Archive for the ‘Recommended Streams and Videos’ Category

Listen: ‘Looming Part 2’ by Upcdownc

Posted: 27 July 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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I, Awake is the new album from progressive, sludge, horror synth outfit Upcdownc set for release on 22nd September.

Following 17 years of producing constant heavy, instrumental, fuzzy noise this will be the band’s first album as a 3 piece.  The change in personnel and dynamics led to the band taking a new approach to their songwriting, looking at it from an alternate angle and with it bringing a fresh perspective. Guitarist Chris Garth comments: 

‘The writing was heavily influenced by the later Swans albums like The Glowing Man and To Be Kind where dynamics and repetition are used to great effect. We were listening to a lot of early Black Sabbath at the time which accounts for the heavy riffs, as well as quite a few different horror sound tracks.’  

Horror is one theme that is constant throughout I, Awake, and the band were heavily influenced by composers such as Fabio Frizzi, John Carpenter alongside the Shogun Assassin soundtrack, which led to the use of synthesizers on the album.  Garth adds, ‘we liked the idea of lots of small sections put together in bigger passages so that they form one whole entire piece which doesn’t necessarily have to be played in the same order when playing live. We had also started to use loops but wanted to keep things simple so used them more for textures rather than melodies, as we always like to record live with minimal overdubs.’ 

 The concept behind the music and artwork is based on the idea of sleep, dreams, nightmares and fears coupled with extreme anxiety and night terrors. I, Awake explores the transitions between sleep and waking life.   

‘Looming Part 2’ is the first track to be shared from the album. Chris comments, ‘I guess this song is part of the segment after you wake from a nightmare/dream and still have that feeling of anxiety/terror where you still are unsure whether what happened in the dream was real or not’.
Listen to ‘Looming Part 2’ here:
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Watch: ‘Obedience School’ by Dead Cross

Posted: 25 July 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Dead Cross, the SoCal hardcore band featuring Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer/Suicidal Tendencies), Justin Pearson (Retox / The Locust), Mike Patton (Faith No More / Tomahawk) and Michael Crain (Retox / Festival of Dead Deer), premiere a new video for ‘Obedience School’ directed by Dennis Bersales, whose work has been used in collaboration with Dim Mak, Three One G, SM Prime, Kenneth Cobonpue, and Roberto Cavelli. The track features on their new self-titled album, produced by the legendary Ross Robinson, to be released August 4th on coloured vinyl and CD via Ipecac Records and Three One G, as well as digitally through iTunes.

Dead Cross’ debut self-titled LP vacillates from sounding like Godzilla attacking Tokyo to becoming the potential soundtrack of witches catching waves in a hurricane. Its highs are sharp and wicked, its lows ominous and evil, all the while laced with wit and, many times, an element of tongue-in-cheekiness not often found in thrash or hardcore music. Dennis Bersales brings the unyielding intensity of the band to life in the video for Obedience School, made from actual footage of a cockfighting event in the Philippines. Though brutal, the violence is anything but gratuitous;  the imagery meaningfully works in conjunction with Patton’s lyrics, forcing the viewer to consider the ugly tendencies of mankind.

Check out the video here:

DEAD CROSS TOUR DATES:

August 10 Santa Ana, CA The Observatory *

August 11 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl

August 12 Phoenix, AZ The Marquee *

August 14 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Bar & Grill

August 15 Houston, TX Warehouse Live

August 16 Austin, TX Emo’s

August 18 Tucson, AZ The Rialto Theatre *

August 19 San Diego, CA The Observatory North Park

August 21 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre

August 23 Berkeley, CA The UC Theatre

August 25 Vancouver, BC Vogue Theatre

August 26 Seattle, WA The Showbox

August 27 Portland Wonder Ballroom

August 29 Sacramento, CA Ace of Spades

September 8 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Soundstage

September 10 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer

September 11 Boston, MA Royale

September 12 New York, NY Gramercy Theatre

September 13 Brooklyn, NY Warsaw

September 15 Detroit, MI St. Andrew’s Hall

September 16 Chicago, IL Riot Fest *

September 17 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom

September 19 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue

September 20 Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall

September 23 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre

* – Secret Chiefs 3 do not perform

EXCLUSIVE Watch: ‘Gravity’ by Ω▽ (OHMSLICE)

Posted: 25 July 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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‘Gravity’ is the first video from the debut of New York-based Ω▽ (OHMSLICE)’s debut album Conduit. One interesting aspect of the video is that it uses footage  from well-known experimental film maker Mark Street’s films with Street’s wholehearted approval. The album was recorded at Ft.Lb Studios in Brooklyn, produced by the outfit’s premium mobile multi-instrumentalist and instrument inventor Bradford Reed (King Missile III, creator of the electric board zither he calls the “pencilina”). The album is being released September 8 by Imaginator Records.

Ohmslice formed around Reed’s experiments in processing percussion  through a modular synth. Layered over a sonic framework of double-drummed syncopated rhythms  and analog pulses and drones are the sultry vocals and driving, often abstract lyrics of poet Jane LeCroy (Sister Spit, Poetry Brothel).  Joined by a rotating crew of collaborators including Josh Matthews (Drumhead, Blue Man Group) on drums, the legendary and ubiquitous Daniel Carter (Thurston Moore, Yo La Tengo) on trumpet and saxophones and Bill Bronson (Swans, The Spitters, The Gunga Den, Congo Norvell) on guitar. The album combines formal structures and heavy grooves with a sonic meditation on the nature of human-electronic improvisation.

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Conduit was recorded live over a two-year period. The album is an organized documentation of spontaneous creation and exploration and moves from the fuzzed-out psychedelic of “Crying on a Train” to the meditative ambient cycles of “Broken Phase Candy” and beyond.  Within this realm, the listener is meticulously guided through beautiful harmonic and rhythmic phase mosaics and held captive by an innovative and violently unquantized approach to groove based electronic music. Combined with LeCroy’s visionary mixture of philosophy, reflection, language and song Conduit illuminates a path to a rare and alluring space that reveals endless layers with each new listen.

‘Gravity’ is a brain-bending piece of jazz-infused experimentalsim, and coupled with the cut-up visuals, the promo makes for quite the multisensory experience.  You can check out the video here:

Watch: ‘Black and Grey’ by Discolor Blind

Posted: 20 July 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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If a musician’s creative output is intrinsically linked to the journey that brought them to that point then it is hardly surprising that Discolor Blind’s debut EP Long Vivid Dream is a mercurial blend of flavours and genres. The journey taken by frontman Askhan Malayeri has been one that has taken him from his native Tehran to Cambridge and London and then across the Atlantic to Canada, where he established his own studio and began pulling together all of the ideas that would weave together as his first significant release.

The first single from the EP is ‘Black and Grey’, a song shot through with the melancholia and angst that crept in from the cold Canadian winters he now found himself acclimatising to. But it also sums up the myriad textures found on the record, a mix of chilled and measured washes, which are used as platforms for more intricate sounds from raw guitars and plaintive pianos to pop beats and even sultry jazz grooves.

It’s a subtle, moody song, and while we’re not huge fans of lyric videos as a thing here at AA, this one at least has some compelling visuals accompanying a truly magical tune. Watch it here:

Watch: ‘Seizure and Desist’ by Dead Cross

Posted: 2 July 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Another ‘supergroup’ eh? But seriously, check this for a lineup…. Dead Cross, consist of Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer/Suicidal Tendencies), Justin Pearson (Retox/The Locust), Mike Patton (Faith No More/Tomahawk) and Michael Crain (Retox, Festival of Dead Deer). And ahead of the release of their debit album, they’ve unveiled the video for the track ‘Seizure and Desist’.

Watch it here:

Watch: ‘Another Fable’ by Furr

Posted: 1 July 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Leeds singles club Come Play With Me have announced their next split single, to be released on the 14th of July. Continuing their tradition of highlighting the exceptional and diverse talent in the Leeds City Region, this next single will feature Leeds bands Furr & RIIB. These two fast risings acts find themselves joining the CPWM roster alongside the likes of Cinerama (The Wedding Present), Harkin (Sleater Kinney, Sky Larkin), Team Picture, Her Name Is Calla, Fizzy Blood, Deadwall, OFFICERS, ZoZo, Laminate Pet Animal, Esper Scout, Ceiling Demons & Maggie8.

The next CPWM single features indie-math-pop-rock band RIIB, and riffy alt-rock indie foursome Furr.

Furr’s Sam Jackson explains their contribution to the Come Play With Me single – “Another Fable is the frankenstein of all these different musical influences that make up what Furr it is about. If someone said ‘what do Furr sound like?’ this would be the song to play them. Loud in your face guitars and popish vocal melodies. There might be a guitar solo! It’s the first time we’ve been critical of things going on around us and what’s been pissing us off recently. It’s about how obsessed with people we are about people we’ve never met and all this pop culture we have shoved in our face constantly….”

Watch the video to ‘Another Fable’ here:

Listen: ‘Signal (Redux)’ by Arrows of Love

Posted: 25 June 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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With the release of their second album, PRODUCT – the follow up to 2014 debut Everything’s Fucked – scheduled for release on  21st July, one of our favourite bands on the planet, Arrows of Love serve up a second taster in the form of ‘Signal (Redux)’, which has been mastered, once again, by Shellac legend Bob Weston.

‘Signal (Redux)’ hints at a band expanding their sonic repertoire: it’s still an abrasive, jolting, grungy racket, but their nihilistic fury is sculpted with hints of Gang of Four with an elastic bassline and scarring, fractured guitar. It’s probably their best work to date, and augers well for the album. Get your lugs round ‘Signal (Redux)’ here:

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The album will be available on Vinyl and CD across US/European territories on 21st July , which you can pre-order globally via www.pledgemusic.com/projects/arrowsoflove.

 

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Watch: ‘Queen Bee’ by Rachel Mason

Posted: 24 June 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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To coincide with the release of the album Das Ram, Rachel Mason has teamed up with Eric Leiser to produce a really rather trippy promo video for the track ‘Queen Bee’.

“I was invited to watch a beekeeper work while on an artist’s residency. The gender dynamics are so unique,” says Rachel Mason. “There is one matriarch – the Queen Bee, surrounded by a massive, buzzing population. It’s fascinating to witness the dynamic of power and to think about that on a psychological level – a female with that much power, surrounded by hundreds of workers who are there to pollinate crops, which humans depend on. They have total determination towards a single goal.”

Created by Eric Leiser, an award-winning NYC-based artist, filmmaker, animator, puppeteer, writer and holographer, the new video underlines this track’s intensity. He commented, “I was drawn to the symbolic subtext of this song. Bees are presently in danger of extinction, stemming from decades of environmental degradation. These amazing insects are among the most important creatures to humans, pollinating over 80% of all flowering plants including 70 of the top 100 food crops.”

“For me, the inner story is of a powerful female burdened with providing for the hive when she would rather pursue secret inclinations,” says Leiser. "Animating up to 50 individual bees in the dense swarm sequences was my personal challenge. As an artist I always attempt to push the animation toward new dimensions of visual complexity in hopes of creative evolution.”

Watch the video for ‘Queen Bee’ here:

Listen: ‘Wild Vow’ by Berries

Posted: 21 June 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Now this, we dig. Berries have announced the release of their new single ‘Wild Vow’ – the first track taken from their second EP, which sees the band further explore their unique take on riff-driven rock with even more grit and confidence. ‘Wild Vow’ boasts big riffs and choruses and further highlights the clever musicianship, weaving guitar and basslines and well-considered dum patterns that this exciting three-piece are becoming known for.

Get your lugs round ‘Wild Vow’ here:

Berries have some live dates coming up, too:

5th July – Headline Single Launch Show with Scruff of The Neck Records at The Old Blue Last, London with The Opera Comic + Rylands Heath, Free Entry.

22nd July – Tramlines Fringe Festival for Northern Crossroads Promotionsat The Church House Inn, Sheffield.

19th August – The Soup kitchen with Scruff of The Neck Records supporting Proletariat + King Kartel, Manchester.

8th September – The Finsbury, Gigslutz Promotions, London

 

Berries Wild

Listen: ‘16 Psyche’ by Chelsea Wolfe

Posted: 18 June 2017 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Chelsea Wolfe has announced the release of Hiss Spun, her sixth album, upcoming via Sargent House on 22nd September 2017. Additionally, Wolfe has some remaining European dates, and has announced an extensive Autumn tour of North America. A full list of dates is below.

Following her acclaimed 2015 album Abyss, Hiss Spun is at once dynamic, heavy, and raw.  Recorded by Kurt Ballou (Converge), the album was conceived as an emotional purge, a means of coming to terms with the tumult of the outside world by exploring the complexities of one’s inner unrest. “I’m at odds with myself,” she explains. “I got tired of trying to disappear. The record became very personal in that way. I wanted to open up more, but also create my own reality.”

Hiss Spun features prominent guitar contributions by Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, Failure) throughout the album, and a guest spot from Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom, SUMAC) on the song ‘Vex’.

By way of a taster, she’s unveiled ‘16 Psyche’. You can get your lugs round it here:

 

 

Chelsea Wolfe Live Dates:

14/6 Malmö, SE – Babel w/ Christine Owman
17/6 Clisson, FR – Hellfest
19/6 Antwerp, BE – Trix w/ Moon Duo
18/8 Las Vegas, NV -  Psycho Las Vegas

North American tour:
28/9 – Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room
30/9 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater
2/10 – San Diego, CA – Belly Up Tavern
3/10 – Tucson, AZ – 191 Toole
4/10 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
6/10 – Austin, TX – Paramount Theatre
7/10 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
8/10 – Dallas, TX – Kessler Theatre
10/10 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
11/10 – Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5
13/10 – Chapel Hill, NC – Cat’s Cradle
14/10 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
15/10 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts
17/10 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
19/10 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
20/10 – Montreal QC – Le National
21/10 – Toronto, ON – The Opera House
22/10 – Detroit, MI – El Club
24/10 – Chicago, IL – Metro
25/10 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
27/10 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
28/10 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
30/10 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
31/10 – Vancouver, BC – Venue Nightclub
1/11 – Portland, OR – The Wonderland Ballroom
3/11 – Sacramento, CA – Ace Of Spades
4/11 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
* Youth Code will open all North American shows

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