Avant! Electronic & Dance 21 Items

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Four years and one pandemic after his latest Dreams Of A Dark Building EP, the herald of dungeon synth pop is finally back from his shallow grave.

Life has not been gentle with Seattle-based solo producer Parker Lautenschlager over the past few years, imposing its unpredictability and forcing him to channel all the feelings that come with it into Profit Prison’s music.

It’s no surprise that his first full-length album Gilt marks one futher step towards the dark corners of italo / hi-nrg body music. Typical Profit Prison’s vocals and melodies, reminiscent of OG synth masters Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, are still here, buried in the mix and waiting to haunt the listeners and drag them down in one sulfurous dancing spiral.

Lead single Sophia juxtaposes some weirdly camouflaged vocals with one heavenly chorus that seems willing to revive your fortunes while instead it literally sings “But I lost it all”. A Matter Of Tact displays pop escapism over some throbbing minimal synth tension, Seven Words sounds like a throwback to 70’s italo filtered through the eyes of a 21st century punk rocker. Katalina has a rampant synth à la Carpenter climbing over a story of loss and Katalina, An Ascetic is a solo ramble reaching for the inner light on a carpet of cold keys.

What’s more, tracks got longer in Parker’s recent songwriting, with most of the songs being now five minute long and reaching peaks of seven minutes with the closing, almost progressive disco jam of A.R.P. (Amphetamine Research Project), nothing short of a lucid dream on the floor of Studio 54.

Last but not least, the artwork by French artist Robin Roche delivers medieval-yet-punk graphic vibes to match just perfectly the sounds on this record.

Go to Item

Profit Prison

Gilt Black Vinyl Edition

Wandering Echoes White Colored Vinyl Edition

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Go to Item

Poison Point

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Poison Point is the trancey body music solo project operated by Paris-based producer and live artist, Timothée Gainet.

Started off in 2016, he shared the stage with bands such as Drab Majesty, Xeno & Oaklander, Adult, Rendez-Vous and Silent Servant, shared remixes with Qual, Sydney Valette, Blind Delon, all this while running his other industrial techno outfit IV Horsemen. You can tell Timothée is a busy guy and yet he managed to grow Poison Point since his debut album on Third Coming, getting releases out on Aufnahme + Wiedergabe and Young And Cold.

Over the years, his sound gradually shifted from the motorik post-punk of the early recordings to one much more dancefloor-oriented dark electronics with some sort of nice military pop Je ne sais quoi.

If one could see this coming with 2022’s album Poisoned Gloves, his new full-length is a major step-up in Poison Point game. Skilfully produced by Gainet himself and mastered once again by Mr Baggio for the best groove, Wandering Echoes drops nine new floor fillers for the romantic and the nostalgic at heart.

Just click Play on the first track Blue Idol and you will be hurled into a crystal world of imaginary memories while floating on the scales drawn by the synth arpeggios. Rude awake to the lead single Mysteries In Fire and his intoxicating body music and start wandering the room around you. Keep up the pace with further bangers loaded with electricity, romance and angularity like Flowers & Surrender, Echoes Of Dreams, Slow Kill, Fast Love. Get sweaty as you reach the end of this music journey: final track Les Meurtrières de LʼAube, properly sung in Timothée’s native tongue French, will show you the way to the rest of the just.

If your favourite vibes dwell somewhere between Phase Fatale and Lust For Youth, Wandering Echoes is the record for you.

Go to Item

House Of Harm

Playground

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

House of Harm are proud to announce the forthcoming release of their new album Playground, out December 1st, 2023. The new record builds and expands upon the three-piece’s enthralling shadow-pop sound, a mix of midnight atmospherics, 90s era jangle pop, and contagious synth drenched hooks that further elevate the transcendent vocals of lead singer Michael Rocheford. Rounded out by Cooper Leardi (guitar / synths) and Tyler Kershaw (guitar / synth), House of Harm have amassed an impressive following as something of a best kept secret among their growing fanbase, leading to sold out shows on both coasts by the power of word of mouth alone.

The band members have been drawn to music for as long as any of them can remember, and the drive to be around like-minded artists and make their own noise drew them all to Boston after high school. There they all quickly enmeshed themselves, playing in other bands before meeting each other. Ever since, House of Harm have been quietly making a name for themselves among music fans with darker pop persuasions via a steady stream of releases in single, ep and album form.

That attention to detail and workmanlike approach at the expense of chasing instant gratification seems to be paying dividends after years of steady effort. The journey of their new album Playground saw House of Harm stay true to that ethos. The band painstakingly narrowed the record down to an efficient 10 tracks that they felt made the most sense, both standing on their own as well as fitting into an LP that built a cohesive world for the listener to get lost in. The album’s name also reflects the experimentation and happy accidents that came about during the writing and recording process.

On “The Face of Grace” they set out to explore different dynamics by writing a song entirely without drums, but couldn’t help themselves from putting emphasis on the song’s 6/8 waltz time signature. “Two Kinds” is another first for House Of Harm in that it’s predominantly driven by acoustic guitar. That aforementioned vulnerability shows up in other areas of the songwriting process as well with “Two Kinds”, one of their most revealing songs to date from a lyrical standpoint, written from a place of reflection and weakness and tackling feelings uneasy to be put on display for public consumption.

Taken as a whole, the end result is an album representing a collection of the band’s most raw and expressive songs yet.

Go to Item

Male Tears

Paradísco

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Avant!)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-07-26

One mere year after their previous pitch-black sounding album Krypt, LA outfit Male Tears is back with a new full-length and – oh boy – everything is changed. The used-to-be duo is now a four piece with James Edward as the sole founding member remaining and apparently this new line-up helped the original vocalist to shapeshift again. Remember their very first debut album from 2021 and those dark synthpop sounds? With their upcoming fourth album (in only three years), this American electronic-pop act from Southern California doubles the stakes once again and where Krypt was all about being goth and gloomy and disturbingly paroxysmal, Paradisco is somehow quite the opposite. Eight new tracks of pure italo disco, hi-NRG and freestyle bliss that pick up where the band left off three years ago to pursue much darker realms. Now that the quest for darkness is done, it is time to polish our nails and dress up for the night-out cause there’s more in life than feeling sorry for yourself. Yes you will need to cut out the deadwood but there is no change in stillness. So join Male Tears and their new arsenal of bangers and floor fillers with assertive titles such as Out of my Life, Regret 4 Nothing and Leave it Alone. Get yourself wrapped up in one warm cover of delicate nostalgia and reborn romanticism, driven by sounds that pay homage equally to Miko Mission and Ken Laszlo, Lisa Lisa and Exposé and, well yeah, even The Smiths because say what you wanna say but you simply cannot not love The Smiths. Embrace the vintage vibes that organically propagate from this new record’s grooves and get in the mood for this new course in full-on 1980’s Pop.

Go to Item

Veil Of Light

Sundancing

23,99 €*

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Two years after their previous effort, regular as clockwork, Swiss throbbing synth pop duo Veil Of Light is back with a new album and what can we say? These guys keep on getting better and better. If you have followed the Zurich-based outfit over the past few years, you must have noticed the constant moving towards 80’s FM new wave and synthpop tones – without losing their electro/body music outline – that have marked the band’s parable, especially since their latest Landslide LP. Sundancing is their sixth full-length and it stays the course, bringing what we’ve just said to the next step. Nine new dancy and bright tunes with emotional depth that blend lush instrumentation and robust rhythms, guided by funky and rubbery basslines. Syncopated rhythm sections match suburban cool synths in the lead single Apricot Kiss and Hypersleep, while Raindancing and Tonight summon a sinuosity long gone since the mid Eighties. The musical backdrop here serves as the fundament for emotional vocals delivering lyrics dealing with the fragility of love, joy and loneliness. There’s some subtle addictiveness to these songs, one that will gently grab you by the collar of your coat and stick the refrains from Sundancing inside your head for good. Veil Of Light might make it look easy to keep it neat without being minimalist, intimate without being depressing, romantic in the most true sense of the word, but we know that’s possibly the hardest thing to do.

Go to Item

Hørd

Sciences

20,69 €* 22,99 € -10%

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Two years after his previous Bodies LP, French synth solo project Hørd is back with a new full-length. Started in 2014, producer Sebastien Carl has proven himself to be able to gather a cult fan-base around his creation, collaborating with artists as Hante, Winter Severity Index and Radical G, remixing goth legends Clan Of Xymox and performing live in most European countries.Debuted by Giallo Disco in 2016, two records on Avant! have followed until this upcoming fourth album.
While the music keeps on flirting with darkwave aesthetic in a forward- thinking way, the sound is now clearer than ever. Elements of EBM, shoegaze and techno are reflected through arctic synth pads, ghostly reverbs and urban spleen-filled lyrics to create haunting soundscapes, but Sciences also features beat-driven lead singles that twirl space synths and rounded kicks all over the place like never before.
Enhanced by the great mixing and mastering job done by scene-guiding light producer Maurizio Baggio, you’ll find balearic arpeggios and clangorous trance crescendo on Arrows, italo suggestions over groovy acid house beats on Ice, while mid-tempo synthwave marches menacingly on Turn and vibrates deeply on Fires.
Typical nebulous atmospheres are now less blurry and more on point without losing a single bit of enchantingness, marking a major step-up in Hørd discography.

Go to Item

Blind Seagull

Personal Decay

21,99 €*

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Over the past few years an increasing number of bands hailing from the former Ussr have been appearing on the screens and the phones of the so-called Western world’s underground music enthusiasts. With most of them being pretty obscure and only a very few ones having established a worldwide following (Motorama, Molčat Doma) the Sovietwave tag has worked usefully enough as a tool to identify a wide range of bands each one with a different sound and yet something in common. Whether it be the harsh weather or just the distance creating an exotic effect, there is some icy-cold touch with these bands that immediately makes you know they’re from Russia, regardless of the language they perform. This goes for Blind Seagull too. The trio from Kaliningrad, a small russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania, has been around since quite a few years now, releasing tapes and limited edition vinyls on labels like Detriti, Sierpen and Pine Hill. Finally taking up the challenge of writing a longer full-length (previous albums were seven or eight track long at best), the trio led by Denis Zarubin has created twelve new songs that shine a light on the impressive skills of this young combo to deliver very classic and yet extremely fresh and modern cold post-punk gems. Keeping it short and sweet, their two-three minutes long compositions cut right to the chase of the darkwave soul: stomping drum machines, frozen guitar arpeggios, tense bass riffs. The formula is occasionally rocked by the intervention of laser synths, noise raids and gothic chorale, while the industrial pièce of the title-track and the IDM-tinged collaboration with experimental giants Xiu Xiu ‘Fear’ will show how this band stands out and how their upcoming, new album is the best proof of this.

Go to Item

M!R!M

Time Traitor

21,99 €*

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Two years and one pandemic after his previous release, the Italian, London-based solo project M!R!M is back with a new full- length album. Inspired by the synth pop classics, as well as from cold and dark waves, multi-instrumentalist Jack Milwaukee has been releasing material on labels such as Fabrika and Manic Depression until his first record on Avant! ”The Visionary” back in 2020. On April 22 his fourth LP ”Time Traitor” will be released and we’re excited to say this is Milwaukee’s most personal job to date. If you are familiar with his work, you know the DIY/lo-fi approach of his first recordings was already gone with his previous LP but these new ten recordings dig even deeper, drawing the outlines of a fantasy world lost within the foggy memories of a collective childhood. Possibly locked in his bedroom for the necessary time, Milwaukee has been able to recreate an imaginative realm of 80’s FM suggestions, scattering a number of acoustic clues from different parts of this parallel, yet so familiar dimension. It’s almost like M!R!M is sending us a message in a bottle with each of these new tracks and each message tells a different story. Post Fight has a punchy pop-punk riff drove by solid synthwave beats, Faultless Pitch hosts a mellow, funky bass line over a solemn drum gate, Desert Love screams italo like nothing else and it was indeed composed four-handed with fellow artists Nuovo Testamento, Say Nothing features SDH singer Andrea Pérez’s backing vocals to invoke a dream-like scenario. There is even a Turquoise Days’ Grey Skies cover that is just one more perfect example of Milwaukee’s ability to take a single item from the suitcase of the past and make it extremely current in a handful of minutes. All this is adorned by semi-instrumental postcards with suggestive names such as Moody Moon, Peninsula and Goodnight Galaxie that will guide you through this journey across M!R!M sound-&-memory experience.

Go to Item

Plastic Estate

21,99 €*

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Avant!)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Slightly more than one year has passed since we debuted the Cardiff-based duo Plastic Estate’s first single This Place and we all know what happened meanwhile. But if you thought the global pandemic discouraged the Welsh boys from pursuing their research for an evolution of pop music from the past, think again. Quite on the contrary, it seems that these past months of forced isolation and necessary restrictions only empowered the ability of the band led by Nicholas James and Stanley Fouracres to compose great songs perfectly in balance between dark, melancholia and happier, brighter feelings. Or maybe their love for the best UK new wave and pop artists such as Dave Gahan, Ian McCulloch, Bryan Ferry is just too tough to die. However that may be, Plastic Estate have masterfully used this year to write their first full-length album and we at Avant! couldn’t be happier to bring it to you on 4 February 2022. Ten new songs that shine a light on the duo’s impressive skills to juggle between the heritage of lost golden era and the pressing presence of the here and now, as well as electronic dance elements and acoustic instruments, ending up sounding classic and contemporary at once. Not an easy task, if you ask me. Check out Out of Reach and its crystal clear synth-pop radiance, or one whirlwind dancefloor filler such as There Must Be More Than This, juxtaposed with the romantic intimacy of Berlin or Divinely Impaired’s elegant sombreness. Dive into the imaginary mémoires of a Sophisti-pop era with Antique Days and then resurface nowadays with the hypnagogic club notes of The Difference. We can even feel some Stone Roses-like vibe in the album’s last track Change Your Mind but maybe it’s just us. What’s for sure is that if you liked their 7-inch single you will love their album. If you don’t know this group yet but you righteously adore the artists above, do yourself a favour and take a good listen now and you will not be disappointed. Not in the least, as it is this rare to stand in the exact spot where you have a full view of the days behind you and the complete control of the moment you are in.

Go to Item

Veil Of Light

Landslide

17,99 €*

LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Avant!)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

2020 has been one rough ride for everyone, forcing us all to review what we thought was normal and maybe, one would argue, even our priorities. Two years have passed since their previous Inflict LP and we don’t really know how what recently happened impacted on the band’s mastermind Michael but what’s sure is that Veil Of Light are now a fully grown-up band. Landslide is their fifth full-length (and their third on Avant!) and it’s definitely their most elaborated album. Ten new songs, rather than the usual eight, with a perfect balance of Coldwave-inspired intimate atmosphere and synthpop catchy melodies. Musically speaking it’s still clear where the Swiss duo draws their influences from, right in between New Order’s moodiness and The Klinik trying one softer, less brutal approach to their Electro. But a new sense of privacy is reflected all through these new tracks, enhanced by lyrics now more personal than ever. The Prayer Wheel is a page torn out of a private diary, Love And Money is a mechanical mantra for a no-way-out situation; Suburban War is a confession of defeat whispered at night, No Return is the last dance before reaching the point of. This is the kind of record that takes its time, and takes its toll, we just need to sit down and listen because there’s much to discover.

Go to Item

Hørd

Bodies

17,99 €*

LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Avant!)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

HøRD is the solo project of Bordeaux-based synthwave producer Sebastien Carl. Started in 2014, Sebastien has proven himself to be able to gather a cult fan-base around his creation in a short time, collaborating with artists as Hante, Winter Severity Index and Black Bug and performing live in most European countries. Debuted by Antoni Maiovvi and Vercetti Technicolor’s Giallo Disco, an EP on SNTS’ Sacred Court and a second full-length on Avant! have followed. Bodies is his third album and it shows eight new passages that take HøRD’s distinguishing features one step further once more.

Go to Item

M!R!M

The Visionary

18,99 €*

LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Avant!)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Deluxe LP edition of 500. Comes on Green vinyl plus poster with lyrics inside! M!R!M is the solo project of Jack Milwaukee, italian multi-instrumentalist based in London since 2011. Inspired by early 80s synth pop, cold and dark wave, M!R!M has been releasing on labels as Fabrika and Manic Depression. Since his debut album, he’s been touring and playing shows all around Europe building an important following and a significant name within the scene. Still featuring Milwaukee at the helm along with selected collaborators as supplementation, The Visionary is a further evolution in M!R!M sound, which showcases how the musician’s vision has evolved throughout the years.

Go to Item

Hord

Parallels

16,99 €*

Elogium Orange Vinyl Edition

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Hørd is the solo project of Bordeaux-based synthwave producer Sebastien Carl. Started in 2014, Sebastien has been able to gather a cult fan-base around his creation in a short time, collaborating with artists as Hante., Winter Severity Index and Black Bug. After a first album on Giallo Disco and an EP on SNTS' own label Sacred Court, his second full-length record is due September 14 on Avant! Records. Parallels features eight new compositions that further focus HøRD’s distinguishing features: abstract almost liquid synth passages, deep analogue beats, veiled vocals. Uptempo or slow, instrumental or sung, danceable or rarefied it doesn’t really matter as the album as a whole ends up resulting in a strong cinematic appeal. A soundtrack for a journey away from the present time and into an intimate, maybe even nostalgic dimension.

Go to Item

Dancing Plague

27,99 €*

Elogium Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Portland based act Dancing Plague has been a steady presence in the dark/cold electronic music scene for quite a few years now.

Since 2016 Conor Knowles’ solo project has been putting out one constant flow of independent releases on multiple formats such as vinyl LPs, EPs, tapes and CDs, creating one sonic palette rich with Ebm, goth, industrial and synth influences.

On their 5th studio album, Dancing Plague continues to flesh out and perfect their unique brand of crushing darkwave.

Elogium explores themes of loss, regret, rebirth and growth coupled with throbbing basslines, rave synths, and pounding drums. Knowles balances aggressive waves of electronics with enough pop sensibilities and catchy hooks to be inviting to those new to the genre.

His skills can be clearly appreciated on tracks like the first single Fading Forms which explores the somber feeling of the years passing you by. Knowles’ emotive baritone crooning paints a melancholic picture of the slow fading of time as you feel like you’re fading with it. The words fall like snow onto cold fields of pulsing 80s synths and pounding drum machine rhythms that bring forth nostalgic familiarity but feel fresh at the same time.

Fans of classic icons such as Depeche Mode, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails as well as contemporary torchbearers Cold Cave and Kontravoid do not sleep on this. Plenty of disturbing beauty to be found in the depths of the underground.

Go to Item

Dancing Plague

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Go to Item

Skemer

Toasts & Sentiments

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

After a hiatus of quite some time, the Belgian duo composed by the world renowned model Kim Peers and post-metal band Amenra’s guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove, is finally back with a new full-length album.

Four years have passed since their debut Benevolence. Meanwhile Skemer took the time to let all sides of their personality grow and eventually explode. You remember their minimalist cold wave deconstructions equally made of brutal and erotic components. A duality deeply rooted in the band’s music as well as in their line-up and obviously their live shows, where romantic and ethereal atmospheres collide with the gothic side of electronic and techno music. This is even more present on their new LP Toasts & Sentiments.

Eleven new cuts where every side of Skemer’s nature gets its own share of expression only to leave you wrapped in one pitch black cloak. A few episodes in the duo’s native language Dutch, add even more mystery to the occult receipt.

Get in the introspective, tranche insistent riff on the opening track Eyelashes and get catapulted, quite literally, on the dark side of the moon. Keep on wandering the alien surface with Seen and its solemn gait. Pick up your pace with the pounding drums of Easy To Embrace and Kiss Me Kill Me. Go down the stairs to the dungeon of the club culture with lead singles Overgave and Out Of Favor claustrophobic electro. Remain bogged down in the darkness with New Born Babe, get slapped by Apocalypse’s industrial trance crescendo. Rest and collapse with the final track’s texture of ambient synths and reverberating guitars.

It may have taken four years for Skemer to present their new creation but it was definitely worth the wait. Walk the night with us.

Go to Item

SDH

Maybe A Body EP

19,99 €*

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Two years after their previous Against Strong Thinking mini album, Spanish techno-meets-new wave duo SDH returns with a new, killer EP. There is a duality rooted deeply in the very soul of this project that is reflected in the line-up as well as in the music the band creates. While Sergi Algiz is behind the machines propagating a wide spectrum of electronic beats ranging from techno and body music to synthpop and electro, Andrea P. Latorre offsets the night club vibe of the pounding drums with her emotional, romantic vocals. This same dichotomy is perfectly represented here by their new 12-inch Maybe A Body, out April 29, 2022 on Avant!.

The title-track is a powerful song about body recognition, about having a voice and using it, sustained by some throbbing EBM with traces of 90’s trance/progressive, ending up in a perfect balance of rousing groove and hypnagogic feelings.

The B side is the hunting ground for more dream-like scenarios as it digs deep in the nostalgia realm with its retro mood filled with italo and synth-pop bliss. To power up both these aspects of SDH’s identity, we have called two of the best electronic producers out there to remix one track each.

Maybe A Body has been given to techno golden boy and Avant! alumni Phase Fatale who has managed to enhance even further the trance-like nature of the track, creating just the perfect dancefloor filler.

All Of That has been instead reworked by the skillful hands of the rising star of the Eighties sound Pablo Bozzi who literally exploded the italo groove, occasionally smoothing things out with some breakbeats just where they’re most needed.

Produced by Matia Simovich at Infinite Power Studios, LA. Mastered at Dadub Studio, Berlin.

Go to Item

Male Tears

Krypt

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Here comes something unapologetically goth.

Male Tears is the dark electro group consisting of vocalist, James Edward and synthesist, Frank Shark. Hailing from Los Angeles, what began as a solo project re-established itself as a duo in 2021, simultaneously moving from the breezy sounds of the first self-titled album to darker realms with their sophomore Trauma Club.

Krypt is their third full-length recording and it shows a fully grown ensemble capable of pushing everything over the top; blending elements of darkwave, goth rock, EBM and futurepop into a sound they call Dark Rave.

Naturally drawing inspiration from the Californian goth tradition (45 Grave, Christian Death) and the Canadian post-industrial brood (Skinny Puppy, Fla), as well as the best UK synthpop (Depeche Mode, The Human League), Male Tears emphasizes the most glamourous, and at once, gruesome aspects of the whole gothic subculture, bringing everything to the next level, resulting in a contemporary and cutting edge album.

Eight new cuts that alternate rarefied synthwave (Krypt), dark eurodance (Slay) with goth techno-pop (Sleep 4Ever) and pounding electro-industrial (I Expire) to create something we may call New Romantic Body Music. It’s no wonder we wanted the scene’s top studio, La Distilleria, run by Maurizio Baggio, to master this for the most bombastic outcome.

And yet Krypt is not just about the music, it’s about one up with the times attitude that can review aggressive EBM in the light of an extravagant pop sensibility and a theatrical grandeur worthy of the Blitz Kids from London circa 1979-80.

You may think it takes quite a bit of nonchalance to do so but the L.A. duo easily succeeds at this. Akin to their aesthetics, they may seem spooky from the outside but their approach is nothing stuffy. Quite the contrary, everything regarding Male Tears is a celebration of life’s most bizzare shades, driven by some of the best dark humor you’ll find around.

So Dance with me, my dear, on a dancefloor of bones and skulls / The music is our master The devil controls our souls.

Go to Item

Crush Of Souls

(A)Void Love

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Legendary 2010’s indie band Crocodiles’ guitarist Charles Rowell’s new synthpop-meets-gothic rock project. Think Nick Cave crooning over Martin Rev’s minimal electronics or The Lords of the New Church-era Stiv Bators jamming with Wayne Hussey and Douglas Pearce.

After relocating from New York to France, Charles Rowell began stuffing his suitcase with various synths and samplers while taking cheap bus rides to bordering countries.

While living out of a hotel in north east Paris, he played his demos for Third Coming Records who quickly released the Bad Trip EP in 2020. Concerts became more frequent after the pandemic, with the release of Spellwound and a few have become infamous with guitars smashed to pieces, broken glasses, unruly audience front flipping onto the stage.

With Paris providing the background and a scene of friends such as avant-garde drag artist Tuna Mess and industrial techno veteran Poison Point who pushed his creativity even further, Crush Of Souls constant spirit is that it remains unpredictable and thrives on collaboration. This is even more true with his upcoming album (A)Void Love.

Written over a period of intense insomnia that coincided with a run of shows playing guitar for Australian legend Harry Howard, Crush Of Soul’s main man Charles Rowell finally found rest after writing and recording the last song entitled World of Fear. Six months prior he had quit his job as a chef, traveled east to Prague for inspiration and returned ragged and sleepless. Rowell’s insistence on keeping the instrumentation simple and clean came from an arduous two years of literal blood, sweat and tears. Every bit of drama, eastern excursion and sleep psychosis can be found within the walls of (A)Void Love.

Acoustic guitars and dramatic synths provide a cold wilderness for the various rhythms to inhabit; touches of minimal electronics, cold wave and synth pop can be found while the song writing remains classic for lovers of Echo & the Bunnymen and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

There’s always been a thread of synth-punk, death rock and DIY noise running through all of Charles’ projects (Crocodiles, Issue, Flowers of Evil), however Crush Of Souls pushes harder and further into the darkness with the new album ‘(A)Void Love’.

Go to Item

SDH

Fake Is Real