The festival organizers have finally released the highly anticipated lineup for this year’s event, featuring a range of popular performers who are sure to deliver electrifying performances. The lineup includes renowned acts such as Clan of Xymox, Drab Majesty, A Split Second, Attriton, The Cassandra Complex, and more!

The post Cold Waves Festival 2024 Announced with Clan of Xymox, Drab Majesty, A Split Second, The Cassandra Complex, Attrition, and More! appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Darker Waves promises a day filled with both 1980s classics and 21st-century discoveries. This riveting sonic voyage, which is stacked with various artists from synthpop, darkwave, post-punk, and deathrock genres, is set to begin on November 18th at the scenic City Beach in Huntington Beach, California. The lineup is brimming with old-school luminaries such as Soft Cell, The Psychedelic Furs, The Human League, OMD, Violent Femmes, X, The English Beat, Clan of Xymox, The Chameleons, T.S.O.L., 45 Grave, Christian Death, and Skeletal Family.

But Darker Waves isn’t just looking in the rearview mirror; the festival will also spotlight some of the most dynamic names in the contemporary darkwave scene with trailblazers like Molchat Doma, Twin Tribes, Cold Cave, Mareux, Drab Majesty, and more!

If this sounds like your kind of jam, act fast. Tickets are priced from a reasonable $199 to a more opulent VIP package at $1,750, with pre-sales firing up at 10 a.m. PT on Friday, June 23.

Sign up for a presale code at darkerwavesfest.com.

Check out the full lineup below:

• New Order
• Tears For Fears
• The B-52s
• Echo & The Bunnymen
• Devo
• Soft Cell
• The Psychedelic Furs
• The Human League
• OMD
• Violent Femmes
• She Wants Revenge
• The Cardigans
• Molchat Doma
• X
• The English Beat
• Crosses
• Kavinsky
• London After Midnight
• Clan of Xymox
• The Chameleons
• T.S.O.L.
• Death in Vegas
• Cold Cave
• Blossoms
• Mareux
• Drab Majesty
• Depresion Sopnora
• Twin Tribes
• 45 Grave
• Christian Death
• Skeletal Family
• Glass Spells
• Urban Heat

The post Darker Waves Festival Announced with New Order, Tears For Fears, Echo & The Bunnymen, OMD, The Human League, and more! appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The party begins on the 2nd of March at Skully’s in Columbus, OH, and from there they will be crisscrossing the continent; making stops in Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and many more. The last show on the tour will be an appearance at the Regent Theatre in Los Angeles on the 16th of June.

Follow Clan of Xymox:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

Clan of Xymox – 2023 Tour Dates

• Thu, March 2 – Columbus OH @ Skully’s Music Diner
• Fri, March 3 – Ferndale MI @ The Magic Bag
• Sat, March 4 – Toronto ON @ Velvet Underground
• Sun, March 5 – Montreal QC @ SAT
• Tue, March 7 – Boston MA @ Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre
• Wed, March 8 – Philadelphia PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
• Thu, March 9 – Millersville PA @ Phantom Power
• Fri, March 10 – Brooklyn NY @ The Brooklyn Monarch
• Sat, March 11 – Baltimore MD @ Soundstage
• Sun, March 12 – Richmond VA @ Richmond Music Hall
• Tue, March 14 – Greenville SC @ Radio Room
• Thu, March 16 – Orlando FL @ The Abbey
• Fri, March17 – West Palm Beach FL @ Respectable Street
• Sat, March 18 – Atlanta GA @ The Masquerade
• Sun, March 19 – Nashville TN @ Eastside Bowl
• Tue, March 21 – Kansas City MO @ Blvd Nights
• Wed, March 22 – St Paul MN @ Amsterdam Bar & Hall
• Thu, March 23 – Milwaukee WI @ Cactus Club
• Fri, March 24 – Chicago IL @ Concord Music Hall
• Wed, May 31 – San Antonio TX @ Paper Tiger
• Thu, June 1 – Houston TX @ Numbers
• Fri, June 2 – Austin TX @ Elysium
• Sat, June 3 – Dallas TX @ Granada Theater
• Mon, June 5 – Albuquerque NM @ Launchpad
• Tue, June 6 – Denver CO @ The O
• Wed, June 7 – Salt Lake City UT @ Metro Music Hall
• Fri, June 9 – Seattle WA @ El Corazon
• Sat, June 10 – Vancouver BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
• Sun, June 11 – Portland OR @ Star Theater
• Tue, June 13 – San Francisco CA @ August Hall
• Wed, June 14 – Costa Mesa CA @ The Wayfarer
• Thu, June 15 – San Diego CA @ Brick by Brick
• Fri, June 16 – Los Angeles CA @ Regent Theater

The post Clan of Xymox Announce North American Tour Dates for 2023 appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Limbo is a masterstroke of modern goth rock, expanding the signature Clan of Xymox sound to create a captivating take on this moment in our history. As with most musicians with time on their hands after lockdown, Clan of Xymox began crafting new material – but unlike many bands who simply used the time to work on irons in the fire, Xymox turned quarantine into a brilliant concept album about the pandemic itself.

With Limbo, Clan Of Xymox remains at the top of their songwriting game, certainly one of the most poignant and timely albums to come out of the Covid era. The album opens with the explosive, plaintive “Brave New World”, with Ronny Moorings’ signature voice in fine form. It’s followed by “Lockdown”, a fast-paced, unsettling track peppered with eerie synth accents lamenting the madness incurred with social distance. The paranoid “Big Brother” makes a scathing nod to camera culture.

“The Great Reset” and the emotionally-charged Forgotten get more introspective, hauntingly musing over societal changes and injustices. The pace picks back up with Limbo, a goth-heavy narrative questioning this paralyzing state of mind. “No Way Out” churns through the labyrinth of the mind at a quicker rate, a panic attack doubling as a club banger. “In Control” taps into a more classic Clan of Xymox sound with big hooks, echoing classics like A Day. This energy is yanked into a minor chord in The Great Depression, a track about a struggling collective with a gorgeously ghostly hook. “The One Percent” is a scathing critique of top-tier fat cats and unforgiving governments. “Dystopia” opens with a sinister riff off of the classic Rock and Roll Part II,  a nightmarish vision bringing to mind the destroyed yellow brick road of Return to Oz.  The album finishes with a higher energy question on all our minds – “How Long?”

This is some of the best work Clan of Xymox has ever produced. From start to finish, Limbo is both highly catchy and deep. Listen below:

To support the album, Clan of Xymox 2022 North American tour dates appear below. The second leg of the tour features Curse Mackey as support, who recently released the Clan of Xymox Remix video of his song ‘Submerge”.

Clan of Xymox Tour Dates:

• Fri, Mar 4 – Columbus OH @ Skully’s Music Diner
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Aertex
• Sat, Mar 5 – Ferndale MI @ The Magic Bag
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Aertex
• Sun, Mar 6 – Toronto ON @ Velvet Underground
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Yone Defcode
• Tue, Mar 8 – Montreal QC @ Theatre Fairmount
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Yone Defcode
• Wed, Mar 9 – Boston MA @ Cavern Club at Hard Rock Café
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Aertex
• Thu, Mar 10 – Brooklyn NY @ Warsaw
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Aertex
• Fri, Mar 11 – Millersville PA @ Phantom Power
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Aertex
• Sat, Mar 12 – Richmond VA @ Richmond Music Hall
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Aertex
• Sun, Mar 13 – Baltimore MD @ Soundstage
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Aertex
• Wed, Mar 16 – Orlando FL @ The Abbey
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate
• Fri, Mar 18 – West Palm Beach FL @ Respectable Street
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Astari Nite
• Sat, Mar 19 – Atlanta GA @ The Masquerade
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate
• Sun, Mar 20 – Nashville TN @ High Watt
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate
• Tue, Mar 22 – Indianapolis IN @ Irving Theatre
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate
• Wed, Mar 23 – St Paul MN @ Amsterdam Bar & Hall
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Autumn
• Thu, Mar 24 – Chicago IL @ Concord Music Hall
  w/ The Bellwether Syndicate, Autumn
• Thu, Nov 3 – Dallas TX @ Gas Monkey
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Fri, Nov 4 – Austin TX @ Elysium
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Sat, Nov 5 – Houston TX @ Numbers
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Sun, Nov 6 – San Antonio TX @ Paper Tiger
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Tue, Nov 8 – Denver CO @ Oriental Theater
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens, The Siren Project
• Wed, Nov 9 – Salt Lake City UT @ Metro Music Hall
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Fri, Nov 11 – Seattle WA @ El Corazon
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Sat, Nov 12 – Vancouver BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Sun, Nov 13 – Portland OR @ Star Theater
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Wed, Nov 16 – San Francisco CA @ August Hall
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Thu, Nov 17 – Costa Mesa CA @ The Wayfarer
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Fri, Nov 18 – San Diego CA @ Music Box
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens
• Sat, Nov 19 – Los Angeles CA @ Regent Theater
  w/ Curse Mackey, A Cloud of Ravens

The post Clan of Xymox Release New Album “Limbo” and Announce North American Tour Dates appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

All meals, recipes, and food scenes in the blog are inspired by goth, industrial, and darkwave bands, from the 4AD catalogue to Drab Majesty to Hante., NIN to Clan of Xymox, Joy Division to Fields of the Nephilim.

“I’ve also created recipes/memoirs that are inspired by dark books in relationship to my experiences with mental health and traumatic experiences,” says Whitman. “Not music per-se, but would likely still resonate with…fans of post-punk. The photo series that accompany these projects are consistent with the dark aesthetic that runs across the rest of my work.”

Post-Punk interviewed Courtney Whitman about the blog and the meaning behind it.

When and why did you start The Loving Belly?

I started dreaming of having a food blog when I was in my early 30s, back in 2012. That was the year my digestion really started to fall apart, and I had to drastically change my diet in order to try to manage it. This involved lots of time spent hacking conventional recipes, looking for a way to prepare them that was compatible with those new dietary restrictions. I wanted to share those hacks with other people who were struggling with the same digestive challenges, and offer comfort.

But for years, the blog remained a fantasy and nothing more. I was undiagnosed bipolar type 2, and I was crumbling under the pressure of modern, mainstream, adult life: the office job, the grueling hours, the unsustainable levels of stress. It wasn’t until 2017, when a repetitive strain injury forced me to stop, taking me out of work for 8 months, that I was able to rest, recover, and reevaluate my life, creating space for The Loving Belly to emerge.

I couldn’t use a computer during that time, so most of my activities involved embodiment, and the kitchen was where I came back to life. I spent hours there each day, listening to music, working with my hands, and dancing while I cooked. The great reward would come at the end of the day, when I would sit on the floor in front of my stereo with a bowl of stew, put on a record, close my eyes, and eat slowly, giving the food and the music my full attention. It was a deeply restorative practice.

Do you think food and music are similar in the way they stir the soul and emotions?
In terms of stirring the soul, I think that both music and eating can be a form of meditation, a nourishing refuge in which to shelter from the pressures of modern life. A way to tune out the noise, ground into being, and alter one’s state of consciousness without taking a drug. Sharing a meal with someone socially can be special, but I’m also very fond of taking meals in solitude, where the only focus is the act of eating…And at the end of the day, one of my favorite things to do is to lay on the floor and do nothing while listening to music that I love, and just dissolve into it. Music is the easiest access gateway to the divine for me.

What were your favorite bands growing up?
As a little kid, I really liked the B52s and The Thompson Twins, and also the music of The Minneapolis Sound, that fusion of funk with synth-pop. My father was really into ‘80s New Wave when I was little so I was exposed to a lot of interesting music through him. But he was also a flower child of the ‘60s who had grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area and had the opportunity to see some incredible shows. He taught me about Pink Floyd, and that was something very special that we shared together. As a teenager in the ‘90s, I was obsessed with Nine Inch Nails, which paved the way to discovering the world of goth and industrial. I loved Skinny Puppy and Wax Trax! I loved all the 4AD bands, like This Mortal Coil, Dead Can Dance, and Cocteau Twins. But I also loved Sonic Youth, and more mainstream bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, which primed me for getting into shoegaze and psychedelic music later on. As a teenager, my sister was really into ambient music. She would take me for night drives down foggy country roads and play me songs like “In Dark Trees” by Brian Eno. I still remember those musical drives vividly and hold them close to my heart.

Who are your favorite new bands?
I think the post-punk genre is experiencing a renaissance of quality music, and it’s an exciting time to be alive as a music lover. There are so many new bands that I love, but the ones I have the most meaningful connection to are Drab Majesty, Tamaryn, and Automelodi. Another new darkwave band that I’m looking forward to hearing more from is Ruin of Romantics…I’d also love to give a shoutout to a beautiful EP many people might not have heard of: Sapphire and Steel by Primal Wound…they describe their sound as “Enyacore.”

Are there any synaesthetic associations between music from your favorite bands, and your favorite foods? What bands if any would you pair with listening to some of your favorite foods and albums?
I love this question, but honestly, it’s only ever happened a few times. Hearing “Dream on Fire” by Bohren & Der Club of Gore always makes me want a nice glass of red wine, and to just sit down, sip, and take in the decadence of that track. When I listen to Unknown Rooms by Chelsea Wolfe I want to binge drink ginger tea.

Can you tell us about your Joy Division recipe?
The Joy Division project was about my experience with orthorexia, which is a form of eating disorder in which a person becomes obsessed with eating healthy food, and that obsession becomes destructive. I fell into orthorexia innocently, as most people do: I needed to follow certain dietary restrictions in order to manage some chronic health problems I was dealing with. But as treatments failed to produce results, and those health problems worsened, food began to seem like the only chance for a cure. I made the dietary restrictions more extreme, and my orthorexia spiraled out of control. My life became dominated by restriction and fear, especially fear of food. It was a confusing and solemn place to be, for someone who had always taken such pleasure from food.
The story of the road to recovery from that period in my life is a long one, and I get into that extensively in the memoir I published to my blog, “I’m Not Afraid Anymore: Healing From Orthorexia With Potato Leek Soup + Embracing Unknown Pleasures.” But in short, as the medical problems faded away, so did my Orthorexia, and during that recovery period, while walking to work, I listened to Insight by Joy Division. It was a song I’d heard a thousand times before, but that day, it was different. When Ian Curtis sang “I’m not afraid anymore,” I felt the emancipation of those words in a way I never had before, practically skipping down the street with euphoria. That experience was special to me, and why I wanted to create a recipe to honor it.

Part of healing from orthorexia is beginning to gradually test the waters with the foods you are afraid of. For the Joy Division recipe, I worked with 2 ingredients I had previously brainwashed myself into fearing: dairy and potatoes. I wanted to reclaim them, and also use them to discuss food pleasure in conjunction with happy memories I had of eating potato leek soup when I was on a road trip through Ireland with my husband. The Ireland trip haunted me throughout the orthorexia period, because it was a time in which I seemed to be able to eat anything without suffering health consequences. The recipe was about letting go of fear, embracing things I had forbidden myself to enjoy, and finding pleasure in food again.

Can you tell us about your Drab Majesty recipe?
The Drab Majesty recipe was a way for me to honor what discovering their music meant to me during a time in which I was in a social media hell hole. I published the recipe to my blog alongside a memoir called “Instagram, Capitalism, and Vampires: Confessions of a Food Blogger + A Gluten-Free Venetian Feast for Drab Majesty’s Modern Mirror.” The memoir was about my negative experience using Instagram to try to make The Loving Belly be the way I earned a living, how that affected my mental health, my relationship to my art practice, and why I decided to go back to my day job.

Letting go of that dream was a long and painful process, and something I avoided for an extended period of time. Running away took various forms, one of which involved me going out alone to dance at a goth club right before Covid lockdown. The club had a glorious sound system, and it was there that I heard Drab Majesty’s “Oxytocin” for the first time. It was one of the most potent and transcendent music-listening experiences of my life, and I wrote about dancing to it in real time, and how it facilitated my catharsis. I became a massive Drab Majesty fan after that experience, starting with Modern Mirror since Oxytocin had been my gateway to their music. I was excited to learn that Modern Mirror is a concept album inspired by the myth of Narcissus, set within a contemporary digital landscape…The recipe I created, “Spaghetti Alle Vongole with Lemon, Saffron, Thyme, and Pinkish Wine,” is an homage to the wonderful cloaked Venetian gondolier photos of Drab Majesty that were taken by Muted Fawn in Venice for Modern Mirror, Spaghetti Alle Vongole being a popular dish in Venice, and the first meal I had when I was in Venice long ago.”

Can you tell us about the Nine Inch Nails Recipe?
There are actually two Nine Inch Nails recipes: “Roasted Cocoa Spice Pork Shoulder With Bleeding Heart Beet Relish + Love Letter To The Downward Spiral,” and “Stale Incense Old Sweat And Thighs Thighs Thighs: Persian-Spiced NIN Chicken With Forbidden Black Cardamom Rose Rice.”  Ultimately they were excuses for me to have fun playing with visual influences that had made a big impression on me at a formative age, like the “Closer” video and the collection of videos for Broken, giving a BDSM treatment to food photography, while writing about my deep love for NIN.

For The Downward Spiral, I created a pork recipe to be in harmony with motifs of pigs that run across the album, with a heart beet relish on the side as a nod to the iconic beating heart in the Closer video. I published it alongside a short memoir about how validating and empowering TDS was for me as a troubled middle schooler, seeing NIN on The Self Destruct Tour in tandem with starting high school, and how magical that experience was, because it was my first rock concert, I had managed to get to the front of the stage, and Trent Reznor was my hero.The recipe I created for Pretty Hate Machine, “Stale Incense Old Sweat And Thighs Thighs Thighs: Persian-Spiced NIN Chicken With Forbidden Black Cardamom Rose Rice,” is more tongue in cheek, just a fun, line-by-line interpretation of some of the lyrics “Sin,” expressed through a food photography series. The spice blend for the chicken thighs is meant to evoke incense and is based on “Advieh,” a Persian spice mix made with cumin, cloves, cinnamon, rose petals, black pepper, turmeric, and cardamom. The forbidden black cardamom rose rice was a way to evoke taboo desire through food, and is cooked in a sweaty bath of rosewater, cardamom, pink salt, raisins, and ghee.

Can you tell us about the Fields of the Nephilim Recipe?
The heart-shaped “And-There-Will-Your-Heart-Beet-Also Muffins” made with freshly grated beetroot were created in tribute to my favorite FOTN album, Elizium, and the album’s final track, “And There Will Your Heart Be Also.” I published the recipe to my blog alongside a short essay about the beauty of the album and its metaphysical narrative of romantic love after death, including a discussion of the influence of Richard Mattheson’s book, What Dreams May Come, on the concept of the album. It’s on the blog as “Gluten-Free And-There-Will-Your-Heart-Beet-Also Muffins, Death Anxiety + Love Letter To Elizium.”

Can you tell us more about the Cranberries recipe?
I created “The Cranberries Sauce” out of necessity because I don’t generally eat sugar, and most cranberry sauce recipes contain an absurd amount of it, which I think results in a dish that tastes more like jello than cranberries. I wanted to create something where the tartness of the fruit came through, without any sugar, sweetened instead with a handful of raisins, a little bit of orange juice, and lots of comforting warming winter spices like cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. I published the recipe alongside a short memoir about my introduction to The Cranberries while channel surfing on a rainy day back in 1993, when I caught a fleeting glimpse of the last half of the “Dreams” video. I was very taken with the imagery of Dolores O’Riordan wandering through the green fields of Ireland in her long red coat, and have wanted a coat like that ever since. I’ve yet to find the coat, but “The Cranberries Sauce” and its vibrant garnet color is a bit of an ode to that longing.

Are there bands in the future you would like to combine with a recipe?

I’m currently working on an extensive project about my father’s death that involves Ministry’s Twitch and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. I’m also working on a summertime recipe inspired by an anecdote from Trevor Ristow’s excellent Sisters of Mercy biography, Waiting For Another War.

If you could host a dinner party for musicians, who would you pair together for conversation, and what would you serve them? (You can give us more than one answer…)

I’d love to host every band I love for a wholesome and restorative meal to revive them from travel burnout whenever they pass through San Francisco on tour. I dream of passing them steaming mugs of tea and letting them pass out on my couches, wrapped in blankets, while I cook for them.

See more images below, and Follow The Loving Belly on Instagram here.

The post The Loving Belly Turns Post-Punk Bands Into Food and Flowers—Interview appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The video for the single Lockdown features frontman Ronny Moorings aimlessly wandering desolate urban and forest landscapes, interspersed with unsettling scenes of isolation, forms of plastic as masks to ward off disease, and drone shots of abandoned factories. It is bleak and dystopian, but still ripe with great emotion. The video’s special effects bring an almost satirical level to existence under Covid-19 lockdown: as Hollywood churns out nonstop blockbuster action movies, seeing the monotonous existential reality of the pandemic given a comic book treatment is a fascinating twist. Discarded masks, lonely bus rides, Ronny’s quiet solitary walks in empty streets – all elevated to superhero status.

Watch Lockdown below:

You can stream the single Lockdown here, as well as order the album on Bandcamp. Included with the release are several remixes, including one by Matte Blvck (read our interview with the band here).

Listen to our retrospective interview with frontman Ronny Moorings below:

Follow Clan of Xymox:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

The post Darkwave Legends Clan of Xymox Debut Video for “Lockdown” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Despite playing together for years, Alex, Bidi, and Daniel had never collaborated on their own music. In 2019 they forged together to produce a fresh brand of mechanical tinged dance music. I’m Waving, Not Drowning captures the band’s affinity for dark synthwave complemented with epic, gritty industrial anthems and underground techno.

The record was mostly written and produced during the pandemic, spawning an introverted yet universal sound. The band understood that if they created an album in isolation that touched on topics such as pain, panic, and suffering they should also ultimately make it hopeful. To them, the title I’m Waving, Not Drowning isn’t the end, but is in fact, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Simultaneously tense and euphoric, their debut single, Pure, is a declaration of the Matte Blvck aesthetic as well as reflection of the contemporary world.

“There definitely is a lot of influence behind being quarantined, feeling despair and uncertainty,” says Alex. “We made it a priority to make sure we finish this album as we have nothing holding us back.”

Post-Punk.com recently conducted an interview with the band, touching on their interests, their cover of Depeche Mode’s Stripped, and methods of songwriting featured on the fantastic debut LP I’m Waving Not Drowning.

What were the other projects you three were in before Matte Blvck? What music did you guys tend to create before converging on this new project?

Bidi: We’ve all been in various projects together and separately. At one point all three of us were in The New Division. Alex and I were together in Julien-k (ex-members of Orgy), where Alex played drums and I played bass. We’ve also played in Moving Units. We’ve also dabbled in solo projects. Alex sings and produces By an Ion, I have DJ-ed under the moniker Cobra Kills in the past, and Daniel was PRGRM. For most of these projects we were support musicians, for some, we did some writing. In Matte Blvck, the three of us are founding members and do everything from writing, production, artwork, and marketing. We think that everything that we have done up until now has to lead us to create Matte Blvck. People who have heard us can’t believe that it’s our first album and that we’ve never played live. This was born in the pandemic and will see the light in a live environment by the end of the year

Can you tell us about the underground music and club scene in San Diego, and how that inspired the music you wanted to create?

Bidi: San Diego is a large-small city and yet a hub for underground music. Anything from House, Techno, and the darker stuff like Industrial, Goth, and Dark-wave. We enjoy all of it and we draw inspiration from all of it. Vice magazine came down to cover our goth scene. something that we’ve seen grows only within the last 4-5 years. They covered all the club nights, yet there were very few original artists coming out of San Diego. We are hoping that is something that is going to change quickly, there are so many talented artists in San Diego. We are also all of Mexican descent and we live and grew up near the border. Although our music isn’t directly inspired by Mexican music, our lifestyle, humor, and culture are heavily inspired by our roots. We were not surprised to find out through our analytics in Mexico city is in the top three of our listening audience

Would you consider the music you make as Matte Black industrial, Synth-pop, Darkwave, or all or neither?

Alex: That is a good question and the answer is “yes“ for the lack of a better word. We sought out to make music that we enjoy, want to listen to at the club, and would like to see performed live. Although we had somewhat of an idea, we left it open and we ended up creating what is now our debut album, I’m Waving, Not Drowning. We’ve had people call us “Dark-wave, Darksynth, Industrial, Dark techno, and Synth-pop“. We just like that we can appeal to many tastes. We love to make people dance, and we’d love to paint a beautifully dark story with a light at the end of the tunnel.

How did you guys first discover Depeche Mode?

Bidi: When I was a kid my sister had Black Celebration on tape, her favorite song was Shake the Disease and now that is also my favorite DM song. I didn’t understand it at first and after on in life, I was drawn to it. It’s some of the sexiest dark music that you can either dance to or hold on to someone you love.

What is your favorite album? It is Black Celebration?

Bidi: Honestly, I can’t answer that, and I don’t think anyone else can answer that. We are constantly told that we have a 90’s Depeche Mode sound, although we enjoy their 80’s sound just as much if not more.

How did you approach covering Stripped, and are there any other songs by Depeche Mode you would like to cover in addition to Stripped?

Bidi: We approached covering Depeche Mode by utilizing a couple of their different versions. We like what they did in 101 when they start hitting pipes, and we like how they played it live in the later years with a live drummer. We didn’t want to stray away too much because we love the way the song is and we feel that it’s timeless. All we did was use modern technology and our passion to resonate it with a newer generation. Since we released the album we have been getting a lot of comparisons, and that’s fine, but we are also getting compared to Nine Inch Nails, Nitzer Ebb, Gesafflestein, and other newer artists. I think we won’t be covering any other Depeche Mode songs since we are already being compared as much. lol. We can’t complain though, its an honor.

For synths and songwriting, are you team Vince Clark, Team Martin Gore, Team Alan Wilder, or…team Fletch?

Alex: For songwriting, we are Team Martin Gore, for synths and programming we are Team Alan Wilder. I don’t think he’s given much love, but the real fans know how much of his style is in the music he was a part of. It’s pretty obvious if you listen. His approach to programming and synths was more unorthodox than Martin’s. Martin is very straightforward, and I think that’s what makes Martin a better songwriter.

Can you tell us about your process for writing the songs found on I’M WAVING, NOT DROWNING? Do you have a methodology for creating electronic music?

Bidi: We all had been working on similar demos in the off-season from touring. Alex had started writing some dark heavy stuff and shared it with us. I had a couple of files that were similar and so did Daniel. It quickly became a band and since we have known each other since childhood and have shared many stages, we quickly found our sound and utilized each of our strengths in making this album. It usually started with a beat, bassline, and maybe a melody. It can be a 16 bar on loop and we start building from there. We start humming vocals and layering synths and keyboards. As soon and the music speaks for itself and points to a direction we start writing. Since I was a teenager I’ve been writing poetry and lyrics. Binders full of short stories, and poorly made screenplays. Alex and Daniel are great lyricists in their own right, yet they ask for my input and allow me to take the lead sometimes because of my flow of words and themes. It works that way for everyone else. Alex’s programming is top-notch since he’s been a drummer most of his life, and Daniel has been doing production longer than all of us. We are all in it together to make the best music we can make.

What kind of themes do you tend to orbit when it comes to writing music?

Alex: Since this album was written at the start of the pandemic, we wrote a lot about uncertainty. We also covered addiction, that it being either drugs, sex, codependency, or anything that people tend to hide behind. The daily masks we all wear and pretend don’t exist. We talk a lot about religion and the nasty truths about the modern-day era of it all. Honestly, now that I think about it, we do cover a lot of ground. I believe that is what music should be.

Monumental is described as a song about spirituality versus the ingestion of organized religion. Can you tell us more about your thoughts on the subject, and how that relates to the song?

Alex: Monumental is a song about organized religion and how it’s just like anything else that is organized, it’s corrupt. We aren’t looking down on spiritual growth or God, if anything we are talking about a story of self-realization, about finding your way to your higher power. We believe that in this song we capture the dichotomy of dark and light with our sound.

What is the song Western Fold about?

Bidi: Western Fold is the story behind Western Civilization. Capitalism, freedom of speech, church, and state. The birth of our nation was born from an ideology that came from somewhere good, yet we are back at eating a shit sandwich. You know when people want to move to a new city to start all over again, yet they bring their problems with them? It’s that but on a larger scale

The song Bare seems to be a song that explores the Jungian shadow self, the darkness within. But do you think having that inner darkness is necessary for addition to the inner light?

Alex: Everyone has inner darkness, some of us choose to ignore it, we portray altered versions of ourselves so that we appear “whole”. Some of the darkest years in my life were between 2016-2018, I was depressed and suicidal and taking anti-depressants. I still remember I had returned home from a 2-month tour with The Cult and Stone Temple Pilots and I couldn’t bear to see my family not because I didn’t love them but because the monster inside me was consuming me. Most people would be stoked to come home from a gig like that. I was miserable. I was close to checking out. It’s quite frightening to think of my state of mind then. I lied to myself and everyone around me and I hurt a lot of people in the process. I had developed addictions of all sorts and only blamed everyone around me. It wasn’t until I confronted the monster within, learned to understand it, and that I can become motivated by it or tackle it head-on. I wrote Bare in 2018, you can hear where my head was at the time, I had no idea that I was indirectly planting a seed of what would later become Matte Blvck.

What is the song Rye Fire about?

Alex: Rye Fire is a song about chaos and drugs. It was supposed to be instrumental. While producing this song, Daniel and I stumbled upon the drop of the song where you feel this ethereal chord change, it gave me old-school progressive trance vibes. While writing we always try everything to see if fits, in this case, we decided to add 1 random vocal part. Most songwriters would say this is stupid because the math isn’t right and it doesn’t follow the traditional verse, chorus, verse, chorus rule. We enjoy the way the song turned out.

Bare and Rye Fire have been used in indie films The Last Scan and Stay. Can you tell us about these films, and how their use in these movies came about?

Bidi: Bare was used for a short film named The Last Scan by director Joseph Dean-Martinez. I went to grade school with him and we stayed in touch throughout the years. We’ve had similar interests in music and film and when he asked to use the song we were stoked yet unsure of it because of how young he is in the game. He ended up winning Best Horror in the L.A film festival so we are very excited to see what is in store from him. Rye Fire was used in the horror movie Stay which is a full-length feature now on Amazon Prime. It’s directed by my friend Brandon Walker. I knew off the bat that Brandon was going to do something great when he approached me. He is someone I really respect and he already has two Emmys in his back pocket for his work with photography. Brandon got to listen to the album before it was out and he quickly knew that he wanted to use one of our songs in the post-credits. We are stoked to work with him now and in the future

Can you tell us your approach to remixes? Did you work with Health on a track? What was that like?

Remixing can be exciting and stressful, there are times that we flow right through a track or times where it’s extremely challenging. There have been times we’ve done 6 completely different versions, we want to make sure it fits us and the artist was working with. For example, we recently did a remix for Union of Knives feat Ladytron and they sent us a track with a bpm of 137 with a 6/8 rhythm. It was extremely tough working with such an intrusting time signature and vocal cadence, we had to get creative and figure out the puzzle to ensure we stick to our sound while paying homage to the original. That remix will be out soon and it’s my favorite till this date. The guys over at HEALTH are a breeze to work with and if you follow them on social media you know they’re hilarious. I’m stoked that we were able to work with them.

Can you tell us about some of the remixes of tracks on Pure, such as the New Division remix of Pure, and the Vaughn Avakian Extended Remix of Bare? How did these come about?

Alex: Remixing is a new marketing strategy for artists. We did a remix of Broken by The New Division, in exchange, they would do a remix for us. We get live in each other’s worlds for some time, often we gain interest from each other’s fans. Vaughn Avakian is an industry titan here in San Diego and we were honored that he’d be interested in remixing us.

You also worked with Clan of Xymox on a remix of their latest single. What are some of your favorite COX songs and albums, and How did this collaboration come about?

Bidi: I was able to meet Clan of Xymox at a show here in San Diego right before the Pandemic. Their tour manager Tuesday asked me to show them around town and have a good time. We quickly became friends and it was an honor since I have been listening to their music for most of my life and can say that they are an influence on our sound. Medusa is always going to be a favorite and Jasmine and Rose is a song that I always spin when I DJ. One thing is meeting people and enjoying their company, another is them asking to collaborate with you or ask you to remix them. It’s a sign of mutual respect and we see it as an amazing opportunity to pay respects to those who were here before us and in return, they give their seal of approval to the newer generation.

Listen to the remix here:

Who are some of the other artists you have collaborated with on tracks and shared the stage with? Are there any bucket list collaborations you wish to come to fruition?  

Alex: We’ve shared the stage with a lot of incredible artists like Peter Hook and The Light, Peter Murphy, The Cult, Phantogram, Bloody Beat Roots, Alice Glass, and The Rapture. We have a lot of collaborations in the works but unfortunately, we need to keep quiet on those.

What does the future hold for Matte Blvck, and what are your touring plans post-covid? Any plans or inspiration to follow up your debut LP with more music?

We have a lot of music leftover from our last record and a lot of new music that is finished, we’re leaning towards an EP before fall. We want to keep releasing new music but we have to take into account that we never got to tour and play our first record, a lot of our focus right now is getting our live set ready and polished. We have some dates lined up that we will be promoting soon.

Matte Blvck’s I’m Waving, Not Drowning is out now.

Order Here

Follow Matte Blvck:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Bandcamp

The post An Interview with Industrial Darkwave Trio Matte Blvck—Plus Remixes of Clan of Xymox, Health, and More! appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The video for the single Brave New World features frontman Ronny Moorings aimlessly wandering desolate urban and forest landscapes, interspersed with unsettling scenes of isolation, forms of plastic as masks to ward off disease, and drone shots of abandoned factories. It is bleak and dystopian, but still ripe with great emotion.

Watch Brave New World below:

Taking their name from the term zymotic (relating to or being an infectious or contagious disease), the band formed as a project of Ronny Moorings and Anka Wolbert in 1983, before moving to Amsterdam and joining Pieter Nooten and Frank Weyzig. Clan of Xymox evolved to become pioneers of darkwave. Despite the various name and personnel shifts over the years, Clan of Xymox has regularly been producing music ever since, guiding by Mooring’s creative direction that gave birth to the genre of Darkwave 35 years ago with the release of the band’s self-titled debut album, and it’s followup Medusa.

You can stream the single “Brave New World” here, as well as order it on Bandcamp. Included with the release are several remixes, including one by Matte Blvck (read our interview with the band here).

Order “Brave New World” here.

Listen to our retrospective interview with frontman Ronny Moorings below:

Follow Clan of Xymox:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Website

The post Darkwave Legends Clan of Xymox Debut Video for Brave New World appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

During the interview, we look back on 40 years of the band, beginning with their rare Demo EP Subsequent Pleasures, and discuss how with the help of Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry,  Clan of Xymox were signed to 4AD.

Throughout the interview, we also delve further into Clan of Xymox’s 4AD years. During this time, they released their classic 1985 self-titled debut album, featuring the fantastic single A Day, and Stranger, both remixed by John Fryer into dancefloor hits, as well as the and its follow-up Medusa.

In light of the recent release of Clan of Xymox’s Peel Sessions on vinyl, we also discuss the two recording sessions for John Peel’s radio show, which as legends goes, is how the Genre ‘Darkwave” was coined.

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During our interview with Ronny, we also touch upon how Clan of Xymox’s last two albums takes the band full circle, by both embracing the past and the future, especially with the remix collaborations with current Darkwave band’s such She Past Away, Ash Code, and Twin Tribes.

We can also expect a new album from Clan of Xymox out this year. In the meantime, find Days of Black, and Spider on the Wall, here.

If you enjoy the show, please support the Post-Punk Podcast through our Patreon Page, or directly via our Contact Form here. And don’t forget to leave a review on the podcast platform of your choice.

Thank you Jason Corbett from Actors for creating our intro music, Korine for creating our outro, and our Editors Frank Deserto and Andi Harriman. And of course, thank you to Thomas Thyssen for co-hosting this episode.

Listen to the Post-Punk Podcast season one episode 3 below:

Find this Episode on Several other Platforms below:

• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Breaker
• Pocket Cast
• Radio Public
• Anchor.fm

The post Post-Punk Podcast Episode 3—Clan of Xymox’s Ronny Moorings Talks about the 4AD Years and More! appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The members isolated themselves, occasionally slipping into the gloom of pandemic life, but after spending the summer in Naples, they re-connected with the place they live in and found inspiration again to write new songs. They then established a series of online charity initiatives. The first was created at home, which led to a series of online Gothic Festivals called Gothicats, gathering performers from international darkwave/goth scene.

Ash Code’s new Fear EP includes 3 brand new songs and 3 remixes by Molchat Doma, Clan Of Xymox, and Los Angeles’ Forever Grey.

The accompanying video, directed by Elio De Filippo, was inspired by lockdown and a tribute to artists such as Armand Sabbatier, Man Ray, and Zbigniew Rybczyński. The chromatic contrast created by DP Jessica Squillante took inspiration from Andy Warhol’s screenprints, where bright and unnatural colors belie a sad, oppressive theme as a natural mental defense mechanism.”  The video also features “a layering of images, which creates unique and almost unpredictable effects in their interaction…an overlap of thoughts, memories, desires, and synaesthesia that our mind has been forced to accumulate in a period we never dreamed of living.”

Watch the video for Ash Code’s Fear below:

Ash Code’s Fear EP, coming out on the 19th March,

Pre-Order Here

The post Darkwave Trio Ash Code Debut Video for “Fear” From EP With Remixes by Clan of Xymox; Molchat Doma appeared first on Post-Punk.com.