On the eve of their album release, CNTS, the Los Angeles-band featuring members of Dead Cross, Retox and Qui, have shared a video for the title track from their new album, Thoughts & Prayers (out tomorrow, 29th March).
"’Thoughts & Prayers’ was inspired by a bad day I was having during recuperation after my accident and subsequent surgeries. I was angry and in a lot of pain, struggling to get through the day while not exacerbating my injuries. In the US, "thoughts and prayers," is a common banal response to tragedies. Whenever someone shoots up a school or an airplane crashes into a shopping mall or an entire city overdoses on fentanyl, pundits and politicians flock to the cameras and social media with, "our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families… It’s stupid and insulting." – Matt Cronk
Queercore punk band Shooting Daggers released their debut album Love and Rage last month on New Heavy Sounds. This week they head out on a tour with U.S hardcore band Spaced. Before then though they have shared the new video for ‘Wipe Out’ which features a whole host of contributions from the queer skateboarding scene.
Check the vid here:
Sal, Bea and Raquel aka Shooting Daggers, are without a doubt burning it up at the moment. Since releasing their EP ‘Athames’ in 2022, a split single with Ukrainian punk band Death Pill on late 2023 and their debut album ‘Love & Rage in February this year, the whispers are getting much louder.
New single ‘Wipe Out’ is about the queer skateboarding scene. Sal from the band comments:
"We wanted to show how fun, powerful and epic skating is. Even if it means eating shit and “wipe out” more than actually staying on the board.
With this video we wanted to show the collective sense of freedom and highlight queer skate communities from everywhere,that’s why we gathered footage online from all over the world and put it together.
I got into skateboarding during the whole”Skate kitchen” (all girl skateboarding film), “glue skateboarding” and “there” (queer punk skate crews) era. It influenced a lot of people in the UK back in 2018. There were girl skate sessions for free at House of vans, bay66 and hopkingdom every month in London.
It felt like all the girls started skateboarding around 2018, skateboarding was huge back then (all ages and all genders too). I remember seeing Beatrice Domond skating at HOV and she blew my mind.
We were all learning beginners tricks together, lifting each other up and evolving together at our own pace.
Many queer skateboarding collectives emerged and are still running like queerskatebristol, clumsy (toulouse France), siblings (london), transkaters (london), bronxgirlsskate who participated in this video, among many many others. Glad to see Trans and queer night in bay66 btw
My way of consuming skateboarding is primarily through instagram so Instagram skaters inspired the most like briana king, the girls from brixton baddest Stefani nurding, amy gillingwater, Marbie princess, Arin, Kien Caples too, atalimendes, palice (represent Birmingham), the girls from skate kitchen.
There are so many, I’m sure I will miss some. A lot of regular skaters girls and queers making sick edits and posting on IG inspire me to keep going everyday.
If I had to chose 3 from the top of my head I would say that my heroes are:
Cher Strauberry for the punk attirude
Savannah Stacey Keenan for the steeze
Vitoria Bortolo for the lines”
The band will also support U.S hardcore outfit Spaced as part of their ‘Trippin Thru the UK Tour 2024’:
Ahead of the release of their new album A Chaos Of Flowers, out April 19th, BIG|BRAVE have released the striking new single ‘canon : in canon,’ featuring one of the album’s featured performances by acclaimed guitarist and label-mate Marisa Anderson. Vocalist/guitarist Robin Wattie leads the ensemble with a deeply affecting melodic turns and subtly ecstatic vocal effects, while Anderson and guitarist Mathieu Ball billow in plumes of distortion and slow arpeggio beneath drummer Tasy Hudson’s delicate cymbal work.
About the track Robin Wattie comments, "I took a risk and went full R&B and to my great surprise everyone was super down. I took another risk by trying to convey the slow and heavy nature of witnessing yet another sunrise in the throes of deep sadness, grief or depression… and the sense of failure when you’re unable to navigate the outside world that seems to carry on and disregard the severity of these emotional and mental states. Marisa Anderson amplifies the track to a beauty I couldn’t have imagined."
Listen to ‘canon : in canon’ here:
BIG|BRAVE tour dates
May 3 – Duisburg, DE – Stapeltor May 4 – Brussels, BE – Les Nuits Botanique May 5 – Paris, FR – Pointe Ephemere May 6 – Bern, CH – Dachstock May 7 – Schorndorf, DE – Club Manufaktur May 8 – Graz, AT – Orpheum Extra May 9 – Budapest, HU – Durer Kert May 10 – Wien, AT – Chelsea May 11 – Krakow, PL – Kamienna12 May 12 – Warsaw, PL – Hydrozagadka May 14 – Prague Bike, CZ – Jesus May 15 – Berlin, DE – Kantine am Berghain May 16 – Aarhus, DK – VoxHall May 17 – Sonderborg, DK – Mejeriet May 18 – Copenhagen DK – A Colossal Weekend May 20 – Den Haag, NL – Paard May 21 – Antwerp, BE – Bouckenborgh May 22 – Ramsgate, UK – Ramsgate Music Hall May 23 – Brighton, UK – The Green Door Store May 24 – Bristol, UK – Dareshack May 25 – Leeds, UK – The Lending Room May 25 – London, UK – Portals Festival
Well, this is succinct, and a release most definitely well-suited to the format. I was reminded following a recent post that vinyl is not a friend of the environment. It’s a hard fact to take. I grew up with vinyl, I love vinyl. But then, petrolheads make the same defence of fast cars, and people who love overseas travel and cruises likewise. Well, maybe. Although I doubt many grew up with cruises, the most environmentally-damaging of all tourism, being primarily the domain of affluent retirees, and they don’t give a fuck about the environment because they’re not going to be here to see it burn.
Only today, I read a news item about how younger people suffer more mental health issues, suffer from greater anxiety over the future, while boomers sleep pretty well at night. The findings included that ‘Nearly 60% of young people approached said they felt very worried or extremely worried… More than 45% of those questioned said feelings about the climate affected their daily lives… Three-quarters of them said they thought the future was frightening. Over half (56%) say they think humanity is doomed.’
So I have every reason to feel conflicted here, and I can’t pretend that everything’s ok. But then the same people who are worried are also getting into buying showcase vinyl. I have no conclusion to this diversion: it’s simply something that’s rubbing as I approach this release, and we learn that ‘Ulrich Troyer’s MOMENTS transforms classical & acoustic guitar recordings through tape machine treatment, guitar effect pedals, analog & digital effects into a shimmering soundscape. The combination of textures and effects generates excitement and invites to listen repeatedly, surprising each time with new details’, and offers ‘Fractured tones, beautifully rooted and held together by the tune underneath.’
Troyer’s own words resonate on a personal level I had not expected. He explains that “The inspiration for the composition MOMENTS is based on personal experiences of the last years. I strived to achieve a beautiful and pleasant life for myself and my family through diligent and consistent work. In the hope that at some point “everything would be beautiful”, I lost sight of the moment – the here & now. Two serious cases of illness in my family made me realize that it will never be “nice and pleasant at some point”, but that there are just always beautiful moments in between, that cannot be captured and that need to be consciously enjoyed and experienced.”
His words articulate – albeit in vague terms -the difficulty of coming to terms with the fact that life is not what you expect, that it’s not viable to pin hope on a perfect future moment. The moments of enjoyment, or joy, of pleasure, emerge through the cracks in the face of bleak news.
On learning that my wife had – optimistically – years to live (it proved to be only months), we packed in as much as was physically possible. Making memories, as they say. They weren’t all good. Sometimes she was too ill to enjoy anything; some trips got cut short because she simply wasn’t up to it. She would rather we didn’t remember trips being marred by her being red-hot angry or through-the-floor down, and so we move on, and focus on what we did achieve and the better times.
In times of darkness, music so often provides comfort, and more, and this is clearly true for Ulrich Troyer. He writes, ‘I feel the most intense moments of happiness when I have the opportunity to completely immerse myself in a piece of music for a certain amount of time while composing, playing or listening… Music as such has always accompanied me since childhood and has been there for me in both beautiful and difficult moments. I started learning classical guitar when I was ten. I discovered electronic music in Vienna in the 90s and have been addicted to it ever since. With MOMENTS I wanted to interweave my musical beginnings with my current musical language and expression.’
The two compositions are both under five minutes long, and as such perfectly suited to a 7” release, and across the two pieces, Troyer presents jolting ruptures and blasts of glitch, occasional churns and crackles, and, flickering and out of the mix, amidst bulbous bass and busy ambience and a conglomeration of noise, some tuneage. Some of it’s quite pleasant: some of it is more discordant, difficult noise.
Troyer certainly packs a lot into these moments, and this is an interesting release, which places patience at the fore.
Yesterday, I discovered that the company I work for by way of a dayjob not only has a nut-free floor in its primary office on account of allergies – I get it, the potential for anaphylactic shock and death is something that requires precaution – but it also has two floors where strawberries are prohibited, and another which is a banana-free zone.
I began to consider the practicalities. How do these people get to their designated floors safely? How do they even get to the office? What do they do about supermarket shopping? After all, strawberries and bananas are out there. In fact, they’re on the street in front of various greengrocers’ near me. While I was considering this, the new Melvins single landed in my inbox. It’s as if they had planned to provide the soundtrack to my contemplations.
Yes, Melvins have shared a second song from their forthcoming album, Tarantula Heart (April 19, Ipecac Recordings), with today’s release of ‘Allergic to Food’.
Check it here:
“The way we approached Tarantula Heart was different than any other Melvins’ album,” explains Buzz Osborne. “I had Dale and Roy Mayorga come in and play along with Steven and I to some riffs, then I took those sessions and figured out what parts would work and wrote new music to fit. This isn’t a studio approach we’ve ever taken. Usually we have the songs written BEFORE we start recording!”
“The majority of Tarantula Heart has dual drum parts,” adds long-time Melvins drummer Dale Crover. “Roy is an amazing drummer. We would discuss what we would do pattern wise, then we’d just go for it. Improvising riffs and trading off on drum fills.”
Recorded, mixed and co-produced by longtime Melvins’ collaborator Toshi Kasai, the album also features We Are The Asteroid guitar player Gary Chester. Gary and the Melvins’ history goes back to their days on Boner Records, with the guitar player formerly having been a part of the legendary band, Ed Hall.
Adam Wiltzie shares the blossoming opening suite, ‘Buried At Westwood Memorial Park, In An Unmarked Grave, To The Left Of Walter Matthau’, taken from his latest musical endeavour, Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentothal, to be released by kranky on 5th April.
The longest track on the album introduces us to a hazy world of sound washes, and eases the listener into the journey of this magnificent album.
Listen to ‘Buried At Westwood Memorial Park…’ here:
The latest suite by composer (and Stars Of The Lid co-founder) Adam Wiltzie took shape following a move north from Brussels into the Flemish countryside, although it was initially inspired by a recurring dream wherein “if someone listened to the music I created, then they would die.” The album uniquely evokes and evades the allure of oblivion, keening between beauty and ruin, forever unresolved. Wiltzie cites the barbiturate of the title as both muse and sacred escape: “When you are sitting face forward on the daily emotional meat grinder of life, I always wished I could have some, so I could just fall asleep automatically and the feeling would not be there anymore.”
Recorded at Wiltzie’s home studio, with strings added in Budapest at the old Hungarian National radio facility (Magyar Radio), the tracks feel simultaneously intimate and infinite, unfolding vistas glimpsed in an inner space. Robert Hampson of English drone rock icons Loop mixed the album, further lending the music a sense of cinematic expanse and oblique hypnosis. These are fugue states as much as fugues in a literal classical music sense – smeared epiphanies of uncertain memory and spatial dislocation, coaxed from the unconscious and set aloft.
German psych-rock collective Ornamental have just unveiled a new song off their first studio album Verwandlung Im Schlaf, which is scheduled to be released on April 11th via Pink-Tank Records.
Listen to this new seven-and-a-half beast of a track titled ‘Methastasis’ here:
Combining elements of heavy, psych-rock with 80’s influenced synthesizers, the quartet sound like the Germanic counterpart of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Verwandlung Im Schlaf takes listeners on a exciting journey through various musical landscapes, and sometimes during the duration of just one song. ‘Esoteric Warfare’ for instance, send us on a drive through a desolate and monochromatic desert, while ‘Maelstrom’ sweep us off the road and transports us straight to space.
Originally formed as a solo project of Sidney Jaffe (Arcane Allies, Burnpilot) the band transformed into a power quartet with Jonas Hehemann (Burnpilot, Tv Strange) on bass, Rouven Bienert (Tv Strange, Ruins) on Guitar/Synth and Lennart Uffmann (Brandmann) on the drums.
Arriving more than three decades after his first solo album and almost 20 years since his groundbreaking group Telex delivered their final message, Belgian electro-pop musician Michel Moers is finally making a comeback with As Is, his brand new album. To celebrate its imminent release, the synth man has invited iconic vocalist Claudia Brücken from the similarly revitalised Propaganda (now xPropaganda) to guest on its first single, ‘Microwaves’. A 50% electro-pop, 50% new wave anthem, it will delight fans of Ladytron as well as Telex classics such as ‘Moskow Discow’.
“Claudia has a great voice that you recognise from the very first note,” says Moers. “I was thrilled to get the opportunity to work with her and was determined to place her vocal upfront in this song.”
Check ‘Microwaves’ here:
AA
Michel Moers will release As Is in mid-April. Coming 33 years after his solo debut, Fishing Le Kiss, the long-awaited record features ten tracks that showcase Moers’ wisdom and artistic reflection as he offers a blend of thoughtful, electronic music infused with surrealism in his own unique style. It includes contributions from xPropaganda singer Claudia Brücken, who adds her distinctive Teutonic touch to ‘Microwaves’, plus Moers’ compatriot DAAN (Daan Stuyven), whose deep, expressive voice is utilised to full effect on ‘Back To Then’.
Containing songs that have been developed over several years, the album has an intimate, diary-like quality, reminiscent in part of the compositions of Erik Satie. With highlights that include the stridently uptempo ‘Potentially (Love-Hate)’ and ‘Pixels’, plus the lyrically unsettling ‘New Friend’, the album actually opens with an updated version of ‘Les Gens Sont Affligeants’ (People Are Disappointing) from Moers’ debut. It resonates more than ever in today’s individualistic society.
As Is represents a triumphant return for Moers, blending past influences with contemporary sounds and themes, and stands as a testament to his enduring creativity and adaptability in a continually evolving music landscape.
Moers has spent the last three decades working as an architect and photographer while continuing to make music. Involved in the remastering of the Telex back catalogue that was reissued to great acclaim on Mute Records in 2023, this also served to reinvigorate his skills and contributed to the creation of As Is. Belgium’s first electronic band, Telex were influential pioneers, appearing on Top Of The Pops in 1979 and representing their nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980.
Malmö’s MISSILES have released a new single, ‘Living In A Nuclear Town’, from their upcoming album Weaponize Tomorrow (10th May 2024).
MISSILES explains the backgrounds of the new single, out today on Svart Records:
“’Living in a Nuclear’ Town was one of the last – if not the last – song to be finished before we started the recording process. It’s also one of the tracks that was finished first and saw few changes whilst others got a good beating. Lyrically, the song deals with the rough realities, both the ones reported and seen as well as the ongoing hidden waiting to happen”.
The members of MISSILES are no new kids on the block. Coming from punk, rock, and metal, as well as surf and rather diverse backgrounds, they all answered to the call of their good friend Gabriel Forslund – sincerely interested in doing something new and exciting together. The band’s trajectory began with a 7" single released by the Swedish label Fetish in 2016. Initially viewed as a project, MISSILES have organically evolved into a fully dedicated band with a laser-guided focus, causing shock waves in the underground with their jet-fuel genre-clash. Combining abandoned sounds with new inventions on Weaponize Tomorrow, MISSILES promises to both pat you on the head and stab you in the back, delivering a unique blend of post-punk with a touch of goth rock.
Listen to ‘Living in a Nuclear Town’ here:
AA
MISSILES claim their debut is a one-of-a-kind album, truly a loved bastard. Weaponize Tomorrow will appeal to those who enjoyed the certain “je ne sais quoi” found in the New Wave movement, a line of thought that is liberating to hear today when artists go to the bank with a genre description. MISSILES couldn’t be bothered; it’s rock, it’s pop, it’s punk, it’s je ne sais quoi. Hard to pin down, but undeniable to freak out to, Weaponize Tomorrow is a high yield blast wave that will leave MISSILES hot on the tongues of those looking for a sudden and dramatic, incendiary kick. A gut smashing future shock that will resonate across diverse musical landscapes, Weaponize Tomorrow will be the perfect atomic cocktail for fans of Wipers, Dead Moon, The Birthday Party, The Gun Club and even modern iconoclasts Molchat Doma and Beastmilk.
Industrial band, LIVERNOIS recently unleashed their new EP, :ablation:. The term "ablation", the surgical removal of flesh, serves as a metaphor for closure in the context of the EP’s concept.
:ablation:. as an album, wrestles with the human reaction to trauma. More specifically, the EP addresses the responses that tend to be stigmatized and shunned by an increasingly repressed, and emotionally-paralyzed state.
The intent herein was to walk a fine line between violence and vulnerability. The sounds echo between precision and senselessly screaming into the void.
Aural Aggravation 