THE NOISE WHO RUNS presents the single ‘New York To L.A. In 2-And-A-Half Minutes’, underlining the urgency of frenetic and rhythmic energy. Here, the speed of travel is symbolic as the sign of progress that, like so many technologies, save us time at the expense of experience, possibilities and chance. Upon moving from northern England to Lille, France, IAN PICKERING (of SNEAKER PIMPS and FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY) formed this duo together with Brazilian-French guitarist FELIPE GOES. The duo’s newly-released Preteretrospective album has received critical acclaim, including from us here at Aural Aggravation.
Inspired by commentary about the space probe observing the sun, Pickering says of the new single, “That line – ‘New York to L.A. in 2-and-a-half minutes’ – instantly just starts painting pictures of an insane future, good or bad, at a certain cost, which is now too much, gone too far, that maybe what matters is not just everything that we take for granted, but more everything that we’re always complaining and bellyaching about. From that line, it pretty much all fell together.”
Fuzzy stoner/garage punk group Loose Sutures has released their third record, Sado Sex for Dummies, today (26 May) via Electric Valley Records. The Sardinian act’s first studio outing as a trio, the album features a couple of other guests, including the heavy rock royalties Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes.
States Loose Sutures: “Sado Sex for Dummies is the ultimate guide for all the pervs across the globe! On this sticky tour, you’ll find all you need: how to escape from a party gone wrong and survive a spell to your bone, chronicles from a highway shooter, valentines from Lucifer, and so much more. So whip out the whips and let’s welcome violence!”
Listen here:
Assembled in 2019 by four roughnecks, Loose Sutures plays classic ’70s riffs with a pinch of modern punk attitude, conjuring a blend of stoner and garage energy and displaying an abundance of evil beats, venomous fuzzes, and raunchy lyrics. Loose Sutures’ music has been praised by fans and critics for evoking a dark and seductive atmosphere reminiscent of cult exploitation movies.
Depicting killer profiles and kinky love stories, the Sardinian group presented their self-titled debut LP in March 2020 via Electric Valley Records. They followed it up with the sophomore album, A Gash with Sharp Teeth and Other Tales, the following year via Electric Valley Records; it later saw a Japanese edition in the Spring of 2022. Introducing the newly recruited Giuseppe Hussain (who replaced Gianpaolo Cherchi, guitars/vocals), the album is “a journey delving into lust with filthy guitars, stoned rhythms, and creepy voices escorting you deep inside the sticky core of what you fear yet desire at the same time.”
Loose Sutures again encountered a lineup change in 2022 when Giuseppe Hussain left the band, leaving the band to operate as a trio. It was a setback, but they refused to let it hold them back. Longtime fellow Marco “Grey” Manca joined to take care of the role of Giuseppe on the “High Heeled Barbarians Tour” around Europe the same year. Sado Sex for Dummies, as the name hints, is a complete handbook to satisfy the needs of the pervs, sadists, and killers out there. An invitation to indulge in fuzz-drenched, punk-‘n-roll violence, this third record from Loose Sutures has no shortage of lurid stories. While there is a touch of evolution, the album has not strayed too far from the band’s established hard, fast, and crude sound. To add more spice to some songs, the album features some guest musicians, including the legendary Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes.
Get ready to be taken on a frenzied ride into the depths of your darkest desires.
Finland’s Hexvessel return on 22nd September (Svart Records) with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat “Kvohst” McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney’s past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones.
From their inception in 2009, Hexvessel, created by Mat McNerney as what he described to Decibel Magazine as “a free spiritual journey and a musical odyssey with no boundaries”, have captivated audiences and listeners with their evolution.
Holed up in a home-made studio in his log cabin during the winter of 2022, McNerney drew on all the fundamental elements of his music career as a shamanic shapeshifter, with only the isolation of nature’s solitude as inspiration. Painting an aura with Polar Veil which resonates with solitary reflection and themes of personal spiritual transcendence, Hexvessel’s new album is a bold statement from an artist who continues to reinvent and explore nature mysticism through music.
“Nature represents freedom, darkness and the call of the wild. Black Metal has always been at the borders of my sound and playing, at the heart of everything I do. Tradition, nature, ritual, mythology, mysticism and philosophy, along with clashing and jarring chords have always been synonymous with Hexvessel. It was natural with Polar Veil, finally now as we reach the zenith of the journey, that these influences surface to the human ear, and with the freezing cold guitar sound that the climate here demands.”
A track such as ‘Crepuscular Creatures’, with unhinged, discordant guitar chords, as bassist Ville Hakonen’s hand snakes up and down the frets, is at the more avant-garde end of the album. Long term drummer Jukka Rämänen thundering the toms like never before, as McNerney croons Scott Walker-esque lyrics, somewhere between Edith Södergran and Ted Hughes.
Whereas ‘Listen To The River’ with its ominous M.R James/Folk Horror lyrics of perilous environmental warning, featuring Ben Chisholm main collaborator and multi-instrumentalist with Chelsea Wolfe on lush, haunting keys and strings, could have appeared on Hexvessel’s sophomore album No Holier Temple, albeit with a sound of that era, progressing out of Folk.
Polar Veil features Nameless Void from Negative Plane, performing the guitar solo on the song ‘Ring’ and on ‘Older Than The Gods’, Okoi from Bølzer provides guest vocals. At first an unlikely partnership but one that makes total sense as the album deepens, and threads can be drawn that reveal the place Polar Veil is coming from.
On the process of recording Polar Veil, McNerney explains:
“I built a studio at home in the log hut on our field, surrounded by large trees, called Pine Hill, to escape from everything and everyone. Polar Veil is what a spiritual home sounds like.”
When the components of the medicine are familiar but brewed in a completely novel concoction, the resulting side effects can be deliriously intoxicating. Peer behind this Polar Veil for a breath of fresh tundra air with the video for Hexvessel’s new single ‘Older Than The Gods’. Watch it here:
XASTHUR unveil the next sinister single, ‘A Future to Fear II’, taken from the forthcoming double-album Inevitably Dark, which is set up for release on June 23, 2023. The stylistically highly diverse American outfit instigated by multi-instrumentalist Scott Conner has created a kaleidoscopic double-album that is ranging from acid folk to black metal.
A visualizer of the eerie track ‘A Future to Fear II’ is available here:
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There is hardly a more fitting title for the new XASTHUR compositions than "Inevitably Dark". Darkness is the element that holds all the tracks together despite the fact that they are expressed in a multitude of genres, which even includes black metal. This time. Be warned: this album is neither meant as a return to black metal of mastermind Scott Conner, even though he does this time, nor a guarantee that it will happen again next time – although, he might. Maybe.
This monolith of musical darkness that is balefully towering in the shape of a monumental XASTHUR double album has been made from sonic granite. Like the intrusive igneous type of rock, it is coarse-grained, composed from different minerals that have formed from magma erupting to the surface from infernal depths, and has a high content of metal oxides that do not always show at a superficial glance.
Instead of quartz, alkali feldspar, and other types of rock, Conner has used black metal, dark ambient, acid folk, doomgrass, and other genres to express what he has seen and felt, as well as a way to find his own sound or style at a point in time – for example when he was without a steady home and often living in hotels or cars. His insights into the underbelly of the American dream are reflected in the lyrics of "Inevitably Dark", which are there even though there is no singing on the album. Conner is taking a look into the minds of the mentally ill. The puzzle of people that he encountered on the road and that might be homeless because they are ill, or whose minds shattered when they lost their homes.
Documenting what he has heard and seen, Conner recorded all the tracks of "Inevitably Dark" live and by himself, which might make it sound coarse to modern ears, but it is just the grit and stain of unfiltered reality. His way is the old hard way of a live sound and not the fake glitter of a perfectly polished product. XASTHUR are sounding exactly as the mastermind has envisioned his album to be: real.
Their debut extended-play release, the ‘PLAYTEST’ EP finds the Yorkshire noiseniks delivering 5 tracks of ferocious, Doomsday-baiting post-punk ripe for our times. From the cataclysmic Dune-inspired ‘Spice King’, to the slithering gothic-rock stylings of ‘Wee Van Bee’, or the intense industrial clamour of ‘Smother’; the band make their mark with a dark, brooding collection of songs that meld the gothic and euphoric with invigorating results.
Opening this Pandora’s box is the pulse-quickening ‘Fractured’, which is also out now. A song about dual-identities and the dawning realisation of deception when it’s been staring you in the face, lead vocalist Jamie explains of the track: “’Fractured’ channels the complicated relationship of having a double-life paraded right in front of your eyes, understanding its insidiousness but ultimately fearing the fire of confrontation.”
Darkplace is a mysterious new Swedish dark dream pop/post-punk group who created a conceptual debut album inspired by the bleak landscape of the Stockholm suburbs that birthed them.
Centred around an alternative reality – or just the grim present and future? – and entitled About The End Of The World, the album is being unveiled gradually over the coming months via a series of imaginative visuals based on animated digital paintings for each of its eleven tracks.
Having recently released ‘Arken över Hesselby’ (The Ark Over Hesselby), the video for which presented the outskirts of a city haunted by an unknown aerial presence, the clip for brand new single ’Fearmonger’ takes us into the heart of that city, presenting an apocalyptic scenario as ominous sirens wail and a lone soldier flees the prying ‘eye in the sky’ of an airship.
The Swedish national alarm system is still tested on a quarterly basis by the army. A familiar sound to all Swedes, the sound of the siren has the nickname ‘Hesa Fredrik’. Darkplace state: “After trying to improve Hesa Fredrik, the government learned that the new horns scared the shit out of people.”
Although rooted in late 80s/early 90s indie styles, Darkplace incorporate a variety of other genres into their sound. However, for the members of this highly secretive group, it is not just about the music. They perceive themselves as more an art project that happens to be exploring and commenting on the state of the world through their chosen mediums of music and video.
Most of the short instrumental pieces on the forthcoming album were written with specific storyboards in mind, with the band revealing that “we started creating the art before we had the music for both singles to date, so the tracks were written as soundtracks to the animation.”
The art itself is a multi-layered process that involves photography, sculpting, oil painting, digital editing and animation. Using apps like Nomad Sculpt to create it before exporting scene specific angles and imported into Procreate to be painted, they add: “we use oil paintbrushes and paint over the photo. It is layers upon layers and it gets messy. Exporting gets even messier since we want depth in the scenes and need to export them in layered depths. A few scenes in this project have been animated frame by frame and it has taken almost two years to complete.”
Scottish six-piece – Parliamo – are back with the new single ‘Matters Like’, out today.
Arriving as the band’s grittiest, stickiest offering to-date, it sees Parliamo’s usual bright rhythms and funky basslines, traded-in for howling Suede-esque electric guitars, low-slung hooks and unconventional choruses.
Like a migraine growing under the noon-day sun, ‘Matters Like’ has a burbling, off-kilter intensity quite at odds with the brilliant sunshine that baked the Summer of 2022 in which it was written. Finding nuanced inspiration during those mind-melting times in the Fontaines D.C. track ‘Roman Holiday’ and the spring reverb bass of The Last Shadow Puppets’ second record, the band’s Jack Dailly and Finn Freeburn Morrison began assimilating both into a new track that would mark a moody left-turn for the band.
A song about finding confidence in a new relationship and the overcast feelings that can come hand-in-hand with it, vocalist Jack Dailly explains: “’Matters Like’ has a moodier sound than most of our previous output, with its screaming guitars and echoing hi-hats. This mood fits well with the lyrics, as the song touches on feelings of uncertainty and internal conflict. It’s a song about insecurity in a fledgling relationship and the plethora of emotions which come with getting to know more about someone than you might have bargained for.”
Weaving their straight-up songwriting and babbling instrumentals niftily through a heatwave-warped collision of influences, ‘Matters Like’ finds a band pushing the Parliamo sound and enjoying getting a little experimental.
Former Sound of Contact members Simon Collins and Kelly Nordstrom returned this year with their new band eMolecule and their debut album The Architect which was released in February (InsideOutMusic).
Today the band have shared the video for ‘Prison Planet’ which you can watch here:
The Architect, the debut album from new progressive rock outfit eMolecule (former Sound of Contact members Simon Collins and Kelly Nordstrom) is out now! Their newest visual offering ‘Prison Planet’ is a rebellious anthem that speaks to the struggle of being confined to a system that doesn’t allow for growth. It’s a call to action for those seeking autonomy and true freedom, even within the confines of our current world.
The two long-time collaborators met in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 2005 and have been working together ever since. Originally brought together to work on Simon’s solo career, the spark of creativity between Simon and Kelly was undeniable. They soon began writing original material together, much of which would end up on Dimensionaut.
With a successful progressive rock album under their belts, Simon and Kelly were determined to continue the work they started with Sound of Contact. During the UK production of Simon’s 4th solo album Becoming Human, Kelly recorded a demo of the song ‘eMolecule’ in a flurry of inspiration. With this new offering, Simon and Kelly decided their way forward was as a duo and they would pool their best material under the name eMolecule.
In the summer of 2020, eMolecule decided it was time to begin work on their debut album and that it was to be a concept album. Meeting in person at Simon’s studio in Ireland, the duo spent a solid month writing the concept and music start to finish. Over the following months, they completed writing, producing and performing The Architect both remotely and together in Ireland.
The Architect features intense, heavy guitar and drum performances as well as deep, atmospheric and emotionally driven arrangements. From start to finish, eMolecule’s first offering captivates the listener with infectious vocals, dynamic guitars and ultra-modern production from the epic opening track ‘eMolecule’ to the powerful climax of the closing track ‘Moment of Truth’. This band and album are set to take the listener to another dimension.
OXBOW recently announced the arrival of their first new music in six years with the anticipated release of Love’s Holiday, to be released via Ipecac on the 21st July. They have shared their second single and video for album track ‘Icy White & Crystalline’ and announce further live shows in the UK and mainland Europe – dates and details below.
About the making of the video Eugene S. Robinson comments, “Funny going all the way to a UK-based filmmaker/journo from Belfast in Kiran Acharya for directing the video for ‘Icy White & Crystalline’ but if you take the same elements and expect something different, you’re on the road to madness. Which is precisely why we used wildly disparate elements to visualize our first ‘live’ music video for Love’s Holiday. Sixteen takes all the way through… ‘you don’t know how…hearts burn’ is the opening lyric. For probably the best of all reasons here: this video almost killed us to make.”
Niko Wenner continues, “’Icy White & Crystalline’ began as a blown-out ferocious rehearsal phone-recording we’ve aimed to match in high fidelity, the bridge another improv, the two joined make a classic Oxbow banger we’ll doubtless rock live for as long as we plug-in. Enjoy!”
Watch the video here:
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XBOW LIVE DATES SEPTEMBER 2023
Friday, September 01, 2023 UK Glasgow Broadcast Saturday, September 02, 2023 UK Birmingham Supersonic festival Sunday, September 03, 2023 UK Leeds Brudenell Social Club Monday, September 04, 2023 UK Bristol Exchange Tuesday, September 05, 2023 UK London Studio 9294 Wednesday, September 06, 2023 BE Kortrijk Wilde Westen Thursday, September 07, 2023 BE Brussels Botanique Friday, September 08, 2023 NL Nijmegen Merleyn Saturday, September 09, 2023 LUX Tetange Human’s World festival (free entry) Sunday, September 10, 2023 DE Bochum Die Trompete Monday, 11 September 2023 AT Vienna Volkstheatre Rote Bar Tuesday, 12 September 2023 PL Wroclaw Liverpool Wednesday, 13 September 2023 PL Warsaw Hydrozagadka Thursday, 14 September 2023 DE Berlin Roadrunners Paradise Friday, 15 September 2023 DE Hamburg Hafenklang Saturday, 16 September 2023 DK Aalborg Lasher fest
Brooklyn 5-piece Geese have shared ‘Mysterious Love,’ a new track and accompanying music video from their anticipated sophomore album ‘3D Country,’ out June 23 via Partisan Records/Play It Again Sam.
The song fries and bends through the full spectrum of what ‘3D Country’ has to offer – showcasing both the band’s most angular experimentations and their warmest harmonies to date. “Mysterious Love” picks up where previous singles “Cowboy Nudes” and the album’s title track left off, fusing fragments of classic rock into a sound that is wholly the band’s own, while painting a picture of a newer, weirder America. Geese frontman Cameron Winter explains:
“This song is about a dozen ‘90s rock clichés mixed into one little over-produced package. We like the contrast in mood between the first and second halves. We used to punctuate the very end with one last hit and be done with it, but then one day Max [Bassin, drummer] just kept hitting his drums, and we kept doing the same ending hit for like, two minutes. When we recorded it, there were about 40 hits, but our label begged us to cut them out. We ended up at around 15 after negotiations.”
Watch the video here:
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GEESE UK LIVE DATES 2023 03 SEP 2023 / UK / Dorset / End of the Road Festival 06 SEP 2023 / UK / Brighton / Patterns 07 SEP 2023 / UK / Bristol / Thekla 08 SEP 2023 / UK / London / Lafayette 10 SEP 2023 / UK / Glasgow / King Tut’s 12 SEP 2023 / UK / Leeds / Brudenell Social Club 13 SEP 2023 / UK / Manchester / Band on the Wall 14 SEP 2023 / UK / Nottingham / Bodega
Aural Aggravation 