Kutmah - Halloween Mix 2038

Aside from being one of the best beatmakers of his generation and founding the impeccable IZWID Records, Kutmah is also a brilliant selector, and has just posted on his bandcamp new mix for Halloween. Split into 3 parts, it features tracks from Ursula Bogner, Beau Wanzer, Lorn, Dean Blunt, Zeroh, Tim Hecker and Sonic Youth among many many others. Expect the unexpected.

Buy the mix here, and stream it after the jump.

Tenderness Of Wolves - Death | Devil

British dark/occult electronic duo Tenderness of Wolves have just released a Halloween special double A-side single, that heralds the arrival of their debut LP "Atra Mors" next year. Both tracks were originally part of the "MMXX" demo, but on "Death | Devil" have been given a revamp, fleshing out their gloomy take on witch music. "Death" is a ghostly dirge, a slow-moving dark ambient funeral procession escorted by sombre keys and melancholic gospel vocals, leading the listener in a trance-like state to the "Devil". Track two amps up the tempo with its pulsating throbs and brooding synths, supported by an angelic choir in the background. Fans of early releases from V▲LH▲LL and ∆AIMON (as well as The Banks Brothers' "He’ll Roll Your Burdens Away") pay attention.

You can buy the single here, and stream it after the jump.

MONOMORTE - The Wiccan

MONOMORTE is a Liverpool-based dark electronic musician Danny Ryder, who's been steadily releasing quality EPs and singles since 2013 via his bandcamp page. Even though he's been active on the witch-house scene for almost a decade now, his new project "The Wiccan" is de facto his longplay debut. Inspired by Gerald Gardner, who popularised the wiccan religion, the album deconstructs vocal samples and field recordings from his coven, and mixes them with MONOMORTE's signature style that glides smoothly between pre-trap era witch-house, tribal bass music championed by Shackleton and future garage of Clubroot. On "The Wiccan" he manages to craft a cohesive occult story, told with an eclectic sound that is both sublime and menacing, eerily familiar and comfortably distant, merging modern horror sound design with ghosts of dubstep past. The album is a natural continuation of MONOMORTE's artistic journey but also a brilliant starting point for anyone who's not familiar with his previous work.

You can support MONOMORTE by purchasing "The Wiccan" here, and stream it after the jump.

Ritualz x Madonna

Ritualz has just dropped a new track on his bandcamp, a cover of the late 90s smash hit from Madonna "Ray of Light". While the original single was played literally in every music station/club/bar/back of the cab you can possibly imagine due to it's dancefloor-leaning nature, Ritualz' haunting rendition casts aside most of the original sound in favour of more blissed-out ambience, backed with distant guitar strums and otherworldly vocals.

You can buy the single here, and stream it below.

Textbeak - Sick For Songs A Season Eats Remixes

Textbeak, probably one of the busiest electronic music DJs out there, has just premiered a new album full of remixes of tracks lifted from his debut longplay from 2018 "Sick For Songs A Season Eats". I haven't had a chance to give it a proper listen yet, but the list of guests looks really impressive: Antoni Maiovvi, Adrian Smith (Click Click), Jeremiah Meece (VALIS, The-Drum), Satanic Hispanic, Mark Stewart (The Pop Group) and Mater Suspiria Vision among many others. Expect industrial club, mutant techno, gothic coldwave, witch-punk and everything in between.

You can stream the album after the jump.

Mater Suspiria Vision's Kosmische Musik + remixes

"Kosmische Musik" is a new soundtrack from Mater Suspiria Vision, scoring Cosmotropia de Xam's latest movie feature "The House That Eats The Rabbit". Released last month, it takes the listener on a trippy journey through vast and bleak sonic wastelands of ghostly synths, selectively scattered with guest vocals and shrouded with droning serenity. The album sits somewhere between Emeralds' analog kosmik sound and more desolate works of Drug Machine on "Amnesia" (the latter being one of many side-projects of Cosmotropia de Xam). With "Kosmische Musik" MSV crafted a captivating and transcendental listening experience, working equally well both on and off screen, that can be recommended to any lovers of dystopian electronic music.

You can order the album on a limited to 33 copies CD here, or as a deluxe edition package with an art book here.

Alongside the main album, Mater Suspiria Vision has also just dropped a compilation "Acid in the Rabbit Hole", with a great array of edits and remixes of the opening track "Säure im Kaninchenbau". Boasting an amazing and diverse line-up, including Monomorte, Morgve, Voodoo Crystals and Churchterror among many others, the album is a brilliant addition to "Kosmische Musik", interpreting it through rave, techno, post-industrial and old school witchhouse lenses. Make sure you grab the CD here, because it'll be available in physical form only for the next 2 days.

Sangam - Dystopian Memory

Sangam, a household name in the dreampunk / ambient internet circles, in collaboration with the Mancunian label Pure Life has just announced a new LP entitled "Dystopian Memory", as part of their vinyl series EVA. First glimpse of the album, posted on Sangam's twitter, gives me some serious Burial x Angelo Badalamenti vibes. Pre-order date has been set for October 31st, and will be available from label's bandcamp page.

Edit. The video single "Remain Graceful" is out. Stream it after the jump.

Edith Underground - Heaven's Night

Edith Underground is an electronic producer and visual artist based in Chicago, IL. After two iconic video mixtapes last year (The Flesh of Fallen Angels and Neighborhood Watch), this is Edith's first proper longplay since leaving behind her Internet GF alias in 2019. While the preceding (and gloriously outrageous) single "Host" could be seen as a prelude to what's we're being offered on "Heaven's Night", I don't think anyone was ready for this 360° underground club experience. For a long while now, Edith's music has been drifting away from her early, obscure witchy bedroom roots I first fell in love with on the "Teen Witch" tape back in 2017, towards dark and gloomy dancefloor bangers, channelling club & rave music from the 90s. From trance, through jungle and breakbeat, to techno and classic house (with a bold JB sample there, love it, Nike7up fans pay attention), "Heaven's Night" is like doing drugs, going to a nightclub you've never been to before and having the time of your life...

To read my full review of this album head over to the witch-house forum.
You can buy "Heaven's Night" here and stream it in full after the jump.

The Dubwitch Horror - Dark Sun Rituals

Halloween came early this year, with new EP from The Dubwitch Horror aka Bunny Intonamorous aka dozens of other aliases. I've been waiting for the follow up to their self-titled project since the first volume dropped in 2014. While the debut EP was filled with zoned out dub a'la early Forest Swords (with a heavy dose of hauntology thrown in the mix), "Dark Sun Rituals of the Cult of the Void" carves a niche of its own, by branching out to other sub-genres of electronic (and metal) music for influences and mixing them with the signature ghost-dub.

You can buy this EP here and stream it after the jump.

Churchterror - Dirt

Churchterror is a young and talented electronic producer from Ukraine, who showed up on my radar thanks to him being active on the witch-house forum. Ever since I started following him last year, he's been flooding my soundcloud timeline with quality music, cooking witch&rave mutations mixed with gritty lo-fi beats, managing to sound both raw and fresh, gloomy but also insanely catchy.

"Dirt" is his latest EP, sitting somewhere between SALEM's severely dragged hip-hop and grungy shoegazing of ÐOSE. Definitely one to watch, rough diamond in the making.

You can download "Dirt" for free here.

AFTA-1 - Silica_01

After three years of silence, it took Covid last year to make AFTA-1 finally come back with new material. Since then, he's been quite steadily posting new EPs and demos on his bandcamp. His latest project is a 5-min long chill capsule entitled "Silica_01", featuring his long-time collaborator (and once flatmate) Chaz Knapp on guitar. You can stream and buy it here.

SKELETONKIDS - Moonscar Island

SKELETONKIDS is a witch-house/noise alias of James Catlett. He's been making music under this name since 2011, releasing numerous albums via Tundra Dubs, Aural Sects and his own imprint III. "Moonscar Island" is his latest 3-track EP, blending his signature syruppy buzz synths, screw rap and rolls of hi-hats - perfectly combined in the titular track (which is quite probably his best track in years). "Kitty" sounds like Darkstar's "Aidy's Girl Is A Computer" evil cousin on steroids, with its minimal beat and robotic voice the track will drill into your consciousness pretty quick. You can download the whole EP for free here.

(photo: screenshot from SKELETONKIDS video "beach fights")

Holy Other - Groundless feat. NYX // video

New single from Holy Other's upcoming album "Lieve" just dropped. Slowly transforming track full on angelic ambience and sparse beats also features heavenly, delicate vocals from Sian O’Gorman of "electronic drone choir" NYX. Lieve is scheduled for release 19 November, you can pre-order it here.

CRAVE - NV777

CRAVE is a post-witchhouse, post-noise, post-industrial alias of French musician Jonathan Zion Katsav, known for his grunge project ÐOSE (released during the short period of time in 2010 when Disaro label's myspace popularity was at at its all-time high) and minimal techno output Lieu Noir. Since 2011, CRAVE has released a number of albums and EPs, all catalogued on his Discogs page. This tape (alongside other gem from Lieu Noir - more about that another time) was released in 2016 during his French tour in an undisclosed amount of copies. The music on the cassette is a 26 minutes mix of signature CRAVE weirdo rap, horror electronica and crusty punk noise set against the imaginary backdrop of Las Vegas landscapes: obscure casinos, dry deserts, endless skies and forgotten mafia graveyards.

DL: NV777

3, 2, 1... we're live

Welcome to my new blog. Mutant Zones is a place where I'll be posting about my latest music discoveries as well as recommending recordings from my fav bands and artists. Without further ado, lets get into this.