Die Melodic Rock-Band HONEYMOON SUITE hat nach einem Video-Clip vom Titeltrack und dem Video zu “Find What You’re Looking For” mit “Tell Me What You Want” einen weiteren Video-Clip ihres neuen Albums “Alive” veröffentlicht. Das neue Album der Kanadier wurde von Mike Krompass produziert und ist am 16. Februar 2024 via Frontiers Records erschienen.

HONEYMOON SUITE “Alive” Tracklist
1. Alive (Video bei YouTube)
2. Find What You’re Looking For (Video bei YouTube)
3. Done Doin’ Me
4. Not Afraid To Fall
5. Tell Me What You Want (Video bei YouTube)
6. Give It All
7. Love Comes
8. Broken
9. Livin’ Out Loud
10. Doesn’t Feel That Way
11. Love Changes Everything (Bonus Track)

Source: Vampster

Das Psychedelic / Ambient-Projekt HARVESTMAN von STEVE VON TILL hat mit “Triptych: Part One” den ersten Teil einer Album-Trilogie angekündigt. Der Drei-Album-Zyklus wird regelmäßig zu drei Vollmonden des Jahres 2024 – dem Pink Moon am 23. April (via Neurot Recordings), dem Buck Moon am 21. Juli und dem Hunter Moon am 17. Oktober – veröffentlicht. Vorab gibt es den Opener “Psilosynth” zu hören.

HARVESTMAN “Triptych: Part One” Tracklist
1. Psilosynth (Visualizer bei YouTube)
2. Give Your Heart To The Hawk
3. Coma
4. Psilosynth (Harvest Dub)
5. How To Purify Mercury
6. Nocturnal Field Song
7. Mare And Foal

Source: Vampster

  Given the film’s less-than-exceptional reputation, it’s impressive that Sweetie would admit to drawing inspiration from Paul Verhoeven’s lurid 1995 feature Showgirls for the band’s latest single and video… but then again, the Chicago-based lipstick punk act plays by its own rules, with “Showgirl” serving as the lead single from the band’s forthcoming second album. […]

Source: EBM.gr

The US-based synth pop act The Mystic Underground have a brand new video out today,...

Source: Side Line

SPONSORED POST Mit ihrer heute erscheinenden, selbstbetitelten Debüt-EP katapultieren sich Crystal Horizon in die Prog-Rock-Szene. Die Norweger zeigen auf eine verspielte Art und Weise, dass es sich lohnt, über den Tellerrand zu blicken und trumpfen in fünf Stücken immer wieder mit Überraschungen auf. Diese sind so organisch in den Sound eingewoben, dass es immer melodisch […]

Source: Orkus

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have announced tour dates for the next UK and European tour. Set to unfold this autumn, the news of this series of live dates comes on the heels of the announcement about their forthcoming new album, Wild God, poised for release this summer.

The Wild God Tour kicks off on September 24 in Oberhausen, Germany, at the Rudolf Weber ARENA, marking the beginning of a journey through the heart of Europe, culminating in a grand finale at the Accor Arena in Paris, France, on November 17. The band will perform in six cities across the UK, including Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff, London, Dublin, and Birmingham.

Nick Cave has shared his excitement about bringing the new album to life on stage: “I never think about how a record is going to go live, it never, ever occurs to me. The lyric writing process is way too hard to take ideas like that into consideration. But, when I listen to ‘Wild God’ now, I think we can really do something epic with these songs live. We’re really excited about that – the record just feels like it was made for the stage.”

Reflecting on the transformative power of Wild God, Cave shares, “It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious… Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems we’re happy.”

As for the live translation of Wild God on stage, Cave adds: “I never think about how a record is going to go live… But, when I listen to ‘Wild God’ now, I think we can really do something epic with these songs live. We’re really excited about that – the record just feels like it was made for the stage.”

Tickets for the tour will be available from March 22 at 10 am local time. The band will be supported on various dates by Dry Cleaning, The Murder Capital, and Black Country, New Road.



Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will release their upcoming album, Wild God, on August 30th via Bad Seed/Play It Again Sam. The album was recorded at Miraval Studios in Provence and Soundtree Studios in London. This marks Cave’s 18th collaboration with the Bad Seeds and follows the critically acclaimed Ghosteen from 2019. Wild God is a collaborative production effort between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, with David Fridmann handling the mixing. The album features contributions from Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood on bass and Luis Almau on guitar.

Pre-order ‘Wild God’ here.

Here are the full tour dates for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ 2024 UK and European Tour:

September

24: Oberhausen, Germany – Rudolf Weber ARENA
26: Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
29: Berlin, Germany – Uber Arena

October

2: Oslo, Norway – Oslo Spektrum
3: Stockholm, Sweden – Hovet
5: Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
8: Hamburg, Germany – Barclays Arena
10: Lodz, Poland – Atlas Arena
11: Krakow, Poland – TAURON Arena
13: Budapest, Hungary – Papp László Sportaréna
15: Zagreb, Croatia – Arena Zagreb
17: Prague, Czechia – O2 arena
18: Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
20: Milan, Italy – Milan Forum
22: Zurich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion
24: Barcelona, Spain – Palau Sant Jordi
25: Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center
27: Lisbon, Portugal – MEO Arena
30: Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis

November

2: Leeds, UK – first direct arena
3: Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
5: Manchester, UK – AO Arena
6: Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
8: London, UK – The O2
12: Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
15: Birmingham, UK – Resorts World Arena
17: Paris, France – Accor Arena

Follow Nick Cave:

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The post Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Announce the “Wild God” 2024 UK and European Tour appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Source: Post-Punk.com

Die Hard Rock-Band KING ZEBRA hat nach “Dina” mit “Children of the Night” eine zweite Single ihres kommenden Albums “Between The Shadows” veröffentlicht. Es ist nach “Survivors” (2020) das zweite Album rund um Sänger Eric St. Michaels (Ex-CHINA).

“Between The Shadows” wurde von Oscar Nilsson produziert und wird am 12. April 2024 via Frontiers Music erscheinen.

KING ZEBRA “Between The Shadows” Tracklist
1. Starlight
2. Children Of The Night (Video bei YouTube)
3. Wicked
4. Dina (Video bei YouTube)
5. Love Lies
6. Cyanide
7. With You Forever
8. Love Me Tonight
9. Out In The Wild
10. Restless Revolution

Source: Vampster

Out now is the single “Rust” (and the video for the track) by the Swedish...

Source: Side Line

subway ride gone to who knows where
heed the call of the nighttime’s dare
a painted smile is the grand design
if anyone cares 
New York City synthpop duo The Mystic Underground have long been fixtures in the local music scene. The band is Vladimir Valette, (whose lyrical prowess and lead vocals evokes the haunting depth of Andy Bell of Erasure), and Benedetto Socci, whose synth work and production skills craft a backdrop that is both chilling and emotionally resonant. Their collaboration on their latest single, In A Darkened Room, highlights Valette’s warm, sorrow-laden vocals against the cool, precise electronic orchestrations by Socci, speaking to the complexities of the human condition.

The lyrics to In A Darkened Room convey a poignant sense of isolation and longing, with vivid imagery of a solitary subway ride and dancing alone in a darkened room, evoking deep introspection and a quest for connection. The use of questioning an echo and the mention of searching for disaster in the early hours underscore a profound yearning for something or someone absent. The closing lines, expressing a wish for a significant other’s presence and the passage of another year, highlight the emotional depth and universal appeal of longing and searching for connection.

“It’s hard to think about what songs are truly about when you write them but in the case of ‘In A Darkened Room’, it’s meant to describe the longing for belonging,” muses singer Vladimir Valette. “The sense of feeling at home at night where anonymity is king and you can be anything you want to be.”

Director William Murray beautifully illustrates the paradoxical isolation brought upon in the ‘city that never sleeps,’ with his gorgeous cinematography for the video clip. No metaphors here, just straight up vignettes in a late-night wander throughout a troubled, insomnia-addled Gotham.

Watch below:

Listen to and stream the single below, including a remix from Jeremy Bastard.

In A Darkened Room by The Mystic Underground

Follow The Mystic Underground:

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The post NYC Synthpop Duo The Mystic Underground Roam the Night in Their Video for “In A Darkened Room” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Source: Post-Punk.com

On the mist-enshrouded Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Suffer Fools emerges as a unique music project skillfully fusing shoegaze with darkwave elements. Helmed by D. Debased, it has a riveting history that spans childhood fame and a near breakthrough into pop stardom amidst personal challenges. Performing in local venues, Suffer Fools has shared stages with acts like Devours, Kellarissa, and Lightning Dust, captivating audiences with their haunting melodies.

From the same cultural landscape, Avro, a duo comprising Atom Percy and Megan Rose, distinguishes itself with a unique sound. Drawing inspiration from the golden age of synthpop and the dynamic energy of new wave, their creations echo influences from The Human League to Goldfrapp.

The recent collaboration between Avro and Suffer Fools has resulted in a captivating auditory experience. In this endeavor, Avro reimagines Suffer Fools’ “What Kind of Mania,” infusing it with a downtempo trip-hop flavor that nods respectfully to iconic influences such as Massive Attack, Lamb, and Junkie XL, with subtle echoes of Cocteau Twins discernible through the Otherness Remix EP. This reinvented version stands out for its distinct and immersive sound.

The music here blends into something without a straightforward style and combines contemporary synths with dub music. The atmosphere is dark, and the acoustics are unique, with a sound that reverberates off of ice-cold walls. This track, along with its shadowy companion video, offers a chilling experience that is as smooth as silk but tightly wrapped in terror.

The lyrics confess to playing a part scripted by obsession, rehearsing lines until they’re etched into the soul. It’s a relentless pursuit of an elusive other, a journey too far gone to abandon. Yet, amidst this cosmic chase, there’s a stark realization—a shooting star that fades to black, leaving behind only the echo of disarray and a final, defiant exit. To be, after all, is to stand alone in the spotlight’s glare, realizing the other was never more than a shadow.

In Atom Percy’s directorial hands, the remix video unfolds as a Lynchian descent into the surreal, painting a chilling tableau where a face, bathed in an eerie green hue, melts into the obscure corners of reality. From the enigmatic stillness of a tree grove to the desolation of an empty parking lot, and the endless whisper of a dark highway, each frame is a doorway to the liminal. The haunting dance of a spinning tape reel anchors this journey as fire engulfs a skull.

Experience the haunting remix and its enigmatic video below:

Find the track on Bandcamp here:

what kind of mania (clubhouse dub remix) by suffer fools & avro

Find the original version of “What Kind of Mania” here:

what kind of mania by suffer fools

Follow Suffer Fools:

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SoundCloud
YouTube

The post Darkwave, Trip Hop, and Dreampop Collide in Suffer Fools’ Video for the Avro Remix of “What Kind of Mania” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Source: Post-Punk.com

Mit "This Generation Ends" haben Solar Fake die erste Single vom kommenden Album "Don't Push This Button!" ausgekoppelt. Mehr Infos und das Musikvideo mit den Gaststars Peter Spilles (Project Pitchfork) und Chris Pohl (Blutengel) hier!

Source: Sonic Seducer

Patrick Mameli hat sich durch 38 Jahre PESTILENCE gwühlt und Songs für ein Best-of-Album ausgesucht. Die Complation trägt den Titel “Levels of Perception” und besteht aus zwölf Neuaufnahmen, sie erscheint am 26. April 2024 via Agonia Records.

Reinhören kann man nun in die neue Fassung von “Horror Detox” bei YouTube. 

Das Schlagzeug für “Levels of Perception” wurde 2021 von Michiel van der Plicht während eines Live-Streams in T Paard (Den Haag, NL) aufgenommen. “Diese aufgenommenen Schlagzeugspuren waren so fantastisch, dass wir sie einfach verwenden mussten”, sagt Mameli. Bass und Gitarren sowie andere Neuaufnahmen entstanden im Anschluss in van der Plichts Studio On Duty in Mijdrecht. Dort wurde das Album auch produziert, gemischt und gemastert. “Bei unserem Album ‘Exitivm’ habe ich festgestellt, dass man viel mehr Kontrolle über seine eigenen Kompositionen hat, wenn man sie selbst aufnehmen, mischen und mastern kann, anstatt einen Tontechniker anzuheuern, der kein Gespür für die Musik hat.”

 

Ursprünglich sollte das Album mit einem Coverartwork (siehe unten) erscheinen, das mithilfe einer KI generiert wurde. Das wurde von Fans in den Social Media-Kanälen der Band heftig diskutiert – Mameli hat sich nun entschlossen, das Album mit einem anderen Cover zu veröffentlichen. Er begründet diesen Schritt so:

“Zunächst einmal möchte ich klarstellen, dass sowohl die Band als auch die Plattenfirma das ursprüngliche Cover immer noch schätzen. Außerdem hat der Künstler, der das Bild erstellt hat, es nicht komplett vom Computer generieren lassen. Er hat mehrere Methoden angewandt, um zu diesem Ergebnis zu kommen. Es handelt sich also nicht nur um KI im eigentlichen Sinne.

Ich will auf Folgendes raus: Ich werde nicht die ganze Arbeit riskieren, die wir in diese Veröffentlichung gesteckt haben und an diesem Cover festhalten. Unsere Fans liegen uns sehr am Herzen, und wir wollen nicht, dass dieses Album erfolglos bleibt, nur weil wir unsere Vorstellungen von KI durchsetzen wollen. Wir haben immer an vorderster Front gestanden, wenn es darum ging, die Death-Metal-Szene zu verändern, ob es nun um Musik oder in diesem Fall um ein Cover ging.

Vielleicht ist der Zeitpunkt gerade nicht der richtige, also haben wir den Mittelweg gewählt. Das sollte die Leute offener für dieses Monster von einer Veröffentlichung machen, die wir für euch geplant haben.

Peace,
Patrick”

Die erste, mit Hilfe von KI generierte Version des Covers

 

 

Das neue Cover-Artwork von “Levels Of Perception”

 

PESTILENCE-Boss Patrick Mameli erklärt, warum er sich mit “Levels of Perception” einen lange gehegten Wunsch erfüllt:

“Ein Best-of-Album wollte ich schon immer machen. Denn es bedeutet, dass  ich in der Vergangenheit etwas erreicht habe, das auch heute noch relevant ist. Songs auszuwählen, die ich in der Vergangenheit komponiert habe und sie in die Gegenwart zu transportieren – das hat einen großen Wert für mich. Für die Aufnahmen habe ich mit  Michiel van der Plicht (Schlagzeug), Rutger van Noordenburg (Gitarre) und Joost van der Graaf (Bass) gearbeitet. Der Titel des Albums ist ‘Levels of Perception’ (Ebenen der Wahrnehmung), er erklärt, was mit den Songs passiert ist: Sie wurden von verschiedenen Musikern mit eigenen Ansichten und musikalischen Fähigkeiten neu interpretiert. “

Schon Anfang April brechen PESTILENCE zu einer dreiwöchigen Europatour mit CARNATION und BODYFARM auf, die “Black Death Over Europe”-Tour stoppt für Konzerte in München, Trier, Berlin sowie Wien (A).

PESTILENCE “Levels Of Perception” Tracklist
01. Horror Detox (Re-recording) (Audio bei YouTube)
02. Mvlti Dimensional (Re-recording)
03. Mobvs Propagationem (Re-recording)
04. Sinister (Re-recording)
05. Dehydrated (Re-recording)
06. Dominatvi Svbmissa (Re-recording)
07. Land of Tears (Re-recording)
08. Necromorph (Re-recording)
09. Deificvs (Re-recording)
10. Twisted Truth (Re-recording)
11. Sempiternvs (Re-recording)
12. Ovt of the Body (Re-recording)

 

PESTILENCE, CARNATION, BODYFARM Tourdaten 2024

3 April: München, DE @ Backstage
4 April: Trier, DE @ Mergener Hof
5 April: Berlin, DE @ Orwo Haus
6 April: Krakow, PL @ Kamienna 12
7 April: Jaromer, CZ @ Narodak
8 April: Ostrava, CZ @ Barrak
9 April: Kosice, SK @ Collosseum
10 April: Wien, AT @ Viper Room
11 April: Budapest, HU @ A38
12 April: San Donà di Piave, IT @ Revolver
13 April: Milan, IT @ Legend
14 April: Marseille, FR @ Jas Rod
15 April: Barcelona, ES @ Sala Boveda
16 April: Madrid, ES @ Revi Live
17 April: Lisbon, PT @ RCA Club
18 April: Porto, PT @ Hard Club
19 April: Zaragoza, ES @ Sala Lo Intent
20 April: Limoges, FR @ C.C.J. Lennon
21 April: Antwerp, BE @ Zappa

Source: Vampster

Die Noise / Industrial / Sludge-Band GUILTLESS hat mit “Thorns” eine neue EP angekündigt. Es ist der erste Release des US-amerikanischen Quartetts, das aus Drummer Billy Graves (GENERATION OF VIPERS, A STORM OF LIGHT), Gitarrist Dan Hawkins (A STORM OF LIGHT), Bassist Sacha Dunable (INTRONAUT) sowie Gitarrist und Sänger Josh Graham (A STORM OF LIGHT, BATTLE OF MICE) besteht.

Mit “Dead -Eye” haben GUILTLESS jetzt einen weiteren Song der EP im Netz geteilt.

Seit Januar 2024 gibt es außerdem den Track “All We Destroy” zu hören – ein Song, der von der Margaret Atwood Kurzgeschichte “Time Capsule Found On The Dead Planet” inspiriert ist. Im Februar folgte “In Radiant Glow”.

Auf “Thorns”, das am 23. Februar 2024 via Neurot Recordings erscheinen wird, versucht sich die Band die surreale Rückkehr zur proto-menschlichen Gesellschaft vorzustellen und wie das Leben der Überlebenden des nächsten Massenaussterbens aussehen könnte.

GUILTLESS “Thorns” Tracklist
1. Devour-Collide
2. All We Destroy (Audio bei YouTube)
3. Dead-Eye (Video bei YouTube)
4. In Radiant Glow (Audio bei bandcamp)

Source: Vampster

Heute am 15.03.2024 veröffentlichen COMBICHRIST um den Mastermind Andy LaPlegua ihre neue Single Violence Solves Everything PTII (The end of a dream)“. Sie ist Vorbote zum neuen Album, welches sicher wieder alle stilistischen Grenzen im Beeich des Industrial Metal sprengen und erweitern wird. Ganz so wie wir es von dieser Band erwarten und bisher erlebten.

Source: Hell Zone

They didn’t tell me bout the cuckoos and the wackos setting rules
Didn’t tell me I was raised and fed and taught to be a fool
I asked they lied, I seek and they denied
They stole, they faked, they broke and I’m tired
From the depths of Toronto’s vibrant underground music scene, the creative power of GelaX has manifested once again in the form of “Shhh…” – an album that not only solidifies their status as trailblazers but also pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of darkwave/post-punk music… Blending intense emotions with the dynamic sounds of indie rock and electronic pop, GelaX captivates audiences with their striking visuals, complex lyrics, and mesmerizing melodies. The duo, comprised of the enigmatic singer-songwriter Gelareh and the skilled multi-instrumentalist Tareq, embraces innovation and fearlessness in their music.

Shhh… is a perfect reintroduction to GelaX and a vivid explanation as to why it seemed they went dark for a few years — they’ve been hard at work. Born amidst the solitude imposed by the global pandemic, and drawing inspiration from the fervent Iranian Women Freedom Movement and the persistent turmoil in Palestine, this latest work marks a distinct shift towards a darker, more introspective realm for Gelareh and Tareq. Their most ambitious endeavour to date unfurls through expansive soundscapes, where synths, electric guitars, and rhythmic pulsations meld with hauntingly beautiful melodies.

Gelareh’s voice, both powerful and nuanced, weaves through these meticulously constructed layers, revealing a newfound depth and vulnerability. This album boldly navigates the turbulent waters of contemporary discourse, touching on themes of censorship, the essence of free expression, and the complexities of modern liberty.

 Their poignant lead single, Loki, is an evocative first offering. The lyrics express disillusionment with societal norms and the hypocrisy of leaders. Themes of love, equality, and idolatry are contrasted with personal experiences of deceit and manipulation. The recurring motif of “Loki coming back” symbolizes rising chaos and the internal struggle against imposed falsehoods and injustices.

“The song just came effortlessly, especially after the COVID pandemic period, where we saw a big unrest between races, sexes, genders, sexualities, political views, ideological views, even scientific matters,’ the band explains. “It felt like a big divide was happening all while some corporate masters seemed to be profiting more than ever. There was an existential threat to us all as humans coming in the form of diseases, inequality, political dictatorships, atmospheric changes to our weather, etc , yet we were not paying attention and directing our frustrations towards each other. Loki is the warning. The shape shifting god is coming back to add to our chaos and deception while we’re all distracted.” 

The self-directed visual accompaniment to Loki unfolds as a phantasmagoric tableau, where ethereal vocal harmonies intermingle with dancing shrouded in mist, their movements a dance of shadows and light. Interspersed throughout this spectral ballet are poignant acts of masquerade, serving as a metaphor for the collective disillusionment and scorn directed towards governmental inadequacies in safeguarding and uplifting its citizenry. This is an invocation for the shakeup we deserve.

Watch the video for “Loki” below:

GelaX initially garnered attention with a series of acclaimed singles released between 2017 and 2019, which led to the celebrated EP “Dreamonic” in 2021. Gelax doesn’t just create music; they craft an immersive experience, complete with haunting visuals, avant-garde fashion, and compelling videos.

While they admit the forthcoming album might not be for everyone, they are compelled to share their truth and present it in the only way they know how: through their music. One thing’s for certain, with their creativity clearly at an all-time high, they’re poised to make their biggest mark yet.

Listen to the new single Loki via streaming here.

Shhh… comes out on the 29th of March via Mint 400 Records. You can presave the album here.

Follow GelaX:

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Apple Music

The post Toronto Dark Experimental Pop Duo GelaX Debut Surreal Video for “Loki” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Source: Post-Punk.com

Ex-ATREYU-Sänger Alex Varkatzashat mit seinem neue Projekt DEAD ICARUS die EP “Ad Inversum” als Digital-Release veröffentlicht.

Darauf enthalten sind vier Songs, die bereits in den vergangenen Monaten als Stream veröffentlicht wurden, sowie die PANTERA Coverversion “Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit”.

DEAD ICARUS “Ad Inversum” Tracklist

Sellout (Audio bei YouTube)
The Vultures Circle (Lyrics-Video bei YouTube)
So I Set Myself On Fire (Video bei YouTube)
Ad Infernum (Video bei YouTube)
Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit (PANTERA Cover)

Source: Vampster

Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany 10th March 2024Rick Astley - “Are We There Yet?” Tour 2024 - Support: Daniel Bongert On March 10, 2024, I had the extraordinary pleasure of experiencing RICK ASTLEY live at the Columbiahalle Berlin. The “Are We There Yet” tour promised a special show from the outset, and I was not disappointed.

Source: Reflections of Darkness

With every new album, I seem to fall more and more in love with The Dandy Warhols. Since their earliest days in Portland’s indie rock scene, to quickly becoming everyone’s favorite band throughout the late nineties and early 2000s, the band has reinvented themselves countless times, recording an absolutely massive body of work that runs the gamut from synth-laced new wave to neo-psychedelic rock n’ roll, with some incredibly catchy moments nestled alongside more sprawling, experimental pieces. Their latest record ROCKMAKER was released just today, March 15th, and features eleven blistering tracks of sexy, rock n’ roll cacophony. The record, which features a myriad of high-profile collaborations from the likes of Slash, Black Francis of Pixies, and Blondie’s Debbie Harry, is one of their most fun and rewarding to date, meant to be listened to at maximum volume.

Dandy’s vocalist and guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and I sat down and chatted early on a Saturday morning about the new record, the band’s salad days, Dr. Dre, angular guitars, and big muscle men wielding power tools… Before we began, Courtney and I made a solemn vow to avoid any basic questions that he’d already answered over the last few weeks, so be sure to brush up on some other features before diving in here…

—

We should get an obvious one out of the way, but hopefully this isn’t one you’ve answered lately. The Dandy Warhols have always flirted with a lot of different styles over the years. When you all start making a new record, do you have a particular direction in mind, or do things happen organically?

Well, there are specific records that we have decided to make. The last record was decided, we put the put the frame up, you know, the boundaries and the bumpers are up. We stay inside this realm and we explore just only this. Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia definitely had a frame around it as well. We were making Desire or Workingman’s Dead, you know, that kind of thing. We wanted to stay within that. That way, when you bleed over a bit, it doesn’t really matter. You’re just kind of in a zone and it makes for a great record experience. The next one, Monkey House, really – no one was making new wave records at the time. It was the heyday of retro, vintage guitars. You had “Seven Nation Army” and “Are You Going to Be My Girl” and these great tracks that were all really brilliant. I really didn’t want to have to compete with Jack White because we’ll never be that, you know? He was at the peak of his absolute intuition and passion for just awesome guitar rock. We’re more like dabblers. You know, I think that’s probably what David (Bowie) liked so much about us was we just kind of did whatever, we just like music and we liked doing something new. We need to turn over quickly.

So, the last record we made (2020’s Tafelmuzik Means More When You’re Alone), we decided that we were going to record every single instrument, including noisemaking toys that we own. We have probably a few hundred instruments or toys that make noise, including a Hannah Montana toy guitar and things like zithers. We just wanted to make a great ambient and noisy kind of record and have a concept behind it. Basically, if you go to restaurants that are kind of nice, or have nice food or interesting food, they tend to play chill out lounge sort of music there, bad imitations of air more or less, right? So we thought going filthy and and organic and scrappy was a great thing to do, and we wound up organizing the record into a nine-course dinner where there’s a film for each course. There’s a course that starts with champagne and oysters that’s really bright and clicky, very chatty and social. Then there’s a salad course which is similar to that. Then there’s a soup course which is very warm and enveloping, and it goes on and on. If you look online you can find a wine pairing with a menu with descriptions of each of the dishes with a film to go with each of them, so you can have a totally immersive experience. There are even two cigarette breaks in there with shorter pieces of music. Sylvain Sylvain from the New York Dolls has a guest vocal feature on there, speaking French with Zia!

Very cool! To your point about loving music and being so willing to try different things, I feel that way as a listener. It’s always admirable when a band evolves, or tries different things outside of their comfort zone. With that in mind, I think ROCKMAKER is a really fun and exciting record. I love that the dirty bass tones are back in action and I detect a bit of Dave Vanian swagger throughout…

Yeah – I really did my best Dave Vanian and you know, we’re not very good at imitating our heroes, which is kind of a blessing, as we have to own things ourselves. I think I was trying to be a bit more like Serge Gainsbourg but it turned out to be a bit more Iggy Pop or Nick Cave, which is pretty fun, you know?

Man, I remember the first review of our first record that came out in ’94. At the time, you could only get any musical respect in America doing rap rock or grunge. We didn’t do that, and when the reviews came out and said we were more like T. Rex or The Velvet Underground, they said “no thanks.” Literally no one was doing that kind of thing or talking about those bands then, it was probably the most uncool thing you could do.

Oh yeah, I was a teenage Bowie fan in 1993. It wasn’t a great time to be into anything from that era.

Was that when he was getting involved with Trent Reznor and had a goatee?

Yeah, leading up to that era for sure. It really wasn’t cool to like this kind of music then, so I can imagine it especially wasn’t cool to make that kind of music either…

Yeah, it wasn’t in style. Well, David existed outside of that in a really strange way. But since I’m from Portland and was playing in bands long before the early 90s, my friends and I were privy to the evolution of grunge. In the late 80s, we would go up to Seattle, and my band at the time was slightly gothy, and we were horrified that everyone was a fluffy hair metal dude wearing skin tight, stretchy jeans, but they wouldn’t wear pointy black boots, which we did. They wore big puffy sneakers and the guys shredded lime green, you know, modern guitars with weird colors and all that stuff. We always thought it was pretty silly, but we liked going to Seattle because you drive three hours and you feel like you’re on tour. For a teenager, that sounds pretty cool, but we were in our twenties by then. However, three months, four months would go by and we didn’t go back there, but when we returned, all of our friends had removed the Ratt and Poison posters from their walls and put up Black Sabbath, Hank Williams, and David Bowie posters. They started to cut their hair and there was just certain things that they would do that we felt were stylish. They got into those double-breasted thin leather jackets that were in vogue in the early seventies, but they had dreadlocks as well. This was literally within a six month period of time. I think it had a lot to do with the singer from Mother Love Bone, who was a real kitchy style dude, you know? Bell bottoms, sparkly sunglasses…

Very T.Rex!

Yeah, he really was cool and had a weird band. I mean, that was when Stone Gossard looked like a gorgeous woman. So yeah, Mother Love Bone were the first major signing. Really those were interesting times.

Well, I know all this stuff isn’t really a cut-and-dry lineage, it all kind of starts blending together at some point. Wasn’t Alice in Chains a hair metal band for a bit before they landed on their sound? A few years later, they were a completely different band. I’m not suggesting that people are jumping styles without intention, or trying to be trendy just to land a deal, but it’s kind of amazing how quickly things evolve and how it all starts melting together, so genres kind of become meaningless at some point… 

Yeah, grunge was so much metal and punk, and even though it killed hair metal, that energy was still there in some places. I don’t think ayone ever noticed this, but it first struck me that Mudhoney must have had some electronic influences, even in their subconsciousness. We were obviously walloped by “Touch Me I’m Sick” and the main riff was definitely reminiscent of “Sweet Leaf” by Black Sabbath, but it was the rhythm of the riff was very staccato, it reminded me of European techno.

I can totally hear that now that you mention it. That track has kind of a “Mr. Vain” or Belgian new beat kind of treatment to a ballsy rock n’ roll riff!

Yeah, it was early formative proto-EDM! Even if you hated electronic music, it was unavoidable by the late eighties and early nineties.

You know, in the early internet era, before I knew any better, I was dead convinced you were a British band. “Junkie” was 1997, and I was really into Blur and Britpop at the time, and I thought that track fit in perfectly with that sound – the bright guitars, catchy riffs, etc. It wasn’t like much else that was happening in the States at the time. 

Zia just told me the other day that somebody printed in Spin or Rolling Stone or one of the big boys from that time gave us “the best British band in America” moniker. I mean, that’s why we got Eric Hedford to drum for us. He was the coolest DJ playing stuff like The Charlatans, Stone Roses, and Inspiral Carpets and so on. It wasn’t like we were going to listen to the rap rock or metal that was out. What we had was Pretty Hate Machine. We loved that. Eric was the DJ at the Lotus Cardroom which was the cool bar with a dance room in the back that was just packed. It was sweaty and you could smoke in there, and there were drugs and cool clothes and wild hairstyles. People were dancing very cool by then. I remember at that point it was the same time as C&C Music Factory, and Deee-Lite. This is all the same era and you could literally go in the back and hear “Groove is in the Heart” and a few songs later the same DJ would play “Head Like a Hole” or “Wise Up! Sucker” but also stuff like Belfegore and these great early synth tracks like…

**At this point in time, Courtney hums a synth riff which neither of us can place at the time, but we have since determined was Trans-X’s legendary “Living on Video” single from 1983…**

Sounds like my DJ style for sure… I love those Belfegore records. Have you heard the first album? It’s much more “out there” in the NDW and experimental world than the second album, which was big riff stadium goth. They’re both great for different reasons. 

Speaking of, when did Einsturzende Neubauten start? Was that in ’81?

Yeah, 1980, I believe…and they were a little more difficult to listen to at the time, really caustic and intense. 

Yeah, they really changed German rock you know, because you have these experimental bands from the seventies pushing some boundaries and being prog in a very different way than like Rush, right? Then you get you know, Blixa, with his cool look, but he’s also got a big muscle man in the band who will pull out a table saw and bang it against stones while they’re recording under a freeway off ramp…all that all that kind of noisy amazing groundbreaking stuff. But then there was also the progression of the other side of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream in that band Freuer and that song “Doot Doot.”

They became Underworld, which always kind of blows my mind. Karl Hyde was in that band!

Wait, I thought Underworld were Australian…

Nope, Welsh!

Really? Whoa! They had that hit “Underneath the Radar” before they went straight EDM. Well, when I met Karl I couldn’t tell an Australian accent from an Irish or English accent, so what do I know. *chuckles*

In all fairness, it got a little confusing then, with bands like Dead Can Dance and Nick Cave setting up shop in the UK…  

Oh yeah, and Nick Cave went to Germany. I wonder if that’s because David and Jim had gone and done so much great work in Germany.

Yeah, definitely a right of passage, I suppose… 

You know, Portland, Oregon has gotten really blown out and gentrified and sadly, it doesn’t have so much of an art scene anymore. Whereas it used to be economically depressed, you know, the same way Germany was still post-war in the seventies, so it was probably inexpensive. Then the fringers, you now, the people making  a living by selling blobs of pewter as jewelry to bikers. Talk about creative… I guess Berlin still really is a kind of an industrial wasteland in between pockets of civilization within the city itself. It’s a sprawling metropolis and it reminds me of old Portland in that it just doesn’t seem like much is ever going to change there. Anton from the Jonestown moved there quite a long time ago. When I have visited him, the city had a real fringe junkies and burnouts vibe and everything, but now they now they’re all more sophisticated, because everyone can have a recording setup on a laptop. I can definitely see the allure of that. I’ve always loved Germany because of that and the music scene there.

I’ve never been, but I definitely romanticize it too. A lot of New Yorkers from the scene I was involved with moved out there. It seemed like it was possible to do so much more there, musically.

Was that post Y2K like the big exodus to Brooklyn?

Yeah, kind of. We had the indie rock wave, the post-punk revival thing that evolved into a big minimal synth and coldwave thing in the early 2010s. While that scene still thrives here in some pockets, a lot of the big players moved to Germany and found success there, probably because Europe has always been a bit more receptive to these kind of sounds. New York comes and goes, people see the writing on the wall and embrace different things, but Berlin is ever-popular as a scene. 

Yeah, New York is still subject to the corporate rigors of America. The internet and all that has really brought back the exclusive power of the billion dollar major label, and even they can’t break every one that they try to break, but it does remind me far more of the eighties where underground was underground, you know? Selling 20,000 records was called punk rock gold. By the nineties that was not the case anymore. Sub Pop had had worked out this thing where they had looked at Motown as their role model. They were an indie label that was a brand and a look and a sound and not just some dudes. They reinvented that up from your own bootstraps, DIY label thing, going for international fame and success. That was cool because then you had K Records and you know, Kill Rock Stars who also did it and did a great job and had their real style and sound and everything. We had T/K Records in Portland, which was a little more all over the place. Lindsay who ran the label was a total fucking mess, but still really cool. In the eighties you had no chance of of doing anything except starving to death on the road and running out of gas in your van. You couldn’t leave your region, it was just so utterly controlled. But with college radio and MTV together we were making absolute superstars out of our green card artists.

Yeah, it’s crazy how bands like R.E.M. became pop stars, when they really had much more humble indie rock beginnings.

Yeah, they walked both lines between massive indie darings and big rock stars because of MTV. In America, I don’t think we would have ever heard of bands like The Cure or The Smiths, or other bands in the English underground. You could only find that stuff in the indie record store before then.

In the import bin! I remember all the 4AD stuff would just be like in a bin somewhere just for like the two of us that would ever go in and get it in there. Everybody would always raid that bin and that’s the stuff I often connected with.

That’s where I found Tenpole Tudor, in that import section and saw the cover and thought “wow that’s cool, what’s that sound like?” I’ve been a lifelong fan of that band ever since. The main guy Edward has a cameo in one of the Harry Potter movies. He works in a magic shop, which is perfect because he had a very gaunt English face with slightly changing eyes. He had a perfect look for any mediaeval British anything, especially when you look at the album cover for Let the Four Winds Blow, which has them all with swords, ready to storm the castle.

Storming the castle with Tenpole Tudor.
So, are you going to cover a Tenpole Tudor song on the tour then? 

Not on this tour! I had learned a few of their songs because they’re easy you know, but it’s hard enough to learn our own record. We build our songs in the studio, similar to electronic music, and then we have to adapt to them. Zia was just talking yesterday about trying to figure out what she played on “Danzig With Myself” where she had to remember whether she played synth bass or real bass and whether or not she had to get an ex-boyfriend to show her what she played in the studio.

You could always get the isolated track from the studio and play along that way. That’s what’s worked for me in the past…

Oh, that’s too difficult for us. We don’t go mucking around in all the old hard drives trying to find these things. She just asks her ex-boyfriend to come over, makes him dinner, and he shows her how to play the bass line. Usually in the studio, she just dances around on synthesizers and pianos and then breezes out and says, “ok guys, you make that work.”

I learned how to do this kind of thing early on, because I produced all the early stuff. It was a bumbling mess of people who had great taste and had never played their instruments in a band before. I was a drummer always. This was my first time playing guitar and singing. I was the only one who had been in different bands at the time and so I knew how to dink around and I knew how to get sounds. I had this four track that I wrote and recorded on, I’ve had it since I was about 14. I understood layering and what goes away as you add more instruments and that you can think of a speaker as the size of the sound. How much space is the bass drum going to take, and then where’s the snare going to sit?  If you think about it, the size of a speaker, you how much how much can you fit in there,. That was a Dr. Dre/The Chronic kind of thing when you could a really dirty, amazing, cheap sample, put it really loud and and then just have a drum beat behind it and then just start putting vocals on it. That was pivotal! I just finished engineering school and I was SO ready for minimalism at that point.

To circle back to the new record, there’s a bunch of tracks that are like that. The opening track “Doomsday Bells” for example. Every song on this record had to start with a riff that was either punk, metal, or thrash, and that’s the bumpers on this one. Everything has to start with metal. I remember hearing that Dr. Dre was really into Nirvana and I’ve held that in my brain for decades. Finally, I wanted to just do that kind of thing. I played the drums “Doomsday” and I really wanted that Dre feel on the track. So we got the 808 out, with the the tiny snare sound that became my little homage. They all kind of wandered off after that. “Root of All Evil” started out as Yardbirds and ended up Sly and the Family Stone when they discovered heavy metal guitars, while “Love Thyself” was very fifties, so of course you have to go Ramones.

Yeah, that Ronettes-on-speed kind of sound… 

Yeah, exactly, they were the greatest fifties band from the seventies. Motown’s greatest band they never put out! So yeah, “Danzig With Myself” naturally started as a Danzig IV kind of thing and then ended up Pixies, you know?

Well, you did get Frank Black to contribute to the track, so that makes sense. How did that come about?

**Courtney and I then recall our initial promise to avoid anything that he’s talked about in other interviews, so we move on quickly. We talk briefly about Debbie Harry’s collaboration on closing track and my personal favorite on the record “I Will Never Stop Loving You,” which had not been revealed at that point. but totally happened. We also talk about Slash, who also plays on ROCKMAKER and has since performed at this year’s Oscars.**

Well, let’s see if this is one you’ve talked about, and please stop me if so. The band has been using AI for the last two videos, let’s talk about that since AI is a pretty hot topic these days… 

Yeah, when the “Summer of Hate” video came out, it was five months ago and it was the most developed thing at the time. It got a good deal of hubbub even though we had just released it ourselves. We didn’t get a lot of publicity. Look at that, and then look at the “I’d Like to Help You With Your Problem” video that came out a few weeks ago and it’s a different world entirely. We were like “oh man, we have got to make another AI video. I think AI now looks like a James Bond movie, it looks like the most expensive high tech film. I think it’ll be quite a while until AI has noticeably moved forward enough for us to use that tool again, you know. Now I’m wanting to do our next video with early seventies/late sixties film stock to get that look. To make it very gritty and real. The track (“I Will Never Stop Loving You”)  has got Debbie Harry on it so it’s gonna be very New York. I want to look at that anytime, day or night for the rest of my life, whatever that video ends up being. I want it to make me long for New York City. As long as it does that. I don’t really care what it is. It could just be sitting and eating in a window of a restaurant but I want it to make me long for New York the way I usually do.

Courtney and I then discuss the (then) upcoming New York shows, including a special acoustic set in the East Village that featured a DJ set by Zia aka DJ Rescue afterwards. We touch on Zia being an absolute “mindfuck” of a DJ as well as a newer French band called Scuffles, who Courtney discovered from a DJ in France who performed shortly after the Dandy Warhols’ set at Levitation France… We both implore you to check out “Sol détrempé,” which Courtney claims is the coolest piece of music in the world right now.

I had to Shazam that song because it was just so fucked up and particularly loud and earth shaking with some weed and French wine in you.  You know, in that situation we’ve got all these cool bands and cool people and everybody is on everybody’s chatting and open and having a good time. I was greatly relieved to listen to it properly the next day and still feel the same way about it. That is an amazing, absolutely satisfying, and stunning piece of music.

Zia McCabe aka DJ Rescue at Gonzo’s NYC. Photo by Lauren Krohn.
I love moments like that, such a cinematic feeling you’re describing. DJs don’t get enough credit here, while we don’t make the music we play, we do carve out such a unique atmosphere. Being the catalyst for kind of moments make it really worth it… 

Yeah, music is just so fucking cool. What a weird abstraction, trying to build architecture out of water. It’s just seems impossible on paper. It’s just a bunch of noises and click-clacking in time and space, and if you do it right, thousands and thousands of people go crazy. They start twitching in their bodies and freaking out.

Right, and the same track that does that for your or I might fall completely flat for someone else. There’s just no rhyme or reason to it. It’s one of those “from the heavens” kind of things – that divine influence that touches some people. 

Yeah, an agreed upon fiction. Like governments, national borders, religion, banks – believability in a story. We have so much absolute fiction that we agree or disagree or agree to disagree on. Music, thankfully is one of those things. It was wonderful during that MTV era, because we had probably the single most powerful, single global TV station in the world devoted wholly to music and musicians, and they got involved in breaking down apartheid, they got involved in saving destitute farmers. Back then, they wanted to save the world. MTV at the heart of its corporate soul had the best of intentions.

And again, that’s how I discovered your band all those years ago. It was on M2, I believe, the sister-station that kept playing videos while MTV proper was moving more into reality television. Going full circle here, there weren’t that many bands making that flavor music with the glam-rock sheen. Placebo maybe, Blur, early Queens of the Stone Age, Spacehog, maybe… 

Well shoegaze and Britpop had become very, very uncool. That whole thing had come and gone, and for our second record, we had just decided that we weren’t done with that style. We didn’t think that anyone else really was either, they were just going along with whatever the politics of music were and what you’re supposed to like. We were rewarded by doing that, because we did bring all of shoegazerdom to us, and we we got requests by all of our heroes from Spiritualized to Blur to The Charlatans and to Love and Rockets. Everybody that we thought was great thought we were also great and wanted us to go on tour with them. We got to make such great lifelong friends of some of our favorite musical artists of all time. It also served to prove to ourselves that we were we were right, and we weren’t going to have to listen to any corporate record label people telling us what to do or thinking that they know better than we do and what we should be and all that stupid shit that so many people succumbed to. I directed the videos from day one and produced the records. Indie record labels had so much weight at the time that major labels also could easily be scared into just shutting up and let you do your thing.

You didn’t get a lot of resistance at the time?

Nope, we went in and we fucked off a lot of money and we just did too many drugs and we just experimented too far and we failed in our first attempt to make a record on a major label budget. We have never had that kind of money before that. We made records in my bedroom. To rent two hours in a real studio and go in and record a horn section or something was wild. We always mixed in a real studio but we would always record in a place that we had access to. Once we were on a major label, we just started renting out an empty office space, or a gym fitness center that was abandoned on Vaseline Alley, as it was called back then. We’d just go in and build our studio and sometimes we had to bring in heaters. You could just work forever. But yeah, we failed. We did the classic, move of recording a bunch of pretty weird cool stuff but not a record.

That was good in a way, we agreed to take seven months off, do some touring, and try to hone the new songs and then go back and do it all again, but not with a new engineer. We worked then with the first record’s engineer, who was a very put together and amazing engineer called Tony Lash, who worked with Heat Miser and Elliot Smith. He was a happening guy in the Portland scene, a real stiff, get it done kind of guy. So we went back in and made The Dandy Warhols Come Down. Then we mixed with Tchad Blake, who had done Cibo Matto and Soul Coughing. He had a pretty horrible emotional tragedy happened in his life that kind of made him a pariah in Hollywood. He was telling me about sitting alone at dinner when this chick sat down next to him who had been a backup singer on some big records and asked him to produce and mix her first solo record. That was Sheryl Crow, and that’s how we were really able to get him as our producer. If he had only done Cibo Matto or Soul Coughing we would have been told that we had to get a big pro radio guy, not an artist masquerading as a pro. We’ve worked with him a few times and he’s really had a great career since. He’s did that Arctic Monkeys breakthrough and worked with The Black Keys.

So, you’ve done such a large body of work at this point, does it feel bizarre looking back on these old moments? Do you still feel a connection to that material?

I dunno, they just sound great. Most of what I listen to is my band. I also listen to a lot of the Renaissance and early Baroque music. Historically that’s just been my thing. I really like things like Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and Guillaume de Machaut, those guys…

Oh wow, Machaut has always been a favorite. Never thought I’d talk about his work in an interview… 

Yeah! That said, the problem with this era of music is that somebody, it might have a pope, had been confused about where the resolutions where. where the root note resolved back to. This music was meant to surprise and delight and to change the shape of the music to where it wasn’t predictable when it comes back to land. That must have required a fair amount of musical sophistication to pull off because somebody made an edict that covered all of Europe that I know of from that time saying that music has to end in such a way *hums* before you resolve to the root and that makes me NUTS to hear thirty of those resolutions in a four minute piece of music. It’s embarrassing and stupid but some clever people learned how to slide around that. Sometimes the problem is the way forward, so there is great music from that era and it’s not all goofball.

So I listen to a lot of that, as well as a lot of Chet Baker, early Thelonius Monk, Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich. But then I really listen to my band. My band is my full-on sonic experience. Just get fuckin’ stoned, put on the Dre Beats studio headphones and listen to Thirteen Tales or Come Down. I really love our record Earth to the Dandy Warhols. 

Funny you should mention, I was just listening to that album the other day, and it really hit me hard. I also just recently got into The Black Album, which I’m sad I hadn’t heard before, but here we are… 

The Black Album is what was valuable from that first attempt at making a record. We just took it and mastered it and took anything else that we never released and that’s all put on there. I set next to (and fell in love with) Traci Lords at a dinner party one night and so there’s a song about her that I did as a one-off by myself in a friend’s studio. There’s all sorts of weird cobbled-together stuff from that era…

So it truly does sound like you have a great connection with your catalog and still have space for it all in your heart… 

Absolutely. I barely recognize myself or my life in it. It’s very Blade Runner in that way in that these might be real feelings or memories, you know? They aren’t implants, but having those records and all those photos is a real trip, you know? I’m looking at myself and my band in say, Greece in 1998 or some shit like that and it’s really wild.

So when you sing these songs still, is there an emotional pull within you? Some artists only play certain songs rarely because of the weight of it all, you know? They can’t just pull that emotion out of a hat or fake it for a performance. Do you have any moments like that?  

I don’t really scream and haul in pain, you know? I’ve never been that guy. So for me, I can do it. Pretty much any song, the emotional torture is about the restraint. The emotional restraint is inherent in what I do. I’ve always found myself to be an errant monk in life. I’m very homebody and I love to get drunk because I can be an extrovert but yeah, I don’t want to express that even on a screaming baby tantrum. I would rather have emotional discussion about why I’m not going to do that. That’s more my songwriting style. So we can pretty much play anything historically, even things dating back things I wrote for the first gig in January of 94…

…as long as you can remember those parts that y’all did in the studio *chuckles*

Ohhhh, they’re super, super simple. They were really one or two or three chords back then. And that was the rule over and over at the time. You know, Zia never played an instrument. I was really into that, having gone through music college. I knew what it meant to play with somebody who has bad musical habits, bending guitar notes that they shouldn’t bend.

…whammy bars on everything…

Yeah, and you remember what bass guitar was like then? By ’93  was a solo instrument with no low end in it, just twanging and clacking away up the neck…

Oof, yeah I play bass too, and I can’t with that. If there’s a bass melody, it has to be mindful and rhythmic like The Cure or Joy Division, or just dig in a deep on one or two notes, nice and dirty. 

Absolutely. You know, Pete’s regretting his decision to be a guitar player. He really just wants to play bass all the time. It’s like this contentious thing where it’s like having a monster outside your cage trying to get in. That’s how Zia feels over there with her bass, bass synth and all that stuff. She just sees Pete looking at her like a hungry lion… Pete really prefers playing bass to playing guitar now, but he’s an amazing guitar player. I guess he’s always been more of a pedals and sound noise player. You know, so once he started learning how to do tricky riffs and stuff, I think that’s when he got a little tired of guitar.

The Dandy Warhols’ acoustic set at Gonzo’s NYC. Photo by Lauren Krohn.
Well all of my favorite music is bass driven, you know. You already mentioned Love and Rockets… 

Oh man, how about that David J as a bass player?

YES! I just did a huge deep dive on Bauhaus and re-fell in love with them after all these years and I realized just how many of those bass lines are in my blood. I don’t play fretless, but wow. So impressive. 

I was talking to Dave Allen from Gang of Four about that. You know, what happened was everybody hated guitar by the end of that whole Foreigner and Journey era. Guitar players couldn’t play a whole bar chord. Jesus Christ, you’d get booed off the stage. You certainly couldn’t play a lead. So you get all this really super hyper-inventive angular guitar. Country guitar came back too, like Devo used the shit out of country in that way. Even The Cars did. Elliot Easton was playing country twang guitar. But you get that kind of guitar tone and that’s what I was going for on “Shakin'” on Thirteen Tales. That left it wide open for the bass to be the featured instrument. The bass became a really big deal. Putting chorus on it, turning some high end up. That is the air mark of post-punk, that the bass is now the main instrument. Everything else is dressing over that.

All that atmosphere and tension… Like Wire or Daniel Ash, who never played solos or wanked all over the tracks. Sheer blasts of noise, guitar scrapes, and those kind of things. You got so much more room to make interesting choices when you forego the traditional arrangement. 

It’s really interesting because at what point does noise become more emotionally and psychologically powerful? And then, at what point if you keep going with abstraction does it become less engaging emotionally, psychologically, sexually, whatever. Then it becomes some goofball, you know, the kind of the kind of dudes that tuck their shirt in and have the belt with the other khakis and go see jazz. They go, “OH!” after every fucking note.

Oh, I see those guys at noise shows, too! It’s baffling, but I guess that circles back to the emotional response and how everyone reacts differently…

Yeah, they want to love it a little too much.

Sue me, I like a melody!

Oh, you know exactly what they’re doing. They’re living their special moment with their gifts, like they’re the only one who gets it… They have the special vision. Mommy told them they were special and they found this moment where they can be around other people to show just how much they get it. They randomly attach some kind of abstract thing to it. My music college was a jazz college. I mean, complete with bullet holes in the chalkboard and windows and heroin addicts as teachers that played that were fucking jazz legends. I felt really, really cool, but I did see a lot of just a lot of phoniness around the thing.

I think as long as you’re sincere about whatever you’re doing and it comes through, that’s what resonates with me…

I guess that’s just you know, my own frustration with something if I’m sitting there watching this dude with his polo shirt tucked into his khakis oohing and ahhing to everything. Just…what is that? I have to see a shrink about this clearly and find out what what it that bugs me about that more than maybe anything else in the world.

Well, I mean I’m here for you if you ever need to talk about that further…

I’m clearly trying to get some answers from you! I’m looking to have some redemption from my own smallness here.

I dunno, I feel like the best I can do is offer solidarity here.. 

**At this point in the interview, Courtney and I continue down this path, exploding in laughter as we rip apart scenesters, talk about Godflesh, Deftones, Andrew WK, yacht rock, and how Bad Religion writes the same song over and over again and it’s kind of the best damn song, ever. We dream of the great Dandy Warhols/Christopher Cross hybrid record that may or may not be in the works. Much to my eight-year-old son’s delight, we touch the expansive world of Minecraft and end with Courtney gearing up to race RC cars for the afternoon.**

Check out the full artwork and tracklisting for ROCKMAKER and be sure to catch The Dandy Warhols on tour right now.

The Dandy Warhols – ROCKMAKER
1. Doomsday Bells
2. Danzig With Myself
3. Teutonic Wine
4. Summer Of Hate
5. I’d Like To Help You With Your Problem
6. The Cross
7. Root Of All Evil
8. Must’ve Always Been A Thing
9. Love Thyself
10. Real People
11. I Will Never Stop Loving You

The Dandy Warhols – Spring 2024 tour dates
March 4 – Washington, DC @ 9:30
March 5 – Boston, MA @ Royale
March 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ardmore
March 7 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
March 9 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
March 11 – Montreal, Qbc @ Le Studio TD
March 12 – Toronto, Ontario @ Danforth Music Hall
March 14 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
March 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue
March 16 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
March 18 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
March 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
March 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue
March 16 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
March 18 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
March 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda

 

Header image by Eleonora Collin

The post Nothing Stays the Same An Interview with Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy Warhols appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Source: Post-Punk.com

Die Hard Rock-Band CRUZH hat nach dem Lyric-Video zu “FL89” mit “Angel Dust” einen Video-Clip ihres kommenden Albums “The Jungle Revolution” veröffentlicht. Das neue Album der Schweden wurde von Erik Wiss produziert und wird am 22. März 2024 via Frontiers Music erscheinen.

CRUZH sind Bassist Dennis Butabi Borg, Gitarrist Anton Joensson, Drummer Matt Silver, Sänger Alex Waghorn und Gigtarrist Johan Öberg.

CRUZH “The Jungle Revolution” Tracklist
1. The Jungle Revolution
2. Angel Dust (Video bei YouTube)
3. FL89 (Lyric-Video bei YouTube)
4. Killing In The Name Of Love
5. SkullCruzher
6. At The Radio Station
7. Split Personality
8. Sold Your Soul
9. From Above
10. Winner
11. Gimme Anarchy

Source: Vampster

Geplant war das 2. FOLKFIELD FESTIVAL für 2023, doch wegen einer Erkrankung eines der SCHANDMAUL Bandmitglieder wurde das Open Air auf 2024 verschoben. Nun steht der neue Termin fest: Das Folkfield Festival 2024 findet am 13. und 14.September 2024 Gelsenkirchener Amphitheater statt.

Billing Folkfield Festival 2024
SCHANDMAUL
VERSENGOLD
SUBWAY TO SALLY
FIDDLER´S GREEN
THE O´REILLY´S AND THE PADDYHATS
TANZWUT
RAUHBEIN
LETZTE INSTANZ

Zum FOLKFIELD FESTIVAL gehört auch ein Mittelaltermarkt und ein Campingplatz.

Source: Vampster

Genre/Influences: Cinematic, Dark-Ambient.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Third album by British artist Monty Adkins as Skrika. The album brings us once again into a futuristic sci-fi exploration.

Related newsSkrika – Soludenia (Album – Cryo Chamber)Content: The work sounds more Cinematic than its predecessors but especially the ‘astral’ sound dimension the work has been made of is rather noticeable. Astral bleeps are emerging from a dense, and obscure, sound universe.

+ + + : Monty Adkins doesn’t repeat himself and that’s rather a good thing -although his debut-album “Fifth Nature” remains a true masterpiece. This album is more into exploration and even reminds me of early Ambient pioneers like Tangerine Dream. This astral dimension has been transposed into a darker and tormenting dimension carried by low sound resonations. I salute the elaborated composition of this opus. Last but not least the artwork is totally fitting with the theme of the work.

– – – : I was not disappointed by this work but the magic of “Fifth Nature” is far away.

Related newsClick Interview with Skrika: ‘I Want To Create Something That Has A Really Strong Sense Of Sound Design’Conclusion: I still would recommend discovering previous albums of Skrika before listening to this new opus.

Best songs: “Solitude Chamber”, “Crynopticon”.

Rate: 7½ .

Related newsSkrika – Fifth Nature (Album – Cryo chamber)Artist: http://www.facebook.com/skrikasoundstudios

Label: http://www.cryochamberlabel.com /  http://www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

Source: EBM.gr

Die Black Metal-Band DARK AFFLICTION hat mit “Five Stages of Grief” ein neues Album angekündigt. Es ist nach einer selbstbetitelten EP das erste Album des griechischen Solo-Künstlers Panagiotis Christias, der von Drummerin Eleni Nota (ANKOR, Ex-LIGHTFOLD, Ex-NERVOSA), Violinist Nikos Mavridis und Sängerin Anastasia Kiritsi (CELÉNE) unterstützt wurde.

“Five Stages of Grief” wurde von John Milionis gemastert und wird am 24. Mai 2024 via Theogonia Records erscheinen.

DARK AFFLICTION “Five Stages of Grief” Tracklist
1. Intro
2. Denial
3. Hate
4. Bargaining
5. Depression
6. Acceptance

Source: Vampster

Christoph Heuer nimmt zu Konzerten statt einer Kamera Zeichenblock und Stift mit – der1962 geborene Künstler und Designer hält Konzertmomente mit Zeichnungen und Aquarelle fest.

Am 22. März 2024 erscheint eine Sammlung seiner Werke als Buch mit dem Titel “Sketching Metal.” im Verlag Edition Fichter.

Darin zu sehen sind unter anderem Zeichnungen von CROWBAR, SEPULTURA, THE HAUNTED, HATEBREED, SALTATIO MORTIS, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, DEVILDRIVER, PRONG sowie Szenen von Festivals wie dem Duisburger RAGE AGAINST RACISM, dem NORD OPEN AIR in Essen und dem WACKEN OPEN AIR.

 

“Sketching Metal.”
Handzeichnungen und Aquarelle von Heavy Metal-Konzerten
und OpenAir-Festivals
Softcover, 128 Seiten, mit 60 Abbildungen
18 x 11,5 cm
Preis: 19,99 Euro inkl. MwSt.
ISBN: 978-3-947313-20-4
Edition Fichter

Source: Vampster

Die Blackened Pagan Metal-Band DRAUGNIM hat mit “Verum Malum” ein neues Album angekündigt. Es ist das vierte Album der Finnen und wird – nach einer Wartezeit von acht Jahren – am 26. April 2024 via Naturmacht Productions erscheinen. Das Album beschäftigt sich mit dem wachsenden, unauslöschlichen und unentrinnbaren Bösen im Menschen, nicht nur in unserer Zeit, sondern in der Geschichte.

DRAUGNIM “Verum Malum” Tracklist
1. Traitor’s Crown
2. Ver Sacrum
3. Salt The Earth
4. Lifescorn
5. Aeons
6. Deeds Of Strife

Source: Vampster

Die Black Metal-Band MÒR hat mit “Hear The Hour Nearing!” ein neues Album angekündigt. Es ist das erste Studioalbum der Franzosen aus der Normandie, die zuvor mit “Aequinoctium” (2015) ein Demo und mit “MMXXI” (2022) ein Live-Album veröffentlicht haben.

“Hear The Hour Nearing!” wurde von Cyrille Gachet (u.a. für FANGE tätig) gemixt, von Marlon Wolterink (PLAGUE ORGAN) gemastert und mit einem Cover-Artwork von Sophie “Sözo” Turbé (u.a. für DEADYELLOW tätig) ausgestattet. Erscheinen wird das Album am 12. April 2024 via Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions.

MÒR “Hear The Hour Nearing!” Tracklist
1 -The Vanishing of Matter
2 – Eden
3 – Third Path
4 – The Apprentice
5 – Cave of Shadows
6 – The Letter of Loss
7 – Sulfur
8 – Sutcivni Los
9 – Smaragdina

Source: Vampster

Die Doom-Death Metal-Band WINGLESS hat mit “Ascension” ein neues Album angekündigt. Es ist das fünfte Album des polnischen Trios aus Krakau, welches aus Gitarrist und Bassist Grzegorz Luzar, Sänger Michał “Xaay” Loranc (REDEMPTOR) sowie Drummer Piotr Wójcik (FORGOTTEN SOULS) besteht.

“Ascension” wurde abermals von Dominik Burzym im Studio67 gemixt und gemastert und mit einem Cover-Artwork von Rafał Wechterowicz (u.a. für MACHINE HEAD tätig) ausgestattet. Erscheinen wird das Album am 26. April 2024 via Selfmadegod Records. Vorab gibt es den Track “Majesty” zu hören.

WINGLESS “Ascension” Tracklist
1. The Ascension (After The Light)
2. Majesty (Audio bei YouTube)
3. The Soul Raiser
4. From There It’s Always Dark
5. Stronger Than Death
6. As Long As Others Die
7. Only The Graves Will Remain
8. Empty Eyes, There Is No Soul
9. Into The Unknown

Source: Vampster

Nachdem Schandmaul ihr von uns präsentiertes Folkfield Festival vergangenes Jahr aus gesundheitlichen Gründen hatten verschieben müssen, findet es in diesem Jahr nun endlich statt. Mit dabei: Versengold, Subway To Sally, Fiddler's Green, dArtagnan, The O'Reilly's And The Paddyhats, Tanzwut, Rauhbein und Letzte Instanz!

Source: Sonic Seducer

Die Death / Black Metal-Band EXODIKON hat einen Labeldeal bei Wormholedeath unterschrieben. Dieser Deal sieht den Release des neuen Albums “Chaosophilia” vor, welches am 29. März 2024 erscheinen wird. Es ist nach “Árnyam útján” (2021) das zweite Album der Ungarn.

“Chaosophilia” tauche dabei in die Tiefen der menschlichen Psyche ein und erforsche die dornigen Gefilde der Gefühllosigkeit und der existentiellen Sinnlosigkeit. Die Lyrics umfassen den Kampf, die Bipolarität und die Akzeptanz der Absurdität des Lebens.

EXODIKON Line-up:
Attila István Hekele – Drums
Ferenc Pósfai – Guitar
Gábor Dávid Borhidi – Guitar/vocals
József Pósfai – Bass/vocals

EXODIKON “Chaosophilia” Tracklist
01 Intro
02 The Awakening Depth – The Psychics of the Manipulated
03 Life Weight Loss – The Aesthetics of Contempt
04 The Nature of Descent
05 The Lord of Wounds – The Incubation of Pain (Lyric-Video bei YouTube)
06 Uninverse-The Logic of Zeitgeist
07 Collapse-The Semantics of Liberty
08 Imago Dei – The Syntax of Deity
09 Untermensch-The Psychics of Deceivers

Source: Vampster

Beim E-Tropolis Festival 2024 gefielen vielen von Euch Potochkine besonders gut. Wir stellen Euch das französische Synth-Duo etwas genauer vor!

Source: Sonic Seducer

Auch 2024 geht ROCK AM HÄRTSFELDSEE in eine neue Runde: Das Festival findet am 28. und 29. Juni 2024 am namengebenden Härtsfeldsee in 89561 Dischingen statt.

Das Event ist mittlerweile ausverkauft. Wochenendtickets gab es zum Preis von 95,-€ über den offiziellen Festival-Shop. Camping und Parken sind bereits mit inbegriffen. Ein limitiertes Kontingent an Tagestickets ist ab 15. März 2024 (9:00 Uhr) verfügbar.

Mit WARKINGS haben die Veranstalter nun den letzten noch ausstehenden Act bekannt gegeben.

Zum Heiligabend gab es mit HAMMER KING eine weitere Neubestätigung. Zuvor enthüllten die Organisatoren mit IN EXTREMO den zweiten Headliner. Den ersten Haupt-Act für die 2024er Auflage gab man Ende Oktober 2023 bekannt: BLIND GUARDIAN führen das Billing an und werden zum zweiten Mal auf dem Festival auftreten. Darüber hinaus sind FACING FEARS, BONDED, THE NEW ROSES, GRAVE DIGGER, GOTHMINISTER, APRIL ART und LEGION OF THE DAMNED mit dabei.

Übersicht: ROCK AM HÄRTSFELDSEE 2024 Lineup, Billing & Bands
(Stand: 14.03.2024)

APRIL ART
BLIND GUARDIAN (Headliner)
BONDED
FACING FEARS
GOTHMINISTER
GRAVE DIGGER
HAMMER KING
IN EXTREMO (Headliner)
LEGION OF THE DAMNED
THE NEW ROSES
WARKINGS

Source: Vampster

Die Symphonic Metal-Band ELVELLON veröffentlicht am 17. Mai 2024 ihr neues Album “Ascending In Synergy” via Napalm Records auf CD, Vinyl sowie digital.

Schon jetzt steht ein erster Höreindruck bereit: “A Vagabond’s Heart” bei YouTube.

“Ascending In Synergy” folgt dem Album “Until Dawn” (2018) nach. Die Formation kommentiert:

“Wir sind unglaublich gespannt, wie unsere Fans Ascending In Synergy aufnehmen werden. Seit unserem Debütalbum ist viel passiert und der Songwriting-Prozess hat sich stark verändert. Es fühlt sich für uns immer noch wie 100% ELVELLON an, aber die Dynamik hat sich erweitert. Es ist orchestraler und gleichzeitig metallischer geworden. Auch textlich halten wir uns nicht mehr an ein einziges Konzept, sondern die Songs werden von einem roten Faden zusammengehalten.”

ELVELLON “Ascending In Synergy” Tracklist
1. Unbound
2. A Vagabond’s Heart (Video bei YouTube)
3. My Forever Endeavour
4. Ocean of Treason
5. The Aftermath of Life
6. Last of our Kind
7. Into the Vortex
8. A Legacy Divine
9. The Aeon Tree
10. Epiphany of Mine

ELVELLON Line-up 2024
Nele Messerschmidt – vocals
Gilbert Gelsdorf – guitars
Maddin Klüners – drums
Pascal Pannen – keyboards
Jan Runkel – bass

Source: Vampster

Nächste Woche beginnt die Tour zum 15-jährigen Lord Of The Lost-Jubiläum, präsentiert von Sonic Seducer! Alle Dates noch einmal hier, außerdem die Streaming-Geburtstagsparty aus den Chameleon Studios Hamburg mit Blick hinter die Kulissen!

Source: Sonic Seducer

Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematic. Format: Digital, CD. Background/Info: After the genius “Mandus Patet”-album (2020) followed the...

Source: Side Line

(Photo by Sigtryggur Ari Johannsson) On May 10, Icelandic duo Paddan will release their new EP “Fluid Time” on the Washington D.C.-based label Lovitt Records. Today the band shares “Bug,” the first single, and its accompanying video, to be released from the forthcoming EP. Behind Paddan we find Birgir and Sigtryggur (members of Sugarcubes, KUKL).

On the song, the band’s Sigtryggur Baldursson says: “On ‘Bug’ we are working with the concept of using ideas very directly, documenting musical performances and using them more or less naturally, as they come. You could say we are putting our faith in the saying that first impressions are often correct. There is one modular synth in the background but everything else is played live on various instruments. Apart from bass, drums, and guitars we also have a harmonica and lap steel popping up in various places, played by Gaukur Davidsson.”

The material was recorded, produced, and arranged by the pair, Sigtryggur and Birgir play basses and drums along with various other instruments. All recordings are played on live instruments except a modular synth which is programmed in the background of two tracks The duo is joined by the harmonica and lap steel player Gaukur Davidsson on “Vaguely” and “Bug”, and trumpet player Eirikur Orri Ólafsson on “Splash”. You’ll also find Vaccines bassist Arni Hjörvar Árnason on mixing for “Bug,” “Splash” and “Kokka”, while sound-mixer Albert Finnbogason was active on “Vaguely.”

About Paddan

Paddan’s Sigtryggur Baldursson and Birgir Mogensen are lifelong friends from Kópavogur, Iceland, who started as mates on the local football team, then graduated to making music together as teenagers, and even later as young men doing time in the experimental punk collective KUKL, from 1983 – 1986. KUKL was populated by survivors of the post-punk scene in Iceland in the early 80s, which is well documented in the film “Rock in Reykjavik” from 1982. The band was released by the Crass collective in London and featured members, apart from Birgir and Sigtryggur, like Guðlaugur Óttarsson, Einar Melax, Björk and Einar Örn, some of whom would become better known later in outfits like the Sugarcubes and their respective solo work and other collaborations. Sigtryggur has a long career in music, having worked with among others, Emiliana Torrini, Howie B, Les Negresses Vertes, Tomas R. Einarsson, Petur Ben, KK, Kaktus Einarsson, and many many others. He also produces an award-winning documentary music show for RUV called Hljómskálinn.

Birgir Mogensen is a classically trained classical guitarist and bass player who has worked through the years with artists ranging from KUKL to Killing Joke to Spilafifl and Inferno5. Regarding the EP Birgir Mogensen says, “As a duo, we trusted our musical intuition and were guided by allowing the first idea to remain unchanged during the recording process”

Source: EBM.gr

Nächste Woche gehen Wisborg wieder auf Tour mit Schattenmann. Vorab gibt es heute noch ein brandneues Musikvideo - alle Infos und den Clip zu "Korrosion" hier!

Source: Sonic Seducer

CHAOSBAY haben mit einem Musikvideo zu “The Way To Hell” einen weiteren neuen Track veröffentlicht. Das Stück folgt auf den Clip zu “Money”. Als Gast zu hören ist dort zudem Sängerin Esjay Jones (WE ARE PIGS).

Das Stück folgt auf das Video zu „Are You Afraid?“ – das gleichnamige Album soll in der zweiten Jahreshälfte 2024 erscheinen.

Hauptsongwriter und Texter Jan Listing beschreibt das neue Album so:

„Es gibt nach wie vor zu viele reale Themen und Probleme, die ich gern noch verarbeiten würde, bevor ich mir Geschichten ausdenke. In den neuen Songs ist das Thema Überforderung sehr präsent. Unsere Generation wünscht sich noch immer zurück in die Jugend, nostalgisch und romantisch. Wir sind aber schon lange erwachsen und wollen das nicht wahrhaben, müssen uns dem aber langsam stellen und viele Probleme lösen, die wir nicht verschuldet haben. Dieser Zwiespalt war der Ausgangspunkt der neuen Songs.“

Das Artwork zeigt eine Skulptur des Künstlers und Modedesigners Leon Emaunuel Blanck, mit dem die Band für das neue Projekt zusammenarbeitet.

CHAOSBAY waren im Februar 2024 im Vorprogramm von EMIL BULLS unterwegs:

25.01. Wiesbaden – Schlachthof
26.01. Nürnberg – Löwensaal
27.01. Ulm – Roxy
01.02. Münster – Skaters Palace
02.02. Hamburg – Große Freiheit 36
03.02. Berlin – Columbia Theater
04.02. Tilburg (NL) – Hall Of Fame
22.02. Köln – Live Music Hall
23.02. Karlsruhe – Substage
24.02. Kaiserslautern – Kammgarn

Außerdem sind bereits diese Festivals bestätigt:

20.04. Twistringen – Brickmosh Festival
01.06. Nidderau – Rock den Acker
07.06. Dortmund – Summer Radness Open Air

Chaosbay Besetzung :

Jan Listing (Gesang, Gitarre)
Alexander Langner (Gitarre)
Matthias Heising (Bass)
Patrick Bernath (Drums)

Fotogalerie: CHAOSBAY – Summer Breeze 2023 – 17.08.2023

Source: Vampster

Genre/Influences: Experimental, Cinematic, Dark-Ambient. Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl. Background/Info: Ronny Engmann (RNGMNN) and Karina Dorin...

Source: Side Line

Die Post-Hardcore / Post-Black Metal-Band GLASSING hat nach “Defacer” mit “Nothing Touches You” eine zweite Single ihres kommenden Albums “From the Other Side of the Mirror” veröffentlicht.

“In ‘Nothing Touches You’ geht es um unerwiderte emotionale Beziehungen. Die dynamischen Übergänge des Songs von Aggression zu Verletzlichkeit sollen widerspiegeln, wie es sich anfühlt, ohne Gegenleistung zu lieben”, sagt Sänger Dustin Coffman.

“From the Other Side of the Mirror” ist das vierte Album der US-Amerikaner aus Austin und wurde erneut von Andrew Hernandez produziert. Erscheinen wird das Album am 26. April 2024 via Pelagic Records.

GLASSING sind Sänger und Bassist Dustin Coffman, Drummer Scott Osment (DEAF CLUB, PLANET B) und Gitarrist Cory Brim.

GLASSING “From the Other Side of the Mirror” Tracklist
1. Anything You Want
2. Nothing Touches You (Audio bei YouTube)
3. Defacer (Audio bei YouTube)
4. Sallow
5. Nominal Will
6. Ritualist
7. As My Heart Rots
8. Circle Down
9. The Kestrel Goes
10. Wake

Source: Vampster

Die Progressive Metalcore-Band ERRA hat eine neue Single geteilt: “Crawl Backwards Out Of Heaven” gibt es als Visualizer-Clip bei YouTube.

Ebenfalls verfügbar ist ein Musikvideo zu “Blue Reverie” bei YouTube.

Zuvor erschien bereits der Preview-Track “Cure” bei YouTube. Es handelt sich dabei um den Titeltrack ihres sechsten Studioalbums “Cure”, das am 5. April 2024 erscheinen wird. Auch den Vorab-Song “Pale Iris” kann man sich via YouTube ansehen.

Produziert wurde “Cure” von Dan Braunstein, der auch für Mix und Mastering verantwortlich zeichnet.

ERRA “Cure” Tracklist
1. Cure (Video bei YouTube)
2. Rumor of Light
3. Idle Wild
4. Blue Reverie (Video bei YouTube)
5. Slow Sour Bleed
6. Wish
7. Glimpse
8. Past Life Persona
9. Crawl Backwards Out of Heaven (Visualizer bei YouTube)
10. End to Excess
11. Pale Iris (Video bei YouTube)
12. Wave

Source: Vampster

Heute spielen Depeche Mode ihr zweites "Memento Mori"-Konzert in Madrid und bereits vor zwei Tagen wurde Videomaterial für einen "Konzertfilm" mitgeschnitten - dürfen wir auf eine neue Live-DVD/Blu-Ray hoffen? Alle Infos hier!

Source: Sonic Seducer

Out via Echozone on March 22nd is the new single from Projekt Ich: “Der Westliche Mann”. This is the third single release from the band’s forthcoming third studio album following the singles “Paméla Amen feat. Lisa Pung” and “Dad feat. Madil Hardis”. The full album will be out in the Fall / Winter of 2024 or Spring of 2025. The new album will be the follow-up to “Freedom For All” (2022).

For the new songs Ulf Müller continues to collaborate with singers from around the world. For “Der Westliche Mann” Ulf enlisted Pierre Goudesone from the Belgian band Goudi as vocalist. Pierre contributed to the song lyrics as well. The saxophone parts were performed by the Italian musician Manuel Trabucco.

In addition to the original track, the single includes two diverse remixes by Restriction 9 from Sweden and Cyborgdrive from Spain. It also features the B-side track “Du hast das Licht gesehen” sung by Ulf himself, as well as instrumental versions of the original track.

Related newsProjekt Ich – Freedom For All (Album – Echozone)Videos for the two main tracks will be released in the near future.

Source: EBM.gr

„… als kämen die Worte einfach aus der Musik heraus.“ Im ersten Teil, den Du hier nachlesen kannst, begannen wir mit Simon Huw Jones über das neue Album „Mother-of-pearl Moon”, Tiefgehendes und einen Song, der unbedingt ein Liebeslied sein wollte, aber keiner werden sollte, zu sprechen. Da knüpfen wir nun weiter an. KopfkinoOrkus: Generell fühlen […]

Source: Orkus

Die Melodic Death Metal / Industrial-Band CYPECORE hat Ende Februar einen neuen Song online gestellt: “Make Me Real” steht via YouTube und allen gängigen Streaming-Portalen auf Abruf bereit. Jetzt hat das Quartett auch ein Musikvideo zum Track nachgelegt, ansehen kann man es bei YouTube.

Die Single “Patient Zero” gibt es darüber hinaus als Visualizer-Clip bei YouTube. Auch den Track “Neoteric Gods” kann man in Bild und Ton bei YouTube sehen.

Für April und Mai 2024 hat die Formation zudem eine neue Tour angekündigt. Dabei spielen CYPECORE Konzerte in Nürnberg, Leipzig, München, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Essen, Köln, Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover und Heidelberg. In der Sschweiz steht eine Show in Aarau auf dem Programm.

Als Support konnten LEAGUE OF DISTORTION gewonnen werden.

Zuletzt veröffentlichten CYPECORE die EP “Version 4.5: The Dark Chapter” (2023).

CYPECORE, LEAGUE OF DISTORTION Tourdaten 2024

24.04 Aarau (CH), Kiff
25.04 Nürnberg, Hirsch
26.04 Leipzig, Hellraiser
27.04 München, Backstage
01.05 Stuttgart, Im Wizemann
02.05 Frankfurt, Das Bett
03.05 Essen, Turock
04.05 Köln, Gebäude 9
08.05 Berlin, Frannz Club
09.05 Hamburg, Knust
10.05 Hannover, Chez Heinz
11.05 Heidelberg, Halle 02

Fotogalerie: CYPECORE – Wisdom Tooth Festival 2023 – 15.07.2023

Source: Vampster

Die Black Metal-Band CORPUS DIAVOLIS hat nach dem Video-Clip zu “Chalice of Fornication” und dem Song “Key to Luciferian Joy” mit “Menstruum Congressus” nun einen dritten Track ihres kommenden Albums “Elixiria Ekstasis” veröffentlicht. Es ist das fünfte Album der Franzosen aus Marseille.

“Elixiria Ekstasis” wurde von George Emanuel im Pentagram Studio in Athen gemixt und gemastert und mit einem Cover-Artwork von Cristóbal “Kerbcrawlerghost” López (u.a. für WEREGOAT tätig) ausgestattet. Erscheinen wird das Album am 15. März 2024 via Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions.

CORPUS DIAVOLIS “Elixiria Ekstasis” Tracklist
1 – His Wine Be Death
2 – Key To Luciferian Joy (Audio bei YouTube)
3 – Carnal Hymnody
4 – Cyclopean Adoration
5 – Vessel Of Abysmal Luxury
6 – The Golden Chamber
7 – Menstruum Congressus (Audio bei YouTube)
8 – Enfleshed In Silence
9 – Chalice of Fornication (Video bei YouTube)

Source: Vampster

Jetzt sichern: Depeche Mode "Memento Mori"-Pack 2024! Mit XL "Memento Mori" Live Poster, Original "Memento Mori" Sticker und “A Broken Frame” Cover-CD von Remode! 2 Magazine mit 24 Seiten Depeche Mode Interviews und Stories mit Dave Gahan, Martin Gore und den „Ghosts Again“-Remixern zu Remixen, Live-Shows 2023/2024 und vielem mehr!

Source: Sonic Seducer

Colors blend together now.
Blurry hands erase the signs.
Pulling out the veins in my eyes, it would ruin the design.
Within the sprawl of many artistic visions flickering like starlight in the City of Angels, a unique new project, Spiralteeth, has emerged. It is the endeavor of the Los Angeles scene’s multifaceted talent, Lark Detweiler, a deaf artist who engages with music in a deeply intimate manner, letting it permeate over her as she dances professionally by day whilst moonlighting as a musician.

Reflecting Detweiler’s avid fandom, Spiralteeth blends a myriad of sounds, from the shadowy tones of darkwave, coldwave, industrial, and gothic rock and the vibrant beats of new wave synth-pop, echoing Detweiler’s compelling individual experience. Channeling a sound reminiscent of popular artists such as Lebanon Hanover, Forever Grey, Dancing Plague, and Selofan, Spiralteeth is built on a minimalist foundation of drums, basslines that echo with a haunting resonance, and the stark coldness of synth melodies.

Spiralteeth extends beyond the realm of performance, evolving into a medium for Detweiler’s evocative poetry. She explores the profound sense of isolation and the intense struggle to find one’s place in a seemingly indifferent world. These themes resonate deeply in “Monochrome,” where society is portrayed as trapped by the forces of conformity and urgency. Here, individuals are seen sacrificing their true selves and sanity for momentary pleasures. Against this backdrop of conformity, the voice in “Monochrome’ rises defiantly, questioning the necessity of such a bleak existence and aspiring for a life rich with authenticity and vibrancy.

“‘Monochrome’ paints the world as black-and-grey, how artists live in Technicolor when society and capitalism wants to grind people down into machines, human beings without emotions or passions or any energy to pursue creativity or make a change in the world,” says Detweiler. “It’s also, conversely, talking about how I don’t feel like I can fit in and sometimes that’s a struggle in trying to relate to others, because I don’t have that innate sameness people seem to have, so there’s a double meaning that can be derived from it as well.”

Listen to “Monochrome” below:

Stream and order Monochrome via Spotify and/or Bandcamp below:

Monochrome by spiralteeth

Follow Spiralteeth:

Instagram
Bandcamp
Spotify

The post Dreaming in Color — Los Angeles Darkwave Project Spiralteeth Debuts New Single “Monochrome” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Source: Post-Punk.com

Rendez-Vous, the Parisian post-punk iconoclasts we last saw rocking a packed house at La Cigale in their hometown back in the pre-pandemic glory days of January 2020, are back on the scene, and it’s about time. The band recently dropped Sheer, the first single off their much-anticipated album Downcast, slated for release just in time to soundtrack your summer existential crisis.

After a marathon tour that saw them rocking out in over 100 gigs across 14 countries and gracing the stages of Europe’s festival heavyweights like Sziget and Fusion (and let’s not forget Dour and Paléo), Rendez Vous has decidedly evolved: diving deeper into the global chaos, stripping down their sound to its gritty, guitar-laden bones, all while standing firm on a framework as sturdy as steel – think an unholy combination of Fugazi and Sonic Youth.

Gone are the days of sticking strictly to post-punk norms, now sprinkled with a healthy dose of digital distortion and glitches. Sheer feels like witnessing a dramatic showdown between humanity and technology – a pair of estranged siblings locked in a love-hate tussle, torn between a bear hug and a chokehold.

Watch the visualizer for “Sheer” below:



Founded in 2012 by Francis Mallari and Elliot Bethault (later adding Maxime Gendre and Simon Dubourg to the fray), Rendez-Vous embraces a philosophy of patience and intentionality, likening the lifecycle of a band to that of a long-standing relationship—complex yet rewarding over time. In an age where social media clamour is omnipresent, they opt for a quieter presence, adhering to the old adage that true contentment is found in privacy. This strategic withdrawal from the public gaze isn’t aimless but rather cultivates a sense of anticipation, prompting a more thoughtful engagement with their work. Their approach to managing time and public visibility suggests a sophisticated understanding of how to navigate the fleeting nature of musical fame, clearly marking them as savvy architects of their own history.

“Sheer” marks the latest release from Rendez Vous, following their highly acclaimed debut LP Superior State in 2018. This new album promises to take the band’s sound to the next level, blending moody new wave vibes with industrial grind to create a unique and captivating flurry of sound. Despite the world being even more bewildering than it was six years ago, Rendez Vous has managed to create an album that stands out among the rest.

The new single is available now on all streaming services. Downcast comes out May 17 via Artefact/Wedge.

Listen Here

Rendez-Vous will be embarking on a tour of North America and Europe in support of their new album Downcast, showcasing their acerbic brand of post-punk across a wide array of venues and festivals. Their journey includes a notable appearance at Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig Cold-Hearted Festival in Dresden and a performance at the Sanctum Festival in Chicago, among others.

Catch Rendez Vous live:

05.17 WGT (At Felsenkeller) – Leipzig (DE)
05.24 Release Party – TBA (FR)
05.25 Levitation Festival – Angers (FR)
06.30 Hellfest – Clisson (FR)
07.19 Dour Festival – Dour (BE)
09.12 Oslo Hackney – London (UK)
09.13 L’Aeronef – Lille (FR)
09.21 Les Docks – Lausanne (CH)
09.27 Elysée Montmartre – Paris (FR)
10.03 La Sirène – La Rochelle (FR)
10.04 Le Krakatoa – Bordeaux (FR)
10.05 Le Rex – Toulouse (FR)
10.15 La Coopérative – Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
10.16 Rockstore – Montpellier (FR)
10.09 Transbordeur – Lyon (FR)
10.24 LPR – New York (NY)
10.25 Sonia – Boston (MA)
10.26 L’Esco – Montréal (CAN)
10.27 The Garrison – Toronto (CAN)
10.31 Thalia Hall – Chicago (IL)
11.07 1720 – Los Angeles (CA)
11.09 Foro Indie Rocks – Mexico (MX)
11.15 Cold Hearted Fest – Bochum (DE)
11.16 Cold Hearted Fest – Dresden (DE)
11.29 La Carène – Brest (FR)
12.14 Temple – Athens (GR)More to come…

Follow Rendez Vous:

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The post French Post-Punk Outfit Rendez Vous Announce New LP “Downcast” and Tour Dates — Watch Visualizer for “Sheer” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Source: Post-Punk.com

Am 15. und 16. März 2024 findet in der MatriX Königsbrunn bei Augsburg (PLZ 86343) das MAMMUT FESTIVAL 2024 statt.

Tickets für das Event gibt es für 33,-€ über die offizielle Festival-Website. Tagestickets schlagen mit 18,-€ (Freitag) bzw. 22,-€ (Samstag) zu Buche. Der Eintritt für Kinder unter 14 Jahren ist frei, müssen allerdings von einem Personensorgeberechtigten begleitet werden.

Erste Bands haben die Veranstalter ebenfalls bereits angekündigt: So treten ABBIE FALLS, DUST BOLT, AGASCH, DRAGONY, HAUNTED BY MEMORIES, DEATH BY DISSONANCE, BOÖTES VOID, HOSTAGE, GUTFUCK, RAGING SLOTH, SHORES OF LUNACY, MUNARHEIM, DEATH IN FICTION, PENTASTONE und ASCENDANCY auf.

CROM hingegen mussten ihre Teilnahme krankheitsbedingt kurzfristig absagen. Als Ersatz springt die Melodic Death Metal-Band HAILSTONE ein.

Übersicht: MAMMUT FESTIVAL 2024 Lineup, Billing & Bands
(Stand: 14.03.2024)

ABBIE FALLS (Headliner)
AGASCH
ASCENDANCY
BOÖTES VOID
CROM
DEATH BY DISSONANCE
DEATH IN FICTION
DRAGONY
DUST BOLT (Headliner)
GUTFUCK
HAILSTONE
HAUNTED BY MEMORIES
HOSTAGE
MUNARHEIM
PENTASTONE
RAGING SLOTH
SHORES OF LUNACY

Source: Vampster

Vor dem Morgengrauen ist die Nacht am dunkelsten, haben wir gehört. Eine gut gemeinte Redensart, die Hoffnung spendet – nur akkurat ist sie dieser Tage nicht mehr. Denn nachdem BEFORE THE DAWN erst mit ihrem Comeback-Album „Stormbringers“ (2023) ein wenig Licht zurückgebracht haben, entzündet das Quartett nun direkt die alten Feuer: „Archaic Flame“ mag nur ein kleiner Happen sein, für die Finnen aber ist diese EP als Statement zu verstehen.

Es ist keine halbherzige Rückkehr, die man uns vorgegaukelt hat, sondern ein ernstgemeintes Vorhaben. Das Quartett bleibt dran an ihrer Interpretation des Melodic Death Metal, für den Mastermind Tuomas Saukkonen mit Paavo Laapotti einen fähigen neuen Frontmann gefunden hat. Der Mix aus Growls und Klargesang geht runter wie Öl, während das melodische Riffing den Spagat zwischen einprägsam und schwungvoll ohne große Anstrengung schlägt. Rückendeckung bekommt Gitarrist Juho Räihä (SWALLOW THE SUN) dabei von Saukkonens zielstrebigem Drumming und einigen wohlüberlegt gestreuten Synth-Spuren.

“Archaic Flame” ist ein kurzes Vergnügen, zeigt BEFORE THE DAWN aber auf der Höhe
Der leicht melancholische Titeltrack birgt dank des klar gesungenen Refrains somit schnell Ohrwurmpotenzial, während uns das grimmige „Chaos Sequence“ rifftechnisch an klassische IN FLAMES erinnert. Leider hat „Archaic Flame“ darüber hinaus nicht viel mehr zu bieten: Das BRYAN ADAMS-Cover „Run To You“ ist nicht per se grausig, will allerdings weder stilistisch noch atmosphärisch zum soeben etablierten Klangkosmos passen. Analog gibt uns die Live-Aufnahme des Evergreens „Dying Sun“ an und für sich keinen Grund zu meckern und ist dennoch eher als nette Dreingabe zu verstehen.

Ein wenig mager erscheint die Ausbeute aus zwei neuen Tracks daher schon, obgleich wir BEFORE THE DAWN zugutehalten müssen, zumindest hier qualitativ an übliches Niveau anknüpfen zu können. Das macht „Archaic Flame“ letztlich zu einer schönen Dreingabe für treue Fans, die nach Jahren der Finsternis endlich wieder einen zuverlässigen Fackelträger an ihrer Seite wissen.

Veröffentlichungstermin: 08.03.2024

Spielzeit: 14:45

Line-Up
Vocals – Paavo Laapotti
Guitar – Juho Räihä
Bass – Pyry Hanski
Drums – Tuomas Saukkonen

Produziert von Juho Räihä, Tuomas Saukkonen und Svante Forsbäck (Mastering)

Label: Napalm Records

Homepage: https://www.btdmetal.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beforethedawn/

BEFORE THE DAWN “Archaic Flame” Tracklist
1. Archaic Flame (Video bei YouTube)
2. Chaos Sequence (Video bei YouTube)
3. Run to You (BRYAN ADAMS Cover)
4. Dying Sun (live)

Source: Vampster

(Photo by Andy Catlin – Ljubljana) Laibach has announced a remastered and redesigned edition of their 1987 album, “Opus Dei”, scheduled for release on Mute on May 10, 2024. This edition will be available on vinyl and as a 2CD box set. It includes 16 previously unreleased live tracks from 1987-1989 and three bonus tracks.

A new video has been released, featuring edits from “Victory Under the Sun” (Pobeda pod suncem), directed by Goran GajiÄ� in 1988, for the remastered version of “The Great Seal”. Watch it below.

“Opus Dei”, Laibach’s debut album with Mute, was originally mixed by Rico Conning, known for his work with Wire, Pere Ubu, Swans, and William Orbit. The album includes Laibach’s interpretations of Opus’ “Live Is Life” (rendered in English as “Opus Dei” and in German as “Leben heisst Leben”) and Queen’s “One Vision” (reimagined as “Geburt Einer Nation”), propelling the band into the limelight with support from MTV and ITV’s The Chart Show. The mainstream exposure and memorable music press features led to their first world tour, with performances from London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, San Francisco, Berlin, Paris, and various locations across Europe included on the second CD of this expanded edition.

Related newsLaibach share new track 'The Engine of Survival' ahead of series of live datesThe remastered edition boasts a redesigned cover that enhances the original artwork, an extensive booklet filled with photographs and artwork inspired by German anti-fascist artist John Heartfield, and new sleeve notes by cultural theorist Alexei Monroe.

Formed in the year of Yugoslavian founding father Tito’s death, the band faced censorship and bans in Yugoslavia before releasing “Opus Dei”. They embarked on the Occupied Europe Tour, appeared in Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”, recorded a Peel Session for the BBC, and performed in Michael Clark’s dance production “No Fire Escape from Hell”.

The band have also recently announced ongoing diplomatic negotiations for a performance in Tehran of “Alamut”, a collaborative symphonic work with Iranian composers and performers. A very weird choice given the geopolitical tensions, just like their concert in North Korea.

Related newsLaibach releases Rammstein rendition of 'Amerika' from forthcoming tribute albumIn April 2024, Laibach will perform their score for a new theatrical production of Bertolt Brecht’s “Saint Joan of the Stockyards” by ErosAntEros, with performances in Bologna and Ravenna.

“Opus Dei (Remastered)” by Laibach will be available on Mute in various formats, including vinyl with a 16-page booklet, a 2CD box set with a 28-page booklet, and digitally, on May 10, 2024.

Tracklist of the CD:

Related newsLaibach issues statement as concert in Kyiv (Ukraine) gets canceled after social media dramaCD1

Leben heisst Leben (Opus Dei)

Geburt einer Nation (One Vision)

Leben – Tod

F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)

Transnational

How the West Was Won

Opus Dei (Life is Life)

The Great Seal

Bonus tracks:

Geburt einer Nation (Eine Richtung und ein Volk Version)

Leben heisst Leben (Marche Funèbre Version)

Geburt einer Nation (3. Oktober – Kraftbach – Version)

CD2

Leben heisst Leben (London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987)

Geburt einer Nation (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)

Leben-Tod (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)

F.I.A.T. (Paris, Espace Ornano, 1992)

Transnational (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)

How the West Was Won (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)

Opus Dei (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)

Leben heisst Leben (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)

Geburt einer Nation (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)

Leben – Tod (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)

How the West Was Won (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)

Geburt einer Nation (Vienna, Messepalast, Kaiser Franz Josef Reitschule, 1988)

Leben – Tod (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)

Transnational (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)

How the West Was Won (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)

Opus Dei (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)

Laibach ‘Opus Dei’ Tour

14 May – Winterthur, Gaswerk Kulturzentrum, CH

15 May – Frankfurt, Batschkapp, DE

16 May – Berlin, Huxleys Neue Welt, DE

17 May – Copenhagen, Pumpehuset, DK

18 May – Gothenburg, Pustervik, SE

19 May – Stockholm, Nya Cirkus, SE

21 May – Helsinki, Savoy Theatre, FI

23 May – Oslo, Vulkan, NO

25 May – Cologne, Essigfabrik, DE

26 May – Dresden, Kultur Zentrum Strasse E, DE

27 May – Torun, CKK Jordanki, PL

28 May – Lublin, Radio Lublin, PL

29 May – Graz, Orpheum Big Hall, AT

03 July – Munich, Muffathalle, DE

04 July – Schorndorf, Manufaktur, DE

06 July – Halle, East Side Festival, DE

09 Aug – Jaromer, Brutal Assault Festival, CZ

05 Oct – Zagreb, Boogaloo, HR

11 Oct – Budapest, Dürer Kert, HU

12 Oct – Leipzig, Felsenkeller, DE

13 Oct – Prague, Roxy, CZ

15 Oct – Dordrecht, Bibelot, NL

16 Oct – Arnhem, Luxor, NL

17 Oct – Vauréal, Le Forum 2, FR

18 Oct – Toulouse, Le Rex, FR

19 Oct – Wavre, La Sucrerie, BE

20 Oct – Bochum, Christuskirche, DE

22 Oct – Hannover, Music Pavillion, DE

Source: EBM.gr