THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND are Brooklyn based duo Vladimir Valette on vocals and Benedetto Socci on keyboards. Daniel Cousins joins them live to showcase the hereditary Big Apple’s electro disco genre, born out of the legends of like PET SHOP BOYS, DEPECHE MODE, KON KAN, INFORMATION SOCIETY and NEW ORDER.
Having started to write songs about “life, set to a dance beat”, the duo gained popularity within the New York live circuit, supporting the likes of A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS and FREEZEPOP along the way.
The self-professed “soundtrack of your trials and tribulations, injecting a generous dollop of drama along with extra helpings of synths and sass into an otherwise dreary and desolate musical landscape”, THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND have released a few EPs and now the long player ‘Protagonist’ is being aired to satisfy any self-respecting lover of Britpop, new wave, alternative dance and electronica.
The opening ‘Evelyn, You’ll Be The Death Of Me’, having previously featured on the ‘Dreamers & Lovers’ EP, sounds like a slowed down Eurotrack, bearing the hallmarks of a good club number; systematic and measured however. ‘War Of The Roses’ and ‘In The Waking Hour’ push the envelope, both being grown up electro dance tracks with a twist.
The feeling prevails that THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND open the door to something new entirely, while still respecting their musical roots.
The motto of “pop songs for the disenchanted, disillusioned and disenfranchised” can be heard in ERASURE-esque ‘Laughter Turns To Tears’, while the futuristic ‘Carry On, Young Men’ is a hypnotic anthem á la HEAVEN 17.
The liquid electronica sips through vocally superb ‘That’s How Rumours Start’; ‘A Future In Film’ however, takes on a very Europop approach. More subdued pieces are showcased in ‘Here In My House’, which although slower, is still very synth charged and poignantly moody. The tempo changes altogether with the PET SHOP BOYS’ style induced musical coma of ‘Those Evil Urges’ which vocally is rather reminiscent of Marc Almond.
The best has been left to last, where ‘Remember Me’ enters with its guitars reminiscent of NEW ORDER’s ‘Leave Me Alone’. The bass leads the melody in a manner which THE CURE wouldn’t be ashamed of and the reversed drums with string synth complete the sombre atmosphere of the track.
THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND claim they’re “looking to grab a foothold in the minds and hearts of listeners everywhere, (…) want to serve as a reminder that the term ‘pop music’ isn’t an obscenity. We write songs with something to say and aren’t afraid to push the envelope and have you singing along in the process”
With ‘Protagonist’, they’ve pretty much achieved just that.
‘Protagonist’ is available as a download album from
http://themysticunderground.bandcamp.com/album/protagonist
http://www.themysticunderground.net
https://www.facebook.com/themysticunderground
https://soundcloud.com/themysticunderground/sets/protagonist-lp
Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
23rd November 2016
quickly established the notorious threesome alongside 
and 
followed, each expanding and enriching ROTERSAND’s style, accompanied with their legendary live performances, which, to some, are the best on the scene.
, sporting a front cover of cryptic messages, including “you dwell in our matrix”, “like monkeys in a tree”, “controlled by informatics”, and “believing that you’re free”; each describing the realities of modern human existence in the controlled environment of today.
sees THE FAINT’s catalogue gathered over seventeen songs from five albums, including the excellent 2016 single ‘Young & Realistic’ and two new tracks ‘Skylab1979’ and ‘ESP’. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska by Todd Fink (vocals + keyboards), Clark Baechle (drums) and Joel Petersen (bass), THE FAINT began as a conventional skateboarding rock act named NORMAN BAILER.
, they began taking an interest in using more prominent electronics with the addition of keyboard player Jacob Thiele. The resultant 1999 album 
featuring ‘Call Call’ and ‘Worked Up So Sexual’ showcased a mix of live drums, punky guitars and squelchy synths in the vein of early ULTRAVOX! and WIRE.
that THE FAINT really found their sound. While Petersen took to programming bass sequences, one crucial element was the recruitment of a death metal guitarist nicknamed Dapose. In much the same way DURAN DURAN were essentially a synthpop band with a heavy rock guitarist bolted on, this unusual hybrid gave THE FAINT a unique template for the time, sounding like BLUR and Birmingham’s most famous boat crew rolled into one!
album saw orchestrations entering the equation although overall, it was less immediate than its predecessor. But THE FAINT’s spiritual connection with Britain’s new wave and in particular, Some Bizzare came with the superb ‘Southern Belles In London Sing’, a fine interpolation of the now-classic 1981 anti-war song ‘Remembrance Day’ by B-MOVIE, the Nottingham quartet who appeared on the ‘Some Bizzare Album’ alongside SOFT CELL, BLANCMANGE, THE THE and DEPECHE MODE.
on their own blank.wave imprint and rather fittingly toured with LADYTRON. But like many acts at the time, the onset of illegal downloading and reduced demand for physical product saw the band give the CD away on tour with sales of T-shirts. The stuttering electronic funk of ‘The Geeks Were Right’ proved the band still had it, although it would be 2014 before they released another album in
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