Tel Aviv, IL · post-punk-disco · electronic

Red Axes

1 upcoming festival →

Israeli duo whose live sets bring guitars and post-punk grit to a dance stage — Tel Aviv cool with krautrock stamina.

Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi met as teenagers in Tel Aviv and first played together in Red Cotton, a four-piece psychedelic rock band that released an album before splitting. An attempt to relocate the group to London stalled in Amsterdam, where the band broke up; Sadovnik and Arzi stayed on, touring Europe and broadening their sound.

Back in Tel Aviv, the pair started a rave party brand called Break It! before releasing the first Red Axes EP in 2010 under their own name. Their music since has sat between dance-floor electronics and post-punk, working guitars, live percussion and vocals into tracks that draw as much on new wave and krautrock as house or techno.

They have released across a wide range of labels, including Crosstown Rebels, Dark Entries, Hivern Discs, Permanent Vacation and Life and Death. Their debut full-length, Ballad of the Ice (2014), leaned heavily on vocals and guitar and included a cover of Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi's Dead", after which the duo toured internationally.

In 2016 they founded their own label, Garzen Records, releasing the album Beach Goths alongside a wider circle of collaborators including Abrão and Moscoman. Red Axes remain known for performing as a live band rather than restricting themselves to DJ sets.

Read more

post-punk-discoelectronic