Yesterday night I went to a pretty fun show with a bunch of mostly small Hungarian bands! I usually like to keep at least a few days between gigs (my social batteries are fragile, lol) but this is one event I've wanted to attend for a while now, so here I go~! Sorry, this will be a bit long cuz the night was long too...
H.O.L.T. / Sóvárgás / Utolsó Hullám / Pixelplants / Undertheskin @ 2026/03/14
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After some quality time spent catching up / warming up with a friend at her place with beers in hand, we flew on our bat wings (mostly via subway) to the rinky-dink but charming underground venue S8 for some dark tunes. This was our first time visiting this hole-in-the-wall and we concluded that our past young-adult selves would've probably loved it, but we're used to a bit more 'updated' places nowadays, heh. In any case, I was pleasantly surprised because the sound/mixing was totally bearable all throughout, so props to the staff.
This was a pretty tightly scheduled mini-festival, which meant that as soon as one band stopped playing in one of the sections of the venue, the next band started in another room... and this also means that you're bound to miss some things (if you have to stand endlessly in line for a drink for example), but that's okay.
We managed to catch the second half of H.O.L.T.'s set, right in the middle of their rendition of a The Cure song whose title escapes me right now. In any case, their own original material had shades of The Cure too, injected into a bit of a meat-and-potatoes rock vibe, but it was just charming enough not to be completely mediocre. They played on the bigger stage / bigger space, so after they finished we went through some shady-looking doors and stairs into the smaller room...
...where the next band Sóvárgás was just about to start. Luckily we were fast and secured a spot close to the stage (well, there was no 'stage' really, just a step-high elevation, lol). I was especially curious about this trio because I really dig their new single, and they didn't disappoint one bit. Super dark smokey post-punk played against tight and cold electronic beats, with an armada of effect pedals at both the guitarist's and bassist's disposal that further heightened the clinical alienated feel. At one point the singer busted out a small saxophone and he let rip some freewheeling wails. Super cool shit, they have the vision. Bonus points for a great Trabant (cult '80s art-rock band) cover too.
At this point we made the mistake of wanting to drink something, so we stood in line for a small eternity, during which I accidentally dropped one of my earplugs so I was like "fuck it" and rawdogged the rest of the night (it was fine tbh). Another unwelcome development was that we missed seeing the first few songs of one of my favorites Utolsó Hullám, but thankfully due to the layout of the place, we heard everything clearly. With sensible energy drink and Coca Cola in hand, we rushed in to join the swollen crowd. This was my third time seeing these guys, they're a big comfort listen for me, standard '80s style goth rock with appropriately retro drum machine sounds, but that's the sweet spot I keep coming back to. Plus smoke machine, garish lights, sunglasses, what's not to love? They turned the party like usual, the crowd danced all the way, great times.
I was pretty content at this point, so I didn't rush back to the small room right away. After taking a breather I made my way there eventually, but it was paaacked so I stood at the very back for Pixelplants' performance, who play sort of beefed-up synthpop (with live guitar and drums) which they dub "darkpop". Gotta say, I went in completely blind but came out a believer by the end! The group, but especially the vocalist gal was just a ball of energy jumping all over the place, and the fervour was definitely contagious. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives, even if the space became kind of suffocating after a while (lucky I was at the back). Impressive performance, I'll keep a lookout for the next time they're playing live near me.
Thankfully, the last band on the roster took a few more minutes to get onstage so we could take some rest for real this time, haha. The closing act of the night (with the longest set) was Undertheskin from Poland, who I also wasn't familiar with. That didn't stop me from dancing my brains out tho! Very professional cool sound and cleverly minimalistic arrangements made this 'nostalgic yet modern' brand of darkwave / post-punk a real killer. Sharp cutting distorted bass guitar licks, cold twinkly guitars (sometimes dual guitar lines), darkly mesmerizing vocals and occasional MIDIpad action, the works. The trio seemed very happy and grateful to be playing in this small but sold-out shithole [meant lovingly] to such an appreciative audience. A perfect way to end a dark-hued but colorful night.
There were still some DJ sets coming up, but my friend and I just looked at each other and agreed that we should go before our boomer bones collapse, lmao. Absolutely knackered and ears slightly ringing, but with souls re-energized we flew home on the darkly depressing subway lines (an appropriately decrepit urban gothic milieu to fit the theme of the evening).
