Schkeuditzer Kreuz Releases ‘Swan Grinder’ Companion Album

Fresh from the project’s second tour across Europe, New Zealand-born / Australian-based ‘Industrial Synth Crust’ artist Schkeuditzer Kreuz alias Kieren Hills has announced the new remix collection, Schkeuditzer Kreuz is Reinventing Axel F – Swan Grinder Remixed: a companion release to the third studio LP, Swan Grinder, ahead of the upcoming Swan Grinding Oceania Tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Reinventing Axel F (for short) features seven of the eight tracks from Swan Grinder, overhauled by UK industrial-darkwave giants Attrition; US anarcho-breakcore artists Distruster, and Robert Inhuman of Realicide / Decide Today; experimental Siberian-Canadian artist Alia of the Knife from Subterranea, Horror & Opera, ATTRITION et al; and from Australia, Brisbane’s electro-industrial outfit Hostile Architect, and brand-new Sydney industrial-gabber project Mattblackshotgun (Alex from Leech Woman and Inebrious Bastard). Schkeuditzer Kreuz completes the collection, with their own ‘Missed Meds Mix’ of ‘Poor Impulse Control’.

Kieren says of the new remix collection:

“I love putting these remix albums together – hearing how other people take apart my tracks and put them back together in  their own image is an amazing feeling.  And this time the range of sounds  is huge – from oversaturated distorted breakcore, to  reimagining with traditional Arabic instrumentation, and pretty much everything  in between.  This is a huge part of what electronic music is to me – the possibility of pulling everything down and  building it up again from scratch in totally different ways, so I’m very  excited to get this out in the world and into people’s ears.”

The Australian leg of the international Swan  Grinding Tour kicks in from November to December 2025, before returning  to Aotearoa for Auckland and Wellington shows in January 2026. Reflecting on  the recent tour of Europe (September-October), Kieren says the best thing was  the sense of community everywhere he went:

“I  played gigs across the continent from Armenia to Sweden, from Poland to Spain,  and everywhere I went there were these amazing communities of people – putting on shows, being involved in their local  squat or bar, or just turning up to have a great time and support touring  artists.  I felt so welcome and wanted everywhere I went,  and that is such a huge part of what we do.”

On the upcoming shows across Australia, Kieren continues:

“This  record, Swan Grinder, is the best music I’ve made.  I feel like I’ve managed to get the sounds in  my head onto record the way I want them, and I’m so excited to take those songs  on the road and play them to people who may well have seen me before, but I  feel like this is the best I have ever been, particularly when I’m fresh from  playing 30 odd shows across Europe.  I feel like I am on– and I’m stoked to be  taking that out there on the road.”

On returning to Aotearoa New Zealand, he adds:

“It’s been two years since I was last there, and they have been two extremely busy  years: I’ve toured a fair bit of the world, released this new album, and worked  to get myself, my performance where I want it.  So to bring that back to  NZ, to my home country, and to my friends there, means a lot to me.”