Fugitive Artifact - Deferentiator

Towards the beginning of 2023, we at DKA heard rumblings of a new cold-wave inspired acid performer/producer fogging up Atlanta’s stages. We were excited to learn that it was our friend Peter Roglin, aka Charolastra. Now working under the Fugitive Artifact moniker, DKA is thrilled to present his debut album, “Deferentiator.” Painted with bleak, textured, dystopian backdrops and dark cryptic lyrics, fugitive artifact is a unique exploration of dance music drawing on a breadth of influences from Chicago House, techno, electro, dark pop, and cold-wave.

Designed to be a vehicle to explore his darker, colder side, he wanted to do away with the laptop as much as possible, relying solely on drum machines and synthesizers. For Roglin, this project is about relinquishing control and embracing the ephemeral impermanence of musical ideas.

The theme of relinquishing control is at the centerpiece of Deferentiator in both approach and subject matter. Fitting right at home with local DKA acts TWINS and CRT, the now NYC-based Fugitive Artifact has imagined a sound reminiscent of Suicide and Drexciya combined with a strong appreciation of the cinematic film scores of David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Cliff Martinez.

Cassette / Digital Album

Posted on October 18th, 2023 under Releases, ,

Comfort Cure - Design International

Toward the end of 2022, always with a finger on the drum-machine pulse of the EBM underground, the DKA collective heard rumors of a new artist crushing dance floors. A mysterious gentleman from Detroit, Michigan was blowing minds and turning heads with a series of singles filled to the brim with heavy sludge and mutoid funk. DKA was soon tasked with finding the man behind Comfort Cure and has now arranged to release Design International on cassette in 2023. Design International builds on the strengths of his previous releases but finds Tyler Baker/Comfort Cure sharpening his hooks and polishing his production for crystal clear destruction of the dance floor.

The A-side features four new tracks of futuristic body music. While four remixes make up the B-side, finding DKA’s own Semantix on remix duty alongside Ye Gods/Antoni Maiovvi and Broodfaye. Make sure you add this one to your collection because we have a feeling it’s going to sell fast!

Cassette / Digital Album

Posted on July 21st, 2023 under Releases, ,

Semantix - Violent Protocol

DKA is starting 2023 off with an EBM bang with Violent Protocol by Semantix. The solo-project of Keaton Khonsari (Razorbumps, Narrow Head), Semantix is the result of years in the Texas underground that Khonsari spent learning synthesis and production.

Violent Protocol contains 5 originals and three remixes from DKA alumni Balvanera and Autumns along with Orlando’s Mother Juno. Violent Protocol’s catchy, rhythmic basslines, tense atmosphere, and old-school EBM samples confronting despair, violence, and power structures will surely appeal to long time followers of DKA and new fans alike. We here at DKA loved Semantix’s first release Mania in the Psychosphere and feel that this sophomore release will place Semantix amongst EBM’s elite dance floor destructors in 2023.

Cassette / Digital Album

Posted on January 28th, 2023 under Releases, ,

TWINS & ROM - R U Dreamy 2

DKA is elated to welcome TWINS & Rom, two of the Atlantic Seaboard’s most mysterious, prolific and quietly lauded legends of uniquely challenging music. CH Rom is the impish conductor responsible for a content universe under his primary handle as well as among myriad collaborations such as Pump Media Unlimited, Spam, Wharp & Rom, Crustacean Committee, and of course his decades-long co-venture with TWINS, covering everything from 22nd century dance music to noir detective funk. The magnetic and majestic TWINS needs no introduction here at DKA, a member of the family and 15 illustrious years in as the man, body, and spirit behind TWINS, and a key member of other celebrated collaborative projects including the industrial bang and bash of Pyramid Club, with Chris Daresta, and the mutant new-new beat of Free Range with Ernestas Sadau.

Read more…

Posted on November 19th, 2022 under Releases, , ,

The Book of Flowers - Pastels

The Book of Flowers is the new project of singer/songwriter and DKA co-founder J.A. Ford. Long-time DKA fans will be familiar with Ford’s work with the EBM/synthpop project Tifaret which featured on the first and second volumes of the DKA label compilations “Strategies Against the Body”. Ford struggled writing songs for a proposed full-length Tifaret record, and felt unable to fully express himself through traditional sequencer-based electronic music. Out of frustration, Ford taught himself acoustic guitar fingerpicking as a new songwriting tool during the initial COVID lockdown and focused on the more traditional songwriting forms present in American folk and country music. The resulting album, “Pastels”, was recorded in Fall 2021 in Ford’s home studio, and furthered the folk connection with inspiration from British folklore and horror films such as The Wicker Man and Midsommar.

Ford envisioned “Pastels” as feeling pastoral yet menacing, exploring themes of the supernatural and the strange as well as the natural and sensual. Pastels features Ford stretching out beyond the confines of Tifaret to incorporate elements of American and British folk, psychedelia, dreampop, post-punk, and krautrock.

The Book of Flowers’ debut album “Pastels” draws from Ford’s love of acid folk, mellotrons, and modular synthesizers to create a shifting tapestry of sounds evocative of a diverse set of artists including Current 93, Nick Cave, Amon Düül, Espers, Magnetic Fields, Silver Apples, Brian Eno, and Young Marble Giants.

Cassette / Digital Album

Posted on September 30th, 2022 under Releases, ,