Los Angeles duo Sextile – celebrated for an unflinching, electronic punk sound injected with trance-pop grit – have announced their bold upcoming album, yes, please., out May 2, 2025 on Sacred Bones.
Much of yes, please. is being performed on a current North American run of dates supporting Molchat Doma into March. Sextile has also shared the single “Freak Eyes,” which pushes their dark, pulsing signature sound to new heights. It opens with a nasty bass growl, which abruptly gives way to a techno beat peppered with clanging cowbell and sharp hi-hat. “I feel the pressure / Man the pressure I feel when we’re together,” vocalist Brady Keehn cooly, albeit firmly yell-sings in the opening lines. Inspired by the ways in which pressure can provoke challenges and improvement alike, “Freak Eyes” conjures electrifying images of seedy Sunset Strip backrooms and leather clad warehouse dance floors.
On the track, Brady Keehn of Sextile shares: “”Freak Eyes” is aboutthe pressures of making art, living, and aspiring. The sound was inspired by house parties we went to in NY, where certain tracks had the conversation stopping power. If you were in the middle of convo with a friend and heard certain songs, it didn’t matter what you were talking about, you stopped and joined the party in the collective release of emotion, singing, dancing, and drinks flying everywhere. It was like in that moment, nothing else mattered but that energy that we all collectively felt. And I felt like I hadn’t seen that at a party, or anywhere in a while, and wanted to try to bring that feeling back into the world again.”
Keep your mind open.
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Last month, Kinlaw announced her new album gut ccheck, which will be released on 3/21 on Bayonet Records, and shared its first single “HARD CUT” along with its accompanying video. The album is the follow up to her 2021 debut The Tipping Scale, which earned comparisons to Jenny Hval, FKA twigs, and Cate le Bon from Pitchfork, and was described by Interview as “a pop-meets-electronica reflection on the beauty of the ordinary.”
Her new album,gut ccheck, is a sharp and thrilling alloy of pop, electronica, trap, and industrial music that creates a new horizon for art pop that she built from motion, to breath, to sound, to song. Today, she is sharing the album’s second single, a track called “SPIT,” which arrives with a video created with Caroline Polachek, Eartheater, and 070 Shake collaborator 91Rules.
Kinlaw has been living and working in New York City for over ten years, popping up as a member of several notable musical projects, but music is far from her only artistic outlet. Concurrently with the growth of her profile as a musician, she has earned significant acclaim as a choreographer and performer, earning commissions for her movement work from institutions like the MoMa Ps1, Pioneer Works, and the New Museum, and working on performance pieces scored by SOPHIE, Caroline Polachek and Dev Hynes among others.
For Kinlaw, movement or gesture is often a way into the writing process for an album. Kinlaw spent two years as a resident at Bell Labs, working in its famous anechoic chamber. It is one of the quietest places on the planet. “I wanted to know what role the brain and the body played in how we hear, and I wanted to concentrate more on silence than how to fill it,” she says. There’s not a better place to do that than in a room that is so silent your brain and body freaks out. People have been known to have panic attacks and even aural hallucinations as a response to the room. This research pushed Kinlaw to obliterate any divide between anatomy and the process of writing and perceiving sound. A performer by nature, this quickly turned into a deep dive on how to use choreography as a way to write.
“Almost every time I dealt with anger around language and writing, my fix was to move,” she explains. Kinlaw writes in a non traditional way because it is intuitive to her. “I don’t trust traditional ways of working,” she says, “I hold on fiercely to what feels good to me, what makes me feel awake.”
From this, gut ccheck becomes an album that has its genesis in perspective, in interrogating what a moment or a feeling or an opinion can become. Using this process, Kinlaw worked with producer/collaborator Carlos Hernandez (Ava Luna, Carlos Truly) to build the sonic landscape of the album.
“‘SPIT’ is one of the songs where the influence of my choreography is most palpable, it’s breathy and yearning at 110%.
Kinlaw says of the track: “As someone who came into music making as a vocalist first, I have the impulse to always hold everything in my voice. It was just how I started to make music. For so long, I felt this responsibility to give all information by ways my voice would move, soar, or show intensity. And there’s something so rewarding for me at this stage, in practicing restraint. But with this song, it’s also a different approach. It’s about letting this feedback be the front-runner. It’s chaotic. It’s shrill, it’s uncontrollable.”
“Spit starts off with guitar feedback. Controlled feedback is a theme in this one. Feedback can’t be controlled. Those two words don’t make a hell of a lot of sense next to each other, but it’s captured chaos that builds the foundation of this track.”
She adds of the video: “You should have seen this motion control camera! Part of this process was working alongside parameters of the equipment, so I wouldn’t get smashed in the face by the lens. It really heightened the stakes during each take. I wanted the shots to feel fierce and free, but needed to stay extremely specially aware while this camera soared all around my face and body. Wild experience.”
“Hearsay” video still (directed by Laura Martinova)
Anika — the British-born, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson — announces her new album, Abyss, out April 4th on Sacred Bones, and shares its lead single / video, “Hearsay.” Abyss was born out of the frustration, anger, and confusion Henderson feels from existing in our contemporary world. Notably heavier than 2021’s Change, the 10-track album is raw, urgent, and fueled by strong emotions. Pulsing with a heavy guitar and rhythm section, Abyss takes Anika on a new sonic journey.
“There’s so much going on in the world, and you have to sit there and watch it through a screen
that you’ve allowed into your home, like a vampire who had been preying at your door, then immediately digest it, have an opinion, and publicly comment on it,” Anika says. “The state of the world just feels like an abyss right now.” With this new album, she wants to create a place where people can feel safe to be themselves, and to unite in their diversity. “Abyss is like a call to action,” she says. “To come and figure it out together.”
The thrashing, driving, lead single and album opener, “Hearsay,” hones in on the extreme divisions between the left and right in contemporary society. Anika sings: “And yesterday’s papers they line my bird cage. / And you’re telling me tales to get your own way. / And you’re making up stories to push your narrative./ And you’re making up tales to be provocative.” In Anika’s words, “This song is about media moguls – about the power of the media, whether social, tv or beyond – we are as much under its spell as we ever were and some nasties are exploiting it for their own gains. Parasites feeding off the blood of the public — PJ Harvey inspired for sure.”
Laura Martinova who directed the accompanying video says it’s “inspired by vampire aesthetics and seeks to connect with the grungy essence of Abyss. We aimed to create a dark yet dynamic and surprising video. My collaboration with contemporary dancers and the use of raw camera movement transcends this imagery, while Zeynep Schilling’s creative direction elevates the video to another level—somewhere between evil and heaven. We worked with stylist Danny Muster and emerging designers to craft a timeless aesthetic.”
Abyss was recorded live to tape at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin (where the likes of Depeche Mode and David Bowie also recorded) in just a few days. Recording live and with minimal overdubs was an important decision, Anika stresses, in order to capture the raw immediacy of the album. As before, she wrote the songs herself before fleshing them out with Martin Thulin (Exploded View), and then assembled a live band to join the pair in the studio – comprising of Andrea Belfi on drums, Tomas Nochteff on bass (Mueran Humanos) and Lawrence Goodwin (The Pleasure Majenta) on guitar, with studio engineering done by Nanni Johansson and Frida Claeson Johansson. “I always work with people I respect and admire,” Anika says. “It’s very genuine in that way.”
Anika consciously sought to make an album that was inherently physical— one that would take the listener out of their head and back into their body. The physicality of Abyss is emphasized by the androgynous bodies on the album’s cover, that are from a drawing by a teenage friend of Anika’s. This feels especially poignant, as teenage angst also plays a part in the album. “These days it feels like you have to have very catered opinions – like language has gone out the window,” Anika says. “It makes you feel very much like a restricted child again.” With Abyss, Anika was determined to break free from holding back genuine emotions – even if they might seem uncomfortable or too much: “It’s like I’m doing all the things that I never allowed myself to do,” she says. Anika hopes this pure emotion will position the listener to fully immerse themselves in the album. “There needs to be room for people to put themselves in this album, and put their own narratives on it,” she says. “This is a space for you.”
Anika Tour Dates: Sun. Apr. 20 – Berlin, DE @ Volksbühne Thu. Apr. 24 – Cologne, DE @ C/O Pop Fri. Apr. 25 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix Sun. Apr. 27 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique Mon. Apr. 28 – London, UK @ Omeara Tue. Apr. 29 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew Wed. Apr. 30 – Manchester, UK @ YES (Pink Room) Thu. May 1 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Fri. May 2 – Belfast, UK @ Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Sat. May 3 – Dublin, IE @ Whelans Mon. May 5 – Brighton, UK @ DUST Tue. May 6 – Paris, FR @ Gonzai Night @ Petit Bain Wed. May 7 – Strasbourg, FR @ La Grenze Thu. May 8 – Düdingen, CH @ Bad Bonn Fri. May 9 – Zürich, CH @ Bogen F Sat. May 10 – Frankfurt, DE @ Mousonturm
Kinlaw is an artist. She’s an opera singer, she’s a choreograhper. She’s a performance artist, she’s a student of psychoacoustics and neuropsychology. She’s not a dancerwho happens to make music. She’s not a composer who happens to have a movement practice. All of her work is connected, completely symbiotic, ruthlessly in conversation with itself, focused on community. She’s been living and working in New York City for over ten years, popping up as a member of several notable musical projects, while earning commissions from institutions like the MoMa Ps1, Pioneer Works, and the New Museum, and working on performance pieces scored by SOPHIE, Caroline Polachek and Dev Hynes among others.
In 2021 she released her first album under the Kinlaw name, an album called The Tipping Scale, which earned comparisons to Jenny Hval, FKA twigs, and Cate le Bon from Pitchfork, and 4 years later she is returning to announce her sophomore LP gut ccheck, which will be released on 3/21 on Bayonet Records. To announce the record she is sharing its first single “Hard Cut” along with its accompanying video.
Kinlaw says of the track:
“The song is about conditions and extremes. It’s about being fed up. Ultimately, it’s a song that’s about aggressively choosing yourself and offering that permission to the listener.”
We’ve reached the top of the peak. Who’s the grand champion? Read on to learn more.
#5: Fake Youth Cult – White Light / Black Noise
This stunning industrial / darkwave album is loud and heavy enough to cause the damage seen on this cover. This album came out of nowhere for me and about knocked me out of my chair.
#4: Maquina – Prata
Speaking of heavy damage, the cover to Maquina’s Prata album appears to feature a piece of steel that’s been shot, pried, scratched, and gouged. It’s a fitting image for a record full of wild noise punk, assaulting post-punk guitars, and grindhouse vocals.
#3: LAIR – Ngélar
This Indonesian funk / psych band was one of my top discoveries of 2024. They blend traditional Indonesian music with psych-rock, South Pacific juke, and other stuff you can’t quite define.
#2: GUM / Kenny Ambrose-Smith – Ill Times
Possibly the best collaboration of the year, this album combines the powers of two excellent Australians to create synth-psych that covers a lot of heavy topics with uplifting beats (i.e., the death of a parent – Kenny-Smith’s father, fear of the future and your place in it). I hope this isn’t just a one-time thing for them.
#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – Synthesizer
I mean, come on. One of my favorite bands creates an album that has a record sleeve that’s also a circuit board that you can turn into a real synthesizer that they also used to make the album. Only APTBS could pull off something like this and make an excellent record to go with it. It’s like a Moebius strip of post-punk psychedelic power that wallops you from the first note.
Onto 2025! Which albums are you anticipating the most?
Here we are at my top 20 albums of 2024. That was fast! Let’s get to it!
#20: Curses – Next Wave Acid Punx Deux – Secret Cuts
This collection by Curses is a great one of rare goth, darkwave, and synthwave cuts that makes you wonder where these bands have been all your life.
#19: Punchlove – Channels
The wall of sound on this shoegaze record from Punchlove is at times deafening and other times soothing. They’re one of my top picks to be one of the Next Big Things.
#18: Paperkraft – Not C but K
Here’s some groovy house music for you from Japan. This EP was a great debut.
#17: Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol – Big Duff Riffs
“What if we made an album that was all big, dumb riffs?” Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol asked. Well, they did it, and it’s a lot of big, dumb, riffing fun.
#16: Dion Lunadon – Memory Burn
It’s another scorcher from Dion Lunadon as he packs more energy into this EP than many double albums you’ve heard.
Hailing from Lisbon, Portugal, the trio of Maquina combine krautrock, electro, industrial, and shoegaze on their first full-length album, Prata. Trust me, it all works quite well.
Opener “Body Control” unleashes groovy fuzz bass to get your hips moving and then bonks you on the head with hard-edged synths, guitars, and howls. “Denial” has a spooky edge to it (and is a song about turmoil, after all), and there’s still time to put it on your Halloween playlist, so why not?
The beat and pulse of “Subversive” are infectious and will probably cause you to stomp the gas pedal if you listen to it while driving. “Kontakte” (“Contact”) has this weird, almost unsettling bounce to it that might be the throbbing of a UFO engine as it approaches you on a dark night…only to reveal a goth dance club inside it run by sexy aliens.
The opening bass of “Desterro” (“Exile”) brings to mind some of the same energy label mates A Place to Bury Strangers often unleash. Ending with “Concentrate,” Prata comes to a close with chugging drums and growling, simmering danger. It’s like a snake slithering across the room at you…and the snake is an android…and it’s programmed to lead you onto a monorail in the Lisbon of 2099.
There isn’t a bad track on this album, and it makes you want to catch them live. I’m sure it’s a wild experience…just like Prata.
Since March, Cold Cave have released a new song on the 15th of each month, culminating in the announcement of their forthcoming album, Passion Depression, on July 15th (album incoming October 15th). Today, Cold Cave have released another album track “Siren Song,” a synth driven dance track of mystery and desire.
Formed in 2007 by Wesley Eisold, Cold Cave jump started and popularized the resurgence in modern synth and darkwave genres after releasing seminal and influential albums, Love Comes Close and Cherish The Light Years (Matador Records) and were subsequently invited to tour with Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, The Cult and The Jesus and Mary Chain along with collaborations and performances with legends Genesis P-Orridge and Mark Lanegan. Eisold and his partner Amy Lee’s mix of celebrated poetry and urgent romantic new wave grants Cold Cave the rare 100% DIY approach to all aspects of their universe, producing and releasing their own music, involved directly with their fans and curating by their own rules. Spiritual depth and consistency in a media manipulated world. Love enchained and the polarity of truth. Passion Depression is protest music against the war within and without.
Passion Depression will be available on Rainbow Ice vinyl with a Hologram Sleeve or Glitter vinyl October 15th, 2024 (pre-order here).
September 5 Santiago, Chile @ Blondie September 6 Sao Paolo, Brasil @ Carioca September 7 Lima, Peru @ C Festiva September 8 San Jose, Costa Rica @ Amon Solar September 20 Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory September 22 San Diego, CA @ The Observatory September 27 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel September 28 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s October 4 Brooklyn, NY @ The Monarch October 5 Amityville, NY @ Amityville Music Hall October 6 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall October 11 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom October 27 London, UK @ 02 Forum November 2 Los Angeles, CA @ Substance Festival
The cover image might invoke suggestions that Nathaniel Eras‘ Omniaglyph 0 is going to be a dark metal album, but it’s actually an interesting ambient trance album full of neat synths, modulators, processed beats, and live instruments.
“Ancestral Memory” is a neat instrumental of layered percussion that builds and builds into a hypnotic meditation. “Encrypted Consciousness” brings in sizzling, snappy industrial beats to flow with the New Wave synths to a neat effect.
Then we get to “Architecture of Thought and The Subversion of Language Systems.” It’s haunting and creepy (Those bells and somber piano chords!) and will make a great addition to your upcoming Halloween playlist.
The EP ends with “Routing Systems,” an ultra-slick synthwave bumper that throbs with gristly bass and pulses with machine beats. It leaves you pumped up and ready for action.
I like the way the EP blends ambience with industrial. Not many people could pull that off this well.
Just when you think you’ve heard your favorite classic new wave / no wave / goth-punk / industrial dance track of all time, a compilation like New Wave Acid Punx DEUX – Secret Cuts comes along and drops a bunch of stuff you’ve never heard and makes you nearly lose your mind with “How did I miss this?” types of questions.
This latest gem from Berlin-based DJ Curses brings out a wild mix of stuff that he probably found in a warehouse’s trash bin moments before the place was demolished to build a clothing store no one wanted. Chrome Corps‘ “Body Attestation” starts off the thing with industrial chops, and Curses himself includes a previously unreleased track of his own, “Get Lost,” right after it to keep up the dark vibe. Aura Nox and Christian Koupa‘s “Compound Lies” is a dark wave banger.
Notausgang‘s “Malphas” becomes a meditative synth-jam (even with birdsong at the end). Ghost Cop‘s “You Can Never Go Home” demands to be played at your next dance party. Nuovo Testamento‘s “In My Dreams” (the “Powerhouse Mix,” no less) is like opening a time capsule from the mid-1980s found under the remains of a British disco. Unconscious‘ “LivEvil” version of “Carnivora” is the sound of a robot hit squad coming after you in a 1985 shopping mall.
Gunce Aci‘s “Being in the Shadows” is a gothic dance track that’s phat with bass and makes you wonder if the title refers to being / standing in the shadows or a being that’s in the shadows. Curses gets back into the game with “The Deep End (Redux),” which adds a nice guitar element to the goth sound, not unlike old Wall of Voodoo tracks.
Paresse‘s “Journey of the Heart” (the Guy Tallo remix) brings a bit of ambient into the synths and is a track suitable for late night drives, workouts, or the trailer to your newest film about a fitness instructor trying to avoid a serial killer while dating a cop with a mysterious past. The “Modern remix” of You Man‘s “Third Eye” is the sexiest track on the record, with female vocals samples of “Oh my God…” blending with throbbing bass and smoky synths.
Much praise to Curses for finding these rare cuts and presenting them to us in a great mix. Don’t skip this one if you’re a fan of darkwave, synthwave, new wave, industrial, or acid house.
