Tag: Rock

Katy’s “End of Days” Playlist (Pt. 2)

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Here’s my latest update on life. Like many people, this has been a rough patch. A lot of personal inventory has been had along with tough life evaluations, revelations, and epiphanies. It sucks. Luckily, I have had one thing in my life since I was a little kid that always helped me through the hard times. That thing is music. During this time, a lot of things have shut down. However, music keeps going and keeps getting better by the day.

When I was scrolling through Bandcamp today, I needed some new tunes to carry me through this week and the many moods it would surface. Some of this is brand new, some of it came out this month, some of it is just a preview of what’s to come. All of it’s great.

Nick Griffith

7 AM

Wombarra, Australia

https://nickgriffithmusic.bandcamp.com/album/7am

Nick Griffith_4_1_Review

This indie-rock, electro-pop, synth album is the definition of glee. The songs are fun with lots of quirky samples that seem to be centralized around generally peppy things. Griffith’s voice has a soothing sound to it. Not to say it’s angelic, but something about it feels familiar and refreshing. The music is incredible. It’s fast and in-your-face synth-pop with synthesized drums that incorporates romantic feels at points with unexpected instrumentation. Every track on this album had its own thing that made it stand out. 

Favorite Track: Riding On My Bike

Release Date: March 20, 2020

CHROMB!

Le livre des Merveilles

Lyon, France

https://chromb.bandcamp.com/album/le-livre-des-merveilles

Le livre des merveilles_4-1 Review

‘Le livre des Merveilles’ is absolutely insane. It’s every ounce of what you’d imagine a post-jazz, post-rock, avant-garde, power-pop album would be. You never know what to expect. Each track creates an entirely new landscape and mental image. Some tracks, like “Le livre des Merveilles” are shorter and have a poppier feel, almost like Stereolab.  While other tracks like “Le fleuve Brison” start a little more cosmic feeling and take their time building into hugeness. The album maintains is unpredictability throughout splashing in longer experimental interludes featuring instrumentation from synths to strings within the tracks. Also, there are a ton incredible vocal harmonies.

Favorite Track: Le fleuve Brison

Release Date: March 27, 2020

Blankenberge

More

Saint Petersburg, Russia

https://blankenberge.bandcamp.com/album/more

Blankenberge

If you’re in dire need of walls of sound with pop-rock vibes underneath, this is the album for you. Blankenberge has fused together shoegaze, dream-pop, and post-rock together in a way that is astonishing. The instrumentation is saturated in a way that hits you in big emotional waves. One of the guitars sounds super wet and surfy, while the other creates ambiance and space. The songs are still driving and sometimes really upbeat, borderline optimistic-sounding, without being overtly happy. The vocals are super saturated and act as more of an instrument than lyrics to sing along with. There are huge post-rock builds and unexpected rhythmic changes throughout that make each song increasingly interesting. Altogether, it’s really beautiful music that makes ya feel good.

Favorite track: Look Around

Release Date: April 10, 2020

ODDLY

Loaded EP

Kyoto, Japan

https://oddlyband.bandcamp.com/album/loaded-ep

Oddly

“ODDLY is a 3 piece rock band with no bassist. Why we don’t need bass? Cuz we’re louder than that.” I took that from their Bandcamp about section because I thought it was perfect. It perfectly describes who they are and kind of how they sound,. Don’t let their promise of loudness dissuade you. I mean, it’s pretty loud, but it’s intricate and fun with little happy vibes overall. There’s a classic, early 90’s alternative punk vibe to it with apathetic vocals riddled with angst. I love the call-and-response in songs like their featured track, “Loaded”. From beginning to end, this EP is everything it promised to be with its title.

Favorite Track: Loaded

Release Date: March 27, 2020

SPC ECO

4月EP April EP

UK

https://spceco.bandcamp.com/album/4-ep-april-ep

SPCECO

SPC ECO consists of former Curve member Dean Garcia and his daughter Rose Berlin. They’ve been doing this project actively since 2007 and have been putting out shorter EP’s the last few months. This EP is very fun and poppy with some really chill electronic songs and some really energetic songs. The dreaminess of this album is almost immeasurable. When you close your eyes and listen to tracks like, “Don’t Mind Me,” the mental scenery is so bright and positive. Other tracks, like my personal favorite, “Who We Are” have a more melancholy vibe to them with experimental textures and synth. This is an alum that you can get hypnotized by and utilize when you’re doing extended outside tasks like walking around, gardening, or driving.

Favorite Track: Who We Are

Release Date: April 1. 2020

Spring Reverb

It’s a Feeling She Don’t Believe In

Portland, Oregon

https://springreverb.bandcamp.com/album/its-a-feeling-she-dont-believe-in

SpringReverb

Okay, so this isn’t an album or an EP, it’s just a single. However, I’ve been obsessed, now listening to this track a dozen times. I can’t tell you what exactly I love about it so much. Is it the excessive use of spring reverb or that classic tone on the organ. I love the fact that it sounds like you’re listening to the track on a warped piece of vinyl. Something about it is so positive at the same time as being so haunting. It has every ounce of a happy day song when you’re driving down the street, wind in your hair, styling some huge fashionable sunglasses while still being ever so slightly unnerving. There’s nothing minor or negative about this jangle-pop track, which is something really great to be able to listen to and really enjoy right now. I can’t wait to hear more from this band.

Only Track: It’s A Felling She Don’t Believe In

Release Date: March 30, 2020

Once again, I hope you all enjoyed this installment of “Katy’s ‘End of Days’ Playlist”. I enjoyed making it. There’s a ton of amazing music coming out regardless of the world situation that can give us all a little comfort right now. Whether you’re into dark, heavy stuff or prefer things to be a little lighter right now, there’s something out there for you to enjoy. You just have to dig a little. Hopefully, these lists help steer you in the right direction.

Things are tough, but you better believe we’re tougher than this. Stay safe and healthy if you’re able to. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Reach out to your friends and family and find something to occupy your mind so things don’t feel as dark. I’ve chosen to deep dive into Bandcamp and have found it to be a sanity-saving time consumer.

You are cared about even if it’s by someone or a group of people you’ve never met. We care about you. All of you. We want to help make this time bearable for people who aren’t used to being home all the time and severely want everyone to get through this with as little damage as possible, but we’re also here if you just need to talk to someone. Reach out. We love you all.

Review: Lust for Nothing

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Band: Lust for Nothing
Album: Lust for Nothing 
Label: Sys2matik Records 
Members: Michael Sky – Vox, Guitars
David Sky- Live / Bass Guitar
Neko Sky-Live / Drums

http://lustfornothing.com


https://lustfornothing.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/LustforNothing/

Great new EP of Philly based Michael Sky of Sys2Matik Overload called Lust for Nothing. It’s a short album, 4 songs, but it has some real burners here and it is something you haven’t heard before. As someone who does a bit of this himself I am a total sucker for music that greatly contrasts the lyrics and vocals. This album really casts a night and day picture between the dark intense topic in the lyrics, and the bright fiery energy of the music. Sky doesn’t have a beauty to his voice. It is dark, deep, rich and really holds a rough sad edge. It’s odd, off-putting even. Yet it holds a true gothic bygone ring in the lower register. You can feel the emotion in his driving monotone chant. A bit of Ian Curtis and Peter Steele with a hint of an accent I keep waiting for him to say “Listen to the Children of the Night, what beautiful music they make” The lyrics call out of love lost and clinging hope. It is endurance and strength in the face of a bleak world. It is the sound I now associate when I think of Philadelphia. I spent a lot of time on the vocals but again the true uniqueness of this band is the musical contrast. These songs are bouncy, light, reminding me of The Church. They dance and fill your mind while Michael ties iron chains around your wrists. The push and pull of this effect is both unnerving and captivating. The keyboard lines are a beautiful anthem chorus and the bass lines are a driving pulse of an over excited heart. Neko’s drum parts are crisp and fierce and an ever present piece of order in this emotional tale. The songs really range widely in style but Sky’s ever present voice ties them together in a continuity that makes sense out of the chaos. There is a coolness factor to this music. You know the real deal when you hear it and this band sounds like they look, like they are. It makes the music ring true. Nothing I love the sound of more than genuine emotion cut down to the bone and blasted through an amplifier.


Stand out tracks could really be any but I’ll speak to a few.

Almost Anything – Holy shit this song sounds like the greatest club hits from Erasure or Yaz. The keyboards are entrancing and lovely. The rise and swell. They tickle and drive. Then Michael’s voice drops and it’s a heart wrenching cry. He would “Give you almost anything of what he had to face” I find myself at a lost with how to compare this feeling. Almost like the Mysterian’s 99 tears in how what you are hearing and feeling separates from the lyrics and messenger.

One Last Goodbye – When the music starts if I didn’t know better I would think I was hearing pop punk from the 90s. It’s warm, it’s welcoming, the drums are pounding away. Then Micheal comes in with a beautiful lilting series of lines about hope in the face of desolation. “We cried 100 tears between us, I hope you enjoyed the show” It’s an anthem and I want to pump my fist and cry at the same time.

This EP was too little for my taste. I wanted 10 songs of the enormous range and possibilities. However it is always better to leave them wanting more, and I definitely want more. Get this album. Rock it in the morning after a night spent too long in abuse. Howl at the moon with it and dance. I’m really excited to get a chance to play with this band and watch the energy of a crowd feed off of them. They are raw, they are real, they are Philly goth made flesh.

Review of Orcus Nullify: Death Hag

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Band: Orcus Nulify

Album: Death Hag

Label: Self release

Members: Bruce Nullify – Vocals, Guitar, Bass/Leonia Teaneck – Lyrics on Death Hag and Rose Veneer/
Drum tracks, mixing, mastering and all around big help Ant Banister of Sounds Like Winter and Lunar Module.

https://orcusnullify.bandcamp.com/album/death-hag

https://orcusnullify.weebly.com

https://www.facebook.com/ORCUS-NULLIFY-136454503096836/

So Orcus Nulify is a wonderful project by Bruce Nullify out of South Carolina. Bruce is one of those wonderful people in this scene that is always going out of his way to help everyone else in the around him. So I was really excited to get this EP and really dig into it. The sound has a lot of heavy old school goth guitar riffs, I would almost call it doom metal. His voice is a deep mellow chant and his lyrics are extremely theatrical and over the top. I get how it might even ride that line too much for some, but not for this guy. I think Bruce glides the absolute razor wire of creating a dramatic picture of allegory while keeping just enough in reserve to not cross the line into cheesy. It’s a real art in this day and age to create something this involved without coming across as ironic. As a listener you have that question in your head but you also have to face that this is extremely well done rock music with depth and substance. The Sisters of Mercy did this, Rosetta Stone did this, and I feel like Orcus Nullify is walking the same path. I think another great strength of this EP is that Bruce is doing every voice, guitar, bass, drums, when it all comes together I think it really gives the songs a singularity which are essential to the effect he is creating.

This was a four song EP I found myself wanting more of. He covers a lot of ground artistically in just four songs. Bruce got some help from Ant Banister of Sounds Like Winter who is an incredible song writer in his own right. He really smoothed out some of the edges and added in some drums beats that give motion to the tracks and make it feel more modern. Leonia Teaneck did the lyrics for Death Hag and Rose Veneer which are two of the strongest tracks. I don’t know any of her work but the lyrics here are truly unique and wonderful. “Drags her fingers through the leaves, and in the night, the veil is lifted.” This EP is full of power and vulnerability at the same time. It’s a memorizing combination.

As I have continued to listen to this EP more an more I think it is important to add a note to the original review. The guitar work in these songs really stick with you. It’s a lot of of rhythm and lead blending and twisting and the more I heard these songs the more I felt they were the true stars of what is making these songs so powerful. Bruce is doing both and I think that is part of what makes them blend so seamlessly and become another voice in the pageant of this music.

Since it is a 4 song EP the best tracks could be any of them, but I will narrow it to two.

Rose Veneer – This is the quintessential bomb track and single. Powerful driving drum intro. Textured guitars that have a very old school Alien Sex Fiend British goth feel. When Bruce comes in with those winding thick vocals describing a crawling graveyard culmination of life and death. It really optimizes what Orcus Nullify does so well. It keeps you guessing as to how serious this is and leaves you as a listener questioning your own perceptions.

The Wind – Here things kick up a notch, a slashing static whip of guitar undercut by a driving Peter Hook bass line. Bruce’s vocals again are a chant in an off kilter rhythm that captures your attention. Then the chorus jumps up an octave in a traditional Cult like rock ballad. I love the dynamics here. The drums really add so much to this track with those crisp merciless snare snaps. I can picture the music video in my mind without seeing one.


Overall this EP is a brave and fresh challenge to the so much cooler than thou feel of modern post punk and goth and I found myself falling in love with it’s unabashed extreme darkness with a standard rock feel. This is an album that needs more appreciation and attention. Find the straight forward spooky romanticism of Orcus Nullify