Perturbator - Parisian tech noir genius

With musical influences listed as Vangelis, John Carpenter and Tears For Fears you might guess where this is going.. dark super retro-future tech noir synthesiser night music, another great to add to the growing list along with the likes of Gatekeeper, Noir Deco, Power Glove, Lazerhawk, 80s Stallone, White Car, or Valis. 

Perturbator is from Paris and has three releases out so far, an EP titled Night Driving Avenger, an album called Terror 404 and a bunch of early works and bonus tracks, available here. Those links all take you to free downloads! 

Gatekeeper - Exo visuals.

Here's the visuals for the entirety of the new Gatekeeper album!! A music video for not just a single but the entire album! Blam!!

NOIR DECO

Total 80's Tech Noir in the same vein as artists as Gatekeeper, 80's Stallone, Power Glove, Lazerhawk and of course classic John Carpenter. The band are called Noir Deco and they come from Newcastle! Their approach is, at points, more soundscapey than than sweaty club thrusting of someone like Power Glove but they still totally slay. This is really dark, hard and totally awesome. Plus they have a whole album (called Future To Fantasy) up for free download from Playmaker Bandcamp. 

d'Eon - LP - out on Hippos In Tanks

Hippos In Tanks is a label with some awesome artists on it; Von Haze, Physical Therapy White Car,  Gatekeeper, Laurel Halo, Hype Williams and Sleep ∞ Over to name a lot! They also rock the awesome artist d'Eon and there's a brilliant LP out just called LP which you can buy on Itune or get the vinyl direct from them here.


d'Eon makes a kind of future RnB tinged with prog concepts and grandiose gospel feelings, post trance ambience and 2013 vibes, this is the sort of thing Seal or Sting would be making if they were 21 instead of 61. 

LAZERHAWK - Visitors EP

"I think of the days we were gods and goddesses, playing ball with planets. We were larger than dinosaurs. But now we sit like good girls and boys and watch the small tennis ball going left and right, forgetting the days when we use to play with bigger balls. What happens when we shrink even further, and become the size of cockroaches? Will we be still playing with something that echoes the time when we were larger?" *Yoko Ono

Lazerhawk produces the kind of synth pounding 80s tinged electro stompers popularized by bands such as the immortal Gatekeeper. Power keys and Italio influence at the ready Lazerhawk creates the kind of manic menace John Carpenter would have created if he'd had to direct the new Tron film but like back in 1983. An album is coming soon so keep a twitching replicant eye open for it! For similar sonic affiliates see 80s Stallone, Power Glove and White Car.

Visitors EP Demo by Lazerhawk

Feel the POWER GLOVE!

With an opening statement that positions this band as "Armed with only two POWERGLOVES, we are two lawyers sent back from the streets of future, post apocalyptic Los Angeles 2043" You know this going to be AWESOME!


So like you know this is going to sound exactly like what that statement implies. This is 80s style synth future madness akin to bands like 80s Stallone or Gatekeeper. It's pounding, muscle flexing synth riffs bounce you along like Night Rider on bubble, faster faster, more posing, quick lets take off our linen suit jackets and dive in the pool, I love your hair gel quick lets release a motivational dance aerobics video.


Check their Facebook and Soundcloud.

TELECOM by powerglove Crypt by powerglove

Skinemax - post nostalgia collage tv for short attention spans and one amazing compilation!

STARRING KURT RUSSELL!

Skinemax is Koyaanisqatsi for a generation raised on late night television and B-movie VHS tapes. It's long form entertainment for short attention spans. An hour long VJ odyssey, it will move your body and warp your mind. A nostalgic look back at a half remembered childhood growing up in the 80s and early 90s, Skinemax takes a close look at the culture of that era. The images that motivated, delighted, and terrified us on the silver screen, set to propulsive modern music that pines for a simpler time.

Please support the original works, these are film makers and musicians that have upheld the values of originality and creativity. This video is protected under fair use copyright law. It is presented for the purposes of entertainment, education, and criticism/commentary only. No infringement is intended.

Tracklist:
Com Truise - Norkuy
Depakote - Tummler
Martial Canterel - For Us
Fulgeance - Glamoure
Daedelus - Penny Loafers
Teebs - Why Like This
Laurel Halo - Embassy
Games - Strawberry Skies
d'Eon - Transparency
FOE - A Handsome Stranger Called Death (Com Truise Remix)
Games - Shadows In Bloom
White Car - No Better
Gatekeeper - Forgotten
The Hasbeens - You And Me
Ford & Lopatin - Emergency Room
Rainbow Arabia - Mechanical
oOoOO - Burnout Eyess
VHS Head - Motions
Outer Limits Recordings - Plastik Child 

Download higher quality MP3 here.

Martial Canterel + Tobias Bernstrup

Intense sexy minimal wave synth epic-ness, like Gatekeeper with a deep voiced 80s crooner thrusting erotically at the front of each track. This is Martial Canterel + Tobias Bernstrup, their Strange Land 7 inch, limited to an edition of 300 copies is out on the 10 July 2011 via Mannequin Mailorder. How good does this sound!!

Order your copy: orders@mannequinmailorder.com

Martial Canterel + Tobias Bernstrup - Strange Land 7'' 2011 MNQ 017 by Mannequin Label

Way cool!

PICTUREPLANE, TEENGIRL FANTASY and GATEKEEPER to TOUR!!!

Justice "Civilisation" Vs Gatekeeper "Chains"

Gatekeeper live at The Great Escape

Gatekeeper at The Great Escape 2011 from fokka wolfe on Vimeo.

The opening six minutes of Gatekeeper's set at The Great Escape this year, they went on late and there seemed to be a lot of lighting fuck ups but wow they were amazing! In the fore ground of the video you can observe the silhouetted backs of the heads of members of 20 Jazz Funk Greats and Sex Is Disgusting!

Gatekeeper video premiers on 20JazzFunkGreats!

If you read this blog but don't read 20 Jazz Funk Greats then your priorities are a little screwed..(look at that shameless self deprecation there!) Well anyway over on that blog all this week they have been premièring the new videos for the amazing Gatekeeper! Just check it all out! (And like I've said before why they didn't get Gatekeeper to do the soundtrack to the new Tron film I'll never know!!)

GATEKEEPER "Giza" [BLaDe ReDux] from Thunder Horse Video on Vimeo.

GATEKEEPER "Mirage" from Thunder Horse Video on Vimeo.

GATEKEEPER "Serpent" from Thunder Horse Video on Vimeo.

GATEKEEPER "Oracle" AMV from Thunder Horse Video on Vimeo.

Gatekeeper - Chains video!

GATEKEEPER "Chains" from Thunder Horse Video on Vimeo.

OH MY GOD! BEST GATEKEEPER VIDEO AND SONG EVER!! However good Daft Punks soundtrack to the new Tron film is going to be Gatekeeper should have been involved somehow!

Walsh, free "Smoke Weed about It" album.

Shit whats this? Amdiscs produce some great stuff and here's another, a 7 track album called "Smoke Weed About It" from a guy or a band called Walsh who I dont know anything at all about.

Its available to download for free from Bandcamp or from Amdiscs themselves.

Part Chillwave, part blissed out hip hop, part midnight driving electro along the lines of Gatekeeper. Its varied and interesting and has a great album title (almost as good as my Hippie taunting "go make some jewelry about it" which is more just an insult.) The album also has 2 guest vocalists on it, Mat Cothran and Squadda Bambino, not bad for free! Check it out!

Tirra Lirra, another Chicago creation!

Tirra Lirra are another Chicago band running in the synth based world of 80s goth sounds, original shoegaze guitars, classic new wave vocals and a very mellow feel. This two piece haven't the same frenetic dance beats of fellow Chicago bands Valis or White Car, this is more the quiet introspection and blissfulness of a faded love affair or the soundtrack to the comedown after a night listening to Gatekeeper.

Chicago just keeps producing these bands!

Download these two tracks and a few more from their SoundCloud page or check out their website.
Sudden Wave by Tirra Lirra
Desire Will Leave You by Tirra Lirra

Missions to other worlds now!

Austin Texas is a melting pot for dark synthy EBM based wonder and Missions are a great example of this!

A three piece of Josh Mills, Markus Diffee, & Amber Zook they roam a night of anguished love and redemption dance floors, in a mysterious countdown to the end of time! Really, just look at their myspace or website and you'll see an apocalyptic star clock counting down the seconds till our end time, 20th January 2012!!

Rocking the kind of spacey direction that disco can go in there are elements of Glass Candy at points but then also the dark dance floor vibes of Gatekeeper!

They have a free mixtape to download from their website and an album to buy (cost is 'name your price') from their Bandcamp!

They seem to do a lot of pretty good remixs as well!

Missions Facebook and Twitter.

Have a listen to them first below!

Missions "Movements" by missionsinspace

L.A.X "Fakin It (Missions Slowjack Remix)" by missionsinspace

The sounds of industry marching ever onwards. Gatekeeper, //Tense//, The Present Moment and Valis.

There's a great few bands about at the moment gaining some ground up the foothills of recognition that are sporting that 80s influenced, dark industrial electro sound, all brooding yet funky, throbbing, sexual and dancey yet filled with drone and noise!

The principle bands that are on my radar are all from the United States and I've written about most of them already so here I'll just be posting their stuff for you to listen to. Lots of it can be downloaded form their Soundcloud or Fairtilizer pages.

The Present Moment are from LA and have a CD out on Disaro. Most of their songs can be downloaded from their Soundcloud page but they're in wav format not mp3. I love the cover they've done here on the 2nd track!

Times Like This by ThePresentMoment
SEASON OF THE WITCH by ThePresentMoment

//Tense// I have already written about as well. And are pretty much my favourites of this bunch.

From Houston,Texas they have an album out on Desire Records, one pending on Disaro and are just about to play their first New York gig on the 16th June. More tracks to listen to, or buy here.

Facebook here.

Valis are from Chicago, a bit of a hub for this sound, they again are a two piece and create a sound so meaty and bass filled that it just funks the club out when you play it loud.

Awesome, un-stopable and relentless!!
Exigesis by V A L I S

The final one of these four is the longest running and maybe most well known, GATEKEEPER is also from Chicago and gets up and runs with the Industrial electro sound making horror club hits that march all over everything!

I cant find any embedable players for GATEKEEPERS stuff so YouTube vids will have to suffice.

First is from the vinyl EP available to buy from the myspace and the second is from a very recent live gig in Brooklyn!

VALIS =Awesome!

Valis come from Chicago and make damned heavy industrial electro, in the same vein as //Tense// all sweating muscle and black leather, 80s topgun sunglasses and dark thumping basslines. There's also a feeling of fellow Chicago resident Gatekeeper.

This sound threatens you like an American muscle car being driven by a sex crazed cop! Run for you life but run in time to the beat!

There is pretty much no info on this band, (even their myspace has only 16 friends) but they sound absolutely immense and if you live in Chicago or can get there then Valis are playing at Hot On The Heels Of Love on 4th May which is this tuesday! (just wish I could make it!)

This is just one of many brilliant bands around at the moment making industrial electro noises straight out of the Terminators TechNoir club.

If you can get to a beach this summer then you should be rocking the Chillwave but if you're stuck in an urban sprawl, if you're stuck in a landlocked city, if you only get up when its dark and that's just to get back on the dancefloor then you have to be hitting up the industrial sounds this year!!

Download 3 great VALIS tracks from soundcloud and listen below. Black Carbon by V A L I S

The Running ManbyV A L I S Exigesis by V A L I S

Gatekeeper, Optimus Maximus EP.

Gatekeeper (tech-noir god) releases the Optimus Maximus EP on October 26th here is the video for it created by Tommy Boy.

Gatekeeper "Optimus Maximus" from Fright on Vimeo.

This is a re-blogging from 20 Jazz Funk Greats blog, who are the total champions of Gatekeeper.