HØRD - Parallels

HøRD is the solo project of Bordeaux-based synthwave producer Sebastien Carl. Started in 2014, Sebastien has proven himself to be able to gather a cult fan-base around his creation in a short time, collaborating with artists as Hante, Winter Severity Index and Black Bug and performing live in most European countries.

After a first album on Antoni Maiovvi and Vercetti Technicolor’s Giallo Disco and an EP on SNTS’ own label Sacred Court, his second full-length record came out on September 14 on Avant! Records. Parallels features eight new compositions that further focus HøRD’s distinguishing features: abstract almost liquid synth passages, deep analogue beats, veiled vocals. Uptempo or slow, instrumental or sung, danceable or rarefied it doesn’t really matter as the album as a whole ends up resulting in a strong cinematic appeal.

A soundtrack for a journey away from the present time and into an intimate, maybe even nostalgic dimension.

LP / Digital Album

Posted on October 28th, 2018 under Releases, ,

SDH - Semiotics Department Of Heteronyms

SDH (Semiotics Department of Heteronyms) is the new project of two key figures of the synth-wave/industrial scene of Barcelona. Andrea P. Latorre and Sergi Algiz, founders of the Cønjuntø Vacíø label and also in the post-punk band Wind Atlas, unveil a new act more oriented towards pop music.

SDH is change, alteration, distortion, metamorphosis.
Their synth-pop songs, sprinkled with EBM and techno, are mysterious, obtuse and suggestive.
The project seems to revolve around the idea of fiction.
What is the language of feigned personalities? What is fiction? An individual is one and another, is liquid. It is physical.
Incarnating someone is doing it in a corporeal way: making it flesh. Conceive: everything is real: reality does not exist. How is a fiction embodied?
With only two songs published, they have already supported artists such as Marie Davidson and Merchandise and performed at the Swedish festival Kalabalik På Tyrolen, one of the reference festivals of the darkwave scene.

LP / Digital Album

Posted on July 26th, 2018 under Releases, ,

Holiday Inn - Torbido

Fictional larger than life characters come in all forms and ways but no one expected East Rome acid minimal synth-punk duo Holiday Inn to spread their cult in such a distinctive manner, overthrowing all sets of rules in the peninsula’s stuffy DIY circuit and uniting techno-industrial enthusiasts, hardcore noisers and theatrical dark wavers. At some point though someone just had to do it!

Co-released by Avant! and Maple Death, Torbido is Holiday Inn’s debut full-length and by all accounts their strongest manifesto yet. A collaboration between Gabor (Aktion, Metro Crowd) on voice and Frenchman Bob Junior (Trans Upper Egypt, Bobsleigh Baby, Hiss) on synth and drum machine, they leave their best on stage, live shows have cemented their ill reputation: Gabor is a lanky dude and struts onstage with a boxer’s pre match ritual dance, ready to vomit words in your face while Bob’s composure never fails to spread misery and mystery through his vintage noise assault setup.

Torbido kicks off with She, a hallucinogenic dub infused punk anthem, Dirty Town is an industrial boogie for wide eyed dreamers, Feel Free! is an electro jungle b-boys rhythmic speed induced breakbeat tune for the future. The feverish magic happens on No Speaking, where Holiday Inn turns an acid techno tune into a circuit breaking warped frenzy.
Holiday Inn are shaped and scarred by the unauthorized development of buildings once considered a sign of gleaming growth in the Roman suburbs. It’s nostalgic and nasty, and will not have a bright future and let’s not forget that Torbido means murky and sinister, so come on and take a plunge into Tevere’s mudbanks.

LP / Digital Album

Posted on May 27th, 2018 under Releases, ,

QUAL - The Ultimate Climax

Qual is finally back with his much-anticipated second full-length album. On The Ultimate Climax William Maybelline takes the hints of his previous Cupio Dissolvi EP to a fully extended sulphurous formula. Eight tracks where traditional goth standards get updated to new, bizarre heights.

The opener Black Crown is a brooding industrial, almost power electronics assault. Above Thee Below Thee is a powered-up disco nightmare with BM-like volcals, drenched in factory steam and urban filth. Take Me Higher has some sort of electro-funk bassline to it. The closing track is a 155 bpm epitaph reminiscent of Czech Doomcore pioneers Fifth Era.

The past is gone, the future is corrupted. The is no time but the present to brutally unload this Existential Nihilism thus let The Ultimate Climax unfold.

LP / Digital Abum

Posted on March 29th, 2018 under Releases, ,

10 Years Anniversary Playlist

Free download playlist for Avant! Records 10 years anniversary.

Digital Album

Posted on December 24th, 2017 under Releases,