From the darker corners of the Los Angeles and San Diego electronic scenes comes UNTER STRØM, a new duo bringing together two longtime collaborators with a shared appetite for industrial intensity, melodic atmosphere, and underground experimentation.
Led by Alex Gonzales of Matte Blvck and John Kunkel of The New Division and John Grand, UNTER STRØM sits somewhere between warehouse grit and cinematic electronic music. Their sound pulls from techno, melodic house, industrial textures, and darker alternative influences, moving between brooding tension and moments of euphoric release.
That chemistry has been developing for years. Gonzales and Kunkel have crossed paths through various bands, studios, and creative projects, eventually finding a natural outlet for their shared interest in pushing electronic music beyond familiar boundaries. UNTER STRØM became the space where those ideas could collide without having to fit neatly into a single genre.
The project is now opening that world to listeners with Transmission 003: Live at the Breathing Records Showcase, a nearly 90-minute live recording that captures UNTER STRØM in its earliest public form.
Recorded during the Breathing Records Showcase, the set is particularly significant because it marked the duo’s first time performing UNTER STRØM in front of an audience. Rather than relying on previously released material, the pair took the opportunity to present an expansive selection of unreleased music, allowing the crowd to become part of the project’s development.
“We wanted the set to present a broad landscape of the Unter Strøm sound and show how many different places the project can go,” says John Kunkel. “After working on this music for over a year, it was exciting to finally experience it through a proper sound system and watch people respond to it in real time. What makes it even more exciting is that we still have a lot more in the tank that didn’t make it into the set.”
That first performance also gave the duo an opportunity to hear their music outside the studio and discover which ideas translated most effectively to a dancefloor.
“The Breathing Records showcase was the first time we played an Unter Strøm set in front of an audience, so it felt like an important moment for us,” explains Alex Gonzales. “We performed an hour and a half of entirely unreleased material, including ‘Fragment’ and ‘Stumbling’ before either song had been released, as well as several vocal tracks that we were still developing. It gave us a rare opportunity to test this body of work in a live environment and see which moments connected instinctively with the audience.”
That live-first approach is already central to the identity of UNTER STRØM. Rather than presenting the duo as a fixed sound, Transmission 003 reveals a project capable of shifting between heavy industrial pressure, melodic passages, vocal-driven moments, and more atmospheric stretches while maintaining a consistent sense of darkness.
The pairing also brings together two established creative paths. Alex Gonzales has continued building an international audience with Matte Blvck, developing a reputation through relentless touring and sold-out shows across the United States. John Kunkel, meanwhile, has explored both alternative and electronic territory through The New Division and his work as John Grand, earning support from tastemakers including Armin van Buuren on A State of Trance and a guest mix on Group Therapy Radio.
Those backgrounds give UNTER STRØM a foundation that extends beyond straightforward club music. The duo’s productions can feel physical and warehouse-ready one moment before opening into widescreen melodic territory the next, reflecting two artists who have spent years exploring the space between electronic music and darker alternative sounds.
With Transmission 003: Live at the Breathing Records Showcase, UNTER STRØM offers an early snapshot of a project that is still taking shape. Much of the music heard during the performance remains unreleased, meaning the nearly 90-minute set functions not only as a live document but as a preview of where the duo could take its sound next.
For Gonzales and Kunkel, that unfinished quality is part of the excitement. The first chapter has already been tested in front of a crowd, but with plenty of material still waiting in the wings, UNTER STRØM is only beginning to reveal what lies beneath the surface.