Dark wave – Page 8 – 7th Level Music

Boy Harsher say “Give Me a Reason” with the new single from their upcoming horror film soundtrack.

Today, Boy Harsher, the Northampton-based duo of vocalist/lyricist Jae Matthews and producer Augustus Muller, share “Give Me a Reason” from their new album The Runner (Original Soundtrack)out January 21st, 2022 via Nude Club/City Slang. Following the heavy presence of lead single “Tower,” “Give Me a Reason” finds Boy Harsher leaning into their signature dark pop sound with snappy synths.

“With ‘Give Me a Reason,’ we wanted to write something that encapsulates that feeling of yearning — the way we feel when we catch eyes from across the room. Our music can be flirty and crushable, and it’s fun to play with that,” explains Matthews. Over a steely beat, she intones, “Speak of the devil // and she will appear // afraid of the runner // who draws herself near.” Boy Harsher continue teasing the cinematic universe of The Runner, the short horror film written, produced, and directed by the duo which will be released in January 2022.
Listen to Boy Harsher’s “Give Me a Reason”
Boy Harsher’s fifth release is not a traditional album ⁠— it’s a soundtrack that balances eerie instrumentals with pop songs that push the boundaries of the duo’s sound. In the midst of last year’s chaos and Matthews’ MS diagnosis, Muller started working on moody, cinematic sketches. In Matthews’ period of convalescence, it was uncertain what these pieces would become other than catharsis, but she kept thinking about a sinister character: a woman running through the woods. The duo developed this idea further into The Runner, a film that explores lust, compulsion, and the horrific tendencies of seduction. The movie is intercut with a meta-style “documentary” about Boy Harsher’s recording process. The project is a reconciliation of uncertain times made into sound and moving images. The Runner and its soundtrack are both a return to form and an evolution for the duo.

More information on screenings for The Runner is to come. Following the release of the album and film, Boy Harsher will embark on a North American and European tour — all dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now. The duo also recently collaborated with Møffenzeef Mødular to create a limited edition drone synthesizer called The Runner.
Watch the “Tower” Video

Watch The Runner Trailer

Pre-order The Runner (Original Soundtrack)

Boy Harsher Tour Dates
Thu. Dec. 30, 2021 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *SOLD OUT*
Fri. Dec. 31, 2021 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *SOLD OUT*
Sat. Jan. 1, 2022 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *SOLD OUT*
Thu. Jan. 20, 2022 – Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre %
Fri. Jan. 21, 2022 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
Sat. Jan. 22, 2022 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry %
Sun. Jan. 23, 2022 – Durham, NC @ Motorco %
Mon. Jan. 24, 2022 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle %
Tue. Jan. 25, 2022 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West %
Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 – Nashville, TN @ High Watt %
Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat %
Sat. Jan. 29, 2022 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg % *SOLD OUT*
Sun. Jan. 30, 2022 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg %
Wed. Feb 2, 2022 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory %
Thu. Feb. 3, 2022 – Los Angeles, CA @ Belasco Theater (+ film screening) % *SOLD OUT*
Fri. Feb. 4, 2022 – Los Angeles, CA @ Belasco Theater (+ film screening) % *SOLD OUT*
Sat. Feb. 5, 2022 – San Francisco, CA @ Gray Area % *SOLD OUT*
Mon. Feb. 7, 2022 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom %
Tue. Feb. 8, 2022 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom %
Wed. Feb. 9, 2022 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre %
Thu. Feb. 10, 2022 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile %
Fri. Feb. 11, 2022 – Olympia, WA @ Capitol Theater %
Mon. Feb. 14, 2022 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage (+ film screening @ La Peniche Cinema) ^^
Tue. Feb. 15, 2022 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje (+ film screening @ Lux Cinema) ^^
Wed. Feb. 16, 2022 – Leipzig, DE @ WERK2 (+ film screening @ UT Connewitz) ^^
Thu. Feb. 17, 2022 – Berlin, DE @ Astra (+ film screening @ Intimes Kino ) ^^
Fri. Feb. 18, 2022 – Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom ^^
Sat. Feb. 19, 2022 – Hasselt, BE @ Muziekodroom (+ film screening @ Zed Cinema) ^^
Sun. Feb. 20, 2022 – London, UK @ Earth (+ film screening @ Rio Cinema) !
Sat. June 4, 2022 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound

% = w/ Hiro Kone
^^ = w/ Kris Baha
! = w/ Helm

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Old Moon – Altars

At times sounding like The Cure, other times like old Midnight Oil, and other times like something you can’t quite describe, Old Moon‘s new album, Altars, is a dark, gothic rocker full of all the haunting guitars, slithering bass, creepy synths, and crashing drums you’d want from an album such as this.

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tom Weir comes out big in the opener, “Ephemera,” hitting us with sludgy bass and vocals echoing off the back of either his studio or perhaps a mausoleum. The guitars on “Chains of Sleep” instantly throw you into a world of dark nightclubs in crumbling old factory towns, and Weir’s vocals pay homage to Peter Murphy through it (and a lot of the album, to be sure).

“Past Lives” covers a required topic on any post-punk/ goth record – death, and “Anhedonia” starts with stadium rock drumming and then pulls you into a small performance space in the stadium’s basement. The switch from the big build-up to subdued tones is effective, and something that Weir pulls off well throughout the record. The hollow-sounding “Untouched” would fit in a horror film, post-apocalyptic action thriller, or a dystopian western.

“Drowse Down” has a slow, psychedelic feel to it that makes you feel like you’re walking in a fog after you’ve had a deep tissue massage. The closing track, “Laid to Waste,” isn’t as gloomy as the title would suggest. The guitars are a bit brighter, and the cymbals clash louder, to create a track for vampire hunters at dawn.

Altars is the first goth record I’ve heard in a long time that doesn’t sound like it’s trying too hard to be edgy or nihilistic. It’s a solid effort and worth a spin.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Psycho Las Vegas 2021 recap: Day Two

We started off the second day of the Las Vegas Psycho Music Festival with what would become our morning ritual over the next three days – lounging by the Luxor Casino Hotel’s pool in the dry heat after picking up a breakfast sandwich at one of the somewhat-overpriced restaurants in the hotel. We’d relax for a couple hours, wash off the sweat, and then go see some bands. It was a great way to save money because we had little time to spend at the gambling tables and slot machines.

Our musical entertainment began with Foie Gras and her industrial-goth set at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues venue. She put on a good set to an early crowd, and my wife loved her combination of a T-shirt and flamenco dancer sleeves.

Foie Gras with her rockin’ sleeves and blood-painted knees.

Up next was something completely different – a set by Deathchant, who I can probably best describe as sounding like a fuzzier Thin Lizzy. The played the “Rock & Rhythm Lounge,” which is in near multiple restaurants in the casino, so you can get your eardrums blasted while enjoying your expensive wine and French cuisine – or while shoving money into video slot machines. Deathchant were loud and rough and a wild afternoon wakeup call.

Deathchant playing like every song was their finale.

We took a five-hour break, more than enough time to get a nap and dinner before coming back to the Lounge to see British stoner metal quartet Psychlona. It was their first gig win Las Vegas and only their second show of their U.S. tour. “We are so fucking stoked,” their lead singer said, and they certainly played like it. Afterward, their singer told me their set was better than the one they’d just played in San Diego the previous night.

Shoegaze quartet Highlands were up next and brought a welcome change of sound to the Lounge and the festival in general. I’m a big shoegaze fan, and they didn’t disappoint. There was a nice, reverb-laden wall of sound coming from the stage for their whole set.

We then zipped across the casino and back to the House of Blues to see one of my most anticipated sets of the festival – a Bossa nova set from Claude Fontaine. The set was lightly attended, and I couldn’t help but think many were there from a previous metal set or waiting for the next metal band to play after her. The crowd wasn’t sure what to make of her at first, as they’d been so used to metal that a soft set of Bossa nova tracks with dub influences seemed alien to them. Ms. Fontaine put on the loveliest set of the festival (her first time playing in Las Vegas) and the small crowd did come around to appreciating the hypnotizing, alluring music she gave.

Our night ended at the Mandalay Beach stage, which sits opposite a man-made beach on a wave pool, where we saw Ty Segall and his band shred the place with their loud psychedelia – their first gig in two years. Segall’s wife even sang lead on one track. They sounded great, and the volume of the band was amplified not only by electronics, but also the water bouncing it all over the place.

Ty Segall and his crew partying at the beach.

It was our busiest day of the festival for bands – six in one day – but there were plenty more to come.

Up next, more shoegaze at the Lounge and three arena shows ranging from dub to goth metal.

Keep your mind open.

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Angel Olsen releases a cover of “Gloria” from upcoming EP of 1980’s music cover songs.

Today, Angel Olsen announces the Aisles EP, comprised of head turning covers of ‘80s classics and the debut release on her new Jagjaguwar imprintsomethingscosmic, out August 20th (digitally) and September 24th (physically). The EP features ambitious takes on five covers, including today’s “Gloria” (Laura Branigan), plus “Eyes Without A Face” (Billy Idol), “Safety Dance”(Men Without Hats), “If You Leave” (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) and “Forever Young” (Alphaville). Olsen comments, “I know it’s not really in my history to do something unintentional or just for the hell of it, but my connection to these songs is pretty straightforward, I just wanted to have a little fun and be a little more spontaneous, and I think I needed to remember that I could!”

The Aisles EP was recorded in the winter of 2020 at Asheville’s Drop of Sun Studios with co-producer and engineer Adam McDaniel. Olsen had known McDaniel for years, and became better acquainted while trying to conquer the audio of live-stream at-home performances last spring. McDaniel and his wife Emily opened their home to Olsen throughout the previous summer and made it a safe space to create and let go before beginning tracking. “I told Adam I had an idea to record some covers and bring some of the band into the mix, or add other players. I needed to laugh and have fun and be a little less serious about the recording process in general,” says Olsen. “I thought about completely changing some of the songs and turning them inside out. I’d come over to find Adam had set up five or so synthesizers, and we’d get lost on a part for a while messing with some obscure pedal I knew nothing about. We’d spend a good amount of time going through sounds before finding one or two, sometimes we’d get real weird and decide to just go with it. ”

Olsen’s take on “Gloria,” released today, crawls with reverberating synth and an arresting cello arrangement. As the song nears its end, her vocals ricochet into a dramatic vibrato. “I’d heard ‘Gloria’ for the first time at a family Christmas gathering and was amazed at all the aunts who got up to dance. I imagined them all dancing and laughing in slow motion, and that’s when I got the idea to slow the entire song down and try it out in this way.”

Angel Olsen’s Aisles EP follows the Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories Box Set, released this past spring, and her new single with Sharon Van Etten, “Like I Used To.” It is the premiere release for somethingscosmic. “I’m very excited to be introducing somethingscosmic, an imprint that will serve as the home for all my covers, collaborations, and one off singles,” says Olsen. “In this time away from touring I have been inspired to create more, and somethingscosmic will give the me flexibility to release when and how I want to with the help from my longtime partners at Jagjaguwar. The hope is that it will become a place for all of my creative endeavors, music and otherwise.”
Listen to Angel Olsen’s “Gloria”

Pre-order Aisles EP

Aisles EP Tracklist
1. Gloria
2. Eyes Without A Face
3. Safety Dance
4. If You Leave
5. Forever Young

Angel Olsen Tour Dates
Sat. Sept. 11 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
Fri. Oct. 29 – Sun. Oct. 31 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music Festival

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Jorja Chalmers releases “Bring Me Down” ahead of new album due May 28th.

Margate-based, Australian multi-instrumentalist Jorja Chalmers will release her new album ‘Midnight Train‘ on May 28th via Italians Do It Better. The first single from the record “Bring Me Down” is streaming online now.

Speaking about the first single “Bring Me Down”, Jorja said “It’s about the fragility of the perfect housewife.It’s basically about a woman that’s trying to be everything, and is cracking psychologically. It’s got a very haunting melody. There’s something there that’s a little bit beautiful and disturbing about it.”

The accompanying video is a piece of Lynchian performance art, an unsettling one-shot clip that shows a person on the edge. It’s all theatre however, Jorja Chalmers relishes in inhabiting a persona, one that may be entirely divorced from her own experiences. “There can be a healthy separation from using your creativity to make something that is almost like a duplicate of yourself, that you don’t necessarily associate with. If you make something dark, then it’s not necessarily your personality. It can be the opposite sometimes.”

Watch & listen to “Bring Me Down” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S3sZoiG20g

Jorja Chalmers enjoys a quiet life. The Australian born mother of two lives in Margate, the Kent coastal town that is turning into something of a cultural hub. Yet there’s another, shadow version of Jorja Chalmers, one that resides in a liminal realm; a saxophonist and composer, a brooding, vampiric, twilight soul who yearns for some sense of aesthetic transformation.

New album ‘Midnight Train’ comes close to severing the two. Constructed during the long winter lockdown, Jorja would put her kids to bed before closing the door in the spare room, building lengthy, undulating passages of cinematic terror, patching together European art-pop glamour with outsider electronics. It’s composed, intense, and challenging – but it’s also utterly exhilarating.

It’s not been a straight-forward path. Burned out following years of classical studies in her native Sydney, Jorja travelled half-way round the world looking for an escape. Settling for some ad hoc office jobs in London, she started kicking around in bands, playing saxophone for a friend’s new wave project. Someone from Bryan Ferry’s team spotted her at some flea-bit bar, and was infatuated – soon Jorja started touring the world with Roxy Music.

Jorja’s 2019 debut album ‘Human Again’ was sketched in hotel rooms across Europe and North America, ideas punched out on down-time between shows. This time round, however, things are a bit more defined. “A lot of those songs were one take jams, it was improvised. This is more refined,” Jorja insists. “It’s a natural progression, this second album. It feels more mature in that way.”

Mixed by Dean Hurley, David Lynch’s music engineer, ‘Midnight Train’ is a treasure trove of ideas. Indeed, it could well be the album Jorja had waited her entire life to make – aspects of minimalism sparked by a teenager who spent countless hours memorising Michael Nyman’s seminal film score for The Piano, set against cinematic electronics and swathes of huge, enveloping, classical dynamics.

“I want it to sound immersive, like it’s wrapping you in a blanket,” she says. Indeed, she cites Rachmaninoff’s epic work The Rock as a key touchstone on the new record. “It’s something that my parents used to blast out of their stereo when I was a kid. I heard it a million times. It’s strange to be hearing a song that is so dramatic when you’re that young. It’s a beautiful piece. It’s one of those things that leaves an imprint on you.”

At times, ‘Midnight Train’ gets very dark indeed. ‘Rabbit In The Headlights’ is a squirming piece of jet-black avant-pop, while ‘Boadicea’ is draped in the blood of the ancient British warrior queen. ‘The Wolves Of The Orangery’ was sculpted after a Roxy Music show in the Palace of Versailles, and it’s haunted by the oppression meted out to the servants, and the bloody revenge exhibited on the French regal classes. There’s light in those murky depths, however; take her brooding version of The Doors’ classic ‘Riders On The Storm’ – a blood-thirsty slice of dystopian electronics, it doubles as a salute to her father, who built himself colossal speakers to both entertain his daughter and terrify his neighbours.

A finessed, contoured vision of Jorja Chalmers’ undaunted creativity, ‘Midnight Train’ bristles with ideas. Breathy saxophone undulates on ‘Nightingale’, her homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra founder Haroumi Hosono, while mournful closer ‘Underwater Blood’ echoes the intensity of Goblin’s work on the Suspiria score, or even John Carpenter’s cinematic endeavours. “I grew up watching lots of movies. I was obsessed with the Terminator soundtrack. I remember hearing that for the first time, and just knowing my tastes were going to be changed forever.”

‘Midnight Train’ feels concise, sharpened, ready to pounce. Cannibalising her influences, Jorja Chalmers has been able to pursue her creative appetites to their most extreme. Yet even at its most challenging, her bold new album revels in the sheer joy of creation. “Making this album was really freeing,” she explains. “I loved writing this album. I always write in the same way, but I think that lockdown provided me with lesser distractions. Writing is such a personal thing for me – being in your little cave, and creating. That’s the beautiful moment for me.”

A solitary creation, a lockdown triumph, ‘Midnight Train’ is the moment Jorja Chalmers truly achieves transcendence.

Midnight Train track list:
1. Bring Me Down
2. I’ll Be Waiting
3. Rabbit In The Headlights
4. Boadicea
5. Love Me Tonight
6. Nightingale
7. Riders On The Storm
8. Rhapsody
9. The Poet
10. The Wolves Of The Orangery
11. On Such A Clear Day
12. Midnight Train
13. Underwater Blood

Links:
Jorja Chalmers Instagram
Italians Do It Better store
Italians Do It Better Instagram
Italians Do It Better Twitter

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: October and the Eyes – Dogs and Gods

New Zealand’s October and the Eyes is a one-woman show. Perhaps the Eyes mentioned in her “band’s” name are the eyes of the world, or the Creator, or Big Brother. I don’t know the answer, but that’s okay. Sometimes the mystery is more intriguing than the answer itself, and “intriguing” is a good way to describe October’s Dogs and Gods EP. She calls her music “collage rock,” meaning she blends influences ranging from krautrock to house music to dub and garage punk. It all works, and the fact that all this sound is produced by one person is damn impressive.

Opening track “Playing God,” for instance starts off with industrial beats and guitars and soon blows your speakers onto their backs with psychedelic reverb-laden vocals reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux emerging from a dark cave. “All My Love,” a tale of love and lust, is a gothic shoegaze masterpiece with sexy robot beats and synth-bloops doing a striptease alongside October’s vocals that sound like she’s singing through an FM radio dug up in a post-apocalyptic junkyard that can somehow access broadcasts from the early 1980s.

“Wander Girl” continues the goth-synth vibe with Dum Dum Girls and, I’ll say it, Cyndi Lauper-like vocal stylings. “I’ve only been waiting my whole life for you,” October sings on the peppy “You Deserve It” – a song that seems aimed at herself and her potential lover at the same time. “The Unraveling” is a flat-out shoegaze rocker designed to rattle your home walls or the roof of your car. The closing track, “Dark Dog,” is dreamy synth-wave that has a slightly creepy feel to it as October sings about a man best left alone.

This is one of the coolest-sounding (and sexiest) EPs I’ve heard all year. I hope we hear more soon.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Affect Display – Animal Drift Animal

Animal Drift Animal, the first album from Affect Display (AKA Damien Smith), is a lush sonic soundscape that sounds not unlike what you’d hear while dreaming of electric sheep.

Lead single “Until the Light Hits the Door” starts off sounding like something you might hear in the score of a modern psychological thriller but then transforms into slightly goth, slightly ambient trance music. “Flight or Fury” pulses like an alien menace on a haunted moon, blending Ennio Morricone and Vangelis influences.

The subtle sonics of”Transference” are suitable for meditation, your morning tea, making out, or taxiing down the runway on your flight to wherever you’re going to quarantine for two weeks. “Dauen” is full of bright synths, strange samples, and beats that sound like they were recorded in an empty Olympic pool (and I mean that in the best way).

“Flock” builds around a drone that could be some kind of machine Smith recorded in the field for ambient sound. Stuttering drum beats stumble around a swelling guitar line and Smith’s robot overlord vocals. “Red Blue In-Between” starts off with psychedelic guitar (!) and then becomes something like an instrumental Sisters of Mercy song with its fierce drumming and slithering synths. The closing track, “Floating Pictures,” has touches of synthwave, city pop, and ambience for a nice finish.

It’s a lovely record and one that is suitable for so many different situations that it’s impossible to list them all. Let’s hope Smith keeps up these sonic explorations and unearths more treasures for us.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Pirates Blend Press.]

Review: Martin Thulin – Into the Light

Martin Thulin is part of the psychedelic / shoegaze band Exploded View, and his new solo album, Into the Light, is full of psychedelic and dreamy ruminations on death, life, impermanence, and presence.

Opening track “Not Afraid to Die” blends Velvet Underground guitars with 1980s synth wave keys to send you floating into whatever version of the afterlife you prefer – or at least out of your current troubled reality. “Here in My Room” adds some disco horns to create a cool lounge-rock track. The bass on “Amazonian Smoke” is post-punk, the synths are goth, and the drums are industrial. It all works. “Thin White Duchess” is, of course, a play on David Bowie‘s “Thin White Duke,” and Bowie touches are sprinkled throughout the track. I like the way Thulin filters his vocals to the low end when you think they’re going to come in at full volume and then slowly brings them back into the front.

The thick keys on “New Dawn Coming” start off side two of the record, and soft electro-beats slide into the room like a sultry lover. The smoky bass of “Day Out Day In” and Thulin’s echoing vocals bring Peter Murphy to mind, and I love the simple, clear piano compliments throughout it. They’re almost like drops of ice water falling onto you during a humid day.

The guitars on “Upstairs Room” sound like they have strings of taffy as Thulin sings about listening to the radio on a quiet, lonely night – even though he’s with his lover (who is mourning their mother’s death) in the same place. Church organ-like keys usher in “Silence You Forever” while Thulin’s vocals take on a raspy spoken word quality. “Your anger makes you so blind, you can’t see you’re being fooled. And when they finally take it over, you’ll have no voice at all,” he sings / chants. Good heavens, those are some prescient lyrics in 2020, aren’t they? The closer, “Amalgam,” sounds like a film noir score and brings to mind images of rain-coated alleys, shady business deals, femme fatales, and suitcases of money that needs laundered as soon as possible.

It’s a haunting record, a cool record, a smooth record, and an uplifting record. That’s a rare combination in any year.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Mr. Thulin!]

SUUNS’ release first single,”Pray,” from upcoming EP.

Montreal-based band SUUNS, comprised of Ben Shemie, Joe Yarmush, and Liam O’Neill, announce their new FICTION EP out October 30th via Joyful Noise Recordings, and share the lead single. “PRAY” was recorded during a hot Dallas summer in 2015 with John Congleton, originally for the band’s 2016 album Hold/Still. “It didn’t make the cut, probably because we loved it so much and thought we had an even better version of it in us,” says O’Neill. “We subsequently tried to record multiple versions of this song, none of which captured the unhinged energy of this live-off-the-floor performance. Discovering this lost jam and its power felt like a reminder to keep in the moment and to trust ourselves – you just have to keep moving forward.”

SUUNS are future-oriented. New sounds, new techniques, new ways of thinking; above all, new environments are the lifeblood of the band. And true to form, here on the FICTION EP, SUUNS are exploring fresh processes as a result of their current surroundings and global circumstances.

On the FICTION EP, new sounds and sonic directions are fashioned out of old. A year-long period of limited resources and contact inspired the band to reflect on the various environments in which they’ve created music over the years: to comb through their previous sounds and creative approaches, and fuse them together with new ideas, ultimately producing a sort of future/past alchemy. The FICTION EP is as much a project of curation as it is one of creation: sifting, re-imagining, and re-framing, sometimes completely disassembling and then building from the ground up. Each song is a live-off-the-floor recording that was then taken into isolation and re-worked.

As much as the FICTION EP is a project born of introspection and reflection, it’s equally one for which SUUNS sought inspiration from outside. Longtime friend of the band Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart), bringing relentless claps and buzuks, leads SUUNS through “BREATHE,” while Amber Webber (Lightning Dust) sings a mournful siren song on the penultimate track, “DEATH.” Finally, the ghost of Frank Zappa lends the band his fervent societal diagnosis, as relevant today as it ever was, on “TROUBLE EVERY DAY.”

Zappa’s darkly prophetic message, repurposed from 1966 to meet our moment, is an apt referent. These dualities, confluences of past and future, of introspection and influence, are what defines the FICTION EP. Produced from old remnants, it is entirely new; done in relative isolation, and is also something of a live record. The songs have been meticulously reworked, and yet the entire collection feels deployed with hardly any reflection, done in one breath. It’s the sound of SUUNS regrouping, and then poised, and then driving towards the future.

The FICTION EP is the first preview of more new music to come in 2021.
Stream “PRAY”:
https://youtu.be/pY56vaNYCVE

Pre-order FICTION EP:
http://joyfulnoi.se/FICTION

FICTION EP Tracklist:
1. LOOK
2. BREATHE (feat. Jerusalem In My Heart)
3. PRAY
4. FICTION
5. DEATH (feat. Amber Webber)
6. TROUBLE EVERY DAY

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Blanck Mass – Dumb Flesh (2015)

I had heard Blanck Mass (AKA Benjamin John Power) before with his work in Fuck Buttons, but had unknowingly heard songs from Dumb Flesh five years ago not knowing who had created them. So, hearing this album in its entirety for the first time was a real treat because it reunited me with songs I didn’t realize were my introduction to his solo work – which I have come to enjoy through multiple albums like World Eater and Animated Violence Mild.

Opener “Loam” is a weird backwards vocal track that lets you know you’re in for something out of the ordinary. No Blanck Mass album is necessarily “normal.” They’re all soundscapes that range from strange and sometimes creepy dreams (like “Loam,” which almost seems to be the sound of a possibly haunted lava lamp) to industrial dance tracks to ambient psychedelia.

“Dead Format” is the first Blanck Mass song I ever heard, and I was elated to be reunited with it on this album. I actually first heard it when I saw Blanck Mass perform at the much-missed Levitation Chicago in 2016. The thumping electronic beats and futuristic bounty hunter synths are a wicked combination that get you moving and absolutely kill live.

The title of “No Lite” is a bit misleading because it’s full of shimmering synths that fade in and out like sunlight breaking through rolling storm clouds as wickedly subtle beats pound underneath them. “Atrophies” mixes synth swirls with karate chop-like processed beats. “Cruel Sports” would be a perfect theme for some sort of cyborg octagonal cage fight. The bass hits hard, the beats sound like metal clashing with metal, and the synths gleam like stark overhead lights.

“Double Cross” is a great synth-wave dance track that’s dark-wave at the edges with break-beat subtleties. It belongs in the next video game you’re designing or playing. “Lung” pops and chirps like some sort of alien machine. It becomes somewhat hypnotizing after a short while.

The album ends with “Detritus,” which is a wild eight minutes and thirteen seconds of what at first sounds like some kind of excavation machinery running with almost no oil in the gears. The synths slowly build, like a creature rising from a junkyard to see the sun for the first time in a century.

It’s a powerful record, and just one of many such records Blanck Mass has put out there. Brace for impact before you hear it.

Keep your mind open.

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