In the intricate ballet of human relationships, love and conflict often intertwine, making war a compelling metaphor for sexual intercourse. Just as opposing forces clash on the battlefield, lovers can find themselves entangled in passionate confrontations, marked by both desire and discord. Each side, driven by their convictions and emotions, seeks victory—be it a conquering of the heart or the resolution of differences. Strategems employed in warfare, like seduction and retreat, mirror the push-pull dynamics of seduction. Amidst the skirmishes, however, there’s an underlying quest for unity and understanding. Thus, love, like war, embodies the paradox of finding intimacy in opposition.

Morlocks formed during the 90s in Gothenburg, Sweden. Today, they exist as a trio that features vocalist and founding member J. Strauss, aka guitarist Innocentius Rabiatus from Dark Side Cowboys. In 2013 they met, befriended and recruited multi-talented bass player/vocalist Lamashtu and the trio has been the core of the band ever since. Morlocks create a bastard hybrid of heavy, guitar-based industrial rock, retrofuturism and epic symphonics.

Praise the Iconoclast is an album that perfectly fuses their signature hybrid of industrial, retrofuturism, machines, symphonies with shards of metallic energy. KMFDM’s Sascha Konietzko, Karin My, and Heljarmadr (Grá and Dark Funeral) make guest vocal appearances. ‘Praise the Iconoclast‘ is out today from Metropolis Records on CD and through all digital streaming platforms.

Order Here

Follow Morlocks:

• Official Site 
• Facebook 
• Bandcamp
• Instagram

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In addition to providing an unforgettable musical experience, Cold Waves Festival, now in its eleventh year, is committed to giving back to the community. A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit Darkest Before Dawn and other mental health charities.

For more information and tickets, go here.

Meet some of the artists who played the NYC branch of Cold Waves this year at Le Poisson Rouge, located in Manhattan’s famed West Village, including some powerful moments from their performances and even a few backstage antics. Several of these acts will be making encore appearances in the Windy City this weekend, and Los Angeles the following week.

Lana Del Rabies

Lana Del Rabies, the brainchild of Phoenix electronic artist Sam An, elegantly defies easy categorization. This avant-garde creation melds the dark allure of gothic resonance and metal with whispers of trip-hop, and nods to post-punk luminaries such as Fad Gadget and John Foxx. Delia Derbyshire’s spectral BBC experiments, Stockhausen’s daring experimentalism, and Puce Mary’s auditory collages peer through the artist’s unsettling ambient wisps, transporting listeners into liminal realms, where the boundaries blur between dreams and wakefulness. This ethereal journey, layered with mysticism, promises an experience steeped in the esoteric.

Ash Code

Italian dark wave synth act Ash Code was founded by keyboard player Claudia Nottebella and twin brothers Alessandro and Adriano Belluccio. They masterfully blend influences, ranging from early Depeche Mode, The Sisters of Mercy to post-punk, Synthpop, coldwave & EBM, bringing with them a revamp of solid drum machines, haunting synths and driving bass lines. Molchat Doma, Clan Of Xymox and Minuit Machine made remixes for Ash Code songs, and Ash Code made remixes for acts like She Past Away and Agent Side Grinder.

Orphx

Toronto electronic outfit Orphx (Rich Oddie and Christina Sealey) have been creating their unique fusion of rhythm and noise for three decades, combining elements of techno with the experimental techniques and critical spirit of industrial music.  Orphx releases are often based around social, political or psychological/spiritual themes.

Sierra

Sierra, a multifaceted French musician, composer, and DJ, crafts a sonic tapestry that oscillates between EBM and darkwave. Her sound is infused with techno, synthwave, and unexpected undertones of trap. With a cinematic flair, Sierra’s compositions strike a delicate balance: they juxtapose the rawness of violence with melancholic undertones, interweaving moments of sweetness and stark brutality. This eclectic fusion establishes Sierra as a creator of her own distinct, hybrid sound.

JK Flesh

Under the moniker JK Flesh, English virtuoso Justin Broadrick manifests his electronic odysseys. Tracing its origins to his 1990s collaboration with Kevin Martin in Techno Animal, Broadrick ventured into the solo realm with a JK Flesh album in 2012. Distinct from his celebrated ventures, Godflesh and Jesu, JK Flesh eschews metal riffs for pure electronic pulses. Over time, the character of JK Flesh’s output has evolved, adopting minimalist and dub nuances, yet always rooted in industrial grit. JK Flesh’s discography boasts four albums, five EPs, a collaborative split with Prurient, and a slew of remixes.

Front Line Assembly

The Cold Waves festival continues this weekend in Chicago. On Friday night fans were treated to performances from a vast array of talents, including IAMX, Twin Tribes, Nuovo Testamento, Harsh Symmetry, and many more. But the fun is just getting started.

Front Line Assembly and A Split-Second will headline Saturday, 23 September at Metro. Additional acts include:

• 16 Volt
• Kanga
• Acumen Nation
• MVTANT

DJ sets will be happening at Smart Bar from:

• JK Flesh
• Zoltar
• Enduser
• Flesh_Bot

On Sunday, at Metro, Godflesh and Lead Into Gold headline, flanked by:

• Sierra
• Rabbit Junk
• Lana Del Rabies
• Cel Genesis

DJ sets will also be held at Oman.

All photos by Alice Teeple.

Cold Waves Festival returns to Los Angeles on September 28th.

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The mastermind of Black Asteroid, 90s industrial pioneer Bryan Black (Haloblack), decided to return to his roots with this EP, eschewing the usual 4/4 techno and embracing live bass. He recruited Bill Leeb from Front Line Assembly to provide vocals for “Methane Rain”, bringing a sinister edge to a track that is a return to the creative nexus that gave birth to Black Asteroid.

“In a moment when techno has left the underground and become an EDM parody of itself, I instead decided to experiment with live instruments, vocals, and slower BPMs,” Black explains.

Methane Rain blends the raw earmarks of Cabaret Voltaire, and Human League –  at times sounding like a Ministry interpretation of Seconds; it has a hypnotic beat and sludgy baselines, with 80s voice distortion and pounding drums keeping time. A solid collaboration between two industrial stalwarts.

Listen below:

• Instagram 
• Soundcloud

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In 1978, Nash and Dannie Flesher sold their Denver shop of the same name and relocated to 2449 North Lincoln Avenue. They founded the music label in 1980. Before launching the independent label, Nash and Flesher would use the North Lincoln Avenue storefront to promote and produce concerts for then-unknown artists such as Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, New Order, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Sisters of Mercy, Divine, and more. WAX TRAX! was responsible for bringing many artists to Chicago for the first time.

“Most tickets sold ran through this iconic building”, says Julia Nash, daughter of Jim.

WAX TRAX! RECORDS is credited for popularizing a new genre called “Industrial Dance,” later shortened as “Industrial.” Ministry, Front 242, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Revolting Cocks, KMFDM, Front Line Assembly, The KLF, Underworld, Coil, Psychic TV, Laibach, and more all got their footing in the U.S. through the label.

Wax Trax! opened its hallowed doors in a building that once housed a funeral parlour. They carried thousands of unique and rare titles in a vast range of genres: dance, soul, R&B, heavy metal, electronic, rockabilly, hardcore, glam, and avant-garde, as well as imports, indie releases, and bootlegs. The store was the center of underground music and culture in the Midwest throughout the 1980s and ’90s, serving as the go-to for music fans and musicians alike.  Wax Trax! was graced by huge stars during their Chicago visits: Robert Plant, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Black Flag, Buzzcocks, and the B-52s. They remained there until relocating in 1993.

“The store itself was an underground cultural mecca for people from all over the city, statewide and internationally to discover new music (like) punk and electronic,” she told the Chicago Tribune. “At the time they were frowned-upon genres, but they became very important in music culture.” The store’s staff, comprised mainly of musicians and DJs, became a valuable source of expert guidance and tips for cutting-edge and fringe artists, paving the way toward later marketing concepts in similar stores.

Julia Nash, the director of the 2018 documentary Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records, found her “true self” at the store and relocated to Chicago in 1987. From there, she has immersed herself in the rich Wax Trax! legacy. She equates Wax Trax! to iconic Chicago blues label Chess Records, which enjoys landmarked status. Although the genres are different, their importance to music fans is undeniable.

Julia Nash has launched a petition for her late father’s store to be landmarked. The designation will ensure that the building will not be demolished, or the exterior altered. Nearly 5000 people have already signed as of the writing of this article. She hopes to submit a historic landmark application by March 1 to the city’s Department of Planning and Development at its March 15 meeting, a move acknowledging the store and record label’s place in music history.

“If this store or label has meant anything to you at any point in your life, we hope you will join us at preserving this important physical piece of music history,” says Julia Nash.

For more information on the landmarking effort and to sign the petition, visit petitions.com.

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The sonic rituals of HAEX are led by Adam V. Jones and Sarah Graves (Baby Magick). The pair, after releasing several singles since their formation in 2016, and performing at festivals such as Terminus and Coldwaves, have finally released their debut LP Aethyr Abyss Void.

Leading up to the release of the album, the band unveiled earlier this month a phenomenal cyber-punk-inspired video for the soul-hacking and visceral track “Cursebreaker”, directed by Phil Mohr.

Watch below:

The rest of the album, bookended by the invocations “Divine Feminine”, and “Divine Masculine”, is seductive and sinister descent into the psyche through pulsing and rhythmic metal-tinged Industrial Rock, seamlessly including the 2016 single “Daggers” as a hypnotic interlude that compliments some of the more introspectively intense tracks on the album, such as “Bloodtoll”, and “Sex Magick”, that lean more towards the work of Sleazy and John Balance while merging these sounds with that of, for example, Till Lindermann and his aural wrecking crew.

Listen to Λethyr Λbyss Void, below:

Λethyr Λbyss Void is out now.

Order Here

Follow Haex:

• Facebook
• Instagram

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After an experimental intro of otherworldly sound design, the song transitions into a brooding whirl of bass, guitar, and soft vocals, all drenched in warm reverb, effectively fusing together a nostalgic melange of post-punk, indie pop, and shoegaze sounds. Strangely, this all feels very authentic to the stuff you would hear on college radio during the late 80s, even more so than many of the bands of the early 2000s post-punk revival.

Perhaps, either incidentally, or by design, this sound is captured due to Isenberg’s approach to “assembling post-industrial harmonies stratified on an eerie wavelength”, and also taking inspiration from music from the 1960s avant-garde as a starting point.

Watch the video for ‘Flynt Pop”, below:

“I wrote Flynt Pop in a dimly lit wood-paneled basement room in Eagle Rock, CA during the fall of 2018,” explains Isenberg, “I had recently stumbled on Henry Flynt after reading about Fluxus and the anti-art movement in the 1960s. “You are my Everlovin’” became a regular soundtrack for me and I ended up picking up my violin for the first time in a while as a result.

What started as an attempt to make long-form meditative and ethereal music soon shifted drastically when I started messing with drum machines I had sampled and digitized. The melody that developed was dictated by harmonic violin fragments I recorded through guitar pedals and the remaining structure quickly fell into place.

Over the next few weeks lyrics followed suit. Initially, I thought I was writing about attraction to chaos but it became clearer to me that at its core I was writing about desire and compulsion as a remedy to loneliness and alienation. Regardless of consequences, the answer to the question “Do you want it?” (read: drinking, drugs, a relationship you know is bad for you) always seemed to be “Yes” for me at that time.

Live drums and guitar overdubs happened later at my friend Phil Hartunian’s studio in Glendale, CA with the assistance of drummer Cameron Wisch who played along with the drum patterns I had drawn in with robotic precision.”

Introducing Flynt is out on February 1st, 2022, via Dero Arcade.

Order Here

The post NYC Post-Punk Project Flynt Explores Desire and Loneliness in the Spellbinding Debut Single “Flynt Pop” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Order Cutworm’s Ouster here

Follow Cutworm:

• Instagram
• Twitter

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As the pandemic begins to abate in the United States, VIO\ATOR have started to play out again, this time buttressed with the announcement of the aforementioned full-length recording coming out later in the Summer on Young and Cold Records. The act has released the track “Your Victim,” below, as a teaser—and what a difference a year (or more) makes! VIO\ATOR is now a fully-fleshed dark synthy-industrial juggernaut.

“Following my first tour that I had done,” Tyler remarks, “I found myself having learned to play bass while filling in on the instrument for another band, so I now found myself knowing how to play a new instrument. I had an entire tour booked for March of last year and a couple of new songs ready to go, but then the pandemic hit and the entire thing had to be cancelled. I was heartbroken over this, and I listened back to the new songs, but they weren’t up to my standards, so I decided to finally purchase a guitar and learn how to play it, and immediately I began writing on the guitar, which is something I never expected would happen with me. So almost every song on this new album was written and recorded almost entirely live, with very little software involved: guitar, bass, live synths, and on about half of the songs the percussion was programmed manually onto a drum machine. This is the album where I finally feel like I’m an actual musician. The music itself is post-punk at its core, but with elements of industrial dissonance and darkwave-inspired atmospheres.”

That increased musicianship is on show on the new LP, Solitude, and VIO\ATOR’s evolution feels complete. The new album, which we were able to get a sneak preview of, still showcases Tyler’s fragile/vulnerable vocal style—which at times remind of late 1970s or early 1980s Brian Eno and/or Gary Numan—and the layered guitar, bass, and other texturing give a robust sound to the finished product that builds upon the band’s prior minimalist foundation. There are even some very spectral, ghostly guitar lines on Track 3, “Nothing Left But to Heal” (perhaps my favorite track on the new LP), that keep things spooky and should please all the goth-rockers in the crowd. But let’s be clear: The LP as a whole is a very darkwave-y synth-and-drum-machine affair, echoing at times with a tragic, off-kilter resonance aided both by Tyler’s interesting choice in eerie synth lines and unexpectedly creative drum machine patterns, both of which serve to hold the listener’s attention. The presence of Numan, Eno, and “Low”-era Bowie are palpable on most of the album’s eight entrancing tracks.

I asked Tyler about the origins of his project’s name, and if conjuring up Depeche Mode was the idea behind it:

“Yes, it is definitely a Depeche Mode reference, to the point where someone who booked me for a show and didn’t take the time to listen to me had me billed as a Depeche Mode tribute act. The name definitely was inspired by that, but I had moved to Los Angeles shortly before the project began, and I saw many signs around saying, ‘Violators will be prosecuted,’ and variations of that. It made me start thinking, ‘What exactly does it mean to be a violator? A violator of what? Someone’s space? What someone hears? A thought that worms it’s way into someone’s head and doesn’t leave them alone, keeping them up at night?’ I enjoyed the various interpretations of the word and how I could play with it, and the preconceptions that people have about that word. The idea to put the \ to replace the L was a stylistic choice by [my wife] Annie; it adds to the unease of the word.”

Who was in VIO\ATOR when it started, and who is in it now? What guest musicians etc. have you had join in?

Tyler: I’ve always been the sole actual member of the project. My wife Annie had early input in writing a couple of songs and acted almost as a producer, but that was the extent of outside input until this most recent album I’ve just finished. I asked Leah Lane of Rosegarden Funeral Party if she would be interested in singing on one of the songs, and that turned into a full collaboration, complete with both of us playing various instruments on the song, and then Ivan Delint from Warsaw Pact played guitar on one of the other songs on the album. I also have to mention that Michael Briggs, who mixed and mastered the album, acted essentially as a co-producer on this one, and he came up with some great effects and noise parts on some of the songs on it.

What bands or artists are the primary inspirations for VIOLATOR, and why?

Tyler: Obviously Depeche Mode was an early influence, as was Gary Numan, although recently it’s shifted to more contemporary artists like The Soft Moon or VOWWS, although I wouldn’t say that those influences are ones that I wear on my sleeve.

When will the new album come out, and where can folks buy it when it does come out?

Tyler: The pre-order for the album should be going up in July. It is going to be released through Young & Cold Records, who are graciously also pressing it onto vinyl, which will be my first ever physical release outside of hand-made CDs and cassettes that I made for my first EP and my first album.

VIO\ATOR have a Bandcamp page here.
VIO\ATOR also have a Facebook page here.
The Young & Cold Records Bandcamp page is here.

I also encourage folks to check out Tyler’s Youtube channel, where he often reviews new releases and posts other insightful commentaries on music. That Youtube channel is here.

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The 5 track record is the first release on Liverpool’s own SPINE label. Taking great pains in honing its arrhythmic cacophony over the course of the past two years, the EP was produced by a.P.A.t.T. ringleader Stephen Cole (whatstudio) and Jack Wait (Quarry Studios).

As a result, Lay in the Salt of the Soil embodies both the group’s unyielding methodology in songcraft and their fascination with transgression through aural anarchy and sublime music for displeasure. Listening is the kind of captivating masochism hinted at by Monta Cazzaza when describing the sound of Throbbing Gristle and coining the name of the avant-garde music genre at its most pure and perverse.

The ep begins with the disarming electroacoustic sanatorium that is ‘Yet I Am’, a pensive litany of introspection that is a deep breath before the headlong plunge into madness and sonic explorations beyond that of socio-normative constructs.

This unyielding perseveration of noise continues with the atmospheric industrial grinding of “The Leash”, and the song manages to be both melancholic and horrific between momentary breaths.

The Berlin Dark Techno track ‘What Does It Mean, to Be a Man in a Burning World?’ is a kickdrum-driven militaristic and metallic barrage interspersed with moaning brass instruments that sound like the cries of hellspawn during armageddon.

The ambient “bell-scape” of “The Salt” evokes the Indonesian gamelan in both texture and polyrhythm, and is a salve the aural wounds inflicted before the massacre to follow in “Barbed Wire Church” while highlighting the diverse and dynamic range LONESAW displays in auditory art and sound design.

On discussing the release of, frontman Ben Bones remains unapologetic regarding the group’s creative process:

“We wanted to create a sound world, to build something dynamic and multifaceted. I feel completely unashamed about taking our time to make this record as strong as possible, it’s not necessary to follow the same rules [as other artists]. It’s always been our intention as a live act to be constantly evolving and changing and this record represents that. We will continue forward, unapologetic and uncompromising to make art for ourselves.”

Listen to the EP below:

Find the EP on Spotify

Lay in the Salt of the Soil is out now.

Order Here

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Rooted in discomfort, moody disgust, and aggression, each group maintains a deliberate focus towards songwriting and storytelling in this 4 track catharsis. This is the launchpad for a hailstorm of 2021 releases from all artists involved, but “Possession Therapy” is definitely the most special to each band.

Two heavyweights from the emerging, underground industrial metal scene combine forces and present the Possession Therapy EP to kick-off 2021.

Fact Pattern, comprised of Ian Flux, Jack Lowd, and Corey Hirsch, manages to meld those mid-90s inspirations and bring them into the 21st century. Clinically Proven & Cartel Blues was written by Fact Pattern: Ian Flux, Jack Lowd, Corey Hirsch. It was produced and mixed by Ian Flux at Monican Audio. Places You Fear Most and Vacancy Architect was written, produced, and mixed by Dread Risks, with multidisciplinary artist Bara Hari on guest vocals.

The first track, “Clinically Proven” is a buoyant and unsettling melange of caustic and statically charged electronic beats overlaid by otherworldly and cinematic vocals that crest into a barrage of melodic industrial rock.

“Cartel Blues” is a languid and sleazy piano-driven dirge overlaid with rhythmic and metallic distortion and ominous vocal melody.

The third track, Places You Fear Most”, led by Dread Risks, uses the previous two’s atmospheric melodies as a stepping-off point, now driven by hardcore vocals, that creates a sonic palette leaning towards black metal.

The final track, and second by Dread Risks, “Vacancy Architect”, continues the evolution by enlisting Bari-Hari whose deadpan darkwave vocals weave an aural landscape that defies categorization, sounding somewhere between, trip-hop, industrial, and metal.

Collectively, Possession Therapy is a spellbinding and cohesive soundscape representing the best atmospheres of all the genres it culls from.

Check out the EP out below:

Pre-save the track on Spotify here.

And for more info on Fact Pattern visit:www.fact-pattern.com and for more on Dread Risks, go here.

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