Red Axes

Formed in Tel Aviv in 2010 by Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi, Red Axes are an eclectic Israeli dance duo whose tracks range from dubby left-field house workouts to brooding cuts influenced by industrial and new wave. Their songs often blend dusty, twangy electric guitar riffs with simmering disco-inspired drum-machine rhythms, as well as the duo’s own shadowy vocals. The duo have a sinister sense of humor — they once made a bootleg disco edit of Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” — but despite some tinges of darkness, their tracks generally feel easygoing and good-spirited rather than truly menacing. Full-lengths like The Beach Goths (2017) and Red Axes (2020) demonstrate their off-beat dance-rock songcraft, and 2023′s The Phantasy Collection (Part 1) compiles some of their many club EPs.
Previously members of post-punk band Red Cotton, the two producers started a series of parties in Tel Aviv called Break It! before releasing the first Red Axes EPs in 2010. The digital EP Tour de Chile appeared on French label I'm a Cliché in 2012, followed by “Caminho de Dreyfus” — featuring veteran Brazilian vocalist Abrão — on Correspondant in 2012. Red Axes’ debut full-length, Ballad of the Ice, appeared on I'm a Cliché in 2014. The vocal- and guitar-heavy album included additional collaborations with Abrão as well as a cover of Bauhaus’ classic “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” Following the album, the duo released additional singles and EPs on a variety of dance labels including Crosstown Rebels, Hivern Discs, and Permanent Vacation. In 2016, Dark Entries issued an EP of the duo’s remixes of songs by Greek electronic pioneer Lena Platonos.
Red Axes’ second album, The Beach Goths, arrived on their own Garzen Records in 2017, followed shortly by the Kalacol EP on Life and Death and Nyx Tape on Dark Entries. In 2018, they launched the Trips series on !K7 with In Africa, continuing with In Vietnam and In India the following years. They also began releasing material on Erol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound, starting with Sipoor. The EP Voom appeared on Dark Entries in late 2019, and the label released Red Axes, the duo’s third full-length, in 2020. The Electric Bee was issued by Shall Not Fade in 2022. The Phantasy Collection (Part 1) gathered the duo’s EPs for the label in 2023. ~ Paul Simpson