What the fuck is this? What are these guys on? We’re not entirely sure, but this weirdy vid is an approproate accompaniment to the gnre-clash hip-hop alt-rock oddity that is ‘Mother Acid’ (maybe that’s a clue to the answer to the second question) by Sewer Rats. We recommend watching and getting you lugs round what is, undeniably, a nifty tune.
Fancy some low-slung, tweaked-up, bass-heavy stoner rock for the weekend?
We recommend ‘Without’ by Ex People ‘cause it’s ruddy fucking mint. and can’t wait for the album due later in the year.
‘Negative Drone’ is one third of a final suite on the record, born out of his own research into the sound of fear and the weaponisation of audio over the past few decades. It is a piece about “recognising that technologies with huge promise tend to fall into particular tropes that are pre-existent and reflect cycles of power and capital interests.” Lawrence continues to describe how his research led him to all manner of surveillance and target acquisition footage from drones and other military craft… “Needless to say it was harrowing viewing, but it very much made me recognise the dynamic shifts erupting just beyond our everyday horizons. We don’t tend to think about these things, what they are used for and what it is they could be used for. We just assume that their uses are somehow prefigured. For most of us these machines and the implications they carry are distant and in some way unthinkable, but for other peoples across the world their sound alone is enough to bring terror and anxiety. I found this a powerful question to explore and the composition grew out of it. In fact the final third of the album grew from this particular line of investigation.”
Musically, ‘Negative Drone’, featuring Norman Westberg and Thor Harris of Swans, Werner Defeldecker and The Australian Voices, was one of the final pieces to come be completed on the record. It is also one of a number of pieces in which Lawrence plays pipe organ, recorded on what was once the largest organ in Queensland, the state he resides in.
Expanding investigations into the politics of perception, and exploring the possibilities of new recording processes, technologies, locations and relationships, as well as conveying different sonic textures, Cruel Optimism is ultimately a record that considers power (present and absent). It meditates on how power consumes, augments and ultimately shapes two subsequent human conditions: obsession and fragility.
We’re big fans of Lawrence English and Room40 here at AA (as our many reviews of the label’s output attest) and the indications are that this could be one of his strongest works yet. Check out ’Negative Drone’ here:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/194648555
Something a bit different for us here at AA, perhaps, but Bone Cult’s new single certainly meets our general rubric… The Nottingham two-piece death-electronica band are set to release their new single, ‘Fortune And Sorrow’ on December 12th.
Formed by Sam Hartill (bass, production) and Richard Watte (vocals, guitar, production) with a desire to offer a strong alternative to "the regular four guys in jeans and t-shirt look", the band has since gained high-profile support slots with the likes of The Qemists, Slaves, Sleaford Mods and more.
Championing solid production and strong visuals, on ‘Fortune And Sorrow’ the pair channels the rage of Death Grips, and the energy of The Prodigy via the slick, accessible dance vibes of Daft Punk.
Of the track’s inspirations, bassist Sam Hartill comments: "The track is a return to our original sound on the ‘Blackwork’ EP, and explores the emotions experienced through loss and recovery.
"That feeling of loss refers to the last 18 months where we felt we lost a lot of time and only now have found our momentum again."
Get your lugs round it here: https://soundcloud.com/bonecult/fortune-and-sorrow *
* We’re having a few technical issues with embedding SoundCloud right now: we’ll have an altogether prettier version of this up soon, hopefully.
New York City duo Uniform turn the spotlight to their second full length album, Wake In Fright, upcoming on 20th January 2017 via Sacred Bones – a harrowing exploration of self-medication, painted in the colours of war.
Following their Ghosthouse 12" released last month, vocalist Michael Berdan (ex Drunkdriver, York Factory Complaint) and guitarist/producer Ben Greenberg (ex-The Men, Hubble) return with a new batch of even more punishing songs that incorporate elements of industrial music, thrash metal, harsh noise, and power electronics.
“This record is primarily about psychic transition,” Berdan explained. “The distress that these songs attempt to illustrate comes from a place of stagnation and monotony. This is what happens when old ways of thinking become exhausted and old ways of coping prove ineffective. Something must change or it will break.”
Listen to ‘Tabloid’ here:
If the rest of the album’s half as good, it’ll be a belter.
The abrasive, otherworldly hiphop pioneers Dälek will be touring this month for a week of live shows, following on from the release of their 2016 comeback LP, Asphalt For Eden (Profound Lore), the first new record from the NYC trio since 2009. Ahead of these shows, they have released a brand new track, ‘Molten’, and the wind-tunnel production and furious wordsmith delivery that have become the group’s calling card have been amped up to reflect the song’s theme…
"After this unprecedented Presidential campaign, a venting was needed. This is bigger than the individual candidates, bigger than a broken system, bigger than the dumbing down of America. ‘Molten’ is the quiet rage, angst, and sadness against the current climate in our country and in this world, it’s a state of mind and emotions manifested. ‘Molten’ is the guttural yell into the nothingness by those of us who still think."
Their live performances are known as intense events that often end in a shoved mic stand and sonically assaultive layers of sound. Witnessing Dälek live is like coming face to face with the bastard child of Public Enemy and My Bloody Valentine; an amalgamation of the heaviest noise that the Velvet Underground or Merzbow ever unleashed and the knowledge spit by the likes of Rakim. The trio leaves you in a trance, sends shivers down your spine from the haunting beats intertwined with ambient textures and noise scales, and hits you with a powerful raw flow from one of the most charismatic MC’s of his, or any, era.
Listen to ‘Molten’ below. Full list of UK live dates after the jump.
22/11 – The Louisiana, Bristol
23/11 – Saint Lukes, Glasgow
24/11 – Chunk, Leeds *new addition
25/11 – Thomas House, Dublin
26/11 – Corsica Studios, London
27/11 – Islington Mill, Salford
Experimental Italian duo OvO have shared a a new video from their upcoming album ‘Creatura’. ’Satanam’ is described as “the discovery of a secret, a revelation that involves the freaky, weird inhabitants of a roulotte. Invocations and rituals bring OvO to them. In this story, OvO are the tree of life and death, and underground door to other dimensions”.
Brace yourself for the sonic onslaught and watch the video here:
Uniform are old friends Ben Greenberg (ex-The Men, Hubble, and the producer/engineer responsible for much of the Sacred Bones catalog) and Michael Berdan (ex Drunkdriver, York Factory Complaint) and formed in New York City in 2013.
To coincide with the 28th October release of their Ghosthouse EP (which has scored Aural Aggravation’s vote), they’ve unveiled their cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Symptom of the Universe’.
Get your lugs round it here…
Their latest album, Reliquary For a Dreamed Of World has already received a big thumbs up from Aural Aggravation. To coincide with the release, the band, known for their mind-melting visuals, celebrate video nasties in their brand new official video for ‘Milk Of Amnesia’.
Here’s what Adam Richardson had to say about it… “The video for ‘Milk of Amnesia’ is a visual banquet to serve the song…. it is a psych rock anthem with black metal delivery and aesthetic – wildly different to any other song on the album… so we have used appropriately toned low-budget horror film clips as well as the intense psychedelia of drug drenched visions to act as an accompanying bludgeon to what is the shortest song we have ever recorded (under 4mins)”.
Brace yourselvs and watch / listen below:
Aural Aggravation 