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!

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The lineup features rising stars and Texas natives Twin Tribes, who are set to take the stage with their shadow-drenched melodies. Their ability to weave the darkness of 80s post-punk with atmospheric synths and driving basslines has earned them a place as torchbearers of the genre.

Clan of Xymox, with their rich four-decade history, continues to be a pivotal force in the darkwave scene, weaving innovative synth work with atmospheric aesthetics that delve into the more melancholic realms of New Wave.

Urban Heat, hailing from the vibrant musical landscape of Austin, offers a modern synth-driven take on post-punk. Their sound, edged with the rawness of the city’s rock heritage and polished with a contemporary sheen, creates a soundscape that is at once gritty and sleek, commanding attention and stirring the soul.

Manchester post-punk legends Chameleons will take us through a retrospective journey with their timeless tracks. As pioneers who helped shape the sonic blueprint of post-punk, their presence at ‘Dark Ceremony’ promises to be a pilgrimage to the roots of the genre for many attendees.

Lathe of Heaven will carry the banner of anarcho post-punk into the night, their music resonating with the spirit of resistance and the unvarnished truth, channeling the essence of the genre’s early days into the present with unbridled energy and purpose.

Body of Light is set to illuminate the evening with their shimmering synth-pop melodies. Their music is a nostalgic nod to the neon glow of the 80s, reimagined for today’s audience in a vivid soundscape that’s both captivating and danceable.

Also from Austin, Haunt Me crafts their own brand of romantic darkwave, conjuring a sound that is as haunting as it is enchanting. Their melodies are a siren call to the heart, weaving tales of shadowed romance into their lush compositions.

As the ceremony unfolds, each act contributes its own voice to the night’s chorus. Curse Mackey, a figure known for his hypnotic presence, bridges the divide between industrial rhythms and the raw emotion of goth rock. Then there’s SINE, the electrifying brainchild of Rona Rougeheart, where aggressive rhythms meet sultry vocals in a dance of power and introspection. Adding to the eclectic mix, Glass Spells from San Diego envelops the audience in their distinctive synth-pop sound, blending hypnotic female vocals with the sharp resonance of synths and the pulsating drive of bass lines, creating an immersive experience that interlaces the depth of indie and post-punk with the vibrancy of modern electronic beats. Rounding out the lineup is the classic Minnesota goth rock act Autumn.

Dark Ceremony is quickly morphing into the ultimate must-attend for anyone who’s ever donned black eyeliner and swayed to haunting rhythms. It’s a spiritual journey for the black-clad faithful, a bridge spanning from the hallowed grounds of Manchester’s gritty clubs to the pulsing heart of contemporary Austin. This event relives the glory days with a wink and a nod to the present.

Tickets for the festival will go on presale starting Thursday, March 7th at 10 AM, followed by the public onsale beginning Friday, March 8th at 10 AM.

Get your tickets here

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The album’s very title tantalizingly hints at the opulent and ominous undertones that permeate its lyrical themes. Resonant sub-bass notes reverberate like the pulse of a metropolis, and industrial rhythms pound with an unforgiving intensity.

“When I sent Claus my demos for the album I didn’t have any particular direction for him,” says Rougeheart. “I didn’t want to have any influence. I wanted him to be inspired in the moment. When he sent me the final production of the songs it was everything I hoped would come out of our collaboration and more!”

The collaboration during a conversation between Rougeheart and artists Time and AwareNess. They had contemplated collaboration for a while, but one day AwareNess sent her samples and asked for her opinion. “I liked it but I told him “You can go darker…like way darker,” she remembers. “He quickly returned with a sample of the darkest, sexiest soundtrack that was so incredible! It’s one of my favorites!”

“Working on these great songs was hyper-inspiring for me,” says Larsen. “Such a pleasure to be let into her dark universe and slow captivating grooves. Rona (Rougeheart) has a huge talent and working with a fellow artist with such a passion is an honour.”

Along with Larsen, AwareNess also produced a song entitled Dark Matters, the last song to be added to the album. “It was great working with such a talented artist,” AwareNess says. “This song was not within my typical genre and I plan on doing more.”

Listen to Luxuria below:

Luxuria PR

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Mixers & Elixirs is not the band’s first Remix Rodeo, which might explain Payne’s reservations. Having formed in 1986 in Columbus, Ohio, and while still riding their first wave of success a decade later, in 1996 The Wake released the ‘Christine’ remix CD on Cleopatra Records, under pressure to feed the label’s demand for new product. While The Wake’s own remix of the title track was an alternative dance club hit, accompanied by a popular video shot in Mexico City, the overall collection met with mixed public response.

Mixers & Elixirs, however, is quite a different project.

“The choice of “Mixers” directly impacts the potency of the “Elixirs” that are conjured”, Troy continues. “With the help and guidance of our publicist, we couldn’t have made better decisions when reaching out to Pete (Kill Shelter), Rona (SINE), Johan (Agent Side Grinder), Andee (Blacksugar Transmission, KMFDM…), and mix engineer Matt Hagberg (Vaughan Music Studios), to ask them to contribute their individually unique talents to this project.”

Pete Burns, of critically acclaimed UK-based darkwave / post-punk / electronica project Kill Shelter, has previously remixed She Past Away, Christian Death, and Agent Side Grinder, among others. The collaborative album A Haunted Place, with Norwegian guitarist Antipole (Karl Morten Dahl), was released earlier this year on Manic Depression Records, and sold out within just a matter of weeks. Pete is currently working on two full-length Kill Shelter albums, following on from the debut album Damage (Unknown Pleasures Records, 2019). He speaks warmly of The Wake and his work with them on the ‘Emily Closer’ remix: 

“I was truly honoured to have the opportunity to remix The Wake. Their tracks ‘Nazarene’ and ‘Christine’ are classics in the true sense of the word, and I instantly fell in love and felt an immediate connection with ‘Emily Closer’ when I heard it. That’s really important for me – I don’t like to do remixes just for the sake of it. I could feel the emotional intent in the track, and that made for a perfect foundation for the remix. It’s a brilliant song, another classic in fact, and I really hope I did it justice in some way.”

That warmth and admiration between Kill Shelter and The Wake clearly flows both ways. 

“I absolutely love what Pete did”, says Troy. “His instincts for how to take the song to next level cool were spot on. He immediately picked up on subtle hints in the track and blew the whole thing up into a larger than life, big club classic vibe banger. Love it!”

Pete adds: 

“I wanted to try and create something worthy of their extensive career; something that was sympathetic to the original, but also brought a different perspective. Troy and Rich from The Wake were amazing to work with and very supportive of the remix, and I can’t thank them enough for the opportunity.”

All tracks remixed for Mixers & Elixirs are lifted from last year’s Perfumes and Fripperies; The Wake’s first new studio album in almost twenty-five years. The new EP is, in effect, a diverse and elaborate promo single for Perfumes and Fripperies, and one that meanwhile showcases both the album and The Wake’s continued relevance to new audiences. Remixes from both Kill Shelter and Sweden’s Agent Side Grinder, for example, highlight the influence of contemporary darkwave and post-punk beneath the surface of Perfumes and Fripperies, despite The Wake being better known to some as veterans of “old school gothic rock”. 

Agent Side Grinder, following a string of remixes for artists such as Antipole, Ash Code, and Sjoblom, chose to remix The Wake’s ‘Hammer Hall’, while putting their own spin on the “gothic” motif. ASG frontman Johan Lange says that the band’s ambition was “to place the song in a “batcave church”, full of chandeliers, bells, and soaring arpeggios.” Agent Side Grinder are currently working on their anticipated sixth album, and have recently returned to touring, with shows in Belgium and Sweden. Johan continues:

“‘Hammer Hall’ had a cool bassline and a lyrical theme that triggered us. Not quite sure what a hammer hall is, but I imagined a Victorian ballroom, full of mysterious people, dressed in black. To make those people dance, we created an electronic backdrop with a pumping Moog bassline, a drum beat ASG-style and a long instrumental break with soaring synth arpeggios.”

Austin, Texas-based dark-electro/industrial rock band SINE, led by Taiwanese-American vocalist, drummer, and multi-instrumentalist Rona Rougeheart, brings yet another flavour to Mixers & Elixirs, with her electro-industrial club dancefloor take on the title track from ‘Perfumes and Fripperies’. SINE’s latest album, Desire, Denial, and Paramania, was just released on Texan label eMERGENCY heARTS earlier in October.

“When Troy asked me to remix ‘Perfumes and Fripperies’, I knew I wanted to make it a dance track”, says Rona. “The dreamy melodic vocals seem to go well with some sub bass and a driving beat that is meant to bring people to the dance floor. Clubs need to be blasting this track!”

The genesis of The Wake’s new remix collection can meanwhile be traced back to March of this year, and Andee Blacksugar’s remix of ‘Break Me Not’. From Brooklyn, New York, Andee is the driving force behind Black Sugar Transmission; the fulltime guitarist for German industrial rock/metal pioneers KMFDM since 2017; is now the new guitarist for New York’s beloved progenitors of new wave, Blondie; and is a former touring guitarist for UK goth granddaddy Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), to name a few. The Blacksugar Remix of ‘Break Me Not’ was originally released exclusively to DJs and radio in March 2021, and its inclusion on Mixers & Elixirs makes it officially available to fans for the first time.

“For ‘Break Me Not’”, Andee explains, “I moved the tune’s key center from Dm to F# and Bb Lydian, threw some wah-wah guitar in the second verse, and even managed to squeeze in a spooky harpsichord break. I left Troy Payne’s excellent vocals unmolested. In the song’s denouement, I eased it all back into the song’s original key, and a good time was hopefully had by all involved!”

As synergy would have it, the Black Sugar Transmission Remix of SINE’s latest single, ‘Virtual Realitease’, is also released today, through eMERGENCY heARTS, while Andee’s latest release for Halloween is Music from a Dark Corner, by the all-instrumental project Sheer Velocity. Andee is currently putting together “final guitar noises” on the next KMFDM album, while preparing for Blondie’s rescheduled UK tourdates in 2022.

Finally, Mixes & Elixirs is rounded off by Matt Hagberg’s remix of ‘Everything’, featuring guest guitarist David ‘Wolfie’ Wolfenden of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Hagberg is The Wake’s regular in-house mixing engineer, based out of Ohio’s Vaughan Music Studios (VMS Recording). Wolfie, as well as being the long-time guitarist for seminal UK post-punk bands Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Expelaires, is also one half of downtempo duo Voidant, with vocalist Caroline Blind; and formerly a member of The Mission, and The Rose of Avalanche. Voidant released their debut self-titled debut album in September, while a live album from the archives of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry is due for release on Monday, 1 November. 

The final word, however, belongs to Troy Payne and The Wake:

“The purpose behind making Mixers & Elixirs was connection. That is, a different or deeper connection with those who are already fans of the songs on Perfumes and Fripperies, as well as a chance to connect with people who are just fans of the artists we chose to do the remixes. I feel lucky to have connected with these artists and to have taken part in the creation of something new that will hopefully have club goers packing dance floors everywhere.”

Listen to Mixers & Elixirs below:

The Wake’s Mixers & Elixirs is out on October 30, 2021.

Order Here

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Following the grand tradition of bands affected by the pandemic, this project came to fruition during lockdown. The new album presents selected highlights from SINE’s previous output from 2016-2020 (plus new remixes), as an introduction to new audiences, ahead of the forthcoming trilogy of new EPs, MANTIS I, II, and III: planned to roll out between late 2021 and early 2022.

“I was compiling a bunch of SINE songs from all of my past albums and singles to create this kind of “Catching Up with SINE” album that would cover my music from 2016-2020. I realize that I’m still pretty new to most, so I thought it would be a great way to re-introduce SINE after having so much time away since the shutdowns.”

Now, they have released a fascinating new video for the haunting track. Jack Dangers collaborated with Rougeheart to direct the video, which features colorful ink swirls. “It kind of became a character of its own in this intergalactic, tragic “love” story,” muses Rougeheart. This is the first single to be released off of Desire, Denial and Paramania. Rougeheart reflects upon the creation of the album and this remix:

“…During the summer of 2020, I was working with Scott Crow on some remixes for the label…We enjoyed working with each other, so I asked him if he wanted to hear my new music from MANTIS, just for fun…He loved it, wanted to sign me and suggested we release MANTIS as an EP trilogy…It was Scott’s idea to have Jack Dangers involved and have him do a SINE x Meat Beat Manifesto remix. It’s something I never thought I’d ever have, so it was truly exciting for me! His contribution to the track really brings SINE’s music to the next level.”

Watch the video below:

Rougeheart was born in New York, the youngest daughter of a Taiwanese mother and Irish father. She grew up as a military child, living all over the U.S. and in Okinawa, Japan. Her father was a musician who taught her how to play keys and guitar; she later decided to take up drums. In April, 2019, she landed a direct support slot for Peter Murphy in Orlando, FL for the 40th Anniversary of Bauhaus Ruby Tour with David J. The night seemed ill-fated when Peter was unable to perform, but was revitalized when she joined David J, Curse Mackey, Mark Gemini-Thwaite and Marc Slutsky for an impromptu performance of Bauhaus tunes. From that night, a new project emerged between David J, Curse Mackey and herself, yet to be released. She continues to write new music and work on future collaborations.

SINE has signed with the Austin, TX-based electronic industrial record label, eMERGENCY heARTS (eH), resulting in a perfect pairing for both the artist and the label.

The debut SINE release for eMERGENCY heARTS, entitled Desire, Denial and Paramania, will be an 11 track collection featuring select songs from SINE’s albums, INSOMNIÆ and Injected, recorded between the years 2016-2020. It includes collaborations with Curse Mackey (Pigface, Evil Mothers, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult), producer Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails, 3Teeth, Slayer), and legendary industrial vocalist Chris Connelly (Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface) with remixes by Jack Dangers (Meat Beat Manifesto), DÐ (pronounced ‘deth’), and dark pop duo, NITE. Desire, Denial and Paramania will be released in CD form as well as digitally worldwide on October 7, 2021.

Listen to the track on Bandcamp:

The new SINE x Meat Beat Manifesto remix by Jack Dangers is the lead single for forthcoming album Desire, Denial, and Paramania, due out 7 October 2021 on the eMERGENCY heARTS (eH) record label. Desire, Denial, and Paramania (DDP) will be released in both CD and digital formats.

eMERGENCY heARTS is an indie collaborative music label/ media project in Austin, TX founded by author, musician and gallery owner Scott Crow (Lesson Seven, Audio Assault), with a vision for music and other media to build an umbrella entity that supports artists outside the mainstream.

SINE is set to perform at Absolution Fest in Tampa on October 7th. Find Tickets and more info here.

Featured photo by Christopher De La Rosa.

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The post Watch the Video for SINE’s Meat Beat Manifesto Remix of “Desolate District” Featuring Chris Connelly appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The original date for Orlando was scheduled in February but cancelled at the last min due to Peter having to see a doctor for his condition.

Those who saw Peter last night, remarked that he was in noticeably bad shape, which had reportedly worsened since the previous gig in Santa Ana that followed the long awaited San Francisco Residency concerts.

Last night’s second cancellation occurred while SINE, the opener was on stage at The Plaza Live. Not wanting to completely let fans down, especially a second time, Bassist David J was resolute that the show must gone on and decided to perform an improvised Bauhaus set—enlisting SINE and Curse Mackey (Pigface, Clan of Xymox, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.) to join the rest of the band on stage.

Curse and SINE had never performed with David, nor Guitarist Mark Thwaite, and Drummer  Marc Slutsky. There was no time for rehearsal either, as they all had limited time to get the performance set up and ready.

In the end the crowd was upset Peter did not perform, with some leaving after the announcement, but by the end the many that remained were pleased with the performance, especially given the circumstances.

Here is the official statement regarding last Night’s  Concert:

Orlando, Plaza Live – April 4

It is with great regret that the decision was made that Peter Murphy would not be able to perform last night at the 11th hour as he is suffering from severe physical and mental exhaustion. Peter had begun to feel unwell after the triumphant San Francisco Regency Ballroom performance. He pushed himself through for Santa Ana, CA (the 93rd show since October) but unfortunately faltered for the last night in Orlando.

We would like to express our deepest regrets that Orlando was thwarted by illness yet again. We extend our sincere gratitude to David J, MGT Thwaite, Marc Slutsky, all at the venue and crew as well as Rona Rougeheart and Curse Mackey for pulling together to provide a unique and heartfelt show for the audience. We know it was not the one you hoped for but we hope you enjoyed it. It was for you, Orlando.

Thank you to everyone all over the world who attended the 40 years of Bauhaus Celebration.

Despite the impromptu performance refunds were given to all that attended.

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