Pictures from Totentanz

Metro Cult

Melting Walkmen

Dystopian Society

Next Totentanz w/ Dystopian Society

19th of April, 21:00-05:00, 50 DKK
Ungdomshuset, Dortheavej 61, Copenhagen
Event on Facebook

DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY is an anarko deathrock band from Florence, Italy, and one of the most popular European dark punk acts at the moment. They will appeal to fans of classic bands such as Christian Death, but also to all you guys who enjoys Belgrado, Arctic Flowers, Christ vs. Warhol and so on. The band recenty released the EP Violations, which is a proper follow-up to their 2012 debut album Cages. This is their first concert in Denmark.
Dystopian Society on Bandcamp

MELTING WALKMEN is one of the most experienced underground post-punk bands in Denmark, having been part of the Red Tape label at the early beginning. They have a great back catalogue ranging from the straight forward goth punk of the their debut split 12" with Chainsaw Eaters, to the more classic post-punk songs of the Broken Glass single. There's a new album on the way, which, we are told, is a concept album with a pretty dark sense of humour.
Melting Walkmen on Bandcamp

METRO CULT is one of the newer additions to the Danish underground milieu, having only played for two years, after they made their debut at the second Totentanz night in April 2012. Since then the band has played a bunch of concerts and released their first 7" single. They are often described with terms such as dark punk, deathrock, post-punk or the quite accurate wave punk, due to their use of new wave syntheziser. Will appeal to fans of TSOL, The Sound and Killing Joke.
Metro Cult on Bandcamp

The venue will be the small stage - Dödsmaskinen - at Ungdomshuset/The Youth House in the north-west district of Copenhagen. Entrance fee is 50 DKK, and we open the doors at 21:00 and close around 05:00.

Tropic of Cancer: Restless Idylls

Tropic of Cancer - named after the controversial novel by Henry Miller - was originally founded as a duo back in 2007, but has since 2012 been the solo project of Camella Lobo. Last year saw the long awaited release of her debut album entitled Restless Idylls, and it is as somber and melancholic as one might have expected, and continues in the direction of the briliant cover of the Death in June classic Fall Apart.

The album consists of atmospheric synths, plangent guitars and almost hypnotizing drum machines, and on top of it lies the impressive vocals of Lobo, reminiscent of some of the biggest female singers in dark music. Imagine a mixture of a mourning Nico and the etheral work of Lisa Gerrard as we know her on a track like Sacrifice, and it'll paint a picture of how talented Lobo in fact is. This is - as you probably have guessed by the description - an album drenched in depression and romanticism, and will without a doubt be way over the top for a good deal of people, but if you enjoy bands like Joy Division, Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil, then this should appeal to you.

Cortex

There's been quite a few bands with the name Cortex. One of the most obvious to mention is the Swedish post-punk act fronted by Freddie Wadling, but the best of them all must be the obscure Belgian project made by Alain Neffe of Bene Gesserit-"fame". This is highly experimental electronic music made with the assistance of synthezisers, rhythm boxes and - as far as I understand - tapes. Most of the tracks has got a women resiting French poetry written by Neffe, and, together with the instrumental part and various sounds, it creates a romantic and melancholic mood one could compare to a Truffaut film from the sixties. There's definately a nouvelle vague feel to this and I feel certain that a lot of the inspiration has been taken from French cinema. I am not sure how to categorize this project; Is it minimal wave, is it ambient or is it musique concrete? It's probably all and nothing, but all I know for certain is that it serves well as the soundtrack for the early cool days of spring.

Next Totentanz w/ M!R!M

This Saturday M!R!M will be performing in Copenhagen for the first time. If you're curious about what to expect from them, then check out my previous post which is some kind of review of their debut album Heaven. Really great stuff, and from what I've heard they've killed at the previous concerts on their European tour, so you don't want to miss this concert.

Support acts are Giedo Primo from Odense and Avantgardenparty from Copenhagen. Giedo Primo plays a mixture between electronica and classic industrial with plenty of metal sounds. He describes it as skrotstep, as skrot can be translated to metal junk. He's rather unknown to most Copenhagen folks but always gets praised by the attendees at his concerts.

Avantgardenparty is a brand new band, so it's hard to know what to expect from these two locals. The drummer Kim is also a member of bands such as Chainsaw Eaters and MOTH, while Loui is quite new in the music bizz. They describe their sound as post-rock, but from the rehearsel room demos I've heard, they've got some shoegaze vibes going on as well.

DJ Skumlibar will be playing classic industrial, post-punk and cold wave before and in between the bands, while I - DJ Géza - and the Swedish DJ Slackerbitch will be spinning records at the afterparty. Expect cold wave, deathrock, post-punk and minimal.

It all takes place at Underwerket in the Valby-district of Copenhagen, doors open at 20:00 and the entrance fee is going to be 50 DKK. The bar is among the cheapest in the city, so there's no reason to cheat oneself for a somber celebration.

M!R!M - Heaven

Initially started as a duo, M!R!M is now the solo project of Iacopo Bertelli, an Italian living in London. Last year saw the release of his debut album Heaven, which comes of like a superb fusion of effect-driven guitars and cold, cold, cold synthezisers. This album really strikes a note with me and seems to become better on a day to day basis.

Heaven has got an overall gloomy and eerie atmosphere to it. The synthezisers creates a cold and alarming feel, and it could very well have been included on the soundtracks to sci-fi classics such as Alien and Blade Runner. Especially the latter seems to make much sense, as there's some serious melancholic moods taking place on this album. Imagine a mixture of the aforementioned soundtracks and a project like Tropic of Cancer, and you get the idea. Somewhere in between these synths lies the effect-driven guitar sounds, reminiscent of early The Jesus and Mary Chain. In fact these guitars are so bathed in effects that it's sometimes hard to distinquish them from the synths. On a track like Sodoma, it almost sounds like it's a chainsaw making the noise, but since Bertelli isn't Frank Tovey I will have to assume he's not that crazy.

This is a quality album and should appeal to everyone who loves stuff like Tropic of Cancer, The Soft Moon, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain and those haunting sci-fi soundtracks of the eighties.