reductions of Gothic cathedrals, Art Nouveau, and Indian temples), but once you have heard the sonic reactions of Alain Pierre on this the first-ever dedicated Druillet documentary, Ô Sidarta, complete with his own equivalent sound palette, it will be difficult to “hear” Druillet’s world via any other composer. Despite Druillet’s truly incredible record sleeve designs for projects like cosmic disco ensemble Black Sun, concept albums such as Attention by Jean-Pierre Mirouze (composer of Le Mariage Collectif), Parisian metal bands like Sortilège, gatefold portraits of Jimi Hendrix, later period albums by William Sheller and most relevantly on albums by Igor Wakhévitch (Docteur Faust, 1971) as well as separate releases by both Richard Pinhas and Georges Grünblatt (both from the cosmic prog outfit Heldon), it is fair to say that this criminally unreleased album by Alain Pierre would conjure up the closest synergy between sound and vision that either artist would come close to.

The almost twelve of continuous music that Alain Pierre supplied for Ô Sidarta in 1974 fortunately appears in its entirety, unedited, as it does here for the first time ever away from its original broadcasts. Broadcast on Belgian and French TV that autumn, the film received a warm reception from Druillet fans, prospective film producers and space rock fans lucky enough to catch the short feature.

Throughout his career Alain’s commitment to conceptual music excelled within both cinematic realms as well as with the live arena. Never shying away from the constraints of transporting heavy synthesiser technolog and unpredictable analogue equipment to public spaces, Alain took his self-initiated “live” work very seriously. It was within his lesser-documented performances that you would find the closest sound to the music on Ô Sidarta, proving that the Druillet collaboration was naturalistic and conceptually close to Alain’s personal stylistic agenda. A rare recording of a one-off concert at the Université libre de Bruxelles in October 1976 reveals a very similar set of movements and soundscapes found on Ô Sidarta. This rare artefact has been included on the second side of this record under its original title Notions de physique intérieure (Notions Of Interior Physics) and stands as a perfect companion piece to Ô Sidarta - complete with a very similar “kit list” including the welcome addition of an Arp Sequencer, a Korg Vocoder and a Theremin (a back line whose total would far surpass any stationary studio of the era never mind a live show!).

By looking back at his original composition for one of his very first solo soundtrack commissions, Ô Sidarta, you can hear that back in 1974 Alain had already successfully managed to combine more unlikely musical influences, experimental techniques, and previously unheard soundscapes and studio tricks in to one twelve-minute score than most musicians fail to cram in to a whole discography. But still there is so much music yet to be discovered and Ô Sidarta is just the tip of the iceberg in the middle of a cosmic sea. Much like a character from one of Philippe Druillet’s books, Alain Pierre is a rogue pilot, steering his own ship in to the unknown, uncharted, unnoticed and quite unbelievable.

She Lost Kontrol is thrilled to announce the debut full length album by the collaboration between the Berlin based producer Unhuman and the performer – activist Petra Flurr .
The two artists return to the label after their single releases in the two volumes of Surviving in Europe and for Unhuman, after his mighty Aktion Mutante ep in collaboration with Violet Poison back in 2018.

Marking our 14th instalment on the label, ‘’Cause Of Chaos ‘’ comprises eight tracks filled of energy and steeped in to gothic nostalgia and electronic body music. The well-known artists create a mix of post-punk and synthesizer electronics shaped by their uncompromised textures, that glides through genres with ease and combines modern style with retro goodness. An abstract style of contamination seldom seen within the modern music spectrum.

The Deutsch Italo- Griechisch duo offers us an immersive, futuristic and solid sound, inspired by the music which the two artists grew up with, following a natural evolution to their roots in post-punk, electronic and guitar music. Absolutely an album that will find its space on the shelves of passionate collectors of DAF, Liaisons Dangereuses, Virgin Prunes and beyond.

Edition of 350 copies

Melissa Guion’s second offering for Kranky retains the glassy gauze of her debut, 2016’s Precious Systems, but shaded starker and darker, framed by mechanical rhythms and humid industrial moods. She speaks of Sour Cherry Bell as something of a reckoning with her tools of creation: “I was curious to see how far I could go with them, even if that meant reaching the ends of their capacity to do what I wanted. But I never exhausted them and they never exhausted me.”

Utilizing her trusted combination of instrumentation, Guion tracked the record between her New Orleans home and rehearsal space, capturing chemistries both intimate and expansive. The songs sway between twilit shoegaze, downer ballads, and gothic pop, mapping a delicate palette of electric melancholies, though in retrospect she cites as her primary muse the notion of power: “lost and found, corporeal and cerebral, harnessed and exploited, of one and many, in this reality and the next.” Sour Cherry Bell reverberates beyond the here and now into scenes unseen, worlds unheard.

Steve Von Till has charted an extraordinary musical path over the last several decades, from his main duties as singer and guitarist of the boundary-breaking Neurosis to the psychedelic music of his Harvestman project and the gothic Americana he's released under his own name. But No Wilderness Deep Enough is truly like nothing you've ever heard from him before—an album that's devastatingly beautiful and overwhelming in its scope, reminiscent of the tragic ecstasy of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' recent work as well as the borderless ambient music pioneered by Brian Eno, late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson's glacial compositions, and the electronic mutations of Coil. 

FOR FANS OF : MARK LANEGAN/MICHAEL GIRA/NICK CAVE.

Over the course of recent time, an aching, growing void has developed where our normal way of life has resided. Uncertainty abounds, and Steve Von Till's No Wilderness Deep Enough provides a voice of existential wisdom and experience to offer comfort and perspective in an era of uncharted territory. These six pieces of music shape a hallucinatory landscape of sound that plumbs the depths of the natural world's mysteries and uncertainties—questions that have vexed humanity since the dawn of time asked anew amidst a backdrop that's as haunting as it is holistic.

Von Till’s fifth solo album is a swirling and iridescent blend of ambient, neo-classical, and gothic Americana that swan-dives into the darkness of modern life, with the resulting emergence a sonic document of rural psychedelia that transcends the physical world—towards a greater spiritual acceptance that connects naturalism, spiritualism, and the corporeal form.

With a foundation of simple melancholy piano chord progressions embellished with mellotron, cello, french horn and electronic treatments Von Till's scorched ache spreads across the terrain of No Wilderness Deep Enough like a brushfire, adding a tactile level to his sonic creation as well as an inviting level of friction to the burning beauty painted across the album's framework.

With a foundation of simple melancholy piano chord progressions that came to fruition during jetlagged nights in his wife’s childhood home in Germany, No Wilderness Deep Enough was further embellished with mellotron and electronic treatments in Von Till’s home studio in North Idaho.  Viewing the emerging result as an ambient instrumental album, he consulted friend and engineer Randall Dunn (Marissa Nadler, Earth) about adding live cello and french horn and piano in a proper studio.  After enlisting Brent Arnold on cello and Aaron Korn on french horn, he challenged Von Till to sing over the music and make it his next solo album—which is exactly what happened, with final work being completed at Tucker Martine’s (the Decemberists, Neko Case) Flora Recording and Playback in Portland.

Vox Populi!'s cult and highly sought after debut LP is finally reissued here after 30 years. Recorded after their first single - Ectoplasmies (1983) - between 1984 and 1985, the original band of Mitra and her (then) 14 year old brother Arash and Axel Kyrou, evolved from 2 early cassettes and the 7"s' rudimentary, idiosyncratic and improvisational structures to more cohesive edges. Living together, but with no formal music education, the nature of the disparate elements led to a sparseness of the recordings. Influenced by his mother, the concrete music pioneer, Mireille Kyrou and her work at GRM (State Institute for Musical Research), Axel challenged his creativity by utilising their Vox Man studio as an instrument. Building on minimal synth, rhythm box, hand percussion and Persian poetry, they experimented with tape manipulation - layering the music with forward, backward and echo simultaneously - creating a leap in the band's development. The dark nature Myscitismes was reflected in their increasing interest in industrial and ethnic music, with a great fascination for the religious traditional music of Tibet. Ceremonial, gothic, drone-folk, the progression is apparent; onward perceptions.

“Here we have new music by an artist you may have heard but have never heard of, reason being the Austro-Balinese surf goth formally known as The Hands would now like to be referred to as Dully. Yes, Dully. The ESP Institute proudly presents his second official release which can only be described as independent gothic technotic antipop. Enjoy!” –DJ Harvey

Legendary album of Jacaszek from 2009, first time on vinyl, 180g, gatefold, with downloadcode

PENTRAL (lat: inside, spirit, temple).

Michal Jacaszek's new project is an attempt to describe a gothic church interior by means of sounds. A temple owes its special atmosphere not only to visual elements but also to characteristic acoustics – reverb, enhancing and prolonging a slightest whisper into infinity. Jacaszek spent several days in three Gdansk historic churches (Oliwa Cathedral, St. Nicolas' church, St. Mary's Basilica) recording chanting, organs, and also a broad spectrum of accidental noises. Source sounds were were used only as a stimulus which releases the sound of the whole inside, and as such, they were consequently retouched in the post production process. Studio work and also the atmosphere of melody and arrangements were subordinate to the idea of portraying the church as a place filled with distant mysteries, a huge music instrument.

Since forming in 2006 post-punk experimentalists Sebastian Melmoth have been on a thoughtful and adventurous musical journey. In a constant state of aural evolution, the London-based four-piece has a delivered a string of albums and EPs that variously touch on everything from garage-rock, grunge and lo-fi pop, to electro, new wave, dark ambient and music concrete, all the while drawing on a myriad of literary and artistic influences.

The band’s first release for Artificial Dance digs deep into their admirable and eye-opening catalogue and draws together some of the Amsterdam-based label’s favourites from the more electronic end of the band’s output. Entitled “The Dynamics of Vanity” – a comment on Western culture’s obsession with rehashing the past and the band’s own in-built distrust of artistic naval-gazing – the set is not a ‘best of’ retrospective but rather a ‘sort of’ selection of stylistically interconnected cuts that gives a very specific snapshot of the band’s work.

Check for example “Icarus”, a drowsy, hypnotic and sample-laden soundscape that effortlessly joins the dots between post-rock, pitched-down electronica and early morning ambient, or the slowly unfurling throb of thought-provoking opener “The Engineering of Consent”, a swelling, melancholic post-jazz meditation on propaganda and governmental mind control featuring spoken word samples from William S Burroughs in conversation with Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine and Robert Anton Wilson.

The showcased songs are typically hard-to-pin-down, too, with the re-imagined gothic horror break-up cut “Prosopagnosia’ and slow-burn audio addition of “Waiting For Godot” being joined by the wide-eyed morning dream-pop hallucinations of “Seeds (Descent Into Decadence)”. It all adds up to a collection that expertly showcases one engaging thread – of many – running through Sebastian Melmoth’s esoteric body of work.

Following September 2017's release of "Imperfect Charm" a 5-track EP of post-club, haunted techno and heady sound designed industrial.
Evitceles has developed his sound far further, with releases on Seagrave, Yerevan and his own Amek imprint. "The Substance Of My Fantasies" is his first album and boils down the previous work into a narrative and truly dramatic session over its 9 tracks.

Opening gambit "Take Me to Common Ground" unlocks the gates with bruising rave stabs left to exist in a vacuum of sub-bass boom and augmented voice. "Nightcrawler / Third Night" is a diffuse future-garage roller, priming razor-edged basslines against a hollow melancholia, a theme present throughout this album. "Spit Hearts" cranks the busted drum patters out through a super hi-fi field of gothic synthesiser.

Closing piece "Behaviour Exercise" places off-thumbed emo-guitar lines and barely uttered exclamations into a gorgeous outro recalling sad boy rap styles from the darkest corners.

‘Still Strange’ reaches back into the prized loft tapes of Jeff Sharp aka Orior following the revelatory discovery of his overlooked early ‘80s gems on 2016’s ‘Strange Dream’ collection, as coaxed out by
DDS dons Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty.
Huddling another sublime, dusty set of analogue tapes freshly baked and remarkably well-restored by Andy Popplewell, ’Still Strange’ contains four gorgeous flashbacks to the era 1979-1983
surrounding and even pre-dating ‘Strange Beauty’, and then shifts focus to recordings that Orior made around the early ‘90s.
As with its predecessor, Orior is not alone on the material in ’Still Strange.’ From those feted early tapes we find Phil Hollis returning to lend jagged guitar on the drum machine sizzle of ‘Feels Like
Summer’, while the mysterious synth player New Cross John makes vital contribution to ‘Invium.’
Along with the aching synth sigh of ‘To Return’, which pre-dated all of these recordings, and the nine minutes of haunting bedsit strums in ‘Larbico Alt Mix’ which came from the first batch, the
early material is all arguably worth the price of admission alone for seekers of lost synth treasures - really this stuff is just so good..
However, the album’s other six tracks expand knowledge of Orior’s work into the ‘90s and also contain some extraordinary material. Salvaged from further loft tapes found in various states of degradation, and subsequently mixed down between London’s Goldsmiths College and Miles Whittaker’s Whalley Range attic (and elsewhere), they are decidedly more blunt and gloaming, especially in the Deathprod-like ‘Under Shadow’ and the near static witching hour ambience of ‘Endless’, while shorter vignettes such as ‘Unknown Future’, ‘Gothic’ and ‘Another’ point to pre-echoes of BoC’s crepuscular scapes and even Bladerunner-esque sci-fi noir soundscapes

With their 2013 debut single "Vintage Voudou," Conjunto Papa Upa cemented themselves as the torchbearers of a rare breed of Afro-Caribbean psychedelic soul, a clear delineation from the wonderful world of Venezuelan poly rhythms. That original song, named after the short lived but heavily influential Amsterdam brick and mortar record shop that band leader Alex Figueira founded, was a perfect clue into the deep exploration that Papa Upa would begin to take on their musical journey. Like the store itself, known for its solid connection to the musical footprints put down in relatively undiscovered places like Suriname, Curacao, Cabo Verde, Portugal and of course Figueira's native Venezuela, Papa Upa has captured a sound that is entirely unique, a new concoction of influences that at once sound strange, yet totally familiar. Perhaps because Venezuela shared such a rich & diverse mix of sounds from the Atlantic, Caribbean & US, a kindred spirit to their neighboring country, Colombia, an equal in terms of their industry output from the 60's & 70's, yet not nearly as publicized and compiled in recent years. Like many places in the greater Afro-Caribbean nexus, they were musically ahead of their time.


This futuristic mélange of sounds is reflective of Papa Upa itself, made up of musicians from Venezuela, Uruguay, Cuba & The Netherlands, all living, practicing & recording at Figueira's Amsterdam studio, Barracão Sound. With such a wide range of tropical influences, in a cosmopolitan and diverse city like Amsterdam, it's no wonder that Papa Upa's first extended project would find kinship in a collaboration with New York's Names You Can Trust.


Their lead single for the label, a preview of an upcoming full-length project in 2020, features "El Secreto Del Metalero" & the 45-only bonus B-side, "Chicharrón Pelúo." Metalero, or "The Metalhead's Secret" is a fitting anecdote for Papa Upa, with Figueira's synthesized vocals leading the way. It's an allegorical exorcism of a debauched headbanger on a discreet dance floor of a tropical rave. The shedding of a gruff & gothic exterior for the buckle-to-buckle bliss of the changa. Similarly in the music itself, under the cloak of vintage synths and a woofer exploding bassline, lies a frenetic fusion of afro-latin percussion that is highlighted by the intense rhythms of Angola's giantguacharaca (or scraper), thedikanza. At its heart is a sugary sweetness that is capable of converting the roughest of rockers into a tropicalista on the dance floor.

Vinyl Only 2x12"

Minimood introduces a series of fusion releases between cold-wave, gothic, post-punk on the one hand and ambient, techno, house, electro on the other hand. We hope that the ensuing synthesis between categories disseminates novel as well as sustained types of inspiration. The first project in this series presents the song Wie Raben by the post-punk band Factice Factory with electronic interpretations by André Galluzzi, Christian Burkhardt, Iori, Reinhard Voigt, as well as ROD.

Stellar new EP on the way from Dutch producer Qindek. The rising star has been on the up as of late having released on labels on such Wolfskin Records and Invite's Choice Records. This time he's releasing on vinyl only label Dreiklang who have had some scintillating cuts from Edit-Select (who appears as one of the remixers on this EP) and Claudio PRC.
Qindek has really been honing his skills and is known as much for his flowing DJ sets as he is for his masterful live sets. This level of technique is truly standing to the artist as we can see from his comfortability with hardware shine through on this project.
'Come Closer' will be the fifth release from the label: it features the original mix Come Closer and three remixes from VOLTMAR, Edit-Select, and KUF, which show the different facades of the track. The original cut is a primal, tribal number merged with club elements. It enters with a bongo-like drum that is followed by a hi-hat for some pace. A surreptitious synth floats in and levitates back and forth, which is coupled with fluctuating keys and toms. It's a mesmerizing number with an understated tempo, bringing the forest to the club.
Cologne based artist VOLTMAR takes the first remix. Known as a DJ for many years now, he has performed in clubs across Europe. He tends to enjoy a deeper sound and this is prevalent in his take on the cut. The percussions are deeper and more hollowed, which creates a different kind of sway. It feels more tribal, with more jungle elements to it. It has less synth and more of a heavy bassline, designed to connect people on a primal level.
Next to feature is none other than Edit-Select. The British native is well established in the club scene and does not disappoint with this remix. A more complex sound, he takes the track and elongates it. It's a consistent sound with underground elements and a slight bit of tempo. It has this divine gothic synth that oscillates with a certain lilt to it. The beat is enchanting as the cut slowly diminishes.
The last stand is by Swedish artist Kuf. Known for his energetic sound, this cut does not disappoint. It's a high-velocity all-out assault club banger. It has rolling beats, speedy hi-hats and a tempo that is driven forward by hand claps. It has a skeleton aspect to it, whereas instead of using builds, they add and subtract elements inject an ever-changing pace.

"Penelope Redeux" enthält 10 Reworks von Tracks des zweiten Albums "Penelope Two" (2018) der New-Yorker Ambient-Gothic-Künstlerin Penelope Trappes. Die fantastischen Reinterpretationen stammen u.a. von den schottischen Post-Rock-Legenden Mogwai, Paul Corley (Sigur Ros), Cosey Fanni Tutti (Throbbing Gristle), Nik Colk Void (Factory Floor), dem schwedischen Duo Aasthma (Peder Mannerfelt & Pär Grundvik), der Isländerin Jófríður Ákadóttir (JFDR), Savages-Produzent Johnny Hostile und Throwing Snow (Houndstooth). Im April 2019 tourte Penelope als Teil des Duos The Golden Filter mit Sharon Van Etten.

Any self-respecting scene can not do without a muse. Albeit a fragile one. Xen is a central figure in the (now not so) new Tel Aviv scene, having fluttered from projects to projects (with Red Axes, with Yovav Arzi or the soon to come Levantines), being herself kind of everywhere she goes, fragile yet strong, as if she was gaining gravity from both the little black hole inside of her and from the Garzen galaxy. These four tracks written and produced with Dori Sadovnik from Red Axes may be the epitaph to Xen are romantic underachiever, her chrysalis. Pere Adam has been a hit (whatever that means these days) with many luminaries such as Vladimir Ivkovic or Ivan Smagghe, pure angst in psychedelic dub. On Zel Meshugah, Xen & Dori amp the gothic, though more moon than beach, proving once more that all good songs are about heartbreaks. There is a certain sixties folk air to Ir Beton, some lofi sun shining through Xen's adolescent clouds. This new found positivity finds its expression in the flea market funk of Sugar & Wine, Xen shouting to the stars that life, even if bumpy, is now really worth living. -Words By Ivan Smagghe

Brand new 7' EP from Glasgow's Vital Idles, following on from the band's well-received debut LP and a rigorous Marc Riley BBC 6 Music session from last year. Vital Idles are touring Europe in support of the EP, finishing up in the UK playing a series of UTR showcase parties in celebration of the label's 15 year history.


If there isn't yet a tradition of following a magnificent debut album with a, shoelaces-tightened, excellent mission statement of an EP (one would be forgiven to think that the debut long player was the mission statement already, breaking in on the scene/ry with such unmissable and rarely seen sensory delight, but then upon hearing the subsequently released EP one is tempted to think: "Wow! That debut was truly astonishing but now they are REALLY on a mission!"), well, if this tradition doesn't already exist - and thinking about Young Marble Giants' scene-defining "Final Day" 7", Pylon's absolutely essential "!!" 10" and Carla Dal Forno's recent-yet-already-classic "The Garden" 12" one might argue that this tradition is undoubtedly fully existent (more so: alive and well) — then this self-titled extended play from much beloved Glasgow quartet Vital Idles would surely be a striking argument for the genesis of such a tradition.

On the other hand, when taking sides with the many seasoned critics arguing that this tradition has indeed long been established, one might confidently list this effort as a bona fide example of such practice, sharing with the aforementioned not only an astute and accomplished artistic ability but also a sense of minimalist psychedelia that transcends restrictions set by redundant referencialism and grateless genre parameters such as "Post Punk" or "Minimal Pop" (on which the same critics, of course, often disagree).
That being said, ping-ponging from gritty post punk smashes to minimal pop moments and vice versa, Vital Idles' sphere of stripped-down efficiency and sharp personal observation also brings to mind crucially overseen half-chord-wonders Glorious Din as well as antipodean contemporaries like Constant Mongrel (who also had their latest release mastered by the fantastic M. Young), Primo! (who also had their latest release mastered by the fantastic M. Young) and Terry (who also had their latest release mastered by the fantastic M. Young).

The EP reveals itself as a steady, hypotenusal rise of intensity and momentum, starting with the hallucinogenic restrain of opener "Break A", building tension throughout the gothic-noise flourishes of "Seconds" and "Rustle Rustle" and culminating in "Careful Extracts", a 2 minute burst of carefree introspection that might as well be the unintentional answer to early career highlight "My Sentiments": "just me and my/ tired ire/ a a a a a a a a a a"

In conclusion: Vital Idles' debut was truly astonishing but - wow! - now they are truly on a mission.

Milan based collective Just This continue their mission into the darkest territories of electronic music with the Evolution EP from Hill Of Vision featuring an Alex.Do remix, due February 22nd.

Title track is a bleak, disorienting journey through muffled acoustics and gloomy surroundings narrated by an eerie vocal. For his remix, Alex.Do reinterprets the tension of the original into a floating dance floor weapon.

'Signs' is a stripped back swirl of strange melodic inflections and cyclical effects, whilst 'Land Of Vision' dissects the framework of atypical techno into an immersive doomsday soundtrack.

Evolution EP delves deeper into the blackened acoustic world of Just This, repurposing references from gothic tales and electronic music culture into a singularly murky aesthetic.

The electronic pioneer and founding father of synthpop, Gary Numan, celebrates his 40th anniversary as recording artist. During these 40 years, Numan's impact made itself felt; his dark, paranoid vision, theatrically icy alien persona, and clinical, robotic sound were echoed strongly in the work of many goth rock, wave and industrial artists

Wave Tension Records invited 7 contemporary dark wave, gothic and dreampop artists to honour their inspirator with an exclusive tribute. The album opens with Agent Side Grinder's nostalgic analogue rendition of 'I'm an Agent', followed by Ash Code's fresh sounding fast paced post-punk/dark wave version of 'Down In The Park'. Shad Shadows turn 'Metal' into a whispering heated darkwave track. On the last track of side A, Box & The Twins create warm and dreamy soundscapes in their version of 'Complex'. SUIR opens side B with a hypnotic psychedelic slowed down art-punk version of 'Cars'. Synths Versus Me turns Numan's monster hit 'Are Friends Electric' into a fresh synthpop & EBM take with Art of Noise-esque vocals. The album's closing track is a gothic rock rendition of 'My Name Is Ruin' by Swedish rockers Then Comes Silence, which encourages you to sing along

Techno Thriller joins the Unknown Precept fam with a brand new mini-album. The first following the release of their eponymous full-length album a couple of months ago. Based in Brussels, although now relocating themselves in Marseille, France, the four-handed formation has steadily been crafting cybernated Gothic music over the past years. Recorded a few months back while drawing its inspiration from dark dungeons and occult folklore, not without evocative titles, Enfant de Sodome feels as muscular and thrilling as their live performances usually imply. Compelling murky synthpunk and industrial machinery colliding in fervor and howls. Free falling tumultuous bass lines lacerated by ominous muffled groans. Bone-bending primitive techno music catapulted over the walls in the most urgent fashion. At the end, it very much feels like trying to dance on some sort of cryptic electronic body music in a heavy chain-mail.

After the solo album Paths Of The Errant Gaze in 2016 Reinier van Houdt returns to Hallow Ground with Igitur Carbon Copies - an album based on the unfinished gothic tale Igitur, a collection of texts that eventually was abandoned by its author Stéphane Mallarmé in 1869.

Connecting with Mallarmé's obsessions about chance and destiny, Igitur Carbon Copies is the fragmentation of all the roots that ran under its predecessor Paths Of The Errant Gaze and brings these to a provisional close: guided by David Tibet's voice reading the reworked text we descend through spheres of deserted anthems, disembodied voices, morse signals, crank calls, corroded tapes, radio statics, stones, while doing counting games. Here the acoustical spaces are manifold, blended or shifted in a heartbeat, where far and near, up and down are relative, where Riemann's god is pointless and angels are enjoying their space. Here perception is a vice that constantly hallucinates realities.

Reinier van Houdt started experimenting with taperecorders, radio's and objects at a young age. Later he studied piano at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He developed a fascination for all matters that defy notation: sound, timing, space, physicality, memory, noise, environment - points beyond composition, interpretation and improvisation. He has built himself an unusual repertoire that consistently resulted from personal quests; from composing with non-musical sources, from collaborations with composers and musicians, from research in archives or from unorthodox studies of classical music. He has collaborated with artists like Francisco López, Maria de Alvear, Robert Ashley, Luc Ferrari, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Curran, John Cage, Christian Marclay, Walter Marchetti, Charlemagne Palestine and joined the legendary outsider-collective Current 93 in 2012.

After a year in the making Giallo Disco is proud to present GDLP002 the previously unreleased soundtrack to fictitious writer/director Joel Hughes controversial 80s teen drama Wild In Blue. Featuring tracks from label heads Antoni Maiovvi and Vercetti Technicolor as well as the maestro Umberto, Canada's Kindest Cuts, Italy's Queen Of Coldwave Mushy, Germany's Mirror Talk, the legendary HORD and Fever Dream. Halfway between The Breakfast Club and Gregg Araki, with influences ranging from Gothic Electro, HiNRG Synth Pop and Cosmic Melancholy, this Various Artist affair tugs the heartstrings and warps the mind. Mastered by Alek Stark, cover art by MAZ, sleeve by Eric A Lee.

Limited to 100 copies, first time on cassette. Pro duplicated.

Juxta Position returns to his own Failsafe imprint with 4 post-modern techno pieces, exploring minimalist themes performed on more traditional sound sources, relying on pure sequencing rather than patch programming to convey moods and atmospheres.

Opener "Five Four Piano" recalls the work of modern classical composers such as Steve Reich, but reengineers the aesthetic to fit on techno dancefloors.

Likewise, "Orchestral Manouvers" continues this theme, whilst introducing a Millsian twist, and "Icicles" takes the idea even further into more looped techno territory.

E.P. Closer "Crisp Cold" concludes the record, with a cinematic and serious tone and almost gothic sensibility.

Four tracks which are a break from the usual, expected timbres of contemporary techno.

The final single in a series featuring regular Ghost Box artists, special guests and one-off projects. This time our guest artist is folk singer, Sharron Kraus with a remix by Belbury Poly on the B side.

'Something Out of Nothing' is a beautifully simple yet profound baroque pop folk song. Kraus sings, plays guitar and synth and is ably assisted by a studio band comprising: Jenny Bliss Bennett on Viola de Gamba & Fiddle, Nick Jonah Davis on Slide Guitar, Neal Heppleston on Bass, Oliver Parfitt on Synths, Nancy Wallace on Backing Vocals and Guy Whittaker on Drums.

Sharron Kraus is a singer of folk songs, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose solo work and collaborations offer a dark and subversive take on traditional music. As well as drawing on the folk traditions of England and Appalachia, her music is influenced by gothic literature, surrealism, myth and magick.

In addition to eight solo albums, Kraus has recorded an album of traditional songs 'Leaves From Off The Tree' with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall (Espers, Beautify Junkyards) written an album of songs to celebrate the seasons of the year, 'Right Wantonly A-Mumming', which was recorded with some of England's finest traditional folk singers including Jon Boden, Fay Hield and Ian Giles. She has also recorded and performed with Ex Reverie's Gillian Chadwick as Rusalnaia, with Tara Burke (Fursaxa) as Tau Emerald and with Irish free-folk collective United Bible Studies.

Jim Jupp, co-founder of the Ghost Box label, records as Belbury Poly. His melodic, folk inflected electronica references 70s library music & TV soundtracks. It's music that's both light and weirdly unsettling.

To coincide with the release of their eagerly awaited debut album Gate Of Grief (now due out on 20 July), US dark electronic outfit WHITE RING release a double AA side 7' single of the two lead tracks on the album 'Leprosy' and 'Nothing'. Blending heavy, distorted electronics with eerie, unsettling vocals they push the boundaries further, subverting genre ideas and mashing them all together, with industrial, metal, rave, chopped and screwed, rap, grunge, neo folk, post punk and new wave all in the mix

'Leprosy' is brooding, abrasive and ethereal all at once, the track draws from a varied and challenging palette, steeped in existential dread. It was the first song they wrote for the album and features the vocals of co-founding member Kendra Malia. As Bryan Kurkimilis explains; 'This song was the first time we really wanted to start exploring aggression in our music.'

'Nothing' is underpinned by gothic 80s beats and sinister synth bass-lines. It crackles and fizzes with arcade bleeps with wraith-like melodies floating over the top. In this song, nothing is true and everything is permitted. It features the first collaboration with newcomer Adina Viarengo, who added her vocals in 2016 to the existing instrumental track that Bryan Kurkimilis created for the first set of WHITE RING demos in 2009.

WHITE RING were originally formed by Bryan Kurkimilis and Kendra Malia, before they were joined by Adina Viarengo, with Bryan and Adina currently touring as a duo. Gate Of Grief arrives a full eight years since their benchmark EP, Black Earth That Made Me, which sold out almost instantly, making their records some of the most highly sought after on the underground scene and earning them a cult following across the globe.

Swerving from aggressively abrasive to beautifully ethereal, musically they draw from varied and challenging palette, whilst tackling themes of loss and acceptance due to struggles with drug addiction and existential dread on a broader scope.

Dwelling on the outskirts of pop music, WHITE RING grew up in the age of the internet and were exposed to a huge range of music. They have developed a unique style while pushing the boundaries of accessibility and musical genre. They have created a piece of art that is brimming with symbolism and underlying tensions, that seduces and scares in equal measure.

Another amazing release is delivered by the guys behind Suburban Avenue: Asymptote.

90' inspired, "Too Blind To See" is the perfect fusion between elements of the old school, and new sonorities.

A1 "Pistis" is a dark-gothic-ambient intro;
A2 "Donít Believe the Hype" is an effective, acidic, 1990's school Dj Techno tool.
A3 "Doxa"" is a driving and pulsating trip, with increasing tension.

On the B side,

both B1 "Too blind To See" and B2 "No Truth" are two fine dark and big room Techno tracks, ready for the dancefloor.

B3 'Sirens Song' is a glitched and spaced out outro.

Parrish Smith makes his Dekmantel debut on the label's sister-techno imprint, UFO, with a blend of avant garde electronics and industrial.
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With the 'Sex, Suicide & Speed Metal EP', Dutch producer Parrish Smith works outside of the realm of genres and tempos, creating his own unique template of saturated, electronic post-punk, having won accolades from the likes of Nina Kraviz, and Ron Morelli along the way. An analogue purist at heart, Parrish Smith has already amassed a cult following with regular appearances on Red Light Radio, in which the anarcho-experimentalist broadcasts sessions of heavy industrialism, breakbeats and body music.

Parrish Smith's music brings together classic analogue gear and a love for the fusion of aggressive industrial sounds. With title track 'Sex, Suicide & Speed Metal', Parrish Smith channels his inner Alan Vega, with some screaming guitars, and 65bpm machine-crunching body beats, lurching into a sultry space of slick wave music. 'Mute' jacks up the feeling of tempo, rife with energetic drum machines, pulsing synths and retro-fitted vocals, similar to the sound of something Daniel Miller might have released himself back in the early 80s. 'SKINS', delves further into the mechanical, with a grinding bass that bleeds through the track's entirety, while 'Fall into sin' sees him explore the world of deconstructed, gothic-pop yet further. Parrish Smith will be DJing, and performing live as Volition Immanent at this year's Dekmantel Festival, to fulfil the festival's charter of provocative, and intoxicating, energetic beat-filled music.

New Lp-edition of a private press library recordings of the early '70s.
Together with Florian Fricke and Peter Michael Hamel, Deuter is certainly the main responsible of a fruitful encounter between European sensibility and Eastern aesthetics in the German music of the 1970s. Soundtrack was originally produced by Kuckuck in 1973 not for an official and public release, but as a library' to be used for films, TV and radio. As a library it respects the canonical and typological structure of the genre with 26 short sonic fragments, sequences imagined and conceived like fulminating illuminations. There's still a solid electronic vocation that, however, has put aside the most disruptive effluvia of D (1971) of pure kraut' ancestry. In fact, the album is more like an ideal passing bridge between some ritual instances of the previous Aum (1972) and the following successful phase of Deuter during the period when he stays in the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's ashram in Poona realizing, in parallel to a renewed inner life, masterpieces like Celebration, Haleakala, Ecstasy and Silence is the Answer. Musically speaking, Soundtrack presents itself as a heterogeneous work with nocturnal, cinematic, galactic and atmospheric-environmental implications. Electronics remains the predominant factor but can vary from mantra drones of more ceremonial and meditative space-relax' tones of some tracks (Triad, Deep Sea, Gothic Velvet or Evening) to the most amused formulations of pulsating analog synths that in the hands of Deuter become toy-equipement' to modulate and explore (Desert Rock, Synth Effect, Flea Dance or Laser). There is no lack of acoustic moments more ethnically inspired with Arabian and Indian (Reed, Arabia) or devotionally solar themes (Tom Bombaddils Dance), so evoking an air of diffuse peace then completely conquered in the beloved India.

Paris club kid MAXIME IKO joins BPitch with this five-track trip into the depths of his mind !

Infused with acid licks and electro motifs, this is a scintillating debut from an artist who represents diversity and inclusiveness - two cornerstones of club culture. Maxime's influences range from the gothic, dark and lurid through to the often flamboyant gay culture, launching his own highly-regarded gay event at Rex Club called 'Cockorico' and, later, putting on 'Le Bal Con' at Badaboum - a party that celebrated the wild, creative side of nightlife with art performances and lots of crazing dancing. Maxime's 'Concilium' EP starts with the frenetic 'Achartade', a track which pulsates with eerie vibes, closing with the multi-tempo closer 'Concilium' - a demonstration of Maxime's penchant for playfulness and experimentation. In between those two killer cuts we have 'Repulsion', where the main riff has a jaunty, arpeggiated rhythm, 'Timeline's Wrong', a heads down acid roller with vocal stabs and a totally absorbing atmosphere and finally, 'Closure' a spine-tingling emotionally-charged adventure. One that will lift the roof off anywhere it's played. An accomplished collection from a man who values the roots of electronic music culture and brings his own unique vibe with each performance and new release... allez!

Typically outstanding, cultured, listenable techno by the co-founder of this excellent Finnish label, adroitly traversing dub and ambient. Nothing lunky or domineering, dystopian or Gothic, this debut LP generates senses of immediate, natural being out of field recordings (Waiting Halls, Winners, Temple) and the foibles and hiccups of the music-making process itself (New to the System, Sloth, A Small Flood).

The long established and critically acclaimed DJ-Kicks series kicks off 2017 with suitably accomplished DJ, producer, vocalist and instrumentalist Matthew Dear at the helm.A man of many musical hats, Texas born, Detroit raised Dear has a wide reaching discography that takes in face melting techno as Jabberjaw, dark avant-pop under his own name and intricate minimal as Audion.Often with a gothic slant and full of curiousness, his pensive but playful music is an intoxicating distillation of many different influences, often withhis own stylised vocals at the centre.

The premiere soundtrack release to Peter Weir's 1977 Australian New Wave classic.
Lost electronic score from the enigmatic composer Charles Wain.
12-track LP sourced from the original stereo master tapes.t.
180g vinyl and deluxe packaging including archival film stills and original press material

The Last Wave (also known as Black Rain in the US) was the final chapter in a trilogy of films scripted and directed by the leading auteur of the Australian New Wave, Peter Weir.

Beginning in 1974 with the absurdist black comedy-horror The Cars That Ate Paris, and followed a year later by the lush gothic mystery Picnic At Hanging Rock, The Last Wave was a landmark in existential horror. Sitting alongside other Australian eco-terror films (e.g. Long Weekend) the film featured a haunting electronic soundtrack that is as mysterious and beguiling as the spiritual themes of the film itself.

With no LP issued after the films premiere in 1977, and together with the mystery surrounding the true identity of its enigmatic composer 'Charles Wain', the score is a largely unheard recording of pioneering experimental film electronics, easily compared to the music that contemporaries Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream were composing for Australian films during the same period or the electronic soundtracks of John Carpenter.

Tense atonal electronics, synthesizer drones and manipulated Didjeridu all perfectly capture the film's ominous atmosphere, punctuating the slow hypnotic pace of this brooding supernatural thriller. The Last Wave soundtrack is released in conjunction with the lost film music to Nicolas Roeg's 1971 New Wave masterpiece Walkabout composed by John Barry.

Sumerian Fleet is a trio formed by Dutch producers Alden Tyrell and Mr Pauli, joined by Zarkoff after their 2010 debut EP. Their second EP came out in 2012 followed by their debut album 'Just Pressure' on Dark Entries in 2014. Sumerian Fleet have returned to release their sophomore LP 'Pendulum' of all new material as well as a remixed version of 'This Game Has No Name' from Zarkoff's other band, FFFC.

'Pendulum' contains 80's Dark Wave/EBM inspired tracks with an industrial tinge. The band cites inspiration from musical acts Fad Gadget, Front 242, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy. Literary references come from Poe's 'The Pit and the Pendulum', Pelevin's 'Generation P' and 'Life of Bugs', as well as classic Cyberpunk like Gibson's 'Sprawl' trilogy. Sumerian Fleet deliver 8 songs of vintage dark electro with a Gothic tinge and a touch of bass guitar. The album's been put together in a way that the listener can connect the dots, create a narrative, and become immersed in this attitude that the band's trying to convey, such as Vigny's idea of accepting despair: "A calm despair, without angry convulsions or reproaches directed at heaven, is the essence of wisdom."

All songs were initially recorded at Mr Pauli's studio in Den Haag, with overdubs and additional recordings at Zarkoff's Sensorium Studio in Croatia, and then final mix downs at Alden Tyrell's studio in Rotterdam. The album has been mixed by Alden Tyrell and mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each LP is packaged in a copper foil stamped jacket designed by Eloise Leigh, with abstract squares in varied rhythmic repetitions to indicate motion, and included a double sided 10'x10' insert with lyrics and notes.

A few years ago we received an anonymous email with a link to three tracks and a simple
message: 'Hi, maybe you would be interested in this music.'

It's easy to be skeptical of yet another link from yet another artist in a world overcrowded with them, but listening is our job and so we do it. The songs were instantly striking: extraordinarily slow, somber, and spacious, each vaulted cathedral chord reverberating poetically into the distance, the melodies rolling out like fog across a cemetery.

Captivated, we requested more, receiving a single word in response: Yes.' Then, nothing. Eventually, three months later, we received another email with slightly more information: a name (Irma Orm), a location (Stockholm), and a bit of context (she worked alone, and progress on music was slow but steady ).

Fast-forward to mid-2016: we're informed the album is complete, and it is breathtaking. Hermetic gothic swan songs conjured from funereal piano, twilit ambience, minimalist percussion, and spellbinding vocals.

The mood is lulling and lush but lost in sorrow, stark grey structures looming in the night. Majestic open spaces between notes heighten the melancholic grandeur of Orm's arrangements, blurring the line between lament and lullaby. The songs less end than ebb away,succumbing to their own downcast beauty.