Wax Idols, Them Are Us Too, Azar Swan, DJ Becka Diamond

"Dark, dramatic post-punk from Oakland's awesome Wax Idols. Helmed by Hether Fortune, Wax Idols have improved on their already-great debut album in just about every way. The melodies are stronger, the vocals echoed and haunting, and the playing is at an unflagging level of intensity. While early 80s Siouxsie And The Banshees and 4AD are decent reference points, the song-writing is all Wax Idols and they bring a very modern sensibility, along with sterling production help from Monte Vallier (Weekend, The Soft Moon). It's pop in the largest sense - strongly melodic, confident and impossible to ignore." -- Slumberland Records


Emerging quietly from the California bay area through their limited edition demos and intimate performances over the last two years, Them Are Us Too have gained a cult following within independent music circles as a young, new take on the revered "4AD sound" of dreamy goth-pop anthems. With a nod to 80's shoegaze sensibilities, Them Are Us Too creates songs about tragedy and loves-lost that draws devoted listeners to their nostalgic and innocent sound. Kennedy Ashlyn Wenning's vocals have been repeatedly compared to Kate Bush, Harriet Wheeler, and Elizabeth Fraser, with a pitch-perfect octave range carrying songs gracefully between optimistic joy down to undisturbed melancholia - all within one moment of verse. Guitarist Cash Askew paints a layered and complex backdrop using signature reverberation and washes of stringed ambient tones, akin to Robin Guthrie, Ronny Moorings and Kevin Shields. Perfectly executed songwriting with effortless simplicity and vernal drive, Them Are Us Too's debut album, Remain, rivals the comparative magic behind the early 4AD catalog and zeitgeist of early Creation Records. Massive, seraphic sound and heartbreaking nostalgia crafted into 8 songs of uncompromising and immaculately orchestrated beauty. At only 21 years of age for both members, Them Are Us Too mask their irrepressible youth underneath their limitless imagination and unparalleled talent, dedicating themselves fully to their uncanny musical creation. The debut album "Remain" on Dais Records was recorded and produced by Joshua Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv, Nine Inch Nails, Sons of Magdalene).


Brooklyn's Azar Swan were catapulted into the spotlight toward the end of last year after lighting up blogs across the globe with their debut track 'Amrika'. Founding members Zohra Atash and Joshua Strawn have stepped out of the shadows once more with 'Lusty', a pulsating three minute slog through swells of frighteningly resonant percussion and ominous bass rumbles.

The spectre of their past incarnation as an instrumental ensemble appears at the midway point; distorted whirrs of synthesizer and hollow industrial clanks come to the fore, gripping at Zohra's ghostly pipes and squeezing out the kind of twisted, tribal incantations perfected by These New Puritans on Hidden.