IC3PEAK - Kiss Of Death

 #IC3PEAK #experimental rock #electronic rock #witch house #industrial rock #electro-metal #political #subversive #Russian #music video

You have followers in a society, the sheep, and you have those who stand up against the herd mentality and show their middle finger to oppression. One of those bands is the Russian electronic band IC3PEAK. They saw their VK page (the biggest media in Russia) banned because of our anti-war statements. Their concerts are also officially prohibited by the Russian government. Instead of remaining silent, they unleashed the video “Kiss Of Death” (the title track of their most recent album) which is “dedicated to the Russian police state which tries to censor us all but is doomed to fail.” The band is also collecting funds to support Ukrainian humanitarian aid.
IC3PEAK is the duo Anastasia Kreslina and Nikolay Kostilev. They formed the band in 2013 and released the English sung EP “Substances” the following year. Shortly after, they released the video for the song “Ether”. In 2017, IC3PEAK released their first album (in Russian), “Sladkaya zhizn” (“Sweet life”). The duo released another Russian-language album, “Skazka” (“Fairy Tale”), in 2018. The band’s third album in Russian was #Do Svidaniya” (“Goodbye”) and was released on April 24, 2020. By then they were already under political scrutiny, especially because of the video for the song “Smerti bolshe net” which was considered as an insult to law enforcement structures and to the Russian authorities. There were also accusations that the video would be promoting suicide, which, according to the authorities, could have an impact on the duo’s underage fans. What followed was targeted harassment, threats, and intimidation from the Russian security forces. Concert venues throughout Russia were told not to program them or cancel shows. The performance in Novosibirsk on 1 December 2018 became the peak of that confrontation. On that day, the members of IC3PEAK and the local concert organizers were detained while exiting the train at Novosibirsk Central Railway Station. The concert took place at an alternative venue.  From: https://www.side-line.com/russian-band-ic3peak-gets-banned-on-vk-for-anti-war-comments-their-reaction-an-anti-putin-video/

Alice Glass - Suffer and Swallow

 #Alice Glass #electronic #goth #industrial #electropunk #avant-pop #ex-Crystal castles #animated music video

Alice Glass’s Los Angeles home is a picture of gothic splendour. Her kitchen resembles a graveyard of dead flowers; she is annoyed that her living black lilies never droop when she is looking. There is a fake Goya on the way down to her basement studio, where skulls surround the drums. A spider crawls out of the toilet roll when I use her bathroom. It is probably not part of the decor. Glass is less macabre: there is a tattoo of Bambi on her thigh. She loved the royal wedding. Her voice only rises above its perpetual whisper when she calls to her cats, Mr Peanut and Fuzzy, the alpha who dominates her pit bulls, Jacob and Shadow. She apologises for the boxes that entomb the sofa, merch from her recent debut solo tour. She had polled fans on Twitter to ask which song she should play from the back catalogue of her former band, the anarchic electro-punk duo Crystal Castles, which she quit in October 2014. Ultimately, she decided to play the material to which she still felt connected – “where I’m feeling worthless and hopeless”, she says. It took time in rehearsals to shake off their negative associations.
It was not until allegations surfaced against Harvey Weinstein that Glass (born Margaret Osborn) was emboldened to go public with detailed allegations of abuse against her ex-bandmate, Ethan Kath (real name Claudio Palmieri). She felt it was her responsibility, “especially after I had been told he had done similar things to at least one other woman”. Glass had previously alluded to her experience when she released her debut solo single, Stillbirth, in July 2015: “You don’t own me any more,” she shrieked over music that she likened to “being eaten by fire ants”. The song allowed her to speak covertly at a time when she was scared of going outside in case she was served with a lawsuit, she says, claiming that Kath started making legal threats in response to her tweeting stats about domestic abuse fatalities shortly after she announced her departure from the band. Glass says she received cease-and-desist letters from the same firm that represented Bill Cosby, which quoted her tweets and intimated that Glass was making these statements to benefit her career. But seeing other women speaking out about abuse last October was like watching “someone jumping off a cliff”, she says. “If someone goes first, it lets you know that you’re safe. It really put things into perspective. If it wasn’t for them, I’m not sure how long it would have taken me to speak out.”  From: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/15/alice-glass-on-leaving-crystal-castles-the-cruelty-never-ceases-to-amaze-me

Descartes a Kant - Apricot Dreams

 #Descartes a Kant #art rock #avant-garde #alternative rock #experimental #noise rock #electronic #avant-garde cabaret #theatrical #Mexican #music video

Equal parts Punk, Metal, Pop, Shoegaze and Cabaret, the critically-acclaimed underground sextet, Descartes a Kant (Guadalajara, Mexico) have made a real name for themselves as an otherworldly, unpredictable, theatrical live act. So much so that even the Wall Street Journal chimed in to say that “trying to describe their music is to do it a disservice. It’s loud, racy, incredibly imaginative, sophisticated, funny and wild; it’s as if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs fronted Albert Ayler with Frank Zappa conducting”. They’re considered one of the leading lights in the vibrant, ever-evolving Mexican experimental underground and are now poised to gain greater international acceptance. Led by strong female characters, their first two releases Paper Dolls (an intense and bipolar short song hardcore ode to multiple personality) and Il Visore Lunatique (a tribute on psychiatric disorders that goes from hip-hop to a bizarre broadway style musical) led them to perform and thrill both club and festival audiences all over the world, including Mexico, USA, Russia, and Brazil, and share bills with The Melvins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sonic Youth, Explosions in the Sky and Slayer.  From: https://swampbooking.com/descartes-a-kant-mexico/

Descartes a Kant is a Mexican rock, noise, and avant-garde group from Guadalajara, formed in 2001. They are characterized by their fused style of different musical rhythms and their performance presentations. They adopted their name by combining two figures they admire: Descartes and Kant, whose opposing philosophical works framed the principles of the modern era.
Descartes a Kant’s style is called by the band "bipolar-schizoid sound”, alternating sweet and melodic tones with loud and strident. Their music incorporates influences from noisegrind, noise rock, surf, electronic music, bossa nova and jazz. Their live presentations are usually theatrical performances, and the members of the group usually wear specific outfits for them.  Translated from: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes_a_Kant

Tatran - Eyes

 #Tatran #progressive rock #electronic #experimental #post-rock #avant-garde #instrumental #Israeli #music video

Tatran (formed 2011, Israel) are an eclectic instrumental power trio, with musical influences that range from experimental jazz, rock, classical music, avant-garde, post-rock, experimental and electronic, combining to produce an ecstatic musical experience. Tatran's uncanny melodies, state of the art virtuosic playing and vivid sound, alongside their innovative relentless improvisations and their deep, near psychic on-stage communication, make them a mesmerizing live act. Tamuz Dekel’s versatile, almost omnipotent, psychedelic guitar with Offir Benjaminov’s thick, funkadelic yet-baroque bass combined with Dan Mayo’s diverse, supernatural futuristic groove-oriented drumming, reanimate a lucid dream to their listeners and spectators. Tatran's live act integrates breathtaking sounds with a hypnotizing atmosphere, both of which are considered by many of their fans to be Tatran’s hallmark, and although their show is completely instrumental, the strong feeling of intimacy and personal touch is unharmed and unrivaled.  From: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/3754101-tatran 

IC3PEAK - Fairytale

 #IC3PEAK #experimental rock #electronic rock #witch house #industrial rock #electro-metal #political #subversive #Russian #animated music video

IC3PEAK, a Russian experimental electronic duo, position themselves as an “audiovisual terror” project. Since their third studio record, 2017's Sladkaya Zhizn (Sweet Life), they have started singing almost exclusively in Russian. The vocalist, Nastya, explains: “There was a desire for dialogue with my own generation that happened, and in my native language; it erases distance”. This decision reflects rising nationalism in Russia since 2012 and runs parallel to anti-Putinism in Russian rap. In 2018, the band’s activity caught the eye of the authorities, and concerts were constantly disrupted by law enforcement, resulting in lingering paranoia and social anxiety for the band. IC3PEAK’s music references ongoing Russian socio-political issues, critiquing Putin’s eternal regime in “Death No More,” suppression of individual and democratic rights in “Marching,” and domestic violence in “Boo-Hoo.” All three songs are accompanied by grim videos that are immensely popular worldwide. Nastya draws on a wide range of vocal techniques, from whispers and chastushka-like recitations to yells in verses, while displaying Russian pevuchest’ (melodiousness) in bridges and choruses. Altogether these elements present a personal emotional outcry.
 
“I’m from a scary Russian fairytale!” shouts Nastya Krestlina from IC3PEAK (pronounced “I speak”) on their 2018 record Skazka (Fairytale). IC3PEAK are a Russian electronic duo from Moscow; they are one of a handful of Russian bands who are daring to comment on current socio-political issues in their home country.  IC3PEAK’s vocalist, Nastya, and producer, Nikolai (Kolya) Kostylev, have been collaborating since 2013. From the band’s inception, Nastya takes charge of writing all song texts and melodies, while Kolya produces accompanying beats and layers the multiple song components. The two collaborate closely, aiming to create a final product that equally presents their creative visions.

From: https://ummusicandpolitics.ii.lsa.umich.edu/articles/music-and-protest-demonstration/ic3peak-whispers-and-screams-po-russki-in-russian-of-cultural-downfalls-in-russia-today/

Portishead - Mourning Air

 #Portishead #trip-hop #alternative rock #electronica #downtempo #acid house #1990s

Portishead may not have invented trip-hop, but they were among the first to popularize it, particularly in America. Taking their cue from the slow, elastic beats that dominated Massive Attack's Blue Lines and adding elements of cool jazz, acid house, and soundtrack music, Portishead created an atmospheric, alluringly dark sound. The group wasn't as avant-garde as Tricky, nor as tied to dance traditions as Massive Attack; instead, it wrote evocative pseudo-cabaret pop songs that subverted their conventional structures with experimental productions and rhythms of trip-hop. As a result, Portishead appealed to a broad audience - not just electronic dance and alternative rock fans, but thirtysomethings who found techno, trip-hop, and dance as exotic as worldbeat. Before Portishead released their debut album, Dummy, in 1994, trip-hop's broad appeal wasn't apparent, but the record became an unexpected success in Britain, topping most year-end critics polls and earning the prestigious Mercury Music Prize; in America, it also became an underground hit. Following the success of Dummy, legions of imitators appeared over the next two years.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/portishead-mn0000301619/biography

Twenty-five years ago, during the summer of Blur’s Parklife and Oasis’s Definitely Maybe, a darker, stranger record was released that would soon become huge. Its title and mood was inspired by a 1970s TV drama of the same name, about a young deaf woman in Yorkshire who becomes a prostitute. The lyrics spoke of emotional extremes, sung in an extraordinary, rural-tinged, English blues by the Devon-born Beth Gibbons, of “the blackness, the darkness, forever” in Wandering Star, or of the feeling that “nobody loves me, it’s true, not like you do” in Sour Times. It’s sound, woven together by Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, helped define what is known today in music as hauntology, the sampling of older, spectral sounds to evoke deeper cultural memories (Boards of Canada’s TV-sampling electronica, Burial’s dubstep, and the Ghost Box label’s folk horror soundworlds would follow their lead). But despite its starkness, Dummy became a triple-platinum seller and a Mercury prizewinner, perhaps because it struck a nerve in what Barrow calls our “sonic unconscious - when sounds can merge with other sounds from somewhere else, and ultimately create emotion”.  From: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/aug/24/portishead-dummy-wasnt-a-chillout-album-25th-anniversary-geoff-barrow-adrian-utley-beth-gibbons

Little Big - Hateful Love

 #Little Big #techno #EDM #rave #pop punk #satirical #surreal #Russian #music video

Little Big are a Russian rave band founded in Saint Petersburg in 2013. The band currently consists of Ilya "Ilich" Prusikin and Sonya Tayurskaya. Their first full-length album, With Russia from Love, was released in March of 2014. The group has released a total of four albums and nine singles. The band is currently based out of Los Angeles, California, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The team calls itself a satirical art collaboration, which relies on the music, visuals, and the show. Little Big mocks various national stereotypes about Russia. All the videos are filmed by co-founder Alina Pasok. The band shoots and produces all of their music videos. Since the first concert took place as the opening act for Die Antwoord, the band was dubbed "The Russian Die Antwoord", and is often compared with this band. Vice also called Little Big "a Russian mental patient's answer to Die Antwoord". Other critics point out that while Little Big has an identity of its own, it also exposes the listener to Russian folk songs and Russian culture. The band was influenced by a variety of musicians from Cannibal Corpse, NOFX, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rammstein, and The Prodigy to Mozart and Vivaldi.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Big_(band)

 His songs are fabulously popular, known for their furious dance beats, absurd lyrics and tongue-in-cheek videos that poke fun at Russian stereotypes, pop culture and trappings of wealth. But in just four months, Ilya Prusikin’s life has turned upside down — he is in self-imposed exile for expressing his horror at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He lives in fear that he will never again see his home. “They are depriving me of a right to say that I don’t agree with murder,” said Prusikin, the lead singer for the Russian band Little Big, speaking via Zoom from an apartment in Los Angeles. As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in late February, Little Big posted a “No War” message on its social media channels in Russian and English. Less than a week later, Prusikin, 37, along with the band’s female vocalist Sonya Tayurskaya, 31, left their home in Moscow for the U.S. They faced the stark choice that many Russians opposing the war have confronted amid an unprecedented crackdown on free speech by President Vladimir Putin’s government. For most Russians who don’t agree with the war, new draconian legislation threatening jail time for any criticism of the armed forces has meant a choice between speaking out and leaving their homeland, or staying put and facing probable arrest and imprisonment. This intensifying repression, reminiscent of the Soviet era, clashes with the Western-influenced music scene that gave birth to Little Big, a self-described “punk-pop-rave band.” The four-person band’s viral hit “Skibidi” spawned a dance craze in Russia and around the world in 2018, and has nearly 620 million views on YouTube.  From: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-ukraine-little-big-ilya-prusikin-punk-rock-music-rcna36648

Beck - Devil's Haircut

 #Beck #alternative rock #folk rock #anti-folk #psychedelia #lo-fi #art rock #indie rock #underground rock #experimental #electronic rock #1990s

American musician Beck is a difficult artist to define. With a career that spans four decades, Beck’s music has encompassed every genre imaginable, including folk, funk, soul, hip-hop, electronic, alt-rock, country, and psychedelia. Unhindered by the expectations set upon him by previous releases, Beck has released 14 studio albums, each showcasing a distinct crevice of his creative identity.  From: https://happymag.tv/best-of-beck/

Beck himself has talked about the meaning of "Devils Haircut" on a few occasions. In one interview, he claimed that it was "a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity". He said of the song: I don't know if I ever had any youthful purity, but I can understand that you might be tempted to make commercial shit and compromise to do it. I try not to compromise on anything. I think we associate becoming an adult with compromise. Maybe that's what the devil is. In "Devils Haircut", that was the scenario. I imagined Stagger Lee... I thought, what if this guy showed up now in 1996... I thought of using him as a Rumpelstiltskin figure, this Lazarus figure to comment on where we've ended up as people. What would he make of materialism and greed and ideals of beauty and perfection? His reaction would be, "Whoa, this is disturbing shit".  From: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/9579/

Reggie Watts - Fuck Shit Stack

 #Reggie Watts #comedy #comedic music #electronic music #trip-hop #soul #alternative comedy #music video

Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts is an American comedian, actor, beatboxer, and musician. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. Watts refers to himself as a "disinformationist" who aims to disorient his audience in a comedic fashion. He appeared on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and leads the house band for The Late Late Show with James Corden.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Watts

The dude is hilarious. I’ve been on this Reggie Watts kick for almost four months now, ever since my friend sent me a link to his music/comedy video, “Fuck, Shit, Stack,” parody of his view of hip-hop. Aside from the crazy hair that he said, “adds to his look,” Reggie was wearing a fitted Montana t-shirt, suspenders, and blinged out triple rings when he met me at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan last week. Watts is currently the opening act for Conan O’Brien on The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour and recently recorded material for his Comedy Central special Why Shit So Crazy? He’s most noted for his improv comedy, but has dipped and dabbled into music, theatre, and performing arts. Not only that, he’s Alice Walker’s second cousin (although he admits to never reading any of her work). Reggie’s currently in New York for a string of performances over the next several weeks, and we were lucky to catch up with him for a brief moment. Check out our exclusive interview with the man who makes profanity totally okay.

I heard you’re a fan of our site.

Yea, someone told me about the site and I like the idea of it highlighting an under represented phenomenon.

Phenomenon?

I mean, it’s just that it quantifies alternative black culture in a way where its in a place. It’s nice to pull it all together.

How do you fall into the odd mix of things?

I guess I do because I don’t carry on in my comedy and when I perform, like here is a black person. I never really think of it that way. It’s just me and I’m kind of just doing stuff. Often times, people remind me and then I’ll be like, oh yea. But I’m going to do the same thing. A Latino guy with a bandanna gets up on stage, I’m going to immediately go, okay, and then when he starts talking about particle physics, then I’m like, wow. That’s really cool. I like that getting what you don’t expect. So in essence, I like the celebration of getting things that you don’t expect when you think you know what’s about to happen.

Let’s talk comedy. What’s funny to you?

Anything absurd. That’s my favorite form of comedy. Making it irrelevant by making it silly.

Is that what your song, “Fuck Shit Stack” is all about? I know all of the dance moves.

The song developed organically because I haven’t really written anything. Sometimes things stick and I start repeating them in my routines. So I think that was over two years of development and growth. I was just fucking around with it, not really taking it seriously. Then Comedy Central wanted to put out my record so I decided to do “Fuck Shit Stack” as my single. So I had some points I wanted to hit in the video. It was awesome.

What was the meaning behind the video?

The song was me playing on the cliche of hip hop. I love the beats, but sometimes it’s just so stupid. They’re just repacking the same shit over and over again.

Is that what the fuck shit is stacking?

I’ve never really given the title a definition because everyone kind of gives it it’s own thing and I kind of like that. The tangible lyrics are pretty basic and it’s fun to use swear words.

Are there any hip-hop artists you want to share this song with?

I call it pop hop. Like Jay Z, it didn’t come from that but that’s where it is. Not saying that it’s not heart filled, but its Hollywood, its glossy, it’s lifestyle music but no one lives that lifestyle. So its catchy but its irrelevant because it’s someones ideal of what life is like which is unattainable to the masses. Its not adding to the good to life.

From: https://afropunk.com/2010/09/fuck-shit-stack-up-with-reggie-watts/

Nina Hagen - Ziggy Stardust

 #Nina Hagen #new wave #Deutschrock #post-punk #synthpop #David Bowie cover #music video

Also known as the Godmother of Punk, Nina Hagen is a German singer and actress famous for her eccentric singing style and appearance. She has experimented with a vast number of different styles and genres throughout her career including reggae, punk, gospel, big band, swing and even Hindu devotional music.  From: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/bands/Nina-Hagen/44592/

‘I never said I am doing punk music. I never said I am a punk. They said that. I wanted to do rock music since I was 12 years old. It touched my heart to hear Tina Turner, the Beatles. And they were all my singing teachers because I made cassettes. And I sang along. And I wanted to make music like that.’ Born and raised in Berlin, East Germany, CBS Records signed Hagen in 1976 when she was 21. They knew she could sing ‘like a walking volcano,’ as she says, but they wanted her to learn live performance. So they gave her a lot of time and some money to go to London. ‘I saw all the punk bands and when I came back to Berlin I cut my hair short and made black lipstick’, Hagen says. ‘And then they said I’m a punk. I am an entertainer. I sing political cabaret and spiritual cabaret and I write songs about anything concerning life. So it’s just maybe one aspect of my art, punk art.’  From: https://www.maramarietta.com/the-arts/music/neo-classical-and-contemporary/nina-hagen/

The Birthday Massacre - Blue

 #The Birthday Massacre #gothic rock #darkwave #industrial rock #electronic rock #synth-rock #post-punk revival #Canadian #music video

The Birthday Massacre is a synth-rock band, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The band was officially formed in 1999, known at that time as Imagica. The band consists of Chibi (vocals), Rainbow (guitars and programming), Michael Falcore (guitars), Owen (keyboards), O.E. (previously drums, now bass), and Rhim (drums). Their sound is mostly a fusion of retro electronica and dynamic contemporary songwriting. Elements of children's fiction and adult fantasy are combined with twisting distortion and euphoric melody to create a unique and original sound dubbed "post-retro". This sound is also affiliated with "synth rock" a rising genre influenced by elements of 80's synthpop, industrial, and gothic rock.  From: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/890-the-birthday-massacre

This song is most definitely about duality of light and dark, ying and yang, and good and evil. Also, I notice how each person has a doll, and that only one person is on the floor while the others are floating. This is a parable about the true self and the ego. The ego is the false part of one's self that is quick to judge, selfish and will do something regardless of the consequences of their actions. The fact that these dolls have masks confirms that they are hiding their faces which the ego is very good at. The last place we would find our true enemy is within ourselves. Chibi who is on the floor is trying to fish out her doll (ego) but is unsuccessful in the attempt, when one thinks that their ego is the true self, which the ego wants, will find that they will destroy themselves and their loved ones. The ones floating are not making any attempt to catch their doll, because they see that they are not their ego and are free to rise to enlightenment as their dolls are also rising to the light. True self: Love, acceptance, nonjudgmental, the ability to let go and the urge to gain more knowledge to illuminate themselves and others. Ego (false self): Quick to judge, must hold on to what they have (most often material items or a person), lies, cheats and hides themselves from the light of the truth and would rather cover themselves in darkness to avoid being revealed because they themselves commit evil actions. I hope my comment can shed light on both this creative song and video and upon life as we know it.  From: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858517179

Jazmin Bean - Birthday Bitch

 #Jazmin Bean #Jasmine Adams #pop metal #trap metal #hyperpop #alt-pop #electropop #alternative metal #electro-industrial #singer-songwriter #Filipino #British #music video 

From musician, to makeup artist, to fashionista, Jazmin Bean does not fit into any one category. But who exactly is Bean anyway? Well, that particular question doesn’t have an answer with a neatly wrapped bow around it. Instead, the answer takes you on a roller coaster ride. From the streets of Harajuku, Japan, to the glorious and topsy-turvy world of Tim Burton, you’ll encounter Bean at the intersection of your worst nightmare and your favourite daydream - a “visual and musical collision of the darkest corners of our imagination,” as The Forty Five puts it. Bean is a hybrid of both the terrifying and the terrific. Creating a myriad of gruesome gore visuals and musical aesthetics, the artist firmly places themself in a lane of their own - and everyone should pay attention.
Jasmine Adams, professionally known as Jazmin Bean, is a British singer, songwriter, makeup artist, beauty brand owner, business entrepreneur, and of course, style icon - so, just about everything under the sun. The artist is non-binary, goes by the pronouns they/them, and toes the line between pop star and underground rebel on a daily basis. As a champion of multiple aesthetics, Bean has been credited for their fearless approach to blending various styles together, sonically and visually, in their music career. “I create music and film that pushes the boundaries of beauty and societal standards and throws itself into extremes,” they said in an interview with Dazed. There is a certain allure in the dark and lurid appeal of Bean, with their website currently featuring an image of them holding a giant blade. Frequently linked to other acts like Grimes, Rina Sawayama, Babymetal, Poppy and Melanie Martinez, the rising pop star has cemented their place in the alternative genre. Bean’s art seems to pull all ends of the spectrum, from nightmarish visuals to lullaby lyrics which both transform the way we enjoy and interact with music.  From: https://screenshot-media.com/culture/influencers/who-is-jazmin-bean/   

Anklepants - Ilikeyourfaceheadshoesanddick

#Anklepants #Joshua Head #Reecard Farché #electronic music #IDM #breakcore #techno #house #grime #prosthetics #animatronics #experimental #Australian #music video

To be clear: this guy wears an animatronic dildo mask and his voice and music is controlled by sensors located in his suit? Shit just got weird. You either get Anklepants or you don’t. The brainchild of Reecard Farché, the 17th century fictional character brought back to life by Berlin-based Australian-born artist Joshua Head, is a deeply melancholic ghost. The electronic music of Anklepants is either loathed or loved, primarily because of superficialities: the mask he wears onstage has an animatronic dildo for the nose, better known as the “facé of Reecard Farché.” Interviewing Head is an incredibly layered experience - for one, he speaks of himself in the third person, then there are his characters, plus there’s the use of the accent aigu (é) in place of the English vocabulary. With a background in prosthetics and animatronics for films like Star Wars Episode 3 and special effects for Prometheus, he brings together his talents in robotics and prosthetics and combines them with beats for the one-man mechanical-faced masterpiece. With over 20 releases to date, Anklepants’ voice and input are created from custom controllers and sensors within his (somewhat scary) custom-tailored suits. He combines electronic music with hardware, synths, guitars, animal growls, field recordings and custom instruments. The question “Why the dick face?” is understandably the most pointed question, but beyond this is a musician who fuels the experiences around him for a complex soundtrack. Also, his You Tube channel is filled with anecdotes from living on top of an African church, which tried to push him out of his former home in London.

Q: You’ve worked in prosthetics and robotics for films like Star Wars Episode 3. How did your trademark, the Facé of Reecard Farché, come about?

Anklepants: The Facé of Reecard Farché was in the beginning the direct fusion of prosthetics, animatronics, and 80s animatronic control (retro). Using midi input to output pwm to servo motors gave Reecard Farché the power to sequence servo motors from any conventional midi sequencer.

Q{ What kinds of reactions do you get both on and offstage?

Anklepants: As Reecard Farché enters the building, people are generally filled with a desire to touch, a desire for control. Watching Reecard Farché carry out his duties gives the viewer the feeling that their mind is being formatted, and they leave having no recollection of their life before they watched the Reecard Farché. It’s kind of a cleansing experience, and at the same time similar to the feeling when you have not taken library books back, and you realize this seven months after the due back date. Generally its "heterosexual" males that become the most sexually charged, they just want Reecard so bad that their little eyes light up and they forget what they were supposed to be doing. It’s really nice. The bodily gestures of Reecard Farché in the midst of extracting a linear input from the mic I take it is desirable for any social complexion. The suggestion is to try it out; it’s not tested on animals.

From: https://www.vice.com/en/article/rm5gyr/the-mechanical-face-of-anklepants

 

Genitorturers - Touch Myself

 #Genitorturers #industrial metal #industrial rock #hardcore #electronic #hard rock #heavy metal #Divinyls cover

Led by outrageous frontwoman Gen, the Genitorturers are one of those bands far more well-known for their live shows and alternative lifestyles than for their music. Apparently the Genitorturer's live experience can include S&M, elaborate body piercings, sexual escapades, and who knows what else. As such, it's easy to focus on that aspect of the band and dismiss the music, and it might not be surprising if the music wasn't all that great, if that were the case. But on the contrary, the music is actually quite good, a catchy techno/electronic metal hybrid (a rough stab at their sound might be a cross between Rammstein and Marilyn Manson with female vocals) that is quite entertaining and effective. This is an odd band for a death metal bassist to end up in, but this is the precisely the case with David Vincent, formerly of Morbid Angel (though it makes somewhat more sense when one realizes that he is married to Gen). Quite the interesting band.  From: https://www.bnrmetal.com/v5/band/band/Geni

Guerilla Toss - Dose Rate

#Guerilla Toss #neo-psychedelia #art rock #noise rock #experimental rock #space rock #indie rock #electronic #no wave #post-rock #music video

GT Ultra is the second full length album by Guerilla Toss on DFA Records. The album demonstrates a remarkable shift in sound, musicianship and songwriting, without ever giving up the unhinged quality that made their earlier recordings so exciting. The album title GT Ultra is a clever nod to ‘Project MK Ultra’, the government sponsored experiments using new experimental drugs to explore mind control, torture and forced confessions, often with LSD as their drug of choice. These tests lasted from the mid 1950’s-1960’s, but with a new administration in the white house, government sponsored torture is fresh again on many minds. The songs on the album ricochet back and forth between hyper bouncy pop and deeper darker longer, more nuanced tracks. Peter Negroponte’s drumming, always a major highlight for the band, are in full force once again, this time bringing a Nassau/Compass Point feel to many tracks, like the classic recordings of Grace Jones and Talking Heads.  Kassie Carlson’s vocals and lyrics are both more personal and more cryptic than ever. But you can hear every word this time, and there is a lyric sheet. As preferred, the meaning is within the listener. It is a dream state record for sure, meant to take you along on a similar vibe that the band has been tripping on these past few years, filled with an insistence to “hydrate, gyrate, think straight, no weight”, all the while under the influence of golden beams of orange sunshine, glimmering glitter and kaleidoscopic bursts. It is no mistake the album is wrapped in vintage blotter acid, created by legendary LSD archivist and artist Mark McCloud and The Institute of Illegal Images, based out of San Francisco.  From: https://guerillatoss.bandcamp.com/album/gt-ultra

Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal

 #Grace Jones #R&B #new wave #art rock #electronic #industrial #post-punk #post-disco #actress #performance artist #Jamaican #music video

The Corporate Cannibal video is in black and white, and the only images that appear on the screen are those of Grace Jones’ face and upper body, black against a white background. But Jones’ figure is subject to all sorts of electronic distortions. The most common effect is one of elongation: her face is stretched upwards, as if she had an impossibly long forehead, as if her notorious late-80s flattop haircut had somehow expanded beyond all dimensions. Or else, her entire body in silhouette is thinned out, gracile (if that isn’t too much of a pun), and almost insectoid. The image also bends and fractures: her mouth stretches alarmingly, her eyes bulge out and expand across the screen like some sort of toxic stain. And sometimes Jones’ figure multiplies into two or three distorted, and imperfectly separated, clones. Nothing remains steady for more than a few seconds; the screen is continually morphing, and everything is so stylized and disrupted that we don’t get a very good sense of what Jones actually looks like today. Her facial features remain somewhat recognizable — Grace Jones has never looked like anyone else - and at a few moments, we get a brief almost undistorted close-up of her eyes, nose, and mouth - but there is something monstrous as well about this individuated “faciality”; and in any case it is gone almost before we have had the time to take it in.  From: http://www.shaviro.com/Blog/?p=653

Earth Tongue - Microscopic God

 #Earth Tongue #psychedelic rock #electronica #neo-psychedelia #heavy psych #fuzz rock #1970s retro #New Zealand 

Sometimes music is supposed to feel weird and indescribable. It’s the moments of clarity within the dense, sonic mess that often feels the most satisfying. That’s the space that Earth Tongue occupy. At times, their songs are shrill and disorientating, other times their reverb-washed textures and instantly familiar hooks can wrap you in a warm, loving embrace. The one consistent thread through their music, however, is the thick and all encompassing fuzz. Guitarist Gussie Larkin has become a master of the fuzz-smothered riff, and along with Ezra Simons’ off-kilter drumming, they’ve been sending punters into transcendental states since they began gigging in their home town of Wellington, New Zealand in 2016.  From: https://www.flyingnun.co.nz/collections/earth-tongue-new-zealand-band

Heavy psychedelic/fuzz band who formed in 2016 in Wellington, New Zealand.  A male/female two-piece who play loud, energetic, disorientating songs, often with space and/or occult themes.  What do you get if you cross Black Sabbath with Stereolab?  Fuck knows, says Ged Babey, but listen to this Primitive Prog - it’s crazy cosmic jack! Sometimes music is supposed to feel weird and indescribable. It’s the moments of clarity within the dense, sonic mess that often feels the most satisfying. That’s the space that Earth Tongue occupy. At times, their songs are shrill and disorientating, other times their reverb-washed textures and instantly-familiar hooks can wrap you in a warm, loving embrace. Now that is a good description, from the bands press release.  Another two piece band - drums and guitar, re-writing the rules and making Prog-influenced music sound simultaneously pop and primitive.
Named after a glutinous fungus (Glutinoglossum glutinosum) Earth Tongue consists of two earthlings: Gussie Larkin (guitar) and Ezra Simons (drums). Both sing.  Their debut Portable Shrine EP was self-released in New Zealand but Floating Being is released this via Bristol (UK) based independent label Stolen Body Records – home of a load of cool international bands. Earth Tongue embrace the imperfections in their playing and recording – drawing influence from early 70s psych and prog rock. The last thing they wanted was to create a shiny, over-produced record – with that in mind, they recorded the drums to an old 8-track Tascam reel-to-reel in a friend’s garage in Melbourne. The result is a punchy, raw and fuzzy journey into psych-rock with songs that weave between melodic and jarring. Unexpected twists and turns leave the listener in a disorientated yet satisfying haze.  From: https://louderthanwar.com/earth-tongue-floating-being-album-review/

IC3PEAK - I’m Not Evil, I’m Sad

 #IC3PEAK #experimental rock #electronic rock #witch house #industrial rock #electro-metal #political #subversive #Russian

In the 2018 mini-documentary Let It All Burn, the Moscow duo IC3PEAK are about to play a show in the Russian city of Voronezh when health inspectors and police arrive to shut the venue down on suspicion of food poisoning. Although the alleged incident has taken place the day before the band’s arrival in town, the officers demand to speak to the band and their manager. This is the latest obstacle on a tour where every stop has been plagued by interference from government officials. As the club director is interrogated, the sound engineer and the duo’s manager sneak fans through a backdoor into the dimly lit room where IC3PEAK members Nastya Kreslina and Nikolay Kostylev launch into their song “Сказка” (“Fairytale”): “I come from a Russian horror fairy tale/It doesn’t matter where you come from,” Kreslina spits. “I do not play your games/Someday you will die.” At the end of their short set, a sizable crowd, most of whom didn’t even make it into the venue, lingers in the cold outside, singing along to their favorite IC3PEAK songs. Kreslina and Kostylev join them to sing the controversial hit “Смерти Больше Нет” (“Death No More”), which may have set off the government’s ire to begin with: “I fill my eyes with kerosene/Let it all burn, let it all burn/All of Russia is watching me/Let it all burn, let it all burn.” With their politically brazen lyrics about police repression and state hypocrisy, as well as a fierce, highly stylized goth maximalism, IC3PEAK is one of the most exciting bands to come out of Russia in a while - and Russia’s youth and officials both know it.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/ic3peak-do-svidaniya-goodbye/

White Ring - IxC999

 #White Ring #witch house #ghost punk #electronica #industria #heavy metal #indie rock #music video

White Ring was originally the duo of Bryan Kurkimilis and Kendra Malia, before they were joined by Adina Kurkimilis. One of the most acclaimed proponents of the "Witch House" movement, White Ring blend heavy, distorted electronics with eerie, unsettling vocals. However, their new material, created over the course of seven years, pushes the boundaries further, subverting genre ideas and mashing them all together, with industrial, metal, rave, chopped and screwed, rap, grunge, neo folk, post punk and new wave all in the mix. As Bryan Kurkimilis explains; “We treat our influences like tools to create a certain feeling. We are interested in covering more ground than sticking to a certain formula.”  From: https://rocketgirl.co.uk/artists/647

It makes sense that upstart label Disaro calls Houston home; the city's humid weather and the syrup-sipping roots of the regional hip-hop scene perfectly suit the label's releases, which feature swampy atmospheres and slowed-down vocals run through varying levels of oppressive static. New York duo White Ring have that distinctive lean down pat, especially on "IxC999", scheduled for release on Disaro in the next few months. A skeletal drum machine clatters with low-rider menace, while vocalist Kendra Malia alternately whispers and chant-sings about "ice in her hand" as walls of blown-out bass threaten to drown her out. At its core, "IxC999" is pretty fucking scary, from Malia's voice to the sound effects (creaking doors, gunshots) on down; by the time it dissolves into high-pitched staccato moans, you don't know whether to nod your head or hide under the covers.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11875-white-ring-ixc999/

Psychic TV - 8Transmissions8

 #Psychic TV #Genesis P-Orridge #industrial #experimental #acid house #post-punk #ambient house #neo-psychedelia #electronica #industrial dance #ex-Throbbing Gristle #performance art #video art #experimental video #Temple ov Psychick Youth #VHS rip 

A watershed time for Brion Gysin and William Burroughs was in Paris, in the decade of the
1960s. It was the only time Gysin ever earnestly garnered recognition for his creative efforts. While Gysin might be considered a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, his eminent energy paved the way through numerous monumental projects and seminal discoveries. In the decades prior to his relationship with Burroughs, he’d exhibited his works alongside the likes of Duchamp and Picasso; invited to be a Surrealist participant by Dalí - later booted from the group by Breton. But it was his association with Burroughs, always his biggest cultural advocate, which helped usher his artistic ventures into popular culture. So what’s this have to do with contemporary dance subculture? If the interconnectedness isn’t already obvious, move along to Act II. Enter Genesis P-Orridge. During the Paris years, P-Orridge had become a correspondent with Burroughs, and eventually a friend. And, of course, friends with Gysin. P-Orridge was a performance artist who’d exchange art mail with other interesting correspondance acquaintances like Burroughs and Monte Cazzazza. He also became pals with draggish film-maker Derek Jarman, for whom he scored a few short film projects himself, and later with his band, the “original” Industrial outfit, Throbbing Gristle. P-Orridge had ideas of his own, even if they were enmeshed with those of Gysin and Burroughs. His ideas included the dynamics inherent within ritual magick (not unlike the practices of Aleister Crowley), the necessity of trance-induced creative expression (such as in the art of Austin Osman Spare), and the immediatism of organized performance and media as weapons against social control. Shocking the hell out of crowds with the self-mutilation, enema-farting, lighted-candle-vaginal-masturbation performances of art troupe Coum Transmissions only paved the way for the all-out sensory onslaught of Throbbing Gristle’s live sets. And when that act diminished in 1981, P-Orridge and ex-Throbbing Gristle cohort Peter Christopherson (founder of Coil) not only joined forces with Alternative TV members to form musick group Psychick Television, but they also established a “non-dogmatic” ritualistic religious order: The Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY). And to finalize the concrete front of anti-establishment propaganda, they created their own television network - Psychic TV, which is the working title of all of P-Orridge’s collaborative projects up through the present. “TG don’t get involved with the causes and cliches of The Great White Liberal consciousness, the dogmas and demonstrations of emotional hang-ups and guilt complexes (sexism, racism, no nukism, thisism, thatism) thinking them red herrings introduced to divert people from The Horrible Truth - into useless, fruitless ‘activism’.” Psychic TV didn’t conform to predictable conventions any more than TG had. Musically, the group explored the continuing usage of drum machines, tape loops, and electronics in combination with live instrumentation—a tactic which had become a standard in the music of TG. However, stylistically, PTV delved into numerous genres - Hyperdelic Rock, Muzack, Noise, and yes, Acid House and Techno - remixing and reinventing themselves sonically onstage and off. P-Orridge began to dabble in more contemporary video production for the day, creating sprawling, wild psychedelic imagery which moved in time to the music and while adopting some very MTV-ish trends, consistently moving beyond them. On a U.S. tour during 1986, P-Orridge & Co. visited a Chicago record shop, asking shop clerk (the now world famous deejay) Derrick Carter what the weirdest most underground sounds were in the shop. “Oh, that’d be the Acid,” Carter told them. Thinking the moniker referred to the drug and expecting psychedelic rock music, P-Orridge bought the entire stock. Upon returning to England and listening to the records, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that the music was instead tweaky, heavily-filtered electronic washes of sound with repetitive beats. As a result, Psychic TV began to dabble with the style and by 1987 released a now-legendary Acid House classic: “Tune In, Turn On Thee Acid House”. The single gained immediate popularity both in Europe and abroad, and foreshadowed the approach of the most important elements still lacking from the ecstatic dance culture in which Brion Gysin had once immersed himself.  From: https://www.deadlybuda.com/DeadlyType/deadlytype.pdf