If January made you want to smash things and, more importantly, if you’ve NEVER had this urge before, then our favourite releases of the month will be the perfect soundtrack for you.
Not only did we have the first solo album by Singapore Sling’s vocalist Henrik Björnsson called The Cult Of One, setting the mood up but we also had an abysmally dark black metal release to go with it by a side project of Gnaw Their Tongues, called Den Edele Dood.
The Cult of One carries on the addictive psych rock path of Singapore Sling, with lyrics that couldn’t keep you well-behaved no matter how hard you tried! The torch is then rightfully passed onto the dirty sun whose cryptically entitled EP ‘red velvet wolf in the temple of honey’ seals the mood of this soundtrack.
Empusae and guinaepig require a special mention here for very different reasons. The former because his beautiful, cinematic, IDM track, ‘SHak’, was written with the war in Ukraine in mind and in support of the people of Ukraine. The latter because of the addictive combination of industrial dissonance and ethereal synthwave in his debut album ‘Incongruous’. Vlimmer released another inspired darkwave EP with sound that is richer in elements, has more depth and texture compared to other releases of the band, and I dare to say, stronger emotional imprint. We particularly welcomed the launch of a new track by a favourite gothic, darkwave band from Italy that we had the twin pleasure of seeing live in London a few years ago and also interview. Dark Door have come back with the release of ‘dramma dipinto su tela’ — moving away from their chaos-inspired iconography but never too far away from the dark romantic side of gothic music, Dark Door are on course to release a great full-length album in the future.
The heaviest part of this monthly playlist is occupied by two releases. Oozing Wound opens up the gates of hell and Edele Dood throws us into the very last circle of it. Heavy psych rock followed by existentially desperate black metal is not a sonic recipe for the faint-hearted. We loved it on the other hand and we dare you to listen to these two albums in succession.
70’s rock and folk coupled with a laid-back, even dreamy, attitude is what characterised the new offering by Ghost Woman. If you feel the urge to listen to The Rolling Stones, Thelonious Monk or even Creedence Clearwater Revival somewhere in the middle of this album, don’t resist — but also don’t fail to come back to it either.
The releases that conclude our journey through this month’s new music releases were much anticipated for a very long time. The Murder Capital‘s sophomore album ‘Gigi’s Recovery’ raises more punk, indie questions than it answers while the band seems to have moved a bit further way from their angry, anxious and in-your-face version of punk with which they introduced themselves on with ‘When I Have Fears’. Hotel Lux, closer now to the attitude and mood of their already released EPs, with their cut-to-the bone cynicism and a poetic reading of the everyday bleakness, handed to us one of the best punk albums of the year so far, ‘Hands Across The Creek’. Finally, LOCKS came back with the release of a new song about a creepy, evil character named NOLA who lives in New Orleans, one nobody should cross paths with her unless they are ready to do some proper burials.
Dream pop hasn’t had a better representative than Ladytron! Five years after the fantastic ‘Ladytron’ album the band returns in 2023 with melancholic melodies, addictive synth rhythms and lyrics that somehow manage to create a feeling of optimism even in a song entitled ‘Misery Remember Me’. ‘Time’s Arrow’ is one of the albums you must hear in 2023.
Now, if all of the above don’t convince you to have multiple listening sessions of this playlist, I don’t know what will. We can only hope that you enjoy this playlist as much as we did while creating it!
Blaue Rosen 