I was waiting this one for quite a while. Their previous album, “Dude Descending a Staircase” was released in 2003, nine f*cking years is over an eternity in music industry nowadays. Kids of today probably have not even the memories of “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Dub” as probably they don’t have a clue who the fuck is Eddie Van Halen! Still and unsurprisingly, Apollo 440 (alternately known as Apollo Four Forty or @440) came back with a powerful and fresh album, the trendy dubstep frequency oscilation and bass wobblings are incorporated into their noisy electronics and rocking construction, and definitively they delivered – once again – a mandatory killer album. Read more Apollo 440 – The Future’s What It Used to Be (2012)
experimental
Love Sex Machine – Love Sex Machine (2012)
The official promo says this is “ultra crushing sludgecore” and make no mistake, this is definitively one of the heaviest s*it you can listen to. As usually, Throatruinner offering this release as a digital download for free – in the very noble “name your price” mode or the posted Medifire link. Go and grab it, this guys brings the apocalypse through their grinding, murderous tracks!
And well, if the band’s General Manager is the Satan himself and their Facebook address is 666doom666, nothing is quite surprising anymore. Read more Love Sex Machine – Love Sex Machine (2012)
Kayo Dot – Gamma Knife (2012)
Kayo Dot, the brainchild of Toby Driver is a quite different musical project then most of the nowadays trendy runners. It’s an everchanging mixture of rock, jazz, metal and avant-garde elements, it’s definitively not a common, usual, easy to label and listen kind of music. But it’s much more alive.
A partial live recording with overdubs added in the studio, they delivered 25 minutes of their usually unusual music, this time kind of saxophone fueled noise metal, a quite contorted trip, eventually with the exception of the title track which it’s an almost classical track with chamber and (possible) Gregorian aromas and offers a chill exit for the listener. Read more Kayo Dot – Gamma Knife (2012)
Field Frequency
Yesterday, Friday 13, was a quite odd day. But after all I managed to get over it. Just to face another task today. 😀
The Weekly Brief is an on-going program to source specific, high-quality music for Indaba‘s non-exclusive licensing catalog.
In this inaugural edition of their weekly commissions, they’re reaching out to the artists of Indaba to compose an adrenaline-fueled score for this snowboarding footage. I delivered a quick, noisy one for this one, kind of clash between Black Sabbath and Ministry… Check it out, hope you enjoy it. 😉 Read more Field Frequency
Elizabeth – Demo, Free Download
Free stuffs are best stuffs for most of us, I know. Candies for suckers. 😀 And Matthias Jungbluth of Throatruiner Records all the time serve us some goodies. So, I’m gonna spread and share his message, still, just remember, artists and some independent labels as Throatruiner Records deserves all our support and don’t forget: art needs not only inspiration, but financing, support too.
Swiss ELIZABETH (hardcore/crust in the vein of Rise And Fall, Converge, The Hope Conspiracy,with ex-NOSTROMO vocalist) has entered the studio to record their debut EP “When Vultures Land”. A 12″ vinyl release is planned for march via Throatruiner Records and I For Us, and their first home-recorded EP is still available for free download here : http://ezbth.bandcamp.com. Read more Elizabeth – Demo, Free Download
Hexis – XI (2012)
Two words: death and destruction. I think back in ’86-’87 when I first listen to Kreator’s “Endless Pain” and “Pleasure to Kill” I had that murderous feeling. Back then it was something terrible and shocking, nowadays nothing’s shocking anymore, still, Hexis delivers some brutally good mixture of extreme metal. Slow, doom and black metal grinding moments are ripped away by killer massacres of grindcore and hardcore intensity.
I wasn’t able to dig out too many infos about this Copenhagen (Denmark) based band formed in the beginning of 2010, but it seems they already has released a bunch of different records and toured Europe a few times in countries like Sweden, Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic together with bands like Celeste, The Secret and This Gift Is A Curse. Read more Hexis – XI (2012)
The Atomic Bomb Audition – How to Dismantle a U2 (2012)
The key to this is – as they defined their own music -: “psychedlic soundtracks for films that don’t exist”. Under this funny and cleverly inspired album title they offer a collection of enclosed materials which represents all phases of the band, digging back till 2006 and the “Eleven Theatres” era. Also got the cover of “Laura’s Theme” from the famous “Twin Peaks” soundtrack which fits right in in the atmosphere and vibe of this release and reflects quite precisely the (mainly) gloomy and ghosty style of the band.
Released on 1st January 2012, and free of charge (“name your price”) on their Bandcamp page, this is a nice gift and a great opportunity to get know this band and their music. Read more The Atomic Bomb Audition – How to Dismantle a U2 (2012)
Echancrure – Paysage. Octobre. (2011)
This is a dream. Or a trip through some sonic landscapes colored by hopes, dreams, fears, nightmares and eventually some kind of desperate searching and self-searching, ultimately a need for communication and definitively a gloomy, but quite spiritual way to express feelings. And once again, in a world more and more isolated and alienated, feelings and communication are so goddamn rare. This might be a movie without imagines, or just simply a passage to a kind of intimate, hidden place where our ghosts are dancing in some soulful ritual fire. Symbolism melt into mystery, grotesque and vivid melancholy collide into one and the result are eight “Untitled” tracks which overcome and defied genres.
“Yours for free”, or “Pay as much as you want” is the best way to spread this kind of experimental, gloomy, “unfriendly” music. Read more Echancrure – Paysage. Octobre. (2011)
Cartographer – Hats, Capes, Dark Arts (2011)
Some people turn up they radio, others watch one of the music channels on TV, others buy and read music magazines or on-line sites, others got their music from they friends. Some says music should be free. Some people think that music is a product, others that is an expression, a form and manifestation of art. Everybody is absolutely right. I guess. I’ve got a friend who still listening exclusively his old MCs (mechanical cassettes), other friends of mine still collect vinyl records, some people buy CDs while others are completely satisfied by mp3s. Some of my friends listening all kind of musics, don’t bother label and sort them by genre and style, others listening exclusively Metal, Jazz, Punk or whatever they prefer. Love – I doubt it, but music definitively is in the air.
Sometimes I see an interesting cover, sometimes I read somewhere something about an artist or a band, sometimes a friend recommend me something, sometimes the bands send me materials for review, sometimes the record labels or some agency. I never listen the radio, I do not watch music channels, I don’t care what’s on the top of any charts, I don’t care what the critics, “the experts” says about… anything.
I stumbled accidentally into Cartographer and I liked what I heard from the very first moment. Read more Cartographer – Hats, Capes, Dark Arts (2011)
Dungeon Elite [**] – New World Disorder (2011)
Emocore, NintendoCore, Happy GrindCore, Electro Metal, label it as you please, this is extremely intense and murderous s*it. Fada (Screaming), Becko (Synthesizers and Vocals), and finally Maia (Vocals) formed the group in Rome, Italy and their released their debut, “Make Love Not Warcraft” in 2007. Described on their MySpace profile as “Techno/Grindcore/Emotronic”, their music is a refreshing mixture of Hardcore, Nintendo and Game sounds like elements with Dance and Electronic musics, it’s extremely pulsing, dynamic, Metal and Techno melt into one and explode. Read more Dungeon Elite [**] – New World Disorder (2011)
