We like a bit of the voodoo music, so when I crossed paths with Voodoo Drummer, I thought….ooohhhh. There is the new single “Set The Controls (Pink Floyd in 7/8 Greek Rhythm)” and yes this is a kind of cover version of the Pink Floyd classic, “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun“, off their 1968 album, A Saucerful OfSecrets. Now I do say kind off because they have recorded it in a tradition Greek rhythm of 7/8, instead of 4/4 and at the end you get to hear the “Milo mou kokkino” from which the tempo comes. Within all this, they have mixed in John Coltrane’s track, “A Love Supreme”, which is from the album of the same name and possibly one of the most influential and important jazz releases ever.
BUT WAIT! There is the added bonus of not only a Voodoo Drummer playing drums, tubular bells & percussion but also Stavros Parginos on cello, Tasos Papapanos on bass and it features Adrian Stout, of TheTiger Lillies, on musical saw. Yes you read it. MUSICAL SAW. Life is good! The saw makes those wonderful eerily haunting sounds, cello and bass give a hefty weight, pinning the saw down so it doesn’t fly away. The drums and percussion guide you through and it amazing to listen to such a fascinating version. There seems to be only the YouTube version to listen to this project but if you like quirky covers with strong musicianship, then I highly recommend you check out Voodoo Drummer.
Have you experienced High Castle Teleorkestra yet? If not then let me draw your attention to a good time. Signed to Art As Catharsis records, with members flung across the globe, who have been involved in many bands like Farmers Market, Mr Bungle and Estradasphere, and they are about to fling apon the world their new album, The Egg That NeverOpened, on June the 17th. So, to whet one’s appetite for the onslaught, here is their first video single, “Mutual Hazard“.
There are classical overtones that rapidly breakdown into a cacophony of metal fused with amazing traditional folk music and drumming that only enhances this brilliant piece. And if that is not enough, there is also the wonderful satire video, as it incorporates the televisual component of the band, while the music spirals in it’s dervish whirlings. High Castle Teleorkestra, utterly bonkers and loving it.
What do you do when you are handed a release from a project called =^._.^= ? You damn well listen to that sucker!! This is the EP, D3M0N5, from Seattle’s =^._.^= (pronounced catface), which was dropped on May the 5th. Don’t know anything about this project other than they wrote and recorded this between 2018 – 2022 and, I quote… ‘Under the influence of Alec Empire, Richard D. James and Trent Reznor‘.
The first thing you get is “SP!T“, which is the screaming of electronic alarms in a trap stew. The glitching of the languid “Bl4cK P4nth3R“, as it stalks you to your untimely squeaking end with all those lovely fuzzy notes. “y o w l” is a sassy little track with a nice little heavy bass beat and it out on the prowl.
Through all the feedback you can hear the synths lurking and biding their time in “H3llc4T“. The fuzzing tones leasing into a faster rhythm, leaving you wondering if the hellcat might suddenly spring. Swirling electronic glitches bring a little drum’n’bass to the party in the deceptively heavy “TH3 R!S3N“. The zombies are coming to get you and may the heavens help you if they are zombie cats. The asthmatic wheeze of “p u r r” pervades your senses with tortured digital sounds that wind down to dead silence.
=^._.^= are doing some pretty funky, experimental trap and industrial noise. It is fairly easy to listen to and actually rather fun because you are trying to discern if there are cat noises or slinky, shifty hisses. More to the point…..IT’S A KITTY and that was enough to hook me in. The Onyx cats completely agree with me that you need to go check out the Bandcamp page, which is name your price! Meow.
Disfigured Mistress is probably a project I should have talked about sooner but better later than never. Since 2010, Brisbane’s Disfigured Mistress has been releasing his experimental, industrial noise and as of the 8th of April, released the single, “The Depths Of Black Hatred“.
As the title may indicate, this is not a happy go lucky piece. It is an instrumental number full of harsh crackling electronic fury, that lashes your ears, in mounting waves. Primal with a dark brooding undercurrent of unrest which floods through senses without remorse. All until the last tick. You should definitely check this track out on Soundcloud or on Bandcamp where it is name your price and then check out more of the Disfigured Mistress back catalogue, as it is well worth your while.
Schatten Muse is the bastard child of German and Greek origin and they bring to you their album Vergänglichkeit (translation Transience), which was released 28th of March, 2022. Simon Shelmerdine is a founding member of the Greek project Dark Awake and is Schatten while Sylvia Fürst is the Muse.
Just about the whole album is in German (funny that) and with that in mind, with me not having much of a grasp of the language means not delving too deeply. This is more an overview of what is on offer but being death art, the word tod or death comes up…..a lot. That has to very much on target.
The bells toll in “Zurück“, with emotions growing with the rising synths and rhythm changes. “Enditchkeit” has the dramatic organ. The cover of Goethes Erben’s “Das Schwarze Wesen” is quite delightful in it’s simplicity and I had not realised that it was the 30th anniversary for this track. “Leere” is ominously dark and forbiddingly cold in its classical repose, while “Scherbenwelt” is a whirl of electronics with the vocals echoing through it. Do yourself a favour and check out the track, “Shadowsphere“. It is in English and is a Sopor Aeternus cover in the medieval style that they are so very famous for and it is brilliantly executed..
Done in the style of Neue Deutsche Todeskunst or New German Death Art which became popular starting in the later half 1980s, it spawned such bands as Goethes Erben, Sangius et Cinis and Illuminate but also the mistress of darkness, Anna Varney and her most beloved, Sopor Aeternus. The use of classical/medieval musical styles, with prose from doomed romantic poets and citing the works of critcal thinkers of the human condition, such as Freud, Nietzsche and Lung, all poured into this musical form. Schatten Muse have taken this all on board and created their own Death Art, both beautiful and terrifying, a true gothic experience where all are ruled by death and we can become unhinged by that that very premise alone. All is found and lost, in an album that will show you the love of the divine dance of wonderful madness.
Howard Gardner, Max Rael and Daniel Vincent are some very British men who are also in Decommissioned Forests and their mission is to create interesting and inventive industrial music. To this end, April the 1st is the release date for the new album, Industry, a curiously befitting title, as the previous debut was called Forestry.
From the first time you listen to any Decommissioned Forest track, you get the sense that this is definitely part of something bigger than just the music. It is electronica painting pictures, with Rael’s vocals and lyrics breathing life into them, in spoken word. The single “Ants Part 1 – Our Last Summer” is, and to quote myself, like dissonant journey that seems pleasant, yet the lyrics are the disembodied oddities of strange and disturbing sequences. Though this is not as dark as “Triggers” that drones and eats at your frailty. without a by your leave, while “Ants Part 2 – Every Trauma Ever After” is a slower refrain in a twilight, that is dimming quickly as life seemingly slips away from us. The organ style music as if is a church of pointless sadness.
Quite frankly, I love the name and concept of “Spectral Kleptomania” as it amazing to think that a spirit can be blamed for nicking everything you can’t find or seems to be missing. Another single, “Drop Brick” could be a mantra to an old Frankenstein movie, with the disturbing and repeating synths while the monster seethes from being unable to be accepted into the world. There is the space and time warping, “Dust Ashes And OtherUnimportant Ephemera” as it slowly engulfs your being. When these guys created a short movie, “AComforting Uncertainty” was the track used. A slow realisation that nothing ever turns out exactly as thought out and you feel disappointment trying to stalk the inevitable misfortune. The final track is “Ants Part 3 – TheUniverse Is Unaware” and the ants are feigning indifference.
We will keep coming back to the whole Coil thing as it is uncanny how much Max Rael sounds like JohnBalance.Howard and Vincent have created musical scores that pay homage to an older style of British industrial music, while experimenting to see how they can keep pushing this avant garde genre. Industry is like looking at a polished stone but inside you can see all the jagged, geometric structures within, that contain their own beauty. forged by immense primal forces.
It is an interesting thing to watch musicians take on traits or characteristics of other acts that they admire, however not imitating but rather building on those aspects they love, growing their own sound and introducing others to what inspires them. Decommissioned Forests is very much one of these groups, bring to life an earlier era of British industrial music, whilst creating their own niche of sombre electronica. So we bailed up lead vocalist, Max Rael, to get the cold hard facts and in his genteel London way, he said, yes. Time for tea on the grass and ants in boob tubes……
Welcome Max Rael of Decommissioned Forests, to the pointy end of Onyx, where we like to use black crayons to create our own black-holes.
Thank you for having me. It’s nice to be here. I have already broken my crayon, and managed to somehow get it all over my face and clothes without trying. Good job I’m wearing black.
Can you tell us how you joined forces to become Decommissioned Forests?
Daniel (Vincent of ‘The Resonance Association’) and Howard (Gardner of ‘Non-Bio’ and ‘Pillars of Golden Misery’) were making some fine menacing instrumental music together, and then asked me if I’d like to contribute vocals to a couple of tracks on their first album, ‘Forestry’.
I’d recently written some lyrics called ‘Three Black Holes’ to help me process something that happened to me years ago that I’d kind of buried and never really consciously thought about, and it felt important to get the words out into the universe somehow. I’ve never really done vocals in any of the other bands I’m in or have been in, so although it felt like a strange and scary request, it was also one I couldn’t resist. In addition to ‘Three Black Holes’ (which became just, ‘Black Holes’ on the album), the guys gave me two titles, ‘Asleep Under the Leaves’ and ‘Dead Air’ and I found just listening to the music they’d provided, words came easily spilling out on to the page.
We were happy with the results, got some good feedback from people and enjoyed the process, which led to me joining the band and thus we became an official threesome for this new album, ‘Industry’. I like working in a three, I like the creative energy of triangles.
You all come from a background of experimental noise and/or post punk music. What were you looking to create with this alliance?
I’d be interested to hear Daniel and Howard’s answer to this, but for me, in History Of Guns and all the projects I’ve been involved with, I try and open myself to authentic expression in the moment and to avoid ‘lust of result’ as Crowley put it. It’s enough to set up some things, or people, and just see what happens naturally, how the energy flows and how things pull together or apart. Which is just a fancy way of saying whenever I try and plan anything it never works out how I planned, (which is the basis of the lyrics for the track, ‘A Comforting Uncertainty’). That said, I’m a firm believer that it’s often the bits that go wrong that is where the magic is. It’s also a great way for avoiding those creative poisons doubt and insecurity, as there’s no right or wrong about anything, everything is just as it is.
From your vocals to the avant-guard tone of the music, Coil seems to big influence on the band. What does Coil mean to you and what impact have the had on your music?
I was due to see Coil for the first time at an abandoned tube station in London in November 2004, but the gig was cancelled on the day due to health and safety concerns and I was gutted. Then the day afterwards Jhonn Balance died. It was hard to process. I went a bit wrong and became semi-convinced that that Jhonn was sending some kind of astral message directly to me. Then ‘…And the Ambulance Died in His Arms’ came out and I was full-on obsessed. I bought copies and gave them to all my friends. It was an interesting split, people either absolutely hated it or absolutely loved it. Daniel was one of the people I gave it to, and fortunately he loved it and went on his own path with it, but I’d say it’s directly led us to where we are now and the music we’re creating. Howard also happens to be a massive Coil fan. Otherwise, we’re all into a wide range of very different things, but our shared love of Coil is the magnetic charge that attracts the three of us together creatively.
As Decommissioned Forests, you released your first full length album Forestry in 2019 and now in 2022, your second album, Industry Is there a link between these two albums?
They definitely feel like companion pieces. For, ‘Forestry’ there’s a sense of decay, rotting vegetation, rusting sheets of corrugating iron, overseen by an all-powerful and yet indifferent goddess. The ‘Ants’ suite on the new album can be seen as journey from that place, to where we’ve arrived on ‘Industry’, which feels more like scratchy polyester, poorly designed technology, broken society, broken relationships…
How do you go about writing music between the three of you for Industry and has covid changed how you did the writing process from 2019?
The usual process is that Daniel and Howard exchange audio files of noises and textures, which Daniel shapes into pieces and sends on to me, then I record a vocal and send it back. Daniel then puts in hundreds of hours of mixing it all into a finished thing. Sometimes I just record vocals without any music backing and send them over. Fortunately for us Covid didn’t have any impact on the process as we were already all working remotely. We had talked about getting together and jamming in the same room which obviously couldn’t happen, so that could’ve maybe taken things in a different direction.
Is it me or does there feel lika lot of pent up trauma in Industry?
Yes I think so… I think I consciously try to avoid too much of that in the lyrics, but then I’m a trauma person and mostly write from the subconscious so it can’t help come through either overtly or covertly. A friend of mine suggested ‘traumacore’ as a genre which I quite like. It’s difficult because there’s a danger of romanticising trauma, or feeding, rather than healing wounds. I’m always on the side of trying to move towards healing, even if the final goal is impossible, though I think focused anger and rage is often more appropriate than mute acceptance and forgiveness.
Is there a particular track off the album that is a favourite or you feel epitomises what DF is all about?
Tough question! At this point in an album’s lifecycle, we’ve heard it through so many times it’s impossible to have any objectivity. It’ll be interesting in a few years’ time to come back and listen again and see what stands out. The ‘Ants’ suite is pretty key… It changes all the time, but right now, today, I’d choose ‘Triggers’, and ‘Dust, Ashes and Other Pointless Ephemera’ as my favourites.
What does DF mean for you personally?
It’s a world out of sync or out of step with reality, a parallel universe which has tendrils into this universe where most of us find ourselves day to day for most of our lives. From this position of remove the Decommissioned Forests universe is free and able to respond and reflect un-defensively on what’s happening here but through a tangential almost dream-like connection. Hopefully as we go further in, we might be able to explore that universe in its own right, rather than just using it as a place to view here from.
I would like to ask about the short film, A Comforting Uncertainty, of which the title is a 9 minute track on the album and the score to the film, you all played roles in, that was written/directed and with special effects by Howard, all based on a dream by someone called Rick Matthews. Can you tell us about this slightly dystopian film?
Howard’s an amazing director and video graphics master with a twisted creative brain who has made a lot of interesting and unsettling films over the years. We were very lucky that he already had the idea for this short film bubbling away for a couple of years and put it forward that it could go with one of the tracks on the album, so that the music is a soundtrack to the film, and the film is a music video for the track. Both Daniel and I were enthusiastic from the start, and when we saw the shooting script, even more so. I’ve had a few discussions with people recently about how the film narrative can be interpreted, and whilst I have my own theories, only Howard knows his true intentions, and I think he’d like there being different individual interpretations out there, each no less valid than his. It’s great that thanks to YouTube, anyone, anywhere can see it easily.
Will there be more films in the future?
Yes. Well, I do dearly hope so. It’s easy for me to say when I just get turn up for the fun part of shooting it and don’t have to spend hours over a hot editing suite. We’re all keen to make more, it feels an integral part of the band, so it’s a question of Howard’s capacity, and I know he’s involved in a lot of other exciting projects. Hopefully we’ll start planning the next one soon.
DF kind of reaches back into that late 70s, early 80s British industrial sound which was often political or very raw ie Clock DVA. What are the musical influences that formed your taste in music?
Again this would no doubt be very different for Howard and Daniel, and I’ve always been pretty genre-blind and get obsessed over a disparate range of individuals and bands but other than Coil, I guess the most important bands for me relevant to this project would be things like: Killing Joke, Throbbing Gristle, Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, CRASS, Joy Division/New Order etc. from the UK, but also Tangerine Dream and SWANS… and I guess it’s hard for me to contextualise things that formed my taste and things that I got into afterwards retrospectively because they accorded to my taste. I was 16 when Head Like a Hole by NIN came out and used to love stamping about to it at The Catacombs nightclub in Manor House in London, and that and bands like PWEI were really when I grew from my existing rock and pop foundation into a more industrial direction, which led me eventually to Coil.
What you find yourself drawn to now?
I spent a few years sealed hermetically in my music collection and am just getting back into actively seeking out and enjoying new music. LIOC have released a series of compilations by bands that love or are influenced by Coil and (apart from the things I’ve contributed obvs!), there’s been some astonishing things on them… Recently I’ve been exploring the ambient work of Felicia Atkinson and Grouper, oh and also the new Paul Draper solo album, ‘Cult Leader Tactics’.
If you could time travel once, anywhere, where would you go and why?
March 17th, 1942, Pomona, USA. To watch one the preview screening of Orson Welles’ ‘The Magnificent Ambersons’ before the studio destroyed it.
So what is in the future for Decommissioned Forests?
We already have various tracks lined up for potential inclusion on the next album. There’s an evolution in sound from the ambient soundscapes of ‘Industry’ as the new stuff has drum tracks and maybe an increased sense vitality and urgency. Lyrically, I’m thinking about how brains and minds work and potentially change in response to environments and stimuli. Our big dream is to put on a live show. This presents a number of challenges, from how to recreate the sound in a live environment to the fact that I don’t live particularly near Daniel and Howard for regular rehearsals, and everyone’s busy with work, family and other creative projects, but we’re hopeful we shall find a way. We’re definite that we want to be creating unique pieces with each performance rather than just recreating tracks
Thank you for your time Max. Red pills are on the right, blue pills on the left and the white ones are a very nice mint flavour!
A big thank you to you Adele and for your (seemingly) tireless work to support the underground. We salute you!
Just when you thought it was safe again to go near the water, Sea Lungs have returned with a new single, “Lighthouse Noir“. I swear on a bottle of gin (it is only good for swearing on) that these guys are getting better every release. Maybe they are getting into their groove or finding their sea legs but whatever it is, they should keep doing it. The new single conjures up visions of Sexgang Children with a little pinch of The Virgin Prunes and wrapped in the ever perfectly spine tingling vocals of Lennon, eerily sounding ever so like Rozz Williams. A story of madness brought on by loneliness and extreme melancholy, a heay toll that brings on suicidal thoughts while the wonderful guitars smashing down like waves on the rocks below. “Lighthouse Noir” is out on MantravisionProductions, so we though there is no better time than now to talk to founding member Jarrad Robertson about the band and how they are navigating the waters of the music scene.
Aaarrrghh…. welcome Jarrad Robertson of the band Sea Lungs. Come sit in the wadding pool with our pet kraken, whilst we talk of tales and scrim the shaw with Onyx.
Seeing as you are no land lovers, can you please introduce the crew.
Sea Lungs is made up of Andi Lennon on vocals, Dase Beard and Micheal Johnson share bass duties depending on the tracks requirements ( Dase does the noisy guitar bits too), I play the guitars and cover the drums (both live and programmed) and Ant Banister provides the production skills and throws some keys in when needed.
Now, not all of you live close to each other do you?How much harder does it make to construct your music?
I’d say it has taken some of the strain out making the music. I write the main composition of each song and then send it off to each of the guys to do their thing. We all just do it when we have time, and with the understanding that it gets done when it gets done. That takes any pressure out of trying to create something to fit a deadline. It would be nice to get in a room and hash them out though at some point. Micheal and I live 10 minutes from each other, yet due to recent lockdowns and family commitments we haven’t really had much of a chance to jam.
You are all in the darker alternative scene, so how did Sea Lungs come to fruition?
In early 2020 as lockdowns were beginning and live music stopped I decided to record some stuff at home, as countless others did. But it was a bit unsatisfying so I reached out to people I’d met while gigging with my previous band and asked for help to fill the songs out. Apart from Micheal, I’ve only ever met the other members once or twice so it felt like a long shot. Luckily everyone I asked said yes and now we have my perfect lineup. The bands we are all from make music very different to the SL stuff so it’s a place to experiment.
Sea Lungs is a rather curious moniker and I am wondering how did you decide upon it?
Like so many band names I borrowed it from a song title. It’s the name of my favorite Baroness track. But it felt right in what I wanted the project to represent. At the time when the idea for this project first popped into my head I was going through a rough patch with my mental health. I found that seeing the ocean, even if just from my car while driving home, would clear my head and allow me to breathe. So it just fit. When I started writing with Andi, without me telling him the name, he took the lyrics in a nautical direction so it seemed it was destined to stick
Your latest single is Lighthouse Noir, which is a rollicking and crazed sea shanty. Between the guitar work and Andi’s vocals, this is a hybrid beastie, a cross between Sexgang Children and Virgin Prunes with that sing song manner at times. How did the band go about writing this little epic?
The main guitar part for the song was a kind of guitar warm-up, or even subconscious tick kind of thing. I’ve been playing it for years just as a thing I do everytime I pick up my guitar. Anyway I got a new guitar pedal and as soon as I played the warm-up it just sounded like something from an old mystery film. After fleshing it out I got the mental image of a thriller set at a lighthouse. This is the only time I’ve actually passed an idea for a narrative on to Andi and he dived on it. He is a master at spinning tales and the lighthouse idea was definitely in his hitting zone.
The artwork for Lighthouse Noir is bloody awesome.Bilge away and tells us who created this masterpiece?
An artist called Nikko who I’ve had a few dealings with now drew this up for us. He does amazing work and I could not be happier with it. I said ‘hey, can you do a lighthouse?’ and that was the total of my input. With just that tiny bit of info He ran with the idea and nailed it. He can be found at @nikko_s_den on Instagram for more info.
Your previous single Piss Up A Rope is a far different creature, bringing attention to how very few take advantage of the many. Can you tell us a little more about this premise?
Again, Andi has to take all the credit for this. We like to look at the idea of Empires, both past and present. While these days there is less of conquering foreign lands and taking colonial possessions, there are still empires being built at the expense of the masses. It unfortunately seems that now we willingly provide the means for these billionaires to do as they please and applaud them for it. But a tech giant taking all of your information and selling it or a multinational crushing small business should not be idolized. There is no comparison to the atrocities of historical empire building, but I’m sure horribly exploited workers the world over may see some parallels.
With three singles released, are you guys looking to keep going this way or release these tracks on an EP or album?
The goal is definitely to release something in a longer format and to get something physical out into the world. That’s hopefully in the works for later in the year.
Mantravision is the label Sea Lungs is with and Ant Banister also does the producing, mixing and mastering, which may we say is excellent and with that in mind, how did you get involved with Ant and Mantravision?
-I have only met Ant once when his band Sounds Like Winter (which also features Andi) came to Melbourne and played on a lineup with my previous band. We got chatting and liked each other’s music. After I decided to begin Sea Lungs his name was top of my list to collaborate with. Luckily he liked the demos I sent him, or he has been too polite to turn me down so far.
So is music for you a more political thing or just whatever inspiration hits you with?
Andi and I both share a love of History and take a huge amount of our inspiration and ideas from it. And the most fascinating parts are usually the most horrible. I think it’s a very common human trait to be drawn to diabolical tales, viewed from far enough away to not get blood on your shoes. There is no joy to be taken from it, it’s more just finding out what our species have been capable of and hoping we don’t repeat the horrors. And it seems that all of it has political ties so I guess it’s unavoidable.
I’ve always thought music should be a bit dangerous, a little uncomfortable. If you can listen to an album and not be left with questions or have been shifted in some way then what is the point? We aren’t necessarily making any blunt political points with our music but there are morals, like any good tale. How would a person react to the isolation of a lighthouse keeper’s work? Or in the case of “Piss up a rope”, how much wealth is enough, and at what or who’s expense?
Will we be getting a tale of swashbuckling pirates? Nay we do not want it but rather need it!
-I’m sure at some point there will be a mention of pirates, but probably not in a positive light. The romanticised idea we see of pirates from the age of sail is pretty far removed from reality. That being said my kids would love it, so maybe if this project fails and I move into children’s entertainment.
What music influences do each member bring with them?
One of my favourite things about Sea Lungs is the varied musical backgrounds we come from. Although we all kind of meet on the post-punk front we have all done very different things previously. Andi brings the Death-rock and punk vibes. Dase has played noise rock, post-hardcore, doom and sludge. Dase and Micheal both go pretty far down the experimental noise rabbit-hole too. Most of my influence is drawn from grunge, alt rock and a bit of metal so I guess when we throw it all together it makes for an interesting brew. Ant, besides being a local post-punk hero, loves all things synth and electronic so I’m trying to lead him astray by giving him heavier music to work on. But there is a strict no synths policy in Sea Lungs.
Do you think at some point youwill all get together to do some live gigs?
We are currently working out when that will be possible. It’s definitely going to happen, it’s just a matter of maybe outsourcing parts to people based in Melbourne or Sydney if we can’t all get together. But it will happen.
Speaking of live gigs, all of you are in other bands. How has covid affected your ability to play live and be creative in your other projects?
For me it stopped me in my tracks completely. Pigs of the Roman Empire released an EP just as the lockdown began but never got to launch it live. Not long after due to expanding families and work/ life balance we decided to call it quits. The last gig I played was in November 2019, which was the gig I met Ant and Andi at. Those guys are back playing shows with their band Sounds Like Winter which is great, and Dase is playing shows occasionally too, but for 2 years in Melbourne at least the live scene was dead. It’s regaining some momentum now but everyone is kind of holding their breath a little.
If you could be any famous seafarer (real or fantasy) who would it be?
While the idea of sailing the world is captivating, from everything I’ve read it is also terrifying and was for the most part extremely dangerous for numerous reasons. I’m not sure I’d be cut out for it. I think leading an expedition in the age of exploration, like Magellin or Drake, would have been quite an experience, but these voyages usually came at the cost of hundreds if not thousands of lives.
What will the seafaring Sea Lungs be getting up to in the future?!
Writing and recording more tracks. We have a few up our sleeves that we will be working on for a physical release in the next few months. Other than that just trying to stay as active in the musical landscape as possible.
Avast ye salty dog. Thank you for swabbing the decks so to speak young Jarrad and giving us insight into Sea Lungs. The kraken enjoyed very much nibbling at your toes and don’t trust the mermaids on your way out! Crafty wenches they be.
We are going to get a bit serious here. For Peace. Against War. Who Is Not? A Compilation For The People Of Ukraine was released this month by the label Component Recordings. A whopping 199 artists have donated a track each and all money raised will go to Ukrainian Red Cross and VOSTOK SOS to help the people who are suffering. I could say it was generous of the bands on this compilation but I think every single one would say they felt it was right and the decent thing to do.
I only know a few of the acts on this release but they come from around the world and all are from the electro, synth, industrial, experimental scene. It was our friend Tim Tigersblood Vester of the band Warm Gadget that brought it to our attention and I noted Decommissioned Forests. There seems to be a lot of great music and it really is not a lot to pay for 199 tracks which includes Wolfgang Flür (Kraftwerk), Steven Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire) and Jack Dangers (Beat Meat Manifesto)
Music in history has been used to create war fervor and march armies into battles but since the 1960s, especially, it has been a focal point to show injustice and discourage war mongering. Music can feed the hungry, call for justice and inspire people to embrace each other, creating common bonds. So please check out the Bandcamp page and consider buying this……. humanity starts with us.
From the dark depths of merry old London town, there is a project by the name of VHS¥DEATH. What is this all about you might ask and I shall reply Natalie Wardle is VHS¥DEATH and along with Cruel NatureRecords are releasing the EP, Corrupted Geisha on limited tape format as of March 11th, 2022.
So we start off with “Space Bankers See You, The End Is Near” and the title alone is intriguing enough. Hip hop beats with broken pieces of conversation, singing and maybe a little Southern soul, that is until a man is telling how things are in the real world to a sweet stream of relaxation music. “Falsehood Of Man (Dystopian Mix)” is a whirlwind of soliloquy angst and breakbeats before “666 Pounds of Zero Gravity” with its electronic vocalizations. The connections between the demonic, the angelic and creation.
The dour organ plays sickly to Wardle’s distorted utterances for “Snakes In The Grass“. Like a possession gone wrong, this is part disturbing and part cute with the drum and bass tapping along nicely, Guitar distortion and multi layering are almost to the point of overwhelming in “What Is Your Worth,Vampire?“. Underneath all is this lovely guitar jangle and vocals that eventually comes to the fore.
If you are into industrial music and you don’t know the original “Everyday Is Halloween” then you should go sit in the corner and contemplate what you are doing with your life. The Ministry track is given a synth makeover, making it even more electronic, if that is possible. Wardle definitely can sing and does a sterling job in this sensuous ode to being a weirdo in a weird world.
This is experimental industrial music and it is not going to be everyone’s taste. The best way I can describe VHS¥DEATH is chaos with a zen centre. A sponge taking in all around them and then trying to make sense of so much information in order to find balance. The fusion of hip hop, drum & bass with synths and a smattering of guitar can be challenging and yet also pleasing to the ear. Well worth the listen and maybe your curiosity to listen to the Ministry cover might pull you in.
Onyx Music Reviews 