Out now via SkyQode is “Dval Canvas”, the third full-length album by the Colombian darkwave bands, Antiflvx.

The band says that ”’Dval Canvas’ is a journey through the duality of the human being, a journey through black and white, through lights and shadows, through love and pain. Seamlessly blending coldwave and darkwave, it weaves a spellbinding tapestry, enriched by the emotive depths of the somber vocals.”

The album comprises 12 tracks, including singles like “Manuscrito”, “Hilos”, “Hacia La Niebla”, and “Silueta de Luz”. In addition to the solo tracks, “Dval Canvas” features collaborations with Viviana Rodríguez (Agatha I), Camila Valencia (Ambivalencia), Eva Red (Red Apple Cvlt) and Ana Gartner.

Below is a lyric video for “Hacia la Niebla (feat. Viv)”.

Antiflvx was started in 2016 by Camilo Alfonso and Leonardo Jaime, who is also the founder and songwriter of the EBM project Resistor. They have released two full-length albums and shared the stage with artists such as Two Witches, Selofan, Minuit Machine, Hante and Void Vision, among others. Antiflvx has also appeared in the Netflix Series “Diablero Season 2” at the end of a chapter with the song “Against All Odds”.

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!

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On Friday 26th and Saturday 27th August, the biggest gothic gathering in Central Europe will return to Prague. It will feature 11 bands (including scene mainstays Christian Death and The Frozen Autumn or contemporary cults Kælan Mikla or Minuit Machine), DJs and the traditional gothic picnic.

In a message to Side-Line the organisation says the following: “Who would have thought seventeen years ago that Prague Gothic Treffen would one day grow into the biggest event of its kind in Central Europe? That it would host the very bands we then used to play from Winamp for a few gothic enthusiasts with religious reverence. But it did. In fact, PGT started attracting so many people that after a few years it is moving from our beloved Futurum to a bigger club.“

In the two inter-connected venues, Fuchs 2 and Bike Jesus, you will be able to enjoy two concurrent stages covering everything from traditional goth to the hottest trends in the dark scene in terms of genre.

Tickets are available right here, you sign up to the Facebook event page right here.

The top 4 artists

The most recognizable name at this year’s PGT is Christian Death, the Apostles of deathrock defined the genre in the early 80s on the iconic albums “Only Theatre of Pain” and “Catastrophe Ballet”. The band continued on even after Rozz Williams left this world and Valor Kand took over the reins of the band. They will return to Prague six years after their excellent concert at Chmelnice.

The Italian The Frozen Autumn are the darkwave ambassadors. Originally a solo project of Diego Merletto the band was inspired by the European cold wave and bands of the iconic 4AD label. The duo perform very rarely, plus their concert at Prague Gothic Treffen will also be their Czech premiere.

The Icelandic women trio Kælan Mikla bring a unique and hard-to-define Nordic atmosphere  enhanced by abstract lyrics in Icelandic. Expect elements of post-punk, synthpunk, cold wave, ethereal to darkwave. The band recently released their fifth full-length album “Undir Köldum Norðurljósum”.

Rounding out the top four names on this year’s line-up is the French duo Minuit Machine who will bring their typical contemporary dark electronica.

And also…

The EBM side of things will be covered by the Swedish band Wulfband. The band will come to Prague for the first time. Another Czech premiere will be the performance of German goth rockers Wisborg and the Slovak deathrock act The Last Days Of Jesus. The Polish subculture will be represented by the dark electronic trio Her Own World and will present their current EP “This Fire”. From Ecuador comes Naturata Brutalismus mixing coldwave atmosphere with deathrock guitars and Spanish sung lyrics. More coldwave, postpunk and new wave will come from the Munich trio Paar. The Czech scene is also present thanks to the electronic act Isiolia.

DJ boots and more

After the live shows on both stages, the afterparties will commence with foreign and Czech DJs, spinning everything from classic goth/deathrock through dark/new wave and post-punk to various forms of dark electronica. The traditional Saturday afternoon gothic picnic is also an integral part of the PGT and a neat tradition – an ideal opportunity to meet and chat with other event visitors from all corners of Europe and tune in to the evening club scene. 

Here’s the video trailer for the event.

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!

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Photo: picture alliance/dpa, Alexander Prautzsch

After a two years break, due to Covid-19, the annual Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2022 (29th edition) will take place from 3rd-6th June in the Agra-Halle and surrounded area of Leipzig, Germany.

WGT focuses especially on the gothic, (steam)punk, new wave, electro, EBM, industrial and medieval music and (sub)culture. It is a total-concept world festival including concerts, renaissance fairs, viking and pagan markets, exhibitions, CD/DVD and film premieres, lectures, artist signing events, fetish events, and (late-night) parties.

Approximately 200 artists are on the list, spread over more than 50 locations and the festival has about 20.000 visitors. As usual a lot of names out of the dark scene will play WGT: Lacrimosa, IAMX, Clan of Xymox, Combichrist, Rabia Sorda, Corvus Corax, VNV Nation, Orange Sector, Tanzwut, Xotox, Eisfabrik, Unzucht, Nachtblut, NNHMN, Linea Aspera, Minuit Machine, Dark, Fïx8:Sëd8, Letzte Instanz, Nosferatu, …

Tickets for WGT soon can be ordered here (entrance tickets purchased in the years 2020 or 2021 remain valid for the WGT 2022).

Out on March 24th is “A Wound of Love”, a brand new single from Colombia’s coldwave / darkwave duo Antiflvx. “A Wound of Love” is another track taken from Antiflvx’s upcoming third album which will be released on SkyQode.

The track shows the band’s trademark approach of creating somber and melodic songs blending darkwave and synthpop. Apart from the title track, the single includes a non-album track “Manuscrito” and a remix by Expiring Time.

You can download the 3-track single below.

Antiflvx was started in 2016 by Camilo Alfonso and Leonardo Jaime, who is also the founder and songwriter of the EBM project Resistor. They have released two full-length albums and shared the stage with artists such as Two Witches, Selofan, Minuit Machine, Hante and Void Vision, among others. Antiflvx has also appeared in the Netflix Series “Diablero Season 2” at the end of a chapter with the song “Against All Odds”.

Here’s the official music video for “A Wound of Love”.

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!

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The post-punk / dark electronic music festival Absolution has announced it’s full line up and dates.

Absolution will be taking place October 6th-8th in Tampa (Ybor City), FL. In it’s third year, the festival is once again featuring acts within the post-punk, industrial, darkwave, and synthpop genres.

Headlining Absolution this year will be UK artists The KVB, French EBM act Minuit Machine, and post-punk Californians Creux Lies. The festival also features special performances from Italian darkwave/post-punk artists Hapax, and UK synthpop group Empathy Test. Additional artists playing include The Foreign Resort, Traitrs, Bestial Mouths, The French Police, SYZYGYX, XTR Human, Corlyx, Glass Spells, Hexheart, The Purge, Die Robot, Violent Vickie, and Element 104.

Tickets for all three days and single day tickets are available now and a limited amount of each will be available each day. Tickets can be purchased right here.

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!

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The 2021 edition of the Sinner’s Day Festival will take place from 30th October until 1st November 2021 at The Max in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. About 53 new wave, EBM, industrial, post-punk, synth-pop and eighties bands are featured on 2 stages.

This year the line-up includes: Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (Robert Goerl & DAF world premiere), Gary Numan, Clan Of Xymox, Praga Khan, Covenant, Fields Of The Nephilim, Suicide Commando, Funeral Dress, The Arch, The Bollock Brothers, Your Life On Hold, Ground Nero, Absolute Body Control, A Slice Of Life, Astrasonic, Blancmange, Diary Of Dreams, Agent Side Grinder, Red Zebra, Siglo XX, The KVB, And Also The Trees, La Muerte, UK Subs, Glen Matlock, IAMTHESHADOW, A Split Second, BFG, Then Jericho, She Past Away, The Foreign Resort, Minuit Machine, Leaether Strip, Haujobb, Gene Loves Jezebel, Twin Tribes, La Lune Noire, Empathy Test, Jah Wobble and more!

There is also The Batcave, the dance-area where you can party while DJ’s spin their finest tracks 13h/day. A camping area is available if you want to stay next to the festival area at night!

Tickets can be ordered here

Be aware that you need to show a valid Covid certificate/Covid Safe Ticket to get access to the festival!

By the end of 2020 Transmission unleashed the debut album “Cosmos” on Wave Records. The French solo-project is driven by Sandrine Deville. She’s dealing with a rather Minimal-Electro/Wave style with some violin tunes on top. It’s a fascinating- and accomplished experiment revealing an artist with a very own and creative approach. Here’s what Sandrine has to say about Transmission.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: How did you get contaminated by the music virus and finally come to set up your own music project?

Sandrine: I began to learn how to play violin at the Ferney-Voltaire regional conservatorium of music, in France, when I was ten years old, during four years. And, this was the time I listened to bands like A-Ha, Alphaville, U2, Pink Floyd, The Cure at the junior high school of my city, and, maybe one of the most influent band that led me to practice guitar, Dire Straits and the song “Money For Nothing”, for which I recorded a tape with this same only track, that I listened to for hours, showing me the power of music to immerse myself in a very special universe, at a high noise levels of my headphones.

I could define for Dire Straits a word that I will use to define my own music project: ‘soundscape’, when you discover landscapes from beautiful sounds. There also was Depeche Mode with the track “Never Let Me Down Again”, and, of course, Joy Division with the incredible bassline of “She’s Lost Control” were offering beautiful soundscapes to my ears when I was a teenager. Today I feel the same, but with other bands like Massive Attack, Bauhaus, Bowie, Linea Aspera, The Soft Moon, Kraftwerk, PJ Harvey, Nine Inch Nails, Kas Product.

On one hand, I wanted to play guitar in a band when I was teenager, but on the other hand, there were a lot of excellent guitarists and I was not, so, I decided to learn playing bass guitar. First, I was a bass player in a Funk/Folk /Psyche band called Hopupu and later on in between 2011 and 2016 in a Cold-Wave duo called Rive Droite Rive Gauche.

Then, I wanted to create my own music project and, after a few years of involvement with various bands, from Post-Punk to Punk, I decided to create the Electro/Dark-Wave solo-project called Transmission, recording first the track “Cosmos”.

Q: The name of your project is clearly reminding one of Joy Division’s legendary songs. Is it just a coincidence or clearly a link with some of your main sources of inspiration? What kind of sound did you’ve in mind when setting up Transmission?

Sandrine: Joy Division is one of my favorite bands. I adore all their songs and the atmosphere of “Shadowplay” gives me goosebumps each time I listen to this track. As I passed my bachelor in design in Toulouse (France) in 2018, I presented “Transmission”, the all white 3D printed Electro-Acoustic violin I created, inspired by pulsars shape, those mysterious white lines that we can see on the artwork of the LP “Unknown Pleasures” from Joy Division, and designed by Peter Saville. So, in this way, I could say that the name of my project is inspired by Joy Division, but mainly the white lines of the artwork of “Unknown Pleasures”. We can discover more about my violin called ‘Transmission’ on my own artist website here:

https://www.bluefactoriz.com/transmission

And we can discover more about my violin too, from pages 277 to 286 of the book of Pedro Peñas y Robles called “Joy Division, Paroles De Fans”, Editions Camion Blanc, 2018, here:

http://www.camionblanc.com/detail-livre-joy-division-paroles-de-fans-1216.php

Regarding the sound of my project, the effects are allusion to any effects used by the brilliant Martin Hanett for the soundscape of Joy Division, but, the kind of sound, the essence of the sound, come from a lot of references, as Kraftwerk, Nitzer Ebb, Covenant, Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Linea Aspera, Boy Harsher, Buzz Kull, Minuit Machine, Years Of Denial, Kas Product.

Q: You last year released your debut album “Cosmos”. Tell us a bit more about the writing- and production process of this opus and what did you try to express lyrical wise?

Sandrine:The process of the composition was the same for all the tracks; I switched on my Korg Minilogue, synchronized with the little Korg Volca Sampler for the drums, and I tried to play live with this set up, recording a bass line using the Minilogue when I thought I could have something interesting. Then, recording this on my PC using Ableton software, I began to look for a structure, and sing the violin line, and the melody, or writing the words for the future track. Many times, I wasn’t able to record the exact bassline I wanted on the synth, and then, I tried to do my best with this new sound. Tracks like “Cosmos” and “Désuétude” both are like soflty spoken words; tracks like “De Stijl” or “Echouées” both are using punchy spoken words. As a reference, I could say that “Désuétude” is inspired by the way Anne Clark is ‘screaming’; “Cloud 9” and “Illusion” are both mixing spoken words, and a melodic chorus. I was very happy, too, in the way I used different languages: French, English, German, and Spanish too. For the lyrics, sometimes, first, I wrote them, and sometimes, they came after the soundscape, it depended of the feeling I had at the moment of the creation phase.

Q: I’m always wondered why there’re no more female artists composing Electronic underground music? Do you’ve an explanation and what have been your experiences as female artist in this scene so far?

Sandrine: I really don’t know why there are no more female artists composing Electronic underground music. Well, one of the most iconic is Anne Clarke, but today, we have the excellent solo-project of Alison Lewis called Zanias who’s also involved with the excellent duo Linea Aspera and Keluar. In France we have the excellent female duo from Paris, called Oktober Lieber. And there is also the excellent female solo-project called Hante from Hélène De Thoury who’s also member of the female duo Minuit Machine.  In the USA, even if it is a mixed duo, there is the excellent Boy Harsher. And I recently discovered the solo-undergound artist from New-York called Ani Klang. I also think to the excellent first LP “Push” from the L.A based Iranian producer and DJ Maral. In Germany there is in a dark, clubby style Ellen Allien.

So even if there are less female artists involved, I think that there will be more and more female Electronic underground artists. As I am beginning in this scene, I don’t have yet a lot of experience, the only thing I could write, is that I think that maybe women have to forget their shyness (if they are), and to prove by themselves that they can make Electronic underground music as well as male artists.

Q: Transmission has been introduced as a solo-project although you got some help to achieve “Cosmos”. Tell us a bit more about this collaboration and what has been the impact and bonus on the final result?

Sandrine: At the beginning of the year of 2019, I had a first demo of the track “Cosmos”, and I was wondering how to go on with this project. Thanks to my duo Rive Droite Rive Gauche I met a lot of people of the Gothic scene of Bordeaux who became good friends. In January, I went with two friends to the Nitzer Ebb gig in Bordeaux, and, then, we met a lot of friends of the Gothic scene of the city like Jean-Philippe Torres who has his Drone Studio. He is also one of the musicians of the excellent duo Dark Line Spectrum; Speaking with him, it became to me an evidence that he could be the most appropriate friend to achieve “Cosmos”. I sent him the demo of “Cosmos”, “Désuétude” and “Echouées” in order to know if this project could have an interest for him, and, as he was enthusiastic about this, then, we began a very friendly and productive collaboration.

The process was for each track the same; I sent to Jean-Philippe the ‘pre-mixed tracks’ by wetransfer, and then, he added his additional synths and old-school rhythm box, made the sound design and the arrangements, and the mix and mastering. It was perfect! I am used to comparing him to Martin Hanett. Martin Hanett defined the special soundscape of Joy Division, and Jean-Philippe defined the special soundscape of “Cosmos” and I think that he made my dream come true: having my debut LP realized on a good label.

Q: It’s probably a bit risky and also a true challenge to release a debut album during the ongoing pandemic. How do you –and Wave Records, manage this aspect and how do you expect things evolving considering live performances, further releases and  plans?

Sandrine: I really thanks so much Alex from Wave Records. I know that, in this special context of this long pandemic, the action of releasing albums for new artists, is a very risky business for the labels, moreover, for independents labels, as they don’t know how they can sell the albums and if people will buy or not a debut work.  Alex is doing his best for the promotion of the album with a large number of contacts, with an effective sharing on the social network, on Youtube too for the videoclips of various tracks I realized myself.

I gave my first gig on the 2^nd of July, thanks to the association Distopia Mutante of San Sebastian in Spain, and it was an unbelievable good moment as there was a good interaction between the public and me. It is since January that Distopia Mutante tried to organize a gig for my project. But finally we did it, at the beginning of July, and we hope that there will be others. I hope I will be able to perform at other places and in other countries, even if we don’t know what the future will be.

Thinking about the second album of Transmission, I will not change the way I am using to create the sounds, and I am thinking about around ten tracks that could explain a lot of feelings that we are facing to in a whole life, using various BPM’s.

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

Out since May 28th is the download single “Hilos” by the Colombian coldwave / darkwave duo Antiflvx. It’s the band’s first release after signing with the fine electro label SkyQode in April.

“Hilos” is a brand new track taken off their upcoming third, as of yet untitled album, and showcases the duo’s signature melodic blend of coldwave and darkwave with emotional deep male vocals in English and Spanish. The single also features remixes by two Russian bands – X-Bat (darkwave / synthpop) and Monowaves (synthwave).

Check it out below or buy here.

Antiflvx was started in 2016 by Camilo Alfonso and Leonardo Jaime, who is also the founder and songwriter of the EBM project Resistor. They have released two full-length albums and shared the stage with artists such as Two Witches, Selofan, Minuit Machine, Hante and Void Vision, among others. Antiflvx has also appeared in the Netflix Series “Diablero Season 2” at the end of a chapter with the song “Against All Odds”.

Here’s a video that comes with the release.

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