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Synth Rock

Battlestar Battering at 145 BPM: Moose Wrench’s ‘Dead Stars’ Hits Like a Neon Prog-Rock Neurological Event

Posted on 31 July 2026
Moose Wrench

If Henge ever needs an intergalactic opening act, they should look no further than Moose Wrench, a synthy prog-rock outfit capable of putting your synapses into so much of a spin that keeping pace with them practically feels like a neurological event. Dead Stars, from their LP Side Quest, is the ultimate example of the freneticness of their fervour.

Imagine Mozart riffing on a keytar under the influence of mushrooms, industrial electronica and the staccato rhythms of reggae, and you will get an idea of what is in store if you hit play. The Leeds trio, built around keytar, bass and drums, have no need for guitars when their progressive psych-rock absurdism already fires off enough kinetic mischief to leave most bands sounding pedestrianly earthbound.

At 145 BPM, Dead Stars works like a battlestar battering, sending synaesthesia of a strobing neon cosmos into your vision while reminding you that we are little more than dust. That universal theme gives the track a surprisingly philosophical spine beneath its psychedelic grooves, tying the silliness to something properly existential.

With reference points including The Cardiacs, Mr. Bungle, Primus and Ween, Moose Wrench make alternative rock feel deranged, technical and festival-ready without sanding away their outsider humour. Their discography is built for listeners who like their prog playful and their left-turns violent. It’s probably safer if you don’t play any of it while driving.

Dead Stars is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kiki Kyte redefines retro seduction with her euphoric 80s anthem Nightfall

Posted on 22 October 2025

Kiki Kyte brought back the infectious rhythm of the 80s synth rock bop with her latest single, Nightfall. Following in the iconic footsteps of artists in the same vein as Laura Branigan, Kiki Kyte knows exactly how to make her analog synth lines bleed euphoria around the solid pulse of the atmospheric drum pads, all while nostalgia-wrenched overdriven guitars carry the emotional momentum. The result is a track that doesn’t rely on throwback gimmicks; it lives and breathes the raw, rhythmic soul of the era that birthed it.

She may have honed her voice in gospel choirs, but the way her notes soar with voracious desire, attitude and soul proves her vocals were always destined for cinematic pop-rock earworms. Her command of expression is unrelenting, each phrase dripping with a seductive sharpness that could cut through even the most apathetic crowd.

Born in the Carolinas, Kiki Kyte made her name across the stages of Europe before igniting the American scene. She is a singer, drummer, and rock-pop-alternative visionary, now splitting her time between Los Angeles and Paris. Before the revivalists caught on, she was already living the sound and aesthetic of the eras she channels with effortless authenticity. Everything about her is high-octane yet poised, edgy yet elegant, iconic yet entirely her own.

Nightfall is another marker on her path toward redefining what it means to be a global rockstar in the 21st century — not a copy, not a revival, but an evolution.

Nightfall is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

‘Benjy’ Dances Between Satire and Stardust in Rex on Demand’s Seminal Single from ‘The Angel Sessions’

Posted on 20 September 2025

Take the experimentalism of Grandaddy, fuse it with cosmic rock reverence, and you’ve got the eccentric sublimity of the standout single, Benjy, from Rex on Demand’s latest release, The Angel Sessions. The celestially synthesised and scuzzy release veers straight towards uncharted territory with its nuanced social dissection that, rather than launching an all-out attack, delivers a narrative which leaves the vitriol between the lines, offering vindication for anyone who can already see where we are and how we got here. While drinking in delicious synth rock grooves, listeners can find their rhythm in the chaos of modernity.

Based in London, Rex on Demand has been steeped in music since his school handed him a cello at six, which he played through to grade eight before expanding his sonic vocabulary at university. You can feel the years of musicianship in the intimacy that belies the polished production here, and in the satirical edge that makes Benjy bite just enough without losing its sweetness.

The nods to new-wave and the belt-out sensibilities of Springsteen are there, but Rex on Demand keeps his lens firmly fixed on the present, building worlds where the retro glimmers illuminate the dystopian present.

Benjy is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Revel Innovate with Chameleonic Vox and Disco Pop Euphoria on ‘LIFT ME UP’

Posted on 23 July 2025

Montclair’s alternative rock/electronic quartet, The Revel, are packing a punch with their single LIFT ME UP, and true to form, they refuse to let synth-driven euphoria be reserved for the pop scene. The dynamic duo of brothers, Dean Dantuono (vocals/guitar) and Dillon Dantuono (lead guitar, backing vocals), alongside Stephen Mir (bass, backing vocals) and Kyle Smith (drums), combine forces to electrify with energetic vocals, stadium-ready rhythms, and crowd-jumping synths. If you take your feel-good hooks with a rugged edge, you’ll love the serrated side to the almost industrial-adjacent electricity which courses through LIFT ME UP as it answers existential questions you never actually thought of pondering.

The track drifts from reverberating mechanised intensity to a chorus that soars with a tsunami of disco funk-pop melodic liberation before rock riffs come tearing in that deserve to define the future of alt-rock. The Revel hardly lived up to their moniker in LIFT ME UP; they innovated instead of revelling in aural nostalgia. The cherry on the progressive perennial earworm cake is decidedly the energy that palpitates from the infectiously chameleonic vox. If you’re sick of alt-rock acts that want to pretend they’re too cool to hit the dance floor with you, you won’t regret hitting play on this track.

LIFT ME UP is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Staytus Draws Blood from the Alt-Rock Circuit in the Vengeful Industrial Pop Storm, Headache

Posted on 23 July 2025

There’s no missing the bruised intensity that Staytus wrenched from the ether with her latest single, Headache. Synthesised razor-wire rips across the track with the bite of industrial pop and the pulse of alt-rock’s vengeful heart, creating a soundscape that hits like a radioactive juggernaut out for retribution.

Vindication runs riot through Headache, which uses scathing energy as its primary currency, bleeding that fury through each progression until the lighter breaks only serve to sharpen the impact of the next onslaught. Even the moments of respite can’t conceal the storm, they simply make the next detonation land harder, reminding you that catharsis can be engineered, metric, and merciless.

The project behind the carnage, Staytus—alias of recording prodigy Sam Grundemann—continues to stake her claim on the future of industrial music by making art from the volatility of toxic experience. Produced by Sean Beavan of Nine Inch Nails notoriety, Headache marks a step further into Staytus’ arsenal of caustic sonics and raw honesty, following up her Twisted Frames series and sophomore album, Wasteland of Broken Hearts. No matter how mechanical the sound design or relentless the energy, Staytus never loses the thread of emotional resonance, making the chaos unforgettable.

Headache is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Trust is a loaded gun in Jasno’s Midwest rap-rock requiem Cowboy

Posted on 15 June 2025

Jasno turned venom into catharsis in their latest single, Cowboy, a snarling dissection of the serpentine personas that smile while twisting the knife. By drawing from the sharpened theatricality of emo’s former front runners and strapping Midwest motifs to experimental bursts of rap-tinged alt-rock, the Michigan-based outfit brought new dimensions of ferocity to the subgenre. With lyrics that gnash and compositions that shapeshift across cinematic symphonics and raw rhythmic catharsis, Cowboy is the kind of track that leaves scars worth showing.

From the offset, the volatility floods in, but never at the expense of finesse; it’s all part of the sonic storm Jasno conjure with precision and intention. The spacey synth lines arc like spacecraft across scorched landscapes, while the vocals hit like a threat and a prophecy rolled into one. The band’s full commitment to pushing genre boundaries is writ large in their sonic DNA, but Cowboy hits differently. It’s a revenge anthem for anyone who’s ever had their trust mocked and their kindness misread as weakness.

From the unforgiving lyrics to the skyscraping delivery of the crescendo, Jasno went beyond proving their ability to command any stage. With two full-length albums and three EPs already under their belts, the DIY trio are known for dominating any line-up they’re thrown into, regardless of genre. Now deep into production for their third album, Jasno’s upward motion looks less like a climb and more like combustion.

Cowboy is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tune Out of the Static and Into Cerebral Absurdity with Pontus Peace’s Alt Indie Earworm, ‘MEDIA (A Love Song)’

Posted on 17 May 2025

If you’re looking for synth-driven alt-indie that scratches your itch for cerebral sound, use the fangs in Pontus Peace’s latest serpentine coalition of salaciously swaggering and tinged with sardonic sweetness vocals, garage rock guitar riffs and synths that inject indietronic idiosyncrasy into the eccentric mix. ‘MEDIA (A Love Song)’ doesn’t hold your hand through the dissection of modern affection and information overload—it strangles complacency with a wry smile while marching listeners deeper into its neurotic groove.

Beyond one step beyond the likes of Royal Blood and Highly Suspect, Pontus Peace synthesises the angst of post-punk into an anthem of alt-rock volition that writes a poisoned love letter to modern media and its increasingly unavoidable smothering presence, which ensures that even if you’re nowhere near the static of a TV, you’ll still be ensnared in some capacity.

Pontus Peace isn’t concerned with trend-chasing or sonic appeasement. Since their formation by Cornish drummer/vocalist Joel Nash alongside fellow drama school alumni, they’ve forged their own post-dystopian dancefloor. The four-piece may look like they stumbled out of a volleyball-themed fever dream, but their sound bites through with precision. From saxophone embellishments to lacerating lyrical insight, they’ve fine-tuned absurdity into a force worth listening to—and thinking with.

With the same sense of intellectualism and a few shared sonic tendencies as ILikeTrains, which pull through in the spoken word segment, Pontus Peace is evidently on the right trajectory.

‘MEDIA (A Love Song)’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rooftop Screamers Burn the Illusion of Permanence with Glammed-Up Psych Rock Redemption in ‘Blink of an Eye’

Posted on 15 May 2025

Like a whirling dervish of harbingering psychedelia, Blink of an Eye by Rooftop Screamers featuring Royston Langdon uses nostalgically sinister synth lines to juxtapose the soul of the soaring vocals, which of the impermanence of circumstance.

The way we allow bitterness to intercept our ability to appreciate the moment is one of the greatest tragedies of perception. When everything feels like a given, we fool ourselves that there’s nothing to lose – but there’s no chance of letting that insidious sense of entitlement creep in with Blink of an Eye on your playlists. It leaves you compelled to crank the swaggering 80s glam rock crescendos louder, join along with the infectious chorus vox and take any opportunity to pull what you love closer into an orbit of gratitude.

The chameleonic skill of Rooftop Screamers in their high-profile collaborations is one thing; the talent that allows them to strike all the right epiphanous chords with their lyricism is another. While everyone knows change and death are the only certainties, their ability to etch that fatalism into a cathartic outpouring is what lodges beneath the skin long after the final note.

With Langdon’s unmistakable vocal command steeped in sincerity and urgency, and Mark Plati (David Bowie, The Cure) sculpting the sharp cinematic sonics, Blink of an Eye simmers as much as it stings. Power pop hooks, new wave pulses, and glam rock swagger are folded into the mix without ever becoming contrived.

Blink of an Eye is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

FAERYS Sever the Puppet Strings and Strike with ‘Control’

Posted on 8 February 2025

After slipping into the ether following their debut ‘Nova Scotia’, FAERYS have returned with ‘Control’, a sophomore single that takes no prisoners. The duo, known for tearing through genre lines like they’re made of tissue paper, are dialling everything up to eleven—synth-driven melodies crackle under the weight of colossal guitars, while pulsating beats and atmospheric textures ensure the walls close in with oppressive force.

FAERYS are no strangers to disruption. Their debut racked up 500k streams and left a dent in the electro-rock scene. ‘Control’ sees them storming back with a track that seizes attention with ironclad fists. It’s a white-hot, scorching attack on tyranny, cutting the marionette strings and igniting in an autonomous blaze of glory. The duality at play between the hypnotic, She Drew the Gun-esque female vocals and the razor-sharp Saul Williams reminiscent rap bars—delivered by a fierce London-based rapper—fuels a current potent enough to power a grid. The result is an industrial-charged riot, where every sonic element serves as both ignition and explosion.

Recorded in Brixton and marking the first two tracks of their upcoming EP, ‘Control’ signals that the duo is as indomitable as ever.

Control hit the airwaves on January 31st; stream it on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Asterhouse’s ‘Sick Millenia’ is a Meteor of Raw Indie Electro Rock Thunder

Posted on 25 December 2024

‘Sick Millenia’ is a fistful of rock reinvention from Seattle’s power-rock force, Asterhouse. Their knack for choppy, angular staccato riffs is matched only by the irresistible spark of the crystalline vocals, which slip across the frenetic pulses with a potent sense of urgency. While the Arcade Fire-esque synths keep the track firmly in the contemporary sphere, there’s an undeniable nod to the glory days of Emerald City punk that charges the song with adrenalized intensity.

Asterhouse recently showcased their talents through a residency at Climate Pledge Arena and a seminal KEXP in-studio session, building on their tradition of unleashing ethereal rhythmic power at iconic venues such as The Neptune Theatre, The Showbox, Neumos, The Crocodile, and Chop Suey.

This new single proves that the band aren’t simply documenting the malaise of modern life; they’re offering an efficacious salve through a hefty dose of full-throttle instrumentation and a whirlwind of hooks that tear beyond the rhythmic pulses and straight into the soul.

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

Review by Amelia Vandergast