Next Wave: Close Encounter

 Close Encounter is a Seattle based music band consisting of Bill Darksoft (Guitar/Vocals), Bobby Sydney (Guitar/Vocals), and Cameron Lambert (Drums). Their music is a perfect blend of shoegaze, jangle pop and psychedelic rave recalling some great genre masters, including Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. 

The band released their debut 'First Light' in 2017 and 'Lost Time' in March this year, both via Look Up Records. 'Lost Time' combines jangley disco, dark 80s pop, and 90s shoegaze incorporating diverse textures and a wide range of moods, dealing with heartbreak, and the loneliness of modern communication.
The album is available for purchase online via independent record label Look Up Records, as well as in all record stores in Seattle (Everday Music, Silver Platters, Easy Street, and others).

https://closeencounterband.bandcamp.com/

Next Wave: There's Talk

There's Talk is an electronic dream pop trio which was started by Oakland based multi-instrumentalist Olivia Lee (vocals, synths, programming, guitar). Kellen Balla (electronics, programming, vocals) and Young Lee (guitar, vocals) joined Olivia with hopes of expanding ambitious electronic soundscapes for live performance. The debut EP 'Tiny Stands' was released in 2013 and after the release the band toured regionally, supporting Glass Animals, Cigarettes After Sex, Arthur Beatrice and many others. Their sophomore release 'Bathed Water Moon' which includes inputs from all band members was released on February 23rd. It includes 4 tracks which perfectly blends buzzing synths and echoing guitars with semi-whispering soft female vocals formulating another deep blue night dream pop concept. 

https://www.facebook.com/TheresTalk/ 

http://www.therestalk.com/Music 

Next Wave: Beverly Girl

Beverly Girl is one of the finest new offering coming from Scandinavia. It is that type of music we would expect to hear from the production houses of Italy and Germany, but this time a very fine flavor of New Retro Wave comes from Northern Europe. Beverly Girl are Yohanna, Artur and Tracy based in Helsinki Finland. During 2017, they have released three singles where they reveal brilliant dance forms of synth electro lush in the setting of the Neon Light. The band is currently working on a special co-write release in LA, which will be released during the spring of 2018.

http://beverlygirl.com

Next Wave: LEATHERS

LEATHERS is the anticipated collaboration between Vancouver visual artist/vocalist, Shannon Hemmett and producer/songwriter, Jason Corbett from Actors who we have been following since their formation and debut release "Nightlife" in 2012. LEATHERS took format in 2015 and by now they have released two singles. "Day for Night" is seductive, melancholic and the female vocals are beautifully delivered against the moody cold synths. "Missing Scene" reveals a bit different style where the guitars create a ground for very atmospheric shoegazing sound. It will be interesting to see in what direction their music will develop further. 

https://leathersmusic.bandcamp.com

Din Release Debut album 'Real Dirt'

Din have released their debut album 'Real Dirt' on DKA Records. This new album follows up on their 'Saturate' EP which was released in April this year. The textures and structures of the minimal synth in Din's music sound very innovating and hypnotic, especially in the way how they managed to connect with their listeners by illustrating their visuals in their music videos. "Oils" seems to be the lead single from the album and the video for it was directed by Amanda Siegel and Benjamin Turner.

  https://dkarecords.bandcamp.com/album/real-dirt

Next Wave: Kaade

Kaade is a Belgrade-born, Toronto-based electronic music producer and singer. Her debut release, 'Encounter with Power', explores themes of outsider culture, masculinity and power dynamics. Composed between Berlin and Toronto, the four track EP layers frosty synths over pulsing rhythms, crafting her own style of dark and danceable pop. Kaade made her live debut in 2016 and has since shared the stage with a wide range of artists; from Black Marble to Inga Copeland. 

https://kaade.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/clubkaade
 

Photo by Nadia Khashan

Next Wave: Fragrance.

Fragrance is a music project Matthieu Roche from Paris, France. According to his Bandcamp, Matthieu has released two singles and one EP. The music of Fragrance is atmospheric dream pop with playful synth waves and mellow vocals. This year fragrance released the single "Heatwave" and the EP 'Dust & Disorders', both mastered by Hélène de Thoury who we remember from Minuit Machine and Hante. fame.

For more info follow the links:
https://www.facebook.com/thisisfragrance/
https://fragrancemusic.bandcamp.com

Next Wave: Ships in the Night

Ships in the Night is Charlottesville, Virginia based electropop act led by Alethea Leventhal. Alethea has started releasing music in 2015 and released two EPs as SitN. The music of Ships in the Night is well balanced and atmospheric dream pop which is poured down on you and true to the title, it is a perfect nighttime mate. This year sees the release of Ships in the Night debut album which is titled ‘Myriologues’ and includes 9 studio tracks. The album is available on Bandcamp.

Next Wave: Albertus Cabinet

In this Next wave feature we are taking a small trip to Argentina as our next duo is from Buenos Aires. They perform under quite enigmatic name Albertus Cabinet and consist of Juan Ruso and Roberto Massoni. To this date, they have released one EP in 2016 and this year saw the release of their debut album 'The Visible or Invisible' with nine new tracks. Their music is sort of ambiental electronic experiment exploring the atmosphere and darkness of space. Our preference track from the album are "Statistics, I Don't Feel Special" and "It Saves My Life". As for now the album is available on Bandcamp mp3 and FLAC. Hope you enjoy! 

Next Wave: Fader

Neil Arthur from Blancmange has teamed up with Benge of Wrangler and John and The Maths fame to create music as Fader. Together, they have put several songs resulting in the their first album entitled 'First Light'. As it is announced, the album will be "a twist of electronic Songs with haunting atmospheres". The songs were recorded and mixed at Benge's MemeTune Studios while Arthur recorded his own vocals in his home studio. The album will contain 11 studio tracks and it will be out on June 23rd.

   

Next Wave: Patience

End of last year, we discovered another interesting music act that we thought would be worth sharing here. Her name is Roxanne Clifford and she is not a new face to the music biz. Already with her band Veronica Falls she made first steps into indie pop. Now the things have changed for her, she took a new name and adopted a completely different music style and musical arrangement. Under the name Patience she discovers the new world of synth pop and minimal wave. Her debut "The Church" was released on Night School Records in 2016 and the second single "Pressure" followed soon after. She seems to be doing well in the new footsteps and we hope to hear more from her in 2017.

Next Wave: Raw Moans

Time for our last Next Wave for this year! We go East with the sound this time and would like to introduce Raw Moans, the project of Joseph Vorachack which also features Michael Thibodeaux (instrumentals, production). 

Before starting his own musical creation, he was member in several music groups including Wavves and his own living room has inspired him to start his own DiY thing. That is how the idea of Raw Moans was born. After he has teamed up with Michael, soon after they released their debut EP 'Safe Sex'. This is a tribute to musicians and who lived and died from complications due to HIV/AIDS. This is reflected through lyric collages, allusions, and re-workings of songs by musicians, such as Arthur Russell, Klaus Nomi, and Eazy-E, over original instrumentals and melodies. 

Please follow the link to explore the sound of Raw Moans.

https://soundcloud.com/raw_moans/sets/safe-sex

Next Wave: Colour Theory

Bringing some colours and cheerful and quirky 80's electro sound to bright the rainy Autumn days comes Brain Hazard with his Colour Theory sound machine. He says that the 80's synthpop is in his blood and draws a lot inspiration from the decade especially quoting Depeche Mode as the main inspiring act for his musical creation. It's true that many bands are inspired by Depeche Mode's music, but none of them reflect the emotional side of Martin Gore so much. Career highlights include winning the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Brian is currently working on his ninth full length release which is set for release in the next few months.

To hear more about Colour Theory check the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/colortheory/
https://soundcloud.com/colortheory
https://twitter.com/colortheory

 

Next Wave: Boy Harsher

Boy Harsher is a Northampton, Massachusetts based electronic duo consisting of Augustus Muller and Jae Matthews. Their music is quite intense and atmospheric where minimal and cold-wave synth-pop is fuzzed with dramatic vocals expressed through screams and chants. They could link to early 80s recalling the music of Kas Product, Soft Cell and Suicide. 

Boy Harsher started in early 2013 under the name Teen Dreamz. The project was based on short stories written and read by Matthews then live scored by Muller. As the project matured the instrumentals became more dance influenced and Matthews’ delivery became more dynamic and spontaneous. 

In January of 2014 Teen Dreamz took on the moniker Boy Harsher. In 2015, they released their debut EPs 'Lesser Man' and 'Pain' and this year in June they released their debut album 'Yr Body is Nothing'. More info on them is available under the following links. 

http://boyharsher.com/
https://boyharsher.bandcamp.com/

Next Wave: Black Magique

Black Magique is one of the most interesting dark synth-pop acts that have occurred to us in this year. Hailing from Canada, the band was formed around 2012 and released their first material this year. Their music is the state of the art where sound and vision meet to express the aesthetics of their creative universe. The world of Bianca and Gabriel draws inspiration from all decades and their respective styles and for now the dark 80’s impact seems to be the most evident. 

To this date they have revealed two videos for the singles “Sexercise” and “Fashion Kills”, also available on cassette. They are currently signed to Nite Time Records and we are looking forward to hear new material.

Next Wave: undertheskin

Underskin is a one man project from Poland based musician whose music was inspired by dark atmosphere and analogue sound of early 80's post punk. As the influence, his music is cold an dark expressed through drum machines, cold bass, guitar riffs and cold vocals. Undertheskin's debut album was which contains 6 atmospheric post-punk tracks was released in 2015 through the Alchera Visions. To feel it under your skin, check artist's bandcamp page.

Next Wave: Decorum

As you know with Next wave, we always present new artist and we always tend to be more diverse in terms of musical styles and sound. This time we have an interesting post-punk trio hailing from Brooklyn New York for you. They are Decorum and they have been playing live since 2015, serving their very organic post punk sound incorporated with two basses, drums and mixing of male/female vocals. Their motifs are dark and their colour is black. 

Their debut EP 'Vail' will come out on 'Mirror Universe Tapes' on 04.15.16 at IDIO Gallery in Brooklyn. 

More about the band:
https://vimeo.com/decorumnyc
www.decorum.nyc

Next Wave: Samantha Urbani

Already last year Samantha Urbani caught quite a deal of attention with her song "1,2,3,4" released in April last year. It remains one of the most memorable dance tunes that has kept us on feet throughout 2015. At home in LA and NYC, she is a singer, songwriter, visual artist and skilled to so many things related to these. Her musical starts date back to 2010, when she formed internationally successful dance-punk band Friends. The band dissolved after releasing one album and several singles till 2013. Before launching her solo career, Samantha collaborated with Domino Records artist Dev Hynes. 

After two single releases as solo artist in 2015, she has surprised us yesterday when she revealed the video for possible new single "Milk Makeup". Hope there is more to follow and possible new EP or Album release. 

Stay updated and follow Samantha on Twitter and Facebook.

Next Wave: Lusts

Lusts a are the Leicester based band consisting of  brothers Andy and James Stone. Inspired by a Paris trip and lot more from their everyday life, they decided to start the band. Although it is a duo, Lusts really sound like a real band with their atmospheric and rich in sound. They also draw inspiration from previous decades, mixing Krautrock with New Wave and Shoegaze and creating a very unique blend of post-punk psychedelia. Their debut album 'Illuminations' is out now on 1965 records. Do check them out.

http://www.lustsmusic.co.uk

Next Wave: L'Avenir

L’Avenir is the cold synth project of veteran electronic musician and sound artist Jason Sloan. Known throughout the space and ambient music scenes for his contemplative electronic soundscape work for over a decade;
Sloan founded L’Avenir as a side project in 2012 to explore his long time love of synthpop, and dark electronic music created purely from vintage and analog equipment. While releasing over a dozen solo albums and EPs under his own name, Sloan has played solo all over the US, Canada and Europe including the influential Live Constructions radio program at Columbia University, STEIM in Amsterdam and Philadelphia’s The Gatherings concert series, one of the country’s oldest continuing ambient and electronic music series.

Sloan is a Professor teaching full-time in the Interactive Arts department along with being the founder and program coordinator for the Sound Art concentration at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. 

His debut album debut album 'The Wait' is now available on Barcelona’s Cold Beats Records on CD and digital formats while Vinyl will follow.  

https://soundcloud.com/jasonsloan