Archive for the ‘Recommended Streams and Videos’ Category

Watch: ‘Lacerations’ by Curse Mackey

Posted: 1 September 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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On September 9, darkwave artist Curse Mackey will release his highly-anticipated new full-length album, Immoral Emporium, the follow-up to his 2019 industrial masterpiece, Instant Exorcism. Curse will also embark on a North American tour as a special guest for darkwave legends, Clan of Xymox.
Immoral Emporium is an intense, dark electronic music experience. Curse emphasizes, “This is a NEW album for modern times, in the here and now.”

True to his word, Immoral Emporium pushes the boundaries of genre with a vast dynamic range, from a tortured whisper to a triumphant howl. The first single, “Lacerations” is a dancefloor stomper with hypnotic vocals, a hard-hitting chorus with wailing synths and bin-shaking beats.

The album moves into poppy, upbeat club territory with the earworm ‘Dead Fingers Talk’.  The buildups are big, such as in ‘Omens and Monuments’, with monstrous synths that bring Immoral Emporium to a goosebump-inducing, cathartic end leaving the listener looking forward to the future.

Curse says, “Immoral Emporium was created under very remote, unusual, stressful conditions. This record is a dangerous listen. By the time it reaches the last song, I, as the protagonist, am essentially already dead. However, my last words are meant to give hope to the listener, my friends around the world…that you can live to fight another day, knowing you don’t have to give in to the fear, pain, and worry. These things will pass and you are not alone."

Clocking the William Burroughs reference in ‘Dead Fingers Talk’, interest in the album is piqued here at Aural Aggravation, and never more so than by the promo clip for ‘Lacerations’, released as a taster for the album, which you can watch here:

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EXCLUSIVE VIDEO STREAM! ‘Lifted by Marionette Strings (For Kleist)’ by Dan McClennan

Posted: 1 September 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Aural Aggravation is immensely proud to present an exclusive video in the form of ‘Lifted by Marionette Strings (For Kleist)’ by Dan McClennan.

Taken from the album Unfurling Redemption released by Cruel Nature Records on 2nd September, ‘Lifted by Marionette Strings (For Kleist)’ is an unusual hybrid of neoclassical and experimentalism, balancing ominous synths and graceful piano with elements of noise to create a multi-faceted journey brimming with drama and tension.

Known for his energetic furling beats with noise-rock experimentalists Warren Schoenbright and Why Patterns, this solo release sees Daniel McClennan draw on classical and avant-garde influences such as Giacinto Scelsi; Svarte Greiner; Valentin Silvestrov; William Basinski; along with sound-artists such as Jacob Kirkegaard and The Caretaker .

Unfurling Redemption is a collection of eight assemblages comprised of synthesised instruments and freely available/stock sound samples. These assemblages explore the widely observed and seemingly inherent desire for overcoming in humankind, a dangerous proclivity for dreaming the transcendent. Particularly, the tracks pull at the problem of what we can do when these efforts inevitably drop us short of paradise, miss the mark or leave us as pyrrhic victors. Taking the form of empathetic or imagined inward reflections, they are inspired by characters in both fiction and critical discourse and take the form of unpredictable, spectral or melancholy audio ruminations. What must be done when transcendence is forever thwarted? Where then, must we seek redemption?

Watch the video here:

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Watch: ‘Quaternions’ by Tenchpress

Posted: 31 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Tenchpress’ bio reads ‘6-string guitar, 12-string guitar, keys (for doors, not the instrument), keys (the instrument, not for doors), concertina, trumpet, a friend’s electric bass, sturm, und drang, 1x LA Galaxy-branded drum stick, free soft synths, A Very Old Snare Drum.’ Which ultimately translates as rather wonky weird shit, judging by their forthcoming album, Tombmagic, released through Cruel Nature in September 5th.

As a taster, they’ve released a video for the track ‘Quaternions’, which bears the distinctive emerging style of Jason Kester.

Check it here:

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Watch: ‘Unresponsive’ by KEN mode

Posted: 27 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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KEN mode has released harrowing new single, ‘Unresponsive,’ from its upcoming eighth album, NULL, out on 23rd September.

A relentless dirge, ‘Unresponsive’ features frontman Jesse Matthewson unleashing a tormented soliloquy that hits like Henry Rollins at his most confessional. "Forgotten, erased, unresponsive, replaced, abandoned," he chants.

Matthewson recalls the origins of the song: "At this phase of the pandemic I had begun having dreams about my partner leaving me and my family dying, probably five nights a week, for several months. I sat there, writing the lyrics to this one while listening to a rolling storm come in, that never seemed to actually reach a crescendo. It all felt too apt for the way everything had been feeling for the last year at that point."

The track’s sparse, machine-like pulse, peppered by hints of cello and clanking percussion, points to early industrial and No Wave influences, beyond the metallic hardcore and noise-rock for which KEN mode is known. Matthewson credits the COVID-19 pandemic with pushing the band to take new chances and explore new ground: "We felt like there was really no reason to do anything at all unless we were trying to push this into something new," he states. Recorded and mixed by Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Unsane), NULL is the first KEN mode release to feature collaborator Kathryn Kerr (saxophone, synth, piano, percussion, backing vocals) as a full-fledged member of the band.

Check the video here:

Founded by Matthewson and his brother Shane, KEN mode has come to define intensity and dedication, via tours with Russian Circles, Torche, and Full of Hell, and releases produced by the likes of Steve Albini, Kurt Ballou, and Matt Bayles. Upcoming new album NULL sees this warhorse of a band emerge from the darkest of times with new energy, evolved and ready to carry on into its next chapter.

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The band embarks on a US tour in October, with support from Frail Body (Deathwish Inc).

Oct 20 – St Paul, MN @ Turf Club

Oct 21 – Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel

Oct 22 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen

Oct 23 – Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle Brewing Co.

Oct 24 – Columbus, OH @ Big Room Bar

Oct 25 – Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR

Oct 26 – Little Rock, AR @ Vino’s

Oct 27 – Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street

Oct 28 – Austin, TX @ The Lost Well

Oct 29 – Houston, TX @ Black Magic

Oct 30 – Denton, TX @ No Coast Fest

Oct 31 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa

Nov 2 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

Nov 3 – Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor

Nov 4 – Philadelphia, PA @ Silk City

Nov 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus

Nov 6 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East

Nov 7 – Montreal, QC @ Turbo Haus

Nov 8 – Toronto, ON @ The Baby G

Nov 9 – Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary

Nov 10 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club

Nov 12 – Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium

Listen: ‘If I Ask Her’ by 7ebra

Posted: 26 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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7ebra are a new duo consisting of 25-year-old twin sisters from Malmö, who grew up playing music together. Inez plays electric guitar and sings, Ella plays a keyboard, organ and Mellotron – whilst manually playing drum samples with her feet – as they both sing haunting harmonies in a way that only twins can.

Beautiful but punk, minimalist but epic. The duo have already made their mark on the Swedish music scene with support slots for Bob Hund and The Dandy Warhols. ‘If I Ask Her’ is the addictive debut single and the first taste of their Tore Johansson (The Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand) produced debut album that will be out early 2023 on PNKSLM Recordings.

Listen here:

Live
Aug 25 – Stockholm, Sweden – Hus 7 – w/ Ghost Woman
Aug 27 – London, UK – The Shacklewell Arms
Aug 28 – London, UK – TBA
Oct 20-22 – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Left of the Dial Festival
Dec 2-3 – Gothenburg – Viva Sounds Festival
(more dates TBA)

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Watch: ‘One Twenty Two’ by Botch

Posted: 25 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Tacoma, Washington mathcore/metalcore greats Botch have released a new song and video, ‘One Twenty Two,’ their first song in twenty years.

The track will be included on the re-issue of their wildly influential second album, We Are the Romans, which was also announced today, available as a 2xLP and CD on November 4th via Sargent House.

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There was never any intention for the band to release anything else, but when guitarist David Knudson went to write his debut solo album, it made sense. He explains:

“During Covid, I was writing my debut solo LP, and mentally, I was sick of everything in quarantine. Lots of frustration had set in at home, and I figured the best way to deal with it was to write something heavy. I had no intention of writing anything for Botch, but when I was thinking of a singer to collaborate with, I thought, “Hey, I know the best hardcore singer ever to do it,” so I hit up Dave V. He was super excited and so it just kind of snowballed from there. There was never any intent or conversation about getting back together or writing. It just happened so naturally and was a great release for all of us to make it happen without any of the traditional pressure an “active” band faces.”

Bassist Brian Cook, guitarist David Knudson, drummer Tim Latona, and vocalist Dave Verellen formed Botch in 1993, becoming one of the most ground-breaking and influential bands during a pivotal shift in heavy music. Their final show was June 15, 2002, the same day as the release of their final EP, An Anthology of Dead Ends. The members would go on to play in These Arms Are Snakes, Minus the Bear, and Russian Circles, among others, with acclaim for the band coming mostly post-breakup. We Are the Romans went on to become one of the most influential albums for the genre garnering posthumous acclaim across the board.

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Watch: ‘Heart Reformer’ by Dead Cross

Posted: 25 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Dead Cross, the SoCal band featuring Michael Crain, Dave Lombardo, Mike Patton and Justin Pearson, share a second single from their forthcoming album II (Oct. 28, Ipecac Recordings) with the release of ‘Heart Reformer’ and its accompanying video.

“’Heart Reformer’ was as much fun to write as it is to listen to,” says Crain of the song. “It’s a classic Dead Cross song. It’s a pit stirrer and a fist pumper!”

The short-film like clip, which takes the track’s title literally, was directed and edited by Dark Details (a.k.a. Chris J. Cunningham). Watch it here:

The band broke the news of II’s impending arrival with the release of ‘Reign of Error.’ The one-minute and forty-five second wake-up call of a song is matched with a Displaced/Replaced-crafted clip that offers a scathing critique of the U.S. Supreme Court.

II, while both a raucous hardcore collection, and at times, a politically-charged opus, has its roots in friendship, with the band rallying together after Crain received a surprise cancer diagnosis. "Words can’t even begin to describe how much this album means to me. It’s birthed of pain and uncertainty,” adds Crain. “The slow, excruciatingly painful, and nauseating recovery from cancer treatments were the catalyst for every riff and note on this album. However, my will to live and be with my brothers Justin, Dave, Mike, and co-producer Ross Robinson, got me out of bed and running into the studio every day to get it all on tape.”

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Dead Cross II cover by Eric Livingston

Listen: ‘Heddiw’ by Conformist x H O R S E S

Posted: 23 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Cardiff electronic producer Conformist and gloom wave duo H O R S E S. ‘Heddiw’ ( ‘Today’ in English) collaborate for a collision of electronica and ominous post punk,  on a inventive framework of crunching beats and blips, haunted synth samples  and infused with the ominous vocals of duo H O R S E S, that bare more than a passing resemblance to Joy Division. A collaboration forged in the depths of lockdown, this haunting and bracing release is just a teaser of what’s to come in 2023.

Conformist says of the collaboration, it’s “a project that began by exchanging audio files between myself and H O R S E S on WhatsApp during the depths of Covid lockdown; I’m really pleased we can finally get this track out.  Vocals are by H O R S E S and production is by myself.  Hopefully this is just the beginning; we’re looking to follow up Heddiw in 2023 with a bunch of new ideas.”

Listen to ‘Heddiw’  here:

Conformist is one of the most respected names on the Electronic music scene in Wales, with early demos immediately catching the attention of Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens, John Kennedy and Eddy Temple Morris.

Subsequent Conformist albums "Paid To Fake It" (2013) and "Lifestyle Bible" (2016) earned lavish praise:

"Paid To Fake It" is the sort of record that will take your breath away…bloody brilliant" The 405

"A musically kaleidoscopic head f***…brilliant" Louder Than War

"a head-spinning deluge of audacious beats and samples…staggering" Wales Online

Conformists’ production work is distinguished and full of unique character; staying leftfield but fresh and ahead of others; meticulous, dense and layered, revealing hidden detail with every listen – taking inspiration from Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad and cut n’ paste pioneers Coldcut, Steinski and The Dust Brothers to name a few.

Purveyors of dark hearted electronic music and inventors of the Gloom Wave genre, H O R S E S are formed by two gentlemen from a southeasterly part of Wales.

Casting a longing gaze on early 70s German electronica, mournful vocals escorted gently by cold beats and balmy synths evoke a brutalist image of Berlin, as the melodies wash between the brash concrete structures of your mind.

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Watch: ‘Digital God Machine’ by Lonely Robot

Posted: 22 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Lonely Robot, the project masterminded by vocalist, guitarist & producer John Mitchell, are set to release their fifth studio album A Model Life on the 26th August 2022. With just a few days till release, a video for the album’s third single ‘Digital God Machine’ has been launched. Watch it now here:

John comments: “It’s the internet age people! And with every computer connected to it comes a free opinion. For some reason, the world of progressive rock fandom bears down on the timid musician struggling to make his way with the weight of said opinion. Said fandom LIKES and values it’s own opinion with much aplomb and shares it with alarming regularity from the bravery of great distance and safety. Thus is born the ‘Digital God Machine’.”

An album that brims with frustration at the state of things, while tugging remorselessly at the heart strings, A Model Life is plainly the most honest and vulnerable Lonely Robot record to date. From opener ‘Recalibrating’, which muses on the aftermath of a broken relationship, and ‘Digital God Machine’ – a sardonic tribute to keyboard warriors everywhere, to the boys-don’t-cry pathos of ‘Rain Kings’ and the absurdly moving, adoption-themed ‘Duty Of Care’, these new songs provide a scattershot but profoundly emotional soundtrack to a restless and uncertain world.

John comments: “Making A Model Life was very much a lifeline and indeed wake up call at the end of a particularly personally challenging couple of years. Creating it made me realise that ultimately, life is impermanent and the one true thing that gives me a focus and anchor is and has always been music. Long may that be the case.”

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Watch: ‘Aurora’ by Melting Palms

Posted: 21 August 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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La Pochette Surprise / Membran – 18th August 2022

Sitting on the intersection where indie-rock, shoegaze, dreampop and neo-psych all meet, ’Noise Between The Shades’ is the second album by Hamburg-based quintet Melting Palms and a record that deserves to seem them established internationally. The song ‘Aurora’ has just been released as its fifth single.

Watch the video here:

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A collective as much as a group, Melting Palms were founded in 2017 when Mike Krumhorn (vocals, guitar), Teresa Koeberle (vocals, guitar, piano, synth) and Johann Wientjes (drums, sound design) began both musical and romantic entanglements. A debut EP and 2020 album (‘Abyss’) were recorded as a trio while performing concerts and rehearsing endlessly in their basement in a rundown area otherwise comprised of animal shelters and street prostitution, before they eventually recruited Tim Dajan Thiele (guitar) and Lukas Schulz (bass) to complete their current line-up.

Recorded at Clouds Hill Studio in their home city, ‘Noise Between The Shades’ is intoxicating and daring, contains surprising musical and lyrical twists, and emerges as a cascade of euphoria and drama. Boasting a spatial yet highly concentrated sound, it is a stunning combination of guitar-based music, noise and emotion.

Reference points include Melody’s Echo Chamber, Wand, Deerhunter and much earlier reverb/delay-heavy bands such as Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Pale Saints and the late ‘80s Creation/4AD guitar aesthetic in general. However, these Kraut-Punks do it all in a box-fresh fashion and ‘Noise Between The Shades’ has the power and ability to reach far beyond the German border.

Melting Palms also have a common non-musical goal, even a socio-political claim: humanism and idealism are a real concern for these five DIY utopians, one that embodies the notable resilience of the Hamburg scene in both attitude and aesthetics. All five group members have also been in or performed with other outfits on the city’s punk scene and their own signature sound has emerged from this special togetherness, a patchwork of many creative energies, the beautiful but also painful noise between the shades that every life guards.

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