I realized I didn’t have many records from Togo listed on the blog, so, going down the rabbit hole, I found this curious compilation on TogoPop Records. It sounds NOTHING like what I was expecting. If anything, the artists on this compilation sound more like they were influenced by French 1980s Cold Wave and Italo Disco. It’s a weird record, and brilliant for it.
Folks, we have a very long wait for JOHN 3:16’s next opus (April of 2024), but judging based on how good the samples have been so far, this is going to be the band’s most profound release yet. The tension on the album reminds me of early, more Industrial-era Laibach with elements of the Swans, but with a more cinematic feel to it. Be patient, the whole thing will come to be soon enough.
Severine Day hails from Belgium, and she produces an post-punk sound that brings up memories of bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, French cold wave bands like Clair Obscur, and even a touch of Nico, but with a sound that is as modern as it is authentic. It’s a thrill to hear such music still being made for those of us who grew up during the genre’s heyday.
A decade or two ago, there were only four bands who I would bother to make the trek out from the suburbs to the ‘great’ metropolis that is Los Angeles: Farflung, Tunnelmental, The Flash Express and The Secret Society of the Sonic Six. Each were brilliant in their way, and in the end, The SSotSS won out for me because no one was able to weld together 50’s horror movie soundtracks, cold wave à la Americana, avant-funk, weirdo pop in the vein of Yello or other Ralph Records bands, and a stage show that kept you far away from gawking…
As we have but one day left in the calendar, we bud you adieu with the legendary French cold wave band Clair Obscur doing Robert Burns proud.
This is perhaps the coldest of cold wave releases I’ve ever had the pleasure of reviewing. Venus Berry is the nom de plume of Anouk Allard, who is not only a musician but has a background in visual art. Her style covers not only the aforementioned cold wave which the French seemed to dominate during the 1980s, but also aspects of modern synthwave, electro and a weird sort of avant-pop that reminded me of Isabelle Antena. She is joined on this album by Antoine Sapparrart on bass and Jules Méli on guitar. Quite an enjoyable album.
This one-track release was in my queue while I was doing some work, and when it came on, I assumed it was a track of Spanish cold wave from the early 1980s. Toronja, as it turns out, is a Chilean project from this year, and they manage to do a good job making a sound that is at once fresh and vintage.
Our friends JOHN 3:16 come at us with less an audible listening experience than a sheer sonic pummeling. Take for example Part I, which sounds as though the ghost of Cop/Greed-era Swans was under more control, a more musically apt, and put through the gothic/post-punk music grinder. Part IV goes into something more ethereal, dark, something between a horror movie and spaghetti-western soundtrack, with vocals provided by Caroline O’Neill / Rasplyn. The band always impress, but I wasn’t quite ready for this one. A very pleasant surprise, indeed.
This release by ZX Electric took a bit of getting used to, but once I felt settled in, some rather pleasant memories washed over my mind. Mainly, I started thinking about the sound of cold wave, minimalist electronics, a lo-fi aesthetic, broken, heavily manipulated vocals, and the aura of 1980s cassette tapes which this album seems to reference quite well. I’m looking forward to hearing more from this project.