“Descend” –
Photographer/Concept/Model/Retoucher: Lars V. Andersen – Lavarockphoto.dk

“Once Upon of Time” –
Photographer/Concept/Model/Retoucher: Lars V. Andersen – Lavarockphoto.dk

“Eurydice” –
Photographer: Jiamin Zhu – JaJasgarden
Model: Eurydice
Assistant: Michael Asavareungchai

“Fear” –
“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
– Psalm 51:1-2”

Photographer: Charlie Healey
Makeup: Karisa Leigh
Model: Briar Rose

“UV Mary” –
Photographer: Przemysław Bartkowiak
Makeup: LunaXMakeup
Model: Róża Drożak

“UKA” –
Creative Direction: IN
Photographer: Mayan Westvillage
Hair/Makeup: Satoko Shidahara
Model: NORI

“Evil Seed” –
Photographer/Model: Sabrina Macabre

“Bloody Mary” –
Photographer: Przemysław Bartkowiak
Headpiece: Black Kejter
Makeup: Makeup by Luna
Model: Luna Nocturna

“Sacred Spirit” –
Photographer: George Georgas
Model: Giorgio Makris

Her name is Yulia Shur, a Belarusian-born art director, photographer and director based in Tokyo for the past 4 years. Yulia’s works try to stretch the definition of photography from taking pictures of what the human eye would see to creating images using her toolbox full of shapes, lines, colors and lucid dreams. She enjoys playing with concepts of illusions, poisoned beauty, death, fear, and subconscious fantasies. A list of magazine work includes NYLON, King Kong Magazine, i-D Japan, MUSE, Office, Sorbet, Hypebeast, Rolling Stone, Purple magazine and many more. As well as companies like Beats by Dre, Casio, Apple music, Thom Browne, 88rising, Christian Louboutin, Lenovo, KAO, Shu Uemura and REVLON.

By Meikee Magnetic and Daniel Merlot

Where were you born and where are you now?
I was born in a small town in Belarus called Mogilev, that according to legend, translated as the grave of a lion. I Moved to Tokyo in 2015 and since then I’ve been based here. 

What brought you out to Tokyo and why has it been your home for the past four years?
I have always been attracted to Asia with it’s magical tales and beautiful traditions. At first, I spent a year in China, but in the big cities there I couldn’t find the Asia that I was looking for. China was a little heavy for me emotionally, so I moved to Japan. Japan has made a big impact on me. Japanese mythology, with it’s magical characters and artists such as Suehiro Maruo, Toshio Saeki, Araki, Hajime Sorayama, Shintaro Kago and Yamamato Takato. Also recently I’ve been practicing Japanese dance theatre Butoh with one of it’s creators Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno who really inspired me. It definitely feels like my so-called third eye opened here.

Your art is beautiful, surreal and inspiring, what are your inspirations and influences?
A huge part of my inspiration comes from my dreams. I always had a really vivid imagination, but dreams especially. At some point of in my life they were especially intense and deep. I could hardly keep balanced between dreams and reality. 

Tell us some more details about the various artists you have worked with in the past:
I photographed a lot of artists, mostly musicians such as Sevdaliza, Oliver Sykes, Brooke Candy, Kom_I, Crossfaith and others. It is always interesting to work with artists, each has its own strong and different energy. In my photographs first of all I try to emphasize it using my vision and aesthetics. In the end, you get a full collaboration, like the dance of creative ideas and a combination of art energies. 

BROOKE CANDY

What project are you working on at the moment?
At this strange time it’s difficult to do any kind of collaboration, so I try to look more inside myself and find new ways of expression. I began to learn 3D, this is a new exciting journey that I spend most of the time on during my quarantine. I also shoot few self-portraits, the last one was for a Japanese magazine Nylon. This one was quite interesting, the task was to inspire people in this difficult time with my work. It will be out end of May. 

PETRICHOR MAGAZINE

A surreal visual look into the mind of Tokyo-based photographer, Yulia Shur. She leads us on a journey into the labyrinth of her creative mind and world, the inner workings of an artist’s fantasies and stories inhabited by an alter-ego. These stories exist in a place where the edge between reality and imagination is erased or never existed. (WATCH BELOW)

How has the current pandemic effected you?
It’s quite difficult time for me. My energy works like a snowball, the more I do, the more I want to do. After a productive full working day, the most interesting ideas come to me. So now I have to force myself to turn on the mechanism itself and I think it’s so difficult to create something truly incredible and sincere like that. Therefore, I try not to judge myself for not doing a lot, spending time studying new things and reading books that I never had enough time for. 

DROPDEAD/CRADLE OF FILTH

Future plans:
I have a couple of interesting collaborations I’m working on now. In general, I would like to work more with musicians, various visual artists and the film industry in future. 

What does Dark Beauty mean to you?
I personally have always been close to this aesthetic. I could watch several horror films a day when I was a kid. One of the main concepts of my art is poisoned beauty. It is a dance of emotions on the edge when you find something beautiful and repulsive at the same time. That’s the only one thing I really want from people looking at my works is to feel something. I want people to sense beauty and become infatuated, to experience epiphany, fell fear or even disgust. It does not matter if it will come all together or only one sensation will happen unless it happens.

CREDITS Jiro, DropDead, Cradle of Filth, King Kong Magazine, Petrichor Magazine

MORE INFO:
www.yuliashur.com

We’re excited to share the new seven song EP ‘The Pale Horse’ by Dark Pop/Darkwave artist Danny Blu. You may also know him from the alternative band Echo Black. As many great music artists, Danny has been extremely focused during such a dark time creating new music for all of us. The stylish red EP cover art was created between Los Angeles photographer Sequoia Emmanuelle and fashion guru Material Memorie. We know you’ll love these seven well crafted works of audio art…

Interview Meikee Magnetic

Congrats on your new EP, how long did the creative process take for the new release?

Thank you so much! This little guy actually took a while. I didn’t want to rush anything so I didn’t give myself any deadlines. I’ve rushed things in the past and the music suffers so I wanted this EP to breathe. It’s obvious COVID-19 has certainly changed the way we are able to do things. I started discussing this project with my producer, Walter Kazmier, on tour with The Genitorturers in October of 2018. The last song was actually all written, recorded, mixed and mastered in July of 2020. It just flowed out of us, which is a testament of our strong working relationship. 

What are some special details you can share with us?
Well, this is my first solo body of work since February 2014, Echo Black kept me busy. THE PALE HORSE is incredibly personal and honest. Very much on purpose. I went into this project vowing to truly say what I wanted to say. Not to say that I don’t have that opportunity with Echo Black, but as the band, I have a larger obligation to make sure all the members’ voices are heard. In this project and EP, it’s entirely my voice. Writing this record has taught me a lot about myself, it forced me to focus on the things that I truly find important. It’s about how I feel about the world, how I deal with toxicity, anxiety, relationships, etc. I’m very grateful to both Walter and my manager Victor for helping me channel my voice there. Each track has a demon associated with it, the intro track, AMDUSIAS, is associated with the bringer of noise, cacophony, and chaos. The final track on the EP is SANCTUARY: a love song. It perfectly sums up how I feel about the state of the world and my solution for it: we are in chaos and the answer is love. 

Your photo shoot collaboration with Sequoia Emmanuelle and Material Memorie looks amazing, what was the concept you were going for?
Sequoia is one of my favorite photographers of all time. Every time we started with a new setup, the first photo was always GOLD. Obviously working with Material Memorie is always a blessing, I’m very lucky to have a connection with its creative director. For the concept, I thought about the end of the world overall and creating my own twist with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Together we considered everything very carefully. I thought about a way where I’d be using my own songs as my horsemen with BUBBLE, BURN, SANCTUARY, WHITE (K)NIGHT and eventually THE PALE HORSE EP as my own Armageddon. I created a special limited digi-pak CD to commemorate our collaboration too! 

Are there any remixes we can check out?
Absolutely! I tapped KANGA for an amazing remix of WHITE (K)NIGHT that she’s also a feature on and I also recently released the Moris Blak industrial-bass re-imagination of SANCTUARY. Mr.Kitty also gave BUBBLE the bubblegum dance remix we all deserved! I’ve tapped on some more of my favorite artists to put their own spins on my music, and I’m excited for everyone to hear them!

Do you have any big musical plans on the horizon post pandemic?
I have alot of surprises and some really cool remixes in store, so stay tuned. I hosted a free virtual release show on September 5th and I’ll be live-streaming as much as possible. With COVID-19 and the handling of the virus in the United States, it will be impossible to tour most of North America in the foreseeable future. I’m hopeful about possibly touring this project in Europe sometime in 2021 and perhaps with a new solo album. I’ve also been writing with Echo Black again during this pandemic and we’re hoping to have some new music out early next year.

What does Dark Beauty mean to you now?
I think Dark Beauty will always mean the same thing to me: beauty in what most of the world would consider strange, unusual, unique, scary or uncomfortable. I often find beauty in trauma, gore, horror, geometry, asymmetry, and pain.
Photo credit Sequoia Emmanuelle in collaboration with Material Memorie

MORE INFO:
www.dannyblu.com
www.facebook.com/officialdannyblu

Inspired by her dark wave musical roots, Sammi began creating and mixing a myriad of influences from such bands as Metric, Stabbing Westward and Grimes to create a sound reminiscent of 90’s electronica / trip-hop, hard-hitting synthesizers encompassed with dark poetry. Upon teaming up with legendary producer Sean Beavan (NIN, Manson, 3Teeth, Guns N’ Roses) they wrote the debut single “AN OM IE”; the first release under her name. AN OM IE is an amalgamation of pounding dance beats and industrial keyboard hooks that showcase Sammi’s vocal range and front woman persona.

Interview Meikee Magnetic

Where are you now?
I decided not to return to Berlin, I’m still living on this side of the world in sunny, Los Angeles.

How have you been since we last talked?
Well, considering since then, we’ve lived through a continuous worldwide pandemic, confirmed UFO sightings, murder hornets, the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 and the US currently on the brink of a civil war… I think I’m doing just fine.

Sammi! This new track is HOTT!!! How does it feel having your official release finally out?
I wrote this song with Sean and Juliette Beavan last year with the intention of building up an arsenal of new songs to release as an EP; but since the pandemic, the format of the music industry has changed completely. There doesn’t seem to be a right or wrong way to create a self-release so a few months ago we started filming the music video in preparation. I think it was definitely the right time. It’s my very first experience as a solo artist – you can never be ready for the plunge of sending something brand new into the world in hopes it’s received positively. I feel like I’ve been teasing new music for such a long time in my live show and most recently, my livestream – so it feels amazing to finally release it in it’s intended form.

What was your vision for the new video?
“AN OM IE” refers to the ‘Anomie Theory’ by French sociologist Emile Durkheim. It’s social disintegration; it states ‘individuals in a society are in permanent competition with each other, expect much of existence and demand much of it and find themselves perpetually haunted by the suffering that arises from the disproportion between their aspirations and their satisfaction.’ We, more than ever, live within an anomic society and we are our own worst enemies. The video began as a concept of vignettes with director Ron Thunderwood. I knew that I wanted to create something beautifully artistic and visually unsettling. We filmed the video over the course of four months due to quarantine restrictions, so we had the luxury of time to build on the characters. Each character has a meaning that I find to be a reflection of the current state of society – for example: the leather daddy / faceless man that’s reading a newspaper and drinking his coffee in a breakfast nook… physically blinded by current events and living life as if nothing was wrong. I really give my blood, insomnia and tears to everything I do artistically, this was one of the most fun projects to put together especially because the team that I worked with were all close friends of mine that shared the vision.

Thoughts and explanations about the new single’s title?
It refers to the ‘Anomie Theory’ by French sociologist Emile Durkheim. It’s social disintegration; it states ‘individuals in a society are in permanent competition with each other, expect much of existence and demand much of it, and find themselves perpetually haunted by the suffering that arises from the disproportion between their aspirations and their satisfaction.’ We, more than ever, live within an anomic society and we are our own worst enemies.

Has the pandemic hindered you creatively in any way or has it been an artistic creative boost?
I was in a unique situation when the lockdown hit – I also play synth for Kat Von D for her upcoming music project; we didn’t know how long the lockdown would last; me and a few of the bandmates moved into her guest house temporarily and started working on what would have been the liveshow. When touring was cancelled, we added additional programming to her record and sent that off to be mixed. I’ve kept extremely busy without the noise of the outside world, it’s really helped me become more artistically focused and flexible – I felt like I’ve been preparing for quarantine my whole life.

Any future surprises coming up you can share with us?
I’m hoping to release a series of singles 8-12 weeks apart from each other, rather than an LP/EP. I feel an artist gives so much blood, sweat and time to writing and releasing everything at once; you give so much of yourself away – people just don’t have the attention span to digest it all. I think this strategy will be helpful for keeping the project current and giving fans something to look forward to.

What does Dark Beauty mean to you now?
Dark Beauty to me is a lifestyle, we can’t help what we are drawn to, we embrace what comes naturally. That in itself is beautiful – all elements, especially the dark.

Photo credits: Jpeg01, Jim Louvau, Danny Finn
Fashion Credits: Jane Doe Latex, Rannka rings, Charla Tedrick shoes
Video Fashion Credits: Ritual Fashion coat, Mother of London gloves + vest, Rannka rings, Maribaal Clothing cat bondage helmet

MORE INFO:
www.sammidoll.com
www.facebook.com/OfficialSammiDoll

“Solitude” –
Photographer/Model: Iness Rychlik

#DarkBeauty #DarkBeautyMag #selfportrait #photography

“Higanbana” —
Photographer: Jiamin Zhu – JaJasgarden
Designer: Dream Dresses by P.M.N
Makeup: Francesca Belgrano
Model: Ava J. Holmes

#DarkBeauty #DarkBeautyMag #fashion #photography

Focusing on the power of art, words and ideas, Los Angeles based music artist and creative activist Eriel has an arsenal of harmony bombs ready for the USA!

Interview Meikee Magnetic

Let’s get right into it, RENEGADES! You’ve been hidden away working on this new masterpiece, the power is unstoppable and with its message. Tell us about that message:
Thank you kindly. The lyrics of ‘RENEGADES’ literally came from a political speech that I wrote and wanted to adapt into song form. The speech began the same way, “We are not red or blue, nor dim-witted enough for you to trick us into thinking splitting us in two somehow makes us stronger.” That one line really speaks to my message and intention with this song. At base, it’s about an anti “divide and conquer” mentality – not allowing the two political parties trick us into thinking their interests are not the same whilst pitting the people against each other. At the same time, I obviously have my own spiritual, moral and sociopolitical views that inevitably come out in the lyrics. In my heart, this is a revolution anthem for everyone, regardless of how the media/social media, government, family and other institutions have programmed the listener’s perception/beliefs. It’s also about the part that artists, dreamers and musicians play in society. One part of our culture places value on material/monetary wealth and that or fear/violence based control is what they define as power. I place more value on the power of art, words, ideas and questioning authority to create change. These are some things I’m touching on when I say, “We the people, indivisible say f#%k your little games. We are still invincible, ain’t caught up in your invisible chains and you may have an arsenal of heartless fools, marchin’ in a carnival of fear and pain, but we are bad, our art is fueled by heart and soul and we’ve got an army of love, droppin’ harmony bombs on the U.S.A.”

What does the red tape signify?
The red tape indeed! hahaha. There were a couple of reasons I made this choice. I wanted the video for this song to feel as real and raw as I feel about the song itself, so I asked myself, how can I visually be at my most vulnerable? Naturally, I’ll have someone duct tape me to a chair naked. It doesn’t get much more vulnerable than that, not only in the actual shooting of the video but in releasing it to the public as well. This is a no-frills, concept piece, straight up. There’s no airbrushing. I’m nude, messy, with wet hair, cold and blotchy, taped to a chair. It took me some courage for me to invite people to see me like that, but it’s worth it to me because I want people to come on a journey with me sonically – to allow themselves to feel raw and vulnerable while they listen to the song. I offer up myself in the same way visually. The other, more literal reason is that in the hook, I say, “You can’t tell us what to say, we gon’ give it to you straight. F#%k your red tape. We are the Renegades.” Red tape is defined as “excessive bureaucracy or adherence to rules and formalities, especially in public business.” No one can tell me that politics/government has become anything more than a business, just another corporatized institution, bought and paid for, so f your red tape is speaking to the corruption of these institutions.

Your lyrics are some of the best I’ve came across in the music industry, what made you decide to have your words included thru out the video?
I do my best to keep my content focused on issues that I find important or at the least, always speak from the heart. I’ve never actually posted my lyrics on a video before but for this one, I thought that the lyrics are my message, one that is truly important to me. While I wanted to create a button-pushing, eye-catching, crazy A$$ video, I didn’t want the message to get lost in the mix. I hope that the visuals, the lyrics and the song holistically, all lend well to each other and get the point across. I usually make complex, high production value videos. This one is simple and in your face. I’m happy with how it turned out. It was a refreshing creative process.

This musical direction feels a bit darker and raw, is this your first time working with Kevn Blvk and Koil?
I’ve actually worked with both of these producers before. They are both dear friends and super talented creators. KEVN BLVK is the producer I worked with for the entirety of my upcoming album and I brought KOIL on for this song bring in some electronic anthem vibes that I was really looking for to meet what really started as a more traditional boom-bap Hip Hop beat. Also, my new album which is all kind of weird, melodic alternative Hip Hop probably feels dark in comparison to the bouncy, electro-pop album I debuted my project with, but it doesn’t feel super dark overall to me. Definitely harder, more raw. I feel like I’m finally making the music that I came to LA to make. It is genuinely me and I can certainly be a little dark sometimes. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows in Indigo land.

What’s coming up next for you?
After RENEGADES I’ll be dropping the second single BASICS FOR BREAKFAST off of my forthcoming album ANGELS and ALIENS. I’m crazy hyped about the music video for Basics. I’m definitely going back to my hyper reality, high production visual roots with that one. I think it might break the internet. The song will drop February 12th, 2021 and the accompanying video will drop in late February as well. I’ll start teasing you with clips soon so stay tapped in. After that, more singles on the way, leading up to my LP release. I’m so pumped about this album. I really love the music. It is me to the core, straight from the soul.

Photography Ken Rogers – Styled by Lani Rose Ault – Creative Director – ERIEL INDIGO

MORE INFO:
www.erielindigo.com