Plunging into an unusual realm, this album serves up a collection of distinctive interpretations, blending punk aesthetics with the raw edge of garage vibes. The album carries an eerie echo of an absent audience, infusing it with a ghostly aura, fuzzed out voice, the sound of coughing, and acoustic guitar.

Prepare for a deep dive into the heart of the defiant spirit, reinterpreted and refreshed in a minimalist setting that brings its raw emotion to the forefront. This album, both intriguing and unexpected, is as unfiltered DIY folk-punk as it gets.

LIVE FROM GB NEWS STUDIOS stands defiantly unique, challenging norms and embracing the unconventional. Drawing from a diverse array of influences, the album nods to the rebellious echoes of Public Image Limited’s Flowers of Romance period, the gothic shades of Alien Sex Fiend, the cool detachment of Kaelan Mikla, and the trailblazing sounds of early Siouxsie and the Banshees. It also weaves in the melancholic melodies of The Cure and the political edge of Billy Bragg. All of this in a brash and witty acoustic package that transmutes well into a dark folk serenade.

Listen below:

Catch Mark Hex live in the UK this spring and summer:

• Apr 07 White Rock Hastings, UK
• Apr 12 Dublin Castle London, UK
• Apr 20 Ivory Blacks Glasgow, UK
• Jul 27 Dublin Castle London, UK
• Aug 23 St Georges Hall, Bradford Bradford, UK
• Aug 24 Bradford in Bradford Bradford, UK

The post Mark Hex Returns with Dark Folk-Punk LP “LIVE FROM GB NEWS STUDIOS” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Somewhere between a best of, new EP, and covers album, the tracks encapsulate the sporadic and untameable nature of a Mark Hex show. Originally filmed as a live video broadcast after an invitation from Italian Cure fan group Out Of This World, the resulting audio is now ready to be unleashed to this strange new world.

It is a bizarre collection of unique interpretations, a punk aesthetic with garage sensibilities in all the tracks. Live In The DDR was recorded in an empty room in the midst of early 2021, with Mark Estall at the helm. The stripped-back, haunting sound of a ghostly audience pervades the entire album. Flowers of Romance era Public Image Limited, Alien Sex Fiend, Kaelan Mikla, early Siouxsie and the Banshees and, of course, The Cure, are clear influences, as is a touch of Billy Bragg.

The lead track, Seventeen Seconds, shows Hex pouring his blackened heart out over a skeletal cover of The Cure classic, laid heavy with punk vitriol. A bratty interpretation of Brian Eno’s Baby’s on Fire also gets an outing, alongside live favourites LDN NGRY, S.M.A.S.H.E.D and This is Glasgow, alongside a revised Hungry American for the Biden age. A couple of exclusive newbies also feature on the album.

Check it out below:

Mark Hex continues to DJ and plays live around London. His next show is a DJ slot at the legendary dark club, Slimelight, on Saturday 14th August.

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British recording artist Mark Hex releases his new EP, Everything I Touch Turns to Shit. This record is much more gold than the scatological title implies, however.

The album opens with the snarling Gunter Grove, rife with menacing whispers from around the shady corners of recent history. Hex‘s hypnotic chants and shouts harken back to the call-and-response patterns of Sham 69, and the class war passions of The Fall, The Clash, Billy Bragg, and early PiL. Hex also cites Pornography-era Cure, Big Black and Ministry as heavy influences. His muses are clearly channeled here, but his sensibilities are thoroughly modern.

The following tracks, Despised and Down and Out In A Pre-Woke Age are also rollicking good times with passionate sociological commentary. Hex weaves good old-fashioned British storytelling traditions into a complex tapestry: bitching about class warfare, reminding others of the karmic wheel and backing it all with jangling guitar. A refreshing take on pressing matters.

Mark Hex has been releasing music and “making a racket” in London and festivals across the UK. He also plays other people’s records at his DJ gig at the London dark club, Slimelight.

Check out Everything I Touch Turns To Shit here:

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