Sleep Kicks – Sawdust

by Stephan Boissonneault

Sleep Kicks, an indie rock quartet from Oslo, Norway, returns with new music only months after the release of the acclaimed debut album, The Afterdrop. The new single is paired with a behind-the-scenes music video showing Sleep Kicks in the recording studio with momentary cuts between live concert footage. The new single “Sawdust” is a bright and sparkling post-punk epic that sounds a bit Inteprol, Joy Division, and LCD Soundsystem, with lyrics about isolation, war, and violence.

Check out the music video below:

Indie Rock / Noise Rock / Noise-Pop / Rock

Koalra – The Clouds Still Hang On You

by Stephan Boissonneault

A mix between 90s shoegaze and ethereal indie rock in the shape of someone like Washed Out or Band of Horses, Koalra, a noise punk/alt-rock group from Portland, emerges with “The Clouds Still Hang On You,” a buzzing and nostalgic-sounding indie jam perfect for rainy days.

The single is from the upcoming album Disasterclass, due a few days before Christmas. The music video, with Super 8 flair, sometimes feels like a skate video montage, 90s dance video, or hazy travel memoir. Definitely for fans of something a little obscure, but still attainable and sonically easy to latch onto.

Darkwave / Gothic

MENTHÜLL – FOR THE LAST TIME

by Stephan Boissonneault

MENTHÜLL is an atmospheric darkwave duo from Gatineau-Hull, Québec with a penchant for sinister-sounding songs that feel like the themes of films about vampires and the arcane arts.

A bit of Bauhaus, Echo & The Bunnymen, and Boy Harsher, their newest single “FOR THE LAST TIME,” comes with an experimental, black and white music video near a forest cabin. The MENTHÜLL duo, Gabriel and Yseult, dance and stand near the cabin as the 808 drums, thundering bass, and looped guitar lines consume the scenery. It feels like a dimly lit German nightclub at times, perfect for the winter months.

Art Rock / New Wave

Max Fulcrum & The Win – I COULD CHANGE

by Stephan Boissonneault

Max Fulcrum & The Win is a UK collective art rock project led by one Dominic Rose. The debut single “I COULD CHANGE,” begins with a darkened goth rock disco, almost a bit like The Birthday Party, and then morphs into a new wave-y flavour with a buzzing guitar line reminiscent of someone like The Human League.

The change is not abrupt but sonically organic, a difficult thing to do when balancing on the genre line. “I COULD CHANGE” then finished with a very Bowie-esque outro that begs for a second listen.

The accompanying video feels very art house DIY, featuring scratchy film and blurry images of a woman (Elinor Haskew) moving to the music. Enjoy below.

Hip Hop / power-pop / Synth-Pop

Wordburglar – 1980 Force

by Stephan Boissonneault

Wordburglar is an alternative hip-hop/hyperpop, self-proclaimed “Nerdcore” group now based in Toronto. Their songs live within a comic book or pop culture world, filled with quick references you may or may not know, in the style of a modernized Public Enemy.

One of the newest tracks “1980 Force,” from the new The Spinner Rack EP focuses on a toy line of action figures called the 1980 Force, based on the GI JOE series and other ’80s action toys.

But the video is too much fun, stylized like a 1980s Saturday morning toy commercial with a cheesy, but lovely boom bap rap and a treasure trove of character names and figures—that we’re pretty sure Wordburglar commissioned to have made for the video. Nothing like this exists and the world is better for it. Enjoy!

Synthwave

Polar Baron – Ruby Rumble

by Stephan Boissonneault

With some oscillating synthesizer loops, 808 drums fills, and cyber funk bass lines, Polar Baron takes us into the world of the unknown on “Ruby Rumble,” a track that feels like it could be the theme song to a to-be-written heroic synthwave hero epic in the style of Tron. The visualizer also keeps your attention with scratchy cosmic colours that move to the beat of the music. We envision more from Polar Baron in the new year, but until then, check out the new visualizer here:

Electro / Post-Punk / Post-Rock

We Owe – Slight Inconvenience

by Louise Jaunet

To support the release of his full-length Major Inconvenience on Montreal label Mothland, Christopher Pravdica’s solo project We Owe (Swans, Human Impact, Yonatan Gat, Twiggy Branches) has released “Slight Inconvenience,” the third video made by the artist Jim Larson, following up “Time Suck” and “Illogical Thinking.” While the bassist from Swans is renowned for his simple, bombastic 3-note rhythms, Pravdica’s second self-produced album is an ambitious mix of diverse sampling, from drums and acoustic percussion to synthesizers, bass guitar, autoharp, and kalimba.

Operating outside the mainstream alternative circle and its now sanitized and homogenized subject matter, the album is a gritty synthpunk excursion, combining a bright, cerebral post-rock approach with tape-damaged anti-pop hooks, which Pravdica himself describes as “post-alternative.” “Slight Inconvenience,” was initially created instrumentally with the help of orchestral samples from drummer Phil Puleo (Swans, Cop Shoot Cop, Human Impact). The lyrics, taken from an interview with a psychiatric in-patient, were added later.

Orchestral and atmospheric, the song evokes the drive to broaden one’s horizons. A kind of softness lurks behind the backing vocals and arrangements, producing a striking contrast with the sense of confinement of the interview. For Chris Pravdica, all thoughts can lead to ideas, if you dare to carry your determination to the end. Sometimes, out of sincere love for people, primitive and anarchic instincts may try to push certain limiting ideas. This crazy major inconvenience could actually turn out to be a gift, if you are willing to believe in it yourself.

Experimental / Contemporary / Krautrock

Sudden Voices – I Knew You At Once

by Louise Jaunet

You’ve probably never heard about the band Union Wireless. Actually, neither had we, until we found out about, through a happy accident, the new project, Sudden Voices, launched by Ben Morris, a reborn artist from the ashes of his unknown flying project from the 1990s after a long hiatus. This new London-based group keeps the experimental aspect of the previous space jazz band and refines its improvisational krautrock side inspired by Faust, while making the melodies more accessible by summoning a sort of spiritual hope in the chanted vocals and choirs, evoking the “Spirit of Eden” of Talk Talk.

For the video of the new track “I Knew You At Once,” Ben Morris uses Midjourney, an AI-image generator platform launched in 2022 as “an independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species.” You’ve probably already crossed paths with this new art form through your scrolling machines, as the growing trend of this AI program notably gained attention by generating photos of Pope Francis wearing a fancy white puffer coat, of Donald Trump being arrested, or of French President Emmanuel Macron working as a garbage collector. Despite being fake, it’s hard to underestimate the fact that these randomly widespread pictures hold the potential to somehow reflect some accurate ideas we all hide in the back of our collective unconscious mind.

The video created by Ben Morris feels like a visit to an AI art gallery, like a selective reconceptualization of the history of visual art from Hieronymus Bosch, Botticelli, Leonardo, Velasquez, Goya, Turner, Picasso, and even Richard Avedon. Most artists might think that art generated by AI will lead to the devaluation of human achievements, but the new collaboration between humans and AI in the world of art is here to stay. It can’t be stopped and it will continue to shape the way we think about art and aesthetics for years to come. Like a single living entity that contains all beings and knows you at once, the act of creation in itself is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm. Set your biases aside, read between the lines of code, and look at the work in its own terms, as if it was made solely by a human, not a machine. Art has always been a portal to the unseen world. Space will still be the place.

Psych-Rock / Rock / Surf

Hot Garbage – Mystery

by Louise Jaunet

There are many optical illusions that we encounter on a daily basis without being identified as such. The perception of these kinds of impossible objects follows an unusual path and the person who perceives it is aware that something is happening in their brain, to the point of creating a new aesthetic of the world in their mind.To help launch its second album Precious Dream to be released on 19 January 2024 via Mothland and Exag’ Records, the quartet from Toronto Hot Garbage has just released the second single “Mystery,” a cathartic and powerful psychedelic track that echoes the garage beginnings of Osees or the spooky songs of Frankie and the Witch Fingers, and plays with this concept.

Produced by Graham Walsh (METZ, Preoccupations, Holy Fuck, !!!), this new track recalls the fuzzed-out riffs of A Place To Bury Strangers or the twisted, nightmarish surf rock accents of The Cramps. For anyone familiar with the band’s catalogue, Hot Garbage opens the doors to a whole new world, revealing part of the extremely complicated operation we call “seeing.”

Directed by Nika Belianina and Michael Goodin, the Lynchian video is constructed as a strange, oniric and absurd stroll through a funhouse where we meet a stellar fairy, a crazy penguin, and a diabolical deer, like a sort of construction of three people wrapped into one. You’re probably going to be skeptical, nobody can build a personality of that kind … could that mean that the mind of a human being is an impossible object? It remains a mystery.

Americana / Dark Americana / Gothic

Rachel Drew – Blaze For You

by Ann Pill

This video is what greenscreens were invented for. This fever dream of epic proportions will make you too want to dance beneath the light of the moon. “Blaze For You” is the kind of song you might expect to hear playing at a showdown at the local saloon. The second single off the upcoming album Summer’s Over is a lot spookier than the title track released earlier this fall. It’s unclear what direction the album will take but the gothic Americana vibes are promising.

Take a listen to the Chicago singer-songwriter’s latest single.

Darkwave / Gothic / Post-Punk

Mark Steiner & His Problems – Hang On (Twin Flames)

by Ann Pill

This Twin Peaks-esque black-and-white nightmare from Mark Steiner is more an art film than a music video. The plot of “Hang On (Twin Flames)” is impossible to follow but that really isn’t a problem. Mark Steiner and his band of Norwegian “problems” deliver blend of distorted guitar and poetry. Moody and gothic with post-punk energy. Think Nick Cave moved to Norway directed by David Lynch.

“Amazing clip! Love it – but I’m worried about you lol!” reads the current comment section of the video.

Give it a watch and you’ll be right there with them.

Dark Pop / Gothic

Chopper – Moongirl (Single Edit)

by Stephan Boissonneault

I’m not the first to say it, but there isn’t enough modern goth rock music coming out anymore. The genre isn’t dead, but it does seem to have retreated into its coffin being held down by the streaming and DSP giants.

But then there’s Chopper, the project of Jonatan K. Magnussen, an artist from Copenhagen, Denmark, whose newest single “Moongirl” feels like a sonic marriage between The Sisters of Mercy, Alice Cooper, and The Cure. A haunting track, with guitar work that screams like a darker Pink Floyd, fantastically styled music video in the graveyard, and Chopper’s shifting vocal techniques, this track is pure darkened ear candy for the next generation of goths. Keep an eye out for Chopper’s forthcoming Shock Pop Vol II EP. But until then, enjoy this absolute treat of a music video.