Fans of Depeche Mode won’t want to let the latest single, Ghosts Around My Bed, from The Ninth Configuration pass them by. The monochromatic synth lines teasingly flirt with the post-punk and darkwave while the beats infuse the melancholic candour-swathed single with danceability.
With the pensive sting of the Verve’s earlier material and the no holds barred lyricism that cuts to the same core of fraught emotional disillusionment that we are all susceptible to during our lives, Ghosts Around My Bed is as unifying as it is darkly destitute. In the best possible way. The Ninth Configuration simply projected the sense of cold claustrophobic harrow that surrounds us in the wake of lost pieces of our lives.
The official music video premiered on March 9th. You can check it out for yourselves via YouTube.
‘Chevalerie’is the latest dark and caustic electronic track that acts as a blackened sign of our times from the up and coming US artist and producer, AKMV-18. With visceral reminiscences to Celldweller, the pulsating beats thrash through the cavernous soundscape that embraces the darkest facets of our dystopic age.
The mechanical rhythms pierce through the comfortingly cold and hollow atmosphere of the track that bleeds an all too relatable melancholy while taking control of your rhythmic pulses through the psytrance nuances. Even the most pretentious cybergoth snobs would have a hard time picking holes in this entrancing hit which was just one of the seminal singles to feature on their latest EP.
Chevalerie is now available to stream on SoundCloud.
‘Safety Demonstrationis just one of the standout dystopic darkwave singles that feature on the latest album to be released by the electronica artist and producer Nocturnal Omissions.
The solo artist first burst into NYC’s underground alternative scene in the early 00s before becoming Myspace famous; with five albums under his belt and plenty more EPs to boot, Nocturnal Omissions has continued to hone in on his craft. To stay true to authentic expression, each of his albums offers a different sonic twist.
Tempus Destinatumfollows on from his electronic post-rock album, Transientalism which unravels as a melodic feat of lo-fi post-rock. With his latest album, he’s borrowed elements from chill-wave hip hop pioneers before infusing them with his domineeringly dark signature edge.
Prepare your dark ambient trip-hop playlists for the latest release, Al Lat, from the alt-electronica duo, Aiko Aiko; it proves just how readily we bound around the word ‘ethereal’. When you’re confronted with a soundscape as phantasmal as AI Lat there are few ways to aptly allude to just how ensnaring the delicately commanding textures are.
The artist has been infusing their alchemic mash of soft synths, organs, driving electronic beats and intricate piano melodies onto the airwaves since 2012. With a brand of emotionally intellectual catharsis similar to Warpaint, Portishead and Widowspeak, it comes as no surprise that they have captivated an international fanbase with their psychedelic reprising progressions.
Al Lat will officially release on October 7th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to the artist’s website or SoundCloud.
The Deaf Institute became a welcome sanctum away from the culture-blind chaos that spilt from most venues on bank holiday Saturday in Manchester with the sublimely curated line-up featuring The Last Clouds, Woman You Stole and Mercury Machine.
The Last Clouds kicked off proceedings with their confessional lyrics, imploring vocals and dark indie electronica stylings that will be familiar with any fans of Covenant, VNV Nation and Apoptygma Berzerk. If any artist can prove there is an intrinsic beauty in vulnerability, it is the Last Clouds. Their recently released single, How to Get Up From This, was all it took to allow my curiosity to transpire into fanatic adoration. The theatrical atmosphere of the single wouldn’t be out of place on the end credits of an apocalyptic blockbuster. Yet, it was the heart-wrenching lyrics, “I tried to speak but it is hard because nobody cares/ I’ll tear the books from my shelf just to lie in the words of somebody else”, that cemented a place on my radar for the criminally underrated act.
If anything can spice up a line-up, it is the je ne sais quoi of Woman You Stole. They set themselves apart by an avant-garde mile with their lively debonair set that easily commanded the crowd into feeling what was orchestrating between them – even if it was fascinatingly unpredictable from one progression to the next.
Their capriciously experimental style is arresting on record, seeing it first-hand is something else entirely. Describing Woman You Stole as entrancing may sound hyperbolic but their sophisticated originality that emanates from their authenticity and mind-blowing talent, rather than through diehard determination to find obscurity, is something everyone should make an effort to witness at least once.
It almost seems needless to rave about Mercury Machine; the band that falls outside of the Manchester post-punk assimilative trap and find themselves in far darker territory, one that made me pretty nostalgic about the soundtrack to Cradle of Fear. The Manchester-based dark indie electronica five piece’s set instantly made it obvious why most of the room were sporting their t-shirts and why why so much hype has amassed around them since the release of their critically-acclaimed debut album in 2019.
Their lyrics are too efficacious in allowing you to explore the fucked up avenues of the human psyche while the pace of frenetic rhythms allow you to find euphoria through defiantly dancing to depictions of our mental precariousness. I couldn’t have asked for a better hit of post-lockdown catharsis.
Bands should always be judged by how much they move you emotionally and how much they can make you move; as Mercury Machine got the first post-lockdown dance from me, I can’t give them much higher praise than that.
Their inhibition-stripping histrionic sound still finds space, occasionally, for Marr-style guitars that add even more energy to their caustic industrial sound could fill stadiums. If goths felt more inclined to leave their bedrooms, that is.
London-based British/Polish singer-songwriter and composer Lajze has released her latest indulgently obscure, avant-garde trip-hop EP, Red Sea. Any fans of Lydia Lunch, David Lynch’s phantasmal aural works and Marc Hurtado will want to experience the mesmerizingly dark soundscapes for themselves.
The best introduction to the electronically-crafted no-wave release is the lead single, Glue; that is exactly how it will stick to your synapses as you drink in the haunting atmosphere and feel the chill of the ominous droning bass around the glitchy beats. The sensual vocals add even more ethereal ambience to the single as they work around striking meta poetry which serves as lyricism.
OurNova’s latest EP, Bloodlines, Vol. 1, finds the middle-ground between lo-fi alt-rock and synth-pop; the perfect introduction to their dark electronic rock style is the ambiently plaintive standout single, Nicotine & Nosebleeds.
With the tempo of a Portishead track, chilling mechanical electronica tones reminiscent of NIN and the evocative sting of Blue October, Nicotine & Nosebleeds sits on the more melancholic side of the emotional spectrum. Yet, with the refreshingly honest lyrics and the sharp angular guitar progressions that cut through the dark atmosphere of the single, there’s no danger of falling into an existential hole while listening to the reflectively powerful single unfold.
Check out Nicotine & Nosebleeds for yourselves via Spotify.
South Florida’s most avant-garde art-rock artist 12 Below is back with his sophomore single, Jetsam, which pulls together as a dark and discordant mash of industrial, darkwave synth-pop and post-punk.
With an intro that shares reminiscence to Manchester post-punk outfit The Chameleons before the soundscape switches into a phantasmal feat of electro-rock that any fans of Dir En Grey or Celldweller will be familiar with, you’ll be hooked from the first haunted note to the last.
The ethereally ambient soundscape was constructed with effect-loaded guitars and glassy keys in downtempo progressions, for the visceral kick, 12 Below loaded caustic drums and a heavy serving of bass. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to hear an artist similar to NIN, who also makes the dark electro sound their own.
Ok, kids, grab some dayglo clothing, a glowstick, and a tub of Vicks, and dive into ‘Nichtclubbing’, the new single from Brazilian ambient afficionado Borealis. A one-man ‘noisy electronica’ project from Rio de Janiero, orchestrated by Marco Barbosa, since 2015 Borealis have released four albums, two EPs, and a separate single; now, released as part of the ‘Siemensdream’ album – a conceptual electronic ride through a theoretical Germany – ‘Nichtclubbing’ is a proper, old-skool lapgaze slice of sparse, echoey Krautrock, all bleeps, swooshes, and reverb-heavy beats. If the Berlin Wall itself released an album, mixed at Oktoberfest, and played loud from the back of Trabants at Checkpoint Charlie, then ‘Nichtclubbing’ is what it would sound like.
Give your Portishead records a rest and delve into the ethereal tones in Alt Electronic Rock artist, apatternimperfect’s, standout single ‘Entrance’.
With a Post-Punk style prelude, Entrance starts to unravel to the tune of cavernously haunted vocals and trepidation-laden beats. The deftly-placed static amplifies the disquiet energy of the release as it builds to a climax of jarring buzzsaw riffs to mesmerisingly hypnotic effect.
apatternimperfect is the latest creative project by English producer, composer and songwriter, Rob Wacey. After honing-in on his talent in a myriad of successful bands, he put his accumulated talent to work, orchestrating deeply emotional tracks which offer a cathartic formula of ambience, pulsating rhythms and haunting vocals.
You can check out apatternimperfect’s single Entrance for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.
