Tag: punk

DECAYCAST Reviews: ALGIERS “Shook” (2023)

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mynameisbluesky reviews ALGIERS “Shook” for DECAYCAST

Before we dive into the album, let’s address this pesky comparison that Algiers have been getting lately: TV On the Radio. If you have been listening to music made by black people or if you are a black person who makes music that is stubbornly uncategorizable, receiving said comparisons will be inevitable. This is a comparison that the band savagely smirked at on their track “Can the Sub-Bass Speak?” But if you will, I can be able to help explain why the egregious comparison to such a band may not be as farfetched and random as it seems.

Like TVOTR, Algiers can kick out an electrifying jam when they need to, and when it happens, you can feel the passion through your body and soul. But they are not above also singing with a tired, angry world-weariness of negro spirituals long ago. And often when they sing, it is of anything they can use to either survive or battle the inevitable decline of our nation. They also gleefully mix genres when they sing tracks of despair, love, strength and hope. The difference between Algiers and TVOTR, remains this: neither Tunde Adebimpe or Kyp Malone can spit a smooth 16 like Fisher, tho.

On “73%”, Franklin Fisher spits as if he has been waiting for a long minute to shit talk the abyss and as he does it, he makes damn sure he isn’t alone. Zack de la Rocha gets his turn to grit his teeth on “Irreversible Damage” while the notoriously anonymous billy woods and horrorcore visionary Backxwash each trade red-eyes bars with Fisher on the first single “Bite Back” wrapping up the hell felt during the space between now and the 2020 protest/coronavirus plague. Throughout Algiers’ discography, it always sounded like the band wants more than justice, but a sense of revenge. It sounded like looking for resolve and not receiving one. Shook is the first album where Fisher no longer sounds alone.

If you are one of those who enjoyed the There is No Year bonus “Void”, you will be glad to know Fisher has not lost that wild fervor, as he spits bile towards clueless Caucasian people with supposed POC friends on the cover of “A Good Man”. But amidst the sneering at the world around him, Fisher also takes time to zero into his own world and heal his heart in the process. After going through a breakup, “I Can’t Stand It!” tackles his depression after the breakup with the assistance of Future Islands’ frontman Samuel T. Herring. Where past songs tackle the desolate scene that began with an Atlanta train station announcement (“Everybody Shatter” with Southern poet Big Rube), “Momentary” is that glimpse of light ending the album with a poem/meditation on death with Lee Bains III (of Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires) at the podium.

I neglected to mention the continued genre-agnostic attitude on this record, but all that needs to be said is that the album takes genres ranging from dub to jazz to garage rock to electronica to hip hop to gospel and soul and manages to weave them all in the project without sounding any bit out of place. As a result, the album feels constructed with the ear of a musical auteur. It was created to sound less like just a disc with songs on it, and more like a soundtrack to a collection of feelings and moments at one time. It’s the sound of coming to grips with everything that has happened.

Calling Shook a record of community would feel reductive and too focused on the red herring, but if the artists didn’t also know what it is to kick against the gates of hell, and choose to help rage against it, too, there is no telling whether or not it would have worked. It’s easier to say that if you felt an energetic lull on There Is No Year, Shook will sooner put that worry to bed than it would that pesky comparison they have been receiving. – mynameisblueskye

Order “SHOOK” here:

https://algierstheband.bandcamp.com/album/shook

DECAYCAST Reviews: MAX NORDILE “Primordial Gaffe” (Paisley Shirt Records 2019)

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DECAYCAST Reviews: MAX NORDILE “Primordial Gaffe” (Paisley Shirt Records 2019)

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Bay Area punk/skronk/noise-jazz stalwart and member of Bay Area angular Jazz Punk trio, Preening, Max Nordile offers a cassette of short improvisations ranging from minimalist abstract percussion collages, to droning amplifiers, reeds, kitchen sink falling down the stairs type of vibes here via SF label Paisley Shirt Records. Plethora of interesting textures here and lots of start/stop/STOP  going on which often sounds like a full free jazz band about to blast into a ring of chaos but they keep getting stuck in the beginning, creates an edgelike tension which is hard to replicate in a studio/recording, but Nordile accomplishes this quite nicely with raw room recordings rather than overproduced studio isolationist techniques. Some tracks are more raw experiments with often just one sound source, however others are more developed, using multi-instrumentalist strategies where percussive objects clang and bang into each other while strings and a plethora of reeds bleed through in the background.

My favorite track is without a doubt also the albums longest, “Decaying Tab (with Mirror)” which navigates more into Mort Garson on acid territory with yelled vocals, womping horns, muted, angular guitar riffs, and a percussion shit storm-  a  true cacophony invoking Trout Mask era Beefhart at times. Highly recommended for fans of  skronk/free jazz with a punk sensibility. 

 

DECAYCAST “Deathquestions” AKA An Interview with Anti-Fascist Metal Group NECKBEARD DEATHCAMP

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DECAYCAST Interviews: “DEATHQUESTIONS” AKA An Interview with Anti-Fascist Black Metal Group NECKBEARD DEATHCAMP

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Black Metal, as many forms of extreme music has often taken an ambiguous stance when it comes to politics, if not outright fascist stances exemplified through the racist ideologies darkly and morbidly cloaking bands and labels who define (or disguise) themselves within NSBM or National Socialist Black Metal. Do these same types of ideologies exist in other scenes without us even knowing? The answer is an obvious yes, however due to metal’s historically unrelenting use of extreme imagery and themes celebrating death, mutilation, war, lynchings, white supremacy,  terror/terrorism etc, usually in the most fetishistic way possible, many times  devoid of  any inherent critique  for said content, it beginss the question, is there more overt racism in extreme metal than other genres? Probably not, however it often seems this way due to the outspoken and upfront nature of the rise of “edgelords” in extreme music (see: white supremacists) . In an age where the “leader of the free world” aka some grease encrusted orange, sniveling worm, criminal  uses racist policies and language, othering and institutionalized racist and sexist tactics to “drive the nation” and “Make America Great Again” and magnify hate, racism, and xenophobia around the globe, many extreme music fans are often left wondering where the artists and musicians they support stand politically within a constantly emboldened right and a flaccid left, well extreme black metal band NECKBEARD DEATHCAMP doesn’t sit on the fence. In fact they burn the fence down and stuff it’s simmering embers down the throat of racism, transphobia and many forms of oppression and hatred within the metal scene with their debut album, “White nationalism Is For Basement Dwelling Losers” that took the internet by storm  They were kind enough to grace us with an interview to deep dive into the ethos of ND. Also buy their record here and go see them at the esteemed Maryland Death Fest  this year whose need for an antifascist presence has been long overdue!

 

Dr. Decaycast: Thank you for uniting with DECAYCAST to talk about how racists are trash humans, wait maybe I jumped the gun, .Can you describe the philosophy and ethos of NECKBEARD DEATHCAMP for those who might not be aware

KH:  NECKBEARD DEATHCAMP IS A MILITANT REPLY TO THE FASCIST SEIGE OV HEAVY METAL ENABLED BY CURRENT POLITICAL TIMES. WE ARE AN ANARCHIST WAR BRIGADE ASSIGNED TO THE MANUAL EXTERMINATION OV THE RACIST BEDROOM KEYBOARD WARRIORS AND OUR DIRECTION IS SINGULAR AND UNSTOPPABLE. OUR PHILOSOPHY IS ONE OV ABSOLUTE HATRED AND CRUELTY FOR THEIR DISGUSTING WAY OV LIFE AND OUR OATH IS TO ABSOLUTE INTOLERANCE OV THEIR CHILDLIKE ANSWERS TO THE HARD QUESTIONS. THANK YOU FOR HAVING US. HAIL BLACK METAL. HAIL VICTORY.

HK: OUR GOAL IS THE COMPLETE ERADICATION OV  NATIONAL SOCIALISM

DD: Why is it important or isn’t it important for bands to be political?

KH: AS A BAND YOU’RE ALLOWED TO MAKE MUSIC ABOUT WHATEVER YOU WANT. I’M NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF TELLING ANYONE HOW TO MAKE THEIR OWN ART. BUT I THINK MUCH OV THE CONVERSATION WE HAVE IN BLACK METAL IS ABOUT HOW ASSHOLES TRY TO ESCAPE THEIR OWN AGENCY IN THE ART THAT THEY MAKE WHENEVER CONVIENIENT.

AND THAT IS SOME SHIT BY WHICH WE SHALL NOT ABIDE. DOUBLY SO IF YOU WANT TO PRETEND YOUR BAND ST8RMKR8EG SS IS AN “APOLITICAL” BLACK METAL PROJECT. YOU FUCKING DORKS.

CONVERSELY I THINK THE WARRIORS OV THE WORLD MAKING PROTEST MUSIC. AND ESPECIALLY HEAVY PROTEST MUSIC IN TIMES LIKE THESE ARE HUGELY IMPORTANT. AND THEIR VOICES SHOULD BE HELD HIGH AND HEARD LOUD.

YOU HAVE A LOT OV AGENCY IN YOUR ART. AND WHAT YOU MAKE WILL NEVER ESCAPE WHO YOU ARE. NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY. SO TRY TOMORROW TO BE LESS OV A DICKWEED THAN YOU WERE TODAY IF YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE THE COMPANY OV ANYONE OTHER THAN MISERABLE UNAPOLOGETIC DICKWEEDS.

HK: I DON’T THINK IT IS NECESSARILY IMPORTANT FOR BANDS TO BE POLITICAL; THIS IS BECAUSE MUSIC IS AN ART FORM, AND SOME OF THE EMOTIONS EXPRESSED THROUGH MUSIC ARE APOLITICAL. WITH THAT SAID, IF A BAND HAS ANY STRONG POLITICAL LEANING OR BELIEF, BY ALL MEANS EMBRACE IT. SOMETHING I HAVE DONE PERSONALLY, IS TO HAVE SOME OF MY MUSICAL PROJECTS TAKE A POLITICAL STANCE, WHILE OTHERS REMAIN APOLITICAL. THIS PREVENTS THE MUSICAL DIRECTION FROM GETTING CLOUDED WITH TOO MUCH CONTENT, WHILE STILL GIVING AN OUTLET FOR POLITICAL VIEWS.

DD:Do you think the black metal scene harbors a disproportionate amount of fascists, racists, and homophobes/transphobes and just ignorance in general, as compared to other genres, or are these notorious NSBM bands just more becoming with their beliefs,  because of artists like Varg, GAAHL, and others alike perpetuating these beliefs through their music and writings?

KH:  NO. I THINK BY VOLUME MOST RACISTS (AND CERTAINLY MOST RAPISTS) LISTEN TO DANCE MUSIC AND DO THAT THING WHERE THEY WEAR BOAT SHOES AND CHUBBIES SHORTS IN GROUP PHOTOS. HOWEVER HEAVY METAL HAS ALWAYS ATTRACTED THE EDGIEST PERSONALITIES. AND WHERE THOSE GUYS WILL SAY SHIT LIKE “I’M JUST FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE” AS CODE FOR “I DON’T REALLY CARE HOW SYSTEMIC RACISM HAS EFFECTED THE BLACK COMMUNITY”. OUR ASSHOLES JUST PUT A FUCKING SWASTIKA ON THE ALBUM COVER AND WILL CALL YOU SLURS OPENLY. IT MAKES THEM EASIER TO POINT OUT AND TALK ABOUT. LOUIS CACHET CERTAINLY PLAYS A HUGE HAND IN THIS PHILOSOPHY OV MOST OV THE DUMMIES HERE IN HEAVY METAL, BUT MOST OV THEM ARRIVED STUPID AND EDGY WITHOUT HIS HELP.

HK: INARGUABLY, YES. JUST SURF THROUGH SOME BM BANDS ON METAL ARCHIVES AND THAT WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.

DD: Who would be three bands or humans you could eradicate from the music scene altogether,  and why and never bat a lash?

KH:  FAMINE OV PESTE NOIRE HAS TO GO. AS PER OUR CONTRACT WITH PROSTHETIC WE ARE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE THREE RECORDS OVER THE COURSE OV THREE YEARS. FAMINE IS ACTUALLY SO EFFECTIVE AT MAKING A MOCKERY OV BLACK METAL HE MAY ACTUALLY BURN THE GENRE DOWN BEFORE THAT TIME. THAT GUY CAN SUCK MY ARISTO-ASSE.

NYOGOTHABLITS. THOUGH OUR FRIENDS STILL SEND EACH OTHER HUGE WALLS OV TEXT ABOUT SILLY THINGS TITLED “TRANSMISSION 616: DECLASSIFIED” ONLY IT’S ABOUT WHOEVER ATE THE LAST TOASTER STRUDEL, OR WHOSE CAR HAS ALL OV US BLOCKED IN THE DRIVEWAY. I’M MAD THAT THOSE GUYS EXPECTED US TO READ THAT MOUNTAIN OV SHIT BRANDED AS A PUBLIC STATEMENT AFTER THE HELLVETRON SHOW GOT SHUT DOWN.  THERE ARE PLENTY OV OTHER DUMMIES IN FASCIST BLACK METAL DOING MORE HEINOUS SHIT THAN THESE GUYS BUT ALL THOSE DUDES DON’T USE THE PHRASE “APOLITICAL NEO-FASCISM” UNIRONICALLY.

I’D ALSO SEND DER STURMER HOME. I DON’T HAVE A PUNCH LINE FOR THESE GUYS, THEY’RE JUST BAD AND I FIND THE DISCUSSION SURROUNDING THEM REALLY BORING. SOME OV THE OTHER NAZI TURDS ARE AT LEAST MARGINALLY SELF AWARE OR INTERESTING TO SHIT ON. BUT LIKE PEOPLE CAN TALK SHIT ABOUT US ALL DAY FOR HAVING NO RIFFS YET UNIRONICALLY GAS THESE GUYS. WHO ARE LIKE UNFLAVORED OATMEAL SERVED WITH A MAYONNAISE SANDWICH ON WHITE BREAD WITH A NICE GLASS OV WATER.

HK: ANTICHRIST KRAMER, LAURI PENTTILA, DER STURMER

DD:  In a time where many systems like white supremacy and the justice system have rendered political neutrality in ones daily life dangerous and impossible, do you think/hope by taking such a strong stance against white supremacy, you hope to nudge younger bands and artists to create passionate anti- fascist music and art? 

KH:  FUCK YEAH. IT’S ALREADY BEGUN. THE AMOUNT OV PROJECTS CROPPING UP WHO ARE ALREADY PLAYING BETTER THAN US, TELLING THE PUNCH LINE BETTER THAN US, AND THROWING HEAVIER PUNCHES THAN US IS GREAT. MORE PEOPLE SHOULD DO IT. WHEN THE FIRES OV FASCISM ARE DISTANT AND EXTINGUISHED. WE CAN MAKE ART AND MUSIC AND JOKES ABOUT THE NEXT ISSUE. WE’RE FAR FROM THE FIRST. AND WE WON’T BE THE LAST. MORE.

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH. MY ACTUAL POLITICAL INTEREST AND BEST TALKING POINTS ARE ON HOW MONSANTO AND OTHER MAJOR FOOD CONGLOMERATES HAVE BECOME A CORPORATE OLIGARCHY AND PAVED THE WAY FOR THE PURCHASE OV OUR HUMAN RIGHTS BY LOBBYING FIRMS.

BUT THAT WAS BEFORE A TIME IN WHICH AN ADULT MAN IN AN ILL FITTING MY LITTLE PONY T-SHIRT FELT COMFORTABLE SCREAMING DIRECTLY INTO MY FACE ABOUT MY SOY INTAKE. SO HERE WE ARE.

HK: ABSOLUTELY YES. I HOPE TO CONVERT AS MANY PEOPLE TO ANTIFASCISM AS POSSIBLE. MANY PEOPLE, INCLUDING A YOUNGER ME, WERE SCARED OF ANTIFA MAINLY BECAUSE OF THE WAY IT’S PORTRAYED IN THE MEDIA, WITHOUT ACTUALLY KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT LEFTIST PHILOSOPHY. I HOPE THAT THE MUSIC WE MAKE WILL HELP PEOPLE SEE THE ERROR IN THEIR WAYS, AND EDUCATE THEMSELVES ON LEFTIST PHILOSOPHY. ONCE YOU ACTUALLY LEARN WHAT IT MEANS AND WHAT IT’S ABOUT, YOU’LL FIND IT’S NOT SCARY AT ALL.

DD:  Who would you rather see drawn and quartered, David Duke or Richard Spencer?

KH: YES.

HK: YES.

DD:  Can you talk a bit about the process of forming this project? Have you all played in bands with each other before, was it a long time coming or a reaction to specific event or point in time?

KH:  IT WAS A REACTION TO AN ONLINE ALTERCATION BETWEEN ME AND AN UNNAMED LOSER WHO RUNS A NAZI LABEL OUT OV HIS MOMS BASEMENT. I POSTED THE BAND NAME AND ALBUM IDEA AS A JOKE TO FACEBOOK. THE NOW RETIRED SUPERKOMMANDO UBERWEINERSCHNITZEL, WHO I HAD BEEN TALKING TO ABOUT OUR MUTUAL DISTASTE FOR NAZI BLACK METAL IMMEDIATELY WANTED IN. HE RECRUITED HAILS KOMRADEZ WHO HE HAD BEEN WORKING WITH ON OTHER PROJECTS AND WE FORGED THE ALBUM.

WE SAY THIS OFTEN BUT THE FIRST ALBUM WAS INTENDED TO BE A ONE OFF. HAILS AND I DECIDED TO SET DOWN THE OTHER STUFF WE WERE WORKING ON TO PURSUE THIS FULL TIME AFTER PROSTHETIC EXTENDED THEIR HAND TO US.

HK: BASICALLY THE OLD GUITAR PLAYER ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO PLAY DRUMS ON AN ANTI-NSBM ALBUM AND AFTER HE SHOWED ME THE SONG TITLES I COULDN’T SAY NO. I WAS IN SEVERAL BANDS WITH HIM PRIOR TO NECKBEARD, BUT NONE WITH KRIEGMASTER.

DD: You just signed with Prosthetic Records, Will you be recording an LP for them, and any plans to tour Europe or The States?  There’s A LOT Of fascist scum to melt if you so choose to come to this trash pile of a country.

KH: YES. THE LP IS ACTUALLY ALREADY FINISHED. ON TOP OV THAT THERE ARE NINE SPLITS COMING OUT NEXT YEAR WITH SOME CO-CONSPIRATORS I’M PRETTY EXCITED ABOUT. WE’LL TAKE WHATEVER COMES OUR WAY. OUR PLAN IS TO REMAIN GROUNDED AND ENJOY THE GOOD GRACES OV THOSE WHO LIKE HANGING OUT WITH US.

I FIGURE IT’S WORTH MENTIONING THAT WE’RE ACTUALLY FROM THE US. WE HAVE A FULL US TOUR PLANNED THIS COMING SUMMER. BRING YOUR SKI MASK.

HK: THE LP IS ALREADY DONE, SHOULD BE OUT SOMETIME IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS YEAR. WE’RE PLANNING AN EXTENSIVE US/CANADA TOUR RIGHT NOW, MAYBE WE’LL HIT EUROPE NEXT YEAR.

DD:  Any other upcoming releases, tours, or other vital information that should be known about NECKBEARD DEATHCAMP?

HK: I JUST WANT TO SAY, DON’T BE SCARED TO READ THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO JUST BECAUSE IT HAS “COMMUNIST” IN THE NAME AND YOUR SEVENTH GRADE HISTORY TEACHER TOLD YOU COMMUNISM WAS BAD. CHANCES ARE THEY DIDN’T READ IT EITHER.

KH: NEVER LET SOMEONE PISS ON YOU AND TELL YOU IT’S RAINING. TAKE NO SHIT SUPERS OLDIERS. BLACK METAL FOREVER.

DECAYCAST : Fifty + Impactful Genre- Defying Music Releases of 2018 : Part One

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DECAYCAST : Fifty + Impactful Genre Defying Music Releases of 2018 : Part One
*part two to be released Feb 2018

2018 was a wild year for music and the world. Bad politics and worse people coming to positions of power often spark good art. Here’s fifty genre defying releases from 2018 that we at Decaycast found absolutely exceptional.
Please seek these albums out and support the artists as directly as possible!

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700 Bliss “Spa 700” (Halcyon Veil)

Akvan “بلک متال آریایی” (Self Released)

Anna Luisa “Green” (Practical Records)

Attilo Novellino & Collin McKelvey “Métaphysiques cannibales” (Weird Ear)

Bbymutha “MD3” (Self Released)

Beast Nest “A History Of Sexual Violence” (Self Released)

Black Spirituals “Black Access / Black Axes” (SIGE Records)

Bonemagic “Cult Of The Red Vest” (Cult Love!)

The Breathing Light “Light Fast, Black Power!” (Self Released)

Burmese “Privilege” (Fuck Yoga Records)

CBN “Neblastya” (Phage Tapes)

Colin Bragg & Bill Pritchard “Andedyr” (Self Released)

Compactor “Technology Worship” (Oppressive Existence Recordings)

Conscious Summary “Exhaustions” (Skin Trade Recordings

Dental Work “Fog Of Summer Ghosts” (Placenta Recordings)

Dreamcrusher “Grudge2” (C-I-P)

Drew McDowall “The Third Helix” (Dias Records)

Eleh “Wear Patterns” (Self Released)

The Fathers “Sound Advice” (T/ECA)

Fletcher Pratt “Dub Sessions, Volume 4” (Crash Symbols)

Lara Sarkissian “Disruption” (Club Chai)

Girlz N The Hood ‘All 4 Nia’ (Self Released)

Golden Donna “Date Night” (Self Released)

Hiro Kone “Pire Expenditure” (Dias Records)

HIRS “Friends. Lovers. Favorites” (Self Released)

House Of Cake “House Of Cake” (Houdini Mansions)

Jeff Carey “Zero Player Game” (Ehse)

Jasmine Infiniti “Sis” (Club Chai)

Jonathan Snipes “The Nightmare” (Deathbomb Arc)

JPEGMAFIA “Veteran”  (Deathbomb Arc)

K 23 “Blacklight Sessions” (Fantasy 1)

Kepla & DeForrest Brown Jr. “The Wages of Being Black is Death ” (PTP)

King Vision Ultra “Pain Of Mind” (Self Released)

KK NULL “Pulsar X” (Self Released)

Kohinoorgasm “Synthwali and The War Empire” (Self Released)

Lunar Tomb “Tierra de las Brujas” (Distort Discos)

LSDXOXO “Body Mods” (Self Released)

Luke Stewart “Works For Upright Bass And Amplifier” (Self Released)

Lana Del Rabies “Shadow World” (Deathbomb Arc)

Macho Blush “Users Guide” (Tymbal Tapes)

Midmight “Cut Cut Cut Bruise” (Resipiscent)

Moira Scar “Wound World Part 1” (Psychic Eye)

Nightmare Difficulty “Run and Gun” (Self Released)

Open Mike Eagle “What Happens When I Try To Relax”

ONO “Your Future Is Metal” (American Damage)

Portal “Ion” (Profound Lore)

Russell E.L. Butler “The Home I’d Build For Myself And All My Friends”

Ryan King “How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love To Bomb” (Serious Hype)

SAN CHA “Capricha Del Diablo” (self released)

Serpentwithfeet “Soil”

S.B.S.M “Leave Your Body” (Thrilling Living)

The Sorcerer Family “Hidden Rooms” (Stay Strange)

TAHNZZ “XILA” (Self Released)

The Bedroom Witch “Triptych” (Self Released)

Turkish Delight “Howcha Magowcha” (I Heart Noise)

Voicehandler “Light From Another Light” (Humbler Records)

White Boy Scream “Remains” (Crystalline Morphologies)

Witches Of Malibu “Fever Dreams” (Self Released)

Yves Tumor “Safe In The Hands Of Love” (Warp)

V/A: “Energies” (Practical Records)

V/A: “Stable Submissions, Vol 2” (Stable)

 

DECAYCAST MIXES : Farm To Tape : Episode 5

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DECAYCAST MIXES : Farm To Tape : Episode 5

Next mix from the Farm To Tape series combining experimental, jazz, metal, noise, avant garde, neo-soul, hip hop and other interpretations  of experimental sonic musings.

 

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1. John Coltrane – Untitled Original 11383
2. Wizard Apprentice – I Am Invisible
3. The Fathers – B1 (Sound Advice)
4. Willie Dunn – Son of the Sun
5. Jess Sa Bi & Peter One – Apartheid
6. Sinkane – U’Huh
7. Maya Songbird – Merry Me
8. Signor Benedick the Moor – Belladonna
9. Spellling – Place Without a Form
10. Gnawed – In Ill Wake
11. Developer – Live @ Smiles for Miles in Dayton, OH 7/25/13
12. Beauty School – A1 (Crust Immersed)
13. Okkyung Lee – Hollow Water
14. Ilsa – Nasty, Brutish
15. Thou – The Changeling Prince
16. Drakkar – Crazy Loving You
17. Gita Pon Yeik – Ah Chit Yae
18. Zoe Keating – Hello Night

 

mixed by: Diego Aguilar-Canabal

DECAYCAST Reviews: ZSA ZSA GABOR “Left Skull Bank” Cassette (Stay Strange, 2017)

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DECAYCAST Reviews: ZSA ZSA GABOR “Left Skull Bank” Cassette (Stay Strange, 2017)

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“ZSA ZSA GABOR is dead” but the  sounds, voice, and pulses in a ritual are anything and everything but that. ZSA ZSA GABOR is one of the artists and founders of the Stay Strange SD Crew who boast a new label imprint, show collective and all creative force led by San Diego stalwart Sam Lopez aided in sound and  words from Ariel Irbe, Esteban Flores and Micheal Zimmerman, allwith their  own projects to boot under the  collective umbrella. Irbe performs and records  under the  S O L V  moniker, while Flores work as  Monochromacy represents  powerful, thick, radicalized  guitar  forward drone/noise works.  

“Left Skull Bank I” opens up the cassette after a brief intro with a dark, smudged, thick drone which slowly encapsulates the listener and then drops them in a voice cell of terror, confusion, disorientation, The time to talk isn’t now or maybe again for an hour  or even a year. Seal your lips shut for it’s  time for the  hymn of ZSA ZSA GABOR. This release is relentlessly and refreshingly diverse in its sonic character and nuance of sound and style; oscillation between spoken texts , drone, ambient, field recordings, distant screams that  ring like a hammer  smashing an ancient bell,  and  string based  swells ZZG has something for everyone , but at the sane time NOTHING FOR YOU. They owe you nothing and owe  everything to the void. Full tilt  sonic mayhem engulfs your  last thought and hope as your skull is  cast aside like an extra, misshaped, unneeded brick into the  ever-growing pile of death.

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“Left Skull Bank 2” picks up close to  where part 1 left off, with a thick, buzzing,  shaking vibrato of  stringed chaos while a monotone, anxious, realistic voice reads and  breathes upon every swelling  stringed drone of death, and after a “brief  demonic interlude” the listener is  cast once again into the  chaotic experiments of death with Part three, twisting and  tangling the  false hope that we once had  with harsh stabs, angry, dissonant, atonal swells through a purgatory nobody wants to  even pass by for a minute. This  cassette runs the  full scope of experimental sounds but in a a unique and refreshing way, no rehashing, no redux, this is simply top notch experimental music,  get about it, be about it. .ZSA ZSA  GABOR  is a thick, swollen, controlled  anger, which is more or less the  sound of  a  decaying  future; you’re dead long after you  found out when you’re  going  to die, and if you’re worthy this  might make an appearance at the funeral to help shovel your lifeless  corpse to  rest eternally and be consumed by the  wormed earth. Follow  ZSA ZSA GABOR HERE and HERE.

 

 

 

DECAYCAST Reviews: MOIRA SCAR “Wound World Part 1” (Near Dark, 2018)

On By AdminIn mp3, Reviews, Writings1 Comment

 

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Bay Area queer deathrock stalworts MOIRA SCAR are back with their new full length on CD/CS/ and  digital via Oakland’s NEAR DARK imprint, which is run by dark gothic outfit, OTZI whose newest offerings, “Ghosts” was  covered HERE a few weeks ago. Moira Scar currently is in trio form with their latest offering  with Roxy Monoxide: guitar, sax, vocals, LuLu Gamma Ray: synthesizers, vocals, and Aimee S: drums. Moira Scar’s newest full length, “Wound World Part 1” boasts seven snappy, punchy, femme forward dark punk/death rock cuts,  intentionally building upon their unique, sought after, indimable sound of their previously released full lengths, “Psychoid”  and “Scarred For Life”. With an augmented lineup, and a slightly darker and more rock forward sound, “Wound World Part 1” might be the most intentionally straight forward, intense  and focused sound the outfit has  concocted yet, and the  recording production suits the  sound perfectly. Thick pummeling percussion, wailing, screaching vocals, fuzzed-out chugging, angular guitar riffs and the staple walls of  reverb’d saxophone.

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“Snap Back” might be the most traditionally “Moira Scar” sounding cut on here blending heavy bass riffs, walls of  sax with driving punk inspired hard hitting  drumming and the signature  layered vocal efx stylings which could take the  sonic shape of anything from low  distorted  growls to high pitched shrieks of intense washes,  utilized to great success on the track “Chrysalis Skull” The operatic style walls of  vocals blend perfectly over the frantic, manic heavy  drumming and thick slabs of  guitar and  bass work. Slower, more  post rock inspired track “Zeta Rainbow” offers chugging, blown up guitar riffs with dragging slagged out bass lines with more  traditional breakdowns where the guitar and  dual vocal  processions shine brightest.

Moira Scar’s  sound is  thick, violent,  present, and demanding of the space it requires and  deserves. Death rock, like any “sub-genre” can be formulaic, boring, and  predictable, but “Wound World Part 1” is the complete opposite; fierce, unique, cathartic, and nasty!. In a time where we need it most,  Moira Scar once again, and perhaps with more force than ever proves they are  here to stay with some of the most forward thinking and necessary sonic offerings within the contemporary rock scope. This record rallies against the dying, boring, overdone and under thought  droves of CIS white-male “dominated”capitalistic rock scenes, by raising the bar and  flushing the  boring and  inspired rock trends down into the sewer where they have belonged this entire time, and serve as an assault on the  normative, re-hashed, uninspired music that often fills the  airwaves. Moira Scar is a weapon against a  violent, patriarchal system of despair, confusion, and  entanglement and  “Wound World Part 1” is the next logical step in the bands seemingly endless progression of reinvention. One of the most important contemporary dark rock acts going, period. This record is not to be overlooked.

Order the  New record HERE and  HERE

MOIRA SCAR

NEAR DARK RECORDS

DECAYCAST Reviews: STRAIGHT CRIMES “Jams, With Microphone, 2017” (Fine Concepts, 2017)

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DECAYCAST Reviews: STRAIGHT CRIMES “Jams, With Microphone, 2017” (Fine Concepts, 2017)

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“Jams, With Microphone, 2017”   is the newest sonic offering from bay area punks Straight Crimes.  This cassette is toted under the “punk” category on band camp and other agents of the internet however stretches pretty far past that on this album delving between slow, heavy sludgy cuts where could easily faintly resemble an early Big Black or Butthole Surfers, which thick fuzzed out guitars, monotone style yelped vocals, heavy drum machined percussion, and thick, dense, cavernous spaces of spearing electronics.  The duo doesn’t stick to a particular style on this release bur one of their own, which is refreshing to the ear and psyche.  While it does have  many “punk” qualities to it, composition  wise, things really get stretched and scratched  to the max, such as on the ten minute anthem, “Is This Hell Or Is This Dumb” the vocals  and  meat and potatoes of the  track don’t make an appearance for nearly six minutes as the listener is  left in a murky, dark, disorientation of  jabbed and beaten  guitars, harsh alienating feedback,  high tension  style sound the  alarm  ringing and buzzing as the  listener marches towards a  future of confusion and uncertainty. 0011065181_10

 

As the song pulses on the listener is even LESS SURE of themselves than they were in the beginning and we all must hope to answer the question by the end of the bass swells that check the situation in the innards and slowly build to a crescendo of chaos.   “Jams With Microphone, 2017”  is absolutely as much of a heavy abstract, even “noise” record than it is a “punk” record as can be much more easily stated for  previous S C releases, though the heavy, pummeling track “In a Free Pile”  is perhaps the album’s most accessible and  straight forward song, while still boasting  thick percussion, a tonal heavy  dirge out guitar, sludgy bass lines and walls of noise  which add sharpness to the overall throbbing beat, perhaps the strongest cut on the album.  Tracks such as “The World Does Not Care About My Art Like Every DAY” show a more abstract and experimental side to the act, with this nearly eleven-minute feedback and vocal based offering, which peaks and swells through various sonic landscapes with the continuity of well executed guitar feedback leading the listener through this dark, murky, sweaty tunnel out to the dejected other side. This is a really refreshing release overall, and look forward to hearing more of this band, and everything else via their imprint, FINE CONCEPTS, longtime Oakland stalwarts.

 

DECAYCAST Reviews: GRAVE MOSS “Mosswave” Cassette (Crass Lips Records, 2016)

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DECAYCAST Reviews: GRAVE MOSS “Mosswave”  Cassette (Crass Lips Records, 2016)

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Grave Moss play fuzzed out psychedelic lo fi synth punk/rock/death/doom/comedy/sludge.  But it’s not really that, but it kinda is? The label whom released this short little ripper of a cassette, Crass Lips Records, is just as all over the map in a great and eclectic, but uncontrived way. Sabbath mock band? Perhaps, but it sounds damn good? I think? I can’t tell my mind seems to be altered by some gooey, slippery off blue fungi, that could only be described as one thing; mosswave. Borrowing equal parts from Chrome, Black Sabbath Volume 4, Sisters of Mercy, and a broken Yanni answering machine greeting, Grave Moss create a style of deathrock that is both comical and serious, lighthearted and menacing, heavy yet gurgling with comic relief, nauseous yet satisfied. Drugged out, fuzzed out, mold puffed riffs, cavernous percussion, and angrily sneered vocals are the go to weapons of Grave Moss. The hammering guitar makes you split your head open like the village wino running circles until he spins out his blood and collapses from disorientation.

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Oscillating between synth-driven death rock, dirged -out pop power chord progressions, scraping their way to the bloody tip of the mix, flustered with doubly duty screeched/howled vocals to boot. The falsetto voice it’s so low oscillates sub bass gurgle for an accentuated evil grin. Almost sounds like it could be mocking early Christian Death in the laugh out of the side of your mouth smile slicer. This is fun music to discuss how much Death in June is not that interesting, whilst keeping awake at the wheel to the next five-hundred-mile marker of death. Driving music to vomit to all whilst still head banging, this appears the aesthetic of Grave Moss Probably a laugh-treat live if they play it up to the absurdity of these recordings. The thickly churning bass lines and bass/lead synth parts glue the low end perfectly together to belch to thick, quivering sound, a tonal, dissonant, and slightly comical versions of alienating guitar and synthesizer riffs, pummeling bombastic percussion chugging away like the ergot beneath the old wooden keg nobody would dare drink out of, sans the drummer. Infected sound, stitched side to side through the singer’s flanged out, chopping, angsty barking fits which are hurled at the listener like a rickety crossbow, and with a creaking, sinking, smelly, ship collapsed into a swamp of disease and mutation, the sound of GRAVE MOSS is complete.