再入荷予定有り Wave Records – W173LP (2024) "Wasted Reflections"はNight In Athensの3枚目のアルバムで9曲が収録されており, 現代生活の激動の中に身を置くことで得られる深い静けさを掘り下げている。熱狂的なシンセパンクの曲「Pale Rose」は、NIAが電子的なリピートビートの上で甘言を言ったり叫んだりするのが特徴で, アルバムは順調にスタートしている。ギターと Words UnspokenやNightshadesのような神妙で暗い, あるいは憂鬱なボーカルを含む陰鬱な2曲が収録されています。70年代後半のシンセウェーブにインスパイアされたセルフタイトル曲 Wasted Reflectionsは ささやきに包まれた冷たいミニマリズムのサウンドを提供しています。このアルバムでは NIAはよりメロディックなボーカルを試していますが, いくつかの曲は明らかに彼女のパンクの遺産に基づいている速いテンポを持っています。アルバムの最後は 恐れずに愛することへの招待であるEmotionsで締めくくられています。 Wasted Reflektions is NIA's third album, which features nine songs and digs into the profound tranquillity that results from immersing oneself in the tumult of modern life. The frenetic synth-punk song Pale Rose, which features NIA's cajoling and yelling over an electronic repeating beat, kicks off the album on the right foot. It has two dismal tracks including guitar and ethereal, dark, or melancholy vocals like the Words Unspoken and Nightshades. Inspired by the late 70s synthwave the self title song Wasted Reflektions offers a cold minimalistic sound wrapped in whispers. On this album, NIA experiments with more melodic vocals, yet several songs have a faster tempo that is clearly based in her punk heritage. The album concludes with Emotions, an invitation to love fearlessly. Bandcamp 試聴 https://nightinathens.bandcamp.com/album/wasted-reflektions https://waverecords.bandcamp.com/album/w173-night-in-athens-wasted-reflektions-2

Wave Records – W156, Young And Cold Records – YCR/144 (2023) French Coldwave band from Bourges. Opera Multi Steel was born during the winter of 1983 in Bourges, a city in the center of France. After "D'une Pierre deux Tombes", a funereal and introspective album released in 2021, Opéra Multi Steel returns with its thirteenth studio album: "Les Passions tristes". The group remains faithful to the sound of the founding instruments that have made it unique since its beginnings. The evolution started on the previous album with the use of more electro rhythms and sequences continues. The pride of place remains given to the vocal melodies, synthetic pads and mechanical backgrounds created by the three musicians and which are a trademark of Opéra Multi Steel, sometimes tinged with recorders that sometimes bring a medieval hint. The band therefore evolves with constancy, without however denying its origins. That said, the music, more up-tempo than on the previous album, does not engender a frenzied melancholy. OMS has always known how to keep distance from the members respective obsessions by mitigating them with a veil of irony and by sprinkling their songs with occasional or referential sound effects, some of them are directly linked to childhood, history, literature, cinema... OMS remains for its members the crucible in which they can mix their common or individual inclinations and their personal stories… The tragedy of some themes is never exempt from a certain dose of lightness in the tone… Some tracks could be easily danceable (Dites-nous, Tout en Tous, Tombés à Terre, Le Soleil est parti…) Some others are developing some more melancholic mood (A nos Moments perdus, Les Toiles…). Au grand Jamais with Catherine Marie as lead vocalist will bring back some memories from a previous side-project of OMS members called “O Quam Tristis”. Bandcamp 試聴 https://operamultisteel.bandcamp.com/album/w155-opera-multi-steel-les-passions-tristes

Wave Records – W136 (2022) Cinemascope is a New Wave / Dark Wave / Cold Wave band from Athens, Greece, and also the brainchild of Leo Skiadas, a well known dark alternative club / radio dj and concert promoter of the Greek underground / dark alternative scene since the early 90's. And even though Leo Skiadas is a man with an updated music taste listening and promoting a lot of various music styles when it comes to Cinemascope his love for the wave music of the 80’s is what prevails. There have been eight years since Cinemascope released their debut album (stains of love / wave records). Eight years that brought a lots of personal changes, new experiences and a pandemic that besides all the tragedy that brings, it offered the band some time to slow down for a while and give shape to the eight new songs of the brand new album “a Crack on the Wall”. Songs overflowing with melancholy, betrayal, and self disappointment. But, this is not all about doom and gloom, since there is a strong urge to find this crack on the wall that might leave a slight ray of light coming in. On “a Crack on the Wall”, cinemascope attempt to write the perfect pop song dressed in a black velvet dress. Starting with “ocean” that brings in mind the early clan of xymox days and talks about the world collapsing and just watching and do nothing. An alternative soundtrack for the fight club’s final scene? Could be… The post punk “vicious circle game” is about love affairs that are condemned. The first single “in silence” is a powerful goth song that fancies to stand between the Sisters and She Past Away, on a dark dancefloor. On “Leaving is my way to breathe” the dance mood is getting an ethereal touch, while the lyrics are dragging you away from anything and anyone you love, seeking happiness while punishing yourself. “Die in Summer” is a teenage suicide indie / wave / pop song on the spirit of “I melt with you” or “just like heaven”, while “fall” which contains some of the rare political references the band brings out, takes you back to post punk roots. “Sometimes (on a place away from here)” brings some catchy synthpop elements on the surface just before the closing track “Let me be Angel” comes in and deep dive to a disintegrated optimistic death feeling. Cinemascope is Leo Skiadas, who composes the songs, writes and vocalize the lyrics, and plays the instruments. But, If you feel that “A crack on the wall” has a more impressive guitar sound than Cinemascope’s previous works, thats because this time, the guitars are performed by the great Johnny Papaioannou, one of the greatest alternative musicians in Greece. That’s the first time that someone “intrudes” on the cinemascope moniker and one of the best decisions that the band ever made. Influenced by iconic 80’s bands like The Cure, The Chameleons and Clan of Xymox and more recent sweethearts like Drab Majesty and Actors, Cinemascope are back in town with eight songs, mixed and mastered at Top Floor Studio by Panos Tsekouras, that consist a darkwave / indie masterpiece that is here to play with your heart and soul. Bandcamp https://cinemascope.bandcamp.com https://waverecords.bandcamp.com/album/w136-cinemascope-a-crack-on-the-wall

Wave Records – W105-LP (2022) Band from Brazil born in the end of 2005 / beginning of 2006 in Fortaleza, Brazil. Their music could be categorized as Post Punk, Gothic, Darkwave and Indie-Rock. After a long hiatus since "24 Hours Awake" (released in 2015), Plastique Noir is back with its long-awaited fourth album: "Iskuros" (once again by Wave Records). Transliterated from the Greek, ἰσχυρός ("brave", "strong") is a semi-conceptual proposal that claims for spotlights on this band which has been battling for its place under the sun (?) along fifteen years from the underground of the Brazilian indie scene. Unbreakable before the neo-totalitarianism, cognitive paralysis of the public opinion and the imminent collapse of civilization farce, Plastique Noir reminds its followers that it's still alive and more than ever. Meanwhile, "iskuros" is also a false cognate that suggests the idea of darkness, thus suggesting that, as a Brazilian post-punk trio, now they are back to the aesthetic environment from which it was born, bearing the spirit of those who recognize themselves once again at home. "Iskuros" features ten tracks that display a mature and more comfortable band than in its last record, when it was looking for a new identity among the tough process of establishing its new formation. Now, with updated sound textures, painstaking production signed by Jean Rié (Fake Movie) and a succinct and yet fiercing tracklist, plus the tour experiences between Airton (voices and beats), Danyel (guitar) and Deivy (bass), Plastique Noir is finally able to explore new Brazilian, foreign and digital roads with renewed vigor, thus helping to disseminate and extend the frontiers of genuine Brazilian Gothic music. Bandcamp https://plastiquenoir.bandcamp.com/album/iskuros-w105

Meidosem Records – SEA016LP, Wave Records – W115LP (2021) French Coldwave band from Bourges. Opera Multi Steel was born during the winter of 1983 in Bourges, a city in the center of France. "D’une Pierre deux Tombes" is the twelfth Opera Multi Steel's studio album. It includes 8 tracks in its vinyl version and 12 tracks as cd format. For this last opus, the band turns back as a trio, in the original line-up of its beginnings, namely Patrick L. Robin, Franck Lopez and Catherine Marie. In 2018, Catherine, Patrick and Franck lost their respective mothers. This album was therefore partly conceived as a posthumous tribute to two dear ones, hence its title in French which takes the form of both a pun and a macabre observation. All the tracks, even if they still contain what makes the sound and the particular style of the band are imbued with a sadness and a nostalgia arguably more present. The theme of death and vanity is more powerful than ever (Cimeterre, L’Après-Mort…). Opéra Multi Steel develops in this album a bit darker music than usual. Melodies and vocal harmonies are always favored, supported on several tracks by Future Pop sounds of strings and electronic rhythms which reinforce the tragic mood of the concept (L’Annonce, La Nuit des Doutes, Intercession…). The album, in its cd version, is punctuated after each track by the sound of the old cuckoo clock that remained alone on the walls of the empty house of Patrick and Franck's mother after her disappearance as the witness of a persistent presence. We can also hear the last phone vocal message from his mother to Patrick. This cathartic album, over the songs, takes the form of a sound testament aimed at exorcising fate and facilitating resilience. The cover artwork, made by Brazilian designer Hernan Czauski with photos taken by the band’s members in several ancient French cemeteries, features details of 19th century sculpted tombstones that evoke both the eternal Silence of the Grave, the Fidelity beyond Death and the inconsolable Sorrows. Bandcamp https://operamultisteel.bandcamp.com https://operamultisteel.bandcamp.com/album/w115-opera-multi-steel-d-une-pierre-deux-tombes

Wave Records – W077 (2018) French Coldwave band from Bourges. Opera Multi Steel was born during the winter of 1983 in Bourges, a city in the center of France. Bandcamp https://operamultisteel.bandcamp.com/album/stella-obscura

Wave Records – W095 (2019) The Dancing Plague of 1518 is the electronic influenced darkwave/post-punk project of Conor Knowles, located in Spokane, Washington (USA). Bandcamp https://dancingplaguemusic.bandcamp.com/album/too-still https://waverecords.bandcamp.com/album/w095-dancing-plague-too-still

Shades Of Sound – SOS01 (2019) Greek Electro pop / Synth Wave duo Marva Von Theo have released their Debut Album, Dream within a Dream via the brand new sublabel Shades of Sound / Wave Records and soon it will be available in Limited Edition Vinyl ( Black & Trans Violet). The 12 songs in MVT’s Album, lean towards dark electropop music, incorporating a variety of influences ranging from the music of the 80’s until today, but at the same time introducing a distinct, personal aesthetic and a modern, genre-neutral sound. Darkwave colors, Jazz harmonies, Rock and Dance drum beats resonate together and mature into something darkly romantic. The vocals weave this electronic veil with soul, trip-hop and pop textures, retaining an inner tension that seduces the listener and drifts him along in a sentimental, melancholic trip inside the personal stories that are concealed in the lyrics. The passion of Marva Von Theo for experimentation is evident in their compositions, seeking a way to surpass the identification or imitation of one specific genre and offer the listener the opportunity to feel and interpret their music differently upon every listen. Like a song within a song, like a Dream within a Dream Bandcamp https://marvavontheo.bandcamp.com/album/dream-within-a-dream https://shadesofsound.bandcamp.com/album/sos01-marva-von-theo-dream-within-a-dream