Album: Pettersson - Rift And Seam

Band: Pettersson
Album: Rift And Seam
Label: I.corrupt Records, (We Built The World And) Miss The Stars Records, Hardcore For The Losers, Structures // Agony Records, Samegrey Records, My Name Is Jonas Diy & Co., Time As A Color, One Wild Collective, Krimskramz, Upwind Productions, Longrail Records
Year: 2016

Tracklist
01. Ben
02. Infirm
03. White Birch
04. Interlude
05. Spiro, Spero
06. Helicobacter
07. All Is Lost
08. Kalk
Download

Pettersson play very emotional post-hardcore/screamo. The mix of singing and screaming vocals reminds me of bands like Suis La Lune, Pianos Become The Teeth, Funeral Diner or Envy while the instrumental is worked out so well that you couldn't believe that this is recorded by only three people. Rift And Seam is Pettersson's first release.

facebook
bandcamp

Buy from i.corrupt records (GER) | my name is jonas (AT) | miss the stars (GER) | time as a color (GER) | krimskramz (ESP) | upwind productions (IT) | longrail records (IT) | one wild collective (FR) | structures//agony records (USA)

Streaming: VVilderness - Devour The Sun + Instrumental Version

Band: VVilderness
Album: Devour The Sun
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Starless Dark
02. Sól
03. Devour The Sun
04. Life
05. New Earth
06. Aftershine
Streaming / Buy | Mirror

Band: VVilderness
Album: Devour The Sun (Instrumental)
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017







Tracklist
01. Starless Dark_
02. Sól_
03. Devour The Sun_
04. Life_
05. New Earth_
06. Aftershine_
Download

VVilderness is the black metal alter ego of the man behind Release The Long Ships. With a minimal studio equipment, a guitar, a microphone and a computer, he managed to release a great black metal album that doens't lack anything.

If on the other hand growling vocals aren't your thing, you can still listen to the instrumental version of it.

facebook vvilderness | release the long ships
instagram
bandcamp vvilderness | release the long ships
soundcloud

Recommendation: Afformance - Music For Imaginary Film #1 / Pop Nihilism

Band: Afformance
Album: Music For Imaginary Film #1
Label: United We Fly
Year: 2017







Tracklist
01. Intro
02. Sol In The Woods
03. Sol In The Battlefield
04. Anapaest
05. Aftermath
06. Sailor's Abandoned Ship
07. ...Or Maybe It's Not
08. 619
Streaming / Buy

Band: Afformance
Album: Pop Nihilism
Label: United We Fly
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Perspectivism
02. Youth Corrupter
03. Here, Now, A Million Years
04. Open Mind
05. Past Forward
06. Auto Reject / Self Validate
07. No Point Return
Streaming / Buy

Afformance have formed back in 2005. Since then, they have appeared in numerous live shows in Greece, but also in Switzerland and Turkey (often supporting bands such as Grails, Jenniferever, Maybeshewill etc), they have done a mini tour with fellow Nechayevschina to promote their debut full-length “A Glimpse To The Days That Pass”. Giving an end to their short break that followed, the alt./post-rockers Afformance celebrated the release of their new single-sided 12" EP "The Place" (including the score of the same-titled dance/theater performance) with a tour in the Balkans and Europe which found them to share the stage of Dunk! Festival in Belgium with important bands as iLikeTrains, pg.lost, Balmorhea, Maserati, Kokomo, Kwoon and many others. They released a digital EP release including remixes on released and unreleased songs by close friends and themselves, which is available through their bandcamp page. Their second full length album "Through Walls" was released in 2015.

With a strong attention to the harmonic musical content and the rich ambience of their previous material, with a new more straight-forward musical approach and with a fresh apettite to present their brand new material to old and new friends, Afformance have finally returned more creative and more active than ever with their double release!

“Music For Imaginary Film #1” is the perfect description for the album’s content itself. “ A story of a man who's trying to escape from a big forest he is trapped in and in his way out solves out many mysteries about his self and an unexplored world that surrounded him. This is a metaphorical story about a person who is deserted in his micro-world unable to understand or think what is really happening in real life. These 8 songs unfold the mental and physical stages the main character passes through from the state of oblivion till the realization of his illness.”

“Pop Nihilism” is –just like the title itself states- an ode to darkness and introversion, embraced by a pop texture, and this is no surprise, given the fact that Afformance was always intrigued by the expression of such feelings and mental states. Being multi-faceted, darkling and mellow, “Pop Nihilism” is influenced and driven by post rock, indie, ambient, modern and classic pop music, and can easily be considered as the most mature release to date by this impressively talented collective, from Athens, Greece.

facebook
twitter
bandcamp
soundcloud
buy

Video: Our Ceasing Voice - Delusion Of Love

The Inquisition: 092.To Destroy A City

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

It came from a chapter title of a WWII book we were using as inspiration for the first record.

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?

We’ll get together, crack some beers, throw on a weird movie, and play with different melodies and rhythms, jam them out a bit. We loop a lot of parts, record the sessions, and then comp down the good bits and give it a framework. Then we just refine the tracks over time to tell the story we wanna tell.

3. How did you decide to add vocals to your new album?

It’s actually something we has explored a little during the writing for SUNLESS but ultimately didn’t fit. Vocals worked better with the material this time around. There were some songs that were written with vocals in mind from the start, and others were we added them later in the process where we thought they might add some new dimension to the track. Vocals to us are just another element, another instrument, another layer.

4. What is "Go Mirage" about?

Michael: Andy came up with the idea as a song title. When I heard it, it really intrigued me, and I suggested it for the album title. “Go Mirage” is the idea that you’re telling something/someone, that you know isn’t there, to leave. We all have events in our lives that we wish didn’t happen. Or we look back to a time where our life was perhaps a bit more at peace, but know we can’t have that time back or undo what has been done. It’s only human to be taunted by those mirages… those memories. “Go Mirage” is taking a stand and telling them to leave.

Andrew: Memories are a Mirage. “Go Mirage” is getting stuck in that moment where memory and reality cross, and the inability to discern what is real and what is not. Thematically, it’s kind of a harsh, broken reality vs. dream concept with a dose of nostalgia.

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

Michael: My influences come from a lot of places—past experiences, the seasons, work, stress, really any emotion. The music I usually listen to at home is ambient and shoegaze. Lately it has been She Past Away, Kyle Bobby Dunn, and Stars Of The Lid.

Jeff: For me it’s books, films, art, winter, the universe, a lot of times it’s nothing in particular. We usually have a film playing as we write, which can influence the direction the writing takes. As far as listening at home, lately I’ve been into Ben Frost, Sinoia Caves, The Abbasi Brothers, and Esmerine.

Andrew: Memories and dreams. Film and art. Music I’ve been into recently would include The Radio Dept., LORN, Black Marble, Teargas and Plateglass. We also curated a Spotify playlist with some of what we were listening to during creation of Go Mirage. You can check that out here: https://open.spotify.com/user/_n5md_/playlist/5p2PvJyUfU8GT7AvdEQE5k

6. Which is the one album you can’t live without?

Michael: Slowdive - Just For A Day

Jeff: The Dead Texan - S/T

Andrew: Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase

7. What’s the first record you’ve ever bought?

Michael: Green Day - Dookie

Jeff: Green Day here, too.

Andrew: AC/DC - Blow Up Your Video. Gotta love that cover.

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

Slowdive or Boards Of Canada. We’d also love to get a tour together with God Is An Astronaut.

9. Did the Internet and especially the blogs help to spread your music around the world? Name a place (country) that you were surprised to know your music has reached?

The Internet definitely helped us get there. After we finished up the first record we upped it to bandcamp and emailed a number of blogs concerning its release. From there, and through some word-of-mouth, we made contact with n5MD. I don’t know if we’re surprised by any country in particular that’s into us, but I guess we have a decent presence in Russia and in Taiwan, which is pretty cool.

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

We definitely support Bandcamp. It’s a great platform for letting the artists decide on how to value their music. For the self-titled, we initially used the name-your-price model because we were just getting out there. Then, when n5MD came into the picture, we pressed CDs and vinyl. So there are costs there for those releases and we/n5 can set the price accordingly. It’s a very flexible platform and the money goes to the artist. Spotify is pretty much the opposite. We’re not fans of the ad-driven, freemium type model that makes up the majority of its users. You don’t want people listening to your track, getting in the zone, and then immediately getting blasted by a Home Depot commercial or some shit. It, and similar services like Pandora, are cool from a “radio” standpoint where we’re gaining exposure via similar artists, but there is no compensation. I guess that’s the trade-off? Exposure vs. compensation. At the end of the day we work hard to make a quality product that we believe in. The physical component is an important element to the experience.

11. Where to you see yourselves in 5 years?

Hopefully doing what we’re doing now just with a couple more albums under our belts. It’s exciting to see how the writing and the sound evolves over time. We’ll have a new studio up within the next few months and we’re interested in how the new environment will influence us. Hopefully, we’ll get to play some shows in the spring of 2018.

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

Artwork has been and always will be important. It’s a visualization of what you’re hearing, and gives the artist an opportunity to color how you experience the album. The focus has shifted a lot as digital delivery has taken over though.

13. What is your favourite album cover?

Michael: Cocteau Twins - Treasure

Jeff: Tame Impala - “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” single, or really anything Leif Podhajsky has done.

Andrew: Ministry - Filth Pig

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

With a physical release in general, you get more of a sensory experience. You don’t just hear the music. An album is an object you can see and hold in your hand. Some people get more out of that experience, especially when the album is something that has made a large impact on their life. Some people don’t. For those that do, I think a lot of them are finding that vinyl specifically is preferable to CD in some ways. You get a larger format, bigger artwork, and being analog brings a certain life and color to the record. There are way more options now as far as colors and vinyl design, which adds a new element too.

15. What’s the most vivid story or moment as a band?

Finalizing the mixing process of the first album was pretty powerful. Especially as we were finishing up Goodbye, Dear Friend, everything just sort of clicked. We all had a lot of going on in our lives at that point and we needed that. Opening for Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra in Chicago was awesome too. It was a great shot at one of our favorite venues, surrounded by a lot of our favorite people.

More info:
facebook
twitter
bandcamp
soundcloud
shop

Streaming: Hubris. - Apocryphal Gravity

Band: Hubris.
Album: Apocryphal Gravity
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Intro
02. Beyond Styx Pt 1
03. Beyond Styx Pt 2
04. Aphrodite Terra
05. Doom Mons
06. Deimos To Phobos Pt 1
07. Deimos To Phobos Pt 2
Streaming / Buy

“Hubris.” is a Swiss post-rock band originating in Fribourg. Formed in 2014, the instrumental quartet is characterised by their original style which blends an experimental touch of post-rock, electronica atmosphere and some elements of the metal scene. They draw their inspiration from bands like Jakob, This Will Destroy You, Tides of Man or Jon Hopkins amongst others. With their introspection-evoking style, hubris. reveal themselves with the length of their compositions, permitting an evolution encompassing softness as well as intensity.

Sometimes compared with other artists like Sigur Rós or Long Distance Calling (Daily-Rock), the band calls forth emotions of its audience due to a heterogeneous musical landscape mixing poetic ambiance and raw energy. The band is comprised of a guitar and synthesisers (Jonathan Hohl and Martin Volanthen), a bass-guitar (Julien Vonlanthen) and the drums (Nathan Gros).

On the 2nd of May 2015, hubris. released their first opus “Emersion” along-side Jakob (New Zealand). The album was well-received by various medias outlets, obtaining several reviews from webzines and newspaper (La Liberté, La Gruyère) as well as being aired on two radio stations (Radio Fribourg and FarPastPost radio). Furthermore, the album was chosen as the soundtrack of the international museum exposition of Bucarest “Insight”.

In 2016, hubris. entered the walls of the studio “La Fonderie” (Fribourg) in order to compose their second album. Their musical approach took a new turn with the arrival of member Martin Vonlanthen (synthesisers). By drastically changing their method of composing, the band embodies a musical style rarely explored to this day, breaching pre-established post-rock conventions by incorporating electronica influences.

Offcial Site
facebook
instagram
bandcamp
Merch

Recommendation: Nordic Giants - Amplify Human Vibration

Band: Nordic Giants
Album: Amplify Human Vibration
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Taxonomy Of Illusions
02. First Light Of Dawn
03. Spirit
04. Dystopia
05. Reawake (feat. Freyja)
06. Immortal Elements
07. Autonomous
Streaming / Buy

For Nordic Giants the performance is the thing, and as those who have seen the live show will attest, it is a visceral experience that goes beyond the normal descriptors. Each mind-blowing performance involves a chosen few short films, which are soundtracked live with atmospheric soundscapes.Two mythical creatures create an experience with bowed guitar, piano that is both haunting and rousing, and climactic and thunderous drums.

Nordic Giants have spent the last couple of years bringing their own formula of claustrophobic cinema clatter to a selection of unusual locations across the country; from disused Victorian music halls to converted seaside bandstands. Dressed in feathers and shrouded in a ubiquitous fog the pair look more like residents of Middle Earth.

The award-winning short films that accompany the live performance are each one a work of art; by turn poignant and powerful, dark and uplifting. Whether live action or animation, experimental or narrative, each resonates and will stay with you in its own way.

Seeing Nordic Giants has been described as akin to a religious experience: the multi-screen visuals, powerful strobes and exquisitely timed accompaniment create a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

official site
facebook
twitter
bandcamp
buy