Texan avant-garde chamber music ensemble Vmthanaachth, after expanding our minds with their debut, Fit secundum regulam, prepare for their sophomore release, Inferotemporal. Out on June twentieth, the album, which offers more than an hour of new challenging material, will come out on their bandcamp page along with its physical version. We have the pleasure of being the first to bring you the closing track. At over twenty minutes long, ‘Holographic Speleothems Firsting a Hugeness of Twilight’ is quite a journey (that’s an understatement). It’s harsh and comforting, brilliant and pitch black… It’s its own antithesis, and, instead … Read more
Kaguu – Hawkridge
Kaguu is a new three-piece progressive rock band from Mexico. Their debut EP, Hawkridge draws heavy influences from math rock and video game soundtracks as well, which explain for the most part the dreamy vibe you find yourself in when listening to it. The five-tracker, despite being deceptively short, is a joy to hear. The riffs are soothing, melodic, contemplative and memorable. Each instrument breathes, and sounds bright and clear, which makes the compositions even more enjoyable. Overall, it’s a really good little debut from Mexico’s latest band.
Blumen – Mångata
‘Mångata’ is one of those words that can’t be directly translated. Although one could argue that no word can be translated exactly, because the two words will carry different insinuations and complex networks with a plethora of emotions, meanings, and other words. However, Wiktionary describes this swedicism as ‘the roadlike reflection of moonlight on water’, which is better conveyed by the EP’s artwork than any description. From foreign languages to the musical one, the issue remains. It’s incredibly difficult to put music into words because each chord, each progression, each rhythm, timbre, pitch, length has an unfathomable amount of cultural … Read more
Schammasch – The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite
The Swiss avant-garde black metal quatuor, not satisfied from having released perhaps the best triple-album ever just last year, is already back with The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite. It’s sold as an EP, but crosses the thirty minutes threshold that is commonly used to distinguish EPs from full-lengths; it has seven tracks, but the whole thing feels like one continuous journey into the obscure places of our mind; it’s a work of art that goes above and beyond the traditional scope of black metal and the avant-garde… Indeed, the band themselves wrote that Hermaphrodite is an ‘artistic experiment’, and it’s … Read more
Milco – 練馬
Milco is the most Animals as Leaders-like non-Animals as Leaders project I’ve listened to, recently. The debut EP of Raymond Milco, 練馬 (Nerima), is full of bittersweet technical djent riffs, with the common thumping, tapping, and advanced chords that are often lazily called jazzy. The twenty-odd minutes of the EP are made out of intelligent composition and ingenious ideas; the songs flow more intuitively than on The Madness of Many, AAL’s latest endeavour. Of course, Ray doesn’t come near the levels of virtuosity displayed by Messrs. Abasi, Reyes, and Garstka, the skills of Milco are more than appreciable and … Read more