I sit here and it’s dark already. It’s almost 4pm I’m as far south you can go in the UK and yet time is turning into an eternal night – accompany this decent into vitamin D deficiency and forgetting what that bright ball of fire in the sky is called is a soundtrack. A simple and concise soundtrack but perfect for this time of year.

Dark atmospheric electronica with all the elements in place to label it, in Мишка style, Grave Wave. This is a band from Portland, Oregon wrapped up in that dark cold Pacific Northwest weather, a band that must know the long drag of winter nights and the heady grip of night club living, sleep is for the day, night is for the dead.

Jewels of the Nile are a female duo that are sometimes joined onstage by Dez from Crossover on drums, they create a sound dark and rich like a laudanum overdose on the dance floor  Moroccan disco, circa 1982. Beautiful spaced out lyrics precise and glacial in harmonies that collide for a moment only to slide apart and loose each other in the night, with disjointed disco rhythms mingling with a tribal beat or two and droning synths reverberating through an eternity of space, dark and velvet clad.

When I Was A Lover by Jewels of the Nile

//Deathwish\\ (Christian Death Cover) by Jewels of the Nile

They have a split 7” with Soft Metals with coming very soon on Desire Records which will be something to definitely save some money for. (They do an awesome cover of “Deathwish” by Christian Death!) Soft Metals are also a good frame of reference musically and in terms of style if you want to get an angle on where these bands are coming from.

Jewels of the Nile just have more magical daggers and warm red womb-like intensity. Back in September they also toured briefly with Soft Metals in LA and Mexico. Click through to their Soundcloud page to listen and download the two available tracks including the Christian Death cover.

- Fokkawolfe