IIVII make things crystal clear, Mother Of All get technical on your ass, Triton Devs take a progressive stance, Hannes Grossmann gets to the heart of the matter, Fractal Universe like to keep things even — and all things being equal, I’d have to say today’s Midweek Roundup can’t be beat. Let’s keep it going:
35 | IIVII | Crystalline Beasts
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “IIVII is pleased to unveil the video for Crystalline Beasts, a track off their Grinding Teeth full-length released last year. Led by Josh Graham — visual artist, multi- instrumentalist and electro-acoustic composer best known for his work with Neurosis, Red Sparowes, Battle Of Mice and A Storm Of Light — IIVII focus on enigmatic cinematic atmospheres, exploring elements of electronica, classical, ambient, drone, and vaporwave that ultimately culminate to a fully immersive listening experience. Notes Graham: “Crystalline Beasts is the first IIVII song to explore a metal/black metal landscape, while keeping its base grounded in orchestrated soundscapes. Sarah Pendleton guests on violin, and Gregory Simons is on drums.”
36+37 | Mother Of All | Replicators + Curators Of Our World Scope
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Danish one-man prog/melodeath unit Mother Of All teamed up with composer Andreas Hald and the unique visual artist Lichtgedärm to create the twofold audio-visual medley Curators, featuring Replicators and Curators of Our World Scope — tracks from the band’s upcoming album Age of the Solipsist, out June 11. Mother Of All’s Martin Haumann says: “Replicators is a very cinematic piece by Andreas Hald. He perfectly captures … how algorithms operate and also the mind-numbing experience of dealing with social media, click-bait media and political propaganda … For the second song, I’m joined by fretless bass legend Steve Di Giorgio and guitarist Frederik Jensen. I had to create a totally different rhythmic approach to capture the information-dense lyrical themes. The two pieces are about technology, but the scary thing is how much technology is mimicking biological processes.”
38 | Triton Devs | The Light Of Your Skin
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Triton Devs is the creation of composer / guitarist / sound engineer Blacky Lee Stone, aiming to embark on a new musical project to signify a rebirth of the world after this tragic year. Collaborating with vocalist Eric Castiglia, drummer Zamkenoby, bassist Anna Portalupi and drummer Mike Terrana, he has created the energetic album Stay Alive, influenced by classic heavy metal, hard and progressive rock. Stone comments: “My favorite Metal genres are speed metal, hard rock, and progressive, but as a musician, I think that if a song is beautiful, interesting and played well, it is regardless of the musical genre. That said, this album embodies that thought, despite having a decidedly metal imprint, each track is contaminated by different micro musical influences that make each track different from the other by exploring many nuances of the genre played as a whole.”
39 | Hannes Grossmann | In The Glacier’s Eye
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Acclaimed tech-metal drummer Hannes Grossmann shares In The Glacier’s Eye, another track off his upcoming solo album. Hannes states, “This song is probably one of the catchiest songs I’ve written so far. Still, you can clearly hear my signature … The new album features my most melodic, heaviest material so far. Compared to my previous releases, I focussed even more on straightforward songwriting.”
40 | Fractal Universe | Symmetrical Masquerade
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On June 25, Fractal Universe will release their album The Impassable Horizon. For a preview, a video for the single Symmetrical Masquerade (animated by Costin Chioreanu) is out today. Regarding the lyrical theme of Symmetrical Masquerade, the band say it reflects “the hope humans have of a something, whatever its nature, after death. In that constant denial of the fact that death could equal the ‘non-being’, humans turn this anxiety into an expectation, even a deliverance. But there’s always a doubt remaining. And the most distressing thing isn’t the knowledge of the inevitable, but rather the fact that nothing’s for sure.”
41 | Somnuri | Desire Lines
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn progressive sludge trio Somnuri present a trip-inducing and unnerving animated video for their third single Desire Lines. Their new album Nefarious Wave will be released on June 4. “Desire Lines has to do with the idea that if you always seek the path of least resistance, you may end up feeling life has passed you by. It’s about not having regrets,” say the band. “The video is a mind-fuck. Animator and director Dima Drjuchin captured the vibe of the song so well. It feels warm and inviting at first but something is looming and it ultimately goes to a much darker place. It certainly takes the viewer on a ride and fans of heavy, psychedelic music and art should dig it.”
42 | Vexed | Fake
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nearing the Friday release of their debut album Culling Culture, the U.K.’s Vexed showcase the brutality they’re made of. Combining both visually cinematic and oppressively honest material with a refined symbiosis of technically adept hardness and droning heavy instrumentality, Vexed return with their single Fake — released today aside a disturbingly intense video.”
43 | Super Whatevr | Dwell On The Guilt Of Saving Myself
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Super Whatevr have released the song Dwell On The Guilt Of Saving Myself, “about the gut wrenching feeling of betrayal for the people I’ve had to leave behind as I pursue emotional health,” explains vocalist and guitarist Sky McKee. “I thought it was normal for my friends and family to be shitty to one another but as I grow I realize that I deserve better. They deserve better as well but until they can recognize it and grow, I have to leave to preserve my psyche.”
44 | Reversels | Gravitron
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Asheville queer doom-pop band Reversels release their album LaSabre on July 23. LaSabre is a little bit goth, a little industrial, a nice bit of doom, and perfectly subversive. This week the band share Gravitron, the second single. The accompanying video is a poignant ode to queer and trans love. The band say they wrote the song “while driving a borrowed convertible on the way home from a spectacular queer punk show.”
45 | Murcof | Fire Thief
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ahead of Friday release of Murcof’s double album The Alias Sessions, they deliver the video for Fire Thief. The work of Christophe Thockler, the video is set in a meticulously constructed model of the theatre where the dance performances birthing the music on the album took place.“When Murcof presented his new project to me, the result of a collaboration with the Alias Dance Company, he showed me the performance where dancers were falling and rising, again and again,” Thockler explains. “I was mesmerized by this kind of strange and hypnotic choreography, and I immediately thought about how hard the performance would have been for the dancers — disorientating, seeing the seats of the theatre, rising and falling as they are performing. The point of view of the dancers became the main concept, and we thought we could make a small theatre to imitate this movement.”
46 | Simon Bunel | Under And Overseas
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “My solo EP Between The Lines is an attempt to mix different techniques, instruments, and styles. After a my former years as a classical percussionist and jazz drummer — at the conservatoire of Nantes, France — I wanted to focus on composition and sound design. I experimented with field recording, piano, singing, and electronic production, and I learned more about recording techniques and mixing and mastering. Between the Lines merges pop, contemporary classical, electronic, and ambient music. It combines electronic noises with sounds of nature and transformed piano sounds along a voice. I am very inspired by Jon Hopkins, Nils Frahm, Bon Iver and James Blake.”
47 | Josh Johnson | The Way You Are (Part 2 Of A Love Story)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Comic and Daily Show staff writer Josh Johnson explores uncharted territory to redefine the relationship between comedy and music and will release his ambitious 33-track mixtape Elusive on June 11. Today, Josh released The Way You Are (Part 2 of a Love Story). “It’s the emotion you feel when you find out who someone you love really is,” says Johnson. “A thorough description of what this ambivalent and potentially illusory lover is like and what that reality may mean… pining for an acceptance or resolution that may never come.”
48 | Littlecigarette | Fur Coat
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Producer and rapper Littlecigarette shares Fur Coat, the first single from his upcoming debut album Omega. With Fur Coat, Littlecigarette offers a voice to marginalised, disaffected youth. Not connected to any rap scene, his isolation from the rest of the world and a real passion for music have been the driving forces behind his music and storytelling. Littlecigarette says: “If there was ever any true, flamboyant self-assurance in the spell of dark tragedy that I found myself in, Fur Coat captures it. I like the frankness about it too, as well as the confidence. There’s still no better feeling than having a tenner’s worth of weed in the pocket of your flash coat.”
49 | Wax Tailor | Keep It Movin’ (WT Remix ft. D Smoke)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Renowned producer Wax Tailor has released the remix of his single Keep It Movin, featuring. D Smoke. The original single appears on his recent album The Shadow Of Their Suns, which features numerous talented artists from around the world. While the original single ventured deep into the world of hip-hop, with D Smoke’s vocals providing the backbone, the reworked version sees Wax Tailor drawing back into the electronic realm, with a spattering of new genres thrown in to refresh the sound.”
50 | Pete Moss | Chickadee
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto artist and outdoor educator Pete Moss releases Chickadee, the first track from his upcoming fall album Birds Rock. As Pete describes, Chickadee is a “tribute to one of the most adorable and resilient birds around … Chickadees, in my humble opinion, are the Timbits of the bird kingdom: They are sweet, round and incredibly resilient (do Timbits ever go bad!?). By possessing superpowers such as being able to change their body temperature 12 degrees and indicating the severity of threats by the number of “dees” in their calls, it’s hard to believe such super birds can be found almost everywhere in North America. And don’t get me started about how they should have won Canada’s national bird competition!”
51 | Mouse Rat | 5,000 Candles In The Wind (Bye Bye Li’l Sebastian)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Mouse Rat, formerly known as Scarecrow Boat, Everything Rhymes With Orange and Fleetwood Mac Sexpants — among other names — are fronted by Andy Dwyer, the Pawnee, Indiana shoeshine extraordinaire known for his work on Leslie Knope’s political campaign song Catch Your Dream (feat. Duke Silver). Their upcoming release The Awesome Album (out Oct. 29) includes instant classics The Pit, Sex Hair and Two Birds Holding Hands, as well as two additional tracks by fellow Pawnee legend Scott Tanner and his band Land Ho! Momentum began building at the band’s first performance of 5,000 Candles In the Wind, the funeral for Pawnee town mascot legend Li’l Sebastian. Today marks the 10-year anniversary of that performance and the passing of the miniature horse. To mark the occasion, 5,000 Candles In the Wind is available now.”
