Goat‘s Seu Sangue EP is a collection of four remixes from their Oh Death album and one new track. It came about after the surprise release of Oh Death, which reminded everyone of how good Goat is and had producers and DJ clamoring to remix several (if not all) tracks from it.
Seu Sangue is the result, starting with the funky and snappy 12″ Extended Dance Mix of “Under No Nation” by John Mark Lapham. The “Shit & Shine Rework” of “Do the Dance” is jagged and weird, and Sonic Boom‘s Party Mix of “Soon You Die” somehow makes the song even fuzzier and grimier. I wish it were double the length – just under three minutes isn’t enough for this much madness.
Marlene Ribeiro remixes “Remind Yourself” with extra hand percussion for a funky instrumental. The new track is the title track, mixing acoustic guitar and what sounds like a Mellotron with seagull cries and reverb-loaded vocals for a meditative experience that is perfect for a sunset or when you’re about to make a potentially life-changing decision (and, really, aren’t all of them life-changing?).
Are you looking for another full album of house and techno bangers? Well, DJ Zinc has you covered with Crackhouse Vol. 3.
The opening moments of “Conditioning” (with Chris Lorenzo) are designed to get you jumping. “That Sound” is a stand-out, building to a thumping floor-filler. “Close My Eyes” is classic house music, mixing fun beats with lovely vocals. “Amergency” dives back into straight-up jungle madness.
“Everywhere” blends the two into jungle-house with looped gospel-like vocals and popping boba bass to keep you caffeinated and on a sugar rush. Kamakaze joins Zinc for “What I’m On” – a head-swirling jungle track that makes the room feel like it’s spinning. “When I” brings us back to soulful house music. “Dollars” practically turns on the strobe lights for you with its bright synth riffs.
“Goldin” adds vocals from President T to the party, bringing in a rough edge to Zinc’s booming beats. Ever helps Zinc close out the mix with the sweaty breakbeat cut, “For My People” that leaves you out of breath by the end. It feels over too soon, as most good raves do.
Toronto’s pop punk rock powerhouse The Mendozaz are back with “Late Stage 12 Gauge,” the first advance single from their upcoming eight-song concept EP The Completely Fictional History of This Great Nation of Canada, out November 3 on Cartridge Heart. Like the rest of the record, the track takes aim at an entirely fabricated chapter of Canadian lore, in this case a web of imagined affairs, a dozen restraining orders, and one very ill-advised bromance cover-up.
A high-voltage burst of 90s-style pop-punk filtered through the band’s signature mix of humour and bite, “Late Stage 12 Gauge” blends galloping rhythms, snotty harmonies, and a chorus that lands like an inside joke you are instantly in on. Beneath the grin-inducing hooks, the lyrics spin a tale of paranoia, jealousy, and shotgun standoffs that feels just plausible enough to make you wonder if it really happened. “As any single guy will tell you, having platonic female friends is a bit of a minefield,” the band says. “Even the most well-meaning of us are going to have to deal with jealous significant others from time to time. The last thing you want is to set off the heat-packing husbands (and weapon-wielding wives) of the world. There’s a whole population of people who think ‘Netflix and Chill’ actually means ‘Netflix and Chill’ and they have no idea the toes they’re stepping on.”
Formed in 2017, The Mendozaz consist of Jonny (vocals/guitar), Michael (vocals/bass) and Dic (drums). They have carved out a reputation for relentless live shows and obnoxiously catchy songwriting. Their three previous albums (Two Days to Retirement, Up and At Them and Loafers) earned critical praise and steady campus radio play, while sharing stages with Dayglo Abortions, Chuck Coles and The Anti-Queens and making festival stops at Pouzza, NXNE and KW Long Weekend Band Crawl.
Described as “the sound of a Fat Wreck comp smashing violently into a copy of Big Shiny Tunes,” The Mendozaz channel the spirit of early Green Day and late 90s Fat Wreck alumni while avoiding the syrupy pitfalls that plagued pop-punk’s commercial boom. It is an approach that has drawn comparisons to The Weakerthans, PUP and The Dead Milkmen, bands that can make you laugh, think, and shout along in the same three minutes.
With The Completely Fictional History of This Great Nation of Canada, The Mendozaz lean into their love of Canadian storytelling by making the stories up entirely, from murderous werewolves in London, Ontario to the sea captain who may have seduced Death herself. “Late Stage 12 Gauge” is just the first taste, a wink, a wallop, and a reminder that in punk rock, history is always written by the loudest.
As the story goes, Man…Or Astro-Man?‘s Brian “Birdstuff” Teasley send a demo of the band’s music to legendary BBC DJ John Peel along with a note telling him to never play it on air because they didn’t want to be discovered and then forgotten like so many other bands who had been played on his show.
The trick worked, because Peel came to love MOAM? so much that he invited them to play on his show over a dozen times between 1993 and 2000. Many of those recordings were released as a limited box set, ROYGBIV – which quickly sold out in 2024. Thankfully, a deluxe second edition of it was released this year.
It’s jam-packed with MOAM?’s signature sci-fi surf, launching with “Rocketship XL-3.” “Invasion of the Dragonmen” samples an old Spider-Man adventure record. “Nitrous Burnout” is a tribute to the dangerous world of outlaw racing. “Transmissions from Venus” is one of their heavier tracks and loaded with fuzz. “A Mouthful of Exhaust” is another fun one about the smash-up racing lifestyle.
“Sadie Hawkins Atom Bomb” pushes the bass to the front and takes on a slight rough edge. The theme from The Munsters has been a long-time favorite of surf bands everywhere, and MOAM?’s version is a wild stomper that’s over before you can catch your breath, and “Gargantua’s Last Stand” is as raucous as its titular monster. “Name of Numbers” and “Special Agent Conrad Uno” feature some of the wildest guitar on the entire collection.
“Time Bomb” and “Put Your Finger in the Socket” are punk-surf, with the latter having a dangerous growl throughout it. “________ (Classified)” brings in a Theremin for good measure. “Sferic Waves” gets a little bit into horror-rock territory (which is fine by me).
MOAM? play tribute to Mr. Peel on a couple tracks in the collection, the first being “Inside the Head of Mr. John Peel” – which makes you think Mr. Peel had constant drumming and surf guitar on his mind. “Inside the Atom” is as fast and wild as you’ll hope it will be. “24 Hours” slows things down, but not by much. What’s the “Maximum Radiation Level”? I don’t know, but it sounds like MOAM? reach it on the track. “U-Uranus” is one of the few tracks with vocals and it’s about the seventh planet from the Sun…for the most part.
The guitars on “Man Made from CO2” warp like something teetering on the rim of a black hole. “9-Volt” is another rare track with vocals and “Television Fission” is a blast of rocket fuel that burns out almost before you notice it’s happening. “Welcome to the Wicky Wacky World of John Peel (The Wayward Meteor)” is a great one, mixing funky guitars with weird sounds, solid surf bass, and surf-punk drums. “Lo Batt” reminds me of early Devo tracks with its mix of odd synths, punk riffs, robotic vocals, and snappy drums.
“The Miracle of Genuine Pyrex” has one of the goofiest names and some of the most metal riffs. “Jonathan Winters Frankenstein” is a fun poke at the Edgar Winter Group. It’s not a cover of their classic “Frankenstein,” but you can still hear the influence. “With Automatic Shut Off” and “Rovers” are a bit mellow, and “Bombora” is their version of a classic surf-rock ripper. “Max Q” has cryptic vocals hidden behind the fierce riffs and rolling drums. “Don’t Think What Jack” wraps up the music, but there are still four more tracks of Birdstuff reading excerpts from Phillip K. Dick‘s Through a Scanner Darkly. Why? Heck, why not by this point?
It’s a wild, fun collection that flies by you like, well, a rocket. Blast off with it.
mei ehara—the Tokyo-based artist, musician, writer, and designer— presents “Fuukeiga (Cut Out),” the second single from her new album, All About McGuffin, out September 12th on KAKUBARHYTHM. Following the “slinky and hypnotic” (Our Culture) lead single, “Kanashii Untenshu (Sad Driver),” today’s single “Fuukeiga (Cut Out)” is fuzzed out and spare, showcasing the raw and intentionally unembellished instrumentation found throughout the album.
ehara elaborates: “We are always seen through the eyes of others—defined, judged, expected, sometimes dismissed. That gaze can weigh heavily, making us falter, hesitate, and turn questions inward. Yet the influence of others is not only a burden. It can open paths we wouldn’t discover on our own, shaping the choices that carry us forward. Each step we take, in the rhythm of these connections, carries both unease and anticipation. The future stays opaque, but moving toward it brings its own kind of charge — a tension, an exhilaration, like placing a quiet bet on what comes next.
For ehara, the years since the release of her beloved 2020 album Ampersands have been anything but static as her music began to travel further than ever. A chance encounter led Faye Webster to discover ehara’s music. The two ended up collaborating on Webster’s song “Overslept” from I Know I’m Funny haha and ehara opening for Webster across the U.S. Performing around the country became both a test and a revelation for ehara, proof that her quietly powerful songs resonated far beyond Japan.
All About McGuffin is a testament to an artist learning to trust her own instincts, to create without fear, and to let the story find her. The album takes its title from the film term “McGuffin,” an object that seems essential to a story but ultimately proves secondary or unimportant. For her, the concept became a metaphor for letting go of preoccupations about success, expectations, and artistic perfection.
Musically, All About McGuffin is the most stripped-down and unguarded of her work so far. Longtime bandmates Masamichi Torii (guitar), Naruki Numazawa (keyboards & piano), Sota “Coff” Kimoto (bass), and Koki Hama (drums & percussion) remain at her side, yet the arrangements are more transparent than ever. ehara describes this as an act of trust and a deliberate departure from her own perfectionist instincts: “Even if I felt uneasy about whether it was enough, or whether people might say it wasn’t enough, I was aware that I didn’t have to add anything. It was like I was naked.”
All About McGuffin feels deeply rooted in the present moment, reflecting ehara’s newfound vulnerability. It is a luminous and quietly defiant collection of songs about the joy that comes from realizing you don’t have to meet anyone’s expectations but your own.
Next month, ehara will embark on her first US headline tour featuring dates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Prior to her headline tour with a full band, she will support Se So Neon on a run of North American dates. Tickets are now available to purchase here.
mei ehara Tour Dates (New Dates in Bold) Sat. Sept. 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of Living Arts # Tue. Sept. 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel # Wed. Sept. 10 – Somerville, MA @ The Center for Arts at the Armory # Fri. Sept. 12 – Montreal, QC @ Théâtre Beanfield # Sat. Sept. 13 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre # Tue. Sept. 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Hall Thu. Sept. 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo Sun. Sept. 28 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge Tue. Sept. 30 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle Sun. Oct. 19 – Tokyo, JP @ WWWX [SOLD OUT]
Chicago-raised, Brooklyn-based musician Liam Kazar announces his new albumPilot Light, out November 7thvia his new labelCongrats Records, and releases the lead single and video, “The Word The War.” The follow-up to 2023’s Due North, “a winning midtempo confection” (New York Times’ T Magazine), Pilot Light is pensive and elegantly arranged. It represents Liam at his most unguarded as he navigates different stages of a relationship that has since come to an end, and peppers in a few more tracks that pull universal observations from daily life. Part of his more raw approach is reflected in Pilot Light’s spare, no-frills production, which strips out all reverb in favor of a crisp, straightforward sonic style.
This unadorned sound springs to life on today’s single, the standout sprightly stomper “The Word The War,” which rumbles in with quickened percussion and a jazz-influenced bassline that invokes Fleetwood Mac’s time-honored Tusk single “The Ledge.” As Liam ties together poetic lyrics that borrow from his daily chess habit (“In a canopy of trees there’s a sleepless queen”), the singer contemplates facade versus reality. “I feel like I’ve experienced a lot of people who are in very strong positions in the world or in their social status, yet they’re just as alone, just as vulnerable, just as insecure, just as unhappy with what they have as all the people below them,” he says. The accompanying video is directed by Austin Vesely.
Pilot Light signals Liam’s reintroduction to the homegrown music industry that made him. Growing up in Chicago, Liam first started playing guitar and writing songs at just 13. As he came of age, Liam studied jazz in high school and toured consistently with his and friends’ bands. Seasoned show-goers might recognize him from his tours with everyone from Sam Evian to pop/r&b singer Hannah Cohen and Jeff Tweedy, among others. “It’s all led to me just going for it as a solo artist,” Liam says.
That collaborative spirit is infused throughout Pilot Light, which effortlessly moves between folk-rock, pop, jazz, and alt-country and features production by Evian. Recorded at Evian’s Flying Cloud Studios in the Catskills, Pilot Light is technically a solo effort but goes down like a full-band project with contributions from Liam’s circle of friends: Hannah Cohen and Sima Cunningham on backing vocals, Sean Mullins on drums, and more seasoned players from Liam’s creative network.
In Liam’s words, “I’ve gone through periods of being a very private person and keeping my cards close to the vest, and I’ve let go of all that. I think since the relationship I was in ended, I feel like being honest and being vulnerable has only brought me closer to people.” Whether Liam is deconstructing a past relationship or contemplating everyday interpersonal dynamics, his poignant, intimate songwriting consistently positions him as a quiet musical force. His light might flicker, but it’s growing stronger by the second.
Kicking off next month, Liam will support Jeff Tweedy on a North American tour. Following, he’ll play a handful of record release shows. A full list of dates can be found below.
In 1989, Joanna were on the cusp of something bigger, their sound alive with the same electricity sparking through the North West of England. Yet in a world where gatekeepers decided who would rise and who would vanish, their debut never saw daylight. Now, 35 years later, ‘Hello Flower’ blooms at last — a time-capsule of youthful abandon, freed from the silence it was once consigned to, and finally able to be heard on its own terms.
‘Hello Flower’ is set to be released through US-label New Feelings on December 5th, and today the band share the album opener “If You Don’t Want Me To”.
This single is a first look at these long-forgotten ¼-inch reel tapes, discovered in a Manchester apartment loft. It starts with a boldly simplistic drumbeat, something the band’s drummer Alty, just 15 when he joined the band, wrote as an exercise in school. The tune’s minimal, pulsing rhythm locks into a groove that nods to the same spirit as The Stone Roses’ ‘’Fools Gold’ while hinting at the euphoric lift that would later define Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’. When Ty’s slide guitar hits at the bridge, it brings the track into the outer atmosphere of early 90’s indie dance.
Lyrically, the song brims with the messy thrill of teenage desire, capturing the push-and-pull of youthful romance with a mix of swagger and vulnerability.
It’s 1989. The Stone Roses are dominating the Indie scene and music press. Happy Mondays are laying the foundations of what would come to be known as the Madchester era with chaotic live performances. All eyes are on the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Along the East Lancs Road, throughout industrial heartlands between Manchester and Liverpool, punctuated by woollyback accents, four young musicians meet and form the next contender for the scene’s attention, Joanna. Neil Holliday (vocals) and Terry Lloyd (bass), work colleagues from Runcorn and Widnes, join forces with Leigh Music College students Tyrone Holt (guitar) and Carl Alty (drums). They hail from thoroughly working-class backgrounds, raised by hard working dads and harder working mothers. Rejected by other local bands because of their perceived youthful naïveté, the four lads create a world of their own inside Pentagon Studios in Widnes. This world includes a stolen smoke machine and strobe lights, a wooden shack to prevent feedback on the vocals, and the occasional friend who would dance around wildly.
“I think the first tune we rehearsed was called (I Wanna) Marry Joanna,” says Holliday, “I’d never sang into a mic before and had no clue about levels, amps or speakers and started sweating after a couple of failed attempts to vocalise the words I had on a scrap of paper about smoking weed.”
Each track on ‘Hello Flower’ came together in the Pentagon rehearsal room, a fusion of hard-edged indie rock with bass funk rhythms and crunching guitar riffs spiraling into infinity. With a clear sixties influence, Joanna was impossible to ignore and irresistibly danceable. Listening back today, their music evokes fantasies of Hacienda acid trip jubilees, where the hook is secondary to the groove and attitude. Organic and jammy, their demos are infused with a kinetic energy, full of the defining youthful experience of figuring it out.
Their momentum grew quickly. They were interviewed on the cult Kiss FM by future Best Selling author and filmmaker Jon Ronson, performed at the 1500 capacity Ritz in Manchester, International 1 and Liverpool Polytechnic. The band secured coveted support slots for established acts of the time including Shack, Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations, Rig, and Asia Fields. After recording several demos, Joanna had the opportunity to perform in London.
It seemed like a given. The A&R people would show up, the band would sign a contract backstage, and their local-legend status would evolve into international superstardom. They were already mentioning an upcoming record deal in interviews, with a bravado that inspired one journalist to describe Joanna as epitomising “the simple beauty of youth.” Bands like World of Twist, Charlatans, Rig and Paris Angels had all followed a similar route towards recognition and secured record deals. A few hours before their fateful London show after the band had sound-checked, singer Neil bumped into a girl he knew from school. She had started dating a guy with a good job and settled into London life and escaped beyond their small-town limitations. She’d made it out. Neil puffed out his chest and let her know about Joanna’s big show and imminent success. She laughed. Neil returned to the venue in a black mood, leading to a domino-like fall of morale. They were never offered a record deal.
As soon as doubt was seeded about the individual talent of any one member, and strategy became more important than expression, Joanna started to lose its magic. Wounded, they limped along for another year, never recovering their initial verve. This story doesn’t have the happy ending of instant success, but it does preserve something much more ephemeral and unique. Joanna constantly brushed shoulders with fame as manager and friend Martin Royle pulled the strings with a quiet determination in the background. A major player in the Liverpool scene, Dave Pichilingi, offered to manage the band. The Boardwalk, which later became the rehearsal space for Oasis, asked Joanna to headline their re-opening after a major refurb, selling the venue out. Was a certain young roadie called Noel Gallagher there to witness the evening while he was putting his own band together? Definitely. Hand-written letters on headed stationery, recently found in the attic of the Isle of Man home of Royle, show labels like Rough Trade, Factory Records and Polydor courted and encouraged the band to keep playing and recording.
Thirty-five years later, these long-forgotten ¼-inch reel tapes from Pentagon Studios were discovered in a Manchester apartment loft. These musical time capsules contained tracks the band members themselves hadn’t heard in over three decades, offering a poignant reconnection with their creative past and tantalising glimpses of what might have been. “We realised we were actually as good as we remembered,” saysAlty. The memories between the band members are blurred and contradictory but the tapes hold everything together, they are real, definite and irrefutable. With the release of ‘Hello Flower’, Joanna is no longer “the most popular band without a record out,” as NME called them in 1990, but their singular spirit is now available for anyone who wants a taste. The simple beauty of youth can only be experienced when you are invincible, fulfilling your natural destiny, buoyed by complete optimism… This record captures innocence untainted by failure. Beyond analysis, beyond critique, just lost in the groove.
Annie-Claude Deschênes presents the first in a series of remixes of “Main de Fer“, her latest single released in April. Produced by Shit Robot (DFA Records), it is available now on all platforms. The track is out now via Italians Do It Better (US) and Bonsound (ROW).
“I chose Shit Robot because his unique sound and creative vision felt like the perfect match to reimagine Main de Fer in a bold, new way”, explains Annie-Claude. The Irish producer and DJ, known for his affiliation with the DFA Records label, brings an analog touch to the track by using a variety of synthesizers and sequencers straight out of the 90s. “This was one of those great projects where you fire up the machines and everything falls into place really quickly. I was very excited to get started on this as the original vocals are great and the energy of the track is infectious”, adds Shit Robot, who also mixed the final result alongside LCD Soundsystem member and Grammy Award winner Korey Richey.
Annie-Claude Deschênes will perform at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg on September 18th and at Rialto Hall at POP Montreal on September 25th before embarking on a European tour in October. This series of dates will take her to Brussels, Strasbourg, Lyon, Luxembourg, and Paris, among other cities, after which she will return to Canada for dates in Toronto and the province of Quebec. She will also be part of M for Montreal’s official selection in November. See the list below for all tour dates.
Multidisciplinarity is an integral part of the creative process of Annie-Claude Deschênes, who continues her perpetual personal quest of uniting music and performance art by bending the pre-established conventions of stage presence. A key figure on the Montreal independent music scene for almost twenty years, she made her mark as a singer, musician, songwriter, performer and visual artist with Duchess Says and PyPy, two bands that are renowned as much for their electrifying performances as for their artistic sensibility. Over the course of her career, she shared the stage with a number of internationally renowned bands, including The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Black Lips, The Hives, The Hot Snakes and Buzzcocks. Duchess Says and PyPy’s extensive touring has taken her all over North America and Europe, playing venues and festivals (Primavera Fest, Eurockéennes de Belfort, OSHEAGA, Sled Island, etc.) as well as unconventional locations such as golf courses, factories and churches. Her exploratory approach to staging and sound design takes a new direction with this solo project: the urgency that characterizes her work remains, but frustration and aggression give way to introspection and vulnerability. Annie-Claude Deschênes explores and reinvents herself under her own name, driven by a constant need to create outside of her comfort zone.
Inspired by minimal pop and the pioneers of electronic music, LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE, her first solo album released in spring of 2024, is as danceable and melodic as it is disquieting and dystopian, proposing to set the table differently by deconstructing the social codes of politeness imposed on us. LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE earned a spot on the Polaris Prize long list and garnered attention from international media outlets such as KEXP, BrooklynVegan, CLASH, The Guardian, Les Inrockuptibles and Radio Nova, as well as landing on several year-end lists.
Tour dates: 09/16/2025 – Berlin, DE – Berlin Experience (Reeperbahn Festival) 09/18/2025 – Hamburg, DE – UWE (Reeperbahn Festival) 09/19/2025 – Hamburg, DE – MOPO Stage (Reeperbahn Festival) 09/25/2025 – Montreal, QC – Rialto Hall (POP Montreal) * 10/03/2025 – Brussels, BE – Botanique (Festival FrancoFaune) 10/04/2025 – Mulhouse, BE – Motoco (Festival Microsiphon) 10/07/2025 – Reims, FR – La Cartonnerie 10/09/2025 – Longwy, FR – The Long Way 10/10/2025 – Strasbourg, FR – La Grenze *** 10/11/2025 – Lyon, FR – Le Sonic 10/14/2025 – Luxembourg, LU – Les Rotondes 10/16/2025 – Tours, FR – Le Super 9 10/17/2025 – Metz, FR – Les Trinitaires 10/18/2025 – Troyes, FR – Midi O Halles (Festival Off Off Off) 10/22/2025 – Dunkirk, FR – Le LAAC *** 10/23/2025 – Paris, FR – Le Hasard Ludique *** 10/31/2025 – Toronto, ON – Wavelength @ St. Anne’s 11/07/2025 – Alma, QC – Café du Clocher + 11/08/2025 – Jonquière, QC – Côté-Cour + 11/15/2025 – Rimouski, QC – Salle Desjardins-TELUS +
* Opening for Bolis Pupul *** Opening for Camilla Sparksss + Opening for Choses Sauvages
As soon as Quinn Flanigan‘s bass opens “Brain Feeder” on Dog Lips‘ second album, Danger Forward, you know you’re in for a good time. The song, and all the others on the record, is a no-nonsense rocker that has you pumping your fist in the air, banging your head, or shoving people out of the way (at least in your fantasies).
“Who Knows” is a warped post-punk (the guitars from Griffin Ritzo and Owen Shepcaro!) gem. “I Am” staggers around the room like it’s had a few pints and is getting treacherously close to starting a brawl. The whole band sounds like they’re playing in a fuzzed-out blizzard on “Gush.”
“Voicemail Bomb Threat” is a great call-and-response punk track with Tim Graff having a great time behind his drum kit. As wild as that is, “Human Hybrid” is even wilder. The title track reminds me of some of IDLES‘ cuts with its smashing guitars and drums and half-growled, half-sang vocals.
Then, “The Reason” slides into the room looking and sounding like the coolest thing in the place. It has a bit of a gothic touch to it and Ritzo’s vocals are almost buried in reverb. It shows that Dog Lips could make an entire psych-rock record if they wanted. “Last Ride” turns the volume and anger back up for one last assault that leaves you out of breath.
There is danger on Danger Forward. The danger is that it might cause you to start a mosh pit in your cubicle farm, the pub, the elevator, or anywhere else. Get in and hold on when you play it.
I have no idea where Mordbear got their name. Is it a riff on “Mordor,” the dark land of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings books? Is it a combination of “Mordred,” the incestuous son of King Arthur and sorceress Morgan Le Fey and “bear?” Was “Murderbear” too clunky, or the name of an upcoming Aslyum Studios film?
I don’t know, but all three possibilities work for the massive doom sound of the band’s self-titled EP.
Starting off with “Like the Dead,” the EP pulls you in (down?) right away with Nico Martinez‘s sludgy bass and Tyler Balthaser‘s trippy and somewhat menacing guitar riffs. The song was inspired by a conversation Balthaser had with a veterinarian who ended up talking about a coming zombie apocalypse that he believed will begin in southern California.
“A Mirror with a Sea of Flames” was inspired by Tom Wolfe‘s famous book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and goes full stoner metal as Erik Larson hammers out thudding heartbeat drums that seem determined to flatten everything around them. “The Alchemist” is a song / warning about the dangers of capitalism.
Much like the cover image of a faceless family enjoying a picnic while a giant ghost bear hovers over them, the EP has a sense of impending doom to it – as any good doom record should. It will be interesting to see and hear where Mordbear goes from here.
