Some years ago, I was sitting in a bar, licking my drink, when something hit my ears: “Pray to God I think of a nice thing to say, But I don’t think I can so fuck you anyway…” I said, wow! Asked the bartender who are these guys, he actually didn’t knew, but searched on the playlist and told me: Archive. Fuck! So, I dig them out and I had one of the most wonderful surprises of that windy and rainy autumn, I had five albums to knock myself off. That song, “Fuck U” was from their “Noise” album released in 2004. Archive was formed by Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths in 1994 from the ashes of the UK breakbeat act, Genaside II. Together with the female singer Roya Arab and the young rapper Rosko John, they released their first album “Londinium” on Island Records in 1996, a gloomy mix of dark Trip Hop and Electronica in a similar vein to Massive Attack, flavored with their the sounds of their roots of Breakbeat and Hardcore. Peter Gabriel was quoted as saying, “Londinium was one of my most favourite albums of the year.” In 1997 Roya Arab was replaced by Suzanne Wooder and two years later they released their second studio album, entitled “Take My Head”, a more Pop and melody oriented material with a smoother approach of Symphonic Trip-Hop. Read more Archive – With Us Until You’re Dead (2012)
We proudly present: Byzant At Sunset
Imagine a song which starts as the smoothest John Coltrane song and end up as the most furious The Thing live jam. Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present: Byzant At Sunset.
The Gathering – Disclosure (2012)
The first track I heard was “Paper Waves” and honestly it was not too convincing while it’s kind of dissolving in the air, but fortunately, the almost 8 minutes of “Meltdown” incorporates everything what makes Magic The Gathering and washes away the Pop-like, but almost tasteless, ultimately a filling felt of “Paper Waves”.
So, the Dutch Alternative Rock driven force, The Gathering are back with their tenth studio album, “Disclosure”, the follow up of the 2009’s “The West Pole” which also marked the debut of their new vocalist Silje Wergeland (previous front woman of Octavia Sperati). Meanwhile, we had a free download on their Bandcamp page, originally released on May 16th, 2011, and still available, “Heroes For Ghosts”, a more darker melange of (Progressive/Alernative) Rock roots and Trip-Hop flavored cinematic moments. And the whole album it’s a journey through smoothly colored, subtly layered and gently flowing soundscapes, The Gathering merging in their own style every musical genre and style their previously explored from explosive and symphonic taste-like Rock to Trip-Hop with blowing Jazz and Electronic flavor. Not even the sky is the limit, not for The Gathering anyway – anymore. And “Disclosure” is a very glossy, joyful journey. Read more The Gathering – Disclosure (2012)
Aphrodite’s Baby – 90, EP (2012)
My French is rusty ( 😆 ), so, their bio in French really did not helped me too much, but this 4 track EP is definitively pretty convincing. Aphrodite’s Baby reminds me of an unleashed Rollins Band, they managed to merged together the Punk attitude, the Hardcore rawness and the intensity and grooves of the modern Metal and delivered an ass-kicker material.
But this “90” it’s also a fun concept. Danny Madigan, played by Austin O’Brien, was the kid in the “Last Action Hero” movie, (1993) the big fan of Jack Slater, a larger-than-life action hero played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Axel Stone is one of the main character of the “Streets of Rage” series video game beside Adam Hunter and Blaze Fielding. And far as I found out, “Hocus Locust” is a skill from the “Dragon Quest” series and this skill reduces the MP of one enemy. I’m still in trouble and digging for Larry Kubiac who might be Francis Lawrence “Larry” Kubiac III played by Abraham Benrubi in the American teen sitcom, entitled “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” which originally aired on FOX from September 1990 to June 1993, but I’m really not sure about this…. 😆
So, the music is Read more Aphrodite’s Baby – 90, EP (2012)
Vajra – Pleroma (2012)
If you were thinking how a melange of Dead Can Dance with Tool would sound like, don’t dig further, Vajra is the most perfect possible match for it. Singer, composer, producer, writer, and keyboard player Annamaria Pinna formed Vajra during her self-imposed exile in India and “Pleroma” is kind of a collection of 10 “sonic postcards” which painting up by sounds this mystic journey to self-conscience filled with hypnotic mysticism and some explosive sonic hurricanes.
The opening “Inside The Flame” have that ancient driven power which made magic the debut Tool album and it’s a perfect attention grabber. “Almost One” have the touch of Godsmack, it’s a mixture of gloom and groove with Rock strength, hypnotic, but simultaneously kicking. “India” is a meditation/reflection, a subtle cinematic prayer which lead us directly into “Blind”, another Post-Grunge and Dark Rock filled anthem with pulsing guitar riffs and pounding drums, evoking Godsmack’s “Voodoo”, but adding a further Oriental and mystic tone, color to it. “Intuition” it’s like shattered from a dream, a slippery trip down to labyrinth of subconscious where shadows and lights are dancing together and melting into one. Read more Vajra – Pleroma (2012)
G.M.B.C. – Complete Omnivore (2012)
Completely disturbing, noisy and contorted, explosive, G.M.B.C. delivering the most dangerous type of Hardcore with Metal outfit in the footsteps of Converge and merging the furious attitude of Dead Kennedys with the overwhelming sound and energy of Pantera. G.M.B.C. are here to set the world on fire. The 8 tracks of “Complete Omnivore” are a merciless and compromiseless ride into the wild and once the pogo starts, nobody can stop it! But this isn’t only about energy and aggression, G.M.B.C. came up with some grinding you into the ground rhythms, some cutting to the bones riffs and at the bottom line they actually delivered a couple of great songs.
“Baldwin’s Case” have some moments which sounds like a meat grinder. “Evil Sex Machine” have the heaviness and southern spirit of Down combined with some madly speed Hardcore grinding. “Platini Beach” have a kind of Punk vibe while “Rasputin” sounds like a modern version of Napalm Death – both track are only few seconds over one minute. “Fat On Dry” sounds like Dead Kennedys doing a little Grindcore butchery, and “Moto Salad” have the sick taste of The Dillinger Escape Plan. Read more G.M.B.C. – Complete Omnivore (2012)
kafabindunya – Obi (2012)
According to kafabindünya, ordinary songs with lyrics limit the story that the listener imagines, by the content of the lyrics That’s why kafabindünya composes instrumental music and they want people to build their own stories and use their music as the soundtrack of their own fiction, only influenced by the song’s name. Denying the so called moody and repetitive harmonic structures used by most of the Post-Rock bands, kafabindünya focuses on composition and express feelings through music.
Formed at Istanbul, Turkey in the early 2000s, kafabindünya shared the stage with bands like Mogwai, Caspian, Kokomo, Arms and Sleepers and alike, in 2012, they finally released their debut album “obi” through Peyote Music. Merging heavy, intense moments with fluid and gloomy, smoothly layered cinematic moments and Oriental tests with Western sounds, kafabindünya creating their own flavored universe. One of my favorites it’s the explosive “When We Were Young” and the tumultuous closing act, “Yapılabilecek Bir Şey Yoktu”, but “Obi” it’s a 11 stationed, vividly colored, flawless journey gently adorned with surprises and exciting twists. Read more kafabindunya – Obi (2012)
Topsy The Great – STEFFALD (2012)
This is genuine, noisy, garage taste like, Avant-garde Rock band, somewhere between Big Black, Sonic Youth and H.P. Zinker. Topsy The Great’s debut album will be out on vinyl in September on fromSCRATCH Records. We’ve got 12 grinding, contorted, noisy Rock tracks, delivered by this Italian trio consist of guitarist Emanuele Ravalli, bass player Alessandro Gambassi and drummer Lorenzo “Bob” Coppini. They call their own style “Tesla-Core”, which is actually pretty clever and appropriate, while among their influences they name bands such as Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Big Black, Sonic Youth, Lightning Bolt, Fugazi, Oshinoko Bunker Orchestra and Melvins. This is a quite intense mixture of Punk rooted Garage Rock with Hardcore intensity and experimental/Avant-garde taste like (truly Progressive) Post-Rock. Got to listen this to feel it, understand it, but once you will got the taste of it, once when everything came through, you will love it and finally you will scream for more. Although, the recording is pretty raw sounding – bet it was recorded live -, the material is enjoyable and the trip is exhaustive, but worth every single minute of it. Read more Topsy The Great – STEFFALD (2012)
Ostfront – Ave Maria (2012)
Operation Ostfront (German for “Eastern Front”) was the sortie into the Arctic Ocean by the German warship Scharnhorst during World War II. In May 1941, after the loss of the German battleship Bismarck, Adolf Hitler had forbidden any German capital ship from venturing into contested seas. By December 1943 the tide had turned against Germany. The Battle of the Atlantic had been lost, and supplies poured into the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. In September 1943 the German battleship Tirpitz was disabled during the British Operation Source, leaving Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen the only operational heavy ships in the Kriegsmarine. In November 1943 the Arctic Convoys restarted. On 19 December 1943 Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz submitted a request to Hitler to allow Scharnhorst to attack the next convoy sailing through the Barents Sea. On the 25 December 1943 Dönitz ordered Ostfront to commence. Admiral Fraser, alerted by Norwegian resistance information to the possibility of an interception by Scharnhorst, prepared a trap for the German warship.
On 25 December Scharnhorst sailed to intercept the British convoy, JW 55B, believing it to be sparsely protected. In the ensuing Battle of the North Cape Scharnhorst was separated from her escorting destroyers and was sunk. This is history.
Neue Deutsche Härte – “New German Hardness” it’s a term invented by the German music press in 1995 specially to describe/defined the music delivered by Rammstein on their debut album “Herzeleid”. Also known as German Electronic Metal or Dance Metal (tanzmetall), this new genre has its roots in the music of bands such as Laibach, Die Krupps and Oomph! and along Rammstein the genre is proudly represented by bands such as Eisbrecher, Megaherz, Megaherz, Tanzwut, Umbra et Imago, In Extremo, Omega Lithium, Stahlhammer, Fleischmann, etc.
Ost+Front will definitively delight all and each Rammstein fan. Read more Ostfront – Ave Maria (2012)
Uglyhead – The Garden (2012)
If there is a missing link between Joy Division and Ministry, that must be Uglyhead. But Uglyhead incorporates several other different reminiscences from Syd Barrett smell like Psychedelic Rock to The Sisters Of Mercy trademarked Dark mechanics and from Field Of the Nephilim perfumed mysticism to contorted Garage Rock noisiness. This isn’t a walk through on a Sunday noon through the sunny park, “The Garden” is more like a secret dark place wit 10 alleys (paths) or 10 growing trees, branching around, exploring the mysteries of this world and our hidden inner universe. Merging different sonar elements, genres and styles, Uglyhead revels its own genre and style, delivering an atmospheric, highly textured journey and painting-up a tale of transformation, consumption and devastation.
Uglyhead is an experimental Rock band originally from Seattle, Uglyhead now operates primarily out of San Francisco, and the project is headed by musician/producer Jake Alejo. Read more Uglyhead – The Garden (2012)
