Facegrinder – Kugelblitz

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

If the name itself of the band—Facegrinder, Face. Grinder. GRINDER OF FACES—doesn’t invoke visceral sentiments, or if the album’s title, Kugelblitz—a black hole made of pure energy—, doesn’t resonate with higher orbital levels, then let the music speak for itself. The Perthbound deathgrind trio just released one of the big titles for today’s grinding repertoire.

The band’s sound is harsh, raw-sounding; thanks, in part, to the absence of a bass guitar to the mix, giving the wall of sound a razor sharp quality that often is a hallmark of grindcore as a genre. … Read more

August Release Dump, Part 1

by Dæv Tremblay

Saturday, 28 July

The Bepis Brothers – B (jazz, bebop)

Read more.

Manta – Manta (experimental jazz)

Read more.

Monday, 30

i.o – Puzzle Solvent (experimental jazz)

Tuesday, 31 July

The Mercury Tree & Cryptic Ruse – Cryptic Tree (progressive rock, microtonal)

Read more.

Wednesday, 1 August

After Nations – Consteleid (instrumental progressive post-hardcore)

Facegrinder – Kugelblitz (grindcore, death metal)

More.

… Read more

The Key to Nchuandzel –
N’gasta! Kvata! Kvakis!

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music?

The Words

The tentacled brain behind The Key to Nchuandzel has long teased me about the existence of the N’gasta! Kvata! Kvakis! album, withholding me the privilege of being able to listen to it, peer into its essence, become shattered by its gaze… Fortunately, the time of reckoning is here and the Key is unleashed, for all to be enraptured.

In twenty minutes and five tracks, The Key to Nchuandzel bewilders and astonishes incessantly with its improbable but characteristic black metal. Black metal? That’s the idea I had at first, but I’m far from being certain anymore. Grindcore, … Read more

Bollywood – Bollywood

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Experimental is the land of all possibles. Bollywood paints a rather stellar example of this in the realm of jazz with their self-titled debut album. Released on 12 August, it was briefly available through TVL Rec‘s page, and abruptly taken down—forbidding my sharing it. However, this can’t stop me from talking about it.

A few minutes over thirty, Bollywood is an album of what sounds like free jazz meets lowercase music, with each track fronted by a different solo instrument—here saxophone, here bass, and so on—backed by insectile percussions, noise backing tracks, or electronic experimentations. … Read more

NOT MUSIC 001:
Potmos Hetoimos – Vox Medusae

by Dæv Tremblay

Drumroll please!

I am more than pleased to announce the first release under our brand new Not Music label! And it’s Potmos Hetoimos‘ eleventh album: Vox Medusae, coming out on September 12. I started Not Music with the intention of further supporting and promoting music that I love, beyond what the blog alone could manage to do, and I’m proud to put my name behind that album as a proof that I support it completely and entirely.

When Matt, the sole member of Potmos Hetoimos, sent me early mixes of his new album, I was just blown away! … Read more