If you neighbors pissed you off, it’s time to piss back! 😆 Turn up the volume, push play and leave this EP on repeat one day or two. You will earn your neighbors respect. Joking and not so. “Seas” is a murderous EP from an up and coming metal band from Brussels, Belgium. Formed in late 2010, quickly garnered a reputation for fierce, powerful live shows and an unique, well crafted sound. If you like the technical Death Metal forged by Cynic and you love the nowadays fancy Post-Hardcore/Metalcore outfits, Now, Voyager will definitively become your new favorite.
Extremely intense, but contagious, their songs will set the world on fire and grind you into the ground. This 4 track EP is one of the most impressive debuts I heard lately, it has the perfect balance between contorted heaviness and subtle, expressive musicality. This is the best soulful fury I ever heard! The Metal never sound so grinding and fresh as it blows out from this songs. And can get enough of it, you will want more and more. Read more Now, Voyager – Seas, EP (2012)
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Meredith – Debut, EP (2012) – free download!
Fred Lefranc – Guitar, Vocals and Ben Delacroix – Drums formed Meredith in Paris, France and this four track free release available through their Bandcamp page is an excellent mixture of raw (garage) Punk – in the vein of The Stooges – , dark, contorted post Rock with roots back to Joy Division, adding some heavy (Post) Hardcore energy and not at least their own originality with cutting edge experimental taste. As they describe themselves perfectly: “Meredith are the bastard child of a drunken encounter between Dave Grohl and Shannon Wright, the duo Meredith was born on a moonless night, in the back of a filthy cab. Bearing the gifts of raw, uncompromising ruthlessness, with some siblings in Barkmarket, Fugazi and Trail of dead, their lineage is extensive and impassioned.” Read more Meredith – Debut, EP (2012) – free download!
Ugly Kid Joe – Stairway To Hell, EP (2012)
I have hundreds of albums to listen and eventually write a review, but when a band are back from the dead almost literally after 16 years, and this band really rocks the socks off once upon a time, I leave everything aside and focus on their release. This is only a six track teaser, probably the guys want to know if there are still headbangers out there interested in real Rock and worth the effort to come back full force. 16 fucking years! It was like yesterday when half of the rockers love them, the other half hate them for their success in 1992 with the single “Everything About You”, which peaked at #3 in the UK Singles Chart and made it into the Billboard Top 10. Later in the year the song was used in the movie “Wayne’s World.” “As Ugly As They Wanna Be” went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone becoming the highest selling debut E.P. of all time. But this mixture of satirical humor and Heavy Metal really got me back then, and till they disbanded in 1997, Ugly Kid Joe actually proved they are quite a serious and heavy band, well, keeping a good sense of humor is songs such as “Sandwich” or “Bicycle Wheels”. “Stairway To… Hell”? Are you kidding, don’t you? 😆
Their current line up is the last line up of the band crystallized in the mid 1994. Read more Ugly Kid Joe – Stairway To Hell, EP (2012)
Hakan Ludvigson – July, EP (2012)
Producer, songwriter, DJ and record label owner; at 27, Håkan Ludvigson has already begun to make an imprint on the electronic music scene. In September 2011 he is taking the big leap as an original artist, releasing his debut artist album “Soulroom” on CD on his own Substream label.
He is living and breathing electronic music. Up to 2011, his productions have been mostly house and techno, engineered for DJs and clubs, released on vinyl.
“July” is a beautiful, romantic dream of a deep house track taken from Håkan’s debut studio album “Soulroom” , released last year.
Clubers and lovers will dig this seriously. Read more Hakan Ludvigson – July, EP (2012)
maQLu – Futureghosts, EP (2012)
Dark and strange, noisy and contorted, but with a secretly pulsing taste of mystery, Vancouver based noise-electro creep maQLu [aka Pyra Draculea] has just released her fourth EP, “Futureghosts”, on April 30, 2012, available through her Bandcamp page for free download (name your price). In the same location and on the same bases you can also grab two other previous releases, “The Maqlu Tarot” and “blood.black.haze”, a CD album which incorporates her first three EP’s.
maQLu named as her influences bands and artists such as Skinny Puppy, Chris & Cosey, ohGr, Nine Inch Nails, and Revolting Cocks, she reminded me mainly of Diamanda Galás and her dark, liturgical trips, she have that experimental thirst of Shikhee of Android Lust, but also she have roots back to minimalist No Wave and even further, back to Kraftwerk-like electro experiments and the nerve of The Stranglers. This music is about atmosphere and feelings, rather then about rhythms and dance, this go to your brain and soul, rather then driven your feet. Read more maQLu – Futureghosts, EP (2012)
Chris Quirk – District One, EP (2012)
I googled Chris Quirk, but it’s like googling John Doe, half of the planet seems to use this name, so it did not get me any further and without any other available background information, I left with this two tracks plus two remixes of the title track.
The energy is captivating, the sound is fat, modern, almost contorted, not that typical and absolutely tasteless all the same “boom boom” s*it. Actually “District One” is quite a killer track, it’s all about high energy, grooves, and good vibe. “Rude Awakening” continues in the same vain, slow down for taking a breath and only to blow up even noisier. Read more Chris Quirk – District One, EP (2012)
Oovation – Mirage EP (2012)
The ovation (Latin: ovatio) was a lower form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted, when war was not declared between enemies on the level of states, when an enemy was considered basely inferior – slaves for instannce – or when the general conflict was resolved with little to no bloodshed or danger to the army itself.
Ovation is also the name of a famous guitar company founded by Charles Kaman.
And then there is Peter Bonaventura, better known as Oovation, a 21 years old producer and artist from Germany. He discovered music at the age of 13 years when he started playing the guitar. Later at the age of 18 he discovered with some friends the electronic music trough festivals like Time Warp, Nature One, I love Techno to name a few of them. He started to produce his own tracks at 19 and one year later he signed his first EP with Unusual Sound, and a few months later with Inlab recordings. Read more Oovation – Mirage EP (2012)
Front Line Assembly – Plasticity (2012)
After leaving Skinny Puppy, Bill Leeb in 1986 formed Front Line Assembly (FLA) and influenced by early electronic and (Post-)industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining elements of EBM and Industrial (Metal).
The band’s membership has rotated through several members over the years, including Rhys Fulber and Michael Balch, while the current official line-up of the band consists of: Bill Leeb, Chris Peterson, Jeremy Inkel and Jared Slingerland. Read more Front Line Assembly – Plasticity (2012)
Kachu Mx – Sheriff Fuck You, EP (2012)
From Juarez, Mexico, DJ Kachu Mx started in 2007 to produce some experimental beats with the influence of commercial genres merging minimal, dark techno and twisted house. His first successful EP “Dark Rider” was released by Miniaturesrec Phunk Investigation Label, since, Kachu Mx has worked with several labels.
Clubstream bring to our ears another heavy set of pounding beats and rambling basses, this four track EP will fill up the speakers on late nights and early mornings. “Sheriff Fuck You”, “Don’t Be Afraid”, “El Diseñador Constantino” and “Drogba” will set the couch on fire and banish the sleep away. Read more Kachu Mx – Sheriff Fuck You, EP (2012)
The Tape Disaster – A Voz do Fogo, EP (2012) free download!
Brasilia’s finest Progressive Rock outfit it’s back with a beautiful EP and through the experimental net label headed in the depths of São Paulo, Brazil, Sinewave the two track material it’s available for free download.
I listen The Tape Disaster last year, and wrote about them because I was quite impressed by their ability to merge smooth and nowadays Shoegaze called elements with the power and explosion of traditional Rock and the magic aromas of Brazilian music and percussion. Read more The Tape Disaster – A Voz do Fogo, EP (2012) free download!
