Dark Wave Playlists — February 22, 2026 at 10:52 pm

Playlist: Sirius XM’s “Dark Wave” — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (2/22/26)


The Wolfgang Press | Photo via 4AD

“Dark Wave,” hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Matt Sebastian, explores the darker side of classic ’80s alternative, including vintage goth, post-punk and industrial. The shows airs at 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern every Sunday on Sirius XM satellite radio’s 1st Wave (Channel 33).

The most recent two episodes are also available to subscribers to stream via the Sirius XM app.

Got a request? Requests will be considered for future episodes as long as they fit the show’s format and fall generally within the 1st Wave era — and provided the host doesn’t harbor an intense dislike of the song. If there’s something you’d like to hear, drop it in the comments below.

 

HOUR 1
Bauhaus, “The Sanity Assassin” (Bauhaus 1979–1983)
The Damned, “The Shadow of Love” (Phantasmagoria)
The Mission, “Love Me to Death” (God’s Own Medicine)
The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Taste of Cindy” (Psychocandy)
Echo & The Bunnymen, “Crocodiles” (Live) (Crocodiles)
The Cure, “Endsong” (Songs of a Lost World)
The Sisterhood, “Giving Ground” (7-Inch) (Gift)
Kate Bush,“The Dreaming” (The Dreaming)
Death Cult, “Too Young (Riders in the Storm)” (Ghost Dance)
Public Image Ltd., “Flowers of Romance” (Flowers of Romance)
The Smiths,“London” (Louder Than Bombs)
Remnant Three, “Anomie” (A Gentle Collapsing)
Gang of Four, “Armalite Rifle” (Yellow)

HOUR 2
Time Zone featuring John Lydon, “World Destruction” (World Destruction)
Front 242, “Tragedy For You” (Tyranny For You)
Clock DVA, “Sound Mirror” (Buried Dreams)
Pailhead, “I Will Refuse” (12-Inch Version) (Side Trax)
VNV Nation, “Pepertual” (Matter + Form)
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Sea of Light” (Downside Up)
The Wolfgang Press, “Time” (Time)
Psyche, “Unveiling the Secret” (12-Inch Mix) (Unveiling the Secret)
Love and Rockets, “Life in Laralay” (Express)
Dalis Car, “The Judgement is the Mirror” (The Waking Hour)
Cocteau Twins, “The Itchy Glowbo Blow” (Blue Bell Knoll)
Lush, “Sweetness and Light” (Gala)

HOUR 3
The Sisters of Mercy, “Marian” (First and Last and Always)
In Camera, “Fragments of Fear” (Era)
13th Chime, “Cuts of Love” (The Singles 1981-1983)
Mighty Sphincter, “Mental Mansion” (Ghost Walking Double EP)
Ministry, “Thieves” (The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste)
Big Black, “Racer X” (Racer-X)
Killing Joke, “Victory” (Brighter Than a Thousand Suns)
Shriekback, “Hubris” (Jam Science)
Joy Division, “She’s Lost Control” (Unknown Pleasures)
The Lords of the New Church, “Portobello” (The Lords of the New Church)
Tones on Tail, “Performance” (Everything!)
Lowlife, “Swing” (Diminuendo)
Peter Murphy, “Strange Kind of Love” (Deep)
Altered Image, “Dead Pop Stars” (I Could Be Happy: The Best Of)

 

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32 Comments

  1. Great show tonight! Thanks Matt

  2. MAGNIFICENT show! All THREE of the “S”‘s – Siouxsie, Shoegaze and Shriekback!

    Thanks for playing my Hubris request – always loved that song since I first heard it 40+ years ago.

    Cheers!

  3. Matt, I’ve been listening for years, and your show has become the fuel that keeps my little time machine running. Every week I tune in religiously and listen live; your mixes have carried me through more timelines than I can count.
    If you’re taking requests, I’d love to put in an ongoing one: a song about time. Doesn’t matter if it’s the theme, a lyric, or just the feeling of it slipping sideways. The machine always needs more of it.
    Thanks for everything you do; your broadcasts mean more than you know.

  4. Thanks for playing Lush on tonite’s show!

    For future shows:

    1. City of Refuge – Nick Cave + the Bad Seeds
    2. Love + Kisses – Altered Images
    3. A Matter of Time – Berlin
    4. Blue-Eyed Pop – the Sugarcubes
    5. I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts – X
    6. The Ordinary Boys – Morrissey
    7. Wonderful Woman – the Smiths
    8. Sister Europe – Psychedelic Furs
    9. Growing In Green – March Violets
    10. Tora! Tora! Tora! – Depeche Mode
    11. Rules + Regulations – Public Image Ltd.
    12. Poison Door – Sisters of Mercy
    13. Medusa – Clan of Xymox
    14. Whistling For His Love – Danielle Dax

  5. Thank you for playing Clock DVA

  6. Great show, as usual! I’m not sure this is a dark wave song but I’ll throw it out there anyway as a request:
    Blue Clocks Green – Hemingway

  7. Hey Matt!

    Great show! So very cool to hear songs from Shriekback // Jam Science… Performance // Tones on Tail was a great addition as well…… + Thieves // Ministry. Awesome !!!

    Hmmmm – Perhaps this TAGABOW track could be squeezed into a future shoegaze set? :)

    baeside k / They Are Gutting A Body Of Water

    Cheers!

  8. Wow—Mighty Sphincter! Phx death punk outfit who’s original lead singer, Ron Reckless (sadly deceased), put on such a legendary show. I was too young to have gone but friends would tell me about it. Which leads me to my request. Another Phx outfit, Killer Pussy—Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage.

  9. If Matt played TAGABOW I’d probably end up crashing my car
    Saw them live a few months ago
    Incredible new band doing great things !!

  10. “I Can See Stars” or “Heaven” by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry would be very nice. Thanks you!

  11. Play Dead – Pleasureland

  12. Enjoyed each hour!

    Looking ahead to March, I’d like to request any choice of yours off of Depeche Mode’s 101 live album, as it reaches 37 years(!) since its release in March 1989.
    The album always makes me think of spring time and the warmer days ahead.

    Thanks!

  13. Thanks for playing the Wolfgang Press request! whole show was a ton of fun, particularly the Pailhead, Big Black, Thieves (my Ministry gateway drug), and 13th Chime.

    Thanks for the Weekly Dose of Darkness!

  14. Super awesome show especially loved VNV Nation, Peter Murphy, Tones on Tail and the shoegaze tracks!! I saw NIN a few nights ago – brilliance….played a nice selection of tracks!! Trent sounded great! I highly recommend checking them out on their current tour if you didn’t in the Fall of ’25. Some possible suggestions for next time:

    Pixies – Velouria
    NIN – Dead Souls (any live version please!)
    Love and Rockets – No Big Deal

    Thanks again as always!!!! 。⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠。

    • I can second Tina’s recommendation to go see NIN if they are in your burgh. Highly recommended indeed.

      And I will second all 3 of these great song requests!

  15. Great show! Thank you for introducing us to Remnant Three awhile back, what a find. And I can’t recall having ever heard In Camera before, another great find. This set felt like it was chock full of deep cuts, along with a couple of ace singles by the Sisters and Joy Division. I turned up Big Black so loud my wife told me to turn it down, haha.

    Request for a future communion: “The 15th” by Wire.

    Have a great week Matt, cheers!

  16. Matt,nice and smooth darkness for 3 hours,definitely hit the spot,thanx much!
    And so as it goes,here I go again,lol.All the best,always.
    BAUHAUS-Telegram Sam
    SEVERED HEADS-First Steps
    DINO LEE-Stud Pony
    M.

  17. Ken & Lindsay

    We’ve been planning our Sunday Nights around the broadcast for a while now. All activities must be near a stereo and any company better be up for some loud music. Every week a song we’ve never heard before and or one we never thought we would hear broadcast to the masses. Hard to believe something this good exists.

    If it fits in the mix,
    Oto – Anyway

    Thank you!

  18. Can you play circular fever from the tourists

  19. Hi
    I look forward to your show every week and find some songs that really elevate each hour like Low Life, The Wolfgang Press and VNV Nation which I never heard before and appreciate.
    My request is for Echo and The Bunny Men- The Puppet or Gene Loves Jezebel – Bruises

  20. Thank you for playing VNV Nation, haven’t heard that song in a while.
    Could you please play The Gruesome Twosome’s “Hallucination Generation”?
    Thanks, Keep playing those great songs!

  21. Simple Minds – 20th Century Promised Land

  22. Awesome set this week! Hey, how about some dark wave Aussie-style? Start it off with The Lime Spiders- SLAVE GIRL!!

  23. Corey from Ohio

    Great show. My brother and I just caught NIN for the second time on the Peel it Back tour last week. Got to hear The Wretched this time. In honor of the tour, how about “All the Pigs, All Lined Up” from the March of the Pigs EP. Thanks

  24. Loved that Lowlife tune. Never heard of them – gonna have to look into them. Very Joy Division meets Sisters kind of vibe.

  25. A future request:

    The Cure, “The Holy Hour” (Faith)

  26. Thanks for another great show! Can you next week play something from early Dead Can Dance?
    “De Profundis”?

  27. The Sisters Of Mercy – Emma (1988) Apple Music + Qobuz

  28. Late to the comments board this week but needed to shout out this fantastic episode. Can’t possibly fit in all my thoughts…Was blown away by Remnant Three and In Camera, both new to my ears though it seems Remnant Three may have been played on your show before.

    Some old favorites that were a joy to hear included Lush and “Racer X’ by Big Black, and every time you play 13th Chime, I am enamored.

    A quick callback to the previous show, Velocity Girl ‘A Chang’ absolutely stunning! Thanks for requesting it, Nathan! I’m a lot more familiar with their Simpatico material. This scratches that Shoegaze itch mightily.

    Would love to request a little scuzzed out swamp rock, The Scientists “This Is My Happy Hour” for a future show.

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