Out now is the brand new single from La Carte Records’ own Julia Gaeta. On “Hangin On A Dream” the Paris-based musician blends post-punk, dark synth-pop and industrial. The single announces a new EP (including a collaboration with Perturbator) called “Blur Divine” which will be out on July 2nd. This already Julia Gaeta’s second single from her upcoming EP “Blur Divine”.

About “Hangin On A Dream,” she says: “It is about coming to terms with your desires, and realizing you may have never had them fulfilled. You’re grasping at something and it slips away, leaving you hanging, confused, wondering. The verses were written on the spot in a studio in Portugal. This is a dual-part song, one that begins very intimately and floaty, and then swells deeper into a trance-like state.”

For the upcoming EP Gaeta has been inspired by personal events, stories of those around her, and what she calls “the push-pull energy of gritty Paris nights”.

The EP was mostly written between two locations in Paris, beginning in 2020 pandemic lockdowns, after Gaeta had just moved to Paris from Berlin. In late 2021, Gaeta linked up with James “Perturbator” Kent, who took an interest in the track’s dark trip-hop sound. He produced and mixed the track, which coincided with a video by filmmaker David Fitt – an ode to Paris nights.

The EP was finally completed in 2023 and further produced by LA-based producer Alex DeGroot (Zola Jesus). You can already pre-order it below.

About Julia Gaeta

Growing up listening to metal, grunge, post-punk and goth music, Gaeta carries with her the influences of bands such as Alice in Chains, Depeche Mode and Killing Joke mixed with a deep love of ‘90s and early ‘00s pop and hip-hop. After playing guitar in bands for nearly a decade, Gaeta dropped her first solo single, “Weight of You”, in early 2022 – which featured a production and mixing appearance from James “Perturbator” Kent. “Weight of You” is set to be included as a B-Side on Blur Divine.

Julia Gaeta plans to tour her EP in the second half of 2024 and into 2025 and she is also beginning work on an LP.

Here is the title track of the upcoming EP.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl, Cassette.

Background/Info: The True Faith is an American formation based in Boston. They already released a few works and now strikes back with an album featuring nine songs. Notice by the way the work has been released in different formats as a collaboration between different international labels.

Content: This work brings us back to the 80s which remain an endless source of inspiration for numerous bands dealing with Cold-Wave. I experienced “Go To Ground” as a harder version of early The Cure. There’s a catchy touch running through most of the songs while I also notice dreamy passages. 

+ + + : The carrying choruses of the songs make the magic of the work and especially the debut songs are cool to discover. The work is also characterized by great and powerful guitar playing which is bringing the 80s spirit alive.

– – – : The sound formula isn’t new at all  which gets the album a bit predictable after a while. I however prefer the ‘harder’ cuts to some ‘softer’ pieces in the second half of the album.

Conclusion: This is an honest and fully enjoyable work although I got the feeling this band has the potential to do better.

Best songs: “Assimilation”, “Down To The Knees”, “Minimal Change”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/truefaithx

Label: www.facebook.com/icycoldrecords

About The True Faith

The True Faith is an American dark-wave and cold-wave act with a catalog of releases spanning splits, singles and albums issued through a range of independent labels, including Icy Cold Records. The band’s Bandcamp page lists Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as its base, while the original Side-Line review of “Go To Ground” describes the group as based in Boston; that discrepancy has not been independently resolved.

“Go To Ground” was released as a joint effort between five labels: Icy Cold Records, A La Carte Records, Candlepin Records, Summer Darling Tapes and Honeyglider Records, spanning digital, CD, vinyl and cassette formats.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Don’t Get Lemon, a danceable pop trio based in Austin and Houston, Texas is back with an all new single, “Blow-Up”.

Sharing a name with Michaelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 swinging London film, Don’t Get Lemon’s “Blow-Up” has lyrics that are partially pieced together borrowing from William Burroughs cut-up technique and images inspired by David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet”.

The trio describes their sound as ‘heatwave’ and their debut album “Hyper Hollow Heaven” was released in March via the independent label à La Carte Records. Don’t Get Lemon consists of vocalist Austin Curtis, synth/guitar/drum programmer Nick Ross and bass player / percussionist Bryan Walters.

Don’t Get Lemon was also featured on our recent “Post​-​Punk (Genesis)” compilation with the excellent track “Working Man’s Ballet”.

But here’s the brand new single, “Blow-Up”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

The Texas-based post-punk / electronic music trio, who prefer being described as a ‘heatwave’ act instead of a post-punk or coldwave act actually, are set to release their debut album “Hyper Hollow Heaven” today on March 26, 2022, via the independent label à La Carte Records. For those who wouldn’t know, Don’t Get Lemon was also featured on our recent “Post​-​Punk (Genesis)” compilation with the excellent track “Working Man’s Ballet”, their most recent single.

Don’t Get Lemon consists of vocalist Austin Curtis, synth/guitar/drum programmer Nick Ross and bass player / percussionist Bryan Walters. The new album which also includes the recent single “Working Man’s Ballet“, an ode to legendary English footballer Alan Hudson, is the follow up to the band’s pair of EPs, 2020’s “Forward Not Forgetting” and 2019’s “Grey Beach“, as well as the New Order tribute single with à La Carte labelmates “True Faith” that arrived earlier this year.

3 singles to follow

The LP is led by a string of singles to be released now and in 2022: Boxing Day’s kaleidoscopic “Industrial (Amusement) Park (Revolution)”; February’s glossy synth ballad “D.I.E.I.N.T.H.E.U.S.A.” and mid-March’s “Purple Hour Kingdom” featuring guest vocals from Renay of Monochrome Lover.

So, the recapitulate, here’s what is coming up:

• Single 1: “Industrial (Amusement) Park (Revolution)”, set for a December 26 release
• Single 2: “D.I.E.I.N.T.H.E.U.S.A.”, set for a February 08 2022 release
• Single 3: “Purple Hour Kingdom”, set for a March 15 2022 release

Here’s already the video for “Industrial (Amusement) Park (Revolution)”. The single is available here on Spotify and right here on Bandcamp.

“Change can only come through collective action”

The 8 tracks on the album echo the fear, panic, and anxiety “we’re forced to live with on a daily basis as our future grows inherently darker (…) to borrow a line from Adam Curtis’ 2016 BBC docu-film ‘HyperNormalisation’, regarding Patti Smith and how she experienced New York City in the ‘70s, the eight-song ‘Hyper Hollow Heaven’ is best experienced with a slight cool detachment.”

And they add: “Thinking about the reality (…) change can only come through collective action, which is tough to commit to because it’s a form of self-sacrifice, and goes against our own self-preservation. Which is ironically what we need to survive on this planet. Some of the images created can be dark and surreal but there is also tongue-in-cheek black comedy and humor to the absurdity of it all and that in a twisted way there’s a seduction in seeing the end. The lyrics are conscious of the futility of art in saving us. That’s not to say art isn’t a reason for living or isn’t beautiful, but it in and of itself cannot bring wide-spread change.”

LP, cassette… and VHS

The LP will be issued on vinyl, cassette, and VHS tape, mirroring Adam Curtis’ use of archival footage to help visualize the narrative.

The band explained us the choice for a VHS: “The VHS is the definitive ‘Hyper Hollow Heaven’ experience because we expand upon the lyrical content and provide visuals to reinforce the album’s motifs,” the band says. “Listening to albums can at times be passive, and you may detach yourself from the lyrics, but with an unrelenting visual you are forced to sit and digest what you are hearing and seeing.”

Back catalogue

These are the previous releases.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com