Born in Serbia, and having spent a character-building decade in infamously chaotic Berlin with Amsterdam being the current stomping grounds, artist of many mediums Laslo Antal, 50% of Sixth June and and 100% of Deisein, came out with an utterly dreamy and danceable record in the peak of Germany’s Tanzverbot (English: dance ban), so now that winter is back in full swing and all the goths are buzzing, it is time to break out this icy treasure.
On Even The Best Are The Worst, Antal wastes no time getting heavy starting on ‘Sophia’, a track encapsulating all of the expansive euphoria and synthy catchiness one desires on a winkelpicker-packed dancefloor, appropriately offset by soft baritone vocals. Harmonies on Lame Excuses can easily be mistaken for a bonus track off Music For the Masses. “Sleepless nights and friends who don’t even care about you”, an introverted number referring to the surface value relationships juxtaposed over heavy, swinging beats crescendo into what can only be described as ‘swanky-goth’ number. The accompanying video for Find Your Love is a substantially grainy, albeit starkly minimal Super 8 dreamscape wholly befitting of such a retro project.
Sax accents a la The Cure’s ‘A Night Like This’ pepper the second half ETBATW adding animated dimension to the sometimes stark cold-waviness. Authentically 80’s, one might mistaken Deisein for an undiscovered Soft Cell gem, especially on the brooding and aptly named ‘Trial’. Cavernous and forlorn, it is the closest thing to a ballad on this record. A brief moment of warmth comes through on the shimmery ‘Oh Girl’ before going subterranean once more with resonant number ‘Someone Else Tonight’. Antal invites the other half of Sixth June, Lidija Andonov on the tremendously dramatic ‘How to be Alone’, adding a dreamy layer to the atmospheric and layered finale of ETBATW.
All in all, an album whose theme is the bleak let down of having lost a romantic investment in a notoriously frigid concrete jungle. That being said, it is a thoroughly danceable and catchy record worth revisiting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven times + over again– Even the Best Are the Worst will not let you down.
Antal & Andonov have exciting news in the form of a new Sixth June single entitled ‘Dance With Me’, out at the beginning of March. Be sure to follow them here and here for updates.
Written and photographed by Monique Woolen-Lewis for pleiadesounds
Otherworldly Leoni of Leoni Leon is a Bern based artist of many mediums, most notably of the sonic persuasion. Her music is soft and expansive, sometimes unsettling– not unlike a psilocybin lullaby or watching Waking Life after having ingested a tiny bit too much caffeine.
I had the pleasure of making her acquaintance at a dreamy university house party, worthy of a stylish & high budget HBO teen drama, on the outskirts of Bern, at which none of the beautiful young cosmonauts felt the need to capture on any device whatsoever. After a twilit sound bath taken in on the front lawn, and my cards having been read in the back of a nomadic performance artist’s van, I finally got the ethereal Leoni X 2 to myself for a few moments. We got to speak about a myriad of witchy things, the chat below which is to be understood in greater depth after a thorough dive into her trippy discography.
PLEIADESOUNDS What is the most unusual tour experience you have ever had?
LEONI LEONI I just started touring last September so for me everything about it is quite unusual. Driving on lsd because my tour friend was too exhausted to drive was probably one of the more unusual events. I don’t recommend it and i certainly try to never do it again.
PS What venue or location is on on the top of your list to play a show?
LL Ii like dark basements and enchanted forests. There’s no list. I’m happy to play at every noncommercial, safe, political, interesting space made with love.
PS Last album you purchased?
LLSolaia by Limpe Fuchs. This 81 year old percussionist, improviser, multiinstrumentalist and inventor is an icon. I met her yesterday, we went for a walk in the city, looking for a place to swim. She was barefoot. She only swims naked.
PS What is the scent of drugs?
LL Drugs can mess up the sense of smell, which I find fun. Being high makes me hungry and i love eating when high. I would love to type a poetic answer to this but today’s weather is too hot to think.
PS Given the choice, would you reincarnate again?
LL Well, I already do have the option to reincarnate but i think it doesn’t matter because there is no such thing as „i“. Everything is reincarnating all the time.
PS Do you meditate?
LL I do.
PS When you make music for your pants, are you talking about your trousers or your Unterwäsche?
LL I mainly make music for undies and I hope it makes all of them fall off quickly.
PSYellow and why? LL yellow and whineyellow and wineyellow and whatever
PS Do you believe in life after love? LL Life after love is life before love is life in love. There’s no such thing as the end of love.
Looming, The Spindle is the fourth album from Berlin-based kiwi powergroup The Pleasure Majenta. The last release from the aptly ordained ‘goth punks’ has been released on the fitting noise label Dedstrange, founded by ear-splitting New Yorkers, A Place To Bury Strangers.
Molasses-esque vocals from singer Loz Goodwin gently push off the record on Satellite TV, Sophia Lawler-Dormer’s languid drums are sexxed up by the newest addition to the Pleasure Majenta, saxophonist Aaron Lovich. Sad2say brings about a spooky and sullen atmosphere, with harmonious vocals circumventing a surly Goodwin doing his best chainsmoking-vampire growl. The Pleasure Majenta move into a Slint-but-make-it-psych territory on Smile Through A Sneer, EJ’s catchy albeit supine bass hooks provide a solid backdrop for an eerie stream-of-consciousness narration. The PM become completely unhinged on Anxious Patient, reaching a lacerating crescendo of feedback and masochistic screams. A vague semblance of catchy melody reveals itself on Full Of It, which could be entirely appropriate as the sludgy anthem of a Hollywood villain. (The accompanying video confirms Goodwin being himself said Hollywood villain.) Gymnnopedie comes as an expansive synthy euphoric pause in the midst of an otherwise wholly sinister record. ‘Looming, The Spindle’ culminates peacefully with Gardens, a laid back number but not without a gratuitous soaring reverby instrumental break. The record peters out into the fuzzy and warbled sounds of someone trying to tune in a rabbit ears radio.
‘Looming, The Spindle’ is a haunting composition of languorous vocals crooning over a resounding and chaotic funeral procession. It’s ‘In The Flat Field’ for 2022 and watching it being executed live will not be one to miss.
Follow The Pleasure Majenta (spelled with a J, unless you’re looking for something spicy) here,
It is with greatest enthusiasm that I present my latest discovery, Berlin darlings Ghost Pony. Just when I had given up hope of finding high-quality surf rock so far inland, my good friend Bandcamp comes through with a spot on recommendation, as Bandcamp is wont to do. Upon seeing that the founding members of Ghost Pony, German-born Franzi Smith & Julia Beresikowa, are residents of the city in which I too reside, I insisted on documenting a meet-and-greet with a plastic fisheye camera in tow for good measure.
Their latest release, the eponymously titled full length ‘Ghost Pony’ is driven by rolling drums courtesy of Hannes Neupert, wonderfully apparent on the second track Toy Horses. A doomy, Cramps-esque bass, played by Elisa Bischoff, really shines through on ‘Fish Tank’, a track which is followed by the album’s single ’Don’t Call Me Baby’, a number which promises to break your heart, the lyrics “don’t call me baby when I’m not the only one” accurately encapsulate a quintessential Berlin love story.
The melancholy of lamenting a lost relationship is furthered on ‘Who Else’, except this time with the addition of an enthusiastic organ dancing sporadically throughout. The record picks back up again with a retro jangle on ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Beach Tryst’. My personal favorite track is ‘Peace of Mind’, a particularly swanky number with Julia Beresikowa crooning sultrily over a mysterious backdrop of urgent, albeit muffled riffs. The record culminates with a leisurely stroll towards the recultivating of self-worth, advising a certain Josephine to “make yourself free”. Aren’t we all Josephine?
Ghost Pony’s next single ‘Can’t Let You Go’ is due out on January 21st of this month, on their newly founded label Lost Girl Records. Ghost Pony can be found on all of the expected social media outlets, just click all of the subscribe buttons and be sure not to miss it.
2021 seems to be embodying the optimism we collectively needed and this summer has come bearing gifts. Most notably from Berlin based shoegaze outfit No Romance, who have just released their third single Unfold as a teaser for their upcoming EP, due to be out August 20, 2021. The four piece, composing of Lucy Holiday, Isaac Hickey, Joel Thomas and newcomer Hannah Gonzalez (not pictured) was founded two years ago and have started out a tad low-key, with a rather nineties sound
à la
Bleach or early Catherine Wheel. Heavy drums and a substantial bass line ground Holiday’s Cocteau Twins-esque vocals on 2020′s Television and Assume, the first two, and frankly quite promising singles.
Unfold, however, is No Romance matured, polished and updated. Less of a departure from and more of a development of their previous releases, the bassline has been molded into something utterly danceable and the addition of synths has upgraded this song into a total Ohrworm. Holiday sings, dreamier than ever, an invitation to unfold and to let go, wholly apropo for this beatific and catchy single. Insistent beats offset bouyant synth making it ideal for a middle-of-the-night blast on the Autobahn or a feverish, uninhibited dance– though not at the same time please.
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
August 20: EP release
July 30: I will be djing some tunes with Ms .45 at Schokoladen in Mitte so if you want to bust a move to Unfold irl, swing by.
Written and photographed by Monique Woolen-Lewis for pleiadesounds.com
Flitting back and forth from Los Angeles to Berlin, German-born Dr. Monika Demmler performs everywhere in between as Stony Sugarskull, a firey and psychedelic outfit. A grungy purveyor of rock ‘n roll, Stony Sugarskull has been lively and creative throughout this ongoing situation (you know which one I’m talking about) and has released a well-recieved debut album which has been subsequently remixed, several live-streamed shows and a lush music video to boot.
Her latest release, ‘Veronica’, is lackidasically dreamy, with delicate vocals which hover just over a light layer of mellow reverb, ‘Veronica’ is the sonic embodiment of sinking into a comfortable melancholic state of allowance, laid-back but laced with sadness. Warm and lazy, waxing poetic about the loss of a pure and true love, Stony Sugarskull’s new single off her debut album ‘Lioness’ is a delicate and woozy number, the pensive cigarette break on the otherwise jangly and even sometimes rowdy LP.
The accompanying video is dusty and golden– it perfectly embodies the airy heartbreak about which this song is written. Fanciful, shimmery clips of the two opposing coasts of the United States interspersed between snippets of guitar strumming and distant smiles provides a sort of whimsical hint to the west, not unlike the aesthetics of Mazzy Star, an act to which Stony has been compared to a handfull of times. Penning all of the music herself, Demmler always plays with a full band but has branched out from time to time, as illustrated on this long, glitchy electro release on which she collaborated with Leander.
Stony Sugarskull is currently working on yey another album from her (literal) underground studio in Berlin.
French born, Berlin-based
Alex Alexopoulos, aka Wild Anima, has crafted a perfectly balanced collection of songs that are absolutely cosmic, yet grounding enough to be an entirely suitable soundtrack to this most bizzare of times, in the form of her latest EP ‘Snow Telepathy’. Wild Anima makes beautiful music that captures the feminine with floating, angelic vocals and balances it out with weighty synth and rolling beats.
Her latest release, ‘Snow Telepathy’ begins with Hilia Heria (A Thousand Hands), a lackidasical build up eventuating into an ever-so-slightly trip-hop-esque number . (Ae)motions is a light palette cleanser; a sparkly interlude to the heavy drop that is ‘22 Pulses Away’. Then comes ‘Snow Telepathy’, which is basically eight minutes and thirty-seven seconds of being suspended in a psychedelic space bubble. ‘Fiction’s soft beats provide a careful guidance back to ground, whilst airy layered vocals preserve a celestial middle ground, a constant element throughout the EP. ‘Snow Telepathy’ concludes with ‘Sylenthly’, and slightly more fluid and off-kilter vibey track.
Borne of a combination of both internal and external travels, ‘Snow Telepathy’ is a heart-centered piece that is both deeply introspective and enjoyable on a purely surface level. A merging of spirituality and art,
Alexopoulos hints in her interview with 4See Mag that a “cross-media exhibition merging philosophy, live performance and conceptual art” could be in the works. Though I find her music in and of itself to be intensley immersive, I look forward to experiencing it in a multi-faceted & interactive realization.
Be sure to perform an act of self-care and keep yourself updated on all things Wild Anima on her website here.
Aptly named after the late Christa
Päffgen, aka the fringey and baritoned Nico of the Velvet Underground and Chelsea Girl fame, Berlin-based duo
Päfgens
have just come out with an EP as dark and winding as Nico’s own love life. Their new EP Arthrolyse is a beautiful encapsulation of the collective sigh that marked the end of an intense and bizarre year for quite literally every single person on the planet.
Having met in the
über brutalist capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, Filip and Jana paired up in the studio (and in real-life) and have been a rather prolific band ever since. Their sound has pendulated from melancholy post-soviet shoegaze to heavy introspective drone, and Arthrolyse occupies a sleepy space somewhere in between. The first track, Arthrolyse 1, was originally released on a Noiseberg Sessions compilation, and is now the cinematic opening of their latest release. Entirely improvised,
Päfgens’
latest music takes a departure from their particularly breathy/jangley brand of indie ambient, opting for an inspired and spontaneous aural stream-of-consciousness. Recording a myriad of instruments through Ableton, and onto a tape recorder creates a sort of super 8 grain and warmth to the whole soundscape, adding an organic depth and dimension to their ever loosening song structures. This transformation of arrangement sets Arthrolyse and their 2019 album, the slightly heavier Der Sturm, apart from
Päfgens’ other records as a sort of sonic happening, more of an audio experience not meant to be hemmed in by the accepted rules of music composition.
The second half of the EP takes a languid turn at
Arthrolyse II–a buzzy and lackidasical track that comes in and out of focus as a background hum slowly peters out into a soft gurgle of flowing water. Arthrolyse oscillates through a meditative semiconscious daydream where the destination is just a deeper aspect of the starting point. The fuzzy looped guitars slowly sway like a sailboat docked in a twilit harbour and drops you off with bleary perpetuating waves, unsettling yet profound.
Päfgens
are currently collaborating with Isobutane on some material, to be out this February on Slovakian label Deardred Records. Until then, dive into their lengthy discography and follow them on the internet!
Jealous frontman, Baby Satan Records co-founder and all around synth-babe Adi Kum has released a spacey new(ish) mini-album under her solo moniker Dane Joe. At least 74% trippier than her last release ‘New Age’, this collection of four songs is wholly deserving of the title ‘LSD’. It kicks off with a Star Wars-meets-impending doom-avant garde jazz ‘Intro’, somehow perfectly transitioning into a chromatic electro number, the aptly named ‘Sance’– the title making ever so slightly less sense as the song itself. Then comes ‘That Time I Was Walking Home’, a mildly trappy, yet haunting song about snaking your way home in the middle of the night after an unknown amount of hours spent at one of the many places in Berlin where time seems so to be but an illusory concept of little to no actual importance (namely Berghain). ‘Post Silence Blues’ is a psychy and off-kilter loop of fuzzy riffs and soft, buzzy beats–an oddly dark, albeit grounded and comfortable LSD comedown. This collection of songs works particularly well as a soundtrack for getting lost in a stream of thoughts while meandering alone in a public space.
PLEIADESOUNDS is stoked to release it’s first music video for ‘That Time I Was Walking Home’ by Dane Joe. It’s basically a normal (?) PLEIADESOUNDS photo series (dreamy, abstract & all that jazz) but with movement– the perfect accompaniment to this moody, ambient tune. Have a peep below and as always, keep your eyes and ears glued to the internet for more music and words and pictures xx
Written, photographed, filmed and edited by Monique Woolen-Lewis for Pleiadesounds
What do retro French marine biologist documentaries and Berlin hip-hop have in common? Not much, one might say. However, thanks to avid analog-sample aficionado Carl Aqua, these two elements have been married into one hell of an intriguing project on his latest record ‘Deep-Sea Exploration’.
Carl’s analog equipment & vintage tape decks perfectly suits the retro sound-bites with which he prefers to work. Aqua’s brand of hip-hop echos that of a time when producers mashed records together on big, complicated equipment instead of just creating spacey noises on a Macbook Pro. Laid back and just a tad eerie, audio clips of Transatlantic accented Rod Serling on ‘Scuba Check’ frame a chill-waved meditation on life itself. Theremin-esque sound bites on ‘Inna Space’ add an otherworldly air to the mysterious-sounding track.
I’d have to say my favorite track is the swanky number Coral Jungle, which constructs a classy shimmery around aquatic musings by Cousteau himself. The intertwining of piano, stringed instruments and beats creates a lushious and multi-faceted record upbeat enough to be wholly engaging, without sacrificing any of it’s chill.
Carl Aqua is currently working on a new project with a more terrestrial Frenchman, this time rapper
Hakim Norbert– set to be out sometime next year. Keep your eyes set on your various internet devices for updates.
Bringing some seratonin-laden sonic sunshine into your life in the form of the aptly named album ‘Love’, by Berlin native and former Manhooker frontman, Mavin. Old school R&B and glamorous disco make a modern comeback in this upbeat and utterly danceable record. Its a refreshing departure from the minimal beeps and boops to which one has become accustomed in this austere city.
Produced by prolific Berlin dance producer and former Manhooker collaborator, Snax, ‘Love’ a is playful and thoroughly enjoyable record. The album kicks off with the smooth number ‘Another Nightshift’, and shimmering 80′s synth bring a dreamy feel to the groovy track ‘Let My Body’. My favorite track would have to be ‘Happy’, with beloved American drag queen Lady Bunny featured on backup vocals. A growling Mavin implores you to claim your birthright which is none other than to be happy– a difficult feeling to avoid when listening to this anthem of positivity. The record closes with the multi-instrumental and euphoric ‘I Still Believe’, an optimistic piece about love being just around the corner.
In his free time, Mavin channels his impeccable dress sense into running his vintage store in Neukölln, LeMagass. His current project is designing one-of-a-kind fask masks inspired by disco balls because if you can’t bring your face to the party, bring the party to your face. Mavin’s unrelenting positivity seems to permeate everything he creates–an uplifting presence needed now more than ever x
Berlin newcomer New Husband has dusted off the 4-track from his father’s attic to capture his dreamy slow-dance tunes, perfect for safely jamming out alone in one’s room. I have been waiting for something this groovy to turn up in my neck of the woods and Gott sei danke it did. Jakob Rotter made the pilgrimage from Herzogenaurach in Bavaria to Berlin, ditching the tuba and opting instead for his dad’s 1980-something Roland along the way. Growing up in a smallish city (best known for the famous Adidas vs Puma family feud) made Rotter no stranger to the art of killing time with fellow music nerds, and still finds himself influenced by his former band ‘Panda People’ to this day.
New Husband has made two releases this past May. ‘Self Discovery’ is the sonic embodiment of an Echo Park pool party, and my favorite track ‘Every Little Thought’, feat Thu, makes me homesick for the blissed-out albeit woozy feeling that only a particularly strong brand of California Kombucha can induce. The first thirty seconds of his other EP ‘Inner Islands’, sounds as though it could have been sampled from the Beach Boys’ commercial fail ‘Smile’ (it wasn’t, but still). Rotter makes a surprisingly sunny brand of music for a country that has actual seasons– namely, winter. Saxophone solos class up the slacker-pop number ‘It Ain’t Easy’ but then the pace is picked right back up by the pulsating and hazy tune ‘Yeah, I Know’. ‘Track of Time’ features some trappy drum machine beats reminiscent of Beach House’s ‘Depression Cherry’, and is finished off with harmonies that would make my sunburnt teenage self swoon.
Mr. Rotter is currently working on a full length album which one can expect to be out later this year. Keep yourself updated on all his stuffs through his various social medias here:
This week, Harry Fanshawe from UK noiseniks Modern Rituals acquaints Kai with the inimitable Silver Jews, while Kai in turn shows him the finer points of British post-punk stalwarts Wire.
Kai Woolen-Lewis Wire are, for me, one of the great bands in the history of punk music. Whereas a lot of other bands you’d describe as such would subsist largely on folklore and be a calamity if judged on their incarnation in the present moment, Wire however seem to be one of the rare bands who have managed to be both very influential (if you need punk credentials, they were covered by Minor Threat and if you need trendy floppy haircut credentials, they were covered by My Bloody Valentine) and forever forward-thinking - bridging the gap between the pompousness of progressive music and the snarl and brevity of punk, a bridge between what were two ultra-partisan camps. Though they’re contemporaries of elder statesmen of British punk like the Sex Pistols and The Buzzcocks, there’s far more of an art-school vibe to Wire - one gets the impression that they must’ve stood in stark contrast to the image and the attitude of their peers, with cerebral and challenging songs that refused to succumb to the immediate hedonism of the punk music of the time. One gets the impression that they have far more in common with genre outliers like Patti Smith, Pere Ubu and Kraftwerk than with any of their counterparts in the British punk scene.
When I first saw them, at the Lexington in London 4 or 5 years ago, they played almost entirely new songs, with only a few songs from their “seminal” LP’s included in the set. Now that the horror of not knowing many of the songs has worn off, it’s a clear sign of their continuously forward-looking approach. With seventeen studio albums and god knows what else in the way of releases, here’s where to start with Wire - despite their huge legacy, absolutely not a legacy act…
KWL Even after decades of churning out consistently stark, highly original songs, Wire still absolutely excel - although lots of their current and recent material is a lot more digestible than in their early years - this, from 2017’s Silver/ Lead is big slow-grooving song which gives an excellent idea of the kind of discomforting experimental noise Wire have always dealt in. A steady rhythm section struggles against all matter of ethereal out of key guitar, weird oscillating noises and throbbing synth lines. Musically and lyrically challenging and abstract without ever feeling overwrought. Sardonic without any hint of bitterness. Dense without even a smidgen of unpalatability. Is it always so? Aye.
Harry Fanshawe
Wire for me have always been a band on the periphery of punk history. Not to say that is rightly so, but they’re a band that I’ve seen has being earmarked as integral by the nerdier music fans (I mean that with fondness). Take Joy Division, they formed because they saw the Sex Pistols, but they made something much deeper and more meaningful. My mental placement for Wire has had them alongside the likes of Killing Joke in that history (weirder and less easy to associate with the common idea of ‘punk’), and I feel like their evolution has been similar. Like you say this track favours simplicity with the steady beat, allowing a nicely sized canvas to throw as many different colours at, which they do with the layers they chuck on top. That is an approach that I see as being more contemporary of today than the 70s (favouring simplicity and excelling in it has really come back in the last few years). It shows how adaptable this band has been over the decades.
KWL Wire’s first album Pink Flag has gone down in music history as one of the seminal British records of the early punk movement, largely down to it’s combination of abrasiveness, melody and brevity. 21 songs in 36 minutes, often fleetingly abrupt, played at breakneck pace and infused with an abstract sense of humour and an art-school sensibility that set them miles apart from their contemporaries. This one, Lowdown, sounds like a soul single on 33rpm; a fascinating disco dirge and highlight of a pretty highlight-heavy first LP.
HF Right back to the 70s and for me that Crazy Horse vibe is straight in there. This is the THE Wire album. Fight me. Musically, it’s a whole different sound to the last song, it’s got vibe and groove and all the amazing characteristics of the best 70s bands. Vocally I find it more alike the stuff of the 2010s, though I reckon that’s probably debatable! It’s obviously got that old school, British punk oi! to it and today they’re much calmer. But you can hear it. For anyone who knows Kai and his musical projects of the last few years, this riff is SO Kai.
British musician Jacob Ware, founding member/bassist of metal band Enslavement, and live bassist for indie outfit Fern has forrayed into yet another sonic domain in the form of lush acoustic shoegaze project Rapt. The meaning of the name itself is intended to be loose and fluid, not to be hemmed into any specific idea or concept, allowing the sound to float unhibited through a variety of genres. This is apparent as one explores his current discography.
Ware’s latest release, Within Thrall, kicks off with acoustic and velvety ‘Girl In Black’, followed by ‘Wax & Rosewood’, a cavernous song fleshed out by hushed harmonies, transitioning seamelessly into whistful and floaty track ‘Torn’. The mini-album is comprised of five quiet, albiet weighty bangers. On this release, Ware has collaborated with Demi Haynes, whose dreamy vocals elevate and brighten the grounded and reverby acoustic guitar picking. Within Thrall is a departure from his previous Ulrich Schnauss-esque, self-titled EP, though equally dreamy.
Ware mentioned that he can’t wait until sometime in his thirties to compose, as by then life will presumably have thrown enough turbulent experiences his way, providing material from which he can write music of immense depth. However after immersing myself in these two EP’s, I would very much so beg to differ.
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for Rapt’s forthcoming record ‘None Of This Will Matter’, out sometime this summer.
Crystalline Stricture is the minimalwave solo project of Belfast-based Alan Watkins. Signed to Northern Ireland electro label Tonn Recordings, Watkins utilizes lush synths & analogue looping to create a particularly rich and upbeat brand of synth wave. Introduced to music by his older brother (naturally) Watkins has been influenced by everything from the synth heavy post-rock tangents of Pink Floyd to electro-pop pioneers Kraftwerk– always finding himself captivated by the analogue looping of electronic instruments. During our tour of brutalist parking lots in rainy Belfast, Watkins recounted to me the life-affirming occasion where he cycled to a packed house of teenagers eagerly waiting for something to dance to, armed only with a brand new copy of Depeche Mode’s debut record ‘Speak and Spell’. Needless to say, he has been sonically curating parties all over the city ever since.
Sampling otherworldly female vocals and backdropped by futuristic effects & a pulsating bass, Crystalline Stricture captures the sound of an illegal New York warehouse party circa 1995. I’d definitely describe this as a much warmer coldwave, as expansive thumping beats fill the chilly void often left by analogue synth music. His latest album, Technique, kicks off with the optimistic & energizing ‘Truth’, before dropping immediately into ‘Traum Warship’, a seriously dirty quasi-industrial banger. Futuristic sound effects and Mary McIntyre’s (of Tonn Recordings) haunting vocals float throughout the rest of the album, grounded on a powerful and engaging line of hypnotic driving beats. His upcoming album, Nouveau Neon, is set to be his first release on cassette and due sometime early next year. Until then, however, I heartily recommend losing yourself in one of his excellent remixes.