As much as we were bummed out by the totally understandable and somewhat expected cancellation of Terminus Festival, we were quite pleased by the announcement of Terminus: Isolation taking it’s place. In short, it’s a virtual version of the fest with numerous acts performing streaming live sets, which is exactly the sort of balm that takes the edge off the loss of our fave yearly event. May 2nd kicks it off with performances from Null Device, Glass Apple Bonzai, Stoneburner, Helix and daddybear, with more installments to follow. Hit up FB for more info, and maybe we’ll see you there (virtually).

She Past Away, seated

She Past Away, “Ritüel (The Soft Moon Remix)”
We’d like to think of ourselves as pretty on the ball when it comes to what acts are the hottest in our little corner of the music world, but we’re still just shocked as all hell at how huge Turkey’s She Past Away are. Their wildly successful 2019 tour aside, you get a pretty decent picture of the band’s status by the names they’re associating with on their new remix LP; X is made up of 22 remixes spanning SPA’s career by names like Boy Harsher, Lebanon Hanover, Clan of Xymox, Front 242(??!!) and more. For a taster, check out this hot and moody version of popular club track Ritüel by the Soft Moon.

Rosegarden Funeral Party, “Tortured Decline”
We were late to the party on Rosegarden Funeral Party’s excellent 2019 LP MARTYR, but we’ve been keeping it in rotation since getting around to it. Something about the band’s use of goth and post-punk signifiers and the powerful vocals of Leah Lane just keeps us coming back. Happy to have a new one from them to spice up the playlist; “Tortured Decline” shows the band trending closer to trad-goth sounds, a mode to which they are definitely suited.

Hante., “In Raptures”
If you haven’t been paying attention, you might not know that Hélène de Thoury is one of the most prominent voices in modern european darkwave. Both as half of Minuit Machine and with her own project Hante., de Thoury has been bringing a modern vitality to the venerable style, making music fit for dancefloors and headphone moping alike. Remix LP Fierce – Remixes and More is due this week and offers up some takes from Kontravoid, Hørd and Fee Lion amongst others. Also this new original “In Raptures”, which is pretty god damn terrific on an early 2000s Kirlian Camera tip.

Bedless Bones, “The Pyre”
Delicate, thoughtful darkwave from Estonian act Bedless Bones who impressed us so much last year with the Sublime Malaise LP. This number is a bit floatier and more chill than anything on that album, and that works given its both something we haven’t heard Kadri Sammel dig into yet, and also something soothing at a pretty fraught time in all our lives. Thanks Kadri.

Fractions, “Intensity”
Nice new stuff from hybrid EBM act Fractions, highlighting their capacity for mood and texture, which is often overlooked in favour of their excellent grasp of big dancefloor rhythms. This ones comes from the Valley of Tears vol. 1 compilation from Spain’s SOIL records, which also features some hotness from Imperial Black Unit and Exhausted Modern amongst others. Hot stuff.