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:
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.”
With Observed in a Dream, Norwegian purveyors of psychedelic post-punk / shoegaze, Mayflower Madame, delivered one of our favourite albums of 2016. While their second album is unlikely to see the light until late 2017 or even early 2017, they’ve unveiled ‘Drown’ by way of a taster now. It’s by no means a mere stop gap: to say the signs are good for the next album would be an understatement. A whirl of echo-heavy gutars and even more echo-heavy baritone vocals, ‘Drown’ has an aching melacholy emotional pull. Watch the video and get your lugs around it here:
“Microverse” is the third release for composer and producer Lossy on his label Boot Cycle Audio. Having previously released with Tru Thoughts, Tessier Ashpool & Two Rivers Records, Lossy teams up with visual artist Strangers Are People Too for this live looping piece which is due to be released both as a full 20 minute film and 4 track digital EP. Originally inspired by experiments with microscopes and natural objects, this work is an exploration of the epicness within the miniscule, a journey to the extraordinary realms that can be found within the ordinary. Here you will find acid techno bass lines layered with orchestral brass, vintage synth sounds blended with overlapping saxophone, along with dystopian warped piano and noise based sound design.
The music is layered up in live loops of electronic and acoustic sounds, all based around a minimal 16 note sequence, taking us through four distinct movements while visuals of electrified organica journey through imagined inner worlds. Having performed and developed the piece at several events, including the Music Tech Fest at LSO St Luke’s in London and IRCAM in Paris, the pair are now delighted to present this polished studio version in all its quirky and colourful glory.
A longform work of immense scope, it’s accompanied by some trippy digital visuals. You can watch it, listen and lose yourself here:
It’s no secret that we’re fans of Hands Off Gretel here at Aural Aggro. Burn the Beauty Queen is – in our educated, objective opinion – a bona fide contemporary grunge classic.
Following the video release of ‘Bad Egg’ at the start of April, they’ve gone and done a cracking promo for ‘Plasters’ too. Watch it here:
Power Trip’s new video for the single ‘Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe)’ takes us front and centre, into the eye of what is guaranteed to be a perfect storm time and time again.
Debuted by Noisey and directed by their own Andy Capper, the video takes footage captured from a spirited hometown show in Dallas and melts it with what Noisey describe ‘clips of politically-ordered carnage, masked maniacs, and the orange smirk of American fascism.’ The imagery articulates Gale’s lyrics that hone in on the devaluation of human life by those who’ve gained power through money and politics.
Power Trip hit us hard last month with their most powerful effort yet – Nightmare Logic – available via Southern Lord. Released to high critical acclaim and anticipation – their second release does not disappoint. With hooks and tightness rivalling the likes of Metallica, Pantera or Pentagram, Power Trip punishes fans not only sonically but with pure songwriting skill.
After a wild, sold out East Coast / Midwest US tour, the band set to takeover the West Coast US this month with Destruction Unit, before they head to Europe with Napalm Death and Brujeria. Check below for the dates.
Watch ‘Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe)’ with tour dates listed below.
POWER TRIP JOIN ‘CAMPAIGN FOR MUSICAL DESTRUCTION TOUR’ WITH NAPALM DEATH & BRUJERIA
Tuesday, 25 April 2017 Copenhagen – Amager Bio, DK Wednesday, 26 April 2017 Gothenburg – Pustervik, SWE Thursday, 27 April 2017 Stockholm – Kraken STHLM, SWE Friday, 28 April 2017 Flensburg – Roxy, DE Saturday, 29 April 2017 Magdeburg – Factory, DE Sunday, 30 April 2017 Haarlem – Patronaat, NL Monday 1 May 2017 Koln – Underground, DE Tuesday, 2 May 2017 Berlin – SO36, DE Wednesday, 3 May 2017 DAY OFF Thursday, 4 May 2017 Krakow – Kwadrat Club, PL Friday, 5 May 2017 Brno – Klub Fléda, CZ Sunday, 7 May 2017 Saarbrücken – Garage, DE Monday, 8 May 2017 DAY OFF Tuesday, 9 May 2017 Birmingham – O2 Institute, UK Wednesday, 10 May 2017 Glasgow – Classic Grand, UK Thursday, 11 May 2017 Manchester – Rebellion, UK Friday, 12 May 2017 London – The Electric Ballroom, UK Saturday, 13 May 2017 Paris – Le Glazart, FR Sunday, 14 May 2017 Antwerpen – Zappa, BE Monday, 15 May 2017 DAY OFF Tuesday, 16 May 2017 Six Fours Les Plages – Espace André Malraux, FR Wednesday, 17 May 2017 Geneva – L’Usine, CH Thursday, 18 May 2017 Bologna – Zona Roveri, IT Friday, 19 May 2017 Karlsruhe – NCO Club, DE Saturday, 20 May 2017 München – Backstage, DE Sunday, 21 May 2017 Eindhoven – Effenaar, NL
We’re elated to bring you a video premiere in the form of ‘The Brightest Stars Leave The Blackest Holes’ by Leeds three-piece purveyors of contempoary prog, Zeitgeist.
The new single is taken from the Vacuums EP, released today.
Zeitgeist’s keyboardist, Aleks Podraza comments on the track’s inspirations: “The tune in itself is about planetary death, and how nothing is permanent, no matter how big. The title can also be considered an allegory for human death, and how we miss the ‘brightest stars’ amongst us.
I spent a lot of time during my wrestle with my own existence and its meaning looking up the different theories surrounding the big bang. One theory I came across was that the big bang was a result of a past universe being swallowed up by a huge black hole, but so dense was the mass that the black hole became that it itself collapse and a huge explosion of matter happened. And here we are. So expiration and death, in accord to this theory, are just part of our universe’s cyclic existence, which I found a comforting and inspiring thought.”
Zeitgeist’s keyboardist, Aleks Podraza comments on the track’s inspirations: “The tune in itself is about planetary death, and how nothing is permanent, no matter how big. The title can also be considered an allegory for human death, and how we miss the ‘brightest stars’ amongst us.
I spent a lot of time during my wrestle with my own existence and its meaning looking up the different theories surrounding the big bang. One theory I came across was that the big bang was a result of a past universe being swallowed up by a huge black hole, but so dense was the mass that the black hole became that it itself collapse and a huge explosion of matter happened. And here we are. So expiration and death, in accord to this theory, are just part of our universe’s cyclic existence, which I found a comforting and inspiring thought.”
A new Oxbow album? Yep: their seventh LP, Thin Back Duke is out through Hydra Head on My 5th. As a taster, they’ve offered up a video for ‘Cold & Well-Lit Place’. It may or may not be a reference to Ernest Hemingway’s 1933 short story ‘ A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’, but it’s belting. Watch the video here:
We love a bit of Soma Crew here at Aural Aggravation. ‘Got it Bad’, which prefaces the release of their new album, is perhaps the most definitie statement of their sonic capabilities yet. Check it hre:
Leeds Post-punk quartet Post War Glamour Girls have shared a video for their new single ‘Organ Donor’.
The video was made by the band’s own Alice Scott and James Smith and is the product of several sleepless nights staring at the glitchy, strobing visuals that accompany the track, taken from the band’s upcoming third album Swan Songs.
But enough preamble already, just watch the video here: it’s ace.
Aural Aggravation 