sentimental records is a Brussels, Belgium-based record label hat specializes in cassette tape-only releases from a variety of post-punk and New Wave-leaning acts all over the world, including the Los Angeles-based post-punk outfit Second Still. The Belgium indie label’s will be releasing the debut EP from Berlin, Germany-based A.D. Mana, an artist, who specializes in a sound that meshes elements of coldwave, post-punk, synth pop and industrial electronica; in fact, the EP’s first single “Take Hold” will immediately bring memories of early 80s New Order (i.e., “Blue Monday” and “Bizarre Love Triangle”), Ministry (i.e., “What About Us?”) and Depeche Mode (i.e., “People Are People,” and “Just Can’t Get Enough”) but with a murky and moody vibe that nods at goth as you’ll hear industrial clang and clatter, shimmering synths, angular guitar chords and a dance floor and arena rock-friendly hook paired with Mana’s aching and tender vocals.
Shot, edited and directed by Sally Dige Jørgensen, the recently released video for “Take Hold” is a decidedly 80s influenced affair featuring black and white sequences of a brooding Mana walking through the crowded rush-hour streets of Berlin, what appears to be someone developing photos of Mana and his intense graze in a dark room and more — and in some way, the video captures and evokes the woozy effect of obsession.
Category: post-punk
Deriving their name from the classic astrological meaning of sextile, an astrological aspect that is made when two planets or other celestial bodies are 60 degrees apart in the sky, the Los Angeles, CA-based quartet Sextile (comprised of Melissa Scaduto, Eddie Wuebben, Sammy Warren and Brady Keehn) specializes in a sound that draws from 70s punk, 80s New Wave, and synthwave and early industrial electronica. In fact, “One of These,” the latest single from the Los Angeles-based quartet’s forthcoming sophomore album Albeit Living manages to sound as though the band were drawing influence from The Jesus and Mary Chain, A Place to Bury Strangers, Wire, Public Image, Ltd., early Ministry and early Nine Inch Nails as the band pairs a propulsive stomp with scorching feedback, chilly synths and an anthemic, fairly dance floor-friendly hook with an explosively feral intensity.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of the past year, you’ve come across a small handful of posts featuring the Brooklyn-based post punk duo and JOVM mainstays NØMADS . Comprised of Nathan Lithow (vocals, bass), who has been a touring and recording bassist for My Brightest Diamond, Inlets, and Gabriel and the Hounds; and Garth Macaleavey (drums), a former Inlets touring percussionist and head sound engineer at National Sawdust, the duo have received an increasing amount of attention across the blogosphere for a sound that draws from Nirvana, Fugazi and Girls Against Boys while also nodding at Zack de la Rocha’s post-Rage Against the Machine project, One Day As A Lion and Japandroids.
After a year hiatus from touring to support their 2014 full-length debut Free My Animal and from writing, the Brooklyn-based duo spent the better part of 2016 writing and recording the material that would eventually comprise their sophomore album, PHOBIAC, a concept album in which each song focuses on a different phobia, approached in an abstract, almost clinical fashion, while capturing the innermost thoughts, anxieties and fears of someone in the grips of their own deepest fear; but at the core, is a cautionary message for our heightened and uncertain times — that whenever we succumb to the irrationality of our fears, chaos and self-destruction will be the end result.
Adding to the conceptual nature of the album, each song off the album will be released every month over the course of 2017 with the full-length album being slated for a 2018 release. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, it shouldn’t be surprising that I’ve written about a handful of singles PHØBIAC — “Achluphobia” focused on a fear of darkness, and throughout you can feel the narrator’s palpable and overwhelmingly primal dread and fear as darkness begins to envelope everything around him — and it’s further emphasized by angular and forceful bass chords, thundering and propulsive drumming and Lithgow’s growled vocals. The following single “Acrophobia,” focused on a fear of heights and is a explosive instrumental composition that features a rapidly shifting meter paired with a propulsive bass line meant to evoke the sensation of peering over a high ledge of a bridge or some other surface, with the instinctual recognition that solid ground and mortal peril is just below you. And it was followed by “Axatophobia,” which focused on a fear of disorder and chaos. Featuring Lithgow playing an angular and distorted yet melodic bass line, Macaleavey’s forceful and dramatic drumming and paired with Lithgow’s urgent and pleading vocals, the song had the air of someone who’s life is thrown in disarray in an unexpected way.
PHØBIAC‘s latest single “Chronometrophobia” is a slow-burning and moody instrumental track, focusing on a fear of clocks, watches and time. Mixed by Michael Abuiso at Behind The Curtains Studio, the composition features buzzing and distorted bass chords, meant to evoke the grinding mechanisms of gears while the metronomic-like drumming manage to evoke the clicking of watch hands moving second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. But just under the surface is creeping anxiety of time passing; of time’s relentless march forward, whether you’re here or not and being continually reminded of it everywhere you go.
As the band’s frontman explains in press notes “The fear of clocks is a very compelling to me as a soundscape metaphor. As a physical object, a clock not only “tells” time, but also represents the passing of time, and the concrete idea of the present tense. Chronometrophobia is tangentially connected to Chronophobia, the fear of time or of time’s passing, but as a compositional theme I think the clicks/ticks/tocks/beeps and bells provide a bit of a textual context to the song as a whole.”
The band is embarking on a series of dates, most of them local and it includes their ongoing Tuesday night residency at Piano’s. Check out tour dates.
Tour Dates
5/16 – New York, NY – Pianos
5/23 – New York, NY – Pianos
5/25 – Erie, PA – Bobby’s Place
5/30 – New York, NY – Pianos
6/02 – Brooklyn, NY – Three’s Brewing
6/05 – Indianapolis, IN – State Street Pub
6/22 – New York, NY – Berlin
8/03 – Brooklyn, NY – Cape House (PopGun show w/ CLOAK)
Perhaps best known as members of renowned Sacramento, CA-based experimental hip-hop act Death Grips, Zach Hill and Andy Morin formed their experimental rock/noise rock/punk rock side project The I.L.Y’s in 2015 and they’ve quietly released two full-length albums, their 2015 debut I’ve Always Been Good at True Love and their 2016 sophomore effort Scum With Boundaries. The duo’s third full-length album is slated for a May 16, 2017 digital release, followed by a vinyl and CD release through Castle Face Records on June 16, 2017 — and while the new album has the band collaborating with guitarist Tristan Tozer, who’s best known for his work with Yah Mos and Drug Apts, the album’s first single “I Love You, Man,” will further cement the duo’s reputation for crafting noisy and swaggering, industrial-leaning rock that sounds indebted to hip-hop, punk rock and 80s post punk.
Comprised of Nathan Lithow (vocals, bass), who has been a touring and recording bassist for My Brightest Diamond, Inlets, and Gabriel and the Hounds; and Garth Macaleavey (drums), a former Inlets touring percussionist and head sound engineer at National Sawdust, the Brooklyn-based post-punk duo NØMADS have received attention across the blogosphere and from this site for a sound that draws from Nirvana, Fugazi and Girls Against Boys while also nodding at Zack de la Rocha’s post-Rage Against the Machine project, One Day As A Lion and Japandroids.
After a year hiatus from touring to support their 2014 full-length debut Free My Animal and from writing, the Brooklyn-based duo spent the better part of 2016 writing and recording the material that would eventually comprise their sophomore album, PHOBIC, a concept album in which each song focuses on a different phobia, approached in an abstract, almost clinical fashion, while capturing the innermost thoughts, anxieties and fears of someone in the grips of their own deepest fear; but at the core, is a cautionary message for our heightened and uncertain times — that whenever we succumb to the irrationality of our fears, chaos and self-destruction will be the end result.
Adding to the conceptual nature of the album, each song off the album will be released every month over the course of 2017 with the full-length album being slated for a 2018 release. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, it shouldn’t be surprising that I’ve written about a handful of singles PHØBIAC — “Achluphobia” focused on a fear of darkness, and throughout you can feel the narrator’s palpable and overwhelmingly primal dread and fear as darkness begins to envelope everything around him — and it’s further emphasized by angular and forceful bass chords, thundering and propulsive drumming and Lithgow’s growled vocals; the following single “Acrophobia,” focused on a fear of heights and is a explosive instrumental composition that features a rapidly shifting meter paired with a propulsive bass line meant to evoke the sensation of peering over a high ledge of a bridge or some other surface, with the instinctual recognition that solid ground and mortal peril is just below you. PHØBIAC‘s latest single “Axatophobia” focuses on a fear of disorder and chaos and features Lithgow playing an angular and distorted yet melodic bass line, Macaleavey’s forceful and dramatic drumming — while Lithgow’s vocals take on the urgent and pleading air of someone who’s life is throw in disarray in an unexpected way, and they can’t handle the slightest bit of disorder. You can practically sense the creeping dread that subtly permeates the entire song.
The Brooklyn-based post punk duo started a string of tour dates the other day at Third Man Records, Detroit and it includes a month-long residency at Piano’s with sets on May 9, 2017; May 17, 2017; May 23, 2017; and May 30, 2017.
New Video: Up-and-coming British Band The Orielles Poke Fun at Celebrity Culture in Visuals for “Sugar Tastes Like Salt”
Comprised of 21-year-old Sidonie B Hand-Halford, her 18-year-old sister Esmé Dee Hand-Halford and their 17-year-old best friend Henry Carlyle Wade, the Halifax, UK-based indie rock trio The Orielles have developed a reputation as one of Northern England’s “most exciting local bands of recent years” and their hometown’s best-kept musical secrets, the trio can trace their origins to when the Hand-Halford sisters met Wade at a house party and bonded over their shared love of Stateside 90s alt rock and indie rock.
With a reputation that had preceded them, Heavenly Recordings head Jeff Barrett caught the band opening for their new labelmates The Parrots in late 2016 and immediately signed them to the label. This year may be a huge year for the young British indie rockers as they played at the Heavenly Weekender Festival at Hebden Bridge last year, and they will be embarking on their first UK/EU tour next month; but in the mean time, the trio’s Heavenly Recordings debut single “Sugar Tastes Like Salt” is an expansive 8 minute track that draws influence from psych rock, New Wave and post-punk while lyrically the band makes references to several Quentin Tarantino movies including Deathproof. And the whole thing is held together by a sinuous and funky bass line that sonically reminds me of The Mallard’s incredible Finding Meaning in Deference. And much like The Mallard‘s last album, “Sugar Tastes Like Salt” possesses a surprising self-assuredness that belies their youth. It’s an impressive and forceful release that has me excited to hear more from them.
Based on a concept by the members of The Orielles, the recently released music video for “Sugar Tastes Like Salt” was filmed and edited by Josh Bentley and stars the members of the band, along with Thomas Walmsley, Sam Frost and others in what the band describes as “a tale of hedonism, glamour and deceit . . . ” And as they do so, the band poke some sadistic fun at pop culture, the adulation and pretense of fame for the sake of fame, shitty talk shows, and even themselves.
New Audio: The Politically Charged, Post-Punk Sounds of Sweden’s INVSN
Comprised of Dennis Lyxzen (vocals), a founding member and frontman of Refused, and a former member of The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Lost Patrol Band, AC4, and who has collaborated with The Bloody Beetroots and others; Sara Almgrem (bass, vocals), a member of The Doughnuts, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Vicious and Masshysteri; Andres Sternberg (guitar, keyboards), a member of Deportees, The Lost Patrol Band and a member of Lykke Li’s backing band; Andre Sandström (drums, percussion), a member of Ds-13, The Vicious, The Lost Patrol Band, Ux Vileheads and others; and Christina Karlsson (keyboards, vocals), a member of Tiger Forest Cat, Honungsvägen and Frida Serlander’s backing band, the members of Umea, Sweden-based post-punk act INVSN are five long-term friends who are among some of the country’s most accomplished musicians — with Lyxzen in particular being known for a lengthy career incorporating sociopolitical themes into his work. In fact, as Lyxzen explains in press notes, “Music always meant more to me then just entertainment. It has had a profound impact on everything that I am as a person and I see music as art and art as life. We live in a world devoid of meaning where we serve the lowest common denominator at all times. Where politics as an idea has failed us and where art is being reduced to consumerism and clickbait.”
Initially, the band recorded several albums in their native Swedish under the name Invasionen; but when the members of the band decided to take their project internationally, they felt that writing and singing lyrics in English, along with a new name — INVSN — would be necessary. But regardless of the name or the language, the post-punk band has always had a political message and interestingly enough when human decency and humanistic values are being challenged by extreme right-wing movements across the world, the members of the band believe that their music is part of a necessary outcry from a counterculture that has yet to give up. And while being angry, their overall approach is rooted in the belief that change is gonna come — and that it’s not far away.
The Beautiful Stories, the band’s forthcoming full-length effort was recorded by Adam “Atom” Greenspan, best known for his work with Nick Cave and The Veils at Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, Sweden and the album reportedly finds the band expanding upon their sound, meshing post-punk with industrial electronics and a indie rock/pop sensibility — or in other words, the band manages to pair political messages within an accessible fashion.
“I Dreamt Music,” The Beautiful Stories’ latest single is a decidedly post-punk song, sounding as though it drew from Joy Division and early 80s post-punk while having a decidedly political bent. As Lyxzen says of the song ” I wanted to write about the longing for resistance to the cultural/political/musical landscape that holds us imprisoned. I wanted to write about the naive, romantic and pretentious notion that music and art should be about ideas that can change and transform and maybe even be the beacon of hope in these dismal times.” And as a result, the song manages to possesses a sense of cynicism and distrust and an equal bit of outrage.
The Beautiful Stories is slated for a June 9, 2017 release through Dine Alone Records.
New Video: The Double Dare-Inspired Visuals for Girls in Synthesis’ “Disappear”
Girls in Synthesis is a rather mysterious London, UK-based punk rock trio, who formed last year with a specific intent and purpose — to aurally represent the noise and violence of the modern world. And […]
New Video: The Murky 80s MTV-Inspired Visuals of Second Still’s “You Two So Alike”
Over the past month or so, I’ve written a bit about the Los Angeles, CA-based post-punk trio Second Still. And as you may recall, the band, which is comprised of its founding members Ryan Walker (guitar) and Alex Hartman (bass) along with Suki San (vocals) can actually trace their origins to when Walker and Hartman met in 2007 in Los Angeles. Four years later he duo had relocated to New York and at that point, they had recorded over 100 instrumental demos, which were largely inspired by French coldwave and No Wave. While in New York, Walker and Hartman spent a significant amount of time, searching high and low for a vocalist that they felt could match their intensity and creative output — and when they met Suki San, they felt an immediate simpatico.
The trio’s first show was a party at the now-condemned McKibbin Street Lofts that was famously shut down by the police during their set’s second song. And building upon the buzz of that incident, the band recorded their debut EP, Early Forms, which was released last March as a limited edition cassette that quickly sold out. Making the most of their time, while they were living in Brooklyn, the members of the band wrote and recorded the material, which would eventually comprise their soon-to-be released, self-titled, full-length debut — and the material on the album thematically covers deeply post-modern subjects: depression, frustration, anxiety and alienation.
Relocating back to Los Angeles, the band released two singles “Walls” and “Recover,” that revealed a decided sonic departure from their previously released EP; in fact, “Recover” finds the band nodding at 80s post-punk, in particular Sixousie and the Banshees as San’s gorgeous vocals, which to my ears bear an uncanny resemblance to Sixousie Sioux’s are paired with angular and shimmering guitar chords played through reverb and delay pedal, a propulsive bass line and stark, industrial-leaning drum programming. And as a result, the song simultaneously possesses a brooding chilliness and a motorik groove. “Strangers,” the second single off the band’s debut sonically continues on a similar vein, sounding as though it drew from Siousxie and the Banshees’ “Happy House” and “Israel” but with a clean, modern production sheen and a slashing and forceful guitar solo.
Although it may arguably be one of the shorter running singles on their album as it clocks in at a little over 2 minutes, “You Two So Alike” is one of the eeriest songs they’ve released to date, as it was inspired by “an article Suki read about Brittany Maynard, a woman who decided to commit suicide after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, a few years ago,” and by the End of Life Clinic in The Netherlands, as the band told Buzzbands LA. Sonically speaking, it continues the same mood and tone of the album’s previously released singles as the band pairs a sleek and chilly, motorik groove, propulsive, industrial-leaning drum programming and shimmering guitar work — and while clearly drawing from 80s post-punk, the material balances slick production with a raw and visceral emotionality.
Directed by the band and Alison Littrel, the recently released video manages to be reminiscent of early 80s music videos. Shot on grainy VHS-style tape, the video features the band playing and brooding in front of projection screens, which gives the video an appropriate murky and eerie vibe.
