Tag: industrial electroinca

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: PUREST FORM Shares Bruising and Feral “ANIMAL”

Los Angeles-based dance punks PUREST FORM — Story Beeson (vocals), Madi Woodward (guitar, programming) and Riley Oikawa-Dahlson (bass) — draws on the individual members’ respective backgrounds in hardcore punk, and their shared love of industrial and techno, blending the intensely heavy with the playful and sensual.

Within two years, the Los Angeles-based trio have quickly developed a reputation for a must-see, chaotic live show while landing opening slots for Boy Harsher, Chat Pile, King Woman, Sextile and a growing list of others. 2024’s self-titled EP was released to praise from Stereogum, dublab, FLAUNT, Consequence, BrooklynVegan, Revolver, Treble, New Noise and more.

Building upon a growing profile, the trio signed to Dais Records, who will be releasing their highly-anticipated third EP, the six-song RESISTANCE. The EP is reportedly an anarchist assault on the system, fueled by their collective anger amidst our late-stage capitalist dystopia and a year of bitter, nonstop trauma over the past year in Los Angeles, including the wildfires and ICE raids. “Resistance, less of an idea, more of an absolute action that has to be taken,” Story Beeson asserts.

RESISTANCE EP reportedly builds upon their self-titled EP with the forthcoming EP’s material reportedly being more agile and charged up with structural jumps and hard left turns, confronting sonic and societal constructs. Nodding at death metal and acid house, the material is built with serrated guitar riffs, fractured breakbeats, forceful bass lines and body-quaking feedback beneath Beeson’s urgent, feral howls. “We decided to just take it to the next level with this one,” PUREST FORM’s Madi Woodward says. “It’s like a unification of all the music that we love and feel. And it makes sense to us. If it sounds good, we don’t care where it comes from.” 

Woodward continues,  “We set out to do something and say something. It did feel cathartic.”Beeson adds, “The nature and actions of our country are overwhelming, I can’t get away from the feeling of ‘what can we do to resist this at all costs?’ We have very radical fantasies across the board, making music that isn’t talking about what’s happening right now just feels unimportant to us. We are willing to sacrifice whatever to make music that is honest. It’s both important and fun to have a project where it’s just like a complete fuck you. And also a complete desire to unify.”

The EP was recorded sporadically throughout the course of last year, beginning while Beeson had been evacuated from her home. Sketches started on the computer, before open-ended sessions with their longtime collaborator and producer, Andrew Oswald. “A helpful and needed distraction during a pretty bleak year for the world. It became the one thing that felt good to us,” says Riley Oikawa-Dahlson. “We explore some dark headspaces, but it’s also dance music.”

The EP’s latest single, live show staple and EP opening track “ANIMAL” is a bruising and primal, mosh pit friendly ripper anchored around serrated guitars, relentless thump beneath Story Beeson’s feral howls. The song simultaneously evokes the unending horror, despair and rage of our moment while seemingly channeling Ministry and Astro Creep-era White Zombie.

Directed by the band’s Story Beeson, the accompanying video is a righteous condemnation of constant surveillance world while capturing the band’s furious performance. “The video takes on the horror of surveillance. While using a lot of throwback technology, mostly to pay homage to its influence – Peter Christopherson’s video for Ministry’s ‘Over The Shoulder’, it very much intends to communicate how more modern technology is being used for violence against our communities and humanity as a whole,” Beeson explains. “It fits with the concept of ‘ANIMAL’: whether the nature is sexual or simply a desire to exist, we deserve to have freedom and we must take that freedom back.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chenzo V Returns with Anthemic “Mechanical Boy”

Chenzo V is an emerging New York-based creative director, producer and artist, whose music sees him drawing from and blending elements of alternative rock, post-punk, New Wave, synth pop and industrial electronica. 

Deeply rooted in classical performance and visual art, the emerging New York-based producer and artist writes, produces and directs every release himself, building immersive multimedia worlds. Thematically, his work touches upon identity, illusion and transformation.

Late last year, he released “Midnight,” an arena friendly ripper that showcases his ability to pair rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with broodingly cinematic soundscapes and lived-in lyrics.

His latest single “Mechanical Boy” is a woozy blend of industrial electronica, electronic rock, alt rock and synth pop that further cements his growing reputation for crafting remarkably catchy hooks and rousingly anthemic choruses while seemingly drawing from Muse and Radiohead.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Augu Returns with Melodic and Club Friendly “Industrial”

Augu is a mysterious and emerging Lithuanian electronic music producer, who caught my attention with singles like “Foreigner,” “Line“ and “Silence.”

The Lithuanian artist’s latest single, the aptly named “Industrial,” is an industrial electronic banger that subtly channels Ministry and Blanck Mass, complete with the prerequisite thump, and clang and clatter — but with a melodic sensibility.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Denmark’s Animaux Animé Shares Club and Arena Friendly “The Master”

With the release of a handful of singles and 2019’s self-titled debut EP, which have received praise from Bands of Tomorrow, Passive/Aggressive, HQ Music and airplay from Danish national radio station P6 Beat, emerging Danish outfit Animaux Animé have quickly established a sound that sees them mesh elements of synth pop, industrial rock and theatrical performance art into a sound and aesthetic that’s distinctly unique.

The band has played across the Danish festival circuit, including playing sets at SPOT Festival and BlueBridge Festival. And building upon a growing profile nationally, the band is gearing up to release their full-length debut, Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I).

Imprisoned Love Scenes (Sensational Creation — Act I)‘s latest single “The Master” is a mesh of industrial rock and synth pop anchored around tweeter and roofer rattling industrial thump, bursts of twinkling synths, angular and reverb-soaked guitars serving as a brooding bed for a big baritone vocal expressing yearning and longing. While sonically channeling Depeche Mode, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division and others, “The Master” is a club friendly, arena rock banger that reveals a band with an uncanny knack for pairing catchy hooks with slick production.

The accompanying video is a creepily surreal romp through madness, obsession and implied torture that wouldn’t be out of place in Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe films.

The band is currently working on the follow-up to their full-length debut, Sensational Creation — Act II and are collaborating with Kolding Egnsteater on a play that’s slated to run next year.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: ALIAS Shares Swaggering and Genre-Defying “EMPTY HEAD” with KROY and Cadence Weapon

Emmanuel Alias is a French-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, dilettante and polymath who had had a varied and rather accomplished career in music before he started his eponymous psych rock project ALIAS. 

After spending nine years studying jazz at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France, Alias relocated to Montréal in 2014. Upon his arrival in Québec, Alias landed a job at XS Music, where he worked on scores for HBO’s Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, ICI Télé’s  Une autre histoire, Hubert et Fanny and Cerebrum et Mon fils, Mariloup Wolfe’s feature film Jouliks and for a number of Cirque du Soleil productions. In 2017, Alias also worked for Musique Nomade, where he produced multidisciplinary Oji-Crie’ and Mi’gmaq artist Anachnid‘s DREAMWEAVER, which was nominated for an Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Award and long-listed for the Polaris Prize. 

The French-born, Montreal-based artist also produced singles by Q-052, Annie Sama, Chances, iskwē and Beyries. And he also had a stint as the musical and stage director for Ananchid.

Along with his production and songwriting work for other artists, the French-born, Canadian-based artist has managed to have had a host of different projects to accommodate his need to explore different genres, releasing punk, hip-hop and even ambient material under different monikers, before starting his solo recording project ALIAS, a cathartic psych rock project that sees him crafting retro-tinged sons rooted in fantastical, batshit crazy, hallucinogenic tales paired with fuzzy guitars and wild tempo changes.

Alias’ sophomore ALIAS album Embrace Chaos will be released through Simone Records. Embrace Chaos will feature “CURSED” and “TRUTH OR TRUST,” a woozily euphoric bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, whirring bas synths, relentless four-on-the-floor paired with razor sharp, incredibly catchy hooks. The result is a LCD Soundsystem-meets-Psymon Spine-like soundscape that’s roomy enough for Alias, along with fellow Montréalers Virginie B and Meggie Lennon to playfully trade neurotically self-aware and vaguely paranoid verses and hooks throughout. 

Embrace Chaos‘ third and latest single “EMPTY HEAD” sees the French-born, Canadian-based artist further establishing a genre-bending and genre-defying sound. Featuring guest spots from acclaimed Canadian emcee Cadence Weapon and KROY, the hook-driven “EMPTY HEAD” features elements of industrial electronica, hip-hop and punk rock delivered with a swaggering, in-your-face aplomb.

Directed by Gabrielle Thiffault, the accompanying video for “EMPTY HEAD” features Alias at a birthday party — or some other related gathering — with a table seated by mannequins and masked people. Throughout the French-born, Canadian artist seems to lose his mind and behaves poorly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Alex Paradoxe Shares Club Friendly “T.U.E.R.”

Alex Paradoxe is a queer, Brussels-based artist who pairs defiant protest-fueled lyrics with a sound that draws from electro pop, pop and rock. His latest single “T.U.E.R.” is a dark yet club friendly industrial-inspired, club banger built around tweeter and woofer rattling thump, woozy synth oscillations, big bass drops, buzzing guitars paired with sultrily delivered vocals.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Arizona’s Body of Light Returns with a Brooding Yet Dance Floor Friendly New Single

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Arizona-based sibling, electronic duo Body of Light. And as you may recall, the act — comprised of Andrew and Alexander Jarson — can trace their origins to the Jarsons’ involvement in the acclaimed Ascetic House collective.  Interestingly, what hat initially began as a vehicle for the duo to explore noise and sound during their early teens has gradually evolved into an established electronic production and artist unit that crafts music that draws from New Wave, freestyle, goth and techno — and from the Jarsons’ individual and shared experiences. 

Body of Light’s third album Time to Kill is slated for a July 26, 2019 release through Dais Records and the album reportedly finds the Arizona-based sibling duo refining their sound with a bolder sonic palette while thematically, the duo focus on love and obsession within an era of increasing technological bondage and fleeting exhilaration. The Power, Corruption and Lies-era New Order and Upstairs at Eric’s-era Yaz-like album title track “Time to Kill” was centered around a brooding yet relentless, dance floor friendly production and a brooding Romanticism. Time to Kill’s latest single, the Depeche Mode-like “Don’t Pretend” is centered around and industrial/goth-like production featuring insistent and relentless beats, layers upon layers of shimmering and arpeggiated synths, a soaring hook and plaintive vocals — but unlike its immediate predecessor, the album’s latest single is an urgent, desperate plea. As the duo explain in press notes. “We are all hostages of need; we struggle to free our minds from confinement.” They add that the new single is “a song for those imprisoned by their own desires.”