Category: Introducing (Page 1 of 25)

Introducing RAS BOLDING

29 April 2026 /

From Odense in Denmark, Ras Bolding is an artist whose music encompasses an eclectic range of stylistic expressions.

Yes, there’s the expected synth, goth and post-punk influences with elements of 8-bit computer gaming but in 2025, he interpreted the Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen as an ‘HCA Suite’ to highlight the fragility of humanity expressed in these beloved and often grim stories from the 19th century children’s author who grew up in Odense.

With Ras Bolding’s visual live performances featuring lasers and lights show augmented by musicians Alex Anarki (synthesizer) and Kaos Korrosion (synthesizer + extra vocals), there is an array of analogue and digital hardware including a Commodore 64 keyboard acting as a keytar. Meanwhile the trio has been known to treat audiences to synthwave covers of ‘Tubular Bells’ and ‘Rendez-Vous IV’.

With his 2024 album ‘Digital Deviant’, there was a commentary about digital culture for better and worse, exemplified by the octave shift-laden chiptune of ‘8-Bit Kid’. But a new standout number is the spacey ‘Postludium’ which heavily falls under the angsty alien attack of Swedish Trekkers S.P.O.C.K; the slightly more springy ‘Ghost In The Machine’ appears to come from the same planet while the more electro ‘Twice A Screen Removed’ is from the next planet in the system and with rings around it.

With his outlandish stage persona, it would be interesting to see a synth-off between Ras Bolding and LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER, the UK’s entry for Eurovision 2026. But if that doesn’t happen, there’s always the London show opening for KNIGHT$ which will also be serving as mainman James Knights’ birthday party 🥳

The album ‘Digital Deviant’ is available on the usual digital platforms

Ras Bolding opens for KNIGHT$ at London Aces & Eights on Friday 29th May 2026 – tickets available from https://www.seetickets.com/event/kn-ghts/aces-and-eights-saloon-bar/3595000

https://www.rasbolding.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RasBoldingMusic/

https://www.instagram.com/ras.bolding

https://www.youtube.com/rasbolding

https://soundcloud.com/ras-bolding

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6bN5ZBPK9Ep8TDziENuIf3

Text by Chi Ming Lai
29th April 2026

Introducing SDH

11 February 2026 /

Photo by Fissura

It might be strange to be introducing SEMIOTICS DEPARTMENT OF HETERONYMS who already have 2 albums to their name and toured extensively.

However, the intriguing Barcelona-based duo of Andrea P Latorre and Sergi Algiz are on the cusp of a wider international breakthrough having signed to Canadian independent Artoffact Records (home of FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, ACTORS, LEATHERS, KANGA and ULTRA SUNN) a few years ago.

From the wider family of dark but danceable duos that include LINEA ASPERA, BOY HARSHER, ESSAIE PAS, PARADOX OBCUR, LOCAL SUICIDE and NNHMN, the shadowy interim single ‘Threshold’ in 2025 pointed to more ambitious structures and inventive interplay that built towards an unexpected climax. Occasionally though, SDH can do pop as ‘All Of That’, the Italo-influenced B-side to their 2022 single ‘Maybe A Body’ proved.

While their 2018 self-titled album debut was reissued by Artoffact in 2024, ahead their first long playing release of new material on the label, SDH have unleashed the superb title song as a single; ‘Rider’ pushes ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s buttons with nonchalant female vocals which then twist into something more traditionally folky in the haunting middle eight, Numanesque vox humana synths, spacey arpeggios and hypnotic dance rhythms attached to a squelchy synthbass mantra.

Framing the album’s themes around movement and escape, as well as falling under the spell of JG Ballard, the cerebral DIY video accompaniment for the track captures a tense cut-up aesthetic where a speedy windswept night drive with a blue showroom dummy encounters seedy alleyways, empty highways and wild wolves in the woods before the inevitable… it is bleak yet alluring!

Following their most recent album ‘Fake is Real’ with its highlights ‘Talk In Dreams’, ‘Hollowed Out’ and the brilliant COIL tribute ‘Balance’, SDH’s have promised further growth with a record of collisions or “crash body music” as described by the duo themselves. Intended to be heard after the impact, these are literally striking metaphors with “Bodies exposed to external forces, subjected to repeated impacts, and evaluated after the damage”.

‘Rider’ is from the forthcoming album of the same name released by Artoffact Records on 17th April 2026 in blue vinyl LP, CD and digital formats, pre-order from https://semioticsdepartmentofheteronyms.bandcamp.com/album/rider

https://www.facebook.com/semioticsdepartmentofheteronyms/

https://www.instagram.com/sdh_______/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2RA8ReKDkqwdnz1SSkWikD

Text by Chi Ming Lai
11th February 2026

Introducing A THOUSAND MAD THINGS

29 October 2025 /

Marrying the pleasure with the pain, A THOUSAND MAD THINGS is the solo synth artist William Barradale who finds solace in untempered expression.

He has already impressed by opening for THE HUMAN LEAGUE earlier this year on Brighton Beach while thanks to a licensing deal, he is also label mates at Nettwerk Music Group with LADYTRON. ‘Cry & Dance’ is the debut EP release from A THOUSAND MAD THINGS and takes listeners on a shadowy journey through adolescent memories, queer love and loneliness.

With his haunted demeanour and navigating young manhood as a tortured outsider, William Barradale’s vocal delivery falls under the spectre of those late doomed romantics Billy MacKenzie of ASSOCIATES and Trevor Herion of THE FALLOUT CLUB.

‘Wide Awake’ at first comes over like the generic darkwave that has afflicted electronic pop over the past few years but victory is snatched from defeat with a soaring chorus to savour. ‘Girl’ focusses on deeper resonances and takes its lead from SUICIDE in its bass line but ‘Local Guys’ is embroiled in tension as Barradale showcases his emotional range as he reflects on the violent turns of former acquaintances.

Rhythmically ‘She’s on the Run’ is shaped by that classic synthpop bounce with piercing string machines while to close ‘Cry & Dance’, ‘My Car’ percussively recalls ‘Fade To Grey’ with hints of OMD in the melancholy stakes.

Possibly the most promising male UK synth act since MIRRORS, it will be interesting to see where A THOUSAND MAD THINGS goes and where William Barradale takes things next following this enjoyable short and sharp debut EP.

‘Cry & Dance’ is released under licence via Nettwerk Music Group and available as a digital EP from https://athousandmadthings.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574810537242

https://www.instagram.com/athousandmadthings/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiH0XGmfKMWzM_VsizMgP8A

https://open.spotify.com/album/3EUBP1d4m3f5lbVTXUI9un

Text by Chi Ming Lai
29th October 2025

Introducing SHEARS

1 May 2025 /

Photo by Laura Prieto Martin

Having already debuted with the ‘Now We’re Getting Somewhere’ EP in 2024, Scottish artist SHEARS follows up her effervescent single ‘Bad Dream’ with ‘Arcade Machine’.

A modern day electronic music producer who writes, records and mixes from her home studio in Leith as well as independently releasing her music, both singles are from her forthcoming debut album ‘We Are But Chemicals’ due in late 2025. SHEARS takes inspiration from strong willed independent women in music such as Robyn, Grimes, Marina and Self Esteem, something that is particularly channelled in her vocals.

Often dance flavoured and ranging from the garage beats that shape ‘Bad Dream’ to the more straight fours of ‘In The Dark’ and spikier offbeat shuffles of ‘Slow Burn’, SHEARS’ songs are catchy pop statements that retain an artful quality with well-crafted sound design. Lyrically they reflect her personal experiences as a woman in a still sexist music industry. She is also part of Glasgow’s female and non-binary songwriting collective Hen Hoose, funded by Creative Scotland.

Visualised by an animated video created by Genevieve Ryan exploring the feeling of being stuck, SHEARS said of ‘Arcade Machine’: “This song is about control. Someone was giving me unsolicited advice on who could help ‘boost me’ in the music industry without knowing that having someone else control my music and actions was my worst nightmare. I could only imagine being controlled like an arcade machine.”

A slice of boisterous infectious pop, ‘Arcade Machine’ comes with drum ‘n’ bass rhythms, enticing synths and relatable existential angst.

‘Arcade Machine’ and ‘Bad Dream’ are available on the usual online platforms

https://www.imshears.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ImSHEARS

https://www.instagram.com/imshears

https://www.threads.com/@imshears

https://www.henhoose.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2xlYBgG5r6QTLpmF1u04nK

Text by Chi Ming Lai
1st May 2025

Introducing SPIKE

5 March 2025 /

Spike is the nom de théâtre of London-based singer-songwriter Hannah McLoughlin.

Under her own name, she released an experimental electronic soundscape EP ‘The Tower’ in 2020 and has been a regular performer at London’s Cafe Oto. But Spike is a much more song-based and avant popcentric, influenced by Irish composer Roger Doyle and his songs as part of OPERATING THEATRE like ‘Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth’ and ‘Queen Of No Heart’ which featured the vocals of Elena López and were released by U2’s Mother label in 1986.

Adept at flute, EWI and synth, Spike delivers a brand of macabre disco dealing with the undead and the inhuman. It’s therefore perhaps no big surprise that her debut self-titled EP opens with a deadpan electronic cover of Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves Of London’. A gothic reimagining, this will be seen as sacrilege to some but it is certainly more inventive than Kid Rock’s pick ‘n’ nick hatchet job ‘All Summer Long’!

The video for ‘Werewolves Of London’ was filmed by McLoughlin on 16mm and included many of the London Soho landmarks referenced in Zevon’s lyrics except the Lee Ho Fook Chinese restaurant in Gerrard Street which was part of the original lyrics and closed in 2008. Incidentally, this was 3 doors away from the now-also closed Gooseberry Studios which was where Gary Numan recorded ‘Are Friends Electric?’

The promising EP also includes the enjoyable melancholic Motorik rave of ‘Tiquetonne’ which delightfully interpolates ‘Con Te Partiro’ aka ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ as made famous by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. More rhythmically metronomic and possibly the stand-out song, the wonderful ‘You’re Missing’ offers a slice of glorious angelic oompah and vocally recalls the sadly departed Trish Keenan of BROADCAST.

‘Voca Me’ brings in a deeper ghostly atmosphere but as it shuffles along, it deals out more choir girl resonances in the second half. The EP closes with the eerie vocodered tone poem ‘I Could Wait’ where the cerebral approaches of Laurie Anderson loom large.

Short and sweet, this varied debut showcasing an intriguing new talent provides a fresh take on electronic avant pop seeded by that uniquely British eccentricity.

The ‘Spike’ EP is released by God Nation, available digitally from https://gobnation.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-4

https://www.instagram.com/__s.p.i.k.e.__/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/39uMUO8aGb1e8smPZBb6fd

Text by Chi Ming Lai
5th March 2025

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