Implodes

Implodes is a Chicago-based ensemble whose core is maintained by guitarists Matt Jencik and Ken Camden around the late '00. By 2011, the world saw the birth of Implodes' debut, Black Earth, and I'm sure many were mesmerized by the hypnotic soundscapes they crafted through the  ~45 minutes of its total length, as well as their '2013 Recurring Dream, released a few months ago. As they are signed to Kranky Records, the comparisions between some of the greatest names in modern noisy music were readily drawn, such as jesu, Mogwai, Flying Saucer Attack, as well as labelmates such as Belong, Windy & Carl, besides former Krankyheads such as Jessamine. However, I'd be lying if I didn't say Implodes' music has a strong identity and stands up for itself very easily with their mix of pitch-black Drones, endless waves of feedback and the traditional gloominess of Post Punk hidden deep beneath this thick layers of narcotic noise. 

For sure they are one of the most talented bands out there which weren't really discovered even by most of the gazers, droners, and fuzzheads in general, and I hope this scenario will be reverted very soon. That's why both albums are available here for downloading, hoping you enjoy it the way it's deserved!

2013 - Recurring Dream

get it






2011 - Black Earth

get it

Bemônio

Bemônio consists of a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, duo composed by Paulo Caetano, who's in charge with samples, synth, besides being the mind behind the project, along drummer Gustavo Matos. Differently from most of material posted in this space, Bemônio is all about Drone, Noise, Dark Ambient with a Sludge, free-style-ish improvisitional flavour. Its appearance to the world came not too long ago, at middle-2012, with the album Vulgatam Clementinam. Four months after, another full-length, Serenata, was born, and its latest record was released at May 5th, 2013, a single-track EP (divided in 9 "interludes") called Opscurum. 

Not only the production's pace of Bemônio is outstanding, but the art itself too. It's hard to figure out how they managed to achieve such high-level material in such little time! Bemônio's music is lugubrious, amorphous and deep, full of religious  and heretic provocations, and bold enough to incorporate elements of Sludge, Industrial and Doom Metal that would make masters of (really) heavy music like Neurosis, Godflesh, Melvins, Naked City proud of their vast influences. And proud is also me to see a great project emerging from the hot, sunny and chaotic vaults of my dear (cof cof). You can stream all Bemônio's work, besides free-downloading it, in the links right below. As I always say, I hope you enjoy! ;)











enjoy!

enjoy!









enjoy!

Teenage Filmstars

Teenage Filmstars (TF) is one of the most curious (and still largley unknown) Shoegaze acts from the 1st generation. Its birth happened not during the mid-late '80, as most bands of the genre, but in 1979 (!), by the hands of Edward Ball and his old school friends, releasing a stream of weird Pop Rock songs in a independent way (one of these songs was mistook for a tribute to John Lennon right after his death). Despite all the buzz, Ed Ball changed his band's name to The Times, releasing only a single album at 1985. 

However, Ed Ball took the world by surprise when he signed to Creation Records and came back with TF in 1992 and released some of the craziest Shoegaze albums even by current standards. Star (1992), aka Lift Off Mit Der Teenage Filmstars, features a Shoegaze/Noise Pop verve that doesn't deny the influences of Loveless (maybe this is the first record heavily inspired by Loveless ever made) but the taste for experimentalism from Mr. Ball went to higher levels than Shield's, if that's possible! Motorcycle zooms, twitter of birds, tape loops, strange whirring strings, even weirder piano lines, early Industrial-Electronic music influences and almost unlistanable drum patterns covered by woozy, blurred, blown-out and swirling guitar lines are used throughout the album, making Loveless sounds almost "orthodox" comparing to the fuzzy sonic carnival of Star.
The following record, Rocket Charm, is even crazier: every song was put backwords (except the drumming) with little regard to stereo placement and instrumentation levels. While the first half of the album is pure Shoegaze/Noise madness, the second half consists of moody and obscure Dark Ambient/Trip Hop/early Industrial/Ethnical/World Music (!!) pieces made with such quality that one wouldn't tell it's the same band of the beginning of the record!
The last effort, 1997's Buy Our Record Support Our Sickness, shifted the shoegazer's focus to a '60-'70 Avant-garde, psychedelic approach (everything recorded backwards too, of course!). 

Therefore, it's not a coincidence that Ball was regarded by Kevin Shields as "A sensitive soul from another planet. A modernist musical alchemist". He sure was. Just take a look at his other works here and you can have a glimpse of Ball's almost unreachable creative's power, although it looks like he's not making music anymore, just playing occasional shows under The Times name. And that's why his name should never be forgotten and his work should be in everyone's ear. Star and Rocket Charm are offered right below for downloading, and as soon as I get my hands in "Buy Our Record...", you'll have it in this same page too. 

enjoy!














enjoy!

Crisis Arm

Hello, Fellas!

It's been a rather slow week here in this space. Lots of stuff happening these days (as my masters thesis are wearing me off), but here we go, starting February. Last Saturday, I received a kind message from Kevin McVey talking about his three-piece assemblage, called Crisis Arm, and I couldn't be more pleasantly surprised by his work. His description says:

"Musically, Crisis Arm plays gentle yet claustrophobic experimental rock that straddles shoegaze, noise, and psychedelic stylings. Almost like the warped Wall-Of-Sound dynamics of My Bloody Valentine meeting the disjointed jazz-punk riffage of 90s Dischord bands, their work can be both jarring and engrossing.",

and it couldn't be more accurate. The skeleton of CA is made of Jazz-Punk, some Post Rock here and there and all those free experimental/improvisional madness, but their flesh and skin are composed by a top-level Shoegaze in its noisiest shape. But do not think they are just heartless monsters trying to entangle our minds with endless sonic attacks, as they put a lot of feeling to craft them, sounding gentle and sweetened when convenient. 

The final result: melted ears and a similing heart. Pure blissed awesomeness, isn't it? Then, you can find their music at the link right below, which directs you to their bandcamp page, whose albums can be purchased at a name-your-price scheme. 

That's it, guys. I thank Kevin McKey for the message. And I hope you enjoy it! :)

enjoy! (bandcamp)

Sobre a Máquina

Hailing under the blazing sun of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sobre a Máquina was initially born as a three-piece Cadu Tenório (the head of the project), Emygdio and Ricardo Gameiro at around 2009, and since late 2011 has the presence of a tenor saxophonist Alex Z. However, one will not find any trace of the warm tropical music and landscapes that characterizes so strongly this city and made it famous worldwidely. In the early SAM phase, their music was basically focused in the Dark Ambient, Drone and Industrial spheres, whose major influenced included Nine Inch Nails, Einstürzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gistle, Swans and the list goes on. To put in another words, a perfect soundtrack for the urban bleak landscapes, rusty machines, smoke, concrete, carbon dioxide, subways, etc

That was already highly innovactive in terms of Brazil, but they wanted to go further. The following records featured a wider range of textures, colors and tastes in their musical universe, exploring New Jazz while still deepening in the Early Electronic realms. But that was not the limit for them. At their brand new work, self-titled, SAM reaches a whole new horizon in their state-of-art. Each one of the eight tracks that compose this album was carefully crafted in order to create an even deeper immersion into the grey-ish cosmos of solitude and tacit nihilism we all drown in the day-after-day urban life, using every resource possible in order to accomplish it: tapes collage, tape loops, field recordings, overdub, special microphones, and even more "unusual" instruments such as records of pieces of TV programs, fans, or even bicycle's wheels, bottles, sounds coming from the floor, etc. 

If that's not the best brazilian record of 2012, at least it's one of the most creative, I'm very sure of it. I'll leave a free download link, directly from the label (Sinewave) page. There you can find the former SAM works too. Besides, if you wanna refresh your damaged memory, you can get a taste of their work in mixtape #5, which is closed by the song "Língua Negra"  from the same artist.



































enjoy!