Synthpop project TéMèT releases the single “What We Are” on 2 October 2026 on all platforms. The track leans into a Depeche Mode-inspired synthpop sound, more melodic and atmospheric than the project’s previous, darker and more energetic releases.

Lyrically, “What We Are” traces a slow unraveling, something rising to the surface that can no longer be hidden, building toward the refrain: “We become what we are.”

TéMèT has previously been featured by Side-Line and EBM.gr, and the track “Discord” was included in eLxAr’s Retro Music August compilation.

About TéMèT

TéMèT is a synthpop and darkwave duo, K1 and MYK, based in Strasbourg, France. The project’s name draws on Tem, the ancient Egyptian deity associated with the setting sun and with creation and endings, and its sound mixes a melodic, atmospheric register influenced by acts such as Depeche Mode with the darker, more energetic material in its earlier catalogue. The duo’s single “Discord,” described by its members as sitting between Depeche Mode and OMD, was released in August 2026, covered by Side-Line and EBM.gr, and later included in eLxAr’s Retro Music August compilation. “What We Are” follows as TéMèT’s next single, out 2 October 2026 on all platforms.

Industrial rock band Engines of Aggression release the single Wargames on September 28, 2026, through Phoenix, Arizona outfit Sonic 9 Entertainment. A private pre-release preview of the track is available now on the band’s official site. “Wargames” follows the 2025 singles “Start a War” and “Nightmare in Pain Town.”

Engines of Aggression describe “Wargames” as mixing mechanized industrial rhythms with a hard-rock edge in the vein of Rob Zombie and Static-X. The current lineup is Tripp on vocals, Ríos on guitar, Sterling on bass and Deech on drums.

The band’s own materials state that Engines of Aggression headlined the Whisky a Go Go on the mid-1990s Los Angeles club circuit, with Korn and System of a Down opening for them at the time, and that the band shared bills with Danzig and Henry Rollins.

About Engines of Aggression

Engines of Aggression formed in Los Angeles in the early 1990s around frontman Tripp Holland, who recruited guitarist Rik Schaffer, drummer Craig Dollinger and bassist Douglas Van Dyck. The band released the “Speak” EP in 1993 on Priority Records and the debut album “Inhuman Nature” in 1994, issued by Priority Records in the US and Virgin in Europe. “Inhuman Nature” was produced by Lamar Lowder, mixed and engineered by Brian Jenkens and mastered by Tom Baker. The band built a following on the Sunset Strip club circuit through the mid-1990s before a collapsed record deal and internal conflict ended that run of activity.

Engines of Aggression returned in the 2020s, relocating to Phoenix, Arizona under Sonic 9 Entertainment. The band released “The Black E.P.,” originally issued only in Japan, on June 14, 2024, produced by Steve Duda, whose credits include Nine Inch Nails, Deadmau5 and Rob Zombie. The EP’s four tracks are “New Shanghai,” “Let U Down,” “Moto Psycho” and “Go Fanatic.” The comeback continued through 2025 with the singles “Start a War” and “Nightmare in Pain Town,” both produced with longtime collaborator Lamar Lowder. The current lineup comprises Tripp (vocals), Ríos (guitar), Sterling (bass) and Deech (drums). “Wargames,” due September 28, 2026, is the band’s next single following that 2025 run.

Suzanne Perry, the vocalist of 1990s dream pop duo Love Spirals Downwards, released the three-track EP “There’ll Be No More Promises” on Projekt Records on September 18, 2026. The EP is available as a name-your-price digital release on Bandcamp and through streaming and download platforms, and is described on its release page as dream pop, ethereal and darkwave.

Perry recorded the EP with multi-instrumentalist Cris Miller of the solo dream-pop project Silver Screen. The lead and title track, “There’ll Be No More Promises,” is new material; the second track is a re-recording of the Love Spirals Downwards song “Ladonna Dissima,” originally released on the duo’s 1994 debut album “Idylls”; the third is a cover of Danny Elfman’s “Sally’s Song” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Perry describes her songwriting process as “instinctively formed as an escape. I find myself captivated within the experience of honest expressionistic music brought into being from a deep introspective place.” Miller, discussing his approach to the collaboration, says he “pay[s] special attention to detail and pursue[s] a holistic approach: envisioning the entire sound first, allowing free experimentation during the process, knowing the direction of the song will be uncovered.”

Perry is scheduled to perform live at Brickbat Mansion in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, October 24, 2026.

About Suzanne Perry

Suzanne Perry is the vocalist of Love Spirals Downwards, the dream pop duo she formed with guitarist and producer Ryan Lum in Orange County, California, in the early 1990s. The project released its debut album, “Idylls,” in 1994, followed by “Flux” (1995), “Ardor” (1996) and “Ever” (1999), largely on Projekt Records, building a reputation within the American dream pop and ethereal scenes alongside labels including Projekt Records. Love Spirals Downwards has been inactive as a group for extended periods since, with Perry periodically re-emerging with new recordings.

“There’ll Be No More Promises,” released September 18, 2026, reunites Perry with Projekt Records and pairs her with Cris Miller of Silver Screen. Alongside the new title track, the EP revisits Love Spirals Downwards’ own catalogue with a redesigned version of “Ladonna Dissima” and adds a cover of “Sally’s Song,” continuing the ethereal, harmony-driven sound Perry first established three decades ago.

During Side-Line’s own AI-assisted research today, September 16, 2026, an AI web-search tool returned a fabricated claim: that Depeche Mode was releasing a new studio album titled “Come This Madness” on September 25, 2026. No such album exists, of course. It was another AI agent — one we developed to check the claims made by other AI tools — that prevented the article from landing in our editorial flow for further work.

Since many of you reading this work with AI professionally, we just wanted to give you a technical account of how that specific kind of error happens. It also shows why all publications need to invest in verification when working with AI. And as an extra, here’s a very suitable Depeche Mode video to go along with this article :).

The tool searches, then writes a very short summary for us to work on

The AI search tool in question does not work like a traditional search engine that returns a ranked list of links. It runs a query, retrieves a set of web pages or snippets that match it, and then uses a large language model to generate a written summary of what those results say. This two-step process, retrieval followed by generation, is standard for AI-assisted search and is usually described as retrieval-augmented generation.

The retrieval step worked correctly in this case. The underlying search returned real, relevant results, including a legitimate Mojo magazine feature on Depeche Mode’s Berlin period and coverage of the band’s 40th-anniversary “Black Celebration” material. The failure happened in the second step, when the language model converted those results into prose.

Why a language model can state a false fact with confidence

Here it gets interesting, of course. A large language model generates text one token at a time by predicting the statistically likely continuation of the text so far, based on patterns learned from its training data. When it is asked to summarize search results, in this case on Depeche Mode, it is not running a database query that returns exact matches; it is composing a new sentence that resembles the kind of sentence that would plausibly follow from the material it has been shown, blended with patterns from unrelated text it saw during training.

For a band with a five-decade recording history, dozens of studio albums, tours, and reissues, and a large body of fan and press writing, the model has an enormous internal store of patterns for what a Depeche Mode album announcement looks like: a title, a release date roughly a few weeks out, a label. When the retrieved search results did not contain a clean, direct answer to “Depeche Mode news September 2026,” the model filled the gap with a statistically plausible-sounding invention rather than stating that no such album was found.

This behavior is commonly called a hallucination or, more precisely, a confabulation: fluent, well-formed text that is not grounded in any specific retrieved source, generated because the model’s training optimizes for producing plausible continuations, not for flagging uncertainty.

No per-sentence source attribution

A second technical factor made the error harder to catch at the point of generation. The summary presented several genuine facts, drawn from real search results, alongside the fabricated album claim, in the same paragraph and the same tone, with no inline citation marking which sentence came from which source. When a retrieval-augmented system does not attach a verifiable source link to every individual claim in its output, a fabricated sentence is indistinguishable, on the page, from a verified one. Some AI search tools address this by forcing every sentence to carry a citation and refusing to generate sentences that cannot be tied to a specific retrieved passage; the tool used here did not do that consistently for this query.

How the Depeche Mode error was caught

Our editorial workflow treats AI-generated claims as unverified until checked against a primary or otherwise reliable source. The AI agent we use for this directly checked official Depeche Mode sources, and none mentioned any album by that title. A separate search of Bing (as a double check for Google) for the same underlying query surfaced no matching result anywhere on the public web, confirming that the claim had no traceable origin.

Because it could not be sourced, it was discarded and the Depeche Mode article pitch never ended up in our flow. We found it while routinely checking the results of the AI agents at work to see if the agents were doing their work properly. You have to do this as an AI operator, or you end up with some pretty weird results, as this example shows.

Also, you might want to know that we run various AI agents (each specialized in certain data) to catch factual errors in promo copy that we get (you would be surprised how many press texts sent by labels and bands have factual errors) before we start working on the articles themselves.

Fernando’s Eyes releases the single “Room On Fire” on 25 September via Aenaos Records, the project‘s first new material since last year’s album “Center Of Your World” and its accompanying “Bonus Tracks & Remixes”. A video accompanies the release on the same day. You can pre-save the single right now.

Fernando’s Eyes is the solo project of Fernando Honorato, singer and co-founder of Stockholm post-punk band Principe Valiente. “Room On Fire” moves with more directness than the atmospheric material on “Center Of Your World”: Honorato produced the track himself, with co-production and mix by Hans Olsson, layering programmed drums against live toms he played personally. A saxophone part by Swedish jazz musician Lina Langendorf cuts through the arrangement without turning ornamental.

Honorato describes “Room On Fire” as a song about leaving without looking back, a deliberate choice rather than a loss, with the production’s forward momentum matching that resolve.

About Fernando’s Eyes

Fernando Honorato is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of Principe Valiente, the Swedish post-punk and darkwave band he founded in 2005. In 2025, he opened a more personal creative outlet through the solo project Fernando’s Eyes, starting with the single “A Million Times” and followed by the debut album “Center Of Your World”. “Room On Fire” is the project’s first new single since that album.

California duo Antania release the single and video “33”, the first taste of their new album The Unholy 33, due 16 October 2026 via Argonauta Records. The digital album follows, with physical CD and vinyl editions to be detailed later.

Antania, the project of Doc Luna and Kali Mortem, build “33” entirely without conventional guitars or bass, relying instead on synthesizers, distorted textures and machine-like rhythms. The duo describe their sound as avant-garde black metal filtered through industrial and experimental electronics, citing Dødheimsgard, Mysticum and Thorns alongside the dark electronic legacies of Skinny Puppy and Ministry as reference points.

“The Unholy 33” runs eleven tracks: “33”, “DVHM3R”, “Sn0wAnGeL”, “Gloomzday”, “ThUgG33”, “Cykl0pZ”, “Flies”, “AntVniV”, “Frazzledrip”, “Kultz” and “HEarSe”.

Following the album’s release, Doc Luna and Kali Mortem head to Asia in support, joining Swedish extreme metal act The Crown for dates in the UAE, Japan and South Korea, followed by an appearance alongside Evergrey in India.

About Antania

Antania is the Californian duo of Doc Luna and Kali Mortem. The project began as a doom-bass act, releasing the debut album “Lividity” in 2023 before signing with Triad Records later that year. Antania supported Psyclon Nine on a 2024 European tour alongside Devil M. “The Unholy 33” marks the duo’s move to Argonauta Records and a shift toward the avant-garde industrial black metal sound built entirely from electronics.

Talking Heads’ debut studio album, “Talking Heads: 77,” turns 49 this year. The New York band released the record on 16 September 1977 through Sire Records. Recording took place at Sundragon Studios in New York, with a first block of sessions in April and May 1977 and a final round of overdubs and mixing at ODO Studios in June.

“Talking Heads: 77” runs eleven tracks and just under 39 minutes. It was produced by Tony Bongiovi, Lance Quinn and Talking Heads, with Ed Stasium engineering and mixing. All songs were written by David Byrne, except closer “Psycho Killer,” co-written with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. The tracklist runs “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town,” “New Feeling,” “Tentative Decisions,” “Happy Day,” “Who Is It?,” “No Compassion,” “The Book I Read,” “Don’t Worry About the Government,” “First Week/Last Week…Carefree,” “Psycho Killer” and “Pulled Up.” The cover photograph was shot by Mick Rock, with cover art credited to David Byrne.

“Psycho Killer” reached number 92 on the US Billboard Hot 100 after its release as a single in December 1977, and the album itself peaked at number 97 on the Billboard 200 and number 60 on the UK Albums Chart. “Talking Heads: 77” is included in the reference book “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die” and was ranked among Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” A remastered deluxe edition followed in 2005 with bonus tracks, and a further expanded box set was released in November 2024 with outtakes and a live 1977 CBGB recording.

About Talking Heads

Talking Heads formed in New York in 1975 as a trio of David Byrne on guitar and vocals, Chris Frantz on drums and Tina Weymouth on bass, all former students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The three moved into a shared loft on the Lower East Side and began performing at CBGB, the club that anchored the city’s punk and new-wave scene alongside acts such as the Ramones and Television. Jerry Harrison, formerly of the Modern Lovers, joined on guitar and keyboards in 1977, completing the lineup before recording began on the band’s debut album.

Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein signed Talking Heads in November 1976 after seeing the band open for the Ramones. Sessions for “Talking Heads: 77” started at Sundragon Studios in April 1977 with producers Tony Bongiovi and Lance Quinn, with a break in recording for a European tour supporting the Ramones before the group returned to New York in June to finish vocals, overdubs and mixing at ODO Studios. The album was released on 16 September 1977 in the US and UK through Sire, and by Philips Records across continental Europe.

Talking Heads followed their debut with “More Songs About Buildings and Food” (1978), “Fear of Music” (1979) and “Remain in Light” (1980), the latter two produced with Brian Eno, before the band’s biggest commercial success with “Speaking in Tongues” (1983) and the concert film “Stop Making Sense” (1984). The band disbanded in 1991. Forty-nine years after its release, “Talking Heads: 77” remains the starting point of that catalogue and the first appearance on record of “Psycho Killer.”

French covers project Nouvelle Vague will release its Depeche Mode tribute album, A Date with Depeche Mode, on October 30 through Kwaidan Records and [PIAS]. The full 13-track lineup and its guest vocalists are now confirmed, following the March 2027 UK tour of the same name that Side-Line reported in June.

The album was recorded between Rio de Janeiro and Paris. It reworks thirteen Depeche Mode songs in Nouvelle Vague’s bossa nova and lounge style, with a rotating cast of guest singers taking one track each.

‘A Date with Depeche Mode’ tracklist

1. “Enjoy the Silence” (feat. Skye Edwards & Larry Love)
2. “Never Let Me Down Again” (feat. Flavia Coelho)
3. “Only When I Lose Myself” (feat. Mélanie Pain)
4. “Shake the Disease” (feat. Fredrika Stahl)
5. “A Question of Lust” (feat. Beth Hirsch)
6. “Behind the Wheel” (feat. Lily Oaks)
7. “Personal Jesus” (feat. Skye Edwards)
8. “Halo” (feat. Phoebe Killdeer)
9. “Leave in Silence” (feat. Nedime Girisken)
10. “Any Second Now” (feat. Morenike)
11. “Just Can’t Get Enough” (feat. Eva de Marce)
12. “Stripped” (feat. Eva de Marce)
13. “Ice Machine” (feat. Lisa Crawley)

Skye Edwards, of Morcheeba, and Phoebe Killdeer each sing two tracks. Larry Love, of Alabama 3, joins Edwards on the opening “Enjoy the Silence.” The album ships as an LP (catalog PIASLL244LP) and CD.

Three singles have preceded the album. “Enjoy the Silence,” with Edwards and Love, arrived first, with an official video released on Nouvelle Vague’s YouTube channel. “Never Let Me Down Again,” with Flavia Coelho, followed, and “Only When I Lose Myself,” featuring Mélanie Pain, came out on August 27.

Nouvelle Vague and Depeche Mode have a prior connection: the band’s 2009 album “3” included a version of “Master and Servant” sung by Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore alongside Nouvelle Vague vocalist Mélanie Pain, who returns as a guest on “A Date with Depeche Mode.”

The album leads into Nouvelle Vague’s 13-date “A Date With Depeche Mode” UK tour in March 2027, running from Stratford-upon-Avon on March 4 to Edinburgh on March 20.

About Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague is a French covers project formed in Paris in 2003 by producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. The name references French New Wave cinema, the new-wave music the band covers, and bossa nova. Collin’s original idea was to record Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in a bossa nova arrangement; the duo then recorded versions of Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” and The Clash’s “The Guns of Brixton” and assembled a debut album over roughly eight months.

The self-titled debut, “Nouvelle Vague,” was released in 2004 on Peacefrog and reworked songs by XTC, Modern English, Killing Joke, The Clash, Joy Division, Tuxedomoon, The Cure and The Undertones. The second album, “Bande à Part” (2006), reached number 23 in France and number 79 on the UK Albums Chart, with versions of Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love,” New Order’s “Blue Monday,” Echo & the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.”

The third album, “3” (2009), brought in guest vocalists associated with the original songs, including Martin Gore, Ian McCulloch of Echo & the Bunnymen, Terry Hall of The Specials and Barry Adamson. “Couleurs sur Paris” (2010) collected French-language remakes with guests including Vanessa Paradis and Cœur de pirate. Marc Collin also released “Hollywood, mon amour” (2008), applying the same reinterpretation method to 1980s film-soundtrack songs.

The project is known for a rotating cast of mostly female vocalists, several of whom went on to solo careers, including Camille, Phoebe Killdeer, Mélanie Pain, Nadéah Miranda and Élodie Frégé. After “3” and “Couleurs sur Paris,” the band reduced its activity before returning with the EP “Athol Brose” and the album “I Could Be Happy” in 2016. Olivier Libaux died in 2021, and Collin has continued to lead the project live. “A Date with Depeche Mode” is Nouvelle Vague’s first album built entirely around a single artist’s catalogue, and its October 30 release now gives a full shape to the tour Side-Line covered in June.

VNV Nation, the British-Irish futurepop and EBM project led by Ronan Harris, released “Automatic” on 16 September 2011 through Anachron Sounds. The album turns 15 this year. Harris recorded it at the band’s own studio between May and August 2011, wrote the words and music, produced it, and made the artwork.

It was the eighth VNV Nation studio album, issued in Europe as a CD digipak, with the North American physical CD following on 25 October 2011. In its first week it entered the German Media Control chart at number 8, the duo’s first top ten placing there, and stayed three weeks. It also reached number 66 in Austria, number 77 in Switzerland and number 50 in Sweden, and spent four weeks at number 1 on the Deutsche Alternative Charts.

VNV Nation’s ‘Automatic’ tracklist and credits

The record runs ten tracks: “On-Air”, “Space & Time”, “Resolution”, “Control”, “Goodbye 20th Century”, “Streamline”, “Gratitude”, “Nova”, “Photon” and “Radio”. “Control” went out as a free download ahead of the album without being issued as a single, and “Nova” picked up German radio airplay.

VNV Nation at the time were Harris and Mark Jackson. André Winter handled additional mix production and mixed the album with Harris, and Miles Showell mastered it at Metropolis Mastering in London. Ben Wolf shot the photography. Copies sold on the road during the Automatic tour in 2011 were signed and hand-numbered by the band.

The album stayed in the live set long after that. Across December 2016 and late 2017 the duo ran the Automatic Empire tour, playing “Automatic” and “Empires” almost in full, leaving out only “Photon” from the former and “Firstlight” from the latter. A double vinyl edition followed in clear and black pressings, reported here in VNV Nation reissues ‘Automatic’ on double vinyl (clear/transparent + black).

About VNV Nation

Ronan Harris grew up in Dublin, where radio introduced him to Kraftwerk, DAF and The Human League. He joined a band called Die Fabrik in 1983, moved to London in 1989 and began writing under the name Nation, then relocated to Toronto in 1990. In 1994 he revived the project as VNV Nation, taking the initials from his motto “Victory Not Vengeance”.

The first release, “Advance and Follow”, appeared in 1995. Harris has described it as a set of demos rather than a finished album, and a 2001 reissue, “Advance and Follow 2.0”, added re-recorded vocals and five bonus tracks, two of them Front 242 covers. “Praise the Fallen” followed in 1998. Through the same period Harris wrote for Side-Line and served as the magazine’s webmaster until 1999.

“Empires”, released in 1999, spent seven weeks at number 1 on the Deutsche Alternative Charts. “Futureperfect” arrived in 2002, built entirely with software synthesizers, and around that point Harris and Apoptygma Berzerk‘s Stephan Groth were credited with coining the term futurepop. Mark Jackson, the band’s live drummer since the mid-1990s, was by then the second half of the studio line-up. “Matter + Form” came in 2005 and topped the DAC albums chart, and “Judgement” followed on 4 April 2007, written and recorded in the band’s own room inside the Soundfactory Studios complex in Hamburg.

The box set “Reformation 1” reached Europe on 24 April 2009, which pushed the next album back. Harris told Side-Line the title referred to the 3 things that people desire and which can make you or destroy you, and “Of Faith, Power and Glory” reached Europe on 19 June 2009. “Automatic” followed in 2011 and “Transnational” in 2013. The orchestral collection “Resonance: Music For Orchestra Vol. 1” was recorded at the Babelsberg Studios outside Berlin in February 2015 and released that 15 May, reaching number 7 on the official German album chart.

Jackson’s departure in November 2017 was reported in Exclusive : Mark Jackson leaves VNV Nation. Read full statement., with the band’s statement saying he had left to pursue other paths in life. Harris continued alone. “Noire” arrived in 2018, covered in VNV Nation releases new album ‘Noire’ – Out now, on Anachron outside North America and on Metropolis Records in the United States, and it carried the project’s first official music video, reported in VNV Nation debuts official video for ‘When is the future’. “Electric Sun” followed on 28 April 2023, covered in VNV Nation has a new album out, ‘Electric Sun’, 5 years after previous studio album ‘Noire’, and Harris talked through that record in the Side-Line piece VNV Nation interview: ‘Life goes on, the world goes on’. North American dates with Traitrs ran into 2024, announced in VNV Nation launches extra North American tour dates with Traitrs. “Construct” arrived on 9 May 2025.

Fifteen years on, “Automatic” sits in the middle of that run as the record that gave VNV Nation their first German top ten album.

On October 2, 2026, Arsine Tibé releases the instrumental EP “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode III)”. The German project is the solo work of Manfred Thomaser, known from the synthpop duo !Distain, and the new EP continues the Lounge Noire Sessions series that began earlier in 2026.

‘The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode III)’ continues the series

“The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode III)” follows “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode I)” and “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode II)”, which Arsine Tibé released on June 19, 2026. Unlike “Reclaimed”, the concept mini-album Thomaser released in August 2026 with vocalist Suzanne Letting, Episode III returns to the instrumental format of the first two Lounge Noire Sessions EPs. No streaming or purchase links for the EP have gone live yet ahead of the October 2 release date.

About Arsine Tibé

Arsine Tibé is the Lounge Noire and electronic pop solo project of Manfred Thomaser, based in Munich, Germany. Thomaser describes the project’s sound as drawing on lounge, soundtrack, ambient, new wave, electro and pop elements. He is best known as one half of !Distain, the German synthpop duo he shares with Alexander Braun, and has also worked on the projects Demokratie and The Independent Seasons.

Side-Line first covered Arsine Tibé in February 2016, when Thomaser launched a mini-album under the project name, led by the track “Obligation”. The Arsine Tibé discography grew through releases such as “We Came To Fail”, “Good Evening, The Mountain Said” and “The Copy”, issued through the area db imprint, alongside collaborations with Suzanne Letting including “Beyond the Point (feat. Suzanne Letting)”.

In 2026 Thomaser opened the Lounge Noire Sessions series with “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode I)”, followed by “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode II)” on June 19. Arsine Tibé and Letting then released the four-track concept mini-album “Reclaimed” on August 7, 2026, with proceeds tied to a Refuge fundraiser. “The Lounge Noire Sessions (Episode III)”, out October 2, 2026, continues the instrumental EP series alongside that ongoing collaborative work.

Mesh will host a live online Q&A titled “An Hour With Mesh” on 22 September 2026, previewing new material and further details of what the British electronic duo describe as an “unusual release”. Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn will take part in the one-hour Zoom session, which also allows fans to submit their own questions in advance.

The Q&A is scheduled for 19:00 BST / 20:00 CET on 22 September, with registration open via mesh.co.uk/qa. The session will give an early listen to new music alongside an explanation of the concept behind the upcoming release, though Mesh have not yet detailed what format or title it will take.

The duo spent much of 2026 touring behind the album “The Truth Doesn’t Matter”, released on Dependent Records and preceded by the singles “Exile”, “Hey Stranger” and “This World”. The band’s own description of the newly teased material as “unusual” sets it apart from that album cycle, though no release date has been confirmed for it.

About Mesh

Mesh are the British electronic duo of vocalist Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn, active since the mid-1990s and among the longer-running acts in the UK electropop and synth-driven alternative scene. The band’s catalogue includes the 1999 debut “The Point at Which It Falls Apart”, reissued in a 25th-anniversary edition in 2024, through to 2026’s “The Truth Doesn’t Matter” on Dependent Records. Hockings also records as Blackcarburning, releasing the album “Watching Sleepers” and the EP “Divide Us” alongside his work in the band.

Metropolis Records presses 16Volt‘s “LetDownCrush” on yellow vinyl for the first time, marking 30 years since the industrial rock album’s original release with a limited edition of 300 copies out 9 October 2026.

“LetDownCrush” first appeared on 7 August 1996 through Cargo and Re-Constriction Records, the third 16Volt studio album after “Wisdom” (1993) and “Skin” (1994) and the last the band released on Re-Constriction before signing to Metropolis. The album stayed out of print for 15 years until Metropolis remastered and reissued it on CD in 2012, adding a cover of Cypress Hill’s “We Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That” as a bonus track. The new vinyl edition carries the original ten-track sequence plus that bonus cut.

16Volt is the project of Portland-formed vocalist, guitarist and producer Eric Powell, who wrote or co-wrote every song on “LetDownCrush” with guitarist Marc LaCorte, credited on four tracks. Guest vocalist Stella “Soleil” Katsoudas features on opener “Swarm,” Dan Pred plays live drums on “A Cloth Like Gauze,” and the late guitarist William Tucker contributes additional and lead guitar. Jeff “Critter” Newell produced and engineered alongside Powell. Tracks “The Dreams That Rot in Your Heart” and “The Cut Collector” have remained fixtures of the band’s live sets since the album’s release.

16Volt’s release history since ‘LetDownCrush’

16Volt followed “LetDownCrush” with “SuperCoolNothing” (1998, Re-Constriction) before moving to Metropolis Records for “FullBlackHabit” (2007), “American Porn Songs” (2009) and “Beating Dead Horses” (2011). Side-Line previously covered the band’s remastered reissue of its debut album “Wisdom” and its 2024 return with “NegativeOnArrivals,” a compilation drawing on the self-released “The Negative Space” (2016) and “Dead on Arrivals” (2017), which Metropolis also reissued that same year. 16Volt’s most recent studio album, “More of Less,” arrived on Metropolis on 25 July 2025.

About 16Volt

16Volt was formed in Portland, Oregon, by vocalist, guitarist and producer Eric Powell in 1988. Powell recruited drummer Joel Bornzin, guitarist Jon Fell and Jeff Taylor to record “Motorskill,” which appeared on the “Cyberflesh Conspiracy” various-artists compilation on If It Moves. The band signed to Re-Constriction Records and released its debut album, “Wisdom,” on 25 May 1993, followed by “Skin” in 1994 and “LetDownCrush” in 1996. 16Volt closed out its run on Re-Constriction with “SuperCoolNothing” in 1998. The band later contributed nine tracks, three written specifically for the game, to the soundtrack of the video game “Primal.”

16Volt signed to Metropolis Records for “FullBlackHabit” (2007), “American Porn Songs” (2009) and “Beating Dead Horses” (2011). Powell self-released “The Negative Space” (2016) and “Dead on Arrivals” (2017) on his own Murder Creek label before the band went on hiatus. Powell reactivated 16Volt in 2024 with “NegativeOnArrivals,” combining material from those two self-released records for wider distribution, and followed it with the new studio album “More of Less” on Metropolis in July 2025. The current lineup is Powell on vocals, John “Servo” DeSalvo on drums, “Mindcage” Rick Furr on guitars and Jim Semonik on keyboards. The 30th-anniversary yellow vinyl pressing of “LetDownCrush” places the band’s first Metropolis-era physical reissue of the album alongside its recent run of new and archival releases on the label.

Naples dark folk act Corde Oblique released the single “Emma” on September 11, 2026, the first track from their tenth studio album, “All’ombra dei fanciulli in fiore” (In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower), due November 27 on German label Dark Vinyl Records. The title references Marcel Proust and centers on parenthood.

‘Emma’ previews a 12-track album recorded in Naples and mastered at Abbey Road

Corde Oblique, led by composer and art historian Riccardo Prencipe, recorded “All’ombra dei fanciulli in fiore” between Peppino di Capri’s Splash Studios in Naples and London, where it was mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Alex Wharton. The album runs 12 tracks plus a bonus track, mixed by Massimo Aluzzi, and moves across metal, prog rock, folk songwriting and dark wave elements. The band’s core lineup on the record is Prencipe on classical and electric guitar, Alfredo Notarloberti on violin, Alessio Sica on drums, Umberto Lepore on bass and Rita Saviano on vocals. Guest contributors include singer-songwriter Andrea Chimenti, a voice of the Italian New Wave scene, on three tracks, and actress Maddalena Crippa, who provides a spoken-word performance. The digipak and booklet use vintage 1980s photographs of Pozzuoli and the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields), tying the album to the region where it was recorded.

Corde Oblique open a promotional tour on October 24 at the Schwarzer Herbst Festival in Löbau, Germany, followed by Italian dates at Teatro Bolivar in Naples on November 20 and at Improve in Castelfranco Veneto on November 21.

About Corde Oblique

Corde Oblique is an Italian dark folk project founded and led by Naples-based composer and art historian Riccardo Prencipe. Side-Line has followed the band’s output since at least 2018, and covered their 2020 album “The Moon Is a Dry Bone.” “Emma” and the accompanying album “All’ombra dei fanciulli in fiore” mark the band’s tenth full-length and its first new release on Dark Vinyl Records, continuing a catalog built on the intersection of classical guitar, folk songwriting and darker, heavier textures.

“Mood Starters” is the result of a collaboration between Belgian artists Pedro Maras (BedouinDrone) and Marc Ceulemans (Brainquake). They share a common vision of music and the atmosphere surrounding it, which has resulted in this 11-track album, released on the Bulgarian label Mahorka.

“Mood Starters” is all about atmosphere—a dark and unsettling mood that evokes a sense of mental anguish. Intense, sometimes overwhelming dark sounds alternately blast you away and carry you along on an imaginary deathbed. The album sits somewhere between Dark-Ambient and Cinematic music, while being spiced up with other Electronic music elements, including a brilliant closing track that opens a window onto IDM. Add a few highly Experimental tracks to the mix, and you get a pretty clear picture of what “Mood Starters” is all about. At times, the music feels almost improvised, which I find to be the album’s weakest aspect. For the most part, however, the tracks sound carefully considered, crafted with a vast arsenal of sounds, effects, and even field recordings.

BedouinDrone and Brainquake seem unconcerned with genre boundaries, preferring instead to experiment freely. The result is a collection of strong tracks that conjure up powerful visual imagery. I can only hope the duo will repeat this experience, as this album demonstrates enormous potential. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Cages”:

About BedouinDrone & Brainquake

BedouinDrone is the dark ambient and illbient project of Belgian artist Pedro Maras, built around dense atmospheres, layered drones and a cinematic sense of storytelling shaped by themes of loneliness, memory and collapsing emotional landscapes. Brainquake is the industrial project of Belgian artist Marc Ceulemans, working with mechanical repetition, distorted textures, fragmented rhythms and psychological pressure rooted in classic industrial traditions. The two artists had never met in person before recording together for the Bulgarian label Mahorka, which released their collaboration album “Mood Starters” on June 5, 2026.

This post was created by Epidemic Sound and published as a sponsored article.

A commercial music license can only pass on rights that the artist handed over in the first place. Whatever the artist kept, or gave to someone else, the brand doesn’t get.

A commercial music license is the last step in a chain of permissions. The chain starts with the songwriter and the performer and ends with the brand that wants to use the track. That might mean using music in a social media video, an advertisement, a podcast or broadcast, in a store, or at a live event, whether the work is produced in-house or through an agency or production partner.

At each step in the chain, a right is either handed on to the next party or kept. The agreement a brand signs with a music provider can therefore only contain rights that were handed on all the way to the end.

There are three rights that can be involved in commercial use of a track

Synchronization is the right to pair music with moving images, which every video needs.

Mechanical is the right to reproduce the composition as audio. It’s used when music is copied or distributed, for example as a download, on a physical recording, or when a track is stored on a system for playback. In video, it’s usually cleared together with synchronization.

Public performance is the right to play the finished track in public: on broadcast, on streaming and social media platforms, in a store, or at a live event.

Which rights a brand needs depends on the use. Most commercial uses need at least two.

How do a track’s rights travel from the artist to a brand?

Every right starts with the person who made the work, and each time it changes hands, a contract decides whether it moves on or stays. Two routes are common.

In both routes, the music provider, the service that ultimately licenses the music to the brand, sits between the rights holders and the brand. What changes is how many of the rights have reached the music provider by the time the brand asks for a license.

The society route

• A songwriter creates the composition; an artist performs it. The composition and the sound recording are two separate pieces of intellectual property.
• The songwriter, or a publisher the songwriter has granted rights to, places the public performance rights in the composition with a performing rights organization (PRO). The PRO can then license those rights and collect royalties when the music is publicly performed.
• The publisher controls or administers other rights in the composition, including synchronization and mechanical rights. Rights in the sound recording are typically controlled by the artist, a label, or another recording rights holder. Royalties for recording rights holders can also be collected by a separate organization, such as SoundExchange, which collects for digital radio play in the U.S.
• A music provider clears the rights it needs from the publisher and the owner of the sound recording, allowing it to license the track for uses such as synchronization and reproduction.
• The music provider licenses those uses to the brand.
• The brand has been licensed two of the three rights. Public performance is still with the PRO and may require a second license, from a second party, paid separately.

The direct route

• An artist writes and records the track.
• The artist hands the relevant economic rights to one music provider and joins no PRO.
• The music provider licenses all three rights to the brand.
• The brand can license all three rights from the same source. The relevant rights haven’t been split between the music provider and a PRO.

Epidemic Sound, a global music provider built on the direct route, works first-hand with artists and controls the economic rights needed to license its music, including public performance rights. That means a brand doesn’t have to assemble those rights from several different rights holders or arrange separate public performance licensing through a PRO.

How does a music license for commercial use work when the content travels?

Commercial content rarely stays in one place. A campaign might begin as a social media video, then appear in paid advertising, on a website, at an event, in another market, or in a different format altogether.

When the rights are split between several parties, each new use can raise another licensing question. Does the existing license cover this platform or territory? Does the new use involve public performance? Does another rights holder or PRO need to be involved?

Direct licensing removes much of that fragmentation.

Because Epidemic Sound controls the economic rights needed to license that music, it can license music across platforms, formats and markets without the brand having to trace different rights back to different rights holders or collecting organizations. For larger businesses, licenses can be tailored to cover global use across online and offline media, regardless of territory or content format.

That matters increasingly as content is repurposed. A piece of music chosen for one production may end up accompanying different edits, channels and campaigns in several markets. When the rights travel together, the music can travel with the content.

What’s included in an enterprise music licensing agreement?

Copyright still applies. The difference is that the brand can get the permissions it needs from one source instead of having to clear them with several different rights holders.

For Epidemic Sound, that includes a license for using both the composition and the recording, as well as public performance rights. The result is one direct licensing relationship between the music provider and the brand, rather than one license for the track and additional permissions or royalty payments elsewhere in the chain.

There’s another part to that clearance. And that part is time.

Content published while covered by the relevant Epidemic Sound license remains cleared after the subscription or agreement ends. The license therefore attaches to the content that was properly published, rather than disappearing the moment the licensing relationship ends.

Fewer links mean fewer loose ends

Every additional rights holder creates another place where a commercial use may need to be cleared. Bringing the relevant rights together does the opposite: it gives the brand one place to establish what it can use, where it can use it and whether that permission will still hold later.

Projekt Records releases Norwegian ambient musician Erik Wøllo‘s new album Earthshine on 18 September 2026. The album is available as a Pay What You Can digital release and as a CD limited to 300 copies, packaged in a 4-panel digipak.

The title refers to earthshine, the sunlight reflected from the earth’s surface that faintly illuminates the part of the moon not directly lit by the sun. Across 20 short tracks that crossfade into one another, “Earthshine” moves through abstract electronic soundscapes built from processed drones and sequencer pulses, alternating between expressive passages and sparser, hushed sections. The CD edition also includes a 21st, gapless version of the full album as a single continuous piece.

Wøllo recorded the album to analog 4-track and 8-track tape machines before transferring the material to computer for further arranging and mixing, a return to the recording approach he used in the 1980s.

Explaining why he went back to tape for “Earthshine”, Wøllo said: “When the tape is running, something affects me, I descend into myself, realizing music completely in the moment. I wanted to go back to the way of recording I was into in the 1980s, using old analog tape recorders. How would it affect my compositional process? Would it take me in other compositional directions? Compare it to writing a novel with a pencil instead of a computer. The unhurried measured approach was more time-consuming and led me to make different creative choices. It turned out that the music became more fluid and open-ended.”

Beyond the Projekt Records Bandcamp page, “Earthshine” is also available through Projekt’s distribution partners deejaydead.de, littleuniversemusic.co.uk and audioglobe.it.

About Erik Wøllo

Erik Wøllo was born on 6 January 1961 in Hemsedal, Norway. He started playing guitar at age 11 and began his professional career in 1980, touring Norway in jazz, rock and fusion bands before turning to a full-time solo career in 1984, when he built his own studio, Wintergarden. His third album, “Traces” (1985, Cicada Records), marked a turning point toward the guitar-and-synthesizer-based ambient and space music style that has defined his solo work since.

Wøllo has released more than 50 solo albums, moving through labels including Origo Sound, Monumental Records and Spotted Peccary Music before settling with Projekt Records, which has issued his work since “Gateway” (2010) and remains his current label. His catalog includes “Silent Currents” (2011), “Different Spaces” (2017), “Recurrence” (2021), “Sojourns” (2022) and “Snow Tides” (2026), among others.

He has also released collaborative albums with Steve Roach (“Stream of Thought”, 2009, and “The Road Eternal”, 2011), Michael Stearns (“Convergence”, 2020), Ian Boddy (“Frontiers”, 2012, “Meridian”, 2018, and “Revolve”, 2023), and Byron Metcalf (“Earth Luminous”, 2016), among others. “Revolve”, made with Ian Boddy, won the Schallwelle Award for best ambient album in 2023. Wøllo contributed a rework to Apoptygma Berzerk’s 25th-anniversary album “SDGXXV”, having worked with the band in the studio during the making of their 1993 debut “Soli Deo Gloria”. He has also performed at Chuck van Zyl’s Star’s End “Gatherings” concert series in Philadelphia, alongside artists including Steve Roach and Robert Rich. “Earthshine” extends his ongoing run of releases on Projekt Records into a new recording method rooted in his earliest analog tape work.

FOURSCHER Festival returns to Club From Hell in Erfurt, Germany, on 7 and 8 November 2026, with nine acts spanning EBM, dark electro, rhythmic noise and ritual electronics: Snog, Black Lung, Individual Totem, Mildreda, This Morn’ Omina, Heimstatt Yipotash, Polykoptr, KIFOTH and Manipulation.

Having attended the festival twice, in 2024 and 2025, what stood out both times was less any single performance than the combination of a carefully selected programme, an open audience and the sense that organisers Danny Hildebrandt and Andreas Schubert were personally invested in how people experienced the weekend. That impression carries into the 2026 edition, where the nine acts are connected less by genre than by a shared refusal to treat the existing vocabulary of industrial and electronic music as sufficient on its own: some dismantle it, some stretch it toward ritual or techno, some return to it after decades, and some use familiar EBM structures to ask questions that have little to do with genre loyalty.

The clearest example is the pairing of Snog and Black Lung, both projects of David Thrussell. Snog works through legible structures, songs, hooks, slogans and satire, using the dancefloor to examine consumerism, obedience and political absurdity. Black Lung strips away that accessibility for harder, darker and more experimental electronic forms. Their FOURSCHER appearances are billed as their only European shows of 2026; a new Black Lung album, “Ordo Ab Chao,” is due shortly before the festival.

Individual Totem bring an electro industrial catalogue reaching back to the 1990s, including records such as “S.E.T.I.,” “Mothfly,” “Kyria 13” and “Electrostatic,” with live appearances rare enough that the Erfurt date carries weight of its own. Mildreda’s context is more immediate: “Realities,” released 28 August, pushes Jan Dewulf’s work into a space where dark electronic abrasion sits alongside more emotional exposure than the genre typically allows, while retaining the project’s Canadian EBM and Belgian electronic lineage. This Morn’ Omina arrive in their thirtieth year with new release “Vestiges,” which frames three decades as continuity of practice rather than a retrospective; the project’s rhythm-driven material has always worked to alter a listener’s sense of duration and physical orientation rather than simply carry songs.

Heimstatt Yipotash’s 2026 album “Abyss” draws on the physical conditions of the deep sea, pressure, isolation, cold and downward movement, as both imagery and compositional logic, moving between aggressive electro, rhythm noise and more cinematic passages. Polykoptr comes from the wider Amnistia orbit and the Leipzig electronic scene, presented here on its own terms rather than as an extension of that name. The Slovak project KIFOTH released “Artificial Territory” in June 2026, reconnecting earlier KIFOTH material with contemporary EBM production. Manipulation return after close to three decades, with “Feel The Same” remembered as a small club hit from the project’s earlier run.

Line-up and practical information

FOURSCHER Festival 2026 takes place at Club From Hell, Flughafenstraße 41, 99092 Erfurt, Germany, on 7 November (19:00-03:00) and 8 November (13:00-18:00). The line-up: Snog, Black Lung, Individual Totem, Mildreda, This Morn’ Omina, Heimstatt Yipotash, Polykoptr, KIFOTH and Manipulation. Tickets are priced at €70 for the weekend or €40 for a day ticket; electronic tickets are available, with printed tickets held at the box office on request.

Dillinger Escape Plan co-founder and drummer Chris Pennie’s electronic duo Hipster Slaves releases the new single “Fine Young Hands” on 25 September 2026 through Bald Freak Music. The track pairs electronic rhythms with a synthpop hook built around themes of nostalgia and longing, and arrives with an animated video the duo produced themselves.

Hipster Slaves release ‘Fine Young Hands’ on Bald Freak Music

Hipster Slaves pairs Pennie, also known for his work with Coheed and Cambria, with singer, synth and piano player Ron Scalzo, the founder of Bald Freak Music. Scalzo sings and plays synths from Nashville while Pennie handles drums, synths and guitars from New York City. “Fine Young Hands” follows the project’s self-titled 2019 debut EP, and Bald Freak Music has a full-length Hipster Slaves album planned for 2027.

The single is available to pre-save ahead of release through a DistroKid hyperfollow page, which links to a Spotify pre-save and to the duo’s Bandcamp page. The official video for “Fine Young Hands” is out now on YouTube.

About Hipster Slaves

Hipster Slaves is the electronic duo of Ron Scalzo and Chris Pennie. Scalzo founded Bald Freak Music, an independent record label and production house, in 2005, releasing his own work in the electronic project Q*Ball alongside guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, as well as albums from Bumblefoot, Black Pig and Swashbuckle. In 2006, Scalzo joined guitarist Brett Aveni and Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie to form the alternative rock band Return To Earth, whose debut album, “Captains of Industry,” followed that year. Return To Earth signed to Metal Blade Records and released its second album, “Automata,” in 2010, reunited in 2020, and released “Oblivion” through Bald Freak Music in 2022, followed by the four-song release “Octavius” in 2024.

Pennie co-founded the mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan with guitarist Ben Weinman in 1997 and remained its drummer through the band’s early catalog before later serving as the drummer for Coheed and Cambria between 2007 and 2011. He also contributed drums to releases by Idiot Pilot, The Armed and Greg Puciato.

Hipster Slaves released its self-titled three-track debut EP, featuring the songs “Pitchforks,” “Hipster Slaves” and “Near Dark,” on Bandcamp on 11 November 2019. Scalzo also hosts the Independent Minded podcast and The Joy of Bob Ross podcast, both produced through Bald Freak Music. “Fine Young Hands,” out 25 September 2026, is the first new Hipster Slaves single since that debut and precedes a full-length album the duo has planned for 2027.

Swedish goth pioneers The Bizarre Orkeztra have reissued “Land” as a 2026 remaster, out now through COMEDIA in collaboration with Ambush Records. The track is the first release in a new series of remastered singles drawn from the band’s catalog.

“Land” was written by Sonny Jansson and originally released in 1984 as a 12″ single on Ambush Records, the band’s own indie label. The original tracklist, “Land,” “Korridor,” “Justice” and “Travelling Man,” was recorded by Christer Björklund at The Bizarre Orkeztra’s headquarters, with vocals recorded by Jomma Sundström at Gävle Ljudstudio and production by Bob Boxkopf. Copies of the 12″ came with an eight-page comic booklet, “The No! COMIX No.2,” made specifically for the release.

For the 2026 edition, the title track has been remastered by Håkan Nilsson, with Richard Solstjärna serving as executive producer and providing the new cover art. The single is available digitally, including on Spotify, with a release date of 16 September 2026.

COMEDIA describes the campaign as presenting “carefully selected highlights drawn from the band’s impressive back catalog.” It is not the first time “Land” has reached digital platforms: the track was previously issued as a remastered digital reissue in 2020, at the time as part of a monthly reissue project with a companion schedule that also covered “Visions On The Wall,” “Midnight Show,” “A Beautiful Place,” “Hunger For Pleasure” and “She’s Got.” The 2026 edition relaunches that catalog campaign as a new series of remastered singles.

About The Bizarre Orkeztra

The Bizarre Orkeztra formed in Gävle, Sweden, in the early 1980s, emerging from the punk rock band PF Commando and the avant-garde post-punk band Modaern Art. The band was among the first goth acts in Sweden. Its original lineup was Sonny Jansson on vocals and guitars, Richard Sandberg on drums and guitar, and Ola Claesson on bass and backing vocals; Håkan Nilsson later joined on synthesizer for the group’s later recordings.

“Land” was the band’s debut release under The Bizarre Orkeztra name, following the 1981 recording “Ingen kärlek, Inget hat,” released under the group’s earlier name, Bizarre Sex. Two studio albums followed on Ambush Records: “Visions On The Wall” in 1985 and “A Beautiful Place” in 1987, along with the singles “Midnight Show” in 1986 and “She’s Got” in 1989. The album “Hunger For Pleasures,” released in 1988, featured Joakim Lindgren on saxophone alongside Nilsson’s synthesizer work. The band released three albums and several singles in total before disbanding in the late 1980s.

Bass player Ola “Toli” Claesson, who died in 2009, created cover art for several of the band’s albums and singles, including the comic strip made for “Land,” which was handed out to the audience at the band’s first concert in Gävle. COMEDIA’s new remastered singles series revisits that catalog, beginning again with the track that first introduced The Bizarre Orkeztra to record buyers in 1984.

Spanish producer Nightcrawler releases the single “Reactor 4” on September 17, 2026, the first track from his forthcoming album “Uranium 235” on Nightcrawler Music. An official video accompanies the release.

“Reactor 4” mixes dark techno, industrial electronics and cinematic textures. The single and its video take their titles from nuclear engineering, and Nightcrawler describes the video as the first look into the album’s dystopian universe, setting up “Uranium 235” as a concept record built around that imagery. The track was produced, mixed and mastered at NC Sound Studio, Nightcrawler’s own studio. Nightcrawler also directed the video, and cover design comes from George Gold Design, which also created the artwork for the 2025 Nightcrawler and Spammerheads collaboration “Ghostless”.

“Reactor 4” arrives on all digital platforms and Bandcamp from September 17.

About Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler is a Spanish electronic music project active since 2011, built around horror and sci-fi film scores and a mix of dark atmospheres with driving electronic rhythms. The project released the “Strange Shadows” EP in 2014 and built out an extensive Bandcamp catalogue since, including releases such as “Visionary”, “Metropolis” and the “Corrupted System” and “R.U.S.H.” singles. In April 2025, Nightcrawler teamed up with the Valencia-based EBM duo Spammerheads for the collaborative single “Ghostless”, which Side-Line covered at the time. On November 13, 2025, Nightcrawler released the album “Malevolent Forces” through Nightcrawler Music, an eight-track record built on film-inspired EBM and spoken-word samples that Side-Line reviewed. “Reactor 4”, out September 17, 2026, is the first single from the project’s next album, “Uranium 235”.

Nightcrawler continues to release music independently through Nightcrawler Music.

I genuinely never expected to return to Nocturnal Culture Night. I had visited Deutzen once, in 2023, and already then the sheer scale of the festival impressed me: several stages operating simultaneously, a programme dense enough to render any attempt at complete coverage slightly absurd, and an audience whose warmth remained one of my clearest memories afterwards. Three years later I found myself there again, towards the end of another long summer spent moving between festivals. For me, NCN effectively closes the outdoor festival season, although “closing” seems an inadequate word for an event that still requires its visitors to make decisions at the speed of something in full acceleration.

What is peculiar about NCN is that its physical scale and its social scale seem almost unrelated. The Kulturpark contains several music stages, spaces of very different dimensions and enough simultaneous programming to construct several entirely different versions of the same weekend, yet the atmosphere remains remarkably relaxed. That contrast was already one of the things I remembered from 2023, and this year it became even more apparent.

I have written many times that every festival develops its own social language, but the differences become particularly visible when several are visited within the same summer. At Wave-Gotik-Treffen or Castle Party, clothing itself becomes part of the artistic vocabulary: people construct silhouettes, visual references and sometimes entire characters, so that the audience forms a parallel exhibition of creativity. NCN feels different. This is neither criticism nor a claim that one form of participation is more authentic than another, but attention in Deutzen seemed to travel outwards rather than towards the self. People were there to hear music, catch up with friends, eat and drink together, dance, talk, discover bands and conduct the sort of informal networking that has always existed in music scenes whether anyone calls it networking or not.

For me, as a photographer, that difference became unexpectedly important. An extraordinary outfit already supplies the architecture of an image: colour, line, texture and shape can make a photograph visually compelling before any meaningful contact with the person has occurred. At NCN I found myself looking much more closely at faces. Personality appeared in concentration during a song, amusement between friends, exhaustion, affection, curiosity or the sudden transformation of expression when somebody recognised the opening seconds of something they loved. The portraits demanded slightly more patience because there was less external spectacle to depend upon; I had to wait for something of the actual person to become visible. That made photographing the audience harder, but ultimately more rewarding. People seemed wonderfully unpretentious and considerably more interested in what was happening around them than in attracting attention towards themselves.

Friday

My festival began with HORSKH, and there was never much uncertainty about that choice. I had first seen the French trio after they had been recommended to me for Castle Party, so by NCN they had already become one of those fixed points around which I constructed the rest of a schedule. Their combination of industrial electronics, guitars, live percussion and vocals works because aggression is never treated as an end in itself. The music is extremely disciplined underneath its apparent violence: sequences are exact, rhythmic structures are engineered with considerable care, and then everything performed above them seems determined to interfere with that control.

Onstage, this becomes intensely physical. The guitars do not merely thicken the electronic foundation but push against it, while the vocals repeatedly introduce a kind of organised instability that makes the songs feel much less obedient than their underlying structures actually are. Their interpretation of The Prodigy’s “Breathe” remains a particularly clever choice because it exposes a lineage instead of functioning merely as a familiar cover. The Prodigy understood that electronic music could possess the confrontation and bodily violence of rock without ceasing to be electronic; HORSKH take that principle into a harsher contemporary vocabulary. After almost six hours on a bus to Leipzig, I could hardly have asked for a more efficient recalibration of the nervous system.

I then moved to the much smaller Kulturbühne for frequen-C & TC75, the collaboration between Christian Bergmann and Tino Claus. I have followed and supported this project for some time, and what continues to interest me is how much room exists inside electronics that can nevertheless hit very hard. Christian’s structures are disciplined and precise, while Tino’s vocal presence brings a completely different temperature into them; the result combines electronic control with a performer who is visibly communicating rather than merely executing a vocal part.

The visual component worked beautifully without competing with the music, and the small Kulturbühne gradually turned into a very efficient dance floor. Something that happened away from the stage later gave me another way of thinking about what I had just watched. Tino participates in what sometimes seems like an improbable number of musical projects, so I asked him how many he would actually count as his own if we excluded occasional guest appearances. We eventually arrived at roughly five. I then asked whether he was ever afraid that dividing himself between so many different contexts might dilute his artistic identity.

He came back to the question the following day and said no, because every project is different. It sounds simple, but the answer stayed with me because creative identity does not necessarily become more concentrated by being restricted to one context. It can become more exact through contrast, as long as each collaboration develops its own internal logic rather than becoming another receptacle for identical habits. frequen-C & TC75 have exactly that distinct emotional temperature, hard without being merely aggressive, controlled without becoming emotionally sealed, and sufficiently communicative that the question of dilution becomes rather irrelevant once they are actually playing.

The schedule then forced a split between Hinfort and Jesus On Extasy. Hinfort shifted the afternoon away from HORSKH’s physical aggression towards something considerably more inward. Florian Kerezovic’s relatively young Cologne project works with the familiar materials of post-punk and darkwave, cold bass, restrained electronics, melancholy and a low vocal register, but onstage the important element was not genre recognition so much as composure. There was no attempt to force an early festival audience into attention through exaggerated movement or artificial drama. Instead, the songs established their own pressure gradually, the bass carrying much of the forward movement while the vocals remained darker and more introspective above it.

What interested me was the contrast between that emotional reserve and the clarity of the performance. Hinfort did not sound tentative despite the project’s relatively short history; the musical language already felt remarkably defined, yet not so finished that it had lost the possibility of development. There was something attractive in watching a project still consolidating itself publicly, where the identity was already recognisable but did not yet feel hardened into a formula.

I saw only part of Jesus On Extasy, but even that fragment was difficult to mistake for anybody else. The performance was loud, restless and happily excessive, driven by the friction between hard guitars and electronics rather than by an attempt to make one disappear inside the other. There was a genuine sense of emotional disorder onstage, not because the music lacked discipline, but because the musicians seemed continually willing to push the songs beyond the neat boundaries suggested by their structures.

The result was extremely energetic and at moments almost chaotic in appearance, with movement, guitar force and vocal intensity creating a show that felt much less controlled than most of the electronic performances around it. That theatrical excess is part of the appeal: Jesus On Extasy do not seem particularly interested in the cool distance associated with much dark electronics. What I caught was hot-blooded, physical and deliberately larger than life.

With Melotron, the energy took a completely different form. I only stayed for part of the performance, but the audience reaction was immediate, and it was easy to understand why. There is an enormous difference between a band merely possessing a long catalogue and one knowing how those songs now function in relation to an audience that has lived with them for years. Melotron have that knowledge.

Andy Krüger’s presence was particularly effective because he never appeared to be fighting the scale of the Amphibühne. The performance did not need exaggerated movement to seem substantial; voice, melody and recognition were already doing the work. What I remember most is the collective response, people singing, moving and reacting to songs whose emotional vocabulary is deeply familiar by now. It was energetic without becoming frantic and confident without slipping into routine, the sort of festival performance where experience becomes visible not as professionalism for its own sake but as an unusually precise understanding of how to hold a large audience.

Friday ended unusually early for me. I had been awake since 04:30, spent nearly six hours travelling by FlixBus and gone almost immediately into festival work, so eventually my carefully constructed running order collided with basic physiology. I badly wanted to see Sierra Veins later that night, but the body vetoed the plan. Later I learned that heavy rain had complicated proceedings and produced delays, which made going back to rest easier to justify retrospectively, although not less disappointing. Festival timetables encourage the fantasy that the body is simply another logistical factor; sooner or later it tends to remind us that it possesses final authority.

Saturday

Saturday began before noon, with Rina Pavar providing one of the most elegant openings I encountered during the weekend. Associated with the Cold Transmission orbit, her music works within coldwave and dark electronics, but reducing it to either category misses the quality that matters most in performance: the relationship between an orderly electronic framework and a voice that is allowed to remain unmistakably human within it.

There is fragility in her delivery, but fragility should not be confused with weakness. Pavar does not treat uncertainty or restraint as shortcomings to be compensated for through greater volume; she lets them remain audible while the electronics underneath give those qualities direction and form. On Parkbühne the effect was extraordinarily elegant. The songs retained something private even while being projected into an outdoor festival, which takes far more confidence than simply making everything larger. The beauty came from proportion: voice, synths and movement all seemed to understand exactly how much space they required.

I also managed a short look at TonFehler, and the contrast was considerable. Their electronic body music is deliberately direct, but what makes the project more interesting than another exercise in hard beats is the presence of irony and social observation. The structures move efficiently, while the German-language vocal delivery allows humour and criticism to coexist without turning either into cabaret commentary placed outside the music.

Their performance immediately introduced a certain mischievousness into the day. The beats remained forceful enough to carry the set, but the interaction between the performers prevented the music from becoming another exercise in stern electronic discipline. Rather than standing rigidly inside the machinery, TonFehler seemed willing to acknowledge its absurdities, which gave the short part I witnessed a personality disproportionate to the amount of time I actually spent there.

Ambassador21 increased the physical temperature dramatically. Natasha A Twentyone and Alexey Protasov have spent more than two decades combining industrial electronics, rhythmic noise and punk hostility into something designed less to seduce than to confront. What can initially sound chaotic is in fact highly organised: repetition, compressed rhythm and the vocal interaction create a structure whose aggression is far more deliberate than its surface suggests.

Even during a relatively short encounter, the punk element remained unmistakable, not because of costume or borrowed iconography but because of the project’s fundamental refusal of politeness. Natasha’s delivery in particular attacks the tracks as much as it inhabits them, while Alexey supplies another point of pressure. The vocals are not placed elegantly above the electronics; they strike into them. The performance felt angry, but not vaguely so. There was purpose behind the aggression and sufficient control underneath it to prevent intensity from becoming noise without direction.

Another direct clash followed between Ozibut and Strikkland. I saw Ozibut only briefly, but this was one of those encounters where a few minutes were sufficient to establish that something unusual was happening. Musically, darkdance, synthpunk, EBM and cold electronic structures collided with an almost cabaret-like instinct for exaggeration, while visually the project was immediately distinctive.

What caught my eye was that the appearance did not seem designed merely to make a memorable photograph. The eccentricity belonged to the performance itself: expression, movement and styling all appeared to share the same slightly grotesque, humorous and decadent logic as the music. In full daylight, where many dark electronic projects lose part of their visual vocabulary, Ozibut remained strangely convincing because the personality did not depend on darkness to exist. I left far too quickly to write about the set as a whole, but not too quickly to know that I want a proper encounter next time.

I left because Strikkland were one of my priorities, and the larger Waldbühne revealed something I had already enjoyed about them on a smaller stage but perhaps had not fully appreciated: humour is not an accessory to the Swedish duo but one of the methods through which they understand EBM itself. Their music is genuinely hard-hitting, full of muscular sequences, direct rhythmic structures and Henrik Johansson’s forceful vocal delivery, but they refuse the peculiar genre assumption that musical seriousness requires permanent solemnity.

Henrik changed clothes, appeared in extravagant red fur, exaggerated poses, altered lines, used provocative gestures and played with Swedish and German symbolism and declarations of friendship between the two countries. In less capable hands this could easily have reduced the concert to parody. Instead, it worked because the music underneath was far too good to need irony as an excuse. They were not laughing at EBM from a safe distance; they were playing with conventions they clearly understand and love.

Afterwards Henrik told me that when he and Henric Ceder started the band, already approaching their fifties, they had briefly imagined becoming the “gothiest” band possible before looking at one another and essentially asking whom they thought they were fooling. That decision to interfere with the convention rather than impersonate it seems fundamental to Strikkland. The joke works because there is affection underneath it. Full afternoon sun is rarely generous to music associated with smoke, darkness and club lighting, yet here it almost improved the performance by exposing the absurdity more clearly. Self-awareness is considerably harder to perform convincingly than genre seriousness, and Strikkland manage to combine both.

AD:Key then took over the Amphibühne, and Andrea and René Nowotny delivered exactly the kind of controlled explosion I had hoped for. Their music has always depended on more than alternating female and male vocals; what gives the project its personality is the constant redistribution of energy between two people who know one another intimately enough to respond without making that response look rehearsed.

On a stage as large as the Amphibühne, this became particularly effective. Large spaces can expose electronic acts whose stage vocabulary consists merely of enlarging familiar gestures, whereas Andrea and René filled the space through actual communication. Andrea’s performance became increasingly animated until she moved into the audience, while René remained above onstage, and the physical separation paradoxically strengthened their interplay. Suddenly the crowd itself occupied the space between them. The rhythms remained rigid enough to provide the EBM architecture, but the human exchange continually disrupted any possibility of mechanical impersonality. It was an enormous, joyful release of energy and one of my strongest concerts of the weekend.

I then divided my attention between The Awakening and SIIE. I only caught part of The Awakening, but what stayed with me were the guitars: living, breathing guitars in the most literal musical sense, with sustain and space allowed to become part of the emotional information rather than simply supplying rock weight. Ashton Nyte’s long-running project has moved through gothic rock and darkwave for decades, yet the fragment I saw felt less concerned with genre than with atmosphere produced organically through musicianship.

Nyte’s voice gave those guitars a poetic quality, and for a few minutes the whole festival seemed to breathe differently after so much sequenced electronic precision. The guitars possessed weight, certainly, but also air around them, allowing the songs to remain expansive rather than merely loud. I would not pretend to reconstruct the complete concert from the portion I witnessed, but those minutes were enough to make the contrast with the surrounding programme especially valuable.

SIIE offered almost the reverse kind of tension to The Awakening. Their electronic language brings darkwave, EBM and techno into contact with French-language vocals, but what made the short part I saw particularly memorable was the way the visual identity altered the emotional reading of the music. The mask immediately creates distance: instead of presenting the performer as a conventional frontperson whose face supplies the obvious emotional access point, SIIE partially remove that route and force attention back towards gesture, voice, movement and sound. The result is strangely intimate despite the concealment. The mask does not make the performance colder; paradoxically, it makes the listener search more carefully for expression elsewhere.

And the music itself was genuinely beautiful. Beneath the direct, physical pulse there is a remarkable melodic sensitivity, with electronics that can feel severe one moment and unexpectedly delicate the next. The French vocal delivery adds another layer of elegance and slight detachment, while the beat keeps everything anchored in the body. What I liked most was the contradiction between concealment and emotional accessibility: visually, SIIE create distance, yet musically they invite the listener much closer. Even during the short fragment I caught, the performance felt carefully conceived as a whole rather than as music with an aesthetic added around it, with mask, movement, voice and electronics all contributing to the same beautifully controlled atmosphere.

Schöngeist brought another kind of theatricality to the Amphibühne. Their dark-rock vocabulary allows broad guitars and emphatic rhythms to coexist with more melodic and almost cinematic elements, and the large stage suited a project that is not embarrassed by dramatic presentation. What prevented the material from becoming generic was the contrast within it: harder structures were repeatedly interrupted or complicated by more lyrical textures, while Timur Karakus’ vocal delivery carried enough character to avoid reducing German-language dark rock to its most familiar gestures.

The band looked comfortable with scale. Some groups visibly attempt to fill a large stage by increasing the quantity of movement; Schöngeist seemed more interested in using space compositionally, allowing the guitars, voice and more delicate textures to expand and contract around one another. The result was dramatic but not ridiculously inflated, and the performance benefited from the fact that they do not appear embarrassed by emotional or visual grandeur when the songs require it.

With Menticide, virtually all of that ornament disappeared again. Their set was based on something more elemental: repetition, pressure and the authority of rhythm. The old-school EBM vocabulary was obvious, but onstage it felt less nostalgic than brutally functional. Sequences were allowed to repeat until they acquired physical weight, while Johan Damm’s vocal delivery became almost another rhythmic device inside the construction.

What mattered was the economy. There was very little unnecessary information in the performance, and precisely because of that, small changes carried enormous effect. A shift in vocal intensity, an additional layer or a harder pulse could alter the entire atmosphere. On the Amphibühne, where elaborate productions can easily dominate attention, Menticide demonstrated the opposite principle: sometimes very little is required if every element has enough authority. There was also enough grime within the control to prevent the music from becoming a laboratory reconstruction of old-school body music.

I also caught Debdepan only briefly on Parkbühne, but they made an immediate impression. The Margate-based project is centred around Chelsea Tolhurst and Grace Bontoft, childhood friends who formed the band after writing together during lockdown, with Chelsea handling guitar and lead vocals and Grace bass and vocals; onstage they frequently expand the duo format with live drums. Their music has developed from the darker, more ethereal mood of the early Omen material towards something increasingly difficult to place neatly between dark alternative rock, post-punk, grunge, art-pop and dance-oriented electronics.

What I saw at NCN had exactly that appealing refusal to settle into a single category. There was considerable weight in the bass and guitars, but the music never became conventionally heavy; rhythm remained extremely important, giving the songs a restless, almost danceable momentum underneath the darker guitar textures. The vocals added another contrast, capable of sounding restrained and slightly detached before suddenly becoming much more immediate, while the musicians appeared completely comfortable allowing rougher edges to remain visible rather than polishing everything into immaculate dark-pop surfaces.

Their more recent material makes particular sense in that context. The 2025 Lovers & Others EP moves through grunge-inflected guitars, electronic pulses, heavy rhythm and a much more visceral form of alternative pop, with songs such as “The Girl” and “Habit” relying on sharp contrasts between apparent restraint and sudden bursts of physical force. On Parkbühne, even the few minutes I caught had that same quality: young, direct and slightly unruly, but with enough control underneath to make the collision of influences feel intentional rather than accidental.

I did not stay long enough to judge the complete set, but this was another of those NCN moments where a short photographic stop became a genuine discovery. Debdepan had personality immediately, both visually and musically, and there was something refreshing about a band entering a dark-scene festival without sounding as though they had constructed themselves specifically to satisfy the expectations of that scene.

Another overlap required movement between The Beauty Of Gemina and Lovataraxx. I saw only part of The Beauty Of Gemina, but the fragment was beautiful. The guitars were much more physical than the word “melancholic” might suggest, pounding and expansive without turning the material into conventional hard rock, while Michael Sele’s voice brought an entirely different emotional texture above them.

His delivery has something almost literary about it. The words seem considered not only for what they say but for how their sound changes the emotional meaning of the instrumentation around them. That created a beautiful opposition onstage: muscular guitars underneath, poetic vocals above, neither cancelling the other. The music could become forceful and still retain enormous inwardness. I would have liked considerably more time with the performance, because what I heard suggested one of those concerts in which the power arrives not through obvious aggression but through the coexistence of physical sound and reflective writing.

Lovataraxx approached physicality through reduction instead and were among the most elegant performances of the weekend for me. Their coldwave and minimal electronic language can initially appear restrained, but onstage that restraint becomes surprisingly energetic. There is excellent interplay between the performers, and rather than standing separately inside predefined roles, they seem continually to react to the same pulse.

That interaction gives the music a warmth that is not always immediately apparent within its colder surfaces. The structures are reduced enough that every movement and every change in vocal or electronic emphasis becomes visible, while the beat remains sufficiently insistent to keep the audience physically involved. I found the whole thing extremely graceful but never passive; the beauty came from precision and communication rather than decoration.

The Amphibühne later moved into the much denser artistic world of Samsas Traum. My own attention was primarily on Samsas Traum because I had particularly wanted to see Alexander Kaschte’s project again. My previous encounter had been years ago at Amphi Festival, and I had also interviewed him for Side-Line more recently, so this was one of those concerts in which past impressions, recent conversation and present performance inevitably entered the same frame.

Samsas Traum have never seemed entirely contained by the idea of a band playing songs. The project operates more like an extended artistic system in which music, literature, poetry, imagery and a dense network of references continually interfere with one another. The musical vocabulary has shifted radically across the years, through metal, electronics, gothic forms, orchestral elements and theatrical songwriting, but the continuity lies in Kaschte’s tendency to construct worlds rather than isolated tracks.

The beautiful Amphibühne lighting mattered enormously because Samsas Traum benefit from visual depth, yet it was not decoration. Light, language, gesture and sound appeared to participate in the same construction. Kaschte’s theatricality has always been pronounced, but what saves it from empty theatrical effect is the density behind it: phrases carry literary and philosophical associations, melodic beauty can coexist with violence, and apparent grandeur can suddenly expose something intimate, grotesque or painfully human underneath.

Calling this merely “poetic” is almost insufficient because poetry here is not synonymous with prettiness. It is compression, allowing several emotional registers and possible meanings to occupy a single image without obliging the listener to resolve them. Seeing the project again after so many years was therefore less like revisiting an old band than returning to an artistic language that had continued changing while I was away from it.

What I found especially moving was that the project still seemed capable of revision. I was not watching a beautifully preserved version of something I remembered from Amphi. Kaschte had changed, the language had changed and naturally I had changed as well. Yet the fundamental proposition remained recognisable: Samsas Traum as a place where music and language are not parallel components but parts of the same act of storytelling. In the Amphibühne light, the result felt less like a concert built around isolated songs than a temporary piece of theatre assembled

ACTORS presented a rather different logistical problem. Our Love Will Live Forever had been released only the previous day, on 4 September, so this was not simply another festival appearance by an established band but one of the first opportunities to hear material that had quite literally just entered the world. Having recently spoken with ACTORS about the record, I was especially interested in what would happen when songs I knew through headphones and conversation were suddenly placed in front of an audience.

The Parkbühne, however, was almost comically inadequate for the level of interest. ACTORS have long since grown beyond the dimensions of a stage that intimate, and with a new album arriving at precisely the same moment the problem became very physical: people packed tightly around the stage and sightlines disappeared almost immediately. At points it was practically impossible to watch what was happening unless you happened to occupy the right few square metres. There were technical problems as well, which complicated matters further, although neither the crowd nor the band appeared particularly willing to surrender the concert to them. If anything, the circumstances demonstrated rather efficiently that ACTORS now occupy a very different position from the one such a stage assignment might suggest.

What I could properly observe was interesting precisely because the new material did not arrive carrying an enormous sign announcing a new era. Jason Corbett and the band did not turn vulnerability into spectacle or insist upon a dramatic rupture with what came before. The songs entered the existing ACTORS vocabulary naturally: the visual precision and instinct for melodic shape remained intact, but beneath those carefully constructed surfaces there was a greater acceptance of instability, as though polish was no longer being asked to conceal quite so much.

Corbett’s delivery remained controlled rather than demonstrative, Shannon Hemmett supplied both electronic detail and an essential visual counterweight, while Kendall Wooding and Adam Fink gave the material considerably more bodily weight than its studio elegance might initially suggest. That contrast became particularly useful in these less-than-ideal circumstances. The performance could not depend entirely on perfect presentation – the stage was overcrowded from the audience perspective and the technical conditions were not flawless – yet the songs still survived contact with that disorder.

Leaving Parkbühne afterwards proved almost as complicated as watching the concert in the first place. The crowd had become so dense around ACTORS that simply working my way out and across the festival grounds took considerably longer than expected, which meant I reached SKYND very late and managed only two songs. I would therefore not pretend to review the set as a whole; this was genuinely a glimpse rather than a concert I properly experienced.

Even within those two songs, however, SKYND’s visual and musical identity was impossible to mistake. Since forming in 2017, the project has built its work around real criminal cases, combining industrial electronics, metal weight and heavily processed vocals with a visual language that places the singer somewhere between narrator, witness and deliberately constructed character. What struck me immediately was the precision of that construction. The make-up, movement, voice and sound do not feel like separate elements assembled around the songs; they appear to belong to the same unsettling system.

The vocals can move from something almost childlike or eerily detached into much harsher distorted registers, while the electronics underneath retain a heavy, deliberate pulse. What little I saw was intensely controlled visually, yet the subject matter continually destabilises that control because it refers back to actual human violence rather than fictional horror. Around the time of NCN, SKYND had also moved into material dealing with abuse protected by power and public status, with “Jimmy Savile” followed by “Johnny Kitagawa”, which suggested another shift in emphasis within the project.

Two songs are nowhere near enough to judge how successfully the complete set developed that material, and I will not pretend otherwise. What I saw was visually striking, sonically heavy and immediately recognisable; mostly, though, the experience became another illustration of NCN’s logistical cruelty. Sometimes the running order does not simply force a choice between bands. First it gives you ACTORS on a stage far too small for the audience they attract, and then makes escaping that audience part of the journey to the next concert.

Sunday

Sunday opened with Zalvox, and after two very dense days this was exactly the kind of performance I needed. Ribi’s electronics have an unusually tactile quality despite being carefully controlled, while Dorain’s voice gives the project its emotional centre. What continually surprises me about them is how naturally those two components converse.

Nothing seems overperformed. Ribi reacts to Dorain’s presence, Dorain inhabits rather than simply sings over the electronics, and small exchanges between them become part of the atmosphere. Her voice was especially beautiful at NCN. There is fragility there, but also confidence and considerable control, and the contrast with the electronic structures creates warmth without diminishing their precision.

The result was atmospheric without becoming sleepy, intimate without being withdrawn, and sufficiently detailed to pull an already festival-tired attention span back into focus. Their communication is one of the loveliest aspects of the project because it never feels as though one person supplies “the music” while the other supplies “the voice”; both participate in directing the emotional movement of the same material.

Grundeis then occupied the Amphibühne, and the contrast could hardly have been stronger. The Hamburg band move through post-punk, shoegaze, noise and gothic guitar textures, but what interests me is not the number of genres available for description; it is the way those textures continually change the emotional pressure of the songs.

On the largest stage, their handling of guitar density became especially impressive. Shoegaze can become indistinct outdoors because so much of its intimacy depends on saturation, while skeletal post-punk can seem disproportionately small once expanded into open space. Grundeis managed to preserve both density and definition. Layers of guitar accumulated, withdrew and blurred without becoming an anonymous wall, the rhythm section maintained genuine forward momentum, and Laura Müller’s vocals cut through without needing to overpower everything around them.

The stage suited them surprisingly well. Their music expanded into the space rather than merely occupying it, and there was enough movement inside the guitar structures to keep the performance engaging without resorting to excessive theatricality. It was post-punk in one of its more convincing contemporary forms: informed by history, certainly, but far too alive to resemble historical reconstruction.

The schedule then created an impossible choice between Lovelorn Dolls and Mayflower Madame, so I only saw short sections of each. Neither deserves the false certainty of a complete concert review based on a few photographed songs, but both left very clear impressions.

The Brussels project Lovelorn Dolls has always placed electronic gothic rock, heavier guitars and Kristell Lowagie’s expressive voice inside a visual universe where childhood imagery, dolls and apparent innocence can coexist with considerably darker emotional material. The short portion I witnessed still carried that tension strongly. There was theatrical colour, but also a much heavier musical foundation than the visual language might initially suggest.

Lowagie’s voice was the element binding those contradictions together. She can appear fragile one moment and considerably more forceful the next without either register feeling theatrical for its own sake. There was emotional intensity in the performance that made leaving particularly frustrating, and knowing the difficult history behind the project’s current chapter inevitably added another layer without needing to dominate the experience.

Mayflower Madame, from Oslo, created an entirely different kind of atmosphere. Their guitars seem to expand horizontally, creating a large sonic field rather than simply increasing volume, while the rhythm section continuously pulls that field forward.

The short portion I heard had an almost narcotic quality. Vocals were partially embedded inside the guitar texture, giving the impression that the songs were emerging from within the atmosphere rather than being placed over it. Yet the music never became static. There was always enough rhythmic tension beneath the psychedelic and shoegazing elements to prevent the set from dissolving into beautiful haze. It was dark, hypnotic and immediately distinctive, exactly the sort of performance where leaving after only a few songs feels particularly unfair.

The same problem returned with Mildreda and The Foreign Resort. Mildreda had been particularly high on my list because Realities had appeared only days before NCN, and I had already spent an unusual amount of time with the material, first while reviewing the album and then while discussing it with Jan Dewulf. That inevitably changes the experience of a concert. Instead of encountering the songs as unfamiliar objects, I arrived knowing many of their structures and emotional tensions in considerable detail, which made it fascinating to watch what happened when music I had previously examined almost microscopically was released into a festival environment.

What happened was not simply that the new material became louder. Onstage, Mildreda changed its proportions. Rhythms that can function almost architecturally on record became intensely physical, harsher electronic textures acquired actual impact, and Dewulf’s voice moved much closer to the centre of the experience. The new songs contain considerable vulnerability, but the performance never treated that vulnerability as fragility; if anything, the emotional openness made the aggression feel more purposeful. There was real force in the set, yet the quieter and more delicate passages retained their significance precisely because they were surrounded by so much pressure.

The circumstances made this even more interesting. Mildreda had to perform in uncompromising daylight, which is almost an act of sabotage against the usual visual grammar of dark electro. There was no darkness to extend the atmosphere, no possibility of disappearing into smoke, projections or carefully sculpted light, and therefore very little external assistance available to the music. Instead of weakening the performance, the exposure made its internal construction easier to perceive. Changes in density, rhythm and vocal intensity had to carry the dramatic weight themselves, and they did so remarkably well.

What I appreciated most was the sense that this was not a carefully preserved studio object being reproduced for an audience. Dewulf seemed fully inside the material, allowing it to become rougher, more immediate and more physically animated than its recorded version while still preserving the contradictions that make Mildreda interesting in the first place: severity beside vulnerability, precision beside abrasion and a very private emotional language projected through something much larger and more forceful. The daylight may have denied the band an obvious visual atmosphere, but it also proved that they did not need one.

My glimpse of The Foreign Resort was similarly brief, but the band’s physical understanding of post-punk was obvious immediately. Their guitars produce enormous atmosphere without sacrificing attack, while the rhythm underneath is far more urgent than the melancholy surface might initially suggest.

Even during those few songs, there was a strong sensation of movement. The sound expanded outward, but the pulse continually dragged it forward, creating the tension that makes The Foreign Resort more interesting than a purely atmospheric guitar band. I would have liked to stay because the performance seemed to be building rather than simply presenting its character immediately, but NCN’s simultaneous programme made that impossible.

One performance I deliberately refused to leave was Supersimmetria at Kulturbühne. Armando Alibrandi’s project occupies the borderlands between industrial techno, atmospheric electronics and detailed experimental construction, but its real fascination comes from gradual transformation.

The music does not depend on theatrical drops or obvious moments announcing that something important is about to happen. Rhythmic cells appear and begin changing function, frequencies thicken, microscopic details become suddenly structural, and only retrospectively does one realise how far a seemingly stable pattern has travelled. There is substantial intellectual precision involved, yet none of it feels academic because the body is implicated from the beginning.

This was one of those sets where I eventually put the camera away because continuing to photograph became a less adequate form of attention than dancing. The Kulturbühne’s relatively compact dimensions concentrated the sound beautifully, and the whole performance developed into that rare territory where analysis and bodily response stop competing. I stayed, I danced, and for music designed around the transformation of repetition, that may be more useful criticism than a catalogue of technical terminology.

Peter Heppner & Band changed the Amphibühne completely. There was already something celebratory in the atmosphere, particularly with Heppner’s birthday immediately approaching, but what made the concert emotional went considerably deeper than the occasion itself.

Some songs eventually stop belonging exclusively to the musicians who created them because listeners absorb them into their own biographies. “Dream Of You”, “Once In A Lifetime” and “Kein Zurück” have long since crossed that threshold. They become attached to relationships, departures, particular rooms, years, people who are no longer present and versions of ourselves we can remember without necessarily wanting to become again.

From my position with the camera, this accumulated history was visible across the Amphibühne. There were raised hands everywhere, people dancing, others almost motionless, and tears in more than one pair of eyes. Heppner’s voice still carries an extraordinary amount of emotional information without requiring theatrical demonstration, and the band gave the material enough scale to inhabit the amphitheatre without turning the songs into inflated festival versions of themselves.

Looking across that sea of heads and moving hands, I had the strange impression that thousands of people were listening to different songs despite the sound system playing exactly the same ones. Each listener had accumulated another version through the years spent with the music. That is one of the rare privileges of songs that survive long enough to acquire biographies beyond those of their authors.

Diary Of Dreams on the Waldbühne produced a related feeling for me, although in a far more private register. It was one of the few concerts at NCN that I experienced from beginning to end, and that completeness mattered because this was not a performance built around a sequence of isolated peaks. It developed gradually, with guitars, electronics, percussion, voice and light continually changing their relative weight, so that the emotional direction emerged through accumulation rather than through obvious theatrical cues.

At one point Adrian Hates raised both arms towards the musicians, and for a few seconds he looked almost like a conductor standing before his own small orchestra. The association with Diary Of Dreams’ work with the Philharmonie Leipzig was unavoidable, but what interested me was not any literal symphonic quality. It was the sense that Hates was directing movement, density and emotional pressure, allowing one element to rise while another withdrew and treating the band less as a collection of separate performers than as parts of a continuously changing structure.

That image also connected with something more personal for me. I have known Diary Of Dreams’ music for such a long time that I no longer hear many of these songs as fixed compositions. They have accompanied different versions of me, and what they meant when I was twenty is not necessarily what they mean now that I am over forty. When I was younger, a Diary Of Dreams concert could feel like being allowed into an intensely emotional private world, almost like opening a book whose atmosphere temporarily replaced everything outside it. Now the experience is more layered. Certain songs return with memories attached; others have gradually detached themselves from the circumstances in which I first heard them and acquired completely different meanings.

That, to me, is one of the more interesting measures of durable songwriting. A great song does not merely preserve the emotional conditions of the time in which it was written, nor does it require the listener to become their younger self again in order to respond to it. It changes because we change. Adrian Hates approaches the material differently after decades of performing it, the musicians around him alter its texture, the audience brings new biographies into the room, and the songs absorb all of that without losing their internal identity.

At NCN I was unusually aware of that movement between past and present. The music still carried the same recognisable emotional language, but my relationship with it had become more reflective, more nostalgic in places and, paradoxically, more open because I no longer needed it to mean exactly what it once meant.

That is why the concert felt so complete. Its emotional weight was not forced; it accumulated through pacing, detail, restraint and the extraordinary continuity of a musical world that has been changing for years without losing its centre. The image of Hates with his arms raised stayed with me because it seemed to capture precisely that process: not an artist preserving his past, but one still conducting it into new forms.

Finally, Die Krupps walked onto the Amphibühne. By then I had spent three days moving between stages, photographing, listening, talking and repeatedly forcing my concentration to reset for another performance. Familiarity should also have worked against them: I have seen Die Krupps enough times that I am not automatically impressed simply because “Nazis Auf Speed”, “Schmutzfabrik” or “Der Amboss” suddenly appear in a set. Yet from the opening sequence it became obvious that this was going to be one of those concerts where prior knowledge makes the reaction more meaningful rather than less.

The sound was phenomenal. Electronics remained hard, sharply defined and rhythmically exact, while the guitars had enormous abrasive weight without collapsing the mix into undifferentiated noise. With Marcel Zürcher back, that part of the sound had genuine physical presence again; his guitar did not simply reinforce the electronic structure but rubbed against it, destabilised it and introduced the friction that is essential to Die Krupps at their best. Their music may be founded on repetition, programming, steel and discipline, but its real power onstage comes from the moment when those controlled systems begin to sound as though they might exceed their own boundaries.

Jürgen Engler was outstanding, not because he resorted to exaggerated gestures but because he seemed constantly aware of the amphitheatre and of how the audience was responding. The chemistry across the band was equally strong, and that communication is one reason the performance could remain extremely tight while still feeling dangerous. The lighting was exceptional, the stage arrangement gave every musician visual and physical room, and the entire production seemed calibrated to increase impact without sacrificing clarity.

What surprised me was how quickly the analytical part of my brain disappeared. I know this material, I know how Die Krupps construct their concerts, and I have photographed them often enough to recognise many of the mechanisms involved, yet somewhere in the middle of the set I stopped evaluating them against previous performances and simply thought: they are astonishingly good tonight. That is a significant reaction precisely because novelty was not available to assist it. The band had to overcome familiarity through quality alone, and they did.

The concert had the physical force of a blow to the solar plexus, but it was not crude force. It was adrenaline organised with remarkable precision: excellent sound, magnificent light, aggressive electronics, guitars with real mass and a band operating with the confidence of musicians who understand their own history without behaving as though they are obliged to reproduce it ceremonially. Nothing about the set suggested a heritage act displaying evidence of its former importance. The songs were attacked rather than preserved.

As a finale to NCN, it was difficult to imagine anything better. The Amphibühne was packed, the audience was completely with them, and all the accumulated fatigue of three festival days was converted for a while into something much simpler and much more physical. I have seen Die Krupps many times; this was nevertheless one of the strongest performances I have ever seen from them, an absolute knockout and an almost perfect way to close the festival.

What remained

What remained with me afterwards was the same thing I had noticed while photographing the audience at the beginning of the weekend. For a festival with such a dense programme, so many stages and enough simultaneous attractions to keep everyone permanently negotiating with their own schedule, NCN feels remarkably unpretentious on the human level.

Every day can produce several completely different versions of the same festival depending on which direction someone turns, and yet the weekend rarely felt like a competition for maximum consumption. People stopped for conversations. Carefully prepared schedules were abandoned because someone had encountered an old friend. Audiences danced without appearing to calculate how visible they were while doing it. People ate together, exchanged recommendations, talked about what they had just seen and allowed the festival to become social rather than merely consumable.

That was also what changed my photography. I searched less for costumes and more for expressions, less for surfaces and more for those brief moments when somebody forgot there was a camera nearby. It required a different form of looking and occasionally a little more patience, but I think that difference explains something essential about NCN. The festival has an enormous programme and a range of music broad enough to move from fragile coldwave to industrial violence, from literary theatricality to post-punk guitars and large-scale synthpop within a matter of hours, yet the infrastructure never entirely becomes the subject.

Returning after 2023 therefore felt less like repeating an experience than correcting an assumption. I had remembered Nocturnal Culture Night primarily as an extraordinarily large and complicated festival that I was glad to have experienced once. Three years later I understood that its scale is only the visible part. Underneath it is a surprisingly human mechanism: musicians moving between very different artistic languages, audiences moving between stages and one another, and a festival whose constant motion somehow still leaves room for people simply to spend time together.

For me, after another long summer of festivals, that combination of musical abundance, physical intensity, curiosity and remarkably uncomplicated human contact was a very good place to finish.

Audience gallery

The full set of audience photographs Karo Kratochwil took at Nocturnal Culture Night 2026.

Sebastian R. Komor has launched a new project, SRK Group, with the single “Spitfire”, released September 11, 2026 on Infacted Recordings. The Polish-born, Norwegian-raised, Canada-based producer is best known as a longtime member of Icon of Coil.

“Spitfire” combines dark electro, EBM and club-oriented electronics. Komor wrote, mixed and produced the track himself at his Xenomorph Productions studio; mastering is also credited to Xenomorph Productions. Describing the song, Komor calls it “personal, loud and danceable.”

“Spitfire” is available now on Bandcamp and streaming services.

About Sebastian Komor

Sebastian R. Komor was born in Zabrze, Poland, on May 7, 1976, and moved to Norway in 1981, where he grew up in Fredrikstad’s EBM and industrial scene alongside acts such as Apoptygma Berzerk. He released his first demo in 1992 and recorded under names including Melt, Area51, Sector9 and Moonitor before teaming up with fellow Fredrikstad musician Andy LaPlegua. That collaboration led to the formation of Icon of Coil in 1997; Komor became a full member during the production of the debut single “Shallow Nation” in 2000 and went on to co-write the albums “Serenity Is the Devil” (2000), “The Soul Is in the Software” (2002) and “Machines Are Us” (2004).

Komor relocated to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 2004. The following year he started Zombie Girl with Renee Cooper, releasing an EP in 2006 and the album “Back From the Dead” on Alfa Matrix and Metropolis Records in 2007. He later signed to FiXT for the solo hard techno and industrial project Squarehead, released the techno/tribal album “To the Past From the Future in the Present” as Moonitor, and continued his dark techno and EBM alias Komor Kommando, whose releases include the “One By One” EP on Alfa Matrix in 2022.

Beyond his own projects, Komor built an extensive catalogue as a producer, mixer and mastering engineer, working with artists including Apoptygma Berzerk, Front Line Assembly, Ayria, Covenant, Circle of Dust and The True Union. His project Bruderschaft brought him together with Ronan Harris of VNV Nation, Joakim Montelius of Covenant, and Stephan Groth of Apoptygma Berzerk. SRK Group, launched with “Spitfire” on Infacted Recordings, is his newest outlet after roughly three decades in the electronic underground.

Love and Rockets, the English trio that Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins started after Bauhaus split, released their second album “Express” on 15 September 1986 through Beggars Banquet. The album turns 40 this year. John A. Rivers produced it with the band at his own Woodbine Street Recording Studios in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and played additional keyboards on the sessions.

The record arrived eleven months after the debut, “Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven”, and pushed the pop side of the trio’s guitar rock further forward.

How Love and Rockets recorded ‘Express’ at Woodbine Street

The original UK LP on Beggars Banquet ran eight tracks: “It Could Be Sunshine”, “Kundalini Express”, “All in My Mind” and “Life in Laralay” on side one, then “Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)”, “Love Me”, “All in My Mind (Acoustic Version)” and “An American Dream”. Ash sang and played guitar and saxophone, David J played bass and sang, Haskins played drums and synthesiser. A choir closed the album on “An American Dream”, with Allan Baker as choir master and Alan Brookes, James Lowry and Robert Willey singing. The band designed the sleeve themselves from photography by Mitch Jenkins, and first UK copies came with a single-sided 35 x 24 inch poster carrying the lyrics.

Three singles came off the album. “Kundalini Express” led on 2 June 1986, more than three months ahead of the LP, and later turned up in the 1986 Italian horror film “Demons 2” and in an episode of “Miami Vice”. “Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)” followed on 8 September, a week before release day, and “All in My Mind” closed the run that November. The American edition, issued by Big Time Records, differed from the British one: it added the band’s cover of “Ball of Confusion”, the Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield song they had already put out as a single in 1985.

Beggars Banquet remastered and expanded the album in 2001, adding two single remixes, contemporaneous B-sides including a reading of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam”, and two short experimental pieces found on the studio tape masters labelled “B Side #1” and “B Side #2”. The USA mix of “Ball of Confusion” was appended to that edition as well, since it would not fit on the reissue of “Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven”. That 15-track version is the one now streaming.

About Love and Rockets

Love and Rockets formed in Northampton in 1985, two years after Bauhaus broke up. Daniel Ash took vocals, guitar and saxophone, David J bass and vocals, Kevin Haskins drums and synthesiser. Ash and Haskins had already spent 1982 to 1984 in Tones on Tail, the project Side-Line looked back at in 80sObscurities presents: Tones on Tail – ‘Christian Says’. The three took their name from the Hernandez brothers’ comic series, and moved away from the gothic rock their previous band was known for towards a brighter, pop-leaning sound.

Their first release was a cover of the Motown song “Ball of Confusion”, which reached number 18 on the Canadian singles chart in January 1986. The debut album “Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven” came out on Beggars Banquet on 11 October 1985, “Express” followed on 15 September 1986, and “Earth, Sun, Moon” on 9 September 1987 with a more acoustic arrangement and the single “No New Tale to Tell”. In 1988 the trio issued “The Bubblemen Are Coming” under the alias The Bubblemen, backed on its various formats by “Bubblemen Rap”, “Bubblemen Rap (Dub Version)” and “Bees”.

The self-titled fourth album arrived on 7 March 1989. Its second single, “So Alive”, reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, a chart placing no other Bauhaus-related act has matched. RCA dropped the band after they turned towards electronics, and they signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, releasing “Hot Trip to Heaven” on 26 September 1994 and “Sweet F.A.” on 19 March 1996. In April 1995, during the “Sweet F.A.” sessions, fire broke out at the label-owned house where the band were living and recording. No member was hurt, but their visiting friend Genesis P-Orridge of Psychic TV was injured escaping, and the band lost their equipment along with months of work. A photograph of a burnt guitar became the album cover. “Lift” came out on Red Ant Records on 13 October 1998, and the band split after a Toronto show in April 1999.

They reunited on 22 December 2007 to play the Joe Strummer tribute “Cast a Long Shadow” at the Key Club in West Hollywood, then appeared at Coachella on 27 April 2008 and at Lollapalooza in Chicago on 3 August 2008, before stopping again. The tribute album “New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets” was released on 18 August 2009 with contributions from The Flaming Lips, The Dandy Warhols, Monster Magnet and others. On 23 January 2023 the trio announced a return for Cruel World Festival in Pasadena on 20 May, their first concert in fifteen years, and expanded it into a North American tour. A 2024 run supporting Jane’s Addiction was announced that May and cut short mid-tour.

Each member has kept a separate line of work running. David J has been the most active on record in recent years, covered here in David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets) announces decade-spanning retrospective new album, David J (Bauhaus) to release career-spanning triple album: ‘Tracks from the Attic’, David J (Bauhaus) rebuilds attic demos for new album ‘Tracks From the Attic Revisited’ and the conversation in David J Opens the Attic: old ghosts, new bloom, and songs still in motion. Haskins turned archivist for the book reported in Founding Bauhaus member Kevin Haskins to release coffee table book on Bauhaus: ‘Bauhaus – The Archives’. Forty years on, “Express” is the album where the trio settled the sound they carried through the rest of the decade.

Gary Numan released his sixteenth solo studio album, “Dead Son Rising”, on 15 September 2011 through Mortal Records. The album turns 15 this year. Numan co-wrote and co-produced the record with Ade Fenton, his collaborator on the 2006 album “Jagged”, and recorded it in London.

“Dead Son Rising” grew out of demos left over from earlier sessions. Numan described the source material as barely recognizable by the time the album took shape: “The original ideas that sparked off these songs are now barely visible. It’s grown into another animal, something more experimental.”

What is on Gary Numan’s ‘Dead Son Rising’

The album runs 11 tracks and 52:50: “Resurrection”, “Big Noise Transmission”, “Dead Sun Rising”, “When the Sky Bleeds, He Will Come”, “For the Rest of My Life”, “Not the Love We Dream Of”, “The Fall”, “We Are the Lost”, “For the Rest of My Life (Reprise)”, “Into Battle” and “Not the Love We Dream Of (Piano Version)”. A digital-only bonus track, “Dead Sun Rising (Early Version)”, also appeared. “Resurrection” and “Into Battle” are instrumentals, described by Numan and Fenton as soundtrack-style material.

Several songs reworked earlier, unreleased material. “Dead Sun Rising” rebuilt “What Have I Become” from the 2006 “Jagged” sessions. “For the Rest of My Life” and “The Fall” both trace back to the 2000 album “Pure”, reworking the tracks “Always” and “Look” respectively; both had circulated in earlier mixes on Numan’s live “Purified” tour audio programme. “We Are the Lost” reworked “Mercy” from the “Jagged” sessions. “We Are the Lost” and “Dead Sun Rising” also carry elements of a science-fiction story Numan had been writing over the preceding years.

Numan sang and played keyboards. Fenton produced, played keyboards and piano, and handled programming. Tim Muddiman played guitar and bass, Steve Harris played guitar, and Nathan Boddy played keyboard.

The label issued the album across three formats: a standard CD, a CD/DVD/vinyl edition with “The Fall” promo video, behind-the-scenes footage, an exclusive interview and a gallery, and a limited numbered box set with a 48-page art book, a signed print, a gatefold vinyl pressing and an exclusive 12-inch of remixes of “The Fall” by Motor and South Central.

“The Fall” served as lead single, previewed in a promo edit on Numan’s official site on 28 August 2011. “Dead Sun Rising” had already surfaced as a radio edit via The Quietus on 12 August 2011, ahead of the album. “Dead Son Rising” entered the UK Albums Chart at number 87 for a single week and reached number 5 on the German alternative albums chart.

About Gary Numan

Gary Numan was born Gary Anthony James Webb in Hammersmith, London, in 1958. He formed Tubeway Army in 1977 and switched from guitar to synthesizer after finding a Minimoog left behind in a studio during the sessions for the band’s 1978 self-titled debut. Tubeway Army’s second album, “Replicas”, topped the UK chart in 1979 behind the single “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”, also a UK number 1. Numan then dropped the group name and released “The Pleasure Principle” later that year, a second consecutive UK chart-topper, followed by “Telekon” in 1980, a third.

His commercial standing in Britain declined through the mid-to-late 1980s even as the catalogue’s influence spread through electronic and industrial music. Numan began working with producer Ade Fenton on the 2006 album “Jagged”, a partnership that continued into “Dead Son Rising” in 2011 and has run through most of his output since.

Numan and Fenton followed “Dead Son Rising” with “Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)” in 2013, covered here in Gary Numan announces new ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ album and tour – listen to first track!, and “Savage (Songs from a Broken World)” in 2017, reported in Gary Numan to release new ‘Savage (Songs from a Broken World)’ album on double vinyl (with 2 bonus tracks). He discussed his studio approach in Gary Numan – ‘After doing this for over 35 years I still get excited about what’s around the corner’ – Tech-Talk with DJ Wildhoney.

Numan has also worked outside his solo catalogue during this period, collaborating with John Foxx on the release covered in John Foxx and Gary Numan collaborate on ’21st Century: a Man, a Woman and a City’ album – out in 2 physical versions, joining Jean-Michel Jarre’s “Electronica” project, and touring North America in 2023 in direct support of Ministry, as reported in Ministry announces 2023 headline tour dates with direct support from Gary Numan & Front Line Assembly.

Fifteen years on, “Dead Son Rising” marks the album where the Numan-Fenton partnership moved past its “Jagged” starting point into the denser, soundtrack-inflected sound that carried through “Splinter” and “Savage”.

Marilyn Manson’s third studio album, “Mechanical Animals,” turns 28 this year. The band released the record on 15 September 1998 through Nothing and Interscope Records. Where the industrial rock of 1996’s “Antichrist Superstar” dominated the group’s prior work, “Mechanical Animals” moved toward 1970s glam rock, a shift the band has credited in part to Billy Corgan, who heard early versions of the songs and urged the band to “go all the way with it.”

The album was recorded at Conway Recording Studios and Westlake Recording Studios in Hollywood and at The White Room in Boston, and co-produced by Marilyn Manson with Sean Beavan and Michael Beinhorn. Tom Lord-Alge handled mixing and Ted Jensen mastering. The 14-track CD runs “Great Big White World,” “The Dope Show,” “Mechanical Animals,” “Rock Is Dead,” “Disassociative,” “The Speed of Pain,” “Posthuman,” “I Want to Disappear,” “I Don’t Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me),” “New Model No. 15,” “User Friendly,” “Fundamentally Loathsome,” “The Last Day on Earth” and “Coma White,” with a hidden multimedia track on the CD pressing. The vinyl edition splits the same songs across two separately sleeved records, one credited to Marilyn Manson and the other to the fictional band Omega and the Mechanical Animals.

“Mechanical Animals” debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 223,000 copies, the band’s first album to reach the top of that chart. It also topped the Canadian Albums Chart and has been certified platinum in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Four singles followed the release: “The Dope Show” on 15 September 1998, “I Don’t Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)” on 17 February 1999, “Rock Is Dead” on 14 June 1999 and the promotional single “Coma White” on 20 September 1999. “I Don’t Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)” features guitar by Dave Navarro. The album forms the second installment of a trilogy that opened with “Antichrist Superstar” (1996) and closed with “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)” (2000).

About Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson formed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1989, when singer Brian Warner – who took the stage name Marilyn Manson – paired with guitarist Scott Putesky, known as Daisy Berkowitz. Performing initially as Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, the group built a following in South Florida through theatrical live shows, with a lineup that came to include bassist Brad Stewart (Gidget Gein), keyboardist Stephen Bier (Madonna Wayne Gacy) and drummer Fred Streithorst (Sara Lee Lucas). In 1993, Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor signed the band as the first act on his Nothing Records label and offered them an opening slot on the Self Destruct Tour.

The band’s debut album, “Portrait of an American Family,” was released on 19 July 1994, followed by the “Smells Like Children” EP in 1995, which included a cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” Jeordie White, performing as Twiggy Ramirez, had by then replaced Gein on bass. The second studio album, “Antichrist Superstar,” followed on 8 October 1996, co-produced by Reznor, Marilyn Manson, Sean Beavan and Dave Ogilvie, and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 behind lead single “The Beautiful People.” Guitarist Zim Zum joined during that album’s recording, replacing founding member Daisy Berkowitz.

“Mechanical Animals” followed on 15 September 1998, with the band relocating from New Orleans to Los Angeles and guitarist John 5 replacing Zim Zum during the sessions. Twenty-eight years after its release, the album remains the middle chapter of the band’s self-described triptych, bridging “Antichrist Superstar” and “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death).”

Kansas City post-punk duo Redder Moon have released an official video for “If You’re Falling, Dive”, the title track of their 2025 album of the same name. The album, eight tracks of gothic new wave and dark wave post-punk, was released August 28, 2025, and was mastered by Gordy Goudie, known for his work with Simple Minds and Echo & The Bunnymen.

Redder Moon is Jeremiah James Gonzales, who writes the songs and sings, and touring bassist Sergio Anthony Gonzales-Gonzalez. The video for “If You’re Falling, Dive” sets shadow play and shifting lights against hand-drawn animation and shifting silhouettes, with Gonzales’s baritone vocal running through swirling synths and layered guitars. Gonzales described the song as “a meditation on mortality, identity, and the unseen paths our lives might have taken,” adding that it explores “the temptation to compare ourselves with who we could have been” and that “what begins as chaos can become transformation.”

The video arrives as Redder Moon prepare for a fall 2026 tour through the American southeast, midwest and southwest. The duo have previously toured with Nite, Matte Blvck, Dead On A Sunday, Vision Video and Rosegarden Funeral Party, acts whose sound sits alongside Redder Moon’s own mix of post-punk gloom and early-’90s Depeche Mode-indebted synth work. “If You’re Falling, Dive” is available now on Bandcamp and streaming services.

About Redder Moon

Redder Moon is a gothic new wave and post-punk project from Kansas City, Missouri, built around analog synths, dark dance beats and dreamy guitars. The current lineup, formed in 2024, pairs songwriter and vocalist Jeremiah James Gonzales with touring bassist Sergio Anthony Gonzales-Gonzalez; the two are cousins of Mexican American, Latin heritage. The band released a run of singles and albums on Bandcamp, including “She Was Certainly Bit By Something,” “Land of the Blind” and “Hell is Other People,” building a following through the Kansas City post-punk and goth scene, including a live performance at Minibar in Kansas City in November 2024.

Redder Moon’s most recent full-length, “If You’re Falling, Dive,” followed in August 2025, mastered by Gordy Goudie. Singles from the record, including “No One Lives Forever,” “Current Heartbeat,” “Someone’s Going To Cry” and “Endless Lullaby,” each arrived with their own videos. The band has toured extensively alongside Nite, Matte Blvck, Dead On A Sunday, Vision Video and Rosegarden Funeral Party, and the new video for the album’s title track lands as the group heads into a fall 2026 tour of the American southeast, midwest and southwest.

Buenos Aires netlabel Cyclical Dreams releases the various-artists compilation “Gemstones VII” on 11 September 2026, the seventh volume of a Berlin School and ambient series the label has issued every September for at least the past three years. The 14-track collection sets contributors from the label’s own artist roster alongside outside acts, working in synthesizer-built ambient, space music and sequenced Berlin School electronics.

The ‘Gemstones VII’ tracklist mixes label regulars with outside contributors

The album opens with Antike Elektronische Musik’s “Quantum Atlas – Origin” and Alexander Obukhov, recording as Obukhovaudio, on “Plasmadrom”, followed by Wolfgang Merx’s “In Blue” and X-Orbital’s “Timeless Dust Becoming Light”. Aura Merlin contributes “Echo Location”, and Carolyn Fok, whose album “Chrysalis” appeared on Memoir of Sound in 2025, submits “A Leap of Heart (Origin Mix)”. AeTopus adds “Others”, and Cartas de Japón, the band shared by Cyclical Dreams’ three founders, contributes “Faune III”.

The second half runs spaceseer’s “Cliffdwellers”, Sophos’s “From Another Time”, and Rodrigo Passannanti‘s “Submerged Industry”, before Kirk Monteux Mysoftmusic’s “Flute Ocean Peace”, the Klaus Wolfe & Castle Waters collaboration “Spirit Bridge”, and Adeptus Mechanicus’s closing “A New Mysterious Beginning”. Cyclical Dreams describes the release as “a walk through beautiful pieces of electronic music inspired by the Berlin School and Ambient music”.

Cyclical Dreams also posted a full-album stream of “Gemstones VII” on its own YouTube channel.

“Gemstones VII” follows “Gemstones VI”, released 19 September 2025, and “Gemstones V”, released 13 September 2024, each edition landing in the same week of September for three years running. Side-Line has previously covered Cyclical Dreams releases from D*Time, whose album “Nightwoven” came out on the label in May 2026, and from Christian Wittman, whose album “Andromeda” appeared on Cyclical Dreams in January 2026.

About Cyclical Dreams

Cyclical Dreams is a netlabel founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in early 2020 by musicians Pablo Bilbao, Lucas Tripaldi and Esteban Menash, set up as an outlet for Berlin School, ambient, soundscape, space music and drone electronic music. The three founders play together as Cartas de Japón and also release solo material, including Bilbao’s Pabellón Sintético project and Menash’s M3NASH. Beyond its own roster of artists, Cyclical Dreams runs a Bandcamp store and digital distributor, a mastering service, and the online Cyclical Magazine.

The label’s artist roster includes Sophos, the recording name of Argentine composer Ulises Labaronnie, who has worked in music composition and production for 28 years, including the project triØN, film and theatre scores, and music for Cartoon Network video games, alongside concerts in Argentina, Chile and France. Cyclical Dreams has built its “Gemstones” compilation series around annual, dated volumes carrying its own CYD catalog numbers, with “Gemstones V” and “Gemstones VI” preceding this year’s “Gemstones VII” in successive Septembers. The new compilation continues that yearly pattern while again combining the label’s core contributors with outside artists.

Diary of Dreams are releasing a new two-track single, “Der Dunkelheit” / “My Vertigo,” through Adrian Hates’ own label, Accession Records. The German darkwave act is pressing it as a limited digipak CD single and, for the first time on this single, a marbled 7-inch vinyl, each capped at 700 copies; no wider release date has been confirmed yet, and pre-orders have just opened through the label’s trade channels.

Accession Records describes the release as “a brief interlude on the way to the album ‘Chapter 2,'” bridging the wait and building tension ahead of the next full-length. “Der Dunkelheit” (“to Darkness”) runs 5:57 and builds a sombre, meditative atmosphere, while “My Vertigo,” at 4:03, leans into the more electronic, catchy side of the project.

Both songs will also be played live on the band’s November 2026 tour, which precedes “Chapter 2,” described in the same announcement as the second part of an open-ended concept series, expected in 2027. Diary of Dreams opened that series with the mini-album “Dead End Dreams – Chapter 1,” released on Accession Records on 31 October 2025, and Hates has said of the story it tells that the series ends once the story has been fully told – so “Chapter 2” continuing that arc fits the pattern, though Accession Records has not yet confirmed the album’s exact title.

No Bandcamp page, official video or streaming link for “Der Dunkelheit” / “My Vertigo” is public yet, so no embed or pre-order link is included here.

Diary of Dreams tour dates in November 2026

Both new songs will be played live when Diary of Dreams tour Germany in November, with support from HINFORT:

• 19 November 2026 – Schwerin, Germany – Club Zenit
• 20 November 2026 – Braunschweig, Germany – KufA Haus
• 21 November 2026 – Bielefeld, Germany – Stereo Live Club
• 22 November 2026 – Oberhausen, Germany – Kulttempel
• 26 November 2026 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Schlachthof
• 27 November 2026 – Jena, Germany – F-Haus
• 28 November 2026 – Bremen, Germany – Kulturzentrum Lagerhaus

About Diary of Dreams

Diary of Dreams is the German darkwave project of Adrian Hates, formed in 1989 and built around his voice, programming and guitar. Hates founded Accession Records in 1995, and the label has released the project’s catalogue since, from “End of Flowers” (1996) through “Melancholin” (2023) and the orchestral set “Under a Timeless Spell” (2024). Diary of Dreams performs live with additional musicians including Dejan, Gaun:A, Torben Wendt and Felix Wunderer.

In October 2025, the project opened a new open-ended concept series on Accession Records with the mini-album “Dead End Dreams – Chapter 1,” a title drawn from a line in “Panik?” on the 2002 mini-album “PaniK Manifesto.” “Der Dunkelheit” / “My Vertigo” is the project’s next release on the way to “Chapter 2,” the next instalment in that series, and arrives alongside a run of November tour dates across Germany.

Laibach release “MUSICK : ENCORE” on Mute on 20 November 2026, on vinyl, CD and digitally. The companion piece to this year’s “MUSICK” combines unreleased material from the original album sessions with new remixes from SILVERWINGKILLER, Richard X, The Lincolnshire Poacher and PUNCHBAG.

The album leads with two new tracks. “This Is The End” features Slovenian singer Kaja Skrbinšek, while a new version of “Love Machine,” featuring Balkan vocalist Senidah, is remixed by Mute labelmates PUNCHBAG.

Senidah also appears on a second version of “Love Machine,” remixed by UK producer The Lincolnshire Poacher. Electropop producer Richard X co-produced several album tracks and remixes “Resistencia,” which also features MRFY member Gregor Strasbergar. Ghanaian artist Wiyaala, whom Laibach first saw performing in an underground club in Ljubljana, appears on two new versions of “Musick”: the Unsick version and a remix by the band’s own guitarist, Vitja Balžalorsky, credited here as Balžalorsky. Long-time Laibach vocalist Marina Mårtensson features on new track “#US,” which SILVERWINGKILLER also remixes, and on “Faith No More” alongside Joker Out guitarist Bojan Cvjetićanin. Koala Voice frontwoman Manca Trampuš features on new track “Modern Talking.”

The vinyl edition carries a 10-track selection; the CD and digital editions expand to 13 tracks with the additional remixes. The digital and CD tracklist: “This Is The End” (feat. Kaja Skrbinšek), “Yom Kippur,” “#US” (feat. Marina Mårtensson), “Tales From The Crypt,” “Faith No More” (feat. Marina Mårtensson and Bojan Cvjetićanin), “Musick” (feat. Wiyaala) (Unsick version), “Resistencia” (feat. Gregor Strasbergar) (Richard X remix), “Love Machine” (feat. Senidah) (PUNCHBAG remix), “#US” (feat. Marina Mårtensson) (SILVERWINGKILLER remix), “Modern Talking” (feat. Manca Trampuš), “Allgorhythm” (feat. Wiyaala) (Algorithm remix, assisted by iTurk), “Love Machine” (feat. Senidah) (The Lincolnshire Poacher remix) and “Musick” (feat. Wiyaala) (Balžalorsky remix).

“Yom Kippur” previously appeared as a standalone single featuring the Palestinian Children’s Choir, released in October 2025.

On the new material, Laibach state: “Perhaps these are the final moments when creating music purely for enjoyment still carries broader significance – before alien, generative intelligence outplays and outperforms us all. So, we seized the moment.”

Laibach tour dates for 2026

Laibach continue the “MUSICK” tour through the autumn with UK and European dates, including a show at London’s Islington Assembly Hall on 29 September:

• 25 September – Ljubljana (SI), Kino Šiška
• 26 September – Ljubljana (SI), Kino Šiška
• 29 September – London (UK), Islington Assembly Hall
• 30 September – Manchester (UK), Ritz
• 1 October – Southampton (UK), 1865
• 2 October – Canterbury (UK), The Gulbenkian
• 4 October – Gent (BE), Democrazy
• 6 October – Bochum (DE), Zeche
• 7 October – Nijmegen (NL), Doornroosje
• 8 October – Hamburg (DE), Große Freiheit 36
• 9 October – Oslo (NO), Rockefeller Music Hall
• 11 October – Copenhagen (DK), Bremen Teater
• 13 October – Berlin (DE), Huxleys Neue Welt
• 14 October – Dresden (DE), Reithalle
• 15 October – Brno (CZ), Fleda
• 16 October – Zagreb (HR), Boogaloo

Further European dates are scheduled into 2027, including Milan, Bologna, Lausanne, Paris, Nancy, Winterthur, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, Thessaloniki, Athens and Benidorm.

About Laibach

Laibach formed in 1980 in the mining town of Trbovlje, Slovenia, evolving out of Dejan Knez’s earlier band Salto Mortale. The group co-founded the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective with the IRWIN and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre groups in 1984. Their name was officially banned in Yugoslavia in 1983 after a controversial television appearance, a ban lifted in 1985 following the release of their second album, “Nova Akropola,” on Cherry Red Records. Laibach signed to Mute Records for their 1987 album “Opus Dei,” which paired subversive cover versions of Opus’s “Live Is Life” and Queen’s “One Vision” with original material, and went on to release “Let It Be” (1988), “Kapital” (1992) and “NATO” (1994), the latter reworking “The Final Countdown” and other pop and military anthems.

The band’s best-known lineup – Milan Fras on vocals, Dejan Knez, Ervin Markošek and Ivan “Jani” Novak – carried Laibach through the 1990s and 2000s, spanning albums including “Jesus Christ Superstars” (1996), “WAT” (2003) and “Volk” (2006). Knez left the group in 2003. More recent studio work includes “Spectre” (2014), “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (2017), “The Sound of Music” (2018), “Wir sind das Volk (ein Musical aus Deutschland)” (2022) and the symphonic work “Alamut” (2022), alongside “Sketches from the Red District” and the “Love Is Still Alive” EP, both from 2023. Milan Fras remains lead vocalist, joined by Ivan “Jani” Novak, longtime vocalist and guitarist Marina Mårtensson and guitarist Vitja Balžalorsky.

Recent singles have included covers of “Strange Fruit,” “White Christmas” and Bijelo Dugme’s “Top,” released as “Die Kanone” with Goran Bregović in 2025, plus the “Yom Kippur” single that October. Laibach unveiled “Musick” ahead of its 2026 release on Mute, the group’s most pop-leaning album to date. “MUSICK : ENCORE” extends that record with new songs and remixes, arriving 20 November 2026.

German dark rock band MONO INC. released the single “Herzblut” on September 14, 2026, a reinterpretation of the same-titled Megaherz track. It is the first single from the Hamburg band’s anniversary compilation “20 Years of Darkness,” due December 4, 2026 through NoCut/SPV.

Megaherz released the original “Herzblut” as a single in 2002. MONO INC.’s version keeps the German lyrics but rebuilds the track around cutting guitars and heavier rhythms, moving it toward the band’s own sound rather than reproducing the source recording. An official lyric video accompanies the release:

“20 Years of Darkness” is available for pre-order as a limited Fan Box, Silver Marbled 3-LP vinyl, Black 3-LP vinyl, and 2-CD Digipak through MONO INC.’s official shop. The 32-track collection runs “Comedown,” “Wave No Flag,” “Mondschein,” “C’est La Vie,” “In The End,” “The Raven’s Back,” “Herzblut,” “Radio Mono,” “Torture Me,” “Shelter,” “Forever and a Day,” “Rest in Grace,” “Why Can’t I,” “Ich teile dich nicht,” “Forever,” “Twice in Life,” “The Best of You,” “Burn Me,” “When the Raven Dies Tonight,” “Herzschlag,” “Tired of the Day,” “Never Say Die,” “It Never Rains,” “Bloodmoon,” “This Is My Life,” “Mein Herz,” “Grown,” “The Promise,” “Feuer,” “Under a Coal Black Sun,” “Euthanasia” and “One Time In Your Life.”

The album’s release date has moved since MONO INC. first announced the project: December 4, 2026 is the date confirmed on the band’s official pre-save page, after an earlier November 27, 2026 date circulated in the announcement.

MONO INC. built the compilation around its third consecutive number-one German album, “Darkness,” released in 2025 and followed by an October 2025 tour. “Herzblut” is the first new material the band has shared since that album cycle.

About MONO INC.

Miky Mono (vocals, bass), Carl Fornia (guitar) and Martin Engler (drums) formed MONO INC. in Hamburg, Germany, in 2000. Bassist Manuel Antoni joined in 2003 as the band self-released its debut album, “Head Under Water.” MONO INC. signed to NoCut Entertainment in 2004 and reissued the album with new artwork, spawning the singles “Burn Me” and “Superman.” Engler moved to lead vocals in 2006, with Katha Mia joining on drums; their first album together, “Temple of the Torn,” followed in 2007, then “Pain, Love & Poetry” (2008), which included a duet with Lisa Middelhauve of Xandria, and “Voices of Doom” (2009). Founding singer Miky Mono died in a paragliding accident in October 2010.

MONO INC. released “Viva Hades” in 2011 and signed to SPV/Rookies & Kings the following year, releasing “After the War” in 2012. “Nimmermehr” (2013) reached number three on the German charts, followed by the compilation “The Clock Ticks On 2004-2014” (2014) and “Terlingua” (2015). “Together Till the End” (2017) and the compilation “Symphonies of Pain” preceded “Welcome to Hell” (2018) and “The Book of Fire” (2020), the band’s first German number-one album. MONO INC.’s twelfth studio album, “Ravenblack,” followed in 2023, also topping the German charts.

Bassist Ilja John Lappin joined in 2025, replacing Val Perun, the same year MONO INC. released its 13th studio album, “Darkness,” the band’s third consecutive German number-one. MONO INC.’s current lineup is Martin Engler (vocals), Carl Fornia (guitars, vocals), Katha Mia (drums, vocals) and Ilja John Lappin (bass, vocals). “Herzblut” and the “20 Years of Darkness” compilation, due December 4, 2026, mark the band’s first new release since that album cycle, drawing a line from its 2003 debut through two decades with the Raven Community.

Mildreda started back in the 90s but remained largely unknown and underappreciated, eventually fading into obscurity—until Jan Dewulf breathed new life into the project around 2009. He has since released his third album on the Dependent label, and Mildreda continues to attract new followers. With this new opus—which can certainly be described as a conceptual work centered on the theme of ‘reality’—the Belgian artist unleashes his creativity across no fewer than 18 tracks.

The conceptual nature of the album is also reflected in eight distinct, shorter “Reality Check” tracks. Serving as interludes or introductions, they feature pronounced Cinematic elements alongside an impressive array of sounds, effects, experiments, and the fragmented voice of French philosopher Albert Camus (best known for his novel “L’Étranger”).

The remaining ten tracks clearly form the core of the album—songs that reveal the true sound and essence of Mildreda, offering a continuation of the style fans may have encountered on earlier singles. Mildreda remains rooted in a dark, obscure, and at times tormented atmosphere, all cast within a Dark-Electro framework. Industrial elements play a significant role, particularly in the percussion. Jan Dewulf has truly outdone himself, offering listeners an unparalleled experience defined by both complexity and efficiency. Certain passages evoke the genius of Skinny Puppy, though without attempting to directly emulate the Canadian masters. It is evident that Dewulf is a versatile artist who has experimented—and continues to experiment—with a wide range of musical genres. At times, the sound leans towards EBM, as on the formidable “Silk Skin,” which recalls the menacing atmosphere of Front 242’s “Moldavia.” Some sequences sound slightly less dark, yet simply fit into the overall picture. Jan Dewulf’s menacing, distorted vocals complete the experience. Two standout tracks feature notable guest vocalists. There is the already familiar “Virtual Goddess” with Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando), but even more striking is “Rückwärts” with Constantin ‘Breñal’ Warter (Calva Y Nada)—also a fantastic track.

Mildreda delivers an expansive, detailed, and polished album where atmosphere takes center stage without losing sight of its danceable side. I believe this record won’t need a reality check to convince anyone that it is a remarkable piece of work. (Rating:8½).

Listen to “End Of The Line”:

About Mildreda

Mildreda is a dark electro/EBM project from Ostend, Belgium, started in the early 1990s before splitting up. Jan Dewulf resurrected the project in 2009. Mildreda released the album “De Laffe Denker” in 1996, followed after the 2009 relaunch by “Coward Philosophy” (2016) and “Cowards” (2017). The albums “Fire” (2020), “Reinvention Of Pain”, “Liaisons Dangereuses” and “I Was Never Really There” followed in 2021, and “Blue-Devilled”, “Devil’s Gaze”, “Prophecies” and “Friendly Fire” in 2023.

“Realities” is released on Dependent and features guest vocals from Johan Van Roy of Suicide Commando on “Virtual Goddess” and Constantin “Breñal” Warter of Calva Y Nada on “Rückwärts”.

Australian industrial electro acts Snog and Black Lung are both confirmed to make exclusive appearances in Germany in November 2026. Both acts perform at the Fourscher Festival in Erfurt on 7-8 November, alongside Mildreda, Individual Totem, This Morn’ Omina, Heimstatt Yipotash and others.

Snog is centred around David Thrussell and known for left-field dancefloor tracks such as “Corporate Slave” and “Cheerful Hypocrisy,” alongside satirical, nihilistic songs like “The Human Germ” and “The Last Days Of Rome.” The group’s catalogue has been released primarily on Metropolis Records and the German labels Ant-Zen and Hymen. Onstage, Snog perform as a trio with a set described as “bizarre electro-Weimar Cabaret with an Industrial Beat.”

Black Lung is a Thrussell solo act presenting the harder, darker, more experimental and techno-leaning side of his work. A new Black Lung album, “Ordo Ab Chao,” is due on Ant-Zen in late October 2026.

2026 has also seen Thrussell release “The Call Of Cthulhu”, a collaboration 2LP with Australian experimentalist Shinjuku Thief, on Metropolis Records, and the ritual ambient LP “The Reign Of Dead Matter” on Ant-Zen.

About Snog and Black Lung

Snog and Black Lung are both projects of Australian musician David Thrussell. Snog performs as a trio and has released a deep catalogue of industrial dance and electro-industrial material across Metropolis Records, Ant-Zen and Hymen, including reissues of remastered 1990s albums. Black Lung is Thrussell’s solo outlet for harder, more experimental and techno-adjacent material, with releases including the “Babel” collaboration with Xavier Morel and the “Armageddon” and “Euthanasia” videos. Thrussell’s 2026 output spans “The Call Of Cthulhu” with Shinjuku Thief and “The Reign Of Dead Matter” on Ant-Zen, with the new Black Lung album “Ordo Ab Chao” due in late October ahead of the Snog and Black Lung shows at Fourscher Festival in Erfurt on 7-8 November.

Lords Of Acid release “Ich Will Nur Das” (I Just Want) on Metropolis Records on 11 September 2026, the group’s fourth single of the year. The frenetic dance track features a vocal by US electronic musician Mari Kattman, sung entirely in German.

Lords Of Acid founder Praga Khan describes the track as “basically a love song with a serious identity crisis. The verses are pure lust: hot, dirty, aggressive and completely unapologetic. Then the chorus suddenly turns into the romantic fantasy of a lovestruck teenager dreaming about eternal love.”

Kattman is a Metropolis Records labelmate and a non-German speaker who has been touring on her own recent solo album, “Year Of The Katt.” “She was perfect for this song, as it is incredibly charming to hear her American voice attack these German lyrics,” Khan said. “We didn’t want her pronunciation to be too polished or perfect, as her accent gives the track extra personality. She also understood the contradiction at the heart of the song: one minute she sounds like she wants to devour you, the next she’s dreaming about everlasting love. It’s filthy and innocent at the same time, which is pretty much Lords Of Acid in a nutshell.”

“Ich Will Nur Das” follows the previously released “Karaoke Superstar” featuring Princess Superstar, “Dream Boy” featuring Carla Harvey, and “El Mundo Esta Loco” featuring Tony & The Kiki. All four songs appear on “Mundo Bizarro,” the group’s new album, which streams digitally from 15 October to coincide with part two of the “Cheeky Freaky” US tour, with LP and CD editions following on 6 November.

“Mundo Bizarro” tracklist: “Dream Boy,” “Dancing On The Flames,” “El Mundo Esta Loco,” “Dopamine War,” “Maximo Roboto,” “Ich Will Nur Das,” “City Of Angels,” “So Stoned Today,” “Karaoke Superstar,” “You’re Obscene” and “A Viking’s Heart.”

About Lords Of Acid

Lords Of Acid formed in Antwerp, Belgium in 1988 around Praga Khan and are recognised as one of the most influential acts to emerge from the hard-edged electronic dance music scene of that era, blending techno, acid house and industrial music with lyrics on sexuality, drug use and hedonism. The group debuted with the New Beat single “I Sit On Acid,” and its debut album “Lust” appeared in 1991, followed by further releases that saw the band become a staple of the Billboard dance and alternative charts. Carla Harvey, formerly of Butcher Babies, joined as singer in 2025. Having built a global following across a multi-decade touring career, Lords Of Acid remain one of the genre’s most recognisable names, with “Ich Will Nur Das” arriving ahead of the group’s next album, “Mundo Bizarro,” streaming digitally from 15 October 2026 ahead of LP and CD editions on 6 November.

Cold Spring hosts a label night at The Globe in Glossop on 3 October 2026, with T.A.G.C., Satori, Colossloth and Llyn Y Cwn performing alongside a Cold Spring stall. Doors run from 7pm to 10:30pm, with tickets available through Resident Advisor and the event’s Facebook page.

T.A.G.C. (The Anti Group Communications) was devised by Adi Newton and Steven James Turner in 1978 as a multi-dimensional research and development project. Newton uses T.A.G.C. as an outlet for his research into psycho-acoustic music, built from carefully constructed aural rituals. He is also the driving force behind Clock DVA, The Anti Group and The Future, the pre-Human League project, and a key figure in the development of electronic, industrial and experimental music since the late 1970s. T.A.G.C.’s “Iso-Erotic Calibration” is out now on Cold Spring on CD, LP and limited LP.

British industrial veterans Satori formed in 1984 and have released material on cult labels including Broken Flag, Mindscan, Cold Spring and Tesco Organisation. The Glossop date doubles as the launch for Satori’s new album, “Your Life Is Worth Nothing,” which pairs harsh noise and power electronics with heavier percussive beats than the act’s earlier material.

Colossloth, from the Midlands, marks 20 years as a project in 2026 and launches the new album “The Transformation And Resolution Of All Opposites” at the Glossop show. Colossloth’s music moves between brooding, abrasive passages and more transcendental material, drawing on industrial, ethnic tribalism and rave influences.

Llyn Y Cwn is the solo project of Ben Powell, who has made electronic music for over 25 years, drawing on the landscapes of North Wales and his experience on Arctic research cruises. He presents “Megaliths In Dub” versus “Aniara” as an exclusive first listen at the Glossop show.

About Cold Spring

Cold Spring is a British independent record label focused on industrial, power electronics, noise, dark ambient and experimental music. The label has released material from artists including T.A.G.C., Satori and Colossloth, and has previously staged label nights and compilations such as the “Arise – A Cold Spring Sampler” collection. The Glossop show brings together acts from across the label’s roster, including two new album launches from Satori and Colossloth, alongside a live set from Clock DVA and Human League co-founder Adi Newton under his T.A.G.C. name.

Breton producer Quinquis (Emilie Quinquis) has announced “scenes d’interieur”, her original soundtrack to Melanie Leray’s stage production of the same name. The five-track release comes out on 13 November 2026 via Mute.

The multi-media production blends theatre and film as it follows Chloe, an actress preparing to perform the role of Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” The stage sections trace the breakdown of Chloe’s own relationship, while a parallel story shown on film covers her childhood, raised by a mother who survived domestic violence. Ibsen’s 1879 play, which caused a scandal on release for questioning the traditional roles of men and women in marriage, runs through both timelines, tying the production to themes of control and the search for emancipation.

Quinquis’ score follows the two timelines, underscoring Chloe’s vulnerability, pain and strength as she navigates the violence of her stepfather as a teenager and of her husband as an adult in the present day. She uses modular electronics to score the live theatre performances and acoustic instrumentation for the film sections, extending the dialogue between past and present that runs through the production.

The single “Lena” is an intimate piece where slow-moving synths give way to distant voices as the track builds through layers of emotion. The album was recorded on Ushant Island, off the coast of Brittany, where Quinquis lives, and features a track recorded with Amsterdam-based labelmate Desire Marea, “Inkanuko.”

“scenes d’interieur” (catalogue number iMUTE703) carries five tracks: “Chloe,” “Nora,” “Puzuilhan,” “Inkanuko” and “Lena.” It follows Quinquis’ 2025 album “eor” and the 2024 single “Morwreg”, both also released via Mute.

About Quinquis

Quinquis is the project of Breton producer Emilie Quinquis, based on Ushant Island off the coast of Brittany. Her work moves between electronic and acoustic instrumentation, built around modular synthesis, field recording and a close relationship to the Breton coast where she lives. Quinquis released the “aer” EP and the album “SEIM” before “Morwreg” preceded her 2025 album “eor,” both issued via Mute. “scenes d’interieur,” her soundtrack to Melanie Leray’s stage production of the same name, follows in November 2026 and marks her first release built specifically for a theatre production, combining her modular electronic work for the live stage sections with acoustic instrumentation for the production’s film sequences.

SPK have never made much sense as an argument for artistic consistency. If anything, their history suggests the opposite: that continuity can reside in refusing to preserve a fixed sound, method or even definition of what a musical project is supposed to be. Graeme Revell’s current work as The SPKtR extends that principle into a very different technological environment, one in which artificial intelligence, algorithmic gatekeeping and increasingly unstable distinctions between human and machine production have become part of the artistic material itself.

Our conversation began with the contrasting directions currently emerging around The SPKtR and the considerably more abrasive SPKtR XXX, but quickly expanded into something larger: post-humanism, seduction as a mechanism of control, the politics of technological systems, the usefulness of unpredictability, nostalgia, artistic failure and the boundary between music and noise. We also returned to the difficult Wave-Gotik-Treffen debut and looked ahead to November’s Wroclaw Industrial Festival, where Revell intends to present something very different: not a reconstruction of early SPK, but an attempt to recover its confrontational principle using contemporary means.

The SPKtR interview

Karo: The SPKtR now appears to be developing along two currents: The SPKtR, where melody, atmosphere and cinematic scale seem to have more room, and SPKtR XXX, where noise and rhythm become dominant again. I find that distinction fascinating because it suggests more than two versions of the same project. Are they two different ways of acting upon the listener – one through seduction and immersion, the other through physical impact and confrontation? What can one communicate that the other cannot?

Graeme: You are absolutely right. It’s still quite early in my new period of creativity and I’m not sure what the parameters and boundaries of each project are yet. As a seasoned artist who has produced music in many different styles both for SPK and for film, I feel a little bit constrained by expectations. While ultimately I will move forward and produce music that I enjoy, I am aware of the audience that has supported me for decades and I am grateful to them.

So I have recreated just a few songs, whose tracks were destroyed in a fire two years ago, to show my love, but I don’t think it comes as any surprise to say that the broader SPK project was ALWAYS about change and defying expectations. Most bands play it safe at later stages in their careers by rehashing their old material to nostalgic audiences, but I prefer to live dangerously and present new material that reflects contemporary means of production and issues.

So, as you observe, these are two possible new versions of the project that reflect my love for both intense rhythm and noise on the one hand and melancholic and exotic melody on the other. Because they are extremes, it is difficult to jam them together, especially in a live concert context. But there are also other manifestations as yet unrecorded, and I wouldn’t say the project has bifurcated.

Karo: “The Last of Men” deals with the erosion of human exceptionalism and our increasing entanglement with technological systems. That is an enormous philosophical proposition to place inside a piece of music. How do you prevent an idea of that scale from turning the music into an illustration of a thesis? Can rhythm, distortion, frequency or the treatment of the voice carry an argument about what a human being is more effectively than words can?

Graeme: Another probing question. A four-minute song is never going to be able to deliver a coherent thesis on such a subject but, as with all my music, can act as a catalyst for somewhat deeper discussion outside of the music. My use of the term Information Overload as both a warning and a prescription for dealing with the social current of the late ’70s and early ’80s is a case in point.

“The Last of Men” is similarly a warning and, as you say, simultaneously aims at a constructive argument against human hubris, which is central to our survival past the very near future. Quite a lot of my music I view as a post-industrial style of “protest song”.

Going even further, the involvement of AI technology takes the project into the area of “post-humanism”, which I see not as the total removal of the human from the process, a la some of Cage’s modernist work for example, but as a decentring and a redefinition of our relationship with technology. I think the song can be an effective signpost for larger issues.

Karo: “La Encantadora Furiosa” introduces a rather different temperature: something darker and more romantic. It made me wonder whether seduction might actually be as important to your current thinking as technological menace. We tend to imagine our relationship with machines through fear, but the systems that transform us most profoundly are often the ones we willingly desire. Is attraction, even intimacy, becoming part of the language of The SPKtR?

Graeme: “La Encantadora” is certainly a different kind of song for me but does build on my years of film scoring, where I introduced a number of indigenous musical styles into film genres. From 1985’s “Zamia Lehmanni” I discovered my love of world music and very much enjoy exploring perhaps a different take.

Sometimes a piece of music is just a piece of music, but I have always agreed that seduction, especially in late capitalism, is an infinitely more efficient system of “normalisation” and submission than naked control. This is something that I have spoken about since the very beginning as a disciple of Foucault. It manifests today in the continuous dopamine hit of scrolling and has become more or less a fait accompli.

Karo: There is an almost absurdly perfect SPK story in what happened to “The Last of Men”: a piece written and performed by a human musician was removed from Bandcamp after an automated system apparently identified its audio as AI-generated. Early SPK examined institutions, psychiatry, media and systems of control; today some of that authority resides in platforms, recommendation systems and largely invisible algorithms. Did that incident change the way you think about where technological power now sits, particularly when the machine is no longer simply an artistic tool but a gatekeeper?

Graeme: Yes, I did it as a test of the gatekeeping actually. There are, in fact, small elements of the track that are AI-generated and I wanted to find out how good AI was at recognising itself. Quite good, as it turns out. So the incident definitely didn’t change any of my expectations.

I do, however, think it is absurd that the policing of the AI content fails to take into account that the content it is flagging actually owes its existence – partially but defensibly – to the very author, myself, which it has scraped. In other words, it has forbidden the creator to re-use his own IP. Now THAT is absurd.

It is a very complex ecology of power but, as with any technology, provides new possibilities while foreclosing others. The role of the artist is to expose these relationships and hopefully to go some way towards subverting them. In this case, the task is twofold: to contribute to the database more extreme content that will exist towards the outside edges of the probability distribution, and to adopt a practice of multiple iteration that allows one to favour these extremes in creating new content.

Karo: I would really like to ask about Wave-Gotik-Treffen because, from the outside, that performance seemed to acquire a drama of its own. It had been conceived as The SPKtR’s live debut with Robert, and then Robert became ill and could not perform. I also understand that at one point the show came very close to being cancelled altogether. Could you take us inside what actually happened that day, and how close you were to deciding that the performance simply could not go ahead?

Graeme: Yes, it was a shock and I really wanted to cancel because I knew that I could only deliver half of a show. It was only when I was begged by many people who had promoted and paid for the concert that I agreed to do my best. Perhaps it was the wrong decision, but onwards and upwards. I was lucky to have the wonderful Evi Vine accompany me on two songs, but the robot technology I had been working on could not be deployed because I was nailed to the keyboard.

Karo: What interests me beyond the circumstances is what that disruption revealed about The SPKtR itself. Did having to improvise around Robert’s absence expose possibilities that a technically perfect debut might not have? Is contingency still creatively useful in a project so dependent on technology and carefully constructed relationships between sound and image?

Graeme: I have always been a solo writer. Even when Neil, the original co-founder of SPK, was alive, we worked entirely separately except on stage. So my shows are tightly controlled from my workstation. Robert is in fact the wildcard improviser, so that contingency was removed by his illness and the show was the lesser for it.

The unpredictability is the fun thing about live performance and the robotic element is firmly still in this territory. We will see how it goes on tour!

Karo: Wroclaw Industrial Festival appears to represent almost the opposite proposition: SPKtR XXX, harder and much more rhythmically and sonically aggressive. How different should somebody who witnessed WGT expect Wroclaw to be? Are we talking primarily about different material, or about a fundamentally different relationship between sound, technology, visuals and the audience?

Graeme: The two shows will be very different indeed! I think there are only about four or five songs in common and I have radically remixed them. I am looking forward to WIF because I would like to re-establish the full-frontal assault that I think I began in 1978.

There are one or two contemporary acts that have taken up the mantle but overall, I have been profoundly surprised how many of my contemporaries have not come up with anything new in the last three decades. In fact, there seems to be quite a lack of exploratory energy.

With respect to the WIF set, I will try to deliver a visceral experience akin to how early SPK audiences described their reaction. The ubiquity of dark imagery nowadays means it is improbable to deliver the kind of visual shock that we once did, but sonically I think the experience is light-years ahead. It is a wonderful challenge!

Karo: Wroclaw also comes with a very particular audience – people steeped in decades of industrial and experimental music. Does performing in that context create an expectation around the name SPK that you feel any responsibility to fulfil, or is frustrating that expectation still part of the point?

Graeme: As I said earlier, I do feel some of that responsibility, but I also look forward to confronting their inevitable reactions, some of them no doubt critical, because throwing out different ideas is always the point. I always said that this variety of approaches was the essence of what has become lumped together under the term “industrial”. The difference is that SPK invokes this variety within a single show. I hope it’s exciting and fresh rather than frustrating.

Karo: You and Robert have described yourselves, broadly speaking, as composer and instrumentalist, but by now the collaboration must have moved beyond such a clean division. What interests me more is where the two generations actually disagree. Does Robert ever hear something you have constructed and tell you that it sounds too recognisably like SPK, or that an instinct which once felt radical has become historical vocabulary? And when those disagreements happen, who tends to win?

Graeme: As I have already stated, I am the sole writer apart from what Rob contributes on stage. So we definitely maintain a clean division. My work process is a very long one of self-criticism, which is why releases are few and far between. As such, there can be no disagreements.

He is free to offer constructive criticism and I would listen for sure. But it’s unlikely that he would, because he understands that making mistakes is all part of the joy for me. And he has his own solo project.

Karo: SPK has changed so radically across its history that perhaps its real continuity was never a particular sound at all, but an unwillingness to become fixed. With The SPKtR and SPKtR XXX now taking shape, what would constitute failure for you creatively? Would it be making something that alienates people, or would the greater failure be making something audiences immediately recognise, understand and comfortably identify as “SPK”?

Graeme: Absolutely, it’s about discontinuity – finding and exploring different definitions of what constitutes the boundary between what is considered music and what is noise. I would like younger generations to enjoy the music I love to create. Failure to engage beyond the wonderful fans that I already have would constitute a kind of failure.

Further, though, the “post-human” project is about shifting the appreciation of art from the old ingrained tendency towards aesthetic judgement to intelligent observation of the means of production. The incredibly rapid shift in the man-machine intellectual relationship – the means of production – is the crux issue of the day and is what my art is all about at the moment. This is not an easy shift for the listener.

I revel in the danger that I might alienate people because if they allow that to happen then they do not really belong in this, our space. Yet there will always be nostalgia and conservatism, and I will tell you a funny anecdote to finish.

I think it was our third ever gig in Sydney in 1979. At the first gig I had hidden one hand in my sleeve and was playing the synth with a large butcher’s hook tucked into it instead. After this third gig, an earnest young punk came up to me and said, “You guys were OK, but the band hasn’t been the same since The Claw left.”

About SPK / The SPKtR

SPK emerged in Sydney in 1978 around Graeme Revell and Neil Hill and became one of the formative projects associated with industrial music, although reducing their history to that category obscures how radically the project repeatedly changed its own vocabulary. Noise, extreme rhythmic experimentation, electronics, performance, increasingly melodic structures and eventually the atmospheric language heard on works such as “Zamia Lehmanni: Songs Of Byzantine Flowers” all appeared under the same name. That instability is important to understanding the present project: the relevant continuity is not one particular SPK sound, but an insistence that the project should remain capable of mutation.

The contemporary The SPKtR brings Graeme Revell together onstage with his son Robert Revell. Graeme remains the principal composer, while Robert introduces the improvisational element that Revell describes as the “wildcard” within performances. The music is currently developing through several possible manifestations rather than one fixed successor to SPK. Broadly, The SPKtR allows more room for melody, atmosphere and the cinematic vocabulary Graeme developed during his long career as a film composer, while SPKtR XXX foregrounds rhythm, noise and considerably greater physical aggression. Revell is careful, however, not to define these as permanent boundaries; other forms remain possible and, in his words, the project has not simply “bifurcated”.

That distinction will become particularly tangible during the forthcoming European dates. The tour begins on 7 November at Wroclaw Industrial Festival, where SPKtR XXX will present the harder configuration. Revell says only four or five pieces will overlap with the material heard at Wave-Gotik-Treffen, and even those have been radically remixed. His stated intention is not to reconstruct the SPK of the late 1970s, but to recover something of its “full-frontal assault” through contemporary production possibilities.

SPK / SPKtR – Europe 2026 tour dates

• 07.11.2026 – Wroclaw, Poland – Wroclaw Industrial Festival @ Stary Klasztor
• 10.11.2026 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Loppen
• 12.11.2026 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Monument 031
• 13.11.2026 – Stockholm, Sweden – Klubb Dod @ Nalen
• 16.11.2026 – Vienna, Austria – Liccht @ Viper Room
• 17.11.2026 – Leipzig, Germany – Hellraiser
• 21.11.2026 – Budapest, Hungary – S1 Beer Factory
• 22.11.2026 – Zagreb, Croatia – Boogaloo
• 23.11.2026 – Kranj, Slovenia – TrainStation SubArt
• 28.11.2026 – Pordenone, Italy – XXII Congresso Post Industriale @ Capitol
• 01.12.2026 – Augsburg, Germany – Rockfabrik
• 02.12.2026 – Berlin, Germany – Urban Spree
• 03.12.2026 – Utrecht, Netherlands – De Helling
• 05.12.2026 – Sint-Niklaas, Belgium – BIMFEST @ De Casino
• 06.12.2026 – Athens, Greece – Black Temple

Black Lotus, the project of artist Thai, is releasing a concept EP titled “In a Room Full of Dreams” through dark synthwave, dark synth-pop, darkwave and related electronic sounds built around synesthesia, dreams, memory and perception. The title track arrives on 14 September 2026. A streaming link for the title track itself was not confirmed at the time of writing.

The EP follows the earlier single “Dreams of Snakes“, already available on Spotify, and includes the tracks “When Sound Becomes Colour” and “Synthesia” alongside the title track.

Geert Coppens joins Black Lotus on ‘Dreams of Snakes’

Belgian musician Geert Coppens performs as a vocal duo with Thai on “Dreams of Snakes” and has also contributed to the EP’s visual and video work. Coppens’ back-catalogue reaches into Belgium’s early minimal wave, darkwave and coldwave scenes.

About Black Lotus and Geert Coppens

Geert Coppens is a Belgian musician who co-founded the Micrart Group with classmate Peter Bonne in 1977, and the two went on to form the new wave band Autumn, active from 1980 to 1984. In 1982, while still working within Autumn, Coppens and Bonne began Twilight Ritual as a side project exploring a darker, more minimal sound; the pair kept Twilight Ritual a two-person project until their paths split in 1985, when Bonne went on to form A Split Second with Marc Ickx while Coppens continued designing artwork for that project and kept working under the Micrart banner. Autumn material was later compiled by Minimal Wave Records on the “Synthesize” collection, and Twilight Ritual has since been reissued on Genetic Music, Onderstroom Records and Wave Records, whose 2021 compilation “1982-2021” gathered 34 tracks spanning the project’s full history. Coppens has also worked more recently under the name Das Cabinett and, in 2023, teamed with Miami-based artist Nina Belief on the EP “In Memory Of” as Faceless 50. His appearance on “Dreams of Snakes” extends that history of collaboration into Black Lotus’s “In a Room Full of Dreams”.

Black Lotus is the project of artist Thai, working across music, dance, photography, video, installation and performance-based visual art. “In a Room Full of Dreams” continues that multidisciplinary approach, pairing the EP’s concept around synesthesia and altered perception with Coppens’ contributions to both the music and the accompanying visuals.

Norwegian rock band The Largo have released their new single “Happiness“, introducing a heavier and darker chapter in the band’s sound.

The track is built around riff-driven rock with roots in desert rock and the sounds of the 1960s and ’70s, while pushing the band towards a broader and more powerful sound. “Happiness” is available now on all major streaming platforms.

Geir Bratland joins The Largo as a permanent member

The release also comes with a line-up update. Geir Bratland, who has already been involved with The Largo for some time, has now officially joined the band as a permanent member.

Bratland is best known as keyboardist with Dimmu Borgir, while electronic music audiences will also know him from his many years with Apoptygma Berzerk. With his place in The Largo now made official, he becomes part of the band’s next chapter.

About The Largo

The Largo are a rock band based in Oslo, Norway. The current line-up includes Jan Ole Kristensen, Alf Magne Hillestad, who also works as a drummer, producer and mixer at Velvet Recording in Spydeberg, Norway, and Jørgen Karlstrøm, joined now on a permanent basis by Geir Bratland on keyboards.

Bratland played keyboards and backing vocals in Apoptygma Berzerk from 1995 to 2009, appearing on the band’s albums from “7” (1996) through “Harmonizer” (2002), “You and Me Against the World” (2006) and “Rocket Science” (2009). Since 2010 he has served as the touring and session keyboardist for the Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, contributing to the albums “Abrahadabra” (2010), “Forces of the Northern Night” (2017) and “Eonian” (2018). His permanent place in The Largo now sits alongside that ongoing work, adding a new outlet to his long-running career across Norway’s rock, electronic and metal scenes.

Salford Electronics, the project of Dave Padbury, also known for his work as The Grey Wolves, releases “Communique” on LP through Cold Spring on 9 October. The catalog number is CSR372LP, and the release is limited to 300 hand-assembled copies with a hand-stamped sleeve and a sticker seal.

The nine tracks on “Communique” were written over the past decade and had previously circulated only as part of a digital-only “Communique” series that Padbury has self-released in installments since 2016. This LP marks the first time any of that material has had a physical, vinyl pressing, curated by Padbury specifically for the release. Cold Spring describes the record as “nine lo-fi electronic urban nightmares spiralling through Industrial decay, rain-drenched dark ambient, abrasive loops, brooding noise, and shards of scintillating electronics.”

“Communique” runs: “Homeless” (4:06), “Tipping Point” (3:09), “Inertia” (3:27), “Collapse” (3:19) and “Restraint” (2:21) on side A; “Cellophane” (4:34), “Absolution” (4:32), “Siege” (4:37) and “Fatal” (3:48) on side B. Salford Electronics performs at the Northern Nightmare noise festival in Manchester on 10 October, the day after the LP’s release.

About Salford Electronics

Salford Electronics is the solo project of Dave Padbury, based in Salford, UK, formed in 2015. Padbury’s other credits include The Grey Wolves and Death Pact International, both dating back to the 1980s. As Salford Electronics, he pursues industrial ambient and techno-adjacent electronics, releasing the digital “Communique” series in installments from 2016 onward and issuing the vinyl debut “Deconstruction” through Hospital Productions in 2019, backed with remixes by Ancient Methods and Vatican Shadow. He has since recorded “Raw” (2024) and “Instability of the Signal” (2024) with Simon Fisher Turner, the latter built from Padbury’s own sound sources reworked by Turner, and has traded remixes and collaborations with Vatican Shadow, Ancient Methods, Rupert Lally and Primitive Knot, including the joint releases “Connoisseurs of Ruination” and “Primitive Knot v Salford Electronics: Remixes Volume 1.” With “Communique,” Salford Electronics moves a decade of digital-only material onto vinyl for the first time.

New Jersey industrial project Elektrikill, led by musician and producer Steve Vil, has released “Macabre Masquerade” through Evol Music Group. The 13-track album, Elektrikill’s second full-length of 2026, came out on September 1 and is built around a Halloween theme that runs through the whole tracklist.

“Macabre Masquerade” combines new songs with reworked Elektrikill material, interludes and remixes credited to Kill Vector, Kontrol Phreak and an act billed as SPKTR. Kill Vector reworks “Ravenous” into “Ravenous (Rave Noose Mix),” Kontrol Phreak turns the “Monsters” track “(This Side Of) Parasite” into “Parasite (Darkest Fear Mix by Kontrol Phreak),” and SPKTR remixes “Drugs and Candy” as “Drugs and Candy (Trick Mixxx by SPKTR).” It has not been possible to confirm whether this SPKTR is the same act as The SPKtR, the project Graeme Revell of SPK leads with his son Robert J. Revell, or a separate, unrelated artist using a similar name.

Across the album, Elektrikill moves between EBM, darkwave atmosphere, industrial-rock, electronic dance rhythms and cinematic horror, sequencing the tracks as one continuous set rather than a straight collection of horror-themed songs. “Macabre Masquerade” is out on CD and digital platforms, including Bandcamp and Spotify, with a vinyl LP edition available through elasticStage.

About Elektrikill

Elektrikill is the solo industrial project of Steve Vil, based in Alpha, New Jersey, and formed in 2021. Vil also works as a composer for film and television, with credits including “Grace and the Storm,” “Coma,” “The Pizza Man,” “No Clowning Around” and the theme music for the horror anthology series “Horror Shop Radio.” Elektrikill’s debut album, “Monsters”, arrived in 2023 and was named Industrial Album of the Year by NOTTHEAMP magazine. The project followed it with the EP “Propaganarchy!” (2024), the “Museum of Atrocity” EP (2026) and a contribution, “Titan of Will,” to the compilation “Electronic Saviors 7.” Elektrikill’s third album, “Küntzpiracy”, came out in May 2026 through Evol Music Group. With “Macabre Masquerade,” Elektrikill extends that catalog into a dedicated Halloween release built from new and reworked material.

Dusken Harmony, the dark synthpop and twilight electronics project of Minsk-based multi-instrumentalist Anton Yeroma, releases its new album “Unkeyed” on September 16, 2026, as a nine-track digital release on Bandcamp.

‘Unkeyed’ tracklist and concept

“Unkeyed” runs across nine tracks: “The Golden Weight”, “In the Walls”, “Another Face”, “The Sculptor’s Flaw”, “Open the Box”, “The Little Prince of the Night”, “The Secret Flower”, “Lighthouse” and “The Locked Room”. Dusken Harmony describes the album as sitting at the crossroads of dark synthpop and twilight electronics, built on haunting vintage textures, and as a story of artificial isolation, toxic attachments and the search for a flicker of inner light in a world of polished facades. The album is available as a digital release on Bandcamp, with a full links hub at band.link/unkeyed.

About Dusken Harmony

Dusken Harmony is a musical project run by Anton Yeroma, a multi-instrumentalist based in Minsk, Belarus, blending new wave, post-punk, darkwave and dark synthpop elements. The project’s Bandcamp catalog began with the EP “Disarmed”, released August 14, 2024, a six-track collection paired with the music video for “The Shadow”. “Thorny Agony” followed on May 20, 2025, a nine-track album that included a video for “Black Mask”.

“Unkeyed” is the fifth release in Dusken Harmony’s Bandcamp catalog, following “Disarmed” and “Thorny Agony” as well as two further releases, “Shrouded in Mystery” and “The Last Star”. The new album extends the project’s dark synthpop and twilight electronics sound into a concept built around isolation and the search for light within it.

Italian gothic rock, post-punk and darkwave quartet Christine Plays Viola kick off a Spain and UK tour on 11 September 2026, opening in Barcelona before three nights in Spain and four shows across the United Kingdom through 20 September. The run follows the band’s 2026 album “F.I.V.E. (Fear Increases Violent Emotions)” and its singles. Ticket arrangements are handled by the individual venues; the 18 September Shropshire show is confirmed as free entry.

The Spanish leg runs Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia with local support acts each night. In the UK, Christine Plays Viola play London, Shropshire, Morecambe and Gateshead, including a slot at the Bats in the Attic Festival in Morecambe.

Tour dates for Christine Plays Viola

• 11 September – Barcelona, Spain – Sala Freedonia, with Darklands
• 12 September – Madrid, Spain – Cadavra, with Last Dusk
• 13 September – Valencia, Spain – Black Note Club, with After Mankind
• 17 September – London, UK – The Hope & Anchor, with Long Night and Last Dusk
• 18 September – Shropshire, UK – Percy’s Café Bar, with DJ SyncroMystic (free entry)
• 19 September – Morecambe, UK – Alhambra Live, Bats in the Attic Festival
• 20 September – Gateshead, UK – The Black Bull, with The Exceptional Mr Hyde

About Christine Plays Viola

Christine Plays Viola formed in 2008 in Abruzzo, Italy, around an idea by guitarist Fabrizio Giampietro and drummer Daniele Palombizio, joined shortly after by bassist Desio Presutti and a singer known as Christian. The band released its debut album, “Innocent Awareness”, in 2011, followed in 2014 by “Vacua”, a record inspired by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya that anchored the group in the darkwave and new wave scene.

The current lineup features Giampietro on guitars, synth and programming, Massimo Ciampani on vocals, Gianluca Orsini on drums and Marco Di Ianni on bass. The band’s fifth studio album, “F.I.V.E. (Fear Increases Violent Emotions)”, was released on 19 January 2026 through Cleopatra Records. Christine Plays Viola supported the album with the single “Desolate Moments” in April 2026 and the standalone track “At Last, I Found You” in July 2026. The Spain and UK dates mark the band’s first live run since those releases.

Australian industrial synth crust artist Schkeuditzer Kreuz, the solo project of Kieren Hills, returns to Japan and Southeast Asia in October 2026 for a 21-date run across seven countries in 24 days: Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Ticket details are handled by the individual venues and promoters; several Southeast Asian stops are listed with the venue still to be announced.

The tour opens in Tokyo on 2 October and works through Nagoya, Shizuoka and Osaka before crossing into Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, closing in Dasmariñas, Cavite, on 22 October, with three further Indonesian dates following on 23 to 25 October. Stops include the Visayas Hardcore Punk Fest in Bacolod City and a Bali date at Gimme Shelter.

Tour dates for Schkeuditzer Kreuz

• 2 October – Tokyo, Japan – Earthdom
• 3 October – Tokyo, Japan – Ochiai
• 4 October – Nagoya, Japan – Duct
• 6 October – Shizuoka, Japan – Sougen
• 7 October – Osaka, Japan – Hokage
• 8 October – Siem Reap, Cambodia – Atlantis Metal Bar
• 9 October – Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Distortion
• 10 October – Chiang Mai, Thailand – Yoda Gallery
• 13 October – Bangkok, Thailand – Live Haus BKK
• 14 October – Singapore – venue to be announced
• 15 October – Batam, Indonesia – Loka Suara
• 16 October – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Moutou
• 17 October – Bacolod City, Philippines – Visayas Hardcore Punk Fest
• 18 October – General Santos City, Philippines – venue to be announced
• 19 October – Davao City, Philippines – venue to be announced
• 20 October – Cebu City, Philippines – venue to be announced
• 21 October – Quezon City, Philippines – venue to be announced
• 22 October – Dasmariñas, Cavite, Philippines – venue to be announced
• 23 October – Bali, Indonesia – Gimme Shelter
• 24 October – Jogjakarta, Indonesia – venue to be announced
• 25 October – Purworejo, Indonesia – venue to be announced

About Schkeuditzer Kreuz

Schkeuditzer Kreuz is the solo project of Kieren Hills, who was born in New Zealand and is based in Lawson, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The project combines electronic body music and industrial with crust and d-beat punk, a sound Hills has described with terms such as “industrial synth crust” and “d-beat raw synth punk”. The debut release was the five-song 12-inch EP “Give Me Nothing”, launched with a 15-date tour across eastern Australia in March 2021.

The discography includes the albums “Isolated and Alone” (2021) and “No Life Left” (2023), the latter later repressed on Bad Habit Records. Schkeuditzer Kreuz first toured Japan in June 2024, a run Side-Line covered at the time. In November 2024 the project released a split 7-inch with Decide Today, and the following year issued the split EP “State Violence State Control” with Sydney act Low Life on Winter Garden Records.

The third album, “Swan Grinder“, mastered by Martin Bowes of Attrition, followed on 30 August 2025 and was supported by a European tour that September and October. The single “Keep Dancing”, a remix from “Swan Grinder”, was released in June 2026. The October 2026 dates return Schkeuditzer Kreuz to Japan and Southeast Asia with the widest regional spread of the “Swan Grinder” campaign, adding Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to the itinerary alongside Japan.

Industrial group SPK, performing under the name The SPKtR, tours Europe from 7 November to 6 December 2026, with dates across 12 countries: Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Greece. The run includes appearances at the Wrocław Industrial Festival, the XXII Congresso Post Industriale and BIMFEST. SPK is fronted by founding member and film composer Graeme Revell, joined by his son Robert J. Revell. Ticket details are handled by the individual venues and festivals.

The tour opens at the Wrocław Industrial Festival in Poland on 7 November, then moves through Scandinavia, Austria and Germany, with festival stops at the XXII Congresso Post Industriale in Pordenone, Italy, on 28 November and at BIMFEST in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, on 5 December, before closing in Athens on 6 December.

Tour dates for The SPKtR

• 7 November – Wrocław, Poland – Stary Klasztor, Wrocław Industrial Festival
• 10 November – Copenhagen, Denmark – Loppen
• 12 November – Gothenburg, Sweden – Monument 031
• 13 November – Stockholm, Sweden – Nalen, Klubb Död
• 16 November – Vienna, Austria – Viper Room, Liccht
• 17 November – Leipzig, Germany – Hellraiser
• 21 November – Budapest, Hungary – S1 Beer Factory
• 22 November – Zagreb, Croatia – Boogaloo
• 23 November – Kranj, Slovenia – TrainStation SubArt
• 28 November – Pordenone, Italy – Capitol, XXII Congresso Post Industriale
• 1 December – Augsburg, Germany – Rockfabrik
• 2 December – Berlin, Germany – Urban Spree
• 3 December – Utrecht, Netherlands – De Helling
• 5 December – Sint-Niklaas, Belgium – De Casino, BIMFEST
• 6 December – Athens, Greece – Black Temple

About SPK and The SPKtR

SPK formed in Sydney, Australia, in 1978 around New Zealand-born Graeme Revell and Neil Hill, taking its name from Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv, a German radical-patients’ collective. The debut album, “Information Overload Unit”, followed in 1981, credited to Operator (Revell) on synthesizers, rhythms, treatments and vocals, Mike Wilkins on guitar, bass and tapes, Tone Generator (Dominic Guerin) on synthesizers and treatments, and Mr Clean (Ashley Revell) as technician.

“Leichenschrei” followed in 1982 on Thermidor Records in the United States and in 1983 on the band’s own Side Effekts label in the United Kingdom. Sinan Leong joined on lead vocals in 1983, and the group moved toward a more commercial industrial dance sound on the single “Junk Funk” and the album “Machine Age Voodoo” (1984). SPK disbanded in 1988.

Graeme Revell went on to a career as a film and video-game composer, scoring titles including “The Crow”, “The Craft”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”, “Sin City”, “Blow” and “Dune”, and contributing to the “Call of Duty” franchise. In 2025 he reactivated SPK for its first live shows in almost four decades, performing in Europe with his son Robert. The pair released the single “The Last of Men” in March 2026 under the name The SPKtR, its first new material in close to forty years, and made their live debut as The SPKtR at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig in May 2026.

Robert J. Revell also released his own album, “Torn Remnants of Nobility”, in November 2025. The November-December 2026 European tour follows that live debut and the “The Last of Men” release.

Orquídeas em Prosa, the harsh EBM and dark electro project from João Pessoa, Brazil, releases its new single “Lady Death” on September 18, 2026, on Bandcamp. The track marks the project’s expansion into a duo, with Tony joining founder Soturna Cröstä, and features backing vocals from Luiza “Lizard” Marculino.

‘Lady Death’ pushes the bass toward German aggrotech

Soturna Cröstä handles vocals, synths, drums and bass on “Lady Death”, with Tony credited for the lyrics. The track was recorded, mixed and mastered by Soturna Cröstä at Carmesim HomeStudio, with Luiza “Lizard” Marculino’s backing vocals recorded separately. Orquídeas em Prosa describes the single as pushing the bass further forward than on earlier releases, in the style of German aggrotech, layered under the project’s usual mix of harsh EBM and dark electro. “Lady Death” is also available to stream on Soundcloud.

Orquídeas em Prosa’s music continues to explore the darker edges of technological progress through an anarchist, cyberpunk lens, alongside existential crises, warfare and revolution. The project remains entirely self-produced, with Soturna Cröstä handling recording and mixing and cover art supplied by visual artist reptilian.creates.

A second single, “Beijo Nuclear”, is scheduled for October 16, 2026. It is currently available to preview on Soundcloud ahead of a wider release.

About Orquídeas em Prosa

Orquídeas em Prosa is a harsh EBM and dark electro project from João Pessoa, Brazil, started by Soturna Cröstä. The project released its self-titled debut EP on February 3, 2026, a three-track collection recorded solo by Soturna Cröstä at Carmesim Home Studio, with cover art by reptilian_draw. A second EP, “Ilegalismo Electro”, followed on July 17, 2026, again written, performed and produced solely by Soturna Cröstä.

For “Lady Death”, Orquídeas em Prosa became a duo with the addition of Tony on lyrics, alongside a guest vocal credit for Luiza “Lizard” Marculino. The project describes its sound as harsh EBM and dark electro filtered through an anarchist, cyberpunk lens, addressing technological progress, existential crises, warfare and revolution, and operates on a DIY basis, self-producing its recordings and artwork. Orquídeas em Prosa is active on Instagram and posts its catalog, including its self-titled EP and “Ilegalismo Electro”, on Bandcamp.

French post-industrial project Dernière Volonté releases its new album, “Cendre”, on 25 September 2026, in digipak CD, black vinyl and a limited edition of 250 copies on translucent crystal-blue vinyl.

“Cendre” returns to the dense, nocturnal and melancholic atmosphere of Dernière Volonté’s earliest work, revisiting the industrial and dark ambient tone the project carried before its shift toward song-based writing on “Les Blessures de l’Ombre” in 2003 and “Devant le Miroir” in 2006. The twelve tracks are “Harmonies”, “Vanités”, “Maudits”, “Mandoline”, “L’Âne et le Roi”, “Ombres”, “Des Questions”, “Contre Jour”, “Les Jets de Pierres”, “Plus j’y pense”, “Les Jardins de Tannhäuser” and “Célébration (bien à toi)”.

The crystal-blue vinyl edition comes with a printed innersleeve and a download code, while the CD edition ships in a 16-page booklet. “L’Âne et le Roi” is the second track shared ahead of the album, following “Célébration (à toi…)”. Both tracks carry forward the martial rhythms, electronics and voice that have defined the project’s sound since the 1990s, applied here to the darker, sparer arrangements of Dernière Volonté’s formative albums.

Dernière Volonté’s extended back catalogue remains available alongside the new album, including “Cristal”, “Commémoration”, “Devant le Miroir”, “Frontière”, “Immortel”, “Le Feu Sacré”, “Mon Meilleur Ennemi”, “Ne Te Retourne Pas” and “Prie pour Moi”.

About Dernière Volonté

Dernière Volonté is the project of French musician Geoffroy Delacroix, known publicly as Geoffroy D., formed in the mid-1990s. The project’s debut release, “Obéir et Mourir”, arrived in 1998 as a limited cassette rooted in martial industrial and dark ambient, built on militaristic rhythms, historical samples and sparse vocals. “Le Feu Sacré” followed in 2001, still within that early industrial and dark ambient mode.

Dernière Volonté’s sound changed direction with “Les Blessures de l’Ombre” in 2003, which applied the project’s martial rhythms to verse-chorus song structures and pop melodies for the first time. “Devant le Miroir” continued that shift in 2006, combining drums, synthesizers and dark textures with more intimate melodies. Geoffroy Delacroix expanded his output in 2008 with Position Parallèle, an electronic side project with Pierre Pi mixing EBM and minimal wave, which has released five studio albums to date including “Néons Blancs” (2013), “En Garde à Vue” (2017) and “Aiguille à Découdre” (2024).

Dernière Volonté’s own discography continued with “Immortel” (2010), “Mon Meilleur Ennemi” (2012), “Prie pour Moi” (2016), “Frontière” (2019) and “Cristal” (2022). With “Cendre”, the project returns to the darker, more atmospheric register of its first records while keeping the melodic voice it built up over three decades.

Swiss electronic musician Carlos Perón and German industrial project Melting Rust Opera released their debut full-length collaboration, “Ultra Haunted Overdrive”, on 7 August 2026 through Dark Daze Music. The ten-track album follows two prior joint singles, “Start Again” and “I’m a Ghost”, and gathers a further eight tracks the pair produced over roughly a year of work.

Perón produced the album’s tracks, while Melting Rust Opera’s Stefan Bahners handles vocals and lyrics throughout. “Ultra Haunted Overdrive” runs just under 43 minutes and opens with “Quick and Dirty”, followed by “I’m a Ghost”, “An Other Crime”, “Get the Night Out of Your Head”, “Clean Up”, “It’s Not OK”, “The Disasters We Face”, “I Will Adore You”, “Start Again” and the closing “One Star”. The record brings an industrial rock sound that mixes aggressive guitar structures with electronic production and noise elements, moving between brutal and melancholic registers across its ten tracks.

The two singles carried over from earlier releases were both already covered on Side-Line: “I’m a Ghost” appeared as a standalone single on 10 December 2025, and “Start Again”, produced by Perón with vocals and lyrics from Bahners, opened the collaboration on 2 May 2025. A third advance track, “An Other Crime”, followed as a single on 13 March 2026 before landing on the album.

Carlos Perón and Melting Rust Opera’s collaboration history

Perón and Melting Rust Opera had already worked together before their first joint single. Perón contributed to “Manipuliert – Carlos Peròn Trümmer Mischung” on Melting Rust Opera’s 2023 EP “Neue Trümmer”, and mastered the band’s 2024 album “The Power Of I Don’t Care”, also released on Dark Daze Music. “Ultra Haunted Overdrive” is the first release credited jointly to both acts as a full-length collaboration.

About Carlos Perón

Carlos Perón is a Swiss electronic musician from Zurich, one of the three founding members of the legendary Swiss synth-pop trio Yello, formed with Boris Blank and Dieter Meier in 1979. He left the group in 1983 to pursue a solo career spanning electronic experiments, film soundtracks and conceptual releases on labels including Ralph Records, Dark Daze Music and SPV. Early solo works include “Impersonator” (1981) and the soundtrack “Die Schwarze Spinne” (1983), followed by a series of conceptual releases through the 1990s and 2000s. Perón founded the Eisenberg label in the late 1980s and launched the “Der Eisenberg Sampler” compilation series, later revived with Norwegian label Sub Culture Records. He also works as a producer and mastering engineer, having worked with acts including Punch ‘n’ Judy and Piston Damp, and with Beborn Beton in Switzerland and Cologne. Through 2025 and into 2026, Perón has released a run of metal-leaning singles under his Dark Daze Music imprint, alongside his ongoing work with Melting Rust Opera.

About Melting Rust Opera

Melting Rust Opera is an experimental industrial and metal project based in Rheinbach, Germany, centered on musician and producer Stefan Bahners, with Wilson May contributing live percussion. The project emerged in late 2016 or early 2017 after Bahners’ earlier project, Die Rostigen Löffel, went on hiatus, and combines industrial, avant-garde and noise elements with rock and metal structures. Melting Rust Opera’s discography includes the full-lengths “The Rise and Fall of Flesh Wire” (2021) and “different places” (2022), the EP “Neue Trümmer” and the release “Broken Zukunft” in 2023, and “The Power Of I Don’t Care” (2024). The project has also released remix work, including a version of Laibach’s “Bossanova” (2017), two remixes for Dagobert’s single “Das Mädchen aus der schönen Welt”, a remix of Anne Clark’s “Orange Suns” for “Synaesthesia – Classics Reworked”, and a remix of A Place To Bury Strangers’ “I’m Hurt” for “See Through You: Rerealized”. “Ultra Haunted Overdrive” extends the project’s ongoing work with Perón into its first joint album.

The March Violets reissue “Turn to the Sky” b/w “Miss Amanda Jones” on digital services on September 18, 2026, and have added a second run of tour dates across the UK, continental Europe and Brazil. The English post-punk and gothic rock band released “Turn to the Sky” as a single in February 1986 on London Records, and the version now being reissued is the re-recording made the following year for the John Hughes film “Some Kind of Wonderful.”

The reissue pairs that 1987 film version of “Turn to the Sky” with “Miss Amanda Jones,” a cover of the Rolling Stones song that the band recorded for the same soundtrack. Both tracks had previously been available only on the film’s soundtrack album. Producer Stephen Hague, working from the band’s 1986 original, re-recorded “Turn to the Sky” for the film, and the band performed the song on screen, spending two weeks on the production’s Hollywood set. “Some Kind of Wonderful,” directed by Howard Deutch and written and produced by John Hughes as a follow-up to his 1986 hit “Pretty in Pink,” stars Lea Thompson as Amanda Jones, the character the film’s title track and the Rolling Stones cover both reference.

The tour, billed as the second leg of the “Unnatural History” run, follows 14 UK dates the band played in June and July 2026 in support of their “Natural History” album reissue. Alongside that 1980s catalogue, the band also performs songs from Crocodile Promises, their 2024 album, and have said a further album is half-finished.

Tour dates for The March Violets

• October 27, 2026 – Prague, Czechia – Lucerna Music Bar
• October 31, 2026 – Whitby, UK – Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival, Pavilion Theatre
• November 1, 2026 – Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK – The Cluny
• November 3, 2026 – Edinburgh, UK – Speakeasy
• November 5, 2026 – Derby, UK – The Hairy Dog
• November 6, 2026 – Huddersfield, UK – Amped
• November 8, 2026 – Bedford, UK – Esquires
• November 10, 2026 – London, UK – New Cross Inn
• November 11, 2026 – Brighton, UK – Komedia
• February 6, 2027 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Wave Festival

Ticket and merchandise links for the dates are listed on the band’s official site.

About The March Violets

The March Violets formed in Leeds in December 1981, when guitarist Tom Ashton, bassist Laurence “Loz” Elliott, and singers Simon “Detroit” Denbigh and Rosie Garland met at Leeds University. Sisters of Mercy singer Andrew Eldritch released the band’s debut EP, “Religious as Hell,” on his Merciful Release label on August 28, 1982. Seven March Violets singles reached the UK Indie Chart, and the 1984 compilation “Natural History” reached number three on that chart.

Cleo Murray replaced Garland as the band’s main vocalist from the 1983 single “Snakedance” onward. In 1986 the band signed to the major label London Records and released “Turn to the Sky,” written by Murray, Elliott and Ashton, as its final single before splitting. The band, by then made up of Ashton, Elliott, drummer Andy Tolson and Murray, went on to record and perform “Turn to the Sky” and “Miss Amanda Jones” for the 1987 film “Some Kind of Wonderful.”

The band reunited in 2007 for a one-off Leeds show with Denbigh, Garland and Ashton, joined by Matt Thorpe (of Isolation Division) on bass, and reformed again in 2010. That lineup of Garland, Ashton and Thorpe released a five-CD boxset in 2022 and the album Crocodile Promises on Metropolis Records on July 19, 2024. The reissue of “Turn to the Sky” and “Miss Amanda Jones,” and the new tour dates announced alongside it, follow that album and this year’s “Natural History” reissue and its accompanying UK tour.

New Zealand electronic rock band Robots In Love will release “Cease and Desist” on September 25, the second single from their upcoming album OVERRIDE. The Dunedin-based act is the creative partnership of vocalist and producer Elenor Rayner and drummer and producer Alex Burchell, joined again by guitarist Henry Flynn Wall of Rebirth To Ruin, who also featured on their previous single, “Convergence”.

“Cease and Desist” is a melodic industrial track about extreme obsession. Rayner said she recently discovered the word “limerence” and began thinking about the inability to control obsession, which led to the line “limerence closes every door“, describing a state where no amount of reasoning can get through. Musically, the track scales back its verses before building into a chorus built on heavier riffs.

The single also carries two remixes. Melbourne cyberpunk act Sirus contributes a version that moves through decades of electronic music, opening with an ’80s-style sound, passing through a ’90s R&B-inspired interlude and closing on darker, more futuristic production. Burchell also remixes the track under his own alias, Magnetique, in a more subversive take.

“Cease and Desist” follows “Convergence”, released on June 8, 2026 as the lead single from OVERRIDE. “Convergence” has drawn over 41,000 YouTube views and 14,000 Spotify streams, and Robots In Love have paired “Cease and Desist” with an official video as well.

About Robots In Love

Robots In Love is the New Zealand electronic rock project of vocalist and producer Elenor Rayner and drummer and producer Alex Burchell, based in Dunedin (Ōtepoti). The current lineup came together in 2023, with Rayner and Burchell also working separately on other projects: Rayner has released material as Sobriquet and The Crystalline Effect, while Burchell drums with Angels Unchained and the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra and produces under the name Magnetique. The band mixes industrial rock, dark electro, drum and bass, trip hop, goth, metal and cyberpunk influences into a sound built on layered vocals, heavy guitars and electronic production.

Side-Line has followed the band’s release history since 2022, when Robots In Love, then working as a New Zealand-based dark electro act, teamed up with Swedish producer JA/VI. They premiered the “Gossip In Your Head” video in September 2023, followed by an EP and remix video that November. In April 2024, the band premiered the “Unbreakable” video, and in January 2025 followed with the “Crush” video. Robots In Love released their debut album, “Activate!”, on May 23, 2025, reaching number 17 on the Aotearoa chart. “Convergence” arrived in June 2026 as the first single from OVERRIDE, with “Cease and Desist” now set to follow it on September 25.

Dead Can Dance, the British-Australian neoclassical darkwave duo formed in Melbourne, released “Into the Labyrinth” on 13 September 1993 through 4AD. The album turns 33 this year. It was their sixth studio album, the first they recorded without any guest musicians, and the first to get a major-label release in the United States, through 4AD’s distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records. It went on to sell more than 500,000 copies worldwide and made the duo 4AD’s highest-selling act.

Recording ‘Into the Labyrinth’ at Quivvy Church

Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry had separated domestically in 1989. Perry was living in County Cavan, Ireland, Gerrard in Australia, and the two wrote their material apart. Gerrard then travelled to Perry’s studio, a converted church at Quivvy, where they merged the songs and recorded the album across three months. Perry engineered and produced it there.

Every instrument on the record is played by the two of them, including bongos, sitar and tabla. Gerrard sings in English on tracks 2 to 4, 8 and 11, and uses her wordless vocal technique on tracks 1, 5 to 7, 9 and 10. Tracks 3 and 10 were performed a cappella.

Two of the eleven tracks are not the duo’s own writing. “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” is a late 18th-century Irish ballad with words and music by Robert Dwyer Joyce, arranged by the band. Gerrard explained in the album’s press kit why she wanted to record it: “it was meant to be a rallying song, but it has such an intense sadness that it becomes an anti-war song”.

The closing “How Fortunate the Man With None” sets four stanzas of Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 poem “Die Ballade von den Prominenten”, in John Willett’s English translation, to music Perry wrote for a Temenos Academy production of the play. It was only the second time the Brecht estate had granted such permission, the first being in 1963.

Perry described “The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove”, the album’s single, as his alter ego, “the abstract relationship of myself and woman”. The title comes from a 1965 episode of the TV series “Danger Man”. 4AD assembled a video for “Yulunga (Spirit Dance)” using footage from the film “Baraka”.

The eleven tracks run “Yulunga (Spirit Dance)”, “The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove”, “The Wind That Shakes the Barley”, “The Carnival Is Over”, “Ariadne”, “Saldek”, “Towards the Within”, “Tell Me About the Forest (You Once Called Home)”, “The Spider’s Stratagem”, “Emmeleia” and “How Fortunate the Man With None”. In the UK the CD arrived alongside a limited double vinyl LP that added “Bird” and “Spirit”, the two bonus tracks from the 1991 compilation “A Passage in Time”.

Touhami Ennadre supplied the cover photograph, “Hands of the World”; Chris Bigg designed the sleeve with Perry, and Ken Kavanagh shot the booklet images. The US release followed on 14 September 1993.

About Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance formed in Melbourne in August 1981 as a trio, with Brendan Perry on vocals and guitar, Paul Erikson on bass and Simon Monroe on drums. Lisa Gerrard, previously of Microfilm, joined on vocals and percussion. Perry and Gerrard had met through Melbourne’s Little Band scene. Their first official recording, a home version of “Fatal Impact”, appeared on the December 1981 issue of the cassette magazine Fast Forward. After a farewell show at St Kilda’s Crystal Ballroom in May 1982 the pair moved to London and signed to 4AD, with Erikson and Peter Ulrich completing the first UK line-up.

The self-titled debut arrived in February 1984, its sleeve built around a New Guinea ritual mask, and sat close to the ethereal wave of labelmates Cocteau Twins. The EP “Garden of the Arcane Delights” followed in August.

From “Spleen and Ideal” (November 1985), co-produced with John A. Rivers and scored for cello, trombone and timpani, the duo turned towards the medieval and Renaissance material that became their signature; the album reached number 2 on the UK indie chart. Dead Can Dance’s ‘Within the Realm of a Dying Sun’ came in 1987, “The Serpent’s Egg” in 1988 and “Aion” in 1990, before “Into the Labyrinth” brought the ethnic instrumentation to the front of the arrangements.

A world tour in 1994 produced the live album and film “Toward the Within”, recorded in California. Gerrard issued her solo debut “The Mirror Pool” in 1995, then reunited with Perry for “Spiritchaser” in 1996, which topped Billboard’s Top World Music Albums chart. Sessions for a follow-up broke down in 1998 and the duo separated, with one track from those tapes, “The Lotus Eaters”, surfacing on the box set “Dead Can Dance (1981-1998)” and on “Wake” in 2003. Gerrard recorded “Duality” with Pieter Bourke; Perry released “Eye of the Hunter” in 1999.

They reunited for a 2005 European and North American tour, documented across a series of limited live releases, then returned to the studio for Dead Can Dance’s ‘Anastasis’ on 13 August 2012. Perry sold the Quivvy Church studio in 2015.

“Dionysus”, mastered at Abbey Road, followed on 2 November 2018, and the duo toured Europe in 2022. In 2025 Perry said he was working on a sequel called “Apollo”, with himself as the only musician. New material has since appeared on Bandcamp through the band’s own Holy Tongue Records: “Our Day Will Come” on 20 March 2026, “Death Cults” in April, and Dead Can Dance release ‘The Cicadas’ single via Bandcamp in July.

Thirty-three years on, “Into the Labyrinth” remains the record that took the duo from the 4AD roster to the Billboard 200.