The Mekano Set: a dark-roasted blend of spite, noise and extreme weather conditions.



“John Peel would have loved them” DJ CruelBritannia.


"Slick spiky electronic rock that screams darkness beneath a seemingly delicate exterior." Natasha Scharf, Metal Hammer.


"Mekano Set make machine rock music that blurs the line between dark-indie and industrial in exquisite fashion." Soundsphere Magazine.





"The Mekano Set get us all worked up with the promise of a song called 'Dirty Hand Job', and then totally spoil the mood by being goths... about as menacing as a Crow soundtrack." Emily Mackay.*


"Seedily attractive, smooth, impressively catchy, seething power..." Mick Mercer.


"Don't Eat The Sweets is an incredible track with great vocal harmony and beautifully structured layers of guitar and drums to really lure you into the mood to party." Hidden Sanctuary Radio.




"Filthy electro-rock... like some kind of beautiful crime." Niall O'Keeffe.


They take an industrial rock sounding shoegaze for a ride through a world of phazing guitar and driving beats, Depeche Mode vocals and slick electronic walls of sound.

Last time I saw them live they turned the smoke machine on full blast until you literally could not see your hand in front of your face and howled their guitars before stopping and leaving after one song! Brilliant! / Fokka Wolf.


"Delicate, filthy, post coital purr." Bubblegum Slut.


It’s a rare thing these days to actually find a genuinely original band. Whilst The Mekano set obviously show some of their influences, most notably late 70s/Early 80’s post punk and early 90s Shoegaze.

It’s the way it’s put together that makes The Mekano Set so unique. Hynotic beats combine with Hooky-esque basslines, fucked up guitar sounds and haunting, underplayed vocals.

Possibly The Mekano set’s weakness is they are impossible to categorise. Dark but not Goth, retro but modern. And people need their little boxes to put bands into these days. Some will get it, most won’t. I do get it and it is brilliant! / DJ Wild Bill Buttock




There's a duality of grim undercurrent and glittery propulsion here, in the same way New Order always shouldered something dark, in spite of their disco exhortations;

The vocals lean into the shadows pulling the light in with them but the basslines and synths intertwine in an upward spiral propelling the songs towards a lighter sphere -

Like hot and cold currents passing past each other the result is a swirling sucking vortex that's a little disorienting at first but once acclimatised (and who wouldn't be by now, after a year of darkwave-electro-drone wytch hause, ja?) you get caught in the stream of consciousness and punched along with the rush of its creator.

This sound is similar to that found in several of the Disaro bands on the Isvolt compilation, but where there's a lot of dischordant claustrophobia in those bands Mekano Set diverge at that point with a looser more spacious production, like White Ring, Modern Witch, or Light Asylum, into the thrusting glitch of Dirty Hand Job and the solar planing Don't Eat The Sweets / Not For Resale.





If you're looking for a break from pretty boys singing cheeky chappy mock rock and don't mind the odd yelp of fulfilled desire over sleazy electro rock then The Mekano Set could be right up your street.

The Mekano Set cram more talent, excitement and pre coital energy into a five track EP than most bands in a 10 album career. This, the first Mekano Set EP, has five demos that seethe and surge, convulse and contort, twirl and twine. This is horny female electro goth that makes maximum use of the effects pedal and sparing use of the vocoder, this is the sound of melancholic synth rock as sexual stimulant.

First track 'The Hand' , with it's distorted vocals and heavy breathing, sounds like a pre orgasmic P J Harvey during a particularly intensive foreplay session with the Sister of Mercy (the band that is not the religious order!!).

Next up is 'NotNow' which starts with highly suggestive groans from singer Beth that could make a Eunuch horny and ends like a pumped up Garbage. There is no let up with ambient third track 'House of Cards' which is a filthy masterpiece reminiscent of Curve at their deep down dirtiest. On fourth track 'UnWrite' Beth yelps like an orgasmic teenage opera singer over a banging, venomous beat courtesy of Milk./ The Devil Has The Best Tuna




"The Mekano Set have a talent for creating exciting electronic rock fields with edges, a noisy touch and haunting atmospheres; it's like velvety, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate ice cream with highly crispy candy splinters." Virus Magazine.


Still lamenting for the loss of a heavier Republica? Yearning for a group to fill the chasm of the increasingly errant Garbage? Would the idea of Massive Attack with a confrontational front woman please you? Then The Mekano Set are for you.

Powering with swathes of keyboards and subtle programming, this Brighton-based [trio] are far removed from the current popular mainstream... 'The Hand' has singer Beth wrenching melancholic vocal melodies from the book of PJ Harvey, while nefarious guitar lines lurk throughout... The pulsing beats of 'UnWrite' are half Jan Hammer / half Nine Inch Nails angst, with [Milk's] distorted vocals riding tandem with [Beth's] seductive whispers. The whole effect is like entering an 80's burlesque club in the middle of filming Miami Vice. The quagmire of sounds doesn't make it the best track on the EP though, and at times [the track] lacks in dynamics.

Not Now is a relaxed affair, allowing the music to breath and a chance to hear the intricate layering of Milk's guitar / programming / effects, which are pretty impressive when it's coming from one man. House of Cards certainly recalls the Kate Bush comparisons that Mekano might / might not enjoy, but it's a good closing track, reveling in its own ambient malevolence. Ali MacQueen @ Rock Feedback.


"Tracks swirl through the mists of Milk's effects pedals, drawing the listener towards the prowling pout of singer Beth. Unwrite and NotNow are stomping industrial monsters, noise threatening to shear your cochlea clean away as they drive into your head, on the back of momentous bass lines. Reel to Real is less direct but no less disorientating. impressive and compelling stuff." Meatbreak / Souce Magazine.




Ambience, and lots of it. Enough ambience to take a very moody, deep-filled bath in, and maybe, not make it out alive. Three songs from this trio and it's the first one which stands out a mile. 'Reel to Real' is a swampy electro beast that lasts for four minutes and feels like twenty. This, by the way, is a good thing as the song is compelling.

Snaking guitars and synths that make me think of swirling mists and sonic cathedrals. Well, maybe not sonic cathedrals. I gather they're banned under the music journalists' Geneva Convention. Still, if this is shoegazing, you'll find me gladly staring at my laces any time this is playing.

Definitely recommended for those long, dark nights or any time you just want to drown in the atmosphere. / The Mag



Brighton, UK based The Mekano Set lead us into a soundscape where (post-) rock and electronics grippingly melt together.

The result is an amalgam between power and beauty, an interplay between crunchy, forceful, at times even dirty and inclement effecting moments and smooth, deep, and atmospheric carpets.

Imagine Cocteau Twins, Android Lust, Collide, Curve, and Trent Reznor working on a Twin Peaks score and you get at least a little idea.

Beth’s vocals are accompanying the moods and tempos of the songs quite varied, switching between sexy, subtle, magic, and demanding.

The MCD opens with "The Hand", a restrained piece that serves a trippy but powerful rhythm that goes hand in hand with guitar riffs and Beth's lush vocals. The atmosphere is quite nightly, kinda sci-fi-driven, and painted with a certain fragrance of danger whilst a post punk-ish flair shimmers through the surface.

"UnWrite" crosses the speakers with a pulsating tempo, a certain seductive monotonous underlying tone and a notably droning, juicy bass line. Beth accompanies this track with slightly distorted, partly whispered vox.

"Dirty Hand Job" is an adrenaline-driven midtempo trip with a strong, groovy rhythm and a certain filthy atmosphere. Amidst the song one is confronted with a calm break that allows to take a breath before the liveliness continues its way.


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*NME / Stool Pigeon journalist Ms Mackay went on to criticize our "electro" tendencies, and our blatant use of what she thought was synthesizers. She also described non-existent photos of us standing outside a church wearing long black coats.

More recently, Ms Mackay wrote an article singing the praises of this new band she'd just discovered who go by the name of Ladytron. She didn't comment on their fondness for crushed black velvet, goth haircuts, pointy shoes, or their occasional use of synthesizing keyboards.