RAGE IS A RITUAL by Mimi Satanistá is a caustic cut above the rest of the plastic posturing of industrial pop. Raw nerves were threaded through the glitched-out waves in the progressions as the spoken word poetry sees venom cascade over the frenetic pulse of the adrenaline in the track. If you love artists in the same vein as Poppy, ANGELSPIT, and Vicious Precious, RAGE IS A RITUAL will dig into your desire to unchain your rage, allow it to tear through your skin and reach an outlet as it flows through the fervour of the rhythmic volition.
As a Mancunian, I can’t help but adore the way Preston’s Mimi Satanistá allows her North West roots to pull through in the cadence of her spoken word verses; there’s no pretence or assimilation here—just one unreckonable force moving to the vanguard of the industrial glitchwave scene with her refusal to contort herself for commercial potential to the expense of her authentic expression.
The centrepiece of the upcoming TRANSMISSION_FROM_THE_VOID EP plays out like a signal to the deviant and displaced. After surviving a psychosis diagnosis in 2022, Mimi found her voice in the chaos and tore through the static to build a lifeline for anyone still submerged in white noise. This is outsider music at its most confrontational and redemptive.
RAGE IS A RITUAL is now available to stream on all major platforms; discover your preferred way to listen via the artist’s official website.
Witch of the East needs few introductions these days; she’s prolific in her mission of reshaping culture while too many still scrape around in the gutter, mistaking their thin-skinned bigotry for moral concern. Every track she creates, every post she publishes, every poem she breathes into the world is an act of resistance, which repurposes hate, exposes it, and uses it to charge a counterculture movement.
As a trans TikTok trailblazer, viral visual artist, poet, and darkwave siren, all her talents alchemise to advocate for trans rights and expose the most spectral sides of souls who’ve discovered the pain of self-awareness in a world that demands we sleepwalk through hegemonic fantasy. Instead of flinching from the darkness, she cracks it open and lets something altogether more powerful pour out.
Every day, Witch of the East puts herself in the digital firing line to bring awareness to the absurdity of the vilification of trans people. Since the UK Supreme Court’s ruling that trans women aren’t legally recognised as women — a ruling as vile as it is historically regressive — she’s only intensified her output. While others pander, she retaliates. While trolls try to bury her in hatred, she builds platforms from the ashes.
With the release of Geist Girl, she gave every prejudiced projection of hate a face by orchestrating a sonic exorcism around hypnotic oscillations, strobing synths and echoes of industrial machina motifs, pulling viewers into a haunted dreamscape where the violence of transphobia can no longer hide behind language like “concern” or “opinion”. Each message that appears in the video is real. Each one stings with the ignorance of those who don’t realise — or don’t care — that their words can kill. Their dialect is crass, common, and cowardly, regurgitated without a second’s thought for the consequences.
But Witch of the East gave them a platform they never anticipated: one where their bile was neutralised by art. One where their words served only to showcase how grotesque they’ve become. Refusing to contort herself into a distorted image to appease the obnoxious entitlement of people content to make hate an integral part of their identity, she gave us this:
“This video is a response to the wave of negative messages I received after publicly sharing my truth as a transgender woman. Following a major legal ruling that questions the identity of trans women in the UK, these messages came pouring in — each one a window into a growing cultural shift. But this video isn’t just about one person or one moment. It’s about what happens when fear turns into division — and how that division is used. History has shown us: it never stops with just one group. It always spreads. Until even those watching in silence realise: they were never safe either. This is a document. A reflection. A call to think deeper, love louder, and stand together before more is lost.”
TERFs, who posture as protectors while doing the work of oppressors, should consider this their reckoning. They’ve turned their backs on liberation to cling to a bigotry that masquerades as principle. Their obsession with borders — between male and female, between us and them — reveals more about their insecurities than any trans person ever could. They aren’t defending womanhood; they’re defiling it.
Witch of the East doesn’t owe them, or anyone else, an explanation. Her humour, strength, and grace should serve as a template to humanity, not the baying mob simping around JK Rowling like she’s the messiah of gender-critical ignorance.
And now she’s not stopping at a music video. She’s hosting a protest disguised as a gig. A space for fury, unity, and unapologetic resistance.
PROTECT THE DOLLS
This is a line in the sand.
The UK Supreme Court has ruled that trans women are not women. They’ve forced us into men’s bathrooms. They’ve stripped away our dignity, our safety, our rights. We will not take this quietly. We will not disappear.
PROTECT THE DOLLS is a full-throttle protest show — a night of power and resistance — raising funds for trans charities, fighting for the rights of trans youth and the wider community.
Line-up:
● WITCH OF THE EAST — goth, darkwave, and electronic resistance straight from the frontline.
● FLESH PLANET — ex-Allusondrugs / Allusinlove members, fusing grunge, industrial, and rebellion.
● A VOID — London’s chaotic grunge-punk powerhouse, armed with venom and heart.
● more to be announced
Saturday 24th May — The Parish, Huddersfield £8 advance / Pay What You Decide All proceeds to trans rights initiatives.
If you care about justice, you’ll be there. If you’re tired of silence being mistaken for neutrality, you’ll lend your voice. And if you still believe art can change the world, you’ll stand with Witch of the East. She’s already done her part. Now it’s your turn.
Discover, support and follow Witch of the East on all major platforms via this link.
White Noise by Hamilton Hound is far from what it says on the titular tin. The gospel of Motown flows through the single that vocally reminds you of the era that The Streets reigned supreme in the UK. At the same time, jazzy motifs enmesh with a frenetic beat, creating a chaotic whirling dervish beneath the measured spoken word cadence that draws you into the emotive centre of the track. John Cooper Clarke levels of cheeky wit ripple through the exhilarant rhythms that rush past, daring you to keep pace with them. For fans of Argh Kid, White Noise will feel like a kindred echo—charged with the same urban realism and wired with poetic electricity.
Hamilton Hound—spoken word artist Ian Hamilton and multi-instrumentalist James Mason—don’t waste breath or instrumentation. Together, they summon soul-stirring soundscapes built to make the mundane transcendent. With every release, they sharpen the blade of their observational storytelling. White Noise lands as their latest incision—a track that peels back the surface of the everyday to expose raw truths and quiet chaos.
Following previous BBC Introducing-supported tracks like The Distance, Graves, and You Don’t Have to Hide, White Noise is another example of how Hamilton Hound carve out a space where grit and groove coexist. It’s a head rush with heart and an anthem for anyone tuning into the frequencies of modern discontent.
White Noise is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
G.M.F.U by ASHERAMAR, featuring onyx, dropped on April 22nd like a dubstep atom bomb. After a spectrally eerie prelude, the track which ensures the definition of high-octane will never be the same again slams into first gear and doesn’t hit the brakes until the glitched-out, frenetic track has reached the destination of the outro. With rap verses stoking the feverish flames and samples of the viral speech made by Victor Lewis adding rocket fuel to the socially cutting anthem, G.M.F.U is so much more than a speaker slammer and body rocker, it’s a conduit of awakening.
The energy may be engineered to make bodies bounce, but the purpose is as sharp as the serrated synths tearing through the mix. There’s zero ambiguity in the lyricism or in the visceral intent of the production. It’s a call to consciousness in an era that thrives on denial and division. The seismic drops, glitch-addled transitions, and rhythmic chaos don’t just stir adrenaline—they force reflection on the state of societal disconnect.
ASHERAMAR’s production on G.M.F.U doesn’t coast on sonic spectacle. It weaponises it. The track translates anxiety into bass, dissent into tempo, and rage into structure, ensuring every bar delivers with teeth. onyx’s vocal delivery is relentless without losing precision, carrying the weight of the message through the velocity of the track without ever letting it dilute or derail.
G.M.F.U is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
XIANNE-XI proved that electronica doesn’t need to pander to passivity withIn the Mix—a darkly hypnotic, sci-fi-adjacent alt-electronica fever dream that cranks up the temperature with a bassline that prowls through the shimmering textures until the spiritually transcendent non-lexical vocal lines enter the mix and pull you away from the mechanised void. With drips of funk for good measure and eerie stabbing synth lines adding a touch of avant-garde, which electronica is rarely caressed by, few producers on the airwaves can deliver what XIANNE-XI is capable of.
The grooves they alchemise are kryptonite to the rhythmic pulses. If John Carpenter was more interested in crafting mixes for late-night DJ sets instead of horror scores and took a few cues from Django Django, his work would resound in the same decadently delicious vein as XIANNE-XI’s In the Mix.
Rooted in Maryland and rising from a place of war-born trauma, faith, and poetic purpose, XIANNE-XI doesn’t just produce tracks—she builds altars. Her work fuses conscious healing with rhythmic release, positioning her sound somewhere between the sacred and the cinematic. As a mixed indigenous producer, songwriter, poet, and mother, she pushes sonic boundaries with a beat-maker’s intuition and a visionary’s clarity. Every bar, vocal layer, and synth stab in In the Mix channels her unwavering commitment to creating space for those caught in the crossfire of mental health and generational anguish.
In the Mix is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Soundcloud.
TWO TONNE MACHETE have palpably perfected the art of tempering scuzz with melody when alchemising kinetic alt-punk earworms that slither past the ear canal and right into the synapses and demand serotonin to fire. Lashed with distortion, charged with volition, and weaponised with vindication for the pain of people who can never contemplate the concept of ‘home’ without feeling an agonising sting, HOME tears through the comfort illusion in a way only TTM could.
The North West-based feminist punk band have built a reputation on putting unapologetic vulnerability into anthemic form, and HOME is no exception. Channelling grief—personal and political—through quiet/loud dynamics, grungy bass hooks and juxtaposing screaming guitar solos, this single hits the solar plexus while the message bites deeper. Inspired by the violence of displacement, with the brutality inflicted on those stripped of homes, lives, and identity, especially in Palestine, the emotional charge is never performative; it’s carved into the structure and spat out through Emily’s searing vocal performance.
It’s easy to see why TWO TONNE MACHETE are thriving in the UK alt punk scene; through honed songwriting and rancorous abandon in all the right places, they don’t just hit the spot, they tear through it and leave a sonic scar. With this single marking their first release since signing, and the momentum building through a series of 2025 shows, the stage is set for a summer where no injustice will go unheard.
HOME is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
Francesca Pichierri crafted Nel Dolore Cerca La as a requiem for what could have been lost and a hymn to what remains. With 80s-esque reverberant synths that resound with Lynchian style hitting the same evocative sting as the imploringly soulful vocals, Francesca Pichierri allows the single to become a manifestation of the pain and pursuit for beauty that inspired the release.
The single is a meditation, not of transcendence, but one that compels you to sit with the heaviness that echoes through the instrumentals; allow them to wash over you and resonate with the pain you carry within. If any pop hit perfectly encapsulates what it means to be human, it’s this installation of pure artful evocation. The way the instrumentals evolve into an avant-garde darkwave flood of kinetic rhythms visualises the way that trauma allows emotion to take control and leave us on autopilot as it takes us to unexpected destinations.
The timing of the release—May 8th, World Ovarian Cancer Day—reinforces the weight of this final single from Cellule Stronze, a concept album rooted in the ongoing battle of Pichierri’s mother with ovarian cancer. Nel Dolore Cerca La isn’t abstract emotion—it’s a declaration, a vow, a sound-stamped moment of fear, love, and fragile hope. From the Apulian folk inflections to the crescendo of anguished screams to the real-life conversations Pichierri recorded while her mother recovered, the intimacy is the spine of the production.
Francesca Pichierri’s control over every compositional detail creates something that holds the weight of what words alone cannot express.
Nel Dolore Cerca La is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
Skittish nestled into a niche between indie rock urgency and alt-pop accessibility with the release ofKicking In, a track that flirts and orders drinks at the bar for garage punk and nostalgic neo-pop to entice them into the stylings of this scorned yet superlative anthem that writhes through collective frustration.
They may be outliers on the airwaves through their refusal to fall into lines of monotony, but anyone searching for visceral authenticity and the opportunity to connect with an artist unafraid to wear their authenticity on their guitar strings will find their own form of reverie within Kicking In. The ennui resounds at a palpable level in spite of the high-octane energy of the earworm, which is battle-ready with euphoric choruses, razor-sharp angular indie guitar licks, and crooning vocal lines pinched with sardonic wit.
Jeff Noller’s DIY defiance has always been the pulse of Skittish, but with this new Los Angeles-based incarnation, he’s enlisted sonic arsonists including guitarist Chris Lahn, who carved searing licks into the heart of Kicking In, and drummer Ian Prince, who kept the rhythmic volatility simmering beneath the pop polish. It’s just one example of the genre-fluid chaos that defines the new EP Ugly Makes Pretty—a record that dances through its existential crises and punches back with hooks.
Kicking In is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
Knights in Vegas by Lylo Gold is a melodically melancholic cruise through the intersections of ambiently saturated downtempo indietronica and soul-drenched dream pop. If you caught the fever with Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood, you’ll feel your temperature rise with the euphonic etherealism that flows through this single with cathartic grace.
With vocals which drift with the same effortless elegance as the instrumentals while dripping with stylised soul, Knights in Vegas isn’t just the result of ticking songwriting and production boxes—it’s emotion expressed in its pure freeform; it’s enough to make your rhythmic pulses feel as though they’ve been reborn.
The East London-hailing artist is far from a passive presence in her creative output. Lylo Gold has poured herself into every aspect of her project, from production through to the final expression, informed by her musical upbringing and the influence of her reggae artist father. While her sonic roots may trace back to R&B, her scope spans far beyond the expected. In Knights in Vegas, she navigates emotional desolation and ego-drained affection with the poetic poignance of an artist unafraid to surrender vulnerability to atmosphere.
With her upcoming work set to push further into authentic introspection, Knights in Vegas proves she’s not interested in soft-selling heartbreak or masking the turbulence. She’s building sanctuaries from the fallout and cloaking them in audio opulence.
Knights in Vegas is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
Sam Sample tore through the rose-tinted sheen of sentimentality with the venom-spitting, bassline-rolling embodiment of volition that is Rock Song—a track carved for those who know how it feels to be gutted by their own good intentions. With instrumentals that deliver the same cathartic force as You’ve Got Time by Regina Spektor and the soul of rock ‘n’ roll siren-esque scorn, Rock Song amplifies far more than its guitars; it augments the heartbreak of knowing that love and loyalty can feel like the enemy when they’ve been placed in the palms of the wrong people.
The lo-fi-esque vintage garagey distortion doesn’t just nod to nostalgia—it grips your ribcage and drags you into a past before the warning signs were visible in your rear-view. There’s a coarse, bristling sincerity in the production while Sam Sample rips apart the emotional wreckage of friendship fallouts and relational disillusionment with lyrical poise and melodic purpose.
The production values might come with a scrappy aesthetic, but there’s nothing unfinished about the way Rock Song lands. It refuses to romanticise suffering while refusing to let it pass without creative consequence. With each vocal howl and distorted groove, Sam Sample proves that rage and reflection can still share the same mic when you know where to aim the feedback.
Rock Song is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
