AWITW - Valley Girl

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

AWITW’s “Valley Girl” spills out in jewel-like tones, swirling me away on an auditory journey. Through layers of intermingled tones, textural elements and melodic expression, the album unfolds in scenes of affection, adventure and moments of more melancholy contemplation. The way in which AWITW reflects experiences and imagery adds to the complexity and depth of the musical experience. I'm also enamoured of the performance by Ross Lustre on “Running Wild,” as it gives further weight to the music’s emotive nature.

A tide of layered synth sounds sweeps through “Valley Girl”  bearing me along in its flow. Luminosity intermingles with density and fragility with strength, sliding together in a welter of ear-catching auditory complexity. Each different element emphasizes another image or feeling, elucidating the artist's creative view. His ability to choose sounds that suit the different tracks allows the music to expand and encompass the atmosphere and mood which they radiate. As a result, the music clearly communicates to the listener.

Melodically speaking, “Valley Girl” packs a punch. Each track contains within it a melodic morsel that drives home the message within the notes. Every melody is full of unique signatures and radiates a different emotive sensation. As I move through the tracks, each one illustrates a different aspect which the artist wants to highlight, engaging me in his creative process and allowing me to experience the atmospheres and sensations which he seeks to evoke. In addition, harmonics reverberate throughout and add yet another aspect to the album.

It's clear that AWITW wishes to evoke an experience that has touched and moved him in this album. He uses all of his musical skills to deliver a listening experience which puts one in touch with those different emotional states. The way in which he presses home the message makes the album one in which I've become invested.

My Favourite Songs Analyzed

“Moving Shadows” takes form with umbral darkness rising from towering foundational walls. Shining with soft luminosity, reverberant tones drift, lonely and haunted, while the patterned underpinnings throb. Hypnotically shifting sounds move behind vibrant brushing notes which resolve into filigree as hovering synth echoes in an evocation of empty wandering. Emptiness and disconnection touch me, expressing themselves in my heart with intense emotion. Gliding away from me, open notes trace and fade as the track ends.

Broadcasting swelling light, tones which speak of powerful emotion glow and bring “Valley Girl” to life. Hints of roughness shiver at the edges of the sweeping tones, blown by a lonely wind. Solidly expanding underlayers rise to meet a ticking rhythmic throb as the breezes swirl. Impressions of wide-open spaces slide from the broad tones, transporting solitary sensations deeply into my mind. 

Emotional impact, mingling affection and feelings of vistas stretching away, flows from the synth as it exhales in hushed peace. Harmonies that grasp my heart intermingle as the melodic line carries tremulous caring, transported by hushed drum motion. Below everything, a dense bass cloud hovers while silken notes slide. Evocative and warm, peace tinged with melancholy spreads outward before quiet falls.

“Running Wild” breathes to life with whispering notes that add caressing emotion while the guitar entangles above the bass pool below. Echoing out, full of feeling, Ross Lustre’s words hang in reverberant space. Rushing foundations underpin the ardent fire burning in the vocal performance, like a flaming arrow to the heart. The rhythm pounds as tremulous tenderness mingles with the defiant swell of Ross Lustre’s voice.

Heartbeat pulsations shift as a breeze slips past. Brilliance defines notes that rise and flare while escape permeates the vocals and the drums punch. Reaching for joy and love, Ross Lustre carries the words with conviction. Like a sunset bursting from a dark cloud, the melody gleams and spins out before the song ends on the drifting emotion within the vocals.

Exhorting the song’s subject, “Let’s go run, running wild,” our storyteller says, “Let’s go make the world a place where we can be.” As their eyes meet in the garden, he beckons the song’s subject and says, “Come over, fuck the warden.” He adds, “You are friends with her and them and I work there, do this and that.” He notes that the song’s subject is working there too, he liked their smile and wanted to talk.

After traveling far and wide, the song’s subject found their peace, as the narrator says that “one like them” learned release. They sit close together on the train and their thighs touch through their clothes. The narrator asks, “Why am I so cynical?” and as they watch everyone around them, he adds, “I know you see what I mean, ’cause you laugh at my remarks.” He points out that although the other person doesn’t think it’s so grim, “you must admit the line is thin.”

To conclude, our storyteller says, “Let’s go walk to spite the rain, hand in hand across terrain. See the sun rise in the bay, hear the stories, learn the way.”

An expanding colour spectrum broadly levitates as “Your Glowing Hands” takes shape. Spectrally drifting, whispering notes tremble out into open space in a carpet of lush sound. Strumming guitar spins in a funky figure, washed by prismatic light. Percussion forms a shaping tide while melodic patterns create meditative states as the beat reverberates.

Luscious layers move one through the other, a tapestry of luminosity exuding contemplative tranquility. A breath in, a breath out and I fly, cradled by sonic peace, roaming above a thousand landscapes. As twisting tones intertwine, hushing the babble of voices in my mind, the track drifts like scudding clouds through blue sky. Weight undulates below, cut by vibrating sounds like diamond sparkles. Drums break with echoing motion and synth casts iridescence as ripples spread outward and silence falls.

“Here Together” is tinged with fluting ethereality and reverent warmth while sweeping winds float. Metallic and tender, a melody reverberates, filled with affection as it spreads out above the tranquil, thumping percussion. Ringing illumination flashes, slipping through airy peace as tiny notes vibrate. Drums, like a steady heartbeat, guide a melody tender and light and I wander with it in cloud-like ease.

Rainbows refract and rising summer air becomes a melancholy caress from the synth. Slow arpeggiation suffuses the music with crystalline prisms as broadly echoing tones slip between and bass like a giant tide flows. Hopeful encouragement bursts out from scintillating sonic lines, hang drum tones tapping before the track exhales in one glittering breath and grows silent.

Gargantuan sharpness slices through misty meditation to start “Now Playing.” Otherworldly pan pipes expand with celebratory speed while giant power moves urgently underneath. A melody grows with encouragement, delivering a joyful memory, putting me in mind of good times past but not forgotten. 

Panpipes sing like a choir of extraterrestrial voices while chords cast sunlight into the bass well below. A synth, breathing with gentle touches, swirls and mingles, transporting me to dreaming realms while the panpipes frolic with cosmic energy. A heartbeat shifts evenly while piping sounds levitate. Reverence shimmers from the tune before the music sweeps to a close on galactic exhalations.

Conclusion

“Valley Girl” bubbles with lushness and complex layering, exuding emotions that run the gamut from excitement to passion, with stops along the way for tenderness and joy. The end result is music that lives and breathes with positivity and a sense of fullness as it evolves.

Exposure Kills - No Sanctuary

Written by Vero Kitsuné

Being one of the most prolific producers of the underground dark electronic and alternative scene, Electronic Artist and Hacker Tess LaCoell has always carried a broad range of genres in her pocket — often blending them, breaking them and defying them. Her style has never been easy to categorize, but we all know the coolest things always defy genre expectations. But with her new project Exposure Kills, she’s clearly intent on pushing even further beyond familiar boundaries. Known for her work across underground electronic circles and tech culture alike with remixes for both indie and big stars alike, LaCoell’s debut EP under Exposure Kills No Sanctuary reframes club music as something more conceptual and confrontational. Across five tracks, she channels themes of surveillance, control, and digital autonomy into a sound that fuses synth pop immediacy with prog-leaning structures and industrial grit. Drawing on her background in hacker culture and open-source communities, the record feels less like a stylistic pivot and more like a calculated system breach — one that turns technical frameworks and real-world cyber logic into something visceral, rhythmic, and unexpectedly cinematic.

I couldn’t help but feel like I’m roaming around neon-lit circuit boards in some super cute Y2K cyberpunk outfits while listening to the EP from start to finish.

Opening track “No Sanctuary (feat. Rebecca Bammert” kicks things off with a slick blend of hyperpop gloss and proggy electropop twists, with vocoder-heavy harmonies giving it that cool, robotic edge. It’s a fun, high-energy bop on the surface, but the lyrics dive into digital warfare and system sabotage, making it feel like a playful yet slightly menacing hacker anthem.

“Detect, Deny” keeps the momentum going, but leans into a rougher, more experimental vocal style — glitched-out, heavily vocoded, and even a bit dissonant in ways that give it a colder, dystopian edge. The electronicore-flavored breakdown hits hard, and paired with the back-and-forth perspective in the lyrics, it feels like a tense cyber battle unfolding in real time.

Then the EP rolls into two remixes of “No Sanctuary” — the “Lunar Paths Remix” by Violet Wanda and Lunar Paths, and “Disaster by Design” by Dharmata 101. Each one, in its own way, drops you straight into a gritty, Matrix-style underground club — follow the white rabbit, right?

The EP closes with “The Signal,” easily my favorite track, which pushes things into a wild hybrid of hyperpop and Drum-and-Bass, topped off with some genuinely fun, powerful and brilliantly-executed distorted metal screams.

All in all, No Sanctuary feels like a bold and fully realized introduction to Exposure Kills — equal parts concept-driven and just straight-up fun to listen to. It balances glossy hooks with darker, tech-laced themes in a way that never feels forced, and if this is just the starting point, there’s a lot to be excited about moving forward.

Follow Exposure Kills here: https://exposurekills.bandcamp.com/

Synth EP Review: “Defenders” by Neon Shards (feat. Montse Torres)

by Karl Magi

Neon Shards & Montse Torre’s “Defenders” EP draws us into a cinematic musical vision. An experiment has run out of control, transforming a space research facility into a deadly threat which must be destroyed.

“Defenders” erupts with drama, chords undulating over threatening weight. Propelling with explosive energy, drums launch as oscillating notes tumble darkly. Shattering the weight below, elevated tones transmit melody with a feeling of battling defiance. Ominous imagery full of struggle and intensity joins a roar from the guitar as urgency rises once more.

Winding up with spinning nervousness, the track gains momentum. I see winds blowing as intertwining ferocity and force tear out from Neon Shards’ fingers, capturing me in a net of intensity. Montse Torres’ synth paints pictures of our two characters standing back to back, fighting the tide of enemies flash through my mind, animating the story. Full of aching strength, a synth calls out while the oscillating tones snarl into silence.

Feelings of epic planetary adventure blaze from a radiant synth to open “ASTRID's Demise.” Rippling with muscle, Neon Shards’ guitar rips into the music with towering strength as intimidating force grows beneath.  Threat billows from the guitar as a synth fanfare trumpets with dynamism above a massively rumbling bass floor.

In the chimes that come in, tension and delicacy can mingle as the kick drum collides with the bass. An air of peaceful tenderness touches the bright chimes as they descend, Montse Torres’ synths create an alluring contrast between gentleness and tremendous power.

Inspiring melodic energy leaps from Neon Shards’ guitar as it climbs and surges like blazing destruction as delicate notes twirl above it. The low end presses on as the coruscating synth glows and the track ends.

Lurking horror oozes as cascading synths join an evenly vibrating bass pulse to bring “Unforeseen Revelations” to life. Evil fills the melody, as black as the abyss, while the looming low end surges. A horrifying mystery is revealed in elevated tones sobbing with fear while drums surge.

A heavy spirit fills the underpinning architecture, compelling me as a snarling guitar rends and the heaving bass rumbles angrily. Gnarled sounds bend from Neon Shards’ guitar with deformed darkness while percussive force hammers hard.

Worry and ever-increasing tension spill from Montse Torres’ flaring notes as the low end batters, filling me with nervousness. A high synth cries out with terror and rebounding bass carries the music to its close.

As “Countdown to Self-Destruct” begins, menacing muscle radiates from a brassy synth that leaps forward with a majestic melody, full of adventure, while foundational weight seethes. Eerie emotion and smashing power flow from a melodic line that echoes with blinding radiance as the clean drums smack hard.

Images of a desperate struggle to destroy the supreme evil lurking inside the space station fill the melody. Cinematic imagery exudes feral force and a sense of impending doom, conveyed by Neon Shards’ guitar solo, which intricately interweaves with gargantuan bass.

Eldritch, cosmic energy holds my interest while the surging beat drives. As a wordless voice cries out with a painfully haunted melody, the rhythm pushes forward and the track roars to a conclusion.

Synth Single Review: “Horizon” by Vihana

by Karl Magi

Vihana’s “Horizon” exudes unadulterated passion as it commences with a slow-burning groove. Desire, love and intense feeling slip from Vihana’s voice, pouring into the music with fiery intensity. Midnight smoothness slides out while panpipes exhale, affection captured, intermingling with sensual caress of the vocals.

Embers of need and sultry heat ignite as the funky underlayer surfs. As Vihana exudes silken emotion, I sail along with that feeling while panpipes breathe serenity. Images of soft light and gentle touches flicker from Vihana’s fervent vocal flow. All of the wanting and yearning gains expression before the song ends.

As starlight illuminates them, the narrator says she won’t lie to the song’s subject. Gazing at the horizon, she experiences the other person’s kindness. She adds, “You’ll never be lonely if you just hold me, even when the day gets dark, you have my heart.”

Admitting that she doesn’t know where they’re going, our storyteller says that they ought to follow their hearts because that’s who they are. She adds, “When the sun is setting, show me what you really want and who you are.”

“I know everything feels so heavy right now, but I’ll be with you even when we’re falling down.” The narrator tells the song’s subject not to worry because they’ll figure something out, but “if you need time alone, lemme tell you, baby, you’re allowed.”