Out today: GNAW - Barking Orders

Gnaw's new EP, Barking Orders, is out today on Sleeping Giant Glossolalia.

Listen and buy, here:
https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/gnaw-barking-orders

More info, here:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/gnaw-barking-orders.html

“The welcome return of New York’s grisliest chunderers takes the form of a four track trawl through the underbelly of the city. Alan Dubin... still has one of the most horrified and horrifying voices ever to disgrace these ears.”
–The Wire

"Alan Dubin knows something about making extreme music. As the vocalist of long-running abstract doom terrorists Khanate, he screamed and howled like a tortured animal snared in an endless nightmare. His current project Gnaw specializes in a similarly avant-garde mix of metal and noise, and its forthcoming EP, 'Barking Orders,' due January 31st via Sleeping Giant Glossolalia, pulls no punches."
–Revolver

"What’s always been impressive about Dubin’s voice is his ability to channel its extremities. To be sure, those extremities are often simply unleashed, as unearthly, withering shrieks and howls. But when the lyrics count, he somehow renders them with complete clarity, all while never compromising the unhinged edge of his performance... 'Barking Orders' seems alarmed by how the most human of all creations, the city’s built space, has become so inhospitable to and unendurable for so many, many humans. It’s a question worth asking. Gnaw don’t provide answers, but their songs pitch the problem at the right levels of savagery and misery."
–Dusted

"The creeping, turbulent experience that is NYC's Gnaw has manifested itself for a good chunk of the decade both live and on assorted labels; the latest, 'Barking Orders,' out January 31st on Sleeping Giant Glossolalia, continues the darkly cinema of unsettling electronics, slothcrawl doom riffage and the undeniable skincrawl caterwaul of vokillist Alan Dubin."
–Metal Injection 

"New York-based Gnaw produce the kind of brutalizing listening experience that just can’t be achieved without coloring outside the lines of genre rules. They’ve been producing their metal/industrial/noise mash-up since 2009, and their latest EP, Barking Orders, shows they definitely have not lost their edge... This is truly challenging music."
–No Clean Singing

"The rock-solid cred of blood-curdling vocalist Alan Dubin as a pillar of extreme-music is indisputable. Dubin’s six-feet-under howls and screams in the legendary Khanate is cemented in the avant doom-metal annals... On its just-released face-melting EP, Barking Orders (Sleeping Giant Glossolalia/SGG), Gnaw’s deconstruction of noise music, metal, and drone is a monolithic beast on the most brutal of scales."
–Brooklyn Rail

"Creepy... Inspired."
–BrooklynVegan

Out today: FLIEGE - The Invisible Seam

Fliege's debut album, The Invisible Seam, is out today (self-released).

Listen and buy, here:

https://dasfliege.bandcamp.com/

More info, here:

http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/11/fliege-invisible-seam.html

"Brooklyn’s Fliege jokingly refers to themselves as 'blackened hair metal,' but the band’s debut record isn’t kidding around. A concept album responding to Ingmar Bergman’s seminal film 'The Seventh Seal', it expands on the genre-agnostic approach of the band’s self-titled debut LP... The results gesture to the psychedelic synth beds once prominent in Chicago black metal as well as Godflesh’s pounding industrial percussion."
–Consequence of Sound

“They defy easy categorization, they’re pop-culture savvy deconstructionists, and they have a sense of humor without being a ‘joke’ band. Also, they’re fucking awesome."
–MetalSucks

"Fliege takes you beyond post-hardcore and into the realm of the ethereal... Blackened screams, 80s riffage, industrialized drum programming, and post-hardcore passion." 

–New Noise

"With influences pulled from industrial, heavy metal, post-punk and elsewhere, the bricolage Fliege conjures could have easily fallen flat as a failed experiment. Instead, it’s a genuinely bold, refreshing collection of songs that both honors and progresses everything that makes black metal great."
–Heavy Blog Is Heavy

"'The Invisible Seam' is chock full of moments that effectively blend moody synths and bleak black metal with anthemic choruses and classic hair metal riffing... It is clear Fliege is a band with a vision and they are not putting themselves in a stylistic or artistic box."

–Nine Circles

"A 'Headbanger’s Ball'-era ripper, with fiery and towering riffage, thunderous drumming, howled vocals and atmospheric synths."
–Joy of Violent Movement

"The synths and drum programming give it an industrial feel, shrieks from vocalist Peter Rittweger drench the music in blackened fury, and the guitars have an ‘80s heavy metal expression to them. All of that at once might seem too much, and it takes a few songs to get adjusted. Once that initial curve is passed over, it becomes very appealing."
–Heavy Music HQ

SPECTRES - "The Head and the Heart"

SPECTRES: Vancouver post-punk torchbearers reveal "The Head and the Heart," the first single from upcoming Artoffact Records album "Nostalgia"


SPECTRES' new full-length, Nostalgia, will be released March 13th via Artoffact Records and today the Vancouver band has revealed the album's first single, "The Head and the Heart."

"The Head and the Heart" is an anthem of melancholy that exudes the pensive yet radiant stylings of melodic '80s post-punk heroes like The Chameleons and Modern English. Vocalist Brian Gustavson describes the song: “A portrait of the alienation and isolation inherent in modernity. A critical assessment of hope, routine and value. A triumph of pessimistic nihilism.”

Stream the single and pre-order/pre-save/pre-add the album, here:

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/1sJUWthTV2PtqIvaCUBXzp
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/nostalgia/1493451569?ls=1
Bandcamp: https://spectresvancouver.bandcamp.com/album/nostalgia

Founded in Vancouver in 2005 by vocalist Brian Gustavson, SPECTRES is commonly cited as one of the bands responsible for kicking off the renewed interest in the post-punk sound in Canada.

Inspired initially by the original UK anarcho-punk bands of the late '70s and early '80s, SPECTRES mixes the ethics of that scene (Crass, The Mob, et al.) with the stylings of post-punk and an incredible knack for writing catchy songs. Though rooted in sounds of confrontation and ire, SPECTRES has evolved to where they make absolutely glorious songs that will convert listeners on both ends of the punk/new wave spectrum. As a review on CVLT Nation put it, the band is "firmly rooted in punk, but it weaves dreamy melodies into the angst and frustration."

Nostalgia was produced by ACTORS frontman Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound in Vancouver. It follows three independent albums (all reissued by Artoffact Records in 2019).

SPECTRES has toured Canada, the US and Europe, and will embark on a West Coast US tour in March:

Feb 28 - Vancouver, BC @ ARC
Mar 6 - Portland, OR @ Blackwater Bar
Mar 7 - Oakland, CA @ First Church of the Buzzard
Mar 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ Part Time Punks
Mar 10 - San Diego, CA @ The Whistle Stop
Mar 11 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Rec Room
Mar 12 - San Francisco, CA @ The Eagle
Mar 13 - Chico, CA @ Naked Lounge
Mar 14 - Portland, OR @ Lovecraft

More info: 
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/spectres-nostalgia.html

Band photo by Lindsay Wallace

SOLO ANSAMBLIS - "Fosforinis Baseinas"

SOLO ANSAMBLIS: new Lithuanian ambassadors release "Fosforinis Baseinas" single from upcoming Artoffact Records album "Olos"


With its sophomore album, Olos, coming out February 21st on Artoffact Records, Lithuania's Solo Ansamblis has released new single, "Fosforinis Baseinas."

Stream "Fosforinis Baseinas" and pre-order/pre-save/pre-add the album, here:

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/1lYMVtwetuhKv35Du7w1dx
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/olos/1493251755?ls=1  
Bandcamp: https://soloansamblis.bandcamp.com/album/olos

"Fosforinis Baseinas" – translated from Lithuanian to English as "phosphorous pool" – is an early '80s-inspired dance track that cruises along with neo-noir cool. It is the second single off the stunning new album. The band says: “The song tells about a man lost in an overflow of material things, pleasures, comfort and luxury; about focusing on pointless, shiny things; and about the emptiness of desires planted in us by the world around us.”

From Vilnius, Lithuania, Solo Ansamblis describes its sound with the understated tag of "sad dance" – in fact, it is a unique and intense mix of styles, falling somewhere between stadium-sized EDM and moody post-punk. Using a combination of live instruments and electronic elements, the quartet conjures thumping energy and monotone melancholy, masterfully playing with the tension between these two extremes. Anthemic one minute, mournful the next, Solo Ansamblis' music references Kraftwerk, Joy Division, Underworld, and much more, and might resonate with fans of present-day greats like The Soft Moon and Preoccupations.

Solo Ansamblis is a strong new representative for an emerging Lithuanian scene which the band describes as "vibrant and alive." Olos is this unique quartet's second full-length album, and first for Artoffact Records, a label whose roster is rapidly expanding to include some of today's most crucial bands from around the globe and across genres – from Icelandic post-punks Kælan Mikla, to Italian noise-rock radicals OvO, to American grinders Cloud Rat.

Feb 5 - Ljubljana, Slovenia @ MENT
Mar 20 - Vilnius, Lithuania @ Kablys + Kultūra
Apr 17 - Kaunas, Lithuania @ Sakramentas
May 22 - Klaipeda, Lithuania @ Švyturys BHouse

More info:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/solo-ansamblis-olos.html

Band photo by Laura Vanseviciene

DOWNCAST + No Echo

"With a history that included over 200 shows over the course of four years, Downcast made the most out of their time together in the early '90s. Contemporaries of bands like Rorschach and Econochrist, the California group proved to be influential in the decades since breaking up. I mean this in the obvious musical sense of that, but also when it came to Downcast's political and ethical point of view, something hugely important and closely associated whenever someone brings them up to this very day."
-No Echo

Listen to track "Mayday, "off of their new album, via No Echo, here.

There was a moment in the evolution of California punk and hardcore when the music took a hard turn toward politics and DIY ethics. In the middle of this moment, the California band Downcast put out a few records, played almost 200 shows over four years with legendary bands like Born Against and Rorschach, and then was gone. Live, when everything connected, they left audiences standing quietly, sometimes crying. Legendary hardcore label Ebullition Records, closely connected to Downcast’s sound and a heavy influence on their ethical stance, went on over the following twenty years to produce a catalog that still defines this strain of the hardcore music scene. After Downcast broke up, the various members went on to form Not For The Lack of Trying, Jara, and Born & Raised. Now, the band, comprised of Kevin Doss, Greg Doss, Brent Stephens, and Sean Sellers is picking up where they left off. This time around, Ebullition Records teams up with the pioneering noise label Three One G. There’s a good reason for this pairing; these are all the same people who came of age in the resistant, political, determined hardcore music of the nineties.

On Tell Me I'm Alive, their first record in 25 years, Downcast offers a set that reflects that pivotal moment from years ago. Some of these songs were left unrecorded and you can hear where the band was going in their final days, laying wrenching emotion on top of dissonance and big chords. The new material builds from this foundation. This isn’t light music. Downcast gets its weight from its style and its substance. As both activism and hatred rise again and a new generation faces menacing uncertainties, this is exactly the weight that the current cultural moment requires.

Tell Me I’m Alive as recorded and mixed by Ryan Greene at Crush Recording. Mastered at Oasis Mastering. It will be released on vinyl and digitally via Three One G Records/Ebullition Records on February 21, 2020. Preorder, here.

OvO + CVLT Nation

OvO: CVLT Nation premieres Italian radicals' new "Queer Fight" music video


Italian radicals OvO have teamed up with CVLT Nation to premiere the new music video for their latest single, "Queer Fight." The song appears on the duo's ninth full-length album, Miasma, out February 7th on Artoffact Records.

Watch the video, here:
https://cvltnation.com/watch-the-stunning-ovo-queer-fight/

Stream the single and pre-order/pre-save/pre-add the album, here:
https://orcd.co/miasma

Directed by Lele Marcojanni, the "Queer Fight" music video is a celebration of personal freedom. OvO have offered this statement: "Queer Fight is our personal ode to positive rage. It is the metaphor of everyday life: people fighting rules which don’t give space for diversity, a challenge against the inflexibility of the society. It wants to be a motto for a united fight for everybody’s freedom."

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020 – with over 1,000 shows played, nine studio albums released, and a slew of splits and live recordings – OvO is a singular force in the underground. With a mix of electronic and acoustic instruments, founding members Stefania Pedretti and Bruno Dorella take influence from the likes of Swans and Diamanda Galas, pounding out a theatrical and harrowing mix of what Stereogum has described as "music – rhythmic noise, really – owing equal debts to extreme metal, noise rock, industrial music, and dark electronica."

OvO's ninth album, Miasma, features guest appearances by members of Årabrot, The Soft Moon, Gnučči, and more, and sees OvO continue down its path, mixing tribalism and futurism by way of radical cross-contaminations of sounds, rhythms, and genres.

OvO's fiercely independent ethos and grinding live schedule have earned the band a rep as "the Jucifer of Europe," with a worldwide fanbase expecting nothing but the most daring and innovative music. A European tour kicks off in February.

Feb 13 - Bologna, IT @ Freakout Club
Feb 14 - Pescara, IT @ Scumm
Feb 15 - Rome, IT @ Klang
Feb 22 - Busto Arsizio @ Circolo Gagarin
Mar 6 - Torino, IT @ Blah Blah
Mar 7 - Marseille, FR @ L'Embobineuse
Mar 8 - Toulouse, FR @ Les Pavillons Sauvages
Mar 9 - Rennes, FR @ Le Terminus
Mar 10 - Nantes, FR @ La Scène Michelet
Mar 11 - Bruxelles, BE @ Magasin 4
Mar 13 - Freiburg, DE @ Slow Club
Mar 14 - Leipzig, DE @ Zoro
Mar 16 - Berlin, DE @ Schokoladen
Mar 17 - Gdansk, PL @ Dizzy Grizzly
Mar 18 - Warszawa, PL @ Hydrozagadka
Mar 19 - Prague, CZ @ Underdogs
Mar 20 - Linz, AT @ Kapu
Mar 21 - Ljubljana, SI @ Klub Gromka
Mar 22 - Zagreb, HR @ Močvara
Apr 3 - Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
Apr 18 - Pomigliano D´Arco, IT @ First Floor

More info:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/11/ovo-miasma.html

Band photo by Erica Schneider

The Locust, Napalm Death, Nastie Band

Nastie Band – the NYC collective, featuring Faith No More's Roddy Bottum, and described by Billboard as "a leather-clad gang befitting a post-apocalyptic dystopia" and "Celtic Frost meets Scott Walker" – announced it will team up with two legends, The Locust and Napalm Death, for a handful of West Coast shows in April! 

April 9 - Los Angeles, CA @ Belasco Theater 

April 10 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall 

April 11 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall 
April 12 - Sacramento, CA @ Holy Diver
April 13 - Eugene, OR @ Old Nick's
April 14 - Portland, OR @ Bossanova Ballroom
April 15 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox

* Tickets are on sale now: http://napalmdeath.org/scum/gigs/

OvO - "You Living Lie"

OvO: Italian radicals release apocalyptic dance track "You Living Lie" from upcoming, ninth album, "Miasma"; European tour begins in February

Italy's OvO has released new single "You Living Lie," from its upcoming, ninth full-length album, Miasma (out February 7th on Artoffact Records.)

Best described as an apocalyptic dance track, "You Living Lie" showcases the different extremes that make up OvO's wildly unique sound. Heavy sludge-doom rubs up against a funky, minimal, electro beat, while vocalist Stefania Pedretti terrorizes with maniacal vocals, spewed out in her native Italian. 

Stream the track, here:
http://open.spotify.com/album/4aCOD0FXbnY7J3NThnAxrQ

Pre-save and pre-order Miasma, here:
https://orcd.co/miasma

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020 – with over 1,000 shows played, nine studio albums released, and a slew of splits and live recordings – OvO is a singular force in the underground. With a mix of electronic and acoustic instruments, founding members Stefania Pedretti and Bruno Dorella take influence from the likes of Swans and Diamanda Galas, pounding out a theatrical and harrowing mix of what Stereogum has described as "music – rhythmic noise, really – owing equal debts to extreme metal, noise rock, industrial music, and dark electronica." Decibel has hailed the band's sound as “a David Lynch dance party.”

OvO's ninth album, Miasma, features guest appearances by members of Årabrot, The Soft Moon, Gnučči, and more, and sees OvO continue down its path, mixing tribalism and futurism by way of radical cross-contaminations of sounds, rhythms, and genres.

OvO embarks on a European tour in February.

Feb 13 - Bologna, IT @ Freakout Club
Feb 14 - Pescara, IT @ Scumm
Feb 15 - Rome, IT @ Klang
Feb 22 - Busto Arsizio @ Circolo Gagarin
Mar 6 - Torino, IT @ Blah Blah
Mar 7 - Marseille, FR @ L'Embobineuse
Mar 8 - Toulouse, FR @ Les Pavillons Sauvages
Mar 9 - Rennes, FR @ Le Terminus
Mar 10 - Nantes, FR @ La Scène Michelet
Mar 11 - Bruxelles, BE @ Magasin 4
Mar 13 - Freiburg, DE @ Slow Club
Mar 14 - Leipzig, DE @ Zoro
Mar 16 - Berlin, DE @ Schokoladen
Mar 17 - Gdansk, PL @ Dizzy Grizzly
Mar 18 - Warszawa, PL @ Hydrozagadka
Mar 19 - Prague, CZ @ Underdogs
Mar 20 - Linz, AT @ Kapu
Mar 21 - Ljubljana, SI @ Klub Gromka
Mar 22 - Zagreb, HR @ Močvara
Apr 3 - Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
Apr 18 - Pomigliano D´Arco, IT @ First Floor

More info: 
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/11/ovo-miasma.html

Artwork by Michele Servadio
Band photo by Erica Schneider

NEW PRIMALS - Horse Girl Energy

NEW PRIMALS: Minneapolis trio to release debut album "Horse Girl Energy" via Learning Curve Records; music video now streaming; spring tourdates announced

Learning Curve Records announces the March 20th release of Horse Girl Energy, the debut full-length album by Minneapolis trio New Primals.

Stream the music video for new track "Modern Lover," here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blUXnHiwzLc

Stream the track on Spotify, here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3RO7pWJ8n4eyiqYFgWiPlo

Through four years of touring, lineup changes, and evolution of sound, New Primals has reached its current state, finally delivering its debut full-length in the form of the glorious Horse Girl Energy. The 10-track album sees the band straddle the line between the burly noise-rock of the AmRep scene (Cows, The Jesus Lizard) and the sassy dance-punk made famous by labels like Three One G (Arab on Radar, Ex Models). 

From start to finish, guitarist/vocalist Sam Frederick's angular riffing is electrifying and their theatrical howls are right in league with the best of their wild-eyed predecessors – frontmen like David Yow, Circus Lupus' Chris Thomson, and US Maple's Al Johnson. Beneath Frederick's manic energy, the unshakable rhythm section of drummer Lars Oslund and bassist Ali Terveen drives forward with ironclad intent.

Of the album's lyrics, Frederick states: "The lyrics depict a range of personal issues, including addiction and suicidal thoughts, and navigating through life while representing myself as a non-binary person in a world that, often times, doesn't seem ready or willing to accept my identity. Some of the other tracks on the album deal with less personal issues such as living in the 'information age' where it seems like almost every piece of information given to us through the media has an agenda behind it. There are also a couple songs about dealing with what I'd call the 'shared trauma' of everyone seeing that the state of our world is in a general spiral, and not knowing what to do about it. These are some of the concepts I have in my head when I'm writing, but I love the thought of leaving it up to the listener to interpret their own meaning from the lyrics in our songs and connect with them in their own way."

Horse Girl Energy was engineered by JJ Monroe at Tangerine Studios and North Shore Studios in Minneapolis, MN. It was mixed and mastered by Todd Rittmann (former guitarist of US Maple; currently of Dead Rider) at Shy Diamond Studios in Chicago, IL.

The album finds a welcome home on the Minneapolis-based Learning Curve Records, an authority on all things noisy and rocking – home to releases by Vaz, Plaque Marks, Bummer, Tongue Party, Hex Machine, and more.

Minneapolis' preeminent weekly, City Pages, describes a recent New Primals show as "a festival of the id, a madcap display of what would happen if you demolished your inhibitions and gave yourself to the animal sleeping in your brain." Kicking off with an album release show on March 20th, the band will take its "festival of the id" on the road for a spring tour:

Feb 29 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry - w/ Bambara
Mar 20 - Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer’s (Album Release Show)
Mar 24 - Fayetteville, AR @ Backspace
Mar 25 - Denton, TX @ Mustard Zone - w/ Super Thief
Mar 26 - Austin, TX @ Highland House - w/ Super Thief
Mar 27 - Houston, TX @ Red Dwarf - w/ Super Thief
Mar 28 - New Orleans, LA @ Banks St Bar
Mar 30 - Tampa, FL @ House Show
Mar 31 - Miami, FL @ Churchill’s
Apr 2 - Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar
Apr 3 - Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
Apr 5 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Century
Apr 10 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Desperate Annie’s
Apr 11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Our Wicked Lady
Apr 14 - Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern
Apr 15 - Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR
Apr 16 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Apr 17 - Milwaukee, WI @ X Ray Arcade

Tracklist:
1) Blood & Water
2) A Beast with Two Backs
3) Wax Poets
4) Coma Fiend
5) Wraith
6) Horse Girl Energy
7) Modern Lover
8) Soft Bullet
9) BreakFallRot
10) Tightrope

Lineup:
Sam Frederick - guitar, vocals
Ali Terveen - bass
Lars Oslund - drums

Album cover by Adam Marx
Band photo by Sylvia Jennings

KING BUFFALO - "Dead Star" Tour

KING BUFFALO: psych-rockers announce spring tour in support of new "Dead Star" EP

With its new EP, Dead Star, set for a March 20th release, progressive heavy-rock trio King Buffalo announces a coast-to-coast tour of the US and Canada.

Jan 31 - Montreal, QC @ Le Ministere
Feb 1 - Ottawa, ON @ Dominion Tavern
Mar 19 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Mar 20 - Boston, MA @ Great Scott
Mar 21 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
Mar 26 - Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
Mar 27 - Milwaukee, WI @ Colectivo
Mar 28 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
Mar 29 - Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre
Mar 31 - Calgary, AB @ Palomino
Apr 2 - Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
Apr 3 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza
Apr 5 - Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room
Apr 7 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Apr 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Apr 10 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
Apr 11 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
Apr 13 - Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room
Apr 14 - St Louis, MO @ Duck Room
Apr 15 - Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
Apr 16 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Apr 17 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
Apr 18 - Syracuse, NY @ Funk N Waffles

Their most brazenly experimental offering to-date, Dead Star will self-release throughout North America and see European issue via Stickman Records.

Self-recorded in late 2019 and early 2020 by guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson, Dead Star continues to push King Buffalo’s psychedelic aspects deep into the cosmic ether, and basks in elements of ambient drone, space rock, prog, mantra-style heavy and synthesizer soundtracking, as well as the bluesy, classic riffing and creative urgency that has underscored their particular style since their 2013 demo and 2016 debut album, Orion. A depth of mix comes courtesy of Grant Husselman, while Bernie Matthews mastered.

“In the early stages of Dead Star, we made the decision to make a strong commitment to experimentation,” explains guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay. “From exploring different time signatures, tunings and textures, to tweaking the song writing processes themselves. We’re extremely proud of these recordings, and feel it’s some of our most ambitious work yet.”

Recent years have found King Buffalo touring throughout North America and Europe, with highlight festival performances, support slots and headlining shows, and they bring that experience to the songwriting of Dead Star’s six tracks, be it the sprawling two-part leadoff “Red Star Pt. 1 & 2” or the John Carpenter-esque instrumental “Ecliptic” ahead of the chug-and-crash-prone “Eta Carinae.” All the while King Buffalo maintain a flow and atmosphere that has served as a hallmark of their approach.

“These six songs deviate and expand on horizons that we as King Buffalo haven’t yet reached,” says drummer Scott Donaldson, who also handled the graphic layout of Dead Star with Ryan T. Hancock’s striking cover art. “It’s extremely exciting to make something familiar, but unlike anything we’ve previously done. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”

http://kingbuffalo.com/
http://facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
http://kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com/
http://kingbuffalo.bigcartel.com

Band photo by Ryan Williamson

SOLO ANSAMBLIS - "Baloje"

SOLO ANSAMBLIS: Lithuanian "sad dance" innovators release anthemic "Baloje" single from upcoming Artoffact Records album "Olos"

Ahead of Artoffact Records' February 21st release of its new album Olos, Lithuania's Solo Ansamblis has released new single, "Baloje."

Stream "Baloje," here
https://open.spotify.com/album/5YSPlvcsHDiMOsxevww3Ou

From Vilnius, Lithuania, Solo Ansamblis describes its sound with the understated tag of "sad dance" – in fact, it is a unique and intense mix of styles, falling somewhere between stadium-sized EDM and moody post-punk. Using a combination of live instruments and electronic elements, the quartet conjures thumping energy and monotone melancholy, masterfully playing with the tension between these two extremes. Anthemic one minute, mournful the next, Solo Ansamblis' music references Kraftwerk, Joy Division, Underworld, and much more, and might resonate with fans of present-day greats like The Soft Moon and Preoccupations.

New single "Baloje" is a driving electro tune, whose electrifying pulse is balanced by robotic vocals, sung (like all of Solo Ansamblis' lyrics) in the band's native Lithuanian. The band gives this statement about the song: “Usually changes are possible after collapse of inner order. Improvements come after learning from mistakes. In our song 'Baloje,' we talk about reaching the bottom, but in this case it is the only solid foundation from which we lean against and start building a new 'me'."

Solo Ansamblis is a strong new representative for an emerging Lithuanian scene which the band describes as "vibrant and alive." Olos is this unique quartet's second full-length album, and first for Artoffact Records, a label whose roster is rapidly expanding to include some of today's most crucial bands from around the globe and across genres – from Icelandic post-punks Kælan Mikla, to Italian noise-rock radicals OvO, to American grinders Cloud Rat.

Feb 5 - Ljubljana, Slovenia @ MENT
Mar 20 - Vilnius, Lithuania @ Kablys + Kultūra
Apr 17 - Kaunas, Lithuania @ Sakramentas
May 15 - Klaipeda, Lithuania @ Švyturys BHouse

More info:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/solo-ansamblis-olos.html

Band photo by Laura Vanseviciene

OvO - "Queer Fight"

OvO: Italian radicals release "Queer Fight" single from upcoming, ninth album "Miasma" on Artoffact Records; European tour kicks off in February

Italian radicals OvO have released their new single, "Queer Fight," from upcoming new album, Miasma.

The duo's ninth full-length album, Miasma will be released on February 7th by Artoffact Records.

OvO offer this statement about the song: "Queer Fight is our personal ode to positive rage. It is the metaphor of everyday life: people fighting rules which don’t give space for diversity, a challenge against the inflexibility of the society. It wants to be a motto for a united fight for everybody’s freedom."

Stream the single and pre-order the album, here:
https://orcd.co/miasma

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020 – with over 1,000 shows played, nine studio albums released, and a slew of splits and live recordings – OvO is a singular force in the underground. With a mix of electronic and acoustic instruments, founding members Stefania Pedretti and Bruno Dorella take influence from the likes of Swans and Diamanda Galas, pounding out a theatrical and harrowing mix of what Stereogum has described as "music – rhythmic noise, really – owing equal debts to extreme metal, noise rock, industrial music, and dark electronica." Pitchfork has compared Pedretti's vocals to Yoko Ono, and Decibel has hailed the band's sound as “a David Lynch dance party.”

OvO's ninth album, Miasma, features guest appearances by members of Årabrot, The Soft Moon, Gnučči, and more, and sees OvO continue down its path, mixing tribalism and futurism by way of radical cross-contaminations of sounds, rhythms, and genres.

OvO's fiercely independent ethos and grinding live schedule have earned the band a rep as "the Jucifer of Europe," with a worldwide fanbase expecting nothing but the most daring and innovative music. OvO has performed at festivals on nearly every continent, and has toured extensively with the likes of Lightning Bolt and Zu. A European tour kicks off in February.

Feb 13 - Bologna, IT @ Freakout Club
Feb 14 - Pescara, IT @ Scumm
Feb 15 - Rome, IT @ Klang
Feb 22 - Busto Arsizio @ Circolo Gagarin
Mar 6 - Torino, IT @ Blah Blah
Mar 7 - Marseille, FR @ L'Embobineuse
Mar 8 - Toulouse, FR @ Les Pavillons Sauvages
Mar 9 - Rennes, FR @ Le Terminus
Mar 10 - Nantes, FR @ La Scène Michelet
Mar 11 - Bruxelles, BE @ Magasin 4
Mar 13 - Freiburg, DE @ Slow Club
Mar 14 - Leipzig, DE @ Zoro
Mar 16 - Berlin, DE @ Schokoladen
Mar 17 - Gdansk, PL @ Dizzy Grizzly
Mar 18 - Warszawa, PL @ Hydrozagadka
Mar 19 - Prague, CZ @ Underdogs
Mar 20 - Linz, AT @ Kapu
Mar 21 - Ljubljana, SI @ Klub Gromka
Mar 22 - Zagreb, HR @ Močvara
Apr 3 - Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
Apr 18 - Pomigliano D´Arco, IT @ First Floor

Photo by Erica Schneider
Artwork by Michele Servadio

Out today: BODY STUFF - Body Stuff 3

Body Stuff 3, the third EP by Body Stuff, is out today via The Chain.

Listen and buy, here:
http://ffm.to/bodystuff

“In 22 minutes they spiral through Damned/Misfits/Cult-style goth punk, Replacements-ish doomed romanticism and dissolute synth-assisted stadium rock, abetted by a drum machine whose brutally basic patterns echo the mechanical pound of Big Black, Godflesh and early Sisters of Mercy...”
–The Wire

"It’s like an ‘80s FM radio signal was beamed into space, bounced back to Earth, and fried the pirate radio tower owned by metalheads on an industrial bender."
–Stereogum

"If Godflesh ever teamed up with Billy Idol, they'd still be trying to collect the formula that makes Body Stuff infectiously entertaining."
–Metal Injection

"To what other band can we even compare something this wildly original? If Streetcleaner-era Godflesh had cut their teeth at CBGB’s, they might have sounded like Body Stuff."
–MetalSucks

"It’s melodic and unrelenting; it vacillates between crystal clear breakdowns and chugging industrial attacks. It feels like the city that inspired it."
–CVLT Nation

"While this is the heaviest EP in the trilogy, as their razor-sharp industrial metal backing has more heft and delivers more of a pounding, it doesn’t sacrifice any of its melody or hooks. In fact, Reynolds’ croon is even smoother this time around."
–New Noise

Based in New York City, Body Stuff is the duo of vocalist/songwriter Curran Reynolds (co-founder of The Chain and an ex-member of Today Is The Day and Wetnurse) and his longtime friend and bandmate, Ryan Jones. 

New EP Body Stuff 3 is the third in a trilogy of EPs. The sound combines industrial-metal power with heart-on-sleeve '80s rock vibes and some haunting ambience and lyrics. Comparisons to Killing Joke, Godflesh, Billy Idol, and even INXS, have been made. The band has played live with Godflesh, Uniform, Tombs, Collapsing Scenery, Statiqbloom, and more. 

Body Stuff 3 was produced by Curran Reynolds and Ryan Jones; mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. All artwork was created by Curran Reynolds and Brandon Gallagher.

Latest music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxwGIQYaLk

More info and images: http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/10/body-stuff-body-stuff-3.html