Monthly playlist-Favourite albums August 2024

Posted: 26th September 2024 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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logo playlist …and you, have YOU protected your dreams from the Oneirophage? We think that if there was such a creature as GRIST seem to believe, then our favourite releases of the months, would provide the perfect soundtrack for its scary activities!

The music output of this month, as expected for the summer months was not the greatest in terms of quantity. Our favourite releases, helped us make a mind-numbing sonic journey while news about devastating wildfires and exhausting heat around the planet reached our ears and eyes. The latest offering by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‘Wild God’, was soul-arresting, with slow rhythms and powerful soul and gospel elements infusing its ten rock ballads. Chrystabell and David Lynch‘s dreamy album ‘Cellophane Memories’ is offering some much needed lightness into our sonic landscape of the month, with ethereal songs that make one feel like floating on air. Speaking of lightness, we were particularly happy listening to Demi-Nuit‘s post-punk, 80s coldwave-infused, synthwave EP ‘Fille de Moujik’. Always punctual on her appointment with us during the summer, Chelsea Wolfe has treated us to one more beautiful disquieting ethereal EP ‘Undone’ full with great remixes by Boy Harsher, Ash Koosha, Full of Hell, Crosses and Justin K. Broadrick.

A special mention is due to the debut releases of the month, by Dallas Kent and Shadow Knell. ‘Ghost Highway‘ the debut single by Dallas Kent, is inspired by the best moments of dreamy trip hop both in terms of rhythms and visuals. ‘Shadow Knell‘ the debut album by Shadow Knell, is “…a mystical, mournful, and doom-laced synth fantasy that echoes from dungeons deep and forests eternal” and merges modern classical lyricism with the rhythmic existentialism of dark ambient music.

 

We hope you enjoy listening to this playlist, as much as we did preparing it!

 

 

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logo playlistJuly might have been much quieter than usual, but it was not a dull month in any way. The soundtrack of the month included the release of a very promising debut single by Virgin Vampires who are warming us up for their first album that sounds as if it will be following a darkwave path. The new offering by Peace De Resistance was refreshing with its combination of socially perceptive lyrics and a glam rock attitude. The new album by The March Violets is a classic gothic rock album that should be heard on the dancefloor of any dark alternative club.

Finally the new psych-rock release by Black Market Karma is inspired by the characteristics of analogue recording equipment with the aim of making the album “…feel like a collection of discarded and worse for wear instruments came to life, refurbished themselves and started to play. The sound is an attempt to give form to the often formless feeling that is nostalgia. With songs attempting to crystallise a feeling known as ‘fernweh’. A kind of longing for a place and time you’ve never experienced, be it in this world or another.” as Stanley Belton explained.

 

We think that this short and sweet playlist will be a great accompaniment to a very warm evening during the hours of the sunset and we hope that you enjoy it as much as we did while preparing it!


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Monthly playlist-Favourite albums June 2024

Posted: 22nd July 2024 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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logo playlist The month after Wave Gotik Treffen is always one that perceives music under the prism of the festival. Our favourite albums and releases of June 2024 helped us make a trip into a mysterious landscape, still full of the darkness of the colder months. Our soundtrack of the month forms an IDM, post punk, dreamy, hazy and neoclassical path full with twists and turns and a lot of sonic texture.

We were delighted for the return of Camerata Mediolanense (which we had the pleasure of interviewing) with their album ‘Atalanta Fugiens‘ inspired by an enigmatic book written around 1617 by Michael Maier. The album fits well within the band’s discography and has subjects that place it in the heart of modern discourse around change and transformation at many levels. The return of The Revolutionary Army of The Infant Jesus with their new album ‘The Dream We Carry‘ after four years was both unexpected and truly exciting!

We were also pumped by the new album of Bleib Modern, a post-punk/darkwave band whose career we have followed since its beginning. Their self-titled album is the best of their career so far and you will probably find that you will enjoy it from start to finish without any interruptions. Talking about an album that one can listen on repeat from start to finish, I am sure that those out there who appreciate dystopian punk, deathrock and krautrock will agree with us for featuring Allarme‘s self-titled album in this soundtrack. The addition of a ‘dancing’ saxophone adds an air of dystopian cabaret atmosphere to the whole experience too.

WHOLE‘s ‘Hydra‘ and ‘Mesmerism‘ by Lucid Dreams, were two special releases for different reasons. The former because unlike most of Blackjack Illuminist Records releases, this one explores more prominent punk paths and creates a hybrid result where darkwave and post-punk give way to rather vindictive punk. Lucid Dreams on the other hand, combine a very evocative/dystopian cover with a free jazz/idm/experimental sonic environment, which manages to transfer the listener to an environment where excitement for decay and imminent danger prevails!

A special mention is due to the return of Anathema’s Vincent Cavanagh with a new project called The Radicant. We read that the name of the project relates to the word “radicant” which describes organisms that create their roots gradually as they advance, allowing species to mobilise, adapt and grow on any surface. The name also relates to the way Vincent perceives his journey into music and composition and his experiments with creating compositions for visual art/tech. The Radicant release their debut single in June and we expect the full length album in the following months.

Finally, we cannot express our happiness after the announcement of an upcoming release by Chrystabell and David Lynch – offering to us their captivating dreamy, ethereal wickedness that has enveloped David Lynch’s films in the past – a disquieting aura that is hard to ignore. The first single from this release is entitled ‘Sublime Eternal Love‘.

We hope you enjoy listening to our playlist as much as we enjoyed creating it!

 

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Monthly playlist-Favourite albums May 2024

Posted: 3rd July 2024 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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logo playlistHere we are at the end of the Spring that never came with a monthly soundtrack that probably has the most debut album entries for a long time. There are two entries that need a special mention and they are the new releases by Chameleons and Barry Adamson. Both have been keeping us wondering about a next release and here they are. Chameleons with the EP ‘Where Are You?’ -teaser of an upcoming full-length album and Barry Adamson, faithful to his soul/rock existential blues offered us ‘CUT TO BLACK’ an album that fits very well within the rest of his discography.


Another special mention is due to one of our all-time favourite bands from Italy, no other than Ataraxia who kept us very good company with a nature-inspired, ceremonial, ethereal album entitle ‘Centaurea’. We particularly liked the psych rock releases of this month, both the new single by Julie’s Haircut and the new album by The Janitors which, at times, is reminiscent of the hazy  and grunge atmosphere of the music of The Stooges.

As always, we were delighted to listen to the new album by PIG, as his addictive sensual take on industrial music is always managing to make us realise that we really don’t have enough of this type of rejuvenating energy. Six years after ‘The Heretics’ Rotting Christ have come back with ‘PRO XRISTOU’, another album with big sound and big ideas, faithful to the band’s black metal character and favourite themes.

The debut albums of this month’s soundtrack prove that we are now living at a time when the quality of releases that come to us from new bands, is incredibly high. ‘YOBS’ by YOBS, ‘L’Enfant Terrible’ by L’Enfant Terrible, ‘Weaponize Tomorrow’ by MISSILES, ‘Discerning Spirits’ by A Sinister Light, all add a powerful note and reveal a fresh take on punk, coldwave and post-punk respectively.

We would like to end with a mention of the album ‘Heksescapes’ by Edward Ka Spel, an all-time favourite musician whose sonic spells accompany us like a protective spirit and the release of LEDFOOT, that hits our rock note and made us put ‘Thunder And Rain’ on our portable device so that we could listen to it on repeat.

Until next month, we hope you enjoy this as much as we did while preparing it.

 

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Monthly playlist-Favourite albums April 2024

Posted: 2nd June 2024 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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Dear darklings, it’s this time of year again. We are just two weeks away from the largest festival for the dark alternative scene in the world, in Leipzig. This shall be the 31st Wave Gotik Treffen and even though its lineup is quite humble, it has many highlights which we are about to cover!

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Monthly playlist- Favourite albums March 2024

Posted: 21st April 2024 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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Monthly playlist-Favourite albums February 2024

Posted: 30th March 2024 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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logo playlistA month whose soundtrack includes new albums by and also the trees, PET NEEDS and Whispering Sons is not one to pass by!

We might have had terrible cold, dark days here in London last month but great music kept us good company. With a few exceptions, most releases in February, explored existential themes as highlighted through their lyrics.

PET NEEDS have come back with yet another powerful, socially perceptive punk album that encompasses within its lyrics, everyday life scenes and thoughts of a reality consumed by existential fear. A similar path is followed by the lyrics of Whispering Sons, albeit one that has a stronger theatrical element. During February, we were delighted to listen to the debut post-punk/darkwave album by TORCH, a new band from Aarhus. and also the trees, offered us yet another beautiful album, an elegy to known and unknown sides of a city. Finally, a special mention is due, to Vera Sola , whose dark folk album ‘Peacemaker’ draws inspiration from her personal experiences and presents them using poetic, melancholic vignettes.

The psychedelic side of this month’s soundtrack is represented by the incredibly powerful album by Thee Alcoholics, whose cover is evidently inspired by pop art and some of its guitar riffs bring to mind those of Black Sabbath.

We hope you like this playlist as much as we enjoyed making it!

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Monthly playlist-Favourite albums January 2024

Posted: 25th February 2024 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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logo playlistUnlike others, we love winter and its darkness, and we look forward to the releases of the season. The soundtrack of the first long month of the year had everything from post-folk, to metal and heavy psych. We enjoyed impressive debut releases and promising self-released music and once again we were amazed by the paths that sonic experimentation is able to open in our consciousness.

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Monthly playlist-Favourite albums November 2023

Posted: 27th December 2023 by blaue-rosen in Music News,press releases
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logo playlistOne month before the end of the year, our favourite albums covered all the colours of the industrial/noise music spectrum offering a lot of room for self-reflection. There were some very memorable come backs during this month and the first was the new album by Riotmiloo, probably the conceptually darkest release of the band so far. Taking inspiration from bands like Haus Arafna and Monolith, and developing their sound in such a way so that it reached the depths of their existence, the band has created an almost autobiographical album that has a very strong grip around one’s heart.

Another surprising come back, was that of Lebanon Hanover, who released the EP ‘Better Than Going Away’ and seem to have altered their sound in such a way that the neofolk/militaristic references have become very prominent.

 

The synthwave music spectrum was covered fully with the trippy and very memorable release by Nick Carlisle ‘Bloody Saturnalia’ while the album ‘The Most Dangerous Machine In The World’ by strom|morts can clearly be characterised as the weirdest, experimental release of this month. Next to this, sits the mesmerising storytelling album of Edward Ka-Spel, ‘Tease, Seize…Apply’. We can never get enough of sonic wizard Edward Ka-Spel’s otherworldly stories who always manages to make everything feel lighter and manageable!

Lastly we would like to draw your attention to the forceful ceremonial atmosphere created within the latest dark ambient gem released by Atrium Carceri. This is an album that will immediately transfer you into the dimly lit, mystic corridors of some far away castle and it should not go unnoticed.

We hope you enjoy this playlist as much as we did while preparing it.

 

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