Avant! Records

The Australian master of the dark synth arts is back and - boy - he is out for blood. We've been missing Marc Dwyer solo project Buzz Kull since his latest single Last In The Club from late 2019 and since back then we knew he was up to something.

At first glimpse, the minimal wave days of We Were Lovers seem far away now that Marc has gone full Club Body Music with his upcoming new album, but there is a thread that binds Buzz Kull hits from the past such as Into The Void, Avoiding The Light and New Kind Of Cross with these ten new cuts: a thread of darkness proper to the most handsome man in the game and that’s here to stay.

Echoes of 90’s era Front 242 and Front Line Assembly will resonate from tracks like Fascination and Dead Inside; elements of early body music flirting with the dark side of British synthpop will rave from the grooves of Dancing with Machines and Man on the Beat, while late 80’s Belgian new beat cellar-like vibes rise from Do You See and Burn it to the Ground.

But Buzz Kull's third full-length is not just about music subgenres we all know and love, it’s about a feeling that comes alive only with the dark and drives you through the small hours just to leave you drained and filled at once.

The creature of the night is on the loose, the sticky dancefloor its natural habitat, its lust for the upside-down world of the club can't be cured.

Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Rise From Your Grave
2. Do You See
3. Last In The Club
4. Man On The Beat

Side B
5. Beyond The Ceiling
6. Fascination
7. Dead Inside
8. Dancing With Machines
9. Burn It To The Ground
10. Heaven Will Find Me

NEW EDITION ON CURACAO BLUE VINYL.

Nuovo Testamento is the Los Angeles & Bologna-based trio featuring members of Horror Vacui, Sheer Mag, Tørsö, Terremoto and Crimson Scarlet. With the addition of Chelsey Crowley on vocals, synthesists Andrea Mantione & Giacomo Zatti found that their initial coldwave tracks, originally written for the male voice, took on an undeniable synthpop feel.

While still recording these songs for the debut Exposure EP in 2019, the band leaned into this evolution and their shared love of Italo disco, beginning to write what would become the New Earth LP.

Recorded in isolation during a global pandemic, New Earth is a dark Italo record dappled with light. For eight new tracks, dancing synths perfectly balance the rich dream of a charmed life with melancholy.

Guitars have taken a step back, allowing disco beats to flood the floor and joyful fun to prevail. The record anticipates a return to dance spaces, imagines shared experiences and celebrates personal power.

Produced by sound engineer Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher and many more), with vocal recording by Riki and featuring guest vocals from B. Sven Gustavson (Spectres, Nouveaux), New Earth reflects international influences from the goth club scene to Hi-NRG classics, reminiscent of Italian Baby Records, Mute Records and the spaces in between. 

RIYL: Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Human League, Gazebo, Eighth Wonder

Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Michelle Michelle
2. The Searcher
3. Electricity
4. Golden Boy

Side B
5. Vanity
6. Prayers
7. New Earth
8. Intuition

A Requiem For Father Murphy is the latest and final offering from the iconic Italian occult duo, Father Murphy. Composed in the classical Requiem format, Rising follows the "Trilogy of the Cross", a series of records that recounts the journey of the fictional character Father Murphy, and subsequently the band itself.

The album was mixed and mastered by long-time collaborator Gregory Saunier (Deerhoof), who is instrumental in helping craft Father Murphy's sonic descent over the years.

With Rising, the legend of Father Murphy reaches its culmination. Having gone from religious fanatic, to heretic priest, and ultimately concealing to his final fate on the cross, Rising is the moment Father Murphy finally meets his death. Taking the form of a requiem, Rising will be the final album from Father Murphy.

It brings an end to a journey into faith; one longing for salvation and embracing failure. Across the Italian occult duo's 2015 Trilogy of the Cross'(the Calvary cassingle, Croce LP, and Lamentations EP) Father Murphy's sound reached down into grave new depths, more inspired than ever by music from their Catholic heritage. They've long been integrating a wider variety of field recordings, empty space, drones, and sonic processes alongside their core elements of pounding percussion, ecclesiastical organs, gnarled guitars, and ritualistic chanting.

Again working with longtime mixer/masterer Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Rising takes the group's music into new territory. The format of a requiem mass for the dead'in this case for the late Father Murphy himself'brings with it all manner of traditional structural codes, musical reprises, and lyrical rhyming schemes.

Certain moments see the music adhere far more closely to requia traditions, including the grander sounds of timpani or trombone, and following the metres and rhyme schemes borrowed from traditional texts.

The words themselves have all been rewritten for Father Murphy's requiem however, disengaging from their standardized religious message. The lyrics across Rising are far longer and more complex than the shorter chants and verse that made up previous albums, while the variety and sheer detail of sounds used by the duo has never before been wider or more daring.

With Rising: A Requiem for Father Murphy, the project reaches its zenith.

Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Introit
2. Kyrie Eleison
3. Gradual

Side B:
4. Tract
5. Sequence

Side C:
6. Offertory
7. Sanctus
8. Agnus Dei
9. Communion
10. Pie Jesu

Side D:
11. In Paradisum
12 . Libera Me

Hand Of Dust is a trio from Copenhagen. They somehow belong the Posh Isolation brood but they play a personal variation of dark rock music with roots in folk and with a lot of focus on songwriting and lyrics.

Originally formed in order to play the acoustic songs of singer Bo Høyer Hansen as an electric setting, it quickly grew into a band. In September 2012 the band released a demo tape and in January 2014 they put out a 7" EP on NY label Blind Prophet called "Without Grace Or Glory".

Recently Hand Of Dust reentered the studio and recorded two songs. Speaking of this upcoming 7' single, Danish webzine VORTEXAS says "I remember seeing them playing one of their first concerts: I nudged the guy next to me and exlaimed 'They got like a neo-folk thing going, but electric, don't they?' to which he answered: 'Nah, they're more like Dead Moon.' In a way I hear both". With some good ol' Gun Club vibe, we might add.

For now you may enjoy these two new tunes: not many bands these days can create such a personal sound when it comes to dark folk/rock music. One time pressing of 500. Comes with insert.

Tracklisting:
Side A:
Walk In White

Side B:
A Sight For The Living

You might know Sweden's electronic act Lust For Youth thanks to their Solar Flare debut album we released just one year ago.

Today, after the defection of the early female member Amanda, Hannes Norrvide is back solo and born again. To celebrate the new season, the filthy patina that used to cloak the band's previous recordings has gone to leave room to clearer sounds which allow the different sides of the project to come to life.

That's how, on Growing Seeds, you'll find synth-pop hymns (Behind Curtains) along with noisy industrial tracks (We Planted a Seed) and powerful EBM beats (Cover Their Faces).

Ten songs to give new life to one of Europe's most interesting synth/wave bands. Comes on 33rpm black vinyl with insert.

Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Behind Curtains
2. It's You
3. We Planted A Seed
4. Champagne
5. La Rouge

Side B:
1. Cover Their Faces
2. Always Changing
3. Modern Life
4. We Got Lust
5. Neon Lights Appear

Deep, somber vocals filled with sorrow and anger cap it all. 45 rpm 12" vinyl + insert. A press of 500.

Contrepoison is the brand new solo project by Pierre-Marc Tremblay, young Canadian musician who’s been also involved in other extreme bands in the last years.

First step has been the self-released demo tape …Until Next Morning followed by the double-cassette compilation Around the Dragon's Broken Neck Hangs the Medal of St. Lazarus on Hospital Productions, both sold out damn soon.

So now it is time for a proper vinyl release and here we go: the 45 rpm 12” press of …Until Next Morning.

As you may already know Contrepoison is the French meaning of the word "antidote" and Contrepoison can be seen as an antidote for love.

This 4-track EP shows the darkest and most anguished side of the human feeling, where drum machines sound like heartbeats and synthesizers are as liquid as tears.

Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Until Next Morning
2. The Snake has Bitten Its Tail

Side B:
3. Heartbeat
4. To Never, Forever