Avantgarde Music – AV479B (2023) In the year marking their 30th anniversary, The Frozen Autumn is back with a new release featuring six new songs, and its title, The Shape Of Things To Come, already hints at the topics that are the closest to the band’s heart. Leimotivs such as dreamlike visions, parallel realities, recollections of past lives, unfold between rarefied landscapes, passions immortalized in a suspended time, crepuscular atmospheres where the promise of different possible futures, if only partially revealed, is dwelling. The Shape Of Things To Come resumes the narrative from The Fellow Traveller, yet it is brought to new sound horizons, where layers of electronic sequences merge with rhythmic weaves and pulsing energies, in the unique style that's been the trademark of the band for these last three decades. Bandcamp 試聴 https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-shape-of-things-to-come

Avantgarde Music – AV452LP (2022) A new project from prolific Canadian musician Sebastian Montesi (Auroch, Mitochondrion, Egregore and many others), Saturn’s Cross is a plunge in cold wave territories, quite distant from Montesi’s usual soundscapes, yet not an ounce less fascinating. Sebastian Montesi is a prolific artist, probably best known for his endeavors in Mitochondrion and for being one of the founding members of Auroch. With Saturn’s Cross, the Canadian took a very different path, delving into cold wave territories, which little have to share with the bands he is usually associated to. Yet, when we listened to what Sebastian crafted, we had no doubt, and we gladly welcomed this new project to our roster. With neither hope nor fear, Saturn’s Cross unveils Cheat Death. Now operating as a two piece, with 1908 entering the fold on bass and vocals, Cheat Death disregards genre with wild abandon in favour of something that is at times overwhelmingly abrasive and at others intoxicating. This is a willing exploration of the endless labyrinth and a lamp of pitch black glass intended to serve as a beacon in the lightless depths of the human spirit. This is a headlong dive into the soul's psychic darkness, with nothing to break the fall. This ushers in a new era Saturn's Cross. Bandcamp https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/cheat-death

Avantgarde Music – AV419LP (2021) American darkwave band formed in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona. Anyone with the slightest interest in darkwave music and the goth counterculture is familiar with Lycia. Born in Tempe, AZ, in 1988 from the creative mind of Mike VanPortfleet, Lycia is as seminal and influential as a band can get. Devoted to cold, somber and synthetic sounds, these pioneers of the ethereal are responsible for some of the most acclaimed underground albums of the ‘90s. The current lineup of the band is John Fair, David Galas, Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet, who has been the only constant member since the band’s formation. Although only achieving minor cult success, the band is notable for being one of the groundbreaking groups in the darkwave and ethereal styles. Their 1995 album The Burning Circle And Then Dust "remains a high point of American dark rock" according to AllMusic, and 1996’s Cold has been cited as one of the genre’s best by Post-Punk.com and Alternative Press. Lycia's sound is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of heavily effected guitars, dark atmospheric keyboards, heavy reverb drenched drum machines, VanPortfleet's somber raspy vocals and Vanflower's vivid melodic voice. Avantgarde Music had the pleasure to bring the 1991 debut full-length Ionia to a vinyl edition for the first time in early 2021, and this brought along the chance to cooperate on new music. This turned out to be a rich studio EP, Casa Luna. We reached out to Mike VanPortfleet, who describes Casa Luna as a followup to 2018’s In Flickers, with a more varied approach, stylistically and thematically. “In Flickers and Casa Luna are Lycia’s purest releases. Originally planned as a split 7” with the song “A Quiet Way to Go”, as more songs were written they evolved to an EP”. Bandcamp https://lycia.bandcamp.com/album/casa-luna https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/casa-luna

Avantgarde Music – AV441LP (2022) American darkwave band formed in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona. Originally released in late 1993, A Day In The Stark Corner is the second studio album by darkwave masters Lycia (third, if you take into account the 1989 EP Wake). Despite being one of the most praised and influential releases in the field, as well as one of Projekt Records most sought-after titles, the album never received a vinyl treatment. Until today. Twentynine years after its original publication, Avantgarde Music renews its cooperation with the US band and brings A Day In The Stark Corner to a wax form for the first time ever, following the same path treaded with Cold and Ionia in recent times. Bandcamp https://lycia.bandcamp.com/album/a-day-in-the-stark-corner https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-day-in-the-stark-corner

Avantgarde Music – AV414LP (2021) American darkwave band formed in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona. Ionia: 30th Anniversary vinyl edition! Recorded February to June 1991 on 4 track cassette. Remastered for vinyl February 2021 US pioneers Lycia have been a landmark for the whole darkwave and gothic scene since their inception in 1988. They have been responsible for setting the highest standards in the scene with albums like A Day In The Stark Corner (1993), Cold (1996) and many others. And here we are, in early 2021, announcing with the greatest pride the reaching of an agreement with the band from Tempe concerning a reissue of their first studio album, the unique Ionia, celebrating its thirtieth birthday in 2021. Originally released on September 3rd 1991 on Projekt Records, Ionia has been out of print for almost a quarter of a century, until a CD re-release appeared in 2017. And yet, such an important album had never been pressed on wax. Until today. Lycia‘s debut album will be released for the first time on double vinyl in two different colored versions, on April 23rd. Lycia signature sound is built on eerie whispers and melancholic synths, with an incredible taste for decadent and gloomy atmospheres. An unmistakable mix, this, which made Mike VanPortfleet’s band one of a kind and a milestone for all who followed. Recorded from February to June 1991 on 4 track cassette, Ionia will come to wax in a completely remastered version, specifically thought for this 2LP edition. Bandcamp https://lycia.bandcamp.com/album/ionia https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/ionia

Avantgarde Music – AV447LP (2022) Italian darkwave band founded in 1993 in Turin. Pale Awakening is the debut album by The Frozen Autumn, which originally saw the light in 1995 following the demotape Oblivion and various live gigs in Italy and abroad. These led to the CD release of this concept album with crepuscular sounds, at times inspired by the sound of 4AD and Projekt Records. Ten pieces that unfold between reflective and atmospheric moments, imbued with melancholy with more rhythmic openings, yet always characterized by a common feature: the oniric plane, the certainty of the existence of parallel realities, the escape from everyday life to embark on an inner journey, aware that "there is something beyond". 27 years after the first edition, Avantgarde Music re-releases Pale Awakening in two valuable collectible formats: 12 "colored double vinyl in a gatefold cover with lyrics, and digipak CD with booklet containing pictures, verses and bonus tracks. Bandcamp https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/pale-awakening

Italian darkwave band founded in 1993 in Turin. Pale Awakening is the debut album by The Frozen Autumn, which originally saw the light in 1995 following the demotape Oblivion and various live gigs in Italy and abroad. These led to the CD release of this concept album with crepuscular sounds, at times inspired by the sound of 4AD and Projekt Records. Ten pieces that unfold between reflective and atmospheric moments, imbued with melancholy with more rhythmic openings, yet always characterized by a common feature: the oniric plane, the certainty of the existence of parallel realities, the escape from everyday life to embark on an inner journey, aware that "there is something beyond". 27 years after the first edition, Avantgarde Music re-releases Pale Awakening in two valuable collectible formats: 12 "colored double vinyl in a gatefold cover with lyrics, and digipak CD with booklet containing pictures, verses and bonus tracks(This Time remix & Bio Vital) Bandcamp https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/pale-awakening