The Vancouver-based post-punk act Spectres is back with another new single from their upcoming album: “AM Gold”. The single acts as a teaser for the band’s new album “Presence“, which is set for worldwide release on March 15th, 2024. It’s the band’s first release since 2021’s “Hindsight”.

Emerging originally from the DIY Punk underground in 2005, overtime the band’s vocalist and founder Brian Gustavson wanted to blend anarcho-punk with 1980’s post punk and death rock. and though the band’s output has matured with time to embrace a wider range of new-wave and shoegaze influences their ethos remains rooted in anarcho punk.

After working with several different DIY labels over their first 12 years, as a band Spectres signed with Artoffact records in the summer of 2018. Spectres is Brian Gustavson (vocals), Zach Batalden (guitar), Mitch Allen (drums), Adam Mitchell (guitar) and Jason Renix (bass).

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

Celebrating its 30th year, Audioglobe, the most important distributor in the darkwave scene, just shared a statistical review, revealing the shifts and trends in the darkwave (and related) music genre.

Our readers will surely remember that we have reported on these stats for years, until 2018, the first year that Audioglobe didn’t communicate these stats. Sebastian Koch from Audioglobe explains: “Some customers never really cared that much about these, as they have better things to do than reading boring mails from the undersigned. But… Surprisingly there are quite a high number of customers, that sort of ‘complained’ about the fact, that no stats were being done any longer… The reason is: I was simply always far too busy in past years. Anyway: Here we go with the first new stats since 2017!”

So here are some export facts.

Top 10 Bestselling Labels of 2023 (export)

1. FABRIKA/DEAD SCARLET
   • She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, M!R!M, Doric…
2. METROPOLIS
   • Birthday Massacre, Delerium, Front Line Assembly, A Projection, KMFDM, Legendary P.D…
3. ICY COLD/MANIC DEPR.
   • Twin Tribes, Je T’aime, Traitrs, Kill Shelter, Closed Mouth, Talk to Her, Schonwald…
4. ALFA MATRIX
   • Alien Vampires, Front 242, Metroland, Die Robo Sapiens, Elm, 808 Dot Pop, Helalyn Flowers…
5. RUSTBLADE
   • Claudio Simonetti, Ennio Morricone, Lycia Lunch, Spiritual Front, Ketvector, Legendary Pink D…
6. OUT OF LINE
   • Blutengel, Hocico, Solitary Experiments, Suicide Commando, Signal Aout42, Erdling…
7. TRISOL
   • Sopor Aeternus, Rome, Clan of Xymox, Asp, Ostara, Skinflicks, Nachtmahr, Mantus, Soman…
8. DEPENDENT
   • Kirlian Camera, Girls Under Glass, Spectra*Paris, Mildreda, Black Nail Cabaret, Beborn Beton…
9. ARTOFFACT
   • Actors, Noise Unit, cEvin Key, Kaelan Mikla, Ploho, Sacred Skin, Kauan, Ken Mode, Spectres…
10. AUERBACH
    • Spiritual Front, Sol Invictus, Tenhi, Moon and the Night Spirit, Haavard, Hekate, Orplid…

Best Export Territories of 2023

If we look at the Audioglobe stats, we notice that Germany and Greece remain the company’s strongest markets, continuing a trend that has been consistent for ages. However, the 2023 statistics reveal some notable shifts.

Canada, once a prominent market for Audioglobe, has surprisingly disappeared from the export landscape. In contrast, the United States and the United Kingdom have re-emerged as significant territories, marking their return to prominence in the darkwave music scene after several years.

The most unexpected development in 2023 is the rise of Australia as a key market. This growth stands in stark contrast to Switzerland, which, despite its affluence, has seen a sharp decline in sales. Sebastian Koch adds: “The (by far!) lowest sales of all countries where we export to, was to Switzerland… The rich Swiss don’t buy records! Since I left the country (1990), something is wrong back home!”

Here is the top 10 list of export territories:

1. Germany
2. Greece
3. Netherlands
4. Portugal
5. USA
6. United Kingdom
7. Australia
8. Spain
9. Russia
10. Poland

Not in the top 10, but France, Japan, Malta, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, and Perù are also good export territories for Audioglobe.

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

(Photo by Harry Stafford and Allie Butcher) Inca Babies are an English deathrock / post-punk band from Manchester, England. Initially active between 1982 and 1988, the band reformed in 2007 featuring founder member and original songwriter Harry Stafford (guitars, vocals).

But now Harry Stafford has collaborated with US-based but Brazil-born trash blues guitarist Marco Butcher to release the single “Walk Among The Spectres”, taken from the duo’s forthcoming album “We are the perilous men” coming this Fall (September 8) via Black Lagoon Records. The material should please Nick Cave fans for sure.

In the video for the single you see Stafford who travels across town to put an electric piano-keyboard on his grave “discovering his own fragile mortality along the way” as the duo explains. The video was directed by Harry Stafford with cinematography by J.P. Conway and filmed in the expansive Southern Cemetery in Didsbury South Manchester, which dates back to 1700 and was used throughout the Victorian era. Stafford: “Now a public park, people are invited to wander among the tombstones… to literally Walk among the Spectres.”

The new album is the follow-up to their debut album from 2021, “Bone Architecture”.

“I have discovered that I spend a lot of my time knowing what I don’t want to sound like. My musical education began with punk and then, when I came to University in Manchester in the early 80s, I found myself submerged into the strange beat infused darkness of the Big city post punk music scene (Joy Division, ACR, The Fall) and I had to form the Inca Babies to make sense of it all,” says Harry Stafford. “Now 40 years later, while I have never forgotten that seismic guidance, my interests, and influence stretch so far, I need someone like Marco to constantly surprise me.”

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

Out via Re:Mission Entertainment is “Dehumanized “, the all new album by the Industrial electro act Black Agent. The new release is out digitally, on CD and on picture disc vinyl, which are available via Bandcamp.

“Dehumanized”, is the second album from the Seattle industrial band Black Agent and the follow-up to their 2022 debut “Industrial Ruination”. Black Agent is Larry Kleinke (synths, drum programming, sampling, arrangements), Jason Pit (vocals, synths, programming, arrangements) and Neil Parker (guitars, bass, live drums).

“Dehumanized” continues Black Agent’s use of heavy rhythms, distorted guitars, dark synthesizers, and what the label calls “incendiary socially conscious vocals”. Black Agent’s sound has been compared in the past to acts like Skinny Puppy.

“We wrote most of our last record during the pandemic and riots of 2020, and the result was a very sociopolitical album”, said lead vocalist Pit: “Lyrically, Dehumanized deals more with the personal tragedies I’ve faced in the last year.” In 2022, the mother of Pit’s two children died by suicide and songs like “Frozen Flowers”, “Broken Mind”, and “Shot Down” explore the spectres of mental illness and drug addiction.

The record also features the previously released single “Parasite Receiver” describing religious hypocrisy and the assault on reproductive rights across the United States.

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: Witch-House, Minimal-Electro.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: “Spooks, Spectres And Ghosts” is the third full length released by American producer Francisco Mendez aka ΣΕΘ -or simply Set.

Content: The sound universe of this artist is inspired -like the title indicates, by dark themes like horror, occultism ao. It has been reflected in Minimal-Electro composition with fragmented vocals and slow rhythms. I noticed Trance-driven leads, but the global sound atmosphere is carried by cold, icy, sound treatments.

+ + + : Sound-wise this album has something magic. Dark themes have been transposed into slow, sensual, rhythms while the sound production is pure ‘modernism’. Set is mixing different music genres and will even catch the attention of open-minded Electro-Pop lovers in search of something ‘new’. The work reveals a succession of cool, noticeable cuts always carried by this fascinating, cold, sound production.

– – – : I regret most of the cuts aren’t a bit longer, but you don’t hear me complaining.

Conclusion: Thinking about Witch-House themes you can only, from time to time, discover true sonic alchemists and Set definitely belongs to that experience in sound.

Best songs: “Dominion”, “Asylum”, “All We Need Is Time”, “It Was My Last Day”, “I Hate You”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/churchofset

Label: www.facebook.com/remissionentertainment

About ΣΕΘ

ΣΕΘ, also styled Set, is the Witch-House and Minimal-Electro project of Francisco Mendez, based in Sahuarita, Southern Arizona. Mendez has been active as ΣΕΘ since a 2018 debut single, “The Curse”, followed by the singles “Themes For Impure Thoughts” (2019) and “Where Dreams Come To Pause…” (2020). Side-Line covered the announcement of “Spooks, Spectres And Ghosts” in July 2022, released on Re:Mission Entertainment / El Cuco Recordings, marking the project’s third full-length album.

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

After releasing their new single “Tell Me”, Vancouver post-punks Spectres have released a new music video for the track. The video was directed by Vancouver-based Wayne Moreheart and features the band members performing live in a dark live setting.

The upcoming album “Hindsight ” will be out on November 5th via Artoffact Records on clear-vinyl as well as on CD and in digital formats.

But for now, check the video for “Tell me”. In related info, you will also get three tracks recorded for the Los Angeles radio show Part-Time Punks on the upcoming album.

About Spectres

Founded in Vancouver in 2004 by vocalist Brian Gustavson and Steve Hanker, Spectres is commonly cited as one of the bands responsible for kicking off the renewed interest in the post-punk sound in Canada. The duo recorded two demos after which Heather Szilagyi, Nathan Szilagyi and Zach Batalden joined the lineup.

After the “Cold War” single Heather left the band and was replaced by Steve Gerenscer. After touring for the “Visions of a New World” single founding member Steve Hanker left the band and was replaced by Tyler Pilling. This line up went on to record an unreleased single titled “Decline and Fall” in 2009, the “Last Day”s LP and a split single with Arctic Flowers in 2010 and their second LP “Nothing to Nowhere” in 2012.

Gerenscer left the band in 2013 and was replaced by Mitch Allen. Gustavson, Batalden, Pilling, Szilagyi and Allen recorded the band’s Third LP “Utopia” in 2015 at Little Red Sounds in Vancouver BC with producer Felix Fung. The band’s fourth album, “Nostalgia”, followed in 2020.

They then spent the pandemic year off in the studio, finetuning their sound and recording new tracks for “Hindsight”.

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

(Band photo by Lindsay Wallace) Founded in Vancouver in 2005 by vocalist Brian Gustavson, the post-punk act Spectres is one of the bands responsible for kicking off the renewed interest in the post-punk sound in Canada.

Guitarist Zach Batalden states: “The band was started as a way to creatively explore 1980’s British anarcho-punk, and while creatively we have drifted in new directions this core influence still holds a lot of inspiration for us. Bands like The Mob, Crisis, Crass and Zounds are all still very important for us. From there we took a deep interest in ’80s post-punk and new wave, with bands like The Sound, The Chameleons, Theatre of Hate, and Modern English, central to the way our sound has developed. For the new album, Nostalgia, we were listening to a lot of Flying Nun bands like The Bats, The Verlaines, and The Clean as well.”

The band’s newest album “Nostalgia” was produced by Actors frontman Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound in Vancouver. It follows three independent albums which were all reissued by Artoffact Records in 2019.

To get an idea how the band sounds like, here’s the “Northern Towns” music video from the 2019 “Provincial Wake” 7″.

The band’s current lineup consists of vocalist Brian Gustavson, Zach Batalden on guitar, Mitch Allen on drums, Adam Mitchell on guitar and Jason Renix on bass.

2020 Tour

The band will also depart on a US tour later in 2020.

• Mar 6 – Portland, OR – Blackwater Bar
• Mar 7 – Oakland, CA – First Church of the Buzzard
• Mar 8 – Los Angeles, CA – Part Time Punks
• Mar 10 – San Diego, CA – The Whistle Stop
• Mar 11 – Los Angeles, CA – The Rec Room
• Mar 12 – San Francisco, CA – The Eagle
• Mar 13 – Chico, CA – Naked Lounge
• Mar 14 – Portland, OR – Lovecraft

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

Brooklyn-based darkwave band Bootblacks have announced that they’ve inked a deal with Toronto-based Artoffact Records. Bootblacks will release their Artoffact debut, a Jason Corbett-produced album, tentatively called “Thin Skies”, later in 2019.

The band, formed in 2010, have been touring North America and Europe for nearly a decade, with their mix of coldwave, dark post-punk, and death rock.

Bootblacks is Barrett Hiatt, who joined the band only a few years ago, alongside vocalist Panther Macdonald and guitarist Alli Gorman, both founders of the band. Larry Gorman joined on drums in 2018. After forming in 2010, Bootblacks released several independent albums, culminating in “Fragments” (2017). The band played most of the most well-renowned indie gothic and punk festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, before hooking up with Artoffact Records through Actors frontman and producer Jason Corbett.

Here’s “Hold & Dissolve” from their last album.

Bootblacks on tour supporting Actors

• Friday March 15 – Vancouver | The Biltmore Cabaret (w/ SPECTRES )
• Saturday March 16 – Seattle | Central Saloon (w/ Ex-Kids )
• Sunday March 17 – Portland | The Star Theater (w/ Ritual Veil )
• Wednesday March 20 – Sacramento | Blue Lamp (w/ Creux Lies)
• Thursday March 21 – Oakland | Elbo Room (w/ Creux Lies, Ötzi )
• Saturday March 23 – San Diego | Space (w/ Creux Lies, Twin Tribes )
• Sunday March 24 – Los Angeles | The Echo (w/ Creux Lies, Twin Tribes )
• Thursday April 25 – Montreal | Casa Del Popolo (w/ The City Gates )
• Friday April 26 – Toronto | The Baby G (w/ Mary )
• Saturday April 27 – Brooklyn | Saint Vitus
• Tuesday April 30 – Baltimore | Metro Gallery (w/ The Holy Circle )
• Wednesday May 1 – Pittsburgh | Brillobox (w/ Panic Priest )
• Thursday May 2 – Columbus | The Summit (w/ 6th circle )
• Friday May 3 – Detroit | Small’s (w/ The Bellwether Syndicate )
• Saturday May 4 – Chicago | Chop Shop (w/ The Bellwether Syndicate )

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: Electro-ambient, IDM.

Background/Info: Lord Sauron (Headdreamer, Oxyd) and Ryby (Oxyd and owner of Aliens Production) better known under the Disharmony-moniker are have been busy composing and releasing music for years now. The last albums of the band were released on Tympanik Audio. Three years after the last studio album “Room 78” and since Tympanik Audio stopped all activities early this year the band moved back to Ryby’s own label to unleash their announced new opus “Fragments Of Time”. This EP features two songs that will be released on this album plus a remix of another track.

Content: Disharmony remains faithful to their sonic intelligence and sound manipulation. They’re constantly moving in between industrial sounds and electro-ambient atmospheres while adding an IDM touch on top of the work.

The work is filled with a kind of astral dimension constructed with subtle bleeps. You’ll also notice deep bass lines and fascinating slow rhythms. Some passages are leading the listener into an imaginary world of reverie.

The last song is a remix by Oxyd –the other formation of this duo, which creates a somewhat schizophrenic feeling. This song is maybe a bit more into dreamy sound creation than the Disharmony tracks, which are more into industrial music and dark atmospheres.

+ + + : Disharmony remains a band characterized by a great sound intelligence. They’re fascinated by the creation and transformation of sounds resulting in a kind of sonic puzzle driven by a slow cadence. It sounds somewhat experimental, but really accessible. This EP is a real fine taster to welcome the new full length.

– – – : “Memorized Skin” is clearly meant as a pure promo release. It’s a pity there are no exclusive songs or extra remixes featured here.

Conclusion: Disharmony clearly hasn’t lost their creative spirit to compose sophisticated and passionate music. This is modern electronic made by visionary artists.

Best songs: “Memorized Skin”, “Spectres – Oxyd Rmx”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: http://disharmony.aliens.sk / www.facebook.com/dISHARMONY.Offical

Label: www.label.aliens.sk / www.facebook.com/pages/Aliens–production–label/200028820052578

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