Stress Waves

Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, Stress Waves is a very interesting trio (Nick, Josh and Errol) assembled to craft very nice, gloomy and icy pieces of Post punk-meeting-Coldwave (there's a tag called cyber-romantic @ their bandcamp, I think it fits their sound very well, if you may ask). I'm not aware of how long they're making music together, but they seem a quite young band which has only a couple of releases so far, the EPs Lost Lutre (released on October 11th, 2012) and Lurid Abyss (released on August 12th, 2013). Although they have only a total of 5 songs at their bandcamp, it is possible to notice their great potential which already allows them to achieve a very nice musicanship level and (hopefully) will eventually allow them to achieve higher and higher levels very soon. As I mentioned before, they orbit into the dark realms of the sonic spectrum, however, even though they display gratitude for the oldschool masters (e.g. Asylum Party, early The Cure, Norma Loy), theiy're not exclusively nostalgic, as they seem in tune with more modern incarnations of Post Punk such as Motorama, Human Tetris, Be Forest, etc.


Well, at the end of the day, you can download all their work at the name your price method right at their bandcamp, all of them featured right below these words. I hope you enjoy and support it the way it deserves!

bandcamp

bandcamp

Tropic Of Cancer

"Drenched in romanticism and soaked in themes of solitude, mortality and love, Tropic of Cancer’s music forms a strangely hypnotic connection with its listener. Camella Lobo’s majestic vocals, warmly cradled by waves of ascending synths, plangent guitar, and foreboding beats, summon the listener into a world of dark decadence and delicate beauty. 

For a start, their devotees really are a disparate bunch: card-carrying Tropic of Cancer fans include techno refugees, dedicated shoegazers, dapper goths, paisley psych revivalists, minimal synth nerds and pop pickers; what links them all is that they care deeply about music, and have a weakness for morbid romanticism. The sound Tropic of Cancer make is ethereal and elusive but also exacting – their lyrics are barely discernible, and yet this is music that really connects, really communicates." - edit from last.fm


That's a very interesting description, isn't it? Tropic of Cancer (ToC) released its debut material in 2009 and delivered us a handful of EPs, besides a 2012 compilation of this early material called The End Of All Things. As described above, they are dedicated to crafting ultra-gloomy soundscapes directly inspired from the dark old masters of Post Punk and Coldwave (early The Cure, early Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division, Asylum Party, Lowlife, etc.) peppered with the hazy, magic colours of the Shoegaze and Dream Pop spheres. Comparisions between ToC and modern dark acts such as The KVB, Lebanon Hanover, Soft Kill and Soft Moon can be drawn, although ToC is usually "quieter" and flerts more with Drone than Noise Pop as the mentioned artists.

Restless Idylls is the name of their debut full-length, to be released later this month but, as you're noticing, it's already available on the web. Those aware of their amazing work won't be surprised (and neither disappointed) with this album, as it's drowned in the state-of-art helpless, lush darkness they're dedicate since its very birth. A great work, for sure, that I'm sure all of you related to the dark side of the world will enjoy! ;) 

The KVB

The KVB is a very mysterious band. I couldn't find much information about them, except it seems a project from Klaus Von Barrel, guitarist of Suicide Party, and comes from UK. Well, I wonder most of you do not know much about them (neither do I, I must say; I've only listened to a couple of songs from SP a while ago, and they sound great, btw. Maybe I can drop them here in the near future... something to think about), so I'll explain what you'll find here with the KVB: a cavernous and hallucynogic Shoegaze dressed in Post-punk/Coldwave skin. Yeah, that means you'll find darker than the deepest sea harmonies and bleak vocals, with everything deliciously mixed with synthetizers, fuzzy guitars and icy keys. Yeah, there's a lot of electronics here, too, but used as a background and not as a main power plant. 

For those fond of the early days of Jesus And Mary Chain and The Cure, or Echo And The Bunnyman, Joy Divison (of course), the french Darkwave and new names (or not-that-old ones) such as Skywave, The Soft Moon and, surely, Suicide Party, that's surely your cup of tea. ;)


update: Brand new KVB album, Immaterial Visions, right below. Enjoy!

get it!   / get it!

get it!

The Soft Moon

Created by the hands of Luiz Vasquez at the year of 2009, at San Francisco, CA, The Soft Moon (TSM) is regarded by me as one of the brightest gems that has risen at the last few years or so in the "deeply-alternative" musical scenario. He drowns Post punk and Coldwave tones into a sea of hallucynogic madness, creating post apocalyptic soundscapes which summon all that cyberpunk tapestry of rusty metal, dystopy, high-efficience machinery, subways, radiation and burning red skies, something like The Blade Runner meets Tetsuo, The Iron Man and both dress as Akira (yeah, this blog can also make references to sci-fi/cyberpunk cinema, see?). While the first record, the self-titled album from 2010 was recorded solely by Vasquez, the brand new record, Zeros, was recorded with the band he recruted since then. As a result, we have a more organic but still eerie album, able to take the listener into a black hole of delirium and hypnotize him/her until the last drop of second turns off.

Since both records are incredibly astonishing, both deserve to be featured here, right below. Just pass on by them, and let us drown! ;)







enjoy!












enjoy!

Be Forest

Be Forest is an italian trio assembled around 2010, which means they're still very young (orly?!). However, only a few would expect them to release a full album when they were just one year old with an astonishing quality as they did with Cold! So, let's talk about it: Cold consists of a 9-piece collection of songs in a Post punk-meets-Coldwave (this redundance is unavoidable, guys) quality who's not afraid to drown in Shoegaze bliss or even putting some electronics here and there when they feel like to. That means you'll listen many lost melodies coming from Echo And The Bunnyman, early Cocteau Twins and, surely, Joy Division. Despite all the old school vibe, they're very skilled in absorbing this influences and turning them into 21st century-faced soundscapes, which means they're way more than just a pastiche and relate them tightly with modern gloomny acts like Motorama and I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, just to give you an example.

Well, the message is here, and there's a link right below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I and Paloma did! ;)

enjoy!