Browsing Tag

post-punk

Tequila Wave’s Lies: A Darkwave Post-Punk Sermon from the Shadows of Inner Conflict

Posted on 21 April 2025

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Sisters of Mercy had a new sibling after the emergence of Lies—the darkwave earworm by Tequila Wave that also teases Joy Division-esque guitar lines into the production, where the synths sink percussive gravity into the track as much as the beats. As the moody vox reverberate shadows through the mix, the danceable kinetic energy lends an air of transcendence; an invitation to pull away from the weight of your weary soul and sink rhythmic catharsis into your veins. Tequila Wave may not have reinvented the darkwave post-punk wheel with Lies, but why ruin an already perfect formula when you can inject fresh lifeblood into it?

Channelling discontent and transformation into every brooding note, the Mexican artist Jorge Luis Niño proves that Tequila Wave is far more than an alias—it’s an emotional vessel. With a sound rooted in goth, post-punk, and darkwave, but never limited by them, the artist’s bilingual approach and unfiltered self-expression reach far beyond the surface. The themes aren’t theatrically dressed up—they’re unvarnished truths, stitched into pulsating synths and shivering riffs that hold enough weight to carry listeners through their own internal reckonings.

Where previous releases like Take Away the Mask peeled layers back with surgical precision, and Café offered a deeper look at his cultural identity, Lies digs into the emotional marrow. It’s less of a song, more of a séance.

Lies is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Luxthereal Cast a Gothic Spell with Moments of Silence

Posted on 17 March 2025

Luxthereal has built a legacy channelling the spectral energy of new wave romanticism, and Moments of Silence is their most affecting séance to date. If Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, and Siouxsie and the Banshees still haunt your playlists, the sweeping, gothic glamour-tinged chords in this track will pull you under without resistance.

Angular guitar lines carve through the mist of atmospheric synths, giving the track an otherworldly edge that never leans into excess. The vocals command with a force that demands attention, leading you through the song’s moody corridors with a presence that defies material reality. There’s an ethereal pull to Moments of Silence, but it never floats too far into abstraction—this is alternative rock at its most tactile, driven by melody, tension, and an unshakable sense of purpose.

Hailing from Phoenix, Luxthereal have mastered the alchemy of melody and atmosphere, layering their sound with the echoes of decades past while refusing to be shackled by nostalgia.

Stream Moments of Silence on Spotify now: fans of atmospheric, hypnotic alt-rock—this one’s got your name on it.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Radiant Drenched Post-Punk Tension in Raw Emotion with ‘Soft Serve’

Posted on 2 March 2025

With spectres of post-punk reverb cascading over intuitively calculated basslines, Soft Serve sets an ominous tone before The Radiant’s pensive yet unrelenting vocals carve through the layers of brooding instrumentation. As the tension tightens, her voice becomes the breaking point, building in momentum until vibrato-soaked powerhouse lines shatter the stasis, injecting a visceral intensity into the psyche-piercing production. It’s a track that doesn’t just brood—it aches, unflinchingly tearing through themes of desire and the perpetual frustration of a world that never quite satisfies.

The Saskatchewan-based outfit have made a name for themselves by distilling progressive melancholy pop into a sound sharpened by a heavy alternative rock edge. Since their 2019 debut EP, they’ve racked up an impressive set of accolades, including a nomination for Rock Artist of the Year from BreakOut West WCMA and being named Alternative Artist of the Year by North Sask Music Zine in 2022. They’ve shared the stage with MONOWHALES, Badflower, Chastity, and Ocean Alley, proving their presence isn’t just felt on record—it’s an undeniable force live.

With Soft Serve, The Radiant refuse to settle into the comfortable or formulaic. Instead, they push deeper into their emotionally charged alt-rock territory, ensuring their music lingers in the bones.

Soft Serve is out now on all major streaming platforms including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mayreh’s ‘Hearts That Would Not Listen’ – A Discordant Lament for the Unheard

Posted on 23 February 2025
Hearts That Would Not Listen by Mayreh

With all the weight of rust-belt alienation, Mayreh’s latest single, Hearts That Would Not Listen, lurches through a sludged-up waltz of romantic despair and post-punk discord. The Pittsburgh outfit, known for weaving art-rock sensibilities into tales of outsiders and gauzy memories, push their sound further into the abyss of melancholic angst.

There’s no cushioning the blow as the bassline growls with moody intent beneath searing, white-hot guitars that scrape against the off-kilter rhythm section. The song’s structure mirrors the emotional turmoil within its lyrics—fractured, volatile, and fraying at the edges.

Lyrically, souls crash rather than cohere, lost in the static of misaligned wavelengths while Mayreh ensure the alienation is felt, wrapping their lament in layers of fuzz and fury.

Paul Banks-level command seeps through the vocal delivery, shifting from restrained croons to screamo breakdowns when all composure unravels. The tension never truly resolves—just splinters into new shards of catharsis. Abstract yet visceral, Hearts That Would Not Listen doesn’t beg for understanding; it lets its raw expression speak louder than cohesion ever could.

Hearts That Would Not Listen is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Disco Lizards’ Life Lessons: A Post-Punk Bite with Anthemic Teeth

Posted on 19 February 2025

Disco Lizards’ latest single, Life Lessons, doesn’t hesitate before it goes straight for the jugular with an instant hook of augmented indie post-punk guitars. As the infectious onslaught of vocals rolls across the solid rhythm section, the track sears with sardonic wit. It hits with the bouncy, brashy glamour of Ramones and New York Dolls, while vocally, Disco Lizards land somewhere between The Fall and Half-Man Half-Biscuit, ensuring every syllable drips with a knowing smirk.

Founded by Matt Stolworthy in 2018, Disco Lizards started etching their legacy in the underground with their 2020 debut album Ride Ride Ride, followed by the 2022 EP Roll Over Red Rover. After reshuffling their lineup in 2024, with Mo El Shalakani, Jack Dunnigan, Nino Savoia, and Josephine Keller joining the ranks, they reignited their live reputation with three sold-out shows across London.

That raucous to the nth degree energy bleeds into Life Lessons, a track that bottles the chaos of city life, dating misadventures, and the grind of survival, all served with tongue-in-cheek cynicism. It gives you a taste for the live experience, but you won’t be fully sated until you’ve gorged on the real deal. And with a new album in the works, the appetite is only going to grow.

Life Lessons is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alba Fury decoded the agony of candour in their acane post-punk triumph, This is Why

Posted on 7 February 2025
Alba Fury

Alba Fury sliced through the mundane with their latest single, This is Why. Hailing from West Lothian and Edinburgh, this four-piece alt-indie/post-punk outfit—comprising Michael Ward on lead vocals, Sam Greig on guitar, Jamie Thomson handling bass and backing vocals, and Fraser Plumb on drums—has quickly made a mark following their debut, Out of Time, in November 2024. Drawing inspiration from Fontaines DC, Sprints, Young Fathers, and Joy Division, they forge a sound that is both raw and incisive.

Few new post-punk artists manage to add their own signature to the genre’s tried, tested and exhausted formula, but the hair-raising intensity in This is Why is an undeniable attestation that Alba Fury is one of the few new acts tuning into. The atmosphere is arcane, every instrumental has been sharpened to a jagged edge, and the snarled with magnetism vocal lines allow you to imagine a meeting of minds between Arab Strap and Fontaines DC. This is Why is the kind of track you slam through your speakers once, and you instantly go searching for when you can get the full experience by catching Alba Fury live.

The single confronts the anxiety of revealing one’s true emotions with a driving, motoric rhythm, tom-heavy drums reminiscent of Nirvana’s Territorial Pissings, and a rollicking chorus that haunts the psyche beyond the final note. Recorded partly in Aberdeen and polished in Edinburgh, the DIY spirit remains at its core. The release, arriving on 7th February 2025, aligns with their upcoming live slot at The Old Dr Bells Baths in Leith, supporting The View’s Kyle Falconer.

Now available to stream on all major platforms. Find your preferred way to listen via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Boy by As Rome Burns: A Defiant Punk-Laden Anthem Against Patriarchal Poison

Posted on 22 January 2025

While punk, as a concept, is becoming increasingly harder to define, there’s no denying that it runs thick in the veins of the debut single, Boy, from the London-based sharp-witted antagonists, As Rome Burns.

With an unmistakable cerebral echo of The Fall drifting around the crunched chords that pulsate feverish energy into the anthemic melting pot of punk, grunge and indie, the protestive exposition of patriarchal violence and how it poisons the well of modernity knows exactly what trigger points to press and hits them hard enough to bruise.

If you could imagine what the Offspring would sound like if Mark E Smith, Rage Against the Machine and IDLES had some creative input, you’ll come close to getting an idea of what As Rome Burns delivered with their explosively authentic first foray onto the airwaves.

Boy is so much more than a mash of influence and contrasting genres; the inaugural release became a conduit of the artist’s ethos to throw progressive punches and stand against the threat of societal regression while allowing their raw originated sound to ramp up the visceralism of the socially conscious messaging.

Stream the debut single from As Rome Burns on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sydney Post-Punk Powerhouse, Scared of Sharks, Tapped into the Cultural Zeigest with ‘Last Train to Wyong’

Posted on 8 December 2024
Scared of Sharks

Scared of Sharks became Australia’s equivalent to Half Man Half Biscuit with their trippy tongue-in-cheek electro post-punk track, Last Train to Wyong. Charged with cultural humour, brashy tones and psychonautic grooves, the single invites you to live vicariously through the incident that inspired the single, which also happens to encapsulate the infamously zany energy of the outfit which is currently priming the airwaves for the release of their debut EP, Double Happiness.

After drummer Tim Shady got too cooked at a rave in Sydney, lost all his belongings, hopped on a train and headed in the wrong direction home, Scared of Sharks seized the opportunity to orchestrate an anecdotal earworm. Maybe we can’t all say we’ve been there, but we can all agree that the loveable rogues of which the powerhouse comprises have a knack for storytelling with more humour than you are likely to see if you head to any open mic comedy show.

The ingenious reframing of that iconic ‘Democracy Manifest’ quote into “What’s the charge, riding a train, a lovely New South Wales train?’ is the highlight of the track that ensures even in this throwaway culture, Shares of Sharks are here to thrive and endure.

Last Train to Wyong will be available to stream on all major platforms, including Bandcamp, from December 8th.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Talking Hours cast the first stone in the indietronica blues-rock revolution with the swagger in their latest seminal release, Stop the Sound

Posted on 5 December 2024

The Talking Hours have returned as unrivalled pioneers of post-punk panache after a four-year airwaves hiatus with Stop the Sound, a track from their third LP, Transmissions to Missy. If you’ve ever wondered what The Black Keys would sound like if they traded in their vintage bluesy tones for indie hooks and Arcade Fire-style swagger, look no further.

Mauricio and Karie, the fierce force behind The Talking Hours, weave magnetic indie vocals through a dense fog of percussion and angular guitars that slice through the track with post-punk precision. The visceral rhythm and sharp riffs deliver jolts of energy while the vocals cut through, commanding attention with their arcane deliverances of deadpan drawls and euphonic harmony.

The way the duo push against the constrictions of sonic conformity by pairing rock, blues, and indie elements with electronic pulses amplifies the hypnotic gravity of Stop the Sound. You’ll come for the perfect equilibrium of style and substance, yet it is the emotive anatomy of Stop the Sound which allows it to establish itself as a playlist staple, with the same sense of magnetism as Editors and Interpol in spite of the abstract nature of the lyricism.

Stream The Talking Hours’ LP, Transmissions to Missy, in full via Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nothing But Silence turned up the post-punk heat with ‘Too Useful’

Posted on 29 October 2024

In their latest single, ‘Too Useful’, Chicago’s Nothing But Silence threads jangly new wave guitars around stark, monochromatic motifs of post-punk, all set within a dream-pop-esque production that feels like a psychedelic trip through a rhythmic mirage.

The bold tonal experimentation manifests a sonic experience that distorts and oscillates with trippy, tropical vibrations, creating an immersive soundscape that pulls you into its obscure kaleidoscope. Prepare to enter a semi-lucid dream state with Too Useful, which uses abstract lyricism to amplify the delirium of the record which stands as a bold declaration of the band’s unique identity in the alternative scene.

Imagine if Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ was transmitted from a warmer, more vibrant parallel universe—that’s the innovative essence captured in ‘Too Useful’. The track is a stellar slice of rhythmic ingenuity that invites listeners to step into a different, more colourful side of post-punk, laced with a dreamy, wavy quality that keeps the genre alive and pulsating.

Too Useful hit the airwaves on October 18; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast