shoegaze / post metal

Not so long ago, one-man bands consisted of one person playing a guitar walking around with a base drum strapped to their back whilst occasionally playing a harmonica which was attached to their heads. It was slightly amusing, yet some folk got very good at it, still, it was quite a niche thing. Anyhow, fast forward a few years and nowadays, with the advent of home recording and mixing software, a lot more people can get in on the act. Like most things, some are better than others. Unsurprisingly considering my laboured into, todays offering is a one-man multi-instrumentalist from Verrona, Italy who goes by the moniker Black Kalmar Skull with his latest album To All Whom I Loved.

Opening song Summer is a great introduction to the album. The first thing which strikes me is the jangly guitar tone, it’s very reminiscent of 90’s indie pop, think of the guitar tone in The La’s and you are not far off. The guitars skip along over a poppy drum beat which sounds like an intriguing mix of 90’s indie pop and Alcest at their lightest. The heartfelt lyrics match the mood of the song perfectly and its dreamy escapism is done to a fantastic degree. 

Second song No One Else again has a dreamy shoegaze sound. The vocals are buried quite far into the mix but have an ethereal sound and the hook laden chorus takes the listener soaring away into the stratosphere. 

Two Birds introduces some heavier elements into the mix which starts with a much heavier guitar part, but this soon morphs into the established catchy shoegaze sound from the first couple of songs. It’s a welcome variation and is well thought out and serves to highlight the melancholic vocals perfectly. Indeed, there are a few times these heavier elements crop up during the album and they are always fit the songs perfectly, the intro to the song ‘Straight Line’ is a great example of this. I like the fact he is not afraid to rock when it’s called for.

 When it comes to the vocals, Matteo’s voice has a lovely soft crooning quality to it which matches the quality of the song writing very well indeed. After speaking to composer Matteo Iron himself about the album, he said “it is intended to convey positive emotions but at the same time be tinged with melancholy, like when you look back at memories”. He manages to convey those emotions with considerable aplomb on this album.   
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To sum up, this is a great album to listen to whilst wearing headphones gazing at the clouds and reminiscing about days gone by. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges and the production could do with some tweaking but considering this is a one-man operation it’s bloody good. If you are in the mood for some dreamy rock which mixes various elements into a very cohesive whole then give this a go, you won’t be disappointed, very much recommended.


Simon

blackgaze / post metal

It’s a very tough time for any band to survive in the current climate, and especially without the opportunity to play live music and gigs. So, one would hope that the fallout from that would see bands and artists spending time in the studio writing and creating some aural wonders for us all to absorb. Thankfully that was definitely the case with Alpha Du Centaure. This band grabbed my attention, without any preconceived notions of their sound, or their journey in getting this album released.

This quarter from Lyon in France released Paralysis in September of last year. Prior to this, they had an EP released, entitled “La Couleur de mes rêves”, which received very positive feedback, and gave them some much needed coverage in what's a busy and saturated scene. They play a mix of “blackgaze”, “post-black” and “atmospheric post rock”. It's mature, emotive, melancholic and above all else, it's a compelling listen. And like I said, it needs to be something a bit special to gain the attention that it has.

The opening track, “Sarramauca”, with its rolling drum intro, is joined by some simple but effective rhythm guitars with a sweeping lead guitar brushing over it, before effortlessly changing tempo and transcending into a crescendo of crashing drums and chunky riffs. A memorable melody which you find humming and playing out in your head long after you’ve played it.

“Ces jours qui disparaissent” follows in a similar vein, with some quiet interludes buried in amongst some crashing blast beats and heavy haunting, wailing guitars. It's almost trance like, as you listen and soak up the atmosphere and imagery the music radiates.

The title track Paralysis is a giant of a tune, that immediately got me thinking Set and Setting, and that is a huge compliment by the way. It's bold and brash mid-tempo intro suddenly breaks into an onslaught of high hats, cow bell and cymbals with driving guitars in unison. The music is heavy, blackened and powerful and really gets the fire blazing. At over nine minutes long, there's some much-needed interludes scattered along the journey, to allow you to catch your breath for a moment or two before being hauled back into a chasm of glorious shredding, fleshy bass lines and crashing drums.

“Harmonie du soir” is a much more tranquil affair, and is a welcome comedown after the power and gallop of the first three tracks. Rich melodic guitars and calm percussions drift and meander along. Like the rest of the album, it’s crisp and clear in production, with nothing muffled or distorted.

The final third of the album tends to follows the same recipe, which is a good thing if you were as transfixed as I was on the first four tracks. Similarities will be made to other bands in this “blackgaze” and “post-black” genre such as Show Me A Dinosaur and Violet Cold, but if that's the case, Alpha Du Centaure are in very good company.

This is a very strong release, packed with energy, haunting melodies, and heavy overcast atmospheres. These guys have talent in spades. I cannot wait to hear what lies in store on their next release. Maybe some synths, occasional vocals or spoken samples might creep into the next release, and give it another dimension. It's also worth hitting their bandcamp page and grabbing a vinyl release if that’s your thing.


​Pat

black metal / shoegaze / blackgaze

Show me a Dinosaur from St. Petersburg on Russia’s Baltic Sea front are part of a thriving, intriguing and miraculous scene. Miraculous because we are not talking about dozens of people but about a handful or two who in various constellations and various projects are able to invent new music all the time. No matter if we are talking the black metal monoliths Trna, the epic evolutionists Olhava or the mesmerizing Show me a Dinosaur who now return with new music. 

And again they prove why good blackgaze works like Wagner operas (without the bullshit anti-semitism!) - in most of the “brutal” German composer’s works you can find those moments where one single melody is carving its way through the storming mists of all those instruments surrounding it. Where this one melody (often played by one instrument) has to fight its way to the top and then finally outshines all the others. Blackgaze often tries to accomplish the very same thing as its combination of post-rock and black metal only works if you have very versatile musicians who are able to construct riffs of mountainous measures and yet slowly let one single idea come through, mostly done via the guitar lines with crescendos conquering the top spot fighting like crazy against the rampant riffs around it. 

And this is and always been the strength of Show me a Dinosaur – their two guitarists Pavel Volkov and Artem Selyugin are certainly among the best black metal duos of recent years and they might turn out to be the best of them all if they keep on delivering this way. Very often one can only stand back listening aghast at how magnificent they are. The guitars dance around each other like a pair of professional dancer – one is nothing without the other but at the same time both need to strive to outperform the other in order to become a truly world-class couple. 

Nevertheless, one should not ignore the rhythm section of Philip Chernonog on bass and Daniel Kourdakov on the drums. If you listen to the beginning of the opener “Sunflower” you will notice how important their work is – what starts out to be a straightforward indie-rocker is slowly paced down until they totally take a lengthy step back after roughly one hundred seconds and give the song the necessary moment to breathe before they take it up again with a much lighter, loftier sonic carpet on which the nice semi-acoustic pickings can dance. Perfect songwriting needs perfect execution. 

Concept-wise one should note that “Plantgazer” is a record that needs the context of the pandemic times we live in. The title-neologism is meant to identify a person who always sits at home looking at his plants while being unable to go outside. A year ago we might have associated that person with having certain other problems – in 2020 the reason for staying at home is as obvious as it might get: The person is living amid a lockdown and is not allowed to go outside. Thus, the narrator develops a kind of anxiety that is seemingly never broken but always at the basis of everything. 

Even the vocals deliver the aforementioned Wagner moments – for example when an epic seemingly multi-voiced chorus accompanies the end of “Marsh”: It seems as if a whole bunch of sailors are greeting us who are inside while leaving port in order to provide hope by finding something to help us. Are they going to get help? Are they going to save us? To keep us from harm? 

I must admit that when I heard the first single “Hum” a few weeks back, I was a little underwhelmed and I figure if it were a stand-alone track I still would be, but in the context of the whole album, the song makes perfect sense: Another sign of a great record – it makes the songs better than they are by embedding them in the best-possible environment. 

“Plantgazer” is a grower of an album – some hypercritical people might say, that Show me a Dinosaur have come up with nothing new, that their formula is simply being repeated. However, in the context of 2020 I must say, that is follows in line with some of the best records of this year, with bands not redefining themselves but delivering a new level of musical perfection that even the most optimistic might not have seen coming. 

Show me a Dinosaur remain the kings of post-rock oriented blackgaze creating a powerful record that every one should listen to. But don’t complain if you can’t get it out of your head again. 


Thorsten

shoegaze / drone pop

Sens Dep (short for ‘Sensory Deprivation’) was founded as a side project of Australian band Laura already more than ten years ago but never released a debut album up to now. They will change that at the end of November with the release of “Lush Desolation”, an eleven track record bathing in both ugly and beautiful sounds.
This stark contrast is what makes the band really interesting and their sound often reminds us of a noisy and droney version of triphop; or a beautifully meandering version of drone and thus like a crossover between Slowdive, Jesu and Archive. What they share with each of these? Well, let’s see.

With Justin K. Broadrick’s famous post-Godflesh – band the band from Melbourne share the love for drones that build and edge out noisily but that never seek harshness as a primary motif. They rather incorporate their drones and synth spaces onto each other in order to construct some beautiful soundscapes, their “Lushness” is not in pain but in beauty. They construct sheer mountains with their drones. Take the final track “Luckless Hunter” as an example – here the band places layer upon layer and the whole construction is like a beautiful (yet also scary) sunrise above the Alps.

They also feature some really enchanting vocals in their songs, not on all but on some of them. And the thing about these vocals is their chanting pop-appeal, thus the connection to Slowdive and their very mesmerizing use of vocals in order to enhance the overall impression of a very plush and very admirable new way of creating shoegaze with a twist. This one is not based on indie rock but on drone music and this combination which is also a bit like Wreckmeister Harmonies or Jarboe is very nice and easy to follow because of the vocals. 

The triphop bits can be heard when listening to “New Dawn”, the first track of the record – those dragging beats (though pretty quick-paced), which only kick in after two minutes, could also be straight out of a long-forgotten Archive track at the time of their first, still noisier albums. Or straight from Tricky’s earlier record, where he also uses some industrial beats and distorts them even further. 

The band has obviously taken its time – in between they created lots of sounds to accompany visual media or installations. While doing this the project grew into a live band and playing some specially curated live shows they did not concentrate on releasing music that could stand on its own without any accompaniment. But now they did and they also came back to being a trio, one that has something to say with the help of dark, yet beautiful music. Music that will reward you for peeling back layer after layer so that you can discover some minute details like the cello parts which do not automatically reveal themselves. Or the small, Sigur Ros-like, vocals that are sometimes used in the background as another instrument in order to give the tracks some more human sound.

All of this and much more can be heard when taking your time to sit back and dive headfirst into this landscape rich of sounds that is “Lush Desolation”. The only thing lacking is “Desolation”, because the record is too warm and too rewarding for one to feel despair or desolation. 


​Thorsten

psychedelic / shoegaze

There was always something about the sunset in California as far as I remember. It was fast but it was a kind of orange that not only pulsated because of eruptions on the surface of the sun but that seemed to resonate with life with the pumping of the blood in our veins. One might have seen the sun go down thousands of times and yet, every time it feels brilliant and perfect if you sit down and take the time to really see it. When listening to Gong Wah’s self-titled debut album, there is this very same feeling. The band from Cologne, Germany has a certain mood and radiance surrounding their tracks that makes them stand out from the mass. The music is psychedelia in a very familiar way, but there is also some post-punk and some Golden State kind of AOR. It is like a mix of 13th Floor Elevators and the Mamas and the Papas, Blondie and A Place to Bury Strangers. A lot of that has to do with the voice of Inga Nelke, who met the two guitarists Thorsten Dohle and Felix Will early 2018; the band has grown to a full quintet since then. The other element contributing to this loving feeling is the guitar sound, which is a bit like a crossover between A Place to Bury Strangers and some simple effective wah-wah sounds. You need some sunshine in your life during these cold autumn and winter days,? Gong Wah is a good choice for you.

screamo / black metal

Montreal. A thriving scene. Lots of thriving scenes. Awesome bands. LOADS of awesome bands. One example would be Cell Press. Their new five-song EP to be released at the end of the month is adding a deep and well-constructed example for modern screamo. They are not playing it safe with this 24-song-monster, whose final track takes up nearly half of the time of the whole EP (and probably one complete side of the cassingle). The first four tracks are all variants of the screamo genre, some a little more on the black metal side, some a little more on the noise side. What really brings them all together is the thoughtfulness with which they perform: Listening to the first track “Piss Police” one notices that they use the same riff as intro and as outro. Or the final track “My Son will No the Truth” which they never want to play live – it’s more of an experiment with each musician adding one layer to the song without knowing what will be added next. And all of it is based on an 11-minute solo by drummer Mark McGee, who taped the solo and on the next day each musician added his part single-handedly so that in the end the band came up with a monster of a subdued noisy ambient track that never seems to find its course. But this sheer aimlessness makes it even more intriguing. Or the third track “Black Out in Verdun” which is right in the middle between Helmet (the drumming and the bass!) and some early HydraHead bands (the vocals and the dirty, meaty riffs!) - here the band is as close to noise-core as it gets. To put it in a nutshell: Don’t miss on Cell Press!

post metal / grunge

Sea Sleeper are from Seattle, Washington and, strange as it may sound, you can hear those old, deep grunge roots in their sound, especially in the vocals shared by bassist Nick Kessler and guitarist Jess Cooley. Sometimes it’s just this special kind of Northwestern phrasing, sometimes it’s a little reminiscence to vocals by the Grunge icons Staley and Cornell, just this special kind of slighty higher intonation that is still gritty. The band plays a mix of metalcore, blackened post-metal and some sort of tech death metal. What is striking that the band and especially the rhythm section is really up to the best of the game seemingly changes paces and genres effortlessly. Shane Cooley is on point and delivering some awesome blastbeats and fine-carved work driving the songs with force and finesse. Nevertheless, it is not to be denied that the band should improve a bit on the riff-side when they really want to go pedal to the metal, because the guitar lines cannot keep up. It is all fine, when it’s midtempo and Jess can add some extra distortion but when the songs speed ahead it seems as if he can’t come up with ideas other than your regular metalcore stuff. The vocals give the new album enough of a twist to keep listening, always waiting for that next moment, when they show the influence of their home scene and when the songs exceed the 6 minute mark. “Far more than Substance Now” is a good example for that, with its nearly eight minutes and some really interesting slowdowns and middle parts. If the band follows the path this song and “Mountain Carver” show up, they will definitely gain a lot more attention with their next record. 
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PS: Nostophobia is the fear of everything old or everything related to nostalgia. 

dream pop / emo

Planes Mistaken for Stars were/are one of the most important bands at the crossing between hardcore and midwestern emo without ever being emo-core. They released several full lengths all to critical acclaim.  Two members of the band now release a Covid-quarantine EP under the moniker Blunt Razors and via Deathwish (where PMFS also published their last full length). Gared O’Donnell and Neil Keener have collected six tracks, one being a cover of the Kate Bush song “Under Ice”. Their record is pure Midwestern magic with lots of spherical guitar lines, hushed up drums and a voice to fall to your knees to. The whole things becomes even more intimate when we remember that Gared is undergoing medical treatment for cancer. The songs show a kind of longing and wishing that it becomes hard not to fall in love with them. It’s like Cyrano watching his beloved from afar and never quite getting her attention. The last lines in “Amber Waves” are a perfect example for this: “I’m just a minute / A minute above you babe / Could you meet me /  Would you keep me / Could you give me your minutes / To drown in amber waves“. The narrator is so close to his beloved but yet there is this unbridgeable distance so that he can only dream of them being together and chase new ways. We share these moments and the duo has this ability of drawing us into the songs so much, that we do not feel like observers anymore but participants. The melodies are so delicate and the whole setting so calming and soothing that one cannot but hit repeat and repeat and repeat.


Thorsten

post punk

Everybody who witnessed a concert by Cologne Black-Metal-masters Ultha knows that this was more than an assembly of musicians who work for a common goal, or a common sound. It was a kind of vision of what music should be able to do – including helping its human sources get rid of some feelings. Music from the heart and for the heart – if you want to find out more about that check out “The Inextricable Wandering”. Now two of the Ultha -boys have founded a new band called Ropes of Night and the quintet has published their first EP in mid-May via Golden Antenna Records. This is not black metal but glorious post-punk and thus it follows Ralph’s love for that glorious early 80s sound that was driven and melancholic, dark and stellar at the same time. All of this can also be heard on this self-titled debut 7inch. “Halo Cage” is a bit like Joy Division bit with more grit and bit and really takes off into one’s ear canal never to leave it for quite some time. “Faith” is a bit noisier and has a kind of shoegazey feeling to it, which might be a bit like Jesus and Mary Chain. Charming is the voice of vocalist Tatjana who sounds like an 80s pop idol on the right side of the musical spectrum. Both tracks could be leftovers from any of the good ole days when music like this was steaming hot and before it was turned into the poppy mess called New Wave or New Romantics. If you only want blastbeats and screaming, then forget about Ropes of Night; but if you liked Ultha for the underlying emotional darkness – this is your new go-to-band. They have that certain something “more”.

post metal / black metal

For a long time now, lots of metal and post-metal bands have been proclaiming their love for the Deftones as they were the one band amongst the NuMetal-wave of the late 90s that had a more diverse sound. This influence can also be heard when listening to the self-titled debut by Endless Forms Most Gruesome from Finland. The duo consisting of Ghost Brigade’s Manne Ikonen and mastermind Juuso Raatikainen (Swallow the Sun) plays a harsh, blackened kind of post-metal that fits very well to this day and age as they are afraid to first run over the listener: Opening track “Black Hole” sounds more like Full of Hell collaborating with KK Null in all its direct, noisy attack. But after this quick clearing of space in the audience’s ears they spread their filthy, yet sometimes experimenting post-metal. And here the Deftones definitely come into play: EFMG are not as groovy as the usual NuMetal-clones but they rather make use of the Sacramentonians’ experiments with sending singular guitar lines through the songs. This way, the Deftones were able to incorporate a kind of soulfulness and lightness into their sound which EFMG also tries to establish. Or they use some gentle picking over a soft string arrangement in “Free Fall from Womb to Grave” just before they riff their way through the rest of the song and show Juuso’s roots in doom metal. A promising debut in all its low-tuned, upwards-thinking, lyrically-miserable glory. 

punk / death metal / black metal

Karloff from Oldenburg, Germany have listened to some Stooges and Blue Cheer, but also some classic old school death metal stuff or stuff like Bathory. The punk thing is the first thing that strikes, listen to “Fright Fever” for example. High speed octane stuff, very much like New Bomb Turks or Turbonegro with a drummer releasing his inner Animal – remember the Muppets? But that would indicate a certain non-committing to their own ideals which is definitely wrong because Karloff is not one of these Motley Crue wannabe-bands. The guys from Northern Germany take their music seriously and that is probably the biggest difference to guys like Hank Van Helvete, they are no novelty act. The blackened vocals show despair and often blend seem like a mix of classic early hardcore shouters and black metal singers, sometimes even being close to thrash metal.  The excellent riffing and precision make for a force to be reckoned with. 

shoegaze / doom

Lyon, France is known to be a tasteful town. With newcomers Hadewijch a new chapter seems to be added to the former culinary capital of the world. One that doesn’t known boundaries or limitations – at least, not many. It’s not that they seem to have no musical boundaries, because they do perform within the frame of doomy post-metal. But they seem to have a very open-minded mindset as they want to show the possibilities of musically transcending the bodily realms, just like a good herbal therapy. This can also be noticed when listening to their debut-EP which is one, single track – but 19 minutes long. In that time, you can hear a lot of doomy but also noisy shoegaze elements that will help you find some positive vibes for your life. You might hear some Neurosis or My Bloody Valentine, to give you an idea that might push the comparisons a bit too far. The trio is not yet on the level of the bands mentioned, but they are quite good and for a debut, this is promising quite a lot. It will be interesting to see with which noise they follow their herbal and musical theory; nevertheless, they give you one more reason to think highly of the tasty town Lyon.

Thorsten

post rock / doom / shoegaze

“I really messed it up this time” - hell, how wrong can a line from a new song be? Atlanta, Georgia’s Of The Vine are due to release their third regular release (which again needed five years to see the light of the night) called “Left Alone” via A Thousand Arms and dunk!records at the beginning of May and they show why someone called them “the prettiest doom band you’ll ever hear”. No, this is neither doom, nor metal. Nevertheless there is something about this band that one could link to Doomgaze bands like Spotlights; or, depending on one’s preference, to post-rock bands like Pray for Sound; still, “Left Alone” is not even in the middle of those poles or circling on any equator between them – one should not try to categorize Of the Vine because any attempt is set to fail from the start. Thus a look at the real music is necessary.

Taking two songs from the record apart will provide some insight on why this record should be on every post-rock Albums of the Year list at the end of 2020:
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“Left Alone” starts off with something the band hasn’t done before – vocals, though too unclean and non-intelligible, have never been part of the OtV-experience and very often this comes as an unpleasant surprise to post-rock listeners, especially if the song doesn’t follow the aforementioned pattern. The song uses a kind of doom structure with the slow fading of revved up guitar lines then meandering into strong moments of “non-existence” where only the simple but highly effective drum parts keep the song alive just long enough for another wave of distorted, now more coherent heavy guitar riffs to fall into place. Roughly at halftime through the song, the band incorporates some melancholic, less power-based guitar lines accompanied by a great sequence of cymbal-ladden drumming followed by blastbeats before the whole song collapses into simple wavey guitars within seconds. That “silent” collapse and ending comes more abrupt than any distorted breakdown heard in heavy post-rock recently. The song ends with a long outro of nearly two minutes playing with small guitar motifs reaching out to each other and the melancholic unintelligible singing underlines the keyboard spheres added to spread the sadness of “being left alone”. 
The second example taken from the six-song, 44-minute record would be “Messed it up” which is a really beautiful song on the musical surface playing with nice and beaming guitar licks that topple over each other like 1-year-old toddlers wanting to play but also hurting the other. That beauty is contrasted by the lyrics “I really messed it up this time / Will I ever forgive myself / Will you ever look at me again” - this is not Shakespearean quality poetry, but the song is a brilliant example of how the delivery determines the quality of a vocal performance and not the words themselves. Those contrasts born from the pain of loss and loneliness due to personal mistakes are key to understanding the record, not that it is necessary to bring up the everlasting black-white-schemes again, but with this record it must be mentioned that the despair behind it all is not an external one, it is the despair because of oneself, because of one’s own mistakes and blunders that might drive the “narrator” into the sad screams right at the start of the record and with which he has to cope. 

The record is more than your regular post-rock or doomgaze record because the quartet is able to perform any given musical style, which speaks for their musical talent. Taking the time to sit down and listen to this record with headphones on, you can find so many small details that it might cause severe headscratching how in the name of the lord of crescendos and construct-and-collapse songwriting structures this band was overlooked? Well, maybe because they do not use those “simple” notions but more complex ideas of how to convey the idea behind their music. 


Thorsten

post hardcore

If a band’s name is Quietus (the quiet one) and they say they play some kind of post-hardcore, it’s my time to step onto the plate. And man, I was not disappointed with this release as Quietus from Charleville Mezières, France, really listened well to what their predecessors had to say – and even more importantly, what they had to play. The quartet really knows how to build intriguing soundscapes around interesting song structures. Sometimes they just simply stop the song after a marching drum part, just to let the simple three chords echo into eternity and then go back into a near-pop punk only to kick the accelerator back into full swing with a high-octane ending. You will recognize some blastbeats to show an even more aggressive and spitting outlet. With the first four songs the band has already shown more ideas in roughly 18 minutes than other bands on a full record. 
However, one should note that the band needs to incorporate the lyrics a bit better because they lack something that a lot of hardcore records lack when it comes to the vocals: A clear position within the sound, not trying to say that the band has a bad singer/shouter, it’s just that he might be more in the center of attention in order to get his message across. 
If you like some bands in the middle between Thursday and Converge, this French outlet might be just the thing for you. Get on the wagon, before you are said to be a bandwagoneer!

doom

Buzzov*en plus Weedeater plus a tinge of Primitive Man – that is Atomic Trip on their second record, simply called Strike #2, released a few months ago on Wooaaargh. One other band that can be heard on this two track, 41 minute (!) assault is Earth, because the trio Lyonais from French epicenter of good taste displays the same good taste in their choice of tuning and performing a style that can – in parts – hold on to the path that the forefathers of said genre – doomy, sludgy, slow, distorted, reverb-ladden metal – paved and that Atomic Trip is following. However, the threesome also show a sense of humor (stage names are e.g. Jean-Claude van Doom or Gary McDoom) and that is something that they share with some of the best. Do not take yourself too seriously if you play some kind of pissed-off and pissed-yourself sound that shall scare and attract people at the same time. If you like anything in the vein of the bands mentioned above and can also live without vocals, then Atomic Trip is definitely something for you to check out. Nothing new on planet doom but they surely keep the paths open and maybe at some point other bands will even use them for reference in times to come. 

shoegaze / doom

Brooklyn trio Spotlights has been in the spotlight for quite some time now. Three years ago they signed to Ipecac for the release of “Seismic”, they then toured their butts off (including a stint supporting the Melvins) and released the awe-inspiring “Love and Decay” last year. Now the trip of the Quintero couple (Mario and Sarah) and drummer Chris Enriquez (of On the Might of Princes-fame) release an EP exclusively for the brilliant Post-Wax Series on Blues Funeral Recordings (this year’s edition will also have exclusives by Elder and Big Scenic Nowhere plus four more relevant records). As expected the record is heavy but not crushing, it’s soothing but not putting one to sleep. The short heavy, upwards-reaching ends of the riffs are intoxicating and the drumming is bluesy and au point. The EP shows four doomy tracks with brilliant little images in it (like the short, oriental percussion elements at the beginning of “Part III” which sparkle in a certain light), yet there are also these gut-wrenching screams in “Part I” or the near-punk-intro to “Part IV” with its driving piano intro and the simple riff just to open up when the vocals show that this is not some strange punk band on mescaline but a doom band playing a sludge-song. This band belongs in the spotlight!

drone / ambient / doom

There seems to be a little of a trend going on over the course of the last six months for bands to release multiple split EPs either on the same day or shortly after each other – one famous example would be Panopticon and their splits with Aerial Ruin and Nechochwen. A less famous band, but doing some awesome splits is [ B O L T ] who released a split with Morasth from Mainz at the end of last year and one with N at the beginning of 2020. The latter is the seventh release in this ongoing series of collaborations between the drone artist N and [ B O L T ] (who are both, like Morasth, from Western Germany) and the sound is very droney, a bit ambient but always with a bit more soul than a pure electronic version of said genre.

The way that [ B O L T ]’s two basses reverb on this record is just mind-bending. The band that jumps to mind as a reference would be AUN. The split with Morasth on the other band is very doom, very rich in harsh riffs and very dark, here the instrumentation is clearly very agitated and not meant to keep the sounds going but let the waves collapse and break off one after the other. The first reference that comes to my mind would be Black Shape of Nexus. The facts that both splits were released by dunk!records just shows how open that label is, and if you then add the total length of both split, which both clock in after circa 40 minutes, you know that you are deep in a listening session you will not forget.


​Thorsten

pop / ambient / shoegaze

Midwives are able to help giving birth to new life and enduring all the pain one (woman) can bear. They transform all the pain into the most joyous of moments. Madeline Johnston chose that name as her stage moniker several years ago and has since released two full-lengths and a b-side collection as Midwife after using Sister Grotto for several years.

Midwife’s music is different in a way, and that becomes clear from the very beginning of “Forever”: “2018” starts with a piano melody in minor keys before the ambient spheres starts in the background and Madeline sings “This is really happening… to me” as if she wants reality to fall apart and away under her vocals. You can already hear her despair under all the distorted singing, she is not going to sing about the beautiful sides of life. She is moaning, accusing life of all the negative things she is going through, like the loss of the beloved creative working/living space Rhinoceropolis in Denver in 2016 and, even harder for her, the suicide of her friend Colin Ward, who she shared an apartment at Rhinoceropolis with, in 2018. Ward can be heard reading out a poem on “C.R.F.W.” (his initials) for about four minutes until a simple drone sets in spiraling upwards accompanied by simple guitar lines and no additional words – a kind of wordless mourning. 

Pain and beauty – the two sides to Midwife. The drones have slightly harsh endings just before they ebb away beautifully. The guitar lines are steady but never boring as the are often supported by a delicate echo that makes them reverb into open space. Johnston’s compositions float through the air not being tied to any earthly weight so that you watch them for hours on end without being bored at all. On the other side, the lyrics can have a very different effect because they are among the saddest in a long time. Forget all those black metal bands who are trying to tell you how dark their lives are – Midwife’s songs are real because they are honest and one truly feels afraid for what is going to happen to her next. 

This might be the catharsis of the year, the one record which tells you how shitty life is and how you are not able to run away from it. But talking about it at least opens your chest for a breath of fresh air while looking up at the beautiful blue sky outside. Beautiful moments in painful phases of life – Midwife. 


Thorsten

ambient / shoegaze

Planning for Burial-like. Have a Nice Life-esque. Archive-ian. Review over.

A: Wait – over? 
B: Yeah, why not?
A: Cause it’s too short and non-explaining.
B: Why do I have to explain that something is great when I give such great Comparisons?
A: Because you do not compare the new Folian record Blue Mirror with these bands, you merely give non-existing adjectives connected to these bands.
B: But isn’t that enough for everybody who knows that the new full-length David Fylstra’s third release within the last two months?

A: Well, how many people do you know who know that Fylstra released a split EP with Shifting Harbor called “Tenemos” on January 2nd and a one-longtrack-collaboration with Entresol called “The Archangel of Huntridge” on December 19th before?
B: Hmmm okay, but most people should know that Fylstra is able to convey an atmosphere of naturalness by incorporating shoegaze elements, some industrial sounds, field recordings, guitar work and some ethereal vocals!
A: Yes, most people should know that; however, we both know that they don’t know and not everybody follows The Flenser and it’s connected artists that closely!
B: Wait a moment, Blue Mirror is released on Fylstra’s own Anima Recordings, not on Flenser, only because he collaborated with .drowse for some of their tracks does not mean that all the Flenser-die hards know about him.
A: Of course the die-hards know, but maybe you are right, cause apart from that his work is not that known.
B: Although it should be as he also worked with bands like Bible Black Tyrant or Ramprasad. 
A: Although they should yes. Do you know what hit me most positively about this record?
B: Tell me!
A: That is all flows together so naturally, that none of the elements dominates the others and that it sounds as if he knew straight away where he wanted to go with this release like he had a planned out map for his way through all of the fog and the forest of Portland where he lives and works and which definitely influenced this record a lot.
B: But isn’t it the way that he was struck by the intricacies of modern life and all its negative consequences on our way of living?
A: It might be and you definitely can feel the paradox of man trying to connect with the old ways (represented by the lots of acoustic guitar and the field recordings) and our longing for modern-ness and “the new” (shown by the industrial beats and the shoegaze walls of sounds).
B:  Oh is that why you wrote that shortest of reviews?
A: Yes, because that’s what these artists also do. Combine old and new. Each in their very own style.
B: Ah, okay, so let’s just say this album is:

Planning for Burial-like. Have a Nice Life-esque. Archive-ian.


Thorsten