As the follow-up to the instant classic that was their debut single, ‘Never Say Forever’, we’ll just let this one speak for itself…
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Posts Tagged ‘single stream’
Listen: ‘Black Sky’ by Mirror of Venus
Posted: 25 August 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: à La Carte Records, Black Sky, Dark Pop, electro, EP, goth, Mirror of Venus, single stream
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Listen: ‘Drug Burn’ by Buñuel
Posted: 24 August 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: BUÑUEL, Drug Burn, Eugene S. Robinson, Mansuetude, overdrive, Oxbow, single stream, SKiN GRAFT
Buñuel return with Mansuetude, the band’s first release outside of their outlandish trilogy of albums (comprising A Resting Place for Strangers, The Easy Way Out and Killers Like Us). A co-release between SKiN GRAFT and Overdrive, arriving 25th October 2024.
BUÑUEL boasts the singular vocals and razor sharp lyrics of Eugene S. Robinson (ex-Oxbow) and a powerhouse Italian trio comprised of guitarist Xabier Iriondo (Afterhours, A Short Apnea), bassist Andrea Lombardini (The Framers) and drummer Franz Valente (Il Teatro Degli Orrori). Mansuetude was produced by Timo Ellis, and features guests including Jacob Bannon (lead singer of Converge), guitarist Duane Denison (the Jesus Lizard, Tomahawk,The Denison Kimball Trio), vocalist Megan Osztrosits (Couch Slut), cellist Andrea Beninati and David Binney on alto saxophone and vocals.
The music on Mansuetude warps and buckles with complexity, freedom, tenderness and primaeval energy all at once. A prime example is the lead single "Drug Burn," crunchy, melodic and harder than a lot of hardcore. About the track the band comments;
“One of the steadfast rules the Hells Angels used to tout to members, NO DRUG BURNS. Which just goes to show, there really IS honour among, well you know. Following a wayward path to an even more wayward song, BUÑUEL’s rendering of said BURN will make your ears (and eyes, if you’re lucky enough to see the video) burn.”
Listen here:
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The title, Mansuetude – meaning “meekness” or “gentleness” – might seem like a juxtaposition when listening to the record that is, in Eugene’s words, “extreme but articulate”, however the record aims to convey a balancing of different forces and shades of being which make up the human experience. Throughout Mansuetude, Buñuel take every given opportunity to stretch out their musical tendrils towards discomfort, surrealism, and the deconstruction of tradition, as they reach absolute abandon. They go well beyond the realm of noise rock, encompassing many moods from post-hardcore to avant-noise, hard-blues to post-industrial, symphonic to trash metal and even free-jazz.
Drummer Franz comments that “Buñuel is a name that embodies a certain cultural and literary reference, which evokes an entire world. Like his films, our Buñuel is surrealism. We take the listeners into a place that’s suspended between dream and reality.”
“What we’re doing with Buñuel is to carve out a very specific glimpse… partly into hearts of darkness, but more specifically into the depth of our secrets,” says Eugene. “Secrets we keep from each other, ourselves and whatever futures we’ve imagined for ourselves. We are ultimately trying to communicate something direct and deadly about the human condition.”
Buñuel makes music for those of us willing to take a closer, unflinching look at the depths of human instinct, and on Mansuetude the band extend their reach farther than before, creating an album that is akin to a powerful impulse, or perhaps even an exorcism.
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(BUÑUEL, L-R: Franz Valente, Xabier Iriondo, Andrea Lombardini, Eugene S. Robinson | By Annapaola Martin
Listen: ‘Psychedelic Ranger’ by Kerosene Kream
Posted: 7 August 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: Buying Time EP, energetic, garage punk, Indie, Kerosene Kream, PNKSLM Recordings, Post-Punk, Psychedelic, Psychedelic Ranger, single stream, Space Rock, Tour Dates, UK debut
PNKSLM Recordings proudly presents Stockholm garage punk quintet Kerosene Kream and their PNKSLM debut EP Buying Time, which is due out on August 30th on limited edition vinyl and digitally. Today the band is sharing live favourite "Psychedelic Ranger", a long time stable of the band’s raucous live sets, which follows lead single ‘Mindkiller’ which was released in June as the band was opening for the legendary The Gories.
Having shared the stage with the likes of Dungen, Illuminati Hotties, Holograms and Powerplant, Kerosene Kream is the latest group to step out from the Stockholm underground that gave birth to the likes of Viagra Boys and Holograms and the band have grown a reputation as a ferious live acts with shows around northern Europe.
Following the new EP the band is set to head out on dates including an appearance at the Left of the Dial Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands as well as making their UK live debut in September at PNKSLM’s The Slime Ball at The Shacklewell Arms in London alongside Scandinavian shows.
Listen to ‘Psychedelic Ranger’ here:
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Live
August 28 – Stockholm, Sweden – AG29 w/ Erik Nervous + Citric Dummies
September 7 – London, UK – PNKSLM’s The Slime Ball @ The Shacklewell Arms
October 17-19 – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Left of the Dial Festival
***more dates TBA***
Photo by Dan Kendall
Listen: ‘Dharmachakra’ by Dual Analog
Posted: 26 July 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: Dharmachakra, Dual Analog, Electropop, music industry, single stream, struggle, synthh, turbowave
Seattle ‘turbowave’ pioneers, DUAL ANALOG have dropped their new single, ‘Dharmachakra’ – a raw reflection on modern day apocalyptic hellscape of independent artists. It’s an autobiographical anthem that captures the frustrations and struggles of today’s independent musicians.
With introspective lyrics that resonate deeply with anyone who has faced the uphill battle of booking gigs and finding an audience, DUAL ANALOG paints a vivid picture of the modern-day challenges faced by independent artists. This also comes though dynamic instrumentals, showcasing the band’s unique sound and unyielding spirit.
Says DUAL ANALOG co-founder, Chip Roberts, “We wanted ‘Dharmachakra’ to reflect that struggle and the sense of futility that often accompanies it. It’s a raw and honest portrayal of what it’s like to pour your heart into your art, only to feel like you’re shouting into the void.”
Fans of DUAL ANALOG can expect a visceral listening experience that not only highlights the band’s diversity but also speaks to the collective experience of struggling artists everywhere. With ‘Dharmachakra,’ DUAL ANALOG invites listeners to share in their journey and reflect on their own battles within the music industry.
Listen to ‘Dharmachakra’ here:
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Listen: ‘Everything I Touch’ by Jr. Juggernaut
Posted: 15 July 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: Another Big Explosion, Everything I Touch, Jr. Juggernaut, Mindpower Records, power trio, single stream
LA power trio Jr. Juggernaut returns with the new album Another Big Explosion, on August 9th. The LP marks their first release with Mindpower Records, and the first to feature bassist Noah Green (of L.A.’s The Pretty Flowers).
The album, co-produced by singer/guitarist Mike Williamson drummer Wal Rashidi, is now available for pre-orders on vinyl with merch bundles. The first single "Everything I Touch" is now streaming everywhere:. Hear it here:
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Williamson says, “Like a predator pausing to consider its prey, ‘Everything I Touch’ is about acknowledging one’s own negative personality traits and how they affect the ones they love, but stopping shy of making any kind of change for the better. Man is flawed, so let’s dance to this fact with some chugging, catchy guitar rock.”
Listen: ‘Indeterminate’ by Huge Molasses Tank Explodes
Posted: 12 July 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: Huge Molasses Tank Explodes, Indeterminate, Motorik, Psychedelic, single stream, Space Rock, Tidal Wave Records
Huge Molasses Tank Explodes will release their new album III on 6th September via Tidal Wave Records.
Having recently shared ‘Bow of Gold’, a track built upon contrasting kraut-derived sequenced synth lines, spacy textures, jangly guitars drenched in reverb and full psych fuzz-driven drone walls, the band has now shared new single ‘Indeterminate’.
The track is driven by a motorik rhythm sustained by a stubborn synth bass sequence on top of which layers of synths, spacey guitars and vocoder vocals complete the soundscape. It explores one of the main elements of Huge Molasses Tank Explodes’ third album: the merging of late 70’s “kosmische” synths with space rock and a full-fledged wall of sound where all the sonic elements collide and balance out simultaneously.
Listen to ‘Indeterminate’ here:
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An immersive psychedelic reverie. This is what Huge Molasses Tank Explodes has to offer: a liquid continuity of landscapes, as envisioned by the minds of Fabrizio De Felice (voice, guitar, synth), Giacomo Tota (guitar), Luca Umidi (bass) and Gabriele Arnolfo (drums, now played by Michele Schiavina). The Milan, Italy-based band offers us a kaleidoscopic experience, ranging from rugged and evocative beats to dreamy soundscapes, inspired by post-punk and psych-wave. With a hypnotic and almost serene sound in mind, transfiguring humanity with new electronic streaks and vocal blends, the brand-new album ‘III’ showcases ethereal, yet powerful, musical canvases that celebrate the band’s influences, taste and psychedelic vision.
Listen: ‘In the Headlights’ by Haujobb
Posted: 4 July 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: dark, Deoendent, Electeonic, field recordings, Haujobb, In the Headlights, Industrial, retro-futuristic, single stream, The Machine In The Ghost
German electro-industrial mainstays Haujobb have just dropped the sinister sounding retro-futuristic slo-mo banger ‘In The Headlights’ as the first single from their forthcoming new album, The Machine In The Ghost. Scheduled for release on 20th September, it is the 10th full length record by the Prague-based group, which formed in 1992 and has existed as the duo of Daniel Myer (vocals/programming) and Dejan Samardzic (programming) since the mid-‘90s.
“’In The Headlights’ was actually one of the first tracks written for the album,” explains Myer. "Dejan recorded and sampled his exhaust hood, which kind of sounds like a jet engine, and we built the song around that sample. There is also a sound that might be identified as a tambourine, which is really just a key chain dropping onto the floor. This and other physical constructions that are sampled throughout the album act as relics of interfaces between man and machine.”
Maintaining an impressive penchant for refusing to do the same thing twice on each studio album, The Machine In The Ghost deploys field recordings to create some of its most prominent sounds. In order to achieve the desired effect, the duo used a mix of software and hardware in the shape of everyday items. This deliberate nod to a previous era with more analogue shifting of the dials complements the retro theme of The Machine In The Ghost (albeit without indulging in nostalgia for its own sake), the album revolving around the highly charged relationship between mind and matter, analogue and digital.
Despite their constant artistic evolution, a unique musical handwriting is present throughout the Haujobb catalogue. Originally founded as a trio in the West German city of Bielefeld, they were initially influenced by the ‘Vancouver school’ of industrial electronics (the likes of Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly), but it did not take long for them to be recognised as figureheads of a more modern take on this sound that incorporated elements of IDM (intelligent dance music) that helped catapult them onto the wider international scene.
Co-founding member Björn Jünemann left the band after their second album, with Myer and Samardzic subsequently releasing the acclaimed ‘Solutions For A Small Planet’ (1996) and thereafter maintaining a strong strike-rate that has included New World March (2011), their 7th record and regarded as another milestone effort.
The Machine in the Ghost has seen Haujobb begin another exciting chapter in their career. As we enter the next industrial and creative revolution that has been ignited by the rise of AI, it shows that they still have their musical fingers on the pulse.
Listen to ‘In the Headlights’ here:
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Listen: ‘Black Cloud’ by Redwing Blackbird
Posted: 2 July 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: Audio Pervert recordings, Black Cloud, Darkwave, Faith, fanaticism, Redwing Blackbird, single stream, synth, USA
Darkwave/Post-Punk duo, REDWING BLACKBIRD have just unveiled their latest single, ‘Black Cloud’. This single is a departure from the more guitar-based approach of earlier tracks and sees the band leaning more into the energy of modern darkwave, synth bass & drive.
Lyrical Inspiration for the track comes from the fragile balance between faith & fanaticism – the ongoing blurring of the separation of church & state, the horrific loss of women’s rights & the slow, steady rise of nationalistic fascism, too often disguised as religious morality. All of this is put to an almost satirical "dance while your heads on fire " irreverence.
‘Black Cloud’ marks a clear change in direction leaning into more of the duo’s darkwave vocabulary that has only briefly surfaced on previous tracks, as it is the first recording of collaboration between Paul Baker & Lisa Jensen on entirely new material. ‘Black Cloud’ is also the fourth single collaboration with producer/engineer Tiffany Flanagan of Audio Pervert recordings.
Listen here:
REDWING BLACKBIRD is the focal project of Paul Baker & Lisa Jensen, currently based in Denver, Colorado, USA. Baker is perhaps best known for his time with nineties goth rockers Second Skin, and more recently, the deathrock trio Plague Garden’s first two full length releases on lead guitar & bass.
REDWING BLACKBIRD, on the other hand, distils influences from Baker’s extensive background working across multiple genres: from the political ideology and ethos of punk; the guitar tonality and melodic lead bass of post-punk, proto-goth, shoegaze, drone-rock, and dark wave; to the sonic nuances with the vocal growl of classic goth rock.
Comparisons have been drawn to everyone from Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Big Black, and Joy Division to Swans and Nick Cave; Dead Kennedys and The Clash; and even points of reference as disparate as Slint or Ween. And yet, despite having clearly defied and confounded convenient genre pigeonholes, there is certainly a coherent, distinctive, and immediately identifiable REDWING BLACKBIRD sound.
Listen: ‘Flipside’ by Melt-Banana
Posted: 29 June 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: 3 + 5, A-Zap, Cyberpunk, energy, Flipside, frenetic, Japanese noise, Melt-Banana, single stream
Tokyo-based Noise-Rockers, MELT-BANANA have released ‘Flipside,’ the first single from 3 + 5, their long-awaited ninth studio album. The album is being released August 23rd on 12” LP vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming platforms on their own A-Zap label.
The album showcases the duo’s visionary musical approach and extraordinary abilities as performers: Yako’s giddy, hyperactive vocalizing and Agata’s glitchy, cyberpunk guitar, delivered at dizzying speed, bathed in a whirlwind of aggressive electronics. As on previous releases, the music on 3 + 5 is unpredictable, always filled with surprises and excitement.
Their aesthetic approach is exultant and experimental, fusing diverse genres, awash in chaotic energy.
3 + 5 synthesizes elements of a variety of Extreme Musics, Hyper-Pop, classic Punk, vintage Metal, and Noise. It’s informed by Japanese culture in general, and the subcultures of gaming, anime and homegrown underground music in particular. The album’s nine tracks have been crafted to maximize the independent appeal of each song (since so many listeners will be streaming and playlisting these songs). Each selection boasts its own unique charm and ideas that beg for repeated listening.
Besides making their music, MELT-BANANA hope to empower and encourage their fans and fellow musicians by example. They’ve foregone the convention of a full band line-up for over a decade and recorded and toured as a two piece since 2012. Yako’s wildly careening, staccato vocals ignore every convention of Pop and Alternative singing, guided solely by her own unique artistic vision. For 25 years, they’ve been in the vanguard of bedroom players and Egg Punks facing challenge of mixing homespun digital creations with live instrumentation head on with consistently brilliant results.
While Melt-Banana hasn’t explicitly explained the meaning behind the album’s title, 3 + 5, prime numbers symbolize mathematical integrity and independence, which could represent MELT-BANANA’s uniqueness and freedom. Why "3 + 5" and not "1 + 7"? That’s left for you to ponder.
Check ‘Flipside’ here:
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Listen: ‘Seven Nation Army’ by Talia Keys
Posted: 12 June 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPsTags: Seven Nation Army, single stream, Talia Keys
Salt Lake City singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/social-activist Talia Keys has released a cover of The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army.’
Though growing up an outspoken queer female musician in the conservative confines of Utah has come with a mountain of challenges, Talia Keys wouldn’t change a thing.
Through her sizzling guitar, pulsating drums, or bold, bluesy and ultimately believable vocals, she communicates the realities of her struggles and surroundings in song. On ‘Seven-Nation Army’, Keys’ third in a trifecta of tremendous cover songs, the activist-musician once again accomplishes this mission, revealing a magnetic reinvention of The White Stripes’ 2003 smash hit with all the venom, verve, and pizzaz we’ve come to expect from this fiery Salt Lake City siren.
“To me, ‘Seven Nation Army’ is about not giving up. If people are talking behind your back, you still push through. About fighting to exist, and then existing loud and proud.” explains Keys. “The track has always resonated with me; as I’ve pushed through barriers and biases just to be let into the music industry. I’ve been mocked, ridiculed, talked about and hated on since my career began. So to me, the song represents a battle cry – to not let anything hold me back.”
On Talia’s gritty reimagining, ‘Seven Nation Army’ is again driven by an assertive, four-on-the-floor drum beat, which introduces the tune faithfully, and powers a pulsating groove. It’s a humble nod to The White Stripes’ beloved drummer Meg White, who inspired Keys behind the kit as “a powerful woman owning her space.” The cut features a very-effective half-time switch-up on the bridge, creating an enormous pocket that just jumps inside your ear holes.
For our money, this beats the original. Hear it here:
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Art: Gabriella Hunter
Aural Aggravation 