Unter Strøm release live recording ‘Transmission 003: Live at the Breathing Records Showcase’
Unter Strøm release “Transmission 003: Live at the Breathing Records Showcase,” an 84-minute live recording with early versions of “Fragment” and “Stumbling.”
Unter Strøm, the electronic duo of Alex Gonzales (Matte Blvck) and John Kunkel (The New Division, John Grand), release Transmission 003: Live at the Breathing Records Showcase, an independent live recording that runs a little over 84 minutes. The set documents a full Unter Strøm performance at a Breathing Records showcase and includes live versions of “Fragment” and “Stumbling” performed before either track had been released, along with several vocal tracks the duo were still developing.
Unlike the project’s prior singles, “Transmission 003” is not a studio release. It is a concert recording, filmed and uploaded to YouTube, capturing the duo’s first time performing an Unter Strøm set in front of an audience.
Unter Strøm test unreleased material in a live setting
The showcase gave Gonzales and Kunkel their first chance to hear the project’s unreleased catalog through a full sound system and gauge a crowd’s reaction to it in real time. Kunkel described the goal behind the set:
“We wanted the set to present a broad landscape of the Unter Strøm sound and show how many different places the project can go. After working on this music for over a year, it was exciting to finally experience it through a proper sound system and watch people respond to it in real time. What makes it even more exciting is that we still have a lot more in the tank that didn’t make it into the set.”
Gonzales, describing what the performance meant for the duo, added:
“The Breathing Records showcase was the first time we played an Unter Strøm set in front of an audience, so it felt like an important moment for us. We performed an hour and a half of entirely unreleased material, including ‘Fragment’ and ‘Stumbling’ before either song had been released, as well as several vocal tracks that we were still developing. It gave us a rare opportunity to test this body of work in a live environment and see which moments connected instinctively with the audience.”
About Unter Strøm
Unter Strøm is an electronic duo formed by Alex Gonzales and John Kunkel, based between Los Angeles and San Diego after years of the pair working together in earlier bands and studio sessions. The project mixes techno, melodic house and industrial electronics. Gonzales also records as Matte Blvck, the San Diego-based darkwave and industrial trio he leads with Bidi Cobra and Daniel Corrales, whose releases include “Vows,” “Pupula Duplex” and “Soulless.” Kunkel is the Los Angeles-based producer and songwriter behind The New Division, the synth-pop project he has led since the 2000s, is part of the Los Angeles group Trade Secrets, and also produces melodic house as John Grand, an alias that has appeared on Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance and on Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy Radio.
Unter Strøm debuted in 2025 with the two-track single “Breathing” before signing to Breathing Records, the label that launched with the “Inhale Vol. I” compilation in November 2025. The duo then released “Orynth” on May 15, 2026, “Fold” on June 12, 2026, “Fragment” on July 24, 2026 and “Stumbling” on August 28, 2026, the four singles that made up the “Between Forms” run. “Transmission 003: Live at the Breathing Records Showcase” now documents the live set where “Fragment” and “Stumbling” were first performed, ahead of their studio releases, alongside new vocal material the duo have yet to put out.
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