Tonight friends, a bittersweet farewell to and celebration of an incredible Melbourne band. Hospital Pass kick things off at 8pm, followed by Slomo, Astral Skulls and then the final show for Claws & Organs. At The Old Bar for 10 clams. You can p
Check out the 4 piece Astral Skulls extravaganza this Saturday night in support of the wonderful Claws & Organs - it's their final show and album launch party. We're also super excited to play with Hospital Pass and SLOMO! All at The Old Bar for
Solo show this coming Wednesday, upstairs at @thetotehotel with Kayo, Roles and Sissysocks. Starts at 7pm - probably the last solo show for a minute, and a great line up. #thetote #kayo #astralskulls #melbourne #music
Thanks so much to Alex from Interstellar Overdrive on @pbsfm for having me in to play a live set last night. If you missed it, you can listen back at www.pbsfm.org.au/node/84424 (from about 15 minutes in). Congrats on 84 amazing shows!
A selfie to tell you about a live to air set i’m doing tonight on the last ever edition of @pbsfm program Interstellar Overdrive. Tune in to 106.7FM or stream via pbsfm.org.au from midnight, i’ll be playing 6 songs, most of them about out
Playing a solo set @theoldbar Monday, 8pm for these folks’ show. New pedals / Old songs #Repost @messmelbourne ・・・ Looking forward to our Mundane Mondays show this Monday coming with @boypartsmusic @uva.ursi_ and @astralskulls ! Starts 7:30 🍃
@astralskulls solo set happening at @theoldbar Monday March 25 with @messmelbourne, @uva.ursi_ and @boypartsmusic. 7.30pm / $8 Will be bringing myself, synth, guitar and the 404. #astralskulls #mess #uvaursi #boyparts #theoldbar #nowave #postpunk #
Oh this Thursday night we get to@play the amazing new venue space upstairs at Nighthawks in Collingwood with Lost Talk, FRAG and NQR! 8pm, $10 at the door.
We’re playing @theoldbar tonight with Synthetics and Tom Lyngcoln for the opening of the 1,000 Skulls art show. This is one of my contributions, “Predator and Rainbow”. Bands at 8, 9 and 10, $10 entry. Buy some art too- all proceeds
We play Tuesday at @theoldbar with SYNTHETICS and Tom Lyngcoln. It’s the opening night of 1,000 Skulls - an art show at @satellite_gallery featuring 1,000 skulls!! You can contribute artwork too, all funds donated to Palliative Care Victoria.
On our way to @thetotehotel - Junior Fiction is up first at 7pm so don’t dawdle! Then it’s good m8s @pissfactoryband, us, and new m8s @pinchpointsband and all over by 10 then good night. x

Astral Skulls

Since beginning Astral Skulls as a solo project in April 2014, Kurt Eckardt has refined his own brand of jagged symphonies which swing back and forth across the pop-spectrum, stopping in at punk, electro and new wave. As of April 2018, Astral Skulls is a 4-piece, playing out the back catalogue and some new ones like the post-punk band it was always meant to be.

Astral Skulls' homepage

Also check out Kurt's other band, Hearts and Rockets.

Some press for Astral Skulls:

Happy (06/07/15)
"Blunt, but not crude. It may feel a little abrasive at first but the song really is a call to action. It calls out to all men to recognise the bullshit and do something about it. 
On the other side of the coin is Bite My Tongue, a more self deprecating song that feels far more honest. While Sexism Sux may be an optimistic call to action, Bite My Tongue is resigned to the truth of one’s own nature..."
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Tone Deaf  (11/03/2015) 
"Australia’s favourite rising musician Courtney Barnett has been making waves around the globe with her signature slack-rock gems, releasing her universally acclaimed yet internationally misunderstood sombre tune Depreston, and riding on the talented lass’ success arrives a parody from a local Aussie musician entitled Impreston..."
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Noisey (10/03/15)
"The video is also a fun retort to Courtney Barnett’s Depreston, a somber song about moving further away from the inner city action. With lines such as, "the CBD is a quick bike ride/spend half as much on rent", Impreston is a fun and clever celebration of life in the 3072..."
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Noisey (27/02/15) 
"A one-man music machine, Astral Skulls meshed harsher guitar tones with a lo-fi synth-backing track. Yeah it sucks to play first but Kurt had the rowdy rum fuelled crowd in a loose headlock and by his last track the room had the feeling of a school-disco that had been taken over by a punker Marty McFly..."
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Noisey (23/12/14)
"Kurt Eckardt is the sole driver/operator of Astral Skulls, an outer planetary guitar and synth vehicle that has landed in Melbourne via Brisbane..."
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Mess and Noise (22/12/14)
"Eckardt has a knack for setting his misanthropic leanings against fairly menacing yet overtly poppy backdrops..."
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Sonic Masala (26/08/14)
"The combination of guitar and synth here creates a 16-bit platform for monotone vocals to create an interesting cross section of New Wave marching nihilism and post-millennial hypercolour movement and beats. The end result? An anarchic drumbeat of post-punk that bubbles more than boils, made for cassettes to jam into your Commodore 64. More, please."
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Don't Need No Melody (24/08/14)
"Go and listen to the cosmic guitars and big, beautiful beats served up by Brisbane’s Astral Skulls, then use Soldiers and Money to soundtrack your next intergalactic journey or road trip..."
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The Music (04/06/14)
"Dark electronic pop delivered by Astral Skulls with beats so crisp they could cut butter and a deadpan monotone delivery of sadness. So very, very excellent."
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Mess and Noise (22/05/14)
"The latest two are the shouty and agitated False Future and the purring and poppier Get the Money, while Under the Southern Cross seethes with bitterness about our country’s “stolen history.” But the “hit” is definitely Out of the Suburbs, which strikes an ideal balance between brooding vocals, pulsating layers and classic let’s-skip-town romance..."
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Lone Riot (19/05/14)
"The result is somewhat equatable to sitting in a corner in space, turning it into your bedroom and hibernating, being enthralled and lulled by shooting stars, questioning the possible existence of alien life, and questioning your own..."
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Crawlspace Magazine (12/05/14)
"It’s not the kind of raw and undeveloped scree you’d expect from a punk musician moving into more electronic territory. Eckardt’s delivery is reminiscent of Peter Escott from The Native Cats: it’s a bit droll but not at all offhand or uncaring..."
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Further reading:
http://kalamitat.tumblr.com/post/106712427793/astral-skulls-this-party-bites-ok-a-bit