Tuesday, April 25, 2017 0 Engineers

Streaming: musicformessier - Constellations I.


Band: musicformessier
Album: Constellations I.
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Pegasus
02. Ursa Major
03. Libra
04. Cassiopeia
05. Hydrus
06. Lyra
07. Octans
08. Orion
09. Triangulum
Streaming / Buy

musicformessier is Csarnogurszky István's atmospheric, ambient / post-rock studio project from Hungary.

Constellations I. is the first part of musicformessier's "Magnum Opus" ambient / post-rock double album. The second part will be released in the fall of 2017. Every single tone was played on the guitar, without the use of any synthesizers or pads.

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Monday, April 24, 2017 0 Engineers

The Inquisition: 086.Féroces

1. How did you come up with the name of the band?

Jérôme: When we decided to start this band, we thought of different options: we wanted a French name, as we only use French movie samples, and didn’t want something too obvious regarding the music we play, so we took almost the opposite. Féroces describes something cruel and savage, and while two of us come from the hardcore scene and love to play wild shows, our music is more about something melodic and sweet.

2. Do you have a standard procedure of creating a song? Do you just jam around or is there a main riff and the track is build up on it?

Sébastien: Usually, Jérôme sends me what he calls a song, i.e. hundreds of themes on the guitar with a sample from a movie. Then, I choose the ones I find most interesting, rearrange them to build the structure of the song, add the synthesizers and basic drum parts, and then send it back to the others. Actually, when we first play a song “for real”, it is already close to the final version, we just rearrange transitions, synth levels, etc.

3. What are your influences and what kind of music do you hear when you are at home?

Sébastien: As a recording studio owner, I listen to (mostly) rock music all day long, so at home I’m more into electronic music. One of the last bands I listened to is Tobacco (maybe you can hear the influence of that band on my Donna remix).
Jérôme: I used to play in Emocore bands like Gantz and Hiro, but I can now say that I listen to a wide range of music from hardcore to electronic ambient music. Regarding my influences, I would have to say Slint, Microfilm, Mogwaï, Interpol, Joy Division, Fugazi and Amanda Woodward.
François: I listen to pretty much all kinds of music just to discover new stuff but I like rhythmical music with drummers playing creative fills (Interpol, Foals). I recently discovered a French band called Totorro and I love their style.

4. Which is the one album you can't live without?

Sébastien: Nine Inch Nails “The Fragile”
Jérôme: Slint “Spiderland”
François: Interpol “Turn On The Bright Lights”

5. What's the first record you've ever bought?

Sébastien: Michael Jackson’s Bad (and I’m not ashamed of it)
Jérôme: Kylie Minogue’s Locomotion (and I’m really proud of it)
François: Bryan Adams’ Waking Up the Neighbours (sorry guys)

6. Name a band that you would like to share the stage or tour with?

Jérôme: I would love to play with Nirvana one day.

7. Did the internet and specially the blogs helped to spread your music around the world? Name a place (country) that you were surprised to know your music has reached to?

Sébastien: Thanks to Youtube, one of our song has been played more than 20,000 times in Greece. It appears that it’s been added to a very popular Greek playlist. I would really like to go play there!
Jérôme: We promote our music by ourselves, and many people help us spread the word, via social networks. In fact, blogs and online communities have made us into what we are today.

8. Do you support the idea of bandcamp where fans can decide the price or services like Spotify?

Sébastien: We are on both services, and it’s been very pleasant to see that most of our fans are willing to pay more than what we ask for! But despite thinking that what Spotify and the other streaming platforms give back to the artists is quite ridiculous, we cannot, as a new band, decide that we won’t be available there…

9. Where do you see yourselves in 10 years?

Jérôme: Dead and buried
Sébastien: More seriously, if Jérôme starts exercising, we could definitely be playing “Même ça tu n’as pas le courage” :)

10. Is the artwork of an album important nowadays in the digital era?

Jérôme: Sure, we spend a lot of time talking about the artwork. The harmonization of the music and the image must be coherent.
François: Also, some people like to buy vinyls just to have the artwork in a decent size and they keep listening to the digital albums.

11. What is your favorite album cover?

Jérôme: I would say “Unknown pleasures” by Joy Division, so many people around the world know these mountains, I got them tattooed on the top of my left arm.


François: I find the cover of “Is this It” by The Strokes very pleasant to look at.

12. It seems that a lot of people are turning on vinyl again. Why do you think that is and which is your preferable media format?

Jérôme: Actually, a lot of people listen to random music, in random mode, during their random lives, and I’m one random guy living in a random world. When you choose vinyl, you decide, you take the power back.
Sébastien: The process of listening to music is different depending on the media. I think listening to a vinyl is a more conscious action because you will most likely listen to the whole album, and not just a single that is part of a compilation. The object itself is also very different, and needs care. And there is a huge difference in terms of sound, the vinyl is always less compressed, subtler, more musical than CDs and other digital formats.

13. What's the most vivid story or moment as a band?

Jérôme: Each live show is special, sometimes I can forget where I am, who I am, what I do and forget. Only music and love can do this to me, this sensation is a drug and I would like to feel it every day.

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Recommendation: Astralia - Solstice


Band: Astralia
Album: Solstice
Label: Aloud Music Ltd.
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Exhale
02. Out Of Nothing
03. The Örnen
04. Abyss Of Light
05. Detachment
06. Farewell And Encounter
07. Solstice
Streaming / Buy

Astralia was born in La Floresta in November 2010, from the union of three music coming from different styles but with the common idea of creating songs with new sounds, new atmospheres, new textures, often developed from a few notes. Playing with instruments, they create organic ambiences where harmonic sensation coexist. Creations that inspired by nature and, as well as it does, ask for time and pauses. It’s a space trip, influenced by the most ambient post-rock that goes under your skin and it’s impossible to forget.

Astralia self-produced and self-released their first self-titled album, between November 2011 and February 2012. Two years later, after a positive reception amongst public and media / independent blogs, they released their new work, Atlas (May 2014, self-produced and self-released), together with a presentation tour in Portugal and North of Spain in Summer 2014. By then, they crossed paths with Aloud Music to re-release Atlas in vinyl, 3 different editions, one of them shared with the Belgian label Dunk! Records.
 
After some shows in Spain and the opening gig at AMFest 2015 (Barcelona), they toured Europe for the first time, playing in France, Belgium, Germany, Holland as well as in the famous Dunk! Festival in Belgium.
 
The new album “Solstice” was released by Aloud Music in April 2017.
 
Astralia is Roger Guzmán on guitar, Jordi Guzmán on drums and Albert Clemente on bass.

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Buy Aloud Music (EU) | A Thousand Arms (US)
Friday, April 21, 2017 0 Engineers

Recommendation: Outrun The Sunlight - Red Bird


Band: Outrun The Sunlight
Album: Red Bird
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Red Bird
02. Synergy
03. The Danger Of Alignment
04. Remaining In A Constant State Of Discomfort
Streaming / Buy

Outrun The Sunlight is a 4-piece instrumental progressive metal band from Chicago,USA.

From soaring guitar lines, complex rhythms and ambient soundscapes, “Red Bird,” demonstrates the vastness of metal music, taking influence from Caspian, Cloudkicker, The Contortionist and more. Traditionally grouped into progressive metal and djent, the quartet has made a conscious effort to transcend all conventions and constraints that factor into production, songwriting and image of those genres. Leaving behind direct-in guitar recording, programmed drums and in-house mixing/mastering, all four members performed and critiqued the album, creating the most organic and truest form of the band yet. “Red Bird” evokes cathartic feelings of love, growth and uncertainty, and being that it’s instrumental, it encourages the listener to create their own narratives in the music. 

This album is best listened to in a quiet space on your best set of headphones.

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Wednesday, April 19, 2017 0 Engineers

Video: Cult Of Luna - YEARS IN A DAY: Owlwood

Wednesday, April 12, 2017 0 Engineers

Video: Gloson - Cringe (Official Live Video)

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 0 Engineers

Video Premiere: Nerwa - Breathe Deep



Debut album out April 19th on Sportklub Rotter Damm.
Preorder here.
Sunday, April 09, 2017 0 Engineers

Streaming: Lawoftheland - Dancing Explosions EP


Band: Lawoftheland
Album: Dancing Explosions EP
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Dancing Explosions
02. Second Nature
03. Departure One
Streaming / Buy

"It’s not an easy job for musicians to paint a picture with their songs, harder still if a song is devoid of lyrics and stripped back to just instrumentals. That’s where Lawoftheland have struck gold though – their songs fill an expanse that most musicians can only hope to."

"Lawoftheland do not create music, they create an event, a moment in time they want you to remember and reflect on. The group is not about them as a band, it’s about you and how you interpret them…. everyone will do that differently and that’s what they want. Look at any page, Facebook etc, that promotes them, there is no bio or about us as that would lead you and take away the very point of the band, an err of mystery, and I like that a lot."

"During the five minutes of the single, the listener is taken on a journey through the wilderness, merely by the dips and falls of the synths, guitar and drums, before being immersed into civilisation midpoint by the hum of conversation. The song so vividly manifests itself that you could almost imagine it playing alongside a film scene."

"Think Kraftwerk but played with guitars. They say a picture paints a thousand words, and that is what they have done but with sound, no words apart from an excerpt on the self-titled track 4 from Prince Ea. You could imagine training as a boxer, walking down the aisle, driving your car at high speed or relaxing on a beach. No words are there to sway your thoughts and emotions, you can just let your mind wander…….and I did."

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Video: Anomalie - Vision IV: Illumination

Friday, April 07, 2017 0 Engineers

EP: Curbeaters - Time Is Unforgiving


Band: Curbeaters
Album: Time Is Unforgiving
Label: Golden Antenna Records
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Code Of Faults
02. Phreatic
03. Bitter Flood
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Curbeaters are/were kind of like “the father you never saw and didn't know was there, but suddenly he knocks at your door“. At least that's kind of like the case to well-known German acts Black Shape Of Nexus, Ira, Planks and Ultha.

The history

In 2002 all members of the project spent a lot of time on a German message board for underground DIY punk/hardcore/metal and they mutually knew each other from shows and festivals. Several ideas for projects were founded by memebrs of that board – non ever really gave birth to a record. Tom, Andy and Geb met for one weekend to practice and record a few ideas. Ralph was supposed to play bass but couldn't make it to that weekend. So the remaining members recorded the three tracks on this very record. There was never another proper rehearsal or plans to commence the band, but the instrumental tracks made their way through various channels and always got great feedback. The originally intended singer never made it to record vocals, so the whole thing just kind of faded to a distant memory and all members went on to play in some of the most well-known acts in German DIY metal/doom.

Fast forward to 2016

Andy and Ralph both ended up in Cologne, playing together in a black metal band called Ultha. Andy is a professional recording engineer and always kept up hope to actually finish the songs at some point. After an initial push by Timo (Golden Antenna Records) a few years back, to have Ralph record the vocals, the idea popped back up in 2016. Andy just opened his Goblin Sound Studio and Ralph is fairly well known for his trademark lyrics and vocal performance in now defunct Golden Antenna Records act Planks. Ralph wrote some lyrics and tried out the vocals – it turned out to be a perfect match for the three doom laden sludgy rock songs. Now hell froze over and Andy's persistence paid off: 'Time Is Unforgiving', a three song EP and the result of more than 15 years in the making. Limited to 300 records on vinyl distributed by the label which played a major part in why this thing came together after all these years.

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Video: Astralia - Abyss Of Light

Thursday, April 06, 2017 0 Engineers

Streaming: Lights & Motion - Dear Avalanche


Band: Lights & Motion
Album: Dear Avalanche
Label: Deep Elm Records
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. This Explosion Within
02. Feathers
03. Silver Lining
04. Anomaly
05. Pandora
06. Perfect Symmetry
07. Everest
08. Lucid Dreaming
09. DNA
10. Anamorphic
11. Exhale
12. As They Sleep
13. All The Way
14. We Only Have Forever
Streaming / Buy

The latest offering in a discography often described as the ultimate symmetry of music and emotion, Dear Avalanche is the most accomplished and fully realized expression of sounds to date from cinematic post-rock powerhouse Lights & Motion. Although many claim he is a magician, the band's braintrust, Christoffer Franzen, is a storyteller...and a masterful one at that. From the majestic climax of "This Explosion Within" to the hopeful build of "Silver Lining" to the delicate innocence of "Anomaly", every Lights & Motion track tells its own story by transporting the listener through tenor and tone to a place where anything and everything is possible. This astonishing interplay of soul and sound is truly a work of art as it connects with the listener in a way that transcends the music itself. Franzen's ability to elicit emotion on a universal level and touch the heart without words, is simply beyond the limits of all imagination. With this expertly crafted collection of rich new soundscapes, Lights & Motion not only again delivers but also elevates the architecture of cinematic post-rock to awe-inspiring new heights. 

"I can safely say that this album was a big challenge and undertaking for me. I spent roughly two years writing it, and in that time I experimented a lot with trying to push myself outside of my comfort zone. By the end of it, I had written more than twenty-five songs and from them I chose fourteen to be featured on the album. I did things that I have never attempted before, such as recording a ten piece choir and incorporating a lot of vintage synthesizer sounds and electronics. I was determined to find new areas of my music that I hadn’t discovered, and looking back I think I did just that. The album is filled with lots of different textures that I created, like running choirs through distorted guitar amps or taking beautiful string recordings and processing them to sound otherworldly and ethereal. Every song brought with it a large canvas which I filled with interesting new sounds to help bring each composition to life," says Franzen. 

Franzen continues, "The album title just came to me and I instantly connected with it. While it may sound paradoxical because an avalanche is so dangerous, it reminds me that there is always a precious silver lining in everything that happens. Events in your life will threaten to overpower you, but there is strength in facing them head on, accepting them for what they are and choosing always to look for the positive message in all the hardship and struggle. I hope people listening to this album will feel like they've been taken on a journey, as I worked hard at creating a world of sonic panoramas to get lost in. Looking back, I think this is my most diverse album to date. The melodies are still very much present, but the sonic identities change as the album ebbs and flows. For me, the experience of making albums is a very solitary one. For several years I have lived with these songs, first in my head and then in my hands. Now I am ready to release them into the world. Getting to share them with everyone is the ultimate payoff after all this work, and one I'm really looking forward to." 

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Wednesday, April 05, 2017 0 Engineers

Video: Synopsys - Leviathan

Monday, April 03, 2017 0 Engineers

Recommendation: Anomalie - Visions


Band: Anomalie
Album: Visions
Label: Art Of Propaganda
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Vision I: Towards The Sun
02. Vision II: The Wanderer
03. Vision III: A Monument
04. Vision IV: Illumination
05. Vision V: Starless Nights
06. Vision VI: White Forest
07. Vision VII: One With The Soil
Streaming / Buy | Mirror

Anomalie is an Austrian atmospheric black metal band founded by mastermind Marrok (live-Harakiri For The Sky) in 2011.

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