Following 2022âs Rough Dimension LP, Noel Skumâ aka Andrew Clinco of Drab Majestyâ made the radical leap of expanding his psychedelic post-punk vehicle VR SEX into a fully collaborative five-piece band. Hard Copy is the resultâ 10 tracks of sneering psychedelic punk streaked with Chrome-damaged freak-outs and snotty power pop harmonies chronicling sex doll love affairs and glue-sniffing fatales and is due out March 22nd via Dais Records. To mark the announcement, the band are sharing the first single from the record “Real Doll Time“.
To christen the new groupâs camaraderie of becoming a five-piece band, VR SEX booked a block of studio time in Glassell Park, swapped skeletal iPhone demos, and âdid that classic thing of a band making the exact record they want without any interference.â Working 12-hour days, they banged out the basics in a week, then tracked the rest over a month, fine-tuning it with flourishes, FX, and amplifier experiments.
Mixed by guitarist Mike Kriebelâ an accomplished engineer with dozens of credits across the punk, goth, and garage undergroundâ the album is dense, rich, and spatial, spurred by Clincoâs muse of âreckless abandon.â Shadows of Chrome, Stickmen With Rayguns, Japanese psych, and loud-quiet-loud grunge anthems flicker here and there, but ultimately VR SEXâs mode is more sardonic and saturated, oscillating between ripped leather riffing and space echo meltdowns. Banning plug-ins was a mission statement, with most instruments tracked direct into the board, then guitars added via a daisy chain of amplifiers, panned and mixed and matched for maximum intoxication: âMy goal is always to load up every take with as much sound as possible in one pass.â Lyrically, the record revisits the projectâs perennial fascinations: twisted lust, cheap thrills, dirty money, doomed delinquents, and ruined romance amid the creeps and cracked dreamers of gritty city voids. The title refers to the uncanny valley between âfacsimile and the real thing, and the illusion that one is better than the other â when both come with their own menu of delights and demonic pleasures.âHard Copy embraces extremes and outliers, delusion and perversion, the conflicted dimensional depths lurking in every exploded heart: âI can be ugly / I can be strong / I can be proper / I can be wrong / I can be lovely / or I can be gone / the thing that will haunt you is still hanging on.â
Pre-order Hard Copy here and look for more news + music from VR SEX soon.
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Distant piano, vintage synths and faded orchestral arrangements resounding in spacious natural reverb. Nick Schofieldâs Ambient Ensemble sees the Canadian composer and synth maven expanding his solo practice with an ensemble, adding his signature ambient essence to contemporary-classical and electronic music.
Where his previous two albums (Water Sine, Glass Gallery) were entirely solo endeavours and synth-focused, Ambient Ensemble invites gregarious group play. The compositions feature a chamber ensemble of grounding double bass and sliding fretless flourishes, warm violin and soothing vocals, with convivial accents of clarinet. Compelled by natural elements and intuitive composition, Ambient Ensemble is a refreshing assembly of acoustic works by Nick Schofield.
In January 2020, the album began with patient piano improvisations recorded in a church during deep Canadian winter nights. The sparse piano sketches were then slowed to half-speed and layered with classic Moog and Juno-6 synthesizers. After the project received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts in 2023, the ensemble was formed with luminaries of the Gatineau/Ottawa music scene, featuring Yolande Laroche (voice, clarinet), Mika Posen (violin) and Philippe Charbonneau (fretless electric bass, double bass).
Citing the blissful spaciousness of pioneering new age flutist Joanna Brouk as a central inspiration, Ambient Ensemble lands delicately within the contemporary cannon alongside artists like M. Sage, Blue Lake, Ana Roxanne, and Joseph Shabason.
Regarding his newest single, “Picture Perfect,” Schofield says: “Picture Perfect is my most upbeat ambient song. It features pulsing piano, sparkling synths and swelling string arrangements – all recorded in a church with naturally resounding reverb.
The song is about envisioning perfection, while also recognizing the perfection of the present moment.
This piece shows the trajectory of my music, from working solo with synthesizers to incorporating acoustic instruments with an ensemble.
I wanted to work with acoustic instruments and an ensemble of musicians after hosting a concert series at Resonance Cafe in Montreal (which is sadly now closed) from 2018-2020 called Ambient Ensemble where I invited small ensembles of local musicians to improvise over my ambient music. It was beautiful and playful, full of serene surprises. The series featured so many amazing musicians â I was joined by label-mates Pietro Amato, Michael Feuerstack and Sarah PagĂŠ, as well as Thanya Iyer, Austin Tufts, Eve Parker Finley, Sean Michaels, Alexei Perry Cox, Desert Bloom, Adam Kinner, Sarah Feldman, Justin Wright and many more. This new album is my way to produce the âAmbient Ensembleâ concert series on record. I am in love with how the album turned out because it is equally playful, serene and full of surprises that I would have never come up with on my own â just like the concert series.“
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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]
Today, KahilElâZabarâs Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, in conjunction with the legendary groupâs 50thanniversary, announces its new album, Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit, out March8th, 2024 via SpiritmuseRecords, and shares lead single, âCompared To What.â In addition, the ensemble announces their 50th annual February North American Tour in honor of Black History Month.
OpenMe is a joyous honoring of portent new directions of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; itâs a visionary journey into deep roots and future routes, channeling traditions old and new. It mixes ElâZabarâs original compositions with timeless classics by MilesDavis, McCoyTyner, and EugeneMcDaniels. Thus, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble continues affirming their indelible, half-century presence within the continuum of Great Black Music.
The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (EHE) constantly shifts gears and tempos in a jazz-blues continuum, in perpetual spontaneity, and âCompared To Whatâ is a powerful statement on their incomparable sound. Itâs a deeply funky read of Eugene McDanielâs eternal protest song first recorded by Robert Flack, and later, Les McCann and Eddie Harris. Featuring vocals and kalimba by ElâZabar, backed by bassist AlexHarding, the EHEâs âCompared To Whatâ is 8 minutes of contemplative, dynamic rhythms combined with ElâZabarâs deep captivating vocals, and accompanying horn and string cacophony that tunes the listener to their higher consciousness.
âCompared To Whatâ was my father, Clifton Blackburn Srâs favorite tune,â says ElâZabar. âOn Saturdays he would play jazz all day, and later in the evening, he would scat, sing rhythms, and then he and I would improvise together on the grooves that he taught me. It was all âCompared to What.ââ
Open Me, ElâZabarâs sixth collaboration with Spiritmuse in five years, marks another entry in a run of critically acclaimed recordings that stretch back to the first EHE recording in 1981. The storied multi-percussionist, composer, fashion designer, and former Chair of the Association of Creative Musicians (AACM) is in what might be the most productive form of his career, and now in his seventies, shows no signs of slowing down. Few creative music units can boast such longevity, and fewer still are touring as energetically and recording with the verve of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.Â
The EHE was founded by ElâZabar in 1974 originally as a quintet, but was soon paired down to its classic form â a trio, featuring ElâZabar on multi-percussion and voice, plus two horns. It was an unusual format, even by the standards of the outward-bound musicians of the AACM: âSome people literally laughed at our unorthodox instrumentation and approach. We were considered even stranger than most AACM bands at the time. I knew in my heart though that that this band had legs, and that my concept was based on logic as it pertains to the history of Great Black Music, i.e. a strong rhythmic foundation, innovative harmonics and counterpoint, well-balanced interplay and cacophony amongst the players, strong individual soloist, highly developed and studied ensemble dynamics, an in-depth grasp of music history, originality, fearlessness, and deep spirituality.â
With ElâZabar at the helm, the bandâs line-up has always been open to changes, and over the years the EHE has welcomed dozens of revered musicians including LightHenryHuff, KalaparushaMauriceMacintyre, JosephBowie, HamiettBluiett, and CraigHarris. The current line-up has been consolidated over two decades â trumpeter CoreyWilkes entered the circle twenty years ago, while baritone sax player AlexHarding joined seven years ago, after having played with ElâZabar since the early 2000s in groups such as Joseph Bowieâs Defunkt.
For OpenMe, ElâZabar has chosen to push the sound of the EHE in a new direction by adding string instruments â cello, played by IshmaelAli, and violin/viola played byJamesSanders. The addition of strings opens new textural resonances and timbral dimensions in the Ensembleâs sound, linking the work to the tradition of improvising violin and cello from Ray Nance to Billy Bang, Leroy Jenkins, and Abdul Wadud.
OpenMe contains a mixture of originals, including some ElâZabar evergreens such as âBarundi,â âHangTuff,â âOrnette,â and âGreat Black Musicâ (often attributed to the Art Ensemble of Chicago but is, in fact, an ElâZabar composition). There are also numbers drawn from the modern tradition, which ElâZabar uniquely arranges, including a contemplative interpretation of Miles Davisâ âAllBlues.â As a milestone anniversary celebration and a statement of future intent, OpenMe effortlessly carries ElâZabarâs healing vision of Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit.
Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit Tracklist 1. All Blues 2. Barundi 3. The Whole World 4. Return Of The Lost Tribe 5. Hang Tuff 6. Can You Find A Place 7. Great Black Music 8. Passion Dance 9. Ornette 10. Compared To What 11. Kari 12. Open Me
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble 2024 Tour Dates:
Thu. Feb. 1 – Chicago, IL @ The Promontory Sat. Feb. 3 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blue Llama Tue. Feb. 6 – Washington, DC @ Rhizome Wed. Feb. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Solar Myth Sat. Feb. 10 – Baltimore, MD @ An die Musik Sun. Feb. 11 – Erie, PA @ City Gallery Mon. Feb. 12 – Rochester, NY @ Bop Shop Tue. Feb. 13 – Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean Wed. Feb. 14 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rosa Fri. Feb. 16 – Toronto, ON @ Caliban Arts @ Redwood Theatre Sat. Feb. 17 – Detroit, MI @ NâNamdi Center For Contemporary Art Sun. Feb. 18 – Madison, WI @ Cafe Coda Fri. Feb. 23 – Portland, OR @ PDX Jazz Festival Sun. Feb. 25 – Santa Monica, CA @ First Presbyterian Church (Jacaranda Performance Series) Mon. Feb. 26 – San Francisco, CA @ The ChapelÂ
Today, Yard Act present their new single, âPetroleum,â another taste of their forthcoming second album, Whereâs My Utopia?, out March 1st on Republic. The accompanying âPetroleumâ video is a continuation of the prior James Slater-directed videos for âDream Jobâ and âThe Trench Coat Museum,â and stars friend of the band, comedian and creator of Starstruck, Rose Matafeo.
âPetroleumâ lives on the second half of Whereâs My Utopia?, which simultaneously contains some of Yard Actâs most grimly real and fantastically optimistic narratives yet. It was written after a touring nadir. âI lost it with the crowd in Bognor Regis and told them I was bored and I didnât want to be there,â Yard Actâs frontman James Smith recalls. âMe and Ryan [Needham] had a row after, and Ryan rightly dressed me down for the way I acted. It got me pondering the idea that, now this is a job, what are the requirements of it? People think they want honesty but they donât, they want me to portray the version of honesty that they’ve paid to see and thatâs part of the illusion.â
Speaking about the âPetroleumâ video, Smith says: ââPetroleumâ finds The Visitor as she stumbles into the hideout of a fearsome Biker gang called The Utopians. She’s still on the run from the H.G.E agents. It was a lot of fun shooting this video, and a joy to watch our friend Rose Matafeo bring the leader of The Utopians to life. Though the story isn’t being told in a linear format, I hope that the journey of The Visitor through the last three videos is starting to come together and reveal that we’re working on something bigger here. More to come!â
Rose Matafeo added: âI screen most of my phone calls, but when the phone flashes up ‘JAMES YARD ACT’ you’re gonna pick that up straight away. To feature in a Yard Act video has been on my bucket list ever since I added it to my bucket list after they asked me so I could have the satisfaction of crossing it off my bucket list. The overall vision for this album is so creatively ambitious and fun and cool and I’m so stoked to even be a little part of it. Sorry for my bad accent. Not sorry for the line dancing.â
Whereâs My Utopia? follows Yard Actâs Mercury Prize shortlisted debut The Overload,  âa debut album bursting with characterâ (Uncut), and was co-produced by Yard Act and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr. Written in snapshots of time in the midst of touring, the album is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters, sprinkled with strings, choirs, and voice-acting clips courtesy of comedian pals Nish Kumar, Rose Matafeo, and more. Whereâs My Utopia? is a communal four-way effort built on chemistry, familiarity and the trust to challenge and push each other creatively. âThe main reason that âpost-punkâ was the vehicle for Album One was because it was really affordable to do, but we always liked so much other music and this time we’ve had the confidence to embrace it,â James explains.  Itâs a celebratory palette upon which Smith allowed himself to reach lyrically deeper into himself than ever. Gone, largely, are the outward-facing character studies of yore, replaced with a set of songs that stare fully into the headlights of life, wrangling with the frontmanâs own fears and foibles to create a sort of Promethean narrative – but with jokes. This dueling sense of responsibility and ambition, guilt, love, drive and everything in between forms the narrative backbone of Whereâs My Utopia?, Yard Actâs brilliantly exploratory second album. âYou can commit to the idea that weâre just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and thatâs fine,â Smith suggests. âBut for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.â  Next year, Yard Act will embark on a tour of North America, Europe and the UK, including a hometown headline show at the 5,750 capacity Millennium Square Leeds. A full list of tour dates is below, and tickets are on sale now.
Wed. Mar. 13 – Norwich, UK @ The Nick Rayns LCR (UEA) Thu. Mar. 14 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Fri. Mar. 15 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Sat. Mar. 16 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo Sun. Mar. 17 – Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria University Tue. Mar. 19 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall Wed. Mar. 20 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street Fri. Mar. 22 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Sat. Mar. 23 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Mon. Mar. 25 – Brighton, UK @ The Dome Wed. Mar. 27 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo Thu. Apr. 4 – Nantes, FR @ Stereolux Fri. Apr. 5 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage Sat. Apr. 6 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey Mon. Apr. 8 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV Tue. Apr. 9 – Madrid, ES @ Mon Thu. Apr. 11 – Barcelona, ES @ La 2 Fri. Apr. 12 – Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur Sat. Apr. 13 – Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club Sun. Apr. 14 – Milan, IT @ Santeria Toscana 31 Tue. Apr. 16 – Zurich, CH @ Mascotte Wed. Apr. 17 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle Thu. Apr. 18 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Sat. Apr. 20 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan Wed. Apr. 24 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich Thu. Apr. 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Main Hall Fri. Apr. 26 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje Sat. Apr. 27 – Cologne, DE @ Kantine Sun. Apr. 28 – Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique Thu. May 30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern Fri. May 31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater Sat. Jun. 1 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harrietâs Mon. Jun. 3 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium Tue. Jun. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent Thu. Jun. 6 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios Fri. Jun. 7 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre Sat. Jun. 8 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Sat. Aug. 3 – Leeds, UK @ Millenium Square
Meatbodiesâ latest undertaking and borderline lost album, Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom is their most varied and realized work to date. Itâs a melodic, hook filled rock epic in which frontman and lead guitarist Chad Ubovich faces the trials of sobriety, redemption, reinvention while literally, learning to walk and play again.
Resurrection not only accompanies the record, but its production as well, Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom examines themes surrounding love and loss, escapism, defeatism, hedonism, psychedelics and much more. âThe last record was more of a cartoon version of who we wereâ simple and fun without delving into heavy concepts,â recalls Ubovich. “The whole thing before with Meatbodies was never sit down, next part, next part, but I wanted to make something with more depth. After everything that had happened, and my personal life, I was left with this feeling of emptiness and loss. So I wanted to make music that was absent from thingsâ songs that were more about conveying feeling.â
March 8th of next year, Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom finally sees its release via In The Red. Its lead single and video âHole,â released today, is pure alternative rock sweetness and clearly a nod to an amalgamation of shoegaze juggernauts from yesteryear. Backed by a brand-new video by Matt Yoka, âHoleâ is immediate, dosed with enough pop and psilocybin to appease fans of both heavy rock and a quality melody. âThat was one of the first songs I wrote, and I think itâs really indicative of that time,â says Ubovich. âHow I was thinking and feeling and what I wanted to accomplish with this LP before I even knew it.â
By 2017, Meatbodiesâ Ubovich had reached a crossroads. After years of increasingly insane shows playing to heaving crowds with an ever-evolving and rotating door of personnel, fatigue had taken its toll and he realized another change was on the horizon. âIt was like the car had run out of gas in the middle of the road, and I knew I had a long walk ahead of me.â Retreating to the seedy Los Angeles underbellyâ in search of meaning and a reset. Ubovich escaped into that world, ignoring his own well being, trying to forget his successes. âI was living like a 90âs vampire out of a comic book. Stumbling around LA with the socialites, partying away my sorrows, trying to forget.â
It was at this point that Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom began to take shapeâa project built by a man searching for new beginnings and his own sense of self. After sobering up, writing sessions began at Ubovichâs home and various studios with longtime collaborator Dylan Fujioka. Eventually, the official production for Flora began in 2019, but it was a story left on the editing table. Due to discrepancies with the studio, tensions were high and the plug was pulled. Left with an album only half baked, it seemed like Flora had been put to rest. After the fires cooled and many discussions about the future of the album. Ubovich finally got the green light to finish production for Flora in 2020 when he hit another snagâ the pandemic. And as the world took a back seat, so did the idea of Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom.
Not wanting to sit still at home, Ubovich began to comb through his previous demos with Fujioka while writing for Flora. And with that, 333 was born, the now de facto third Meatbodies LP. Yet Flora was never far from Ubovichâs mind and once again he revisited the idea of completing the now fabled album. As restrictions started to lift, Ubovich headed to Gold Diggers Sound in Los Angeles, backed by engineer Ed McEntee and a team of colleagues and friends, Ubovich completed the final act to the album, but he still wasnât quite out of the woods just yet. He now faced a new crisis, one that proved to be more terrifying than any before: his home that he had spent the last 8 years in had been deemed uninhabitable and he wound up in a hospital bed where he spent the next month of his life.
Having to not only learn to walk again but also learn to play again, Ubovich used an upcoming tour with his band FUZZ as a motivating factor and hit the road for a year trying to regain a sense of normalcy. By the time Ubovich returned from tour he was centered and energized, ready to conquer his white whale â Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom. The mission was finally a success. Armed with a new home and a new studio – The Secret Garden, Ubovich mixed the album himself, looped in Brian Lucey at Magic Garden to handle mastering, and Flora was completed, five years after those fateful demos with Fujioka. âA lot happened with this record â it took me five years, I was out of a band, I had a drug problem, the album almost didnât happen, the pandemic made it almost not happen again, and then in the end I almost died in the hospital, lost my house, and had to learn to walk again. Itâs been quite a road, but I could not be more thrilled with the final output. I guess the juice was worth the squeeze?â laughs the Meatbodies frontman.
And so here we are, with Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom, an album completed by an ironclad will and steely determination. A massive step forward, both by conventional standards and considering its tumultuous path toward completion, the album is set for release. The LP recalls the searing Blue Cheer-meets-Iggy Pop-with-psychedelia that permeated previous releases, but adds new elements of shoegaze, classic alternative, Britpop, drone, and hints of countryâblazing trails without ever sounding forced or alien. Simultaneously an ode to â80s LA punk and the rise of indie/alternative music in the U.K., Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom plays like a radio station broadcasting from the void, with a cosmic playlist of early Pink Floyd, Ramones, Roky Erickson, Kinks, and Spacemen 3. And while those names may seem outwardly disparate, Ubovich crafts a distinctively Meatbodies arc among the songs, creating an eclectic and unmistakably cohesive piece of work in total. It all adds up to an effort that shows strength in its diversity, which is only secondary to its impeccable songwriting.
Today Sacred Bones are excited to announce two parallel releases â a reissue of Xmal Deutschlandâs ‘Early Singles’ (including two bonus tracks), as well as the debut solo album from Xmal Deutschlandâs inimitable frontwoman Anja Huwe, ‘Codes’. Both records are set for release side-by-side on March 8th, 2024.
Xmal Deutschland are now marked as forerunners of the post-punk movement and âEarly Singles (1981-1982)â is a map of their foundational movements, just seconds before takeoff. The bandâs pursuit of something greater is palpable with this release, a reflection of a time that introduced accessibility to new means of making music following the onset of punk. This reissue includes two bonus tracks; âKaelbermarschâ (originally from the compilation âLieber Zuviel Als Zuwenigâ) and a gritty live version of âAlleinâ (originally from the compilation âNosferatu Festivalâ), which is shared online today along with a video montage of footage from this era of the bandâs career.
Alongside the reissue comes the debut solo release from Xmal Deutschlandâs incomparable frontwoman, Anja Huwe. Invited by her long-time friend Mona Mur, Huwe reconsidered her decades-long hiatus from music and decided to join Mur in her studio in Berlin. Together, they worked for a year and a half, composing, performing and producing the tracks from scratch which eventually became the album ‘Codes’.
Integral to the overall sound experience was the input of Manuela Rickers who added her famed signature guitar style. The collaboration was relentless:  âMona and I have a similar artistic background since the 1980s. We hung out together, and we sport a similar attitude towards life and art. We donât have to explain ourselves to one another,â says Huwe. Mur adds: âAnjaâs voice is like a spear, her appearance a torch in the darkness.”
Initially inspired by the diary entries of Moshe Shnitzki, who, at the age of 17, left his home in 1942 to live in the cavernous White Russian forests as a partisan, âCodesâ is about the human experience and what extremes can do to an individual. âThe result is a poetic, musical cosmos that encompasses the following themes: forest, fear, pain, loss, violence, and loneliness but also beauty, longing, hope and the will to survive,â Huwe explains.
Along with the announcement today, she shares âRabenschwarzâ, a frenzied song, which, with Rickers’ hypnotic apocalyptic guitars, Mur’s agitated and distinctive electronic sounds and beats, forged together with Huweâs unmistakably energetic and expressive vocals, hits you in the face. A captivating combination.
More about Xmal Deutschland and Anja Huwe: âGothicsââa time before the word goth had even taken shapeâbelieved in the do-it-yourself punk ethos that anyone could pick up an instrument. This, alongside the bric-a-brac fashion of Adam Ant and the long-winded atmospheric malaise of Bauhausâ 1979 single, âBela Lugosiâs Dead,â grey clouds were starting to form. And in the unlikely city of Hamburg, a brazen and haunting gang of five women formed Xmal Deutschland.
As any true punk would, Xmal Deutschlandâs members Caro May, Rita Simon, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster and Anja Huwe, started the band despite not having had any previous musical experience. When they bought studio time to record their first single, âSchwarze Welt,â Simon was originally slated to be the lead vocalist but failed to show on the day of recording. Huweâwho originally played bassâwas thrust into the front-woman position, and begrudgingly agreed: âThe only condition from my side [was that] I will never perform onstage⌠Two months later, they made me without ever telling me upfront. I had no choice.â
The âSchwarze Weltâ seven-inch was released on the local punk label, ZickZack, in 1981 and introduced the band as an unsettling swarm of intensity. Thereâs an urgency in its repetitive dirge, a swirling mania that persists on the b-side with âDie Wolkenâ and âGroĂstadtindianerâ whose crude synthesiser noises escalate in tension. Most of all, Huweâs uniquely venomous German vocals quickly became embedded in the unbridled and burgeoning scene of glamorous gloom.
Punkâs independence from the stiff grip of tradition allowed the band to find solace in anti-establishment art and music, far from the conventions of the past. âWe as girls, especially being creative in many ways, ignored facts like: be nice, be polite, take good care about your looks. Of course, we wanted to look good but in a different and unconventional way. We were enough for ourselves.” However, some tropes were harder to overcome. The association of Xmal Deutschland as a girl band (later with the addition of Wolfgang Ellerbrock who, jokingly, became the token man of the group) gained traction within the media circuit because of their looks: âWe were like paradise birds,â says Huwe in retaliation to the tired misogynistic tale. The bandâs keyboardist, Fiona Sangster, adds: âTo be an âall-girl bandâ happened accidentally. To us, it was not the main reason to form a band.â
With their peacocked hair and thick kohl-lined eyes, Xmal Deutschlandâs music retained both a restlessness and delicacy, transcending any confines of the âNeue Deutsche Welleâ movement (much like their colleagues and friends DAF and EinstĂźrzende Neubauten) with the release of the âIncubus Succubusâ single in 1982. It instantly became a post-punk classic. That same year, the band performed in London as support for the Cocteau Twins; it was the platform they needed to ricochet into the arms of the ripped fishnet masses. After Xmal Deutschlandâs success with four albums on cult labels such as 4AD, Huwe abandoned music to pursue her visual art career. But leaving her legacy in the past was not so easy: âSince the split in the early 1990s, I have been haunted by the âLegend of Xmal Deutschlandâ and never-ending requests from all over the world, all of which I always turned down,â she says.
Today, Amiture, the New York City-based project of Jack Whitescarver and Coco Goupil, unveiled their latest single “Dirty” from the upcoming album Mother Engine, set for release on February 9th through Dots Per Inch Music. The dark and serrated new single arrives alongside a self-directed music video, premiered earlier via FLOOD, who commended the duo for their “creative take on experimental electronic music forged and honed within NYC basements.”Â
Remarking on the track’s unique construction, Amiture issued the following statement: “In a way, this song is our most indebted to early hip-hop production on the album because of its melodic relationships. Each melody, guitar, bass, vocal, etc⌠is in a different key. This way we were able to find a darker environment that reflects the textures and soundscapes that older sampling technology had. Different samples in Dirty fit together regardless of their tuning, creating a cacophony of anxious gestures that somehow become a glittery dance track. We recorded each part live in our studio and not on a sampler, you can feel that kind of live, almost like theater, expressionist bravado. The lyrics tell you all you need to know about the ideal way to listen to Dirty.”Â
Expanding on the concept behind the music video, Whitescarver added:Â “Cameras are always recording you. Your laptop records you. Your phone records you. Itâs not clear what distinguishes an intimate moment from a public one. Most major cities like New York are massively surveilled. I thought it was interesting to think about how you would behave if privacy was no longer a clear-cut idea. The video intercuts surveillance-type video of New York City streets and people with more intimate interior scenes and even scenes of people making out. Dirty is about remembering a time when sex and love were valuable. If you know someone is watching you, maybe that estranges you further from that, maybe it makes it more so.”
Whitescarver and Goupil were involved in music their whole lives and briefly performed in a band together in college before taking separate paths as visual artists. It wasnât until 2021, when the two came back together to flesh out live arrangements for Whitescarverâs solo endeavor The Beach, that their collaboration really began. Following this reunion, Amiture was reinvented. While the two were performing songs Whitescarver had written alone, Goupil arranged their own parts, displaying a sculptural sensibility in their contributions. The synthesis of Goupilâs unorthodox guitar stylings with Whitescarverâs heartfelt songwriting proved to be a rich union. Â
Mother Engine began to take form in a dilapidated garage between a sanitation center and a set of train tracks. This would be their laboratory, workshop, and recording studio where they developed a process of working that included a newfound love for sample manipulation. They collaborated with other musicians including Matt Norman and Henry Birdsey to bring their production out of the digital landscape of Ableton. Between the tape machine, the amp, the turntable, and the computer, Amiture found magic. Each song is a part of a complex sonic matrix that reflected a vision and a sound neither one could have procured alone, always centered around Whitescarverâs classically trained voice and Goupilâs gritty, tripped-out-guitar sound, merged and then steeped in the traditions of American guitar music, industrial music, and folk melody.Â
Following the release of Mother Engine, Amiture will perform at SXSW Music Festival in March. Stay tuned for additional tour dates including details for a special hometown record release show in February.
Melbourne band Beans have just released their latest single; a groovy psychedelic track titled âCallingâ. âCallingâ marks the third song the five-piece band have released from their upcoming album Boots N Cats (following âGrooveâ and âHauntedâ), which is set to be released on March 1st, via Fuzz Club Records. Taking a slower, more strutting pace than the former two singles, âCallingâ is characterised by an almost seductive groove, all while maintaining the fuzzy kaleidoscopic glow that audiences have come to know and love from Beans.
Heavy with drawling vocals and beautifully defined percussion at the forefront of the tune, the result is a tantalising songscape sure to leave listeners enchanted by its sound. Thematically, though, this new single speaks not to the cool and breezy feelings that one might assume from its sonic qualities, but rather to the grim feelings of hypersensitivity and disconnectedness which emerged during the pandemic, according to frontman Matt Blach:
âCalling is about that period of Covid time where everyone, including myself, felt like they were going insane. When people were being really sensitive and reactive, calling people out over pure boredom â obviously sometimes worthy, sometimes far-fetched.â Matt Blach, Beans Listen to “Calling” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/f-OfTr9zxUA Listen via other streaming services:beansband.lnk.to/calling
Serving up eleven tracks of rhythmic garage-psych goodness, âBoots N Catsâ is the third full-length from Melbourne outfit Beans and the first of two albums set for release in 2024. The long-awaited follow-up to 2018âs âBabbleâ and 2020âs âAll Together Nowâ, itâs a record that finds Beans frontman (and The Murlocs drummer) Matt Blach putting percussion at centre-stage. âIâve always wanted to make a drum-based album, dedicated around the beat first and then everything else followsâ, Blach says, explaining his desire to explore âdifferent production approaches, like hip-hop and crunched drums, and show an admiration and appreciation for the likes of The Meters, Wu-Tang and James Brownâ as much as the acid-soaked 60s/70s rock youâd expect.Â
What emerges from the beat-first approach on âBoots N Catsâ charts mutant garage-rock boogies and festival tent psychedelia, by way of blissed-out funk instrumentals. The line is constantly skirted between a loose, carefree vibe and interesting, meticulous musicianship â never falling into the trap of taking itself too seriously. Itâs a sunny kaleidoscope of chugging guitars, driving bass-lines, soaring organs and warm, echo-soaked vocals â driven always by the tightly-wound rhythms and grooves that Blach has been in pursuit of since he was a kid: âThe title of the album comes from me learning drums from my dad. He had a background of German heritage and during lessons would jokingly say ânein, bootânâcatsânâ like a simple 1,2,3,4.âÂ
The songs themselves, Blach says, are âmostly based on a state of mind or place of consciousness, intended to be open to the audienceâs own interpretation as well as for my own self-release.â Hence, âlifeâs ups and downsâ are placed under the microscope on tracks like the aptly-titled opener âGrooveâ (based on not wanting to let loose/be yourself and dance in a crowd) and lead single âHauntedâ (about that near-universal sense of being âHaunted by the fear of failureâ).Â
âDreaming Daisyâ is a song for the devil on your shoulder, tackling addiction/alcoholism and âpeople wanting to live their life to prove right to others rather than themselvesâ. Elsewhere, songs like âCallingâ take on the paranoia of the times they were made in. Itâs a suitably wonky soundtrack to âthat period of Covid time where everyone, including myself, felt like they were going insane. When people were being really sensitive and reactive, calling people out over pure boredom â obviously sometimes worthy, sometimes far-fetched.â
Beyond its drum focus, âBoots N Catsâ also marks another first for Beans, in that it was entirely written and recorded by Blach himself. Setting up a DIY studio in the garage of his North Melbourne home over the pandemic, Blach began working on the record in lieu of the full band (Jack Kong, Lachlan McKiernan, Vincent Clemenston and Mitch Rice) that heâd been jamming and tearing up Melbourne stages with under a number of different monikers since they were all 16.
âWe didnât get to see each other as a band AT ALLâ, Blach recalls of that time: âThis is why the album came to fruition as it kept me sane and feeling productive to still be writing/recording and achieving something. Having this opportunity and time and space really got my tires turning so I basically recorded every part and engineered the entire thing myself. Not that we wanted it to be this way, but we couldnât collaborate together during this time so it was a case of adapting.âÂ
Making the most of the enforced isolation to venture down new creative roads, Blach came out the other side of the pandemic with two new Beans records in the bag (âJust you wait for the next one, we will go much more folky and chill on lockdown session 2âŚâ). Mixed and mastered by John Lee (âa master from Melbourne who actually became a true friendâ), those recordings are now ready to start seeing the light of day. âBoots N Catsâ, the first of those two records, will be released March 1st 2024 via London-based label Fuzz Club.
Minneapolisâ Prize Horse – made of Jake Beitel (guitar, vocals), Olivia Johnson (bass, vocals), and Jon Brenner (drums) – make âa fuzzy, dreamy form of alt-rock that manages to be heavy and spaced-out at the same timeâ (Stereogum). Today, the trio announce their debut album, Under Sound, out February 16th via New Morality Zine, alongside new single âFurther From My Start.â Prize Horseâs musical evolution takes flight with ethereal, fuzz-laden tones departing from the grittier layers of their previous 2021 Welder EP. Recorded in Loveland, Colorado, again in collaboration with Corey Coffman (Gleemer), Under Sound encapsulates Prize Horse’s journey through airy soundscapes, delving into the emotional nuances of life’s rapid changes.
A true sign of a band’s maturation is their ability to show that their strength as a group stems from all members working in unity, and Prize Horse has demonstrated this truth throughout this 10-song listen. Under Sound evidently draws inspiration from the band members’ favorite artists and contemporaries, yet it avoids mirroring those influences directly in its sonic presentation. Musically, they persist in utilizing thick bass lines and fuzzed-out guitars as the foundation of their songs, but they have integrated more nuanced sounds into their composition. The songs exude an organic quality, deriving vitality from the pulsating heartbeat of bass riffs to the deliberate and precise rhythm of drums that effortlessly drive the whole thing forward.
Following the previously-released single âYour Time,â todayâs âFurther From My Startâ opens with thundering drums and chugging guitar. As Jake intones âTake advice from an old friend // Ruin my sense of progress // Fast as I walk // I told myself in a dream // I’d end mine,â the song unravels with an ominous, reverberating bassline and crashing percussion. In his lyrics, Jake chooses a subtle approach to depict the challenges of life’s transformations poetically rather than directly. Consequently, he possesses the skill to craft imagery, leaving room for interpretation by the listener. He adeptly maintains a harmonious balance, blending mild harmonies with gently delivered lines that captivate the audience.
ââFurther From My Startâ was the last song we wrote, so it encompasses a lot of themes from the album, musically and lyrically,â says Jake. âTo me the song is a reflection on the last few years of my life and fighting a feeling of detachment from it. Wanting to let go of negativity in the past while stubborning acknowledging it’s formed me into who I am now.â
In some way or another, Prize Horse have spent their cold winter days working becoming a tight group of musicians, and âFurther From My Startâ feels as frigid as the environment theyâve developed in. Under Sound promises an atmospheric and dynamic exploration, where the band’s growth is seamlessly woven into each note, inviting listeners into a captivating fusion of fully fleshed out heavy rock and emotional depth.
Putting a contemporary spin on baroque composition, Astrid Sonneâs music feels at once alien and traditional. The Danish, London-based composerâs output is aloof, yet ornateâa formula that yields itself well to upcoming UK tour dates with beloved dream-pop artist and scene-mate, ML Buch.
Where Sonneâs prior work landed in the experimental, even ambient camp, the new material sees her stepping into both contemporary songwriting and beat driven productions. Her new single “Boost”, premiering on Gorilla vs. Bear today,is a perfect example of the latter, pushing into more eclectic, driving terrain. It opens with woozy synth chords, which give way to pounding drums that filter in and out of murky effects. In the final minute, the track disintegrates into a misty, freeform outro.
âBoostâ concludes a run of candidly released material (“Staying here,”“Overture,”“Do you wanna”) from the recently announced album Great Doubt, which notably features the composer’s own voice in a unique blend of quintessential Astrid Sonne productions and a personal take on the art of writing a song. Great Doubt will be released January 26 via Copenhagen’s Escho.
On the single, Astrid Sonne shares: “I made Boost lying in my bed, itâs a quite energetic track coming from a not very energetic place. There’s a sense of release to Boost and a feeling of not caring too much, which can be good sometimes when you need to seek out new settings.”
Astrid Sonne is a Danish, London-based composer and viola player. Throughout her acclaimed discography, Astrid Sonne has been carefully crafting different moods through electronic and acoustic instrumental endeavours. On her forthcoming album Great Doubt, to be released January 26, 2024 via Copenhagen’s Escho, this skill is refined, now with the distinct addition of the composer’s own vocal in front. The tone of each track is unmistakably Sonneâs, structured around contrasts through an impeccable sense of timing. Lyrics on the album are sparse, merely highlighting different scenes or emotional states of being, leaving the music to fill in the blanks. Yet they also form a pattern of ambiguity, consolidated through the album title, searching for answers through looking at how and what you are asking, questions for the world, questions of love. The viola, a trusted companion since Astrid Sonneâs youth, appears effortlessly throughout the album, fully integrated into the sonic universe; through a pizzicato driven arrangement in the poignant track âAlmostâ or along with booms and claps in mutated cinematic stabs during âGive my allâ, paraphrasing Mariah Carey’s 1997 ballad. Yet the string section also gives way to explorations of woodwinds, counterbalancing the bowed movements with digital brass and airy flutes. Finally, beats and detuned piano are fresh additions to the soundscape, cementing how Sonneâs practice is always evolving into new territories.
Live Dates 2/3 – Oslo, NOR @ Trekanten 2/6 – Copenhagen, DK @ ALICE 2/8 – Aarhus, DK @ PART 2/14 – Barcelona, ESP @ Casa Montjuic 2/15 – Lisbon, PT @ ZDB 2/27 – London, UK @ ICA *2/28 – London, UK @ ICA *2/29 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew *3/01 – Manchester, UK @ White Hotel *3/02 – Glasgow, UK @ The Flying Duck * * = w/ ML Buch
