Out today: ECOLOGY: HOMESTONES

The self-titled album by Ecology: HomeStones is out today on Sleeping Giant Glossolalia.

Stream the tracks and buy the cassette, here: https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/ecology-homestones-s-t

Stream the "Mothername" music video, here: https://floodmagazine.com/150854/ecology-homestones-mothername-first-listen/

First surfacing online in 2020, Ecology: HomeStones is a mysterious audio-visual project, allegedly created by The FPPC, an organization whose sole known member is Philadelphia-based artist Dylan Pecora whose other credits include work for Merzbow and Saturday Night Live.

On the strength of a series of short, mesmerizing video clips, depicting an alternate world of pulsating flesh entities, strange fluids, and shadowy characters, set to a soundtrack of anthemic industrial-noise compositions, Ecology: HomeStones has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across TikTok and Instagram.

Confounding, grotesque, and hilarious, Ecology: HomeStones' visuals suggest an elaborate order of arcane processes and corporeal obsessions, calling to mind the works of Matthew Barney and David Lynch, among others.

The tracks pulse and squelch gloriously – collages of bizarre voices, gentle tones, hypnotic rhythms, soaring melodies, and distorted mayhem, structured for maximum impact.

"Ecology: HomeStones is the type of project that’s entirely too difficult to summarize—and one which clearly knows that it’s too difficult to summarize, basking in the confusion their industrial brand of ambient noise and visceral, surreal imagery seems to conjure."
–Flood Magazine

"Ecology: HomeStones presents art which is not easy to pinpoint precisely, relying on surreal imagery and an ambient noise sound with an industrial edge. The visuals and the industrial / noise compositions come together to exude an unsettling tone, and reflect an overall experimental mindset."

–Destroy//Exist

"It’s weird. Like David Cronenberg, eXistnenZ weird, with a metal, drone, noise tinge."

–Metal Epidemic

"Adding to the lore, Ecology HomeStones claims to be created by The FPPC, an organization whose sole known member is Philadelphia-based sculptor and video director, Dylan Pecora. The project uses industrial sounds while combining grotesque concepts with cartoonish elements."

–Scene Point Blank

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/11/ecology-homestones.html

QUITS - "Bucolica"

QUITS: Decibel premieres "Bucolica" music video from Denver noise rock greats

Denver, Colorado crew Quits delivers post-hardcore passion and noise rock heft, dancing on a knife-edge between anxious twang and epic wallop. Desperate vocals bear a resemblance to the wails of Justin Pearson or Chris Thomson, while dueling guitars, distorted bass, and scrappy drumming push the intensity into the red. Decibel Magazine describes the sound as “jangly, no-fucks-given noise rock... the rumble of the bass, the scrape of those guitars and the angst of that Justin Pearson-esque shriek... full of The Birthday Party, Cop Shoot Cop and Drive Like Jehu bad vibes.”

Stream the new music video for the band’s track “Bucolica,” directed by Carolyn Funk, now via Decibel: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2023/12/13/video-premiere-quits-bucolica/

The band sums up the video thusly: “’Bucolica’ starts off with a serene bucolic landscape. Life. It ends with chaotic darkness. Death.”

New album, Feeling It, is out now on Brooklyn label Sleeping Giant Glossolalia, whose growing catalog of curated gems includes releases by Oxbow & Peter Brötzmann, Nastie Band (feat. Roddy Bottum), Couch Slut, Multicult, and more. Buy it, here: https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/quits-feeling-it

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/09/quits-feeling-it.html

BRONSON ARM - "Patsy Ultima"

BRONSON ARM: baritone guitar-wielding duo drops "Patsy Ultima" music video and Top 10 Noise Rock list

The official music video for new Bronson Arm track “Patsy Ultima,” off the band’s upcoming self-titled album (out January 12th on Learning Curve Records), is streaming now.

Accompanying the exclusive premiere of the video today on Idioteq, is Bronson Arm vocalist/baritone guitar wielder Blake Bickel’s stellar list of his ten favorite noise rock albums of 2023.

Stream the video and enjoy the list, here: https://idioteq.com/top-10-noise-rock-albums-of-2023-by-bronson-arm/

Pre-order the album, here: https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

Bronson Arm rocks with the type of edge-of-seat tension and cathartic hooks that those raised on steady diets of Fugazi, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus Lizard will delight in. Idioteq reports: “The Kalamazoo, Michigan based duo Bronson Arm, consisting of Blake Bickel on baritone guitar and Garrett Yates on drums, forges anthemic noise-punk songs that are a study in controlled chaos. Their self-titled debut album on Learning Curve Records, a label revered for championing the abrasive and the avant-garde, is a testament to their unique sound… Bickel’s heavy, haunting baritone guitar intertwines with Yates’ powerful drumming, creating a soundscape that is simultaneously minimalist and monumental.”

Blake Bickel of Bronson Arm says this about the new album: "While it’s not a themed album, the roles of dominance and submission continue to appear. Navigating anxieties surrounding both. I'm not talking strictly about sexual relations between two people… More about social constructs, capitalism, community, and general roles played in group dynamics."

Bronson Arm was mixed by Robert Cheek (Deftones, Band of Horses, Tera Melos) and mastered by Bronson Arm's own Blake Bickel. The album's first five tracks were originally released in 2021 as the Tosser EP; the remaining tracks are brand new and unreleased.

Though Bronson Arm's minimalist, baritone-driven noise-punk marks the band as an outlier, and its home base of Kalamazoo sets it off the beaten path, Bickel and Yates are, in fact, entrenched in the underground and actively contributing to it. As a mastering engineer, Bickel has put his stamp on recordings by the likes of Soft Kill and Drab Majesty. As the founder of Kalamazoo's DIY venue The Run Off, Yates has hosted recent shows by Child Bite, Kal Marks, and Frail Body. As a band, the two have wowed crowds across the Midwest, including at 2022's Caterwaul Festival, the definitive annual "noisy rock" festival co-founded by Learning Curve Records boss Rainer Fronz.

Photo by Jacob Ludecker

ECOLOGY: HOMESTONES - "Mothername"

ECOLOGY: HOMESTONES: industrial-noise enigma reveals surreal "Mothername" music video; self-titled album drops Friday on Sleeping Giant Glossolalia (Oxbow, Peter Brötzmann) 

With its self-titled album set to be released on Friday, December 15th, Ecology: HomeStones has revealed the official music video for its track, "Mothername."

Stream the new video, here: https://floodmagazine.com/150854/ecology-homestones-mothername-first-listen/

Pre-order the album via Sleeping Giant Glossolalia, here: https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/ecology-homestones-s-t

Flood reports: "Ecology: HomeStones is the type of project that’s entirely too difficult to summarize—and one which clearly knows that it’s too difficult to summarize, basking in the confusion their industrial brand of ambient noise and visceral, surreal imagery seems to conjure... The tension-building 'Mothername' comes to life with a two-and-a-half minute clip syncing the soundtrack’s glitched-out horrors with scenes of what looks like a 17th century village being infiltrated by an undebatably unwelcome presence..."

First surfacing online in 2020, Ecology: HomeStones is a mysterious audio-visual project, allegedly created by The FPPC, an organization whose sole known member is Philadelphia-based multimedia artist Dylan Pecora.

On the strength of a series of short, mesmerizing video clips, depicting an alternate world of pulsating flesh entities, strange fluids, and shadowy characters, set to a soundtrack of caustic noise, Ecology: HomeStones has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across social media.

Confounding, grotesque, and hilarious, Ecology: HomeStones' visuals suggests an elaborate order of arcane processes and corporeal obsessions, calling to mind the works of Matthew Barney and David Lynch, among others. (Those familiar with Pecora's work will see the artist’s fingerprints all over this; their credits include helping create props and puppets for Saturday Night Live and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and birthing wonderfully surreal music videos for artists such as Merzbow.)

As evidenced by "Mothername" and the other tracks on the new self-titled album, Ecology: HomeStones' audio carries megatons of ominous weight on its own. The tracks pulse and squelch gloriously – collages of bizarre voices, gentle tones, hypnotic rhythms, soaring melodies, and distorted mayhem, structured for maximum impact. A perplexing work that is also quite enjoyable, Ecology: HomeStones' self-titled album will delight those already in tune with this project, but also stands alone, out of context, as a compelling slab of anthemic, industrial-strength noise.

Based in Brooklyn, Sleeping Giant Glossolalia's formidable catalog of heavy, avant sounds includes releases by Oxbow & Peter Brötzmann, Mick Barr, Ava Mendoza, Arelseum (feat. Colin Marston), Nastie Band (feat. Roddy Bottum), Shit and Shine, Couch Slut, and more.

https://tiktok.com/@ecologyhomestones
https://instagram.com/ecologyhomestones/
https://ecologyhomestones.bandcamp.com/
https://ecologyhomestones.com/

Out today: SHADOW AGE - Ours

Shadow Age's new EP, Ours, is out today on Play Alone Records. The EP includes the "Ours" single and several remixes. It is the Richmond, Virginia band's first new music since going on hiatus, more than 5 years ago.

Buy the EP (digital and cassette), here: https://playalonerecords.com/products/shadow-age-ours-cassette-ep

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/10/shadow-age-ours.html

"An addictive, emotive sonic trip of a song that I keep hitting replay on. I don’t know whether I want to hold myself and sway in pure melancholy, or jump up and dance in pure liberation, but this song has me wanting to do both.”
–CVLT Nation

"Richmond, Virginia post punk band Shadow Age is back after a substantial break with their new track, Ours, marking their first release since 2018. Accompanying the song is an impeccably crafted video, shot and directed by Cat McCarthy. Prior to their hiatus, the band had already made an impact with one album and two EPs, sharing stages with notable acts such as The Chameleons and Modern English."
–Destroy//Exist

"A pleasant slice of impassioned darkwave from Virginia’s Shadow Age... The best thing about the track is the way it slowly blossoms on its first chorus – the first minute or so is reserved, with tasteful guitars and solid rhythm programming, but when Aaron Tyree uncorks his lovely voice to its full capacity, it doesn’t go back in the bottle for the remainder of the lush tune."
–I Die: You Die

"Melancholy and emotive... Deep and dark, provoking a great deal of introspection and stillness in the listener’s mind."
–Metal Epidemic

"Richmond, Virginia post-punk act Shadow Age are back."
–New Noise

"Emerging from a five-year hiatus with renewed energy and a fresh perspective, Richmond, Virginia’s post-punk outfit Shadow Age returns... 'Ours' is an emotional anthem that features Tyree’s powerful vocals, set against a danceable drumbeat and complemented by reverb-drenched guitars and keys. The song serves as a dreamlike tribute to resilience in the face of heartbreak, and is sure to move anyone who listens."
–Post-Punk

"The reunited Virginia post-punks make up for lost with their darkly powerful single."

–Tinnitist

Out today: OLDEST SEA - A Birdsong, A Ghost

A Birdsong, A Ghost, the new album by Oldest Sea, is out today on Darkest Records.

Buy the album, here: https://oldestsea1.bandcamp.com/album/a-birdsong-a-ghost

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/10/oldest-sea-birdsong-ghost.html

"Oldest Sea cite a variety of inspirations, the obvious picks like Shape of Despair and Mournful Congregation plus more eclectic selections like Roy Orbison, Björk and soundtrack composers like John Carpenter. The last one is particularly notable because there is a cinematic current that runs through ‘A Birdsong.’ It’s immediately apparent on first song ‘Sacred Destruction,’ which opens with sparse, expansive chords and Samantha Marandola’s shimmering vocals. The album picks up speed throughout its nearly 40-minute runtime before concluding with similarly crashing chords and angelic singing."
–Decibel

"Like Neurosis rewriting Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks soundtrack... 'A Birdsong, A Ghost' is a very dark album, both musically and thematically, and one that, although not easy to listen to, should absolutely be taken in one full sitting, like a course of medicine to purge your soul. Despite its individual parts being horribly bleak in places, there is something cleansing and cathartic in experiencing the full astonishing horror of it all."

–Distorted Sound

"A combination of experimental soundscapes and heavy doom metal... 'A Birdsong, A Ghost' grows more impactful with each listen, a unique and experimental sonic journey."

–Heavy Music HQ

"A husband-and-wife duo from rural New Jersey, Oldest Sea have a penchant for dark beauty in a way that touches upon folk music and isn’t afraid to reveal itself to funeral doom fanatics. Their slow and powerful music features plenty of dark turns, so it is no wonder that they have shared the same stage with Bell Witch, Mizmor and others of said ilk."
–Invisible Oranges

"Doom and the words 'beautiful,' 'angelic,' 'euphoric,' generally don’t go together but in the more than capable hands of husband and wife duo Oldest Sea, those terms take on a life of their own on their latest full length 'A Birdsong, A Ghost'... It’s doom with a pulse, a heart, and a unique life all its own."
–Nine Circles

"It’s a wholly transportive experience of contrasts and complements, a union of the ethereal and the staggeringly heavy. The spell it casts is heart-breaking and chilling, but in the music it feels like the bedrock of the earth is heaving and fracturing too."
–No Clean Singing

"Grueling riffs, fragile-but-maybe-rage-shaking vocal melodies, a resonant expression and a heft that goes beyond tone to the overarching atmosphere."
–The Obelisk

"Album of the Week... Thundering, achingly slow."

–Tinnitist

SHADOW AGE x Xör

SHADOW AGE: Xör gives techno boost to post-punks' mesmerizing new single "Ours"

Back in action after a 5-year hiatus, Richmond, Virginia post-punks Shadow Age officially drop their Ours EP, this Friday, December 1st via Play Alone Records. The EP includes the mesmerizing new single “Ours” and several remixes from some of the band’s close comrades. Amongst these remixers is Xör, the solo project of Matthew of North Carolina band Secret Shame. Xör’s remix laces the lush, melancholy song with energized techno trappings. Stream it now exclusively via New Noise: https://newnoisemagazine.com/premieres/track-premiere-shadow-age-ours-xor-dream-mix/

Order the “Ours” EP on cassette via Play Alone Records: https://playalonerecords.com/products/shadow-age-ours-cassette-ep

A recent article on Post-Punk.com reports: "Emerging from a five-year hiatus with renewed energy and a fresh perspective, Richmond, Virginia’s post-punk outfit Shadow Age returns... 'Ours' is an emotional anthem that features Tyree’s powerful vocals, set against a danceable drumbeat and complemented by reverb-drenched guitars and keys. The song serves as a dreamlike tribute to resilience in the face of heartbreak, and is sure to move anyone who listens." 

Having just returned home from a full US tour, Shadow Age's return to the scene is being rejoiced by old fans and welcomed by newcomers familiar with the likes of Twin Tribes and Vosh, with whom they shared stages these past few weeks. 

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/10/shadow-age-ours.html 

Photo by Cat McCarthy

OLDEST SEA - "The Machines That Made Us Old"

OLDEST SEA: ethereal doom auteurs reveal new track "The Machines That Made Us Old"

One week away from the release of its new album, A Birdsong, A Ghost, Oldest Sea has revealed another one of the album’s stunning tracks. 

Stream “The Machines That Made Us Old” now via No Clean Singing: https://www.nocleansinging.com/2023/11/24/an-ncs-premiere-oldest-sea-the-machines-that-made-us-old/

From rural New Jersey, Oldest Sea is centered around the married couple of Samantha and Andrew Marandola. The two summon haunting, heartbreaking, ethereal doom; influences range from the funeral doom of Mournful Congregation, to avant-garde composer William Basinski and iconic vocalists such as Björk and Roy Orbison.

From vulnerable quavering to all-powerful soaring, Samantha’s crystalline vocals fully captivate. She describes the new album as "an expression of feminine rage, grief, and transformation... one long primal scream.”

No Clean Singing reports: “It’s a wholly transportive experience of contrasts and complements, a union of the ethereal and the staggeringly heavy. The spell it casts is heart-breaking and chilling, but in the music it feels like the bedrock of the earth is heaving and fracturing too.”

The album will be released via Darkest Records, the label owned by Jordan Cozza of HUSH.

Pre-order, here: https://oldestsea1.bandcamp.com/album/a-birdsong-a-ghost

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/10/oldest-sea-birdsong-ghost.html

400 BLOWS - Black Rainbow

400 BLOWS: Reptilian Records reissues iconic LA noise rockers' "Black Rainbow" double LP for 20th anniversary

Reptilian Records presents the official 20th anniversary reissue of Black Rainbow, the sophomore double-album by 400 Blows.

Available on Black Friday, November 24th, the release also marks Reptilian Records' 34th year in business – an astounding run that has seen founder Chris X position the label as a pillar of the noise rock scene, while consistently bucking trends and following his own ear wherever it leads.

Pre-order, here: https://www.reptilianrecords.com/products/748723-400-blows-black-rainbow-2xlp

Originally released in 2003 and consisting of 16 blistering tracks, 400 Blows' Black Rainbow put forth a vision of noise rock that bridged the gap between the Amphetamine Reptile heyday of the '90s and the fresh, exploratory scene of heaviness emerging in the early '00s, as exemplified by bands like The Locust. In the years that followed, 400 Blows would tour voraciously and release music on the coolest labels of that time, including Gold Standard Laboratories and Buddyhead, but Black Rainbow is where the young Los Angeles band first found its voice.

The music video for Black Rainbow's opening track, "The Root of Our Nature," shows the black-uniformed trio in peak form: vocalist Skot Alexander clad in iconic leather gloves and shades, howling with existential dread and snotty irreverence all at once, with drummer Fernando Cudia and guitarist Christian Moreno grinding out the song's machinelike parts, completely immersed in the mission. 

Stream the video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0Uttolr-h8

Vocalist Skot Alexander recalls: "We were going for this stripped-down, abrasive, rhythmic shard-like rock, accompanied by a sort of screamy, manic preacher, adult nursery rhyme-style vocal. Some of the bands we toured with, or shared a stage with, included Big Business, Unsane, At the Drive-In, The Bronx, The Mars Volta, The Locust, Melt-Banana, Mission of Burma, and Butthole Surfers. Needless to say, we played a lot, and we saw ourselves as pirates that traveled from town to town and plundered and pillaged and enjoyed all excesses until we wore ourselves out, both mentally and physically."

A statement from Reptilian Records proclaims: "In the depths of the underground music scene, 400 Blows emerged as a phantom-like trio, armed with a guitar, drums, and vocals, carving their niche in the caustic melting pot of noise rock. The band persevered for a remarkable 15 years, sharing their sonic revelations with anyone willing to lend an ear. Black Rainbow, their enduring masterpiece, resonates with the same vitality it possessed upon its release. Channeling the manic energy of Minneapolis' Hammerhead and infusing it with the economical precision reminiscent of Wire at their most vitriolic, 400 Blows carved a unique path. Poetic and occasionally philosophical, they stood as art house outsiders alongside kindred spirits like US Maple and The Blood Brothers. Released two decades ago in 2003, this double LP, their second offering, marked a pivotal moment. To put in Kubrickian terms, if their debut was the cave-dwelling dawn-of-man era, Black Rainbow is the epoch when they harnessed the bone as a tool, evolved and propelled it into the metaphorical cosmos. This is when they figured out who and what they were and let it rip."

Black Rainbow was originally mastered by John Golden and remastered in 2023 by Arik Victor.

More than a wonderful relic of a bygone time, Black Rainbow is a slab of music with clear connections to the present day. In hindsight, 400 Blows helped provide a foundation from which today's aggro-intelligentsia could spring, its combination of skeletal minimalism, tooth-cracking intensity, raw tones, and dark humor echoed by many bands of the now, from Uniform to Pissed Jeans.

Lineup:
Skot Alexander - vocals
Christian Moreno - guitar
Ferdinand Cudia - drums

Tracklist:
1) The Root Of Our Nature
2) The World's Largest Miniature
3) The Long Wait For Nothing
4) A Man of Many Words
5) The Wrong Song
6) The Shipwrecked Sailor
7) Thinking of You
8) Black Rainbow
9) The Gods Are Laughing At Us
10) The Kids Are Not At Home
11) The Bards Must Drink And Junket
12) The Ugly Are So Beautiful
13) Everyone is Silent
14) Mortar And Pestle
15) Premature Burial
16) The Bull That Killed the Matador

Discography:
3.19.98 (Total Annihilation, 1999)
Black Rainbow (Rehash Records, 2003)
The Sore Thumb EP (Gold Standard Laboratories, 2005)
Angel's Trumpets and Devil's Trombones (Gold Standard Laboratories, Narnack Records, 2005)
The Average Guy (Buddyhead Records, 2006)
Sickness and Health (ORG Music, 2011)

Photo by Toni Wells

SHADOW AGE x Glyphics

SHADOW AGE: Glyphics remix brings techno to post-punks' gorgeous new single "Ours"

Last month, Richmond post-punks Shadow Age dropped “Ours,” their first new single since going on hiatus five years ago. “Ours” is a lush, moody, dancefloor gem, carried by the vocals of frontman Aaron Tyree, and today CVLT Nation has premiered a remix of the track by Glyphics. Glyphics' remix bolsters the gorgeous track with an undercurrent of techno trappings.

Stream the remix, here: https://cvltnation.com/new-wave-shadow-age-ours-glyphics-desire-mix/

Order the “Ours” EP on cassette via Play Alone Records: https://playalonerecords.com/products/shadow-age-ours-cassette-ep

CVLT Nation calls Glyphics' remix of Shadow Age's new song, “an addictive, emotive sonic trip of a song that I keep hitting replay on. I don’t know whether I want to hold myself and sway in pure melancholy, or jump up and dance in pure liberation, but this song has me wanting to do both.”

A recent article on Post-Punk.com reports: "Emerging from a five-year hiatus with renewed energy and a fresh perspective, Richmond, Virginia’s post-punk outfit Shadow Age returns... 'Ours' is an emotional anthem that features Tyree’s powerful vocals, set against a danceable drumbeat and complemented by reverb-drenched guitars and keys. The song serves as a dreamlike tribute to resilience in the face of heartbreak, and is sure to move anyone who listens."

Having just returned home from a full US tour, Shadow Age's return to the scene is being rejoiced by old fans and welcomed by newcomers familiar with the likes of Twin Tribes and Vosh, with whom they shared stages these past few weeks.

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/10/shadow-age-ours.html

Photo by Cat McCarthy

VÆGTLØS

VÆGTLØS: Danish post-metal crew explores death and loss on upcoming new album "Aftryk"; new music video streaming now

From Aalborg, Denmark, new band Vægtløs delivers a sound landing somewhere between the cathartic, blackened metal of Deafheaven, the vast atmospheres of Cult of Luna, and the raw emotions of Birds In Row or Touche Amore. All lyrics are sung in the band's native Danish; the band name translates to English as "weightless."

Silent Pendulum Records will release the band's debut album Aftryk in early 2024, in collaboration with a slew of other labels around the world – 46 in total, to be precise, including the prolific Fiadh Productions.

Pre-order the album here: https://silentpendulumrecords.com/products/vaegtlos-aftryk

Stream the official music video for the album's first single, "Ingenting kan forhindre at små struber skælver en forårsnat" – which translates as "Nothing can prevent small voices from trembling on a spring night" – here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d16M1SD1Pi4

The video was directed by Danish artist Jon Gotlev. 

A write-up from Everything Is Noise reports: "While this may be their first release as a band, you’ll come to find that their fusion of post-metal with blackened hardcore embellishments sounds as fantastic and is as emotionally gripping as music from the seasoned, veteran bands within the genre. Their vibrant, cinematic soundscapes beautifully glisten with the intense passion and mourning that is captured within each and every note."

Vocalist Troels Sørensen says this about the album's first single: "My sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in 2019 and this song was originally intended to be a get-better rally call, but as her life was tragically taken away, the song took a new direction: this song is for her young daughter. Life is beautiful, and that is why it hurts, and we need to take that into account, when life shows its darkest face. Let every memory of people we love remain forever."

Sørenson states that the new album consists entirely of songs about people close to the band who have passed away.

A recent review from No Clean Singing states: "Desperation and grief channeled by the rising and falling melodies and the extreme torment of the screamed vocals. The song slows and softens dramatically, and becomes spellbinding, and then builds again to an emotional storm of powerful intensity (and heartbreak)."

https://instagram.com/vaegtlos/
https://vaegtlos.bandcamp.com/
https://silentpendulumrecords.com/

BRONSON ARM

BRONSON ARM: baritone guitar noise-punks to release debut self-titled album via Learning Curve Records; new track streaming now

Learning Curve Records announces the January 12th release of the self-titled album by Bronson Arm.

Pre-order the album, here: https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

Stream new track "One with the Floor," here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uotku46hILc

From Kalamazoo, Michigan, Bronson Arm is the partnership of Blake Bickel and Garrett Yates. Using only voice, drums, and baritone guitar, the pair hammers out a glorious, deconstructed racket that penetrates deep. Says Bickel: "I've always liked the limitations and being forced to fill a space with only two instruments. I feel there is an immediacy and focus that can be unique to two-piece bands."

Together, Bickel and Yates lock into machine-like unison. The attack is percussive and clean, the impact is instant. As Bickel puts it, "When there are drums and only one other instrument, the kick and snare hit hard!" Crystal clear and thunderous, unburdened by any extra layers of sound, Bronson Arm's stripped-down sound goes for the throat. And like a third, unnamed band member, the space within the duo's sparse arrangements has a power all its own.

Yet, beyond the bare-bones battery, there is something else. The round, smooth tones of Bickel's baritone guitar create an effect that is more ominous than fiery. The inherent warmth and haunting presence of the instrument, paired with Yates' almighty smashing, soothes the ear while simultaneously stabbing it. "The baritone guitar felt like an opportunity to explore an instrument I was less comfortable with," states Bickel. "And to open new sonic territories in my brain, while covering as wide a frequency spectrum as possible."

With this unique sound dialed in, the duo proceeds to make songs that are startlingly anthemic. Bronson Arm rocks with the type of edge-of-seat tension and cathartic hooks that those raised on steady diets of Fugazi, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus Lizard will delight in. Taking the less-is-more ethos to new heights, Bronson Arm have succeeded not only in crafting their own sonic niche but in making songs that will stir souls.

Bickel describes the inspiration behind standout track, "One with the Floor": "When I started writing this song I kept on envisioning fog rolling over a dark wooded hill. I wanted to create a sound… a song that evoked a sense of sheer terror and impending doom that slowly crept in and consumed you. I wanted to create a feeling of, 'Oh, fuck. That thing. That thing I dread is starting again. Here it comes.'"

Bronson Arm was mixed by Robert Cheek (Deftones, Band of Horses, Tera Melos) and mastered by Bronson Arm's own Blake Bickel. The album's first five tracks were originally released in 2021 as the Tosser EP; the remaining tracks are brand new and unreleased. 

Though Bronson Arm's minimalist, baritone-driven noise-punk marks the band as an outlier, and its home base of Kalamazoo sets it off the beaten path, Bickel and Yates are, in fact, entrenched in the underground and actively contributing to it. As a mastering engineer, Bickel has put his stamp on recordings by the likes of Soft Kill and Drab Majesty. As the founder of Kalamazoo's DIY venue The Run Off, Yates has hosted recent shows by Child Bite, Kal Marks, and Frail Body. As a band, the two have wowed crowds across the Midwest, including at 2022's Caterwaul Festival, the definitive annual "noisy rock" festival co-founded by Learning Curve Records boss Rainer Fronz. 

Stand by for news of Bronson Arm's next live shows.

Tracklist:
1) Pleasure Brea
2) Hard Pass
3) Tedious Company
4) Conscious Confuser
5) His Ilk
6) Drain the Coffers
7) One with the Floor
8) Patsy Ultima
9) Rabbit Starvation
10) The Devil You Know

Lineup:
Blake Bickel - vocals, baritone guitar
Garrett Yates - drums

Photo by Jacob Ludecker

ECOLOGY: HOMESTONES

ECOLOGY: HOMESTONES: body-horror enigma to release self-titled album via Sleeping Giant Glossolalia; new track "Perfect Francis" streaming now

Sleeping Giant Glossolalia presents the December 15th release of the new, self-titled album from Ecology: HomeStones.

Stream the album's first track, "Perfect Francis," and pre-order the cassette, here: https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/ecology-homestones-s-t

First surfacing online in 2020, Ecology: HomeStones is a mysterious audio-visual project, allegedly created by The FPPC, an organization whose sole known member is Philadelphia-based sculptor and video director, Dylan Pecora.

On the strength of a series of short, mesmerizing video clips, depicting an alternate world of pulsating flesh entities, strange fluids, and shadowy characters, set to a soundtrack of caustic noise, Ecology: HomeStones has amassed almost 500,000 TikTok followers and 100,000 Instagram followers since its inception.

Confounding, grotesque, and hilarious, Ecology: HomeStones' short videos suggest an elaborate order of arcane processes and corporeal obsessions, calling to mind the works of Matthew Barney and David Lynch, among others. (Those familiar with Pecora's work will see the artist’s fingerprints all over this; their credits include helping create props and puppets for Saturday Night Live and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and birthing wonderfully surreal music videos for artists such as Merzbow.)

An official statement reads: "Ecology: HomeStones is a cartoon-industrial noise project following the dramatization of past and future events concerning the mutilation of eight carrot farmers, all coincidentally named Robert. The organization behind this fantasy, The FPPC, is on a mission to provide you with the information you need for a fast and enjoyable recovery."

Beyond the realm of social media, Ecology: HomeStones has been brought to the live stage in recent months at shows around the Northeast. Sleeping Giant Glossolalia label founder Michael Reisinger states: "Their live shows are memorable to say the least, with animatronic puppets flanking them, really creating an atmosphere. The visuals really lend themselves to the crunchy, rhythmic, somehow narrative, noise explorations."

Amongst the project's thousands of bewildered and bemused fans is Ethel Cain, who included an Ecology: HomeStones track in this recent playlist for Interview Magazine: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/listen-to-ethel-cains-playlist-of-melancholic-bangers

As evidenced by "Perfect Francis" and the other tracks on the new self-titled album, Ecology: HomeStones carries megatons of ominous weight, even when the audio is separated from the fascinating visuals. The tracks pulse and squelch gloriously – collages of bizarre voices, gentle tones, hypnotic rhythms, soaring melodies, and distorted mayhem, structured for maximum impact. A perplexing work that is also quite enjoyable, Ecology: HomeStones' self-titled album will delight those already in tune with this project, but also stands alone, out of context, as a compelling slab of anthemic, industrial-strength noise.

Based in Brooklyn, Sleeping Giant Glossolalia's formidable catalog of heavy, avant sounds includes releases by Oxbow & Peter Brötzmann, Mick Barr, Ava Mendoza, Arelseum (feat. Colin Marston), Nastie Band (feat. Roddy Bottum), Shit and Shine, Couch Slut, and more.

Tracklist:
1) Perfect Francis
2) Mint Julep III
3) Mothername
4) Innumerable Crawling Misfortunes of Birthday
5) Flower
6) Ecology Brimstones
7) Kindling for the Fuck Fire

https://tiktok.com/@ecologyhomestones
https://instagram.com/ecologyhomestones/
https://ecologyhomestones.bandcamp.com/
https://ecologyhomestones.com/

DEAD WAVES - "Secret Violence / The Visitor Part 2"

DEAD WAVES: NYC outsiders mark 10th anniversary with hypnotic new tracks "Secret Violence" and "The Visitor Part 2"

New York City duo Dead Waves closes out 2023 with the surprise release of a new single, consisting of two new tracks: "Secret Violence/The Visitor Part 2" drops November 10th on the band's label, Entheon Records.

Stream "Secret Violence," here: https://deadwaves.com/album/secret-violence-the-visitor-part-2

Brothers Nick and Teddy Panopoulos are NYC natives who together have been churning out dazzling outsider-music under the Dead Waves name for a decade.

Perched in the outer reaches of Queens, watching from a distance as trends come and go, Nick and Teddy have marched to their own beat from the start, delivering highly compelling works of art that follow no one else's lead.

Initially bashing out noisy rock, with releases produced by the likes of Steve Albini and Martin Bisi, the brothers have gradually dropped the volume over the years and stripped things down to skeletal basics.

2018's God of the Wild and 2022's Abandoned Children saw Dead Waves submerge into a hypnagogic zone of murky psych and folk, at times utilizing a lyre in honor of their Greek heritage. Under The Radar's review of Abandoned Children states: "Nick and Teddy Panopoulos find fragile intensity in haunting psych and folk arrangements, creating raw, strange, and soulful meditations... perfectly balancing hypnotic, fractured beauty and raw simmering menace.”

On "Secret Violence" and "The Visitor Part 2," Nick and Teddy have descended even deeper, conjuring a state of sheer intensity by way of sparse, muffled sounds. "Secret Violence" and "The Visitor Part 2" are chilling songs that use the gentlest means to imply the heaviest feelings.

With primitive drum machine, chiming guitar, and Teddy's whisper-soft vocals, recorded as if heard through a locked door, the duo summons a dream state that shimmers with faint reflections of Suicide and early Sonic Youth; like those great NYC bands, Dead Waves projects a vision of its city that is as lonesome and perilous as moonlit desert canyons.

Teddy says this about the new songs: "I was tapping into that ghostly, yet beautiful, freeing feeling of living in the in-between states of our existence, between what we perceive as being awake here in the present and what we perceive as being in a dream. And in that in-between feeling, being aware of all the pain and suffering that was brought on by some external factors trying to inhibit our true psyche, and escaping them. Escaping from the corrupt and complacent, dull, bland, safe, consumeristic, detached, arrogant, delusional, matrix-like nightmare existence they created. And not letting them get away with it anymore. They are getting back the energy they deserve, as when we regain our true selves in that in-between state, channeling the blurred lines, brushing with our inner consciousness and manifesting it into our present. Owning this existence."

Teddy gives this statement about Dead Waves' progression over the past decade: "It's pretty much us always listening to ourselves and challenging ourselves, exploring whatever it was that was trying to come out of us. We always wanted to experiment with every sound we had available to us, always having fun and trying out whatever instruments or sounds we were feeling in that moment, and we always listened to ourselves, not compromising anything and keeping our expression honest and real. So it's like we went on this journey and now we're back to where we started, embracing the innocence of it again, but full of experience and seeing even more clearly that our inclinations and feelings when we first started, ended up being true. And now, kind of giving ourselves a pat on the back, thanking ourselves for never trying to be something we're not or compromising our music, our expression, for anything or anyone, or to use music for the wrong reasons, chasing fame and fortune or whatever bullshit thing people use it for, to fill their empty void. We do it for therapy, to get by. For existence."

"Secret Violence" and "The Visitor Part 2" were recorded and mixed by Dead Waves at their home studio in Queens, NY, and mastered by Kim Rosen (Wynonna Judd, Billy Bragg).

Tracklist:
1) Secret Violence
2) The Visitor Part 2

Discography:
Secret Violence/The Visitor Part 2 (2023, Entheon Records)
Abandoned Children (2022, Entheon Records)
God of the Wild (2018, Entheon Records)
The Great Clock (2017, self-released)
Living Inside (2016, self-released)
Nature (2015, self-released)
Oracles of the Grave/Promise (2014, self-released)
Take Me Away (2013, self-released)

Lineup:
Nick Panopoulos - guitar, bass, drum machine
Teddy Panopoulos - guitar, vocals

Photo by Ursula Sommer

Out today: CRONIES - L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST

Cronies' new album, L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST, is out today on Reptilian Records.

Euphoric melodies and hard grooves clash with scorched tones and unhinged vocals in Cronies' fresh, young take on early '90s vibes. Cronies' bounce and vigor are likely to stoke the fires of old heads who grew up on Rage Against The Machine, Helmet, Butthole Surfers, and Beastie Boys, and will convert fans of current rippers like Turnstile and Show Me The Body. The NYC band is on tour now and will celebrate their official record release show this weekend at the nation's preeminent noise rock festival, No Coast Fest.

Stream tracks and buy the album, here:
https://reptilianrecords.com/products/748722
https://reptilianrecords.bandcamp.com/album/l1v3-s1ck0-l0v3-f3st

"Cronies are an exciting new band hailing from New York City... Uplifting melodies, striking grooves, and manic vocals. With a nod to nineties noise rock and post hardcore... channels the spirit of Helmet and Rage Against The Machine among other past greats."

–Destroy//Exist

"Literally, it’s a hardcore record, and a hell of a fun one at that. The NYC quartet are far beyond channeling only aggression – much like the punk institutions that came before them (anywhere from Beastie Boys to Turnstile), L1V3 S1CK0 L0VE F3ST is multifaceted, even pulling in some classic grunge tones and progressively psychedelic climaxes to color in the journey... 'Ice Pop (Tastes Like Love)' is one of my favorite songs of the year."

–Everything Is Noise

"[L1V3 S1CK0 L0VE F3ST] flits between grunge-era noise rock buzzers, late 90’s post-hardcore pump, and a sort of aggro spoken cadence which isn’t as abstract in effect as something like Show Me the Body but might appeal to fans of scatterbrained noise rock sludginess a la Chat Pile."

–Grizzly Butts

"A harmonious blend of indie rock, post hardcore, blues infused noise rock... A hypnotic concoction of scorched tones and visceral vocals."

–Idioteq

"Classic punked-up, grungy rock that sets aside the dreary attitude and embodies a mood worthy of a skateboard hill bomb in summer with friends. Guitar tones have crunchy textures, drums are positively locomotive in their movement and ceaselessness, and the emotive vocals smack of '90s Beastie Boys when they started using more effects."
–Lambgoat

"On New York City grunge-punks Cronies’ second album, they prove whey they are one of the most exciting young bands to come out of the Big Apple in a long time. While their sound may harken back to the noise-punk of the 90’s, their modern spin on these classic sounds puts them right up there with contemporaries in Show Me The Body and Venus Twins."
–New Noise

"Some New York City cockpunchers take a grungy old flannel shirt from the ’90s, soak it in a filthy bathtub of LSD — and then shove it down your goddamn throat."

–Tinnitist

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/10/cronies-l1v3-s1ck0-l0v3-f3st.html

SHADOW AGE - "Ours"

SHADOW AGE: Richmond post-punks return with new single "Ours"; US fall tourdates with VOSH and more; remix cassette drops December 1

Richmond, Virginia post-punks Shadow Age have returned from a long hiatus and delivered "Ours," their first new track since 2018.

Stream the official "Ours" music video and read an extensive new interview with frontman Aaron Tyree, here: https://post-punk.com/richmond-post-punk-outfit-shadow-age-return-with-new-single-ours-plus-interview/

Shot and directed by Cat McCarthy, the "Ours" video sees the trio bathed in smoke and vibrant hues and features more than one moonwalk, courtesy of Tyree. Over the song's five-minute arc, Tyree's rich, clear voice soars alongside guitarist Tony Gloom's melancholy strumming and drummer Patrick DeWit's irresistible beat.

The track – in its original form, plus a slew of remixes – will be released on cassette on December 1st via Play Alone Records. 

Post-Punk.com reports: "Emerging from a five-year hiatus with renewed energy and a fresh perspective, Richmond, Virginia’s post-punk outfit Shadow Age returns... 'Ours' is an emotional anthem that features Tyree’s powerful vocals, set against a danceable drumbeat and complemented by reverb-drenched guitars and keys. The song serves as a dreamlike tribute to resilience in the face of heartbreak, and is sure to move anyone who listens."

"One of my favorite things about this song is that I can give a multitude of answers about what it's about," says Tyree. "The moon. Time. Being alone. Finding solace. Acceptance. I wanted to write something that was honest and real, but not too specific. Vague but tangible. The lyrics were written over the course of a week in a methed out hotel in Salt Lake City."

Shadow Age's return to the scene will be rejoiced by old fans and welcomed by newcomers familiar with the likes of Drab Majesty, Urban Heat, French Police, and Soft Kill. Before the hiatus, the band released one LP and two EPs, and shared stages with the likes of The Chameleons and Modern English.

Tyree describes the chaotic state of affairs that led him to step away from music five years ago: "Everything was a mess. I was unbearable to be around. I needed time away from everything. As I was centering and stabilizing my mind and life, I was thrown into a time mostly defined by loss. Lovers, friends, family, death... the world, to a degree. I started really looking at my life and flaws and mistakes and reconciling them. After a while I just realized, 'There's only ever really today. Half of my friends are dead. I'm healthy. I can't stop writing good songs. The time to do Shadow Age is now.' Now we are here."

New single "Ours" was recorded and mixed by Ricky Olson and mastered by Dan Randall. For the remixes, Tyree reached out to some of his closest friends and collaborators. He states: "As soon as we left the studio after tracking 'Ours' I asked Tony Gloom about doing the Petrified Entity remix. I was curious to hear his take on what a remix would look like, seeing as how he co-wrote the track. I really like the bounce and optimism he brings to the track. House music extraordinaire, Maude is my friend and former bandmate Aaron Boles. I like how big and theatrical his mix turned out. Glyphics is the solo project of Evan Sharfe, formerly of Skeleton Hands. A couple of years ago while I was visiting Evan in Cincinnati, he made an off-handed comment about completing a remix in an hour for a friend of his. I joked that he would have the same amount of time to complete a Shadow Age remix and the whole idea of him doing a remix spawned from there. According to him, his remix is essentially what Shadow Age would sound like if he produced us. Xör is the solo project of Matthew from Secret Shame. I really like how his mix feels more open and dour. I also like how he played around with the structure."

Shadow Age will hit the road October 25th for a 3-week US tour, including dates with Twin Tribes, VOSH, and more. “Excited to announce our first tour in more than five years," states Tyree. "We will be playing some new material for the first time live. We are playing a few of our favorite cities to play, and also playing some cities for the first time ever.”

A new full-length album is in the works for 2024.

Oct 25 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Rock Room
Oct 26 – Chicago, IL @ Open Center for the Arts
Oct 27 – Memphis, TN @ Zen House (w/ Twin Tribes, VOSH)
Oct 28 – Dallas, TX @ The Armory (w/ The Pop Ritual)
Oct 29 – Laredo, TX @ Boogalo (w/ The Pop Ritual)
Oct 30 – San Antonio, TX @ The Mix (w/ The Pop Ritual)
Oct 31 – El Paso, TX @ The Living Room (w/ The Pop Ritual)
Nov 1 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Church (w/ Yellowcake)
Nov 2 – Los Angeles, CA @ Footsies
Nov 3 – San Diego, CA @ The Bancroft
Nov 4 – Oakland, CA @ Joy Gallery
Nov 5 – Portland, OR @ Blackwater
Nov 7 – Salt Lake City, UT @ INTL Artist Lounge
Nov 8 – Denver, CO @ The Crypt (w/ VOSH)
Nov 9 – Wichita, KS @ The Lumberyard
Nov 11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Healer
Nov 12 – Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana

Tracklist:
1) Ours
2) Ours (Xör Remix)
3) Ours (Petrified Identity Remix)
4) Ours (Maude Remix)
5) Ours (Glyphics Remix)

Lineup:
Aaron Tyree - guitar, keyboard, vocals
Tony Gloom - guitar, keyboards
Patrick DeWit - drums
Dann Rothwell - live bass

https://shadowage.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/shadowagesongs/

Photo by Cat McCarthy

OLDEST SEA - A Birdsong, A Ghost

OLDEST SEA: ethereal doom duo expresses "feminine rage, grief, and transformation" on new album "A Birdsong, A Ghost"; official music video now streaming, directed by Dylan Pecora (Merzbow, Ecology: HomeStones)

Oldest Sea announces the December 1st release of its new full-length album, A Birdsong, A Ghost.

The album will be released on Darkest Records, the label owned by Jordan Cozza of sludge-doom greats HUSH.

Stream the official music video for the first single, "Sacred Destruction," here: https://www.invisibleoranges.com/oldest-sea-video/

Pre-order the LP, here: https://oldestsea1.bandcamp.com/album/a-birdsong-a-ghost

"It's an expression of feminine rage, grief, and transformation," says Oldest Sea vocalist Samantha Marandola. "It's kind of just one long primal scream for me."

On "Sacred Destruction," the album's opening track, Marandola's crystalline vocals, layered sumptuously, dance around the sparse twang of a lonesome guitar, building tension that eventually gives way to a majestic doom dirge. Marandola's voice is stunning and one-of-a-kind. Whether quavering vulnerably or soaring all-powerfully, it hooks the ear and commands attention like a hawk's talons sunk in flesh.

"I started as a one-person project back in 2017 and wrote experimental, ethereal, folk music," she says. "My husband Andrew joined me a short while later and we began to play out as a two-piece. By 2021, my writing evolved into something heavier."

Across A Birdsong, A Ghost – five tracks, clocking in at almost 40 minutes and unfolding like one long scene in a film – the couple set a tone that is haunting, otherworldly, and heartbreaking. The two have stated their influences to include doom bands such as Mournful Congregation and Shape of Despair, composers such as John Carpenter and William Basinski, and iconic vocalists such as Björk and Roy Orbison. All are clearly represented here.

The Marandolas also give credit to their rural New Jersey surroundings. Samantha, who works by day in environmental conservation for a land and water trust, states: "It is very rural. A farming community. Being so close to the natural world has a huge impact on how and what I write."

The "Sacred Destruction" video, created by Philadelphia sculptor and video maker Dylan Pecora, is a gorgeous, surreal clip, laced with body horror, reminiscent of the works of Matthew Barney. "The song is about letting go of a former self," says Samantha. "Dylan's video captures everything that's meant to be conveyed in that song, and I really appreciate their surrealist approach. They found a way to seamlessly unify song and film so that they're essentially one unit." 

Pecora's credits include building props and puppets for Saturday Night Live, and creating music videos for artists such as Merzbow. They are also alleged to be involved in the mysterious Ecology: HomeStones project, which has amassed more than half a million followers across social media.

A Birdsong, A Ghost was engineered and mixed by the Marandolas and mastered by Dan Lowndes (Leviathan, Unearthly Trance).

Oldest Sea has played shows with the likes of Planning for Burial, Bell Witch, and Mizmor. A short tour with Oktas begins November 9th.

Tour:
Nov 9 - Worcester, MA @ Ralph’s Diner (w/ Oktas)
Nov 10 - Providence, RI @ The Mayday (w/ Oktas)
Nov 11 - Portland, ME @ Urban Farm Fermentory (w/ Oktas)
Nov 12 - Burlington, VT @ The Monkey House (w/ Oktas)
Nov 13 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Desperate Annie’s (w/ Oktas)

Tracklist:
1) Sacred Destruction
2) Untracing
3) Astronomical Twilight
4) The Machines That Made Us Old
5) Metamorphose

Lineup:
Samantha Marandola - vocals, synth, piano
Andrew Marandola - guitar, bass, drums

CRONIES - "Ice Pop (Tastes Like Love)"

CRONIES: NYC punks reveal euphoric new track "Ice Pop (Tastes Like Love)"; new album "L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST" drops Friday on Reptilian Records; US tour hits No Coast Fest

With Reptilian Records' release of the new Cronies album, L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST, coming up on Friday, October 20th, the band has revealed another new track from the album.

Stream "Ice Pop (Tastes Like Love)" here: https://lambgoat.com/news/40521/cronies-reveal-ice-pop-single-from-their-upcoming-record/

Pre-order L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST here: https://www.reptilianrecords.com/products/748722

Euphoric melodies and hard grooves clash with scorched tones and unhinged vocals in Cronies' fresh, young take on early '90s vibes. Lambgoat reports: “It's classic punked-up, grungy rock that sets aside the dreary attitude and embodies a mood worthy of a skateboard hill bomb in summer with friends. Guitar tones have crunchy textures, drums are positively locomotive in their movement and ceaselessness, and the emotive vocals smack of '90s Beastie Boys when they started using more effects.”

Indeed, Cronies rock with bounce and vigor that is likely to stoke the fires of old heads who grew up on Rage Against The Machine, Helmet, Butthole Surfers, and the aforementioned Beastie Boys, and they fit right in with current rippers like Turnstile and Show Me The Body.

The NYC band is on tour now and will celebrate their official record release show this weekend at the nation's preeminent noise rock festival, No Coast Fest.

Oct 17 - Atlanta, GA - Innerspace
Oct 18 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
Oct 20 - Denton, TX - No Coast Fest
Oct 21 - Austin, TX - Swandive
Oct 23 - Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
Oct 24 - Kansas City, MO - Farewell
Oct 25 - Chicago, IL - Fallen Log
Oct 26 - Columbus, OH - Half Baked

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/10/cronies-l1v3-s1ck0-l0v3-f3st.html

Out today: ÅRABROT - Of Darkness and Light

Of Darkness and Light, the tenth full-length album by Årabrot, is out today on Pelagic Records.

The band's macabre sound has evolved over the years into something totally anthemic and rocking – landing between Nick Cave, Swans, Killing Joke, and Ghost. NPR's Lars Gotrich describes the newer work as "a cathedral-shaking rock-and-roll powerhouse." The band consists of of the iconic married couple of Kjetil Nernes and Karin Park; Of Darkness and Light was recorded entirely in the church in rural Sweden where they live with their two kids. It was produced by Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan, PJ Harvey).

Stream the album and buy it, here: https://listen.pelagic-records.com/arabrot

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/07/arabrot-of-darkness-and-light.html

"A very cool dose of loud, catchy, gothy rock."
–BrooklynVegan

"The latest from these folk, rock, whatever, weirdos is nothing short of uplifting—in the true, religious music sense. Much like a solid hymn, the catchiness and authenticity of these songs will move you and make you want to listen again and again."
–Invisible Oranges

"This Norwegian band’s sound may have evolved from the noise rock they were known for in the past, but Årabrot’s 10th studio album 'Of Darkness And Light' offers something more melodic and riff driven."
–MetalSucks

"Årabrot have transformed from a noise rock band to a heavy, twisted, art-rock band that just want to rock... 'Of Darkness And Light' is another excellent album from a band that are known for quality albums. It is dark, hard-hitting, catchy, and a bit blasphemous. What more could you want in a rock album these days? Get down with the Church Of Årabrot. It’s such a holy place to be."
–New Noise

"Thanks to the duo’s vocal interplay, all of the songs get a gothic sheen. Alain Johannes’ production gives the album the energy and bombast of radio friendly alternative rock. All of the songs on this album sound huge."

–Nine Circles

"A sumptuous experience from start to finish, with atmospheric texture, emotive lyrics, booming guitars, and echoing rhythms that make one feel as if the walls of one’s ears are soaking in the exact music created within the church walls they were formed in."

–Outburn

"Kjetil Nernes and Karin Park have been forging their own distinctive musical path with Årabrot for two decades, with the forthcoming 'Of Darkness and Light' marking the Norwegian duo’s tenth full-length effort."

–ReGen

"These shady Scandinavians are ready, willing and able to score your next black mass / masked orgy."
–Tinnitist

CRONIES - L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST

CRONIES: NYC punks channel psych, grunge, and stadium-sized hooks on new Reptilian Records album "L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST"; new single "Rentboy" now streaming; US tour kicks off this week

Reptilian Records presents L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST, the new album by New York City band Cronies.

L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST will be released October 20th on Reptilian – the latest feather in the cap of the Texas (by way of Baltimore) label that counts Dwarves and Chat Pile amongst the highlights of its 33-year history.

Stream first single "Rentboy," here: https://reptilianrecords.bandcamp.com/album/l1v3-s1ck0-l0v3-f3st

Pre-order L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST, here: http://www.reptilianrecords.com/products/748722

First single "Rentboy" absolutely captivates. Building over four and a half minutes, the song bursts with attitude and stadium-size hooks, spewed across a slow groove. A fresh, young take on '90s stylings, it hits like a maniacal new re-imagining of early Rage Against The Machine.

As hard as "Rentboy" goes, this anthem is just one of eight, equally banging bangers. There are no misses on L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST.

The formula is golden. With one hand, Cronies offers euphoric melodies and unapologetic bounce; with the other, scorched tones and unhinged vocals. One hand welcomes you in, the other goes for the throat. "I see Cronies as being the trainer," says vocalist Brad Hoyt. "The listener is the dog whose nose we’re pushing into the shit."

The balance of the catchy and the abrasive in Cronies' psychedelic grunge brings to mind Helmet, Nirvana, and Butthole Surfers, but bassist/vocalist Shea Glasheen reminds us that Cronies is a band of the here and now: "I definitely take some influence from '90s artists but I'd say my peers in the NYC music scene influence me more than anyone. I think now, I hear everything I've been taught by my good friends. That's what I hold the most dear to my songwriting."

Indeed, the band shines amidst NYC's current scene of forward-thinking noise-punks – bands like Show Me The Body and Venus Twins. And beyond NYC, beyond the "underground," fans of current superstars Turnstile and Idles might very well find something to love as well.

Speaking about his lyrics, Hoyt backs Glasheen's assertion that Cronies is a band of today; his words are grounded in the experience of living in America in 2023. He states: "For this release, I wanted to focus my lyrics more on what is worth hating in my external, not internal, world. Cultural mobilizations against media and ideologies deemed dangerous; all from those who willfully do nothing to protect vulnerable groups against real world violence. Worship for rich politicians and celebrities, often by those who bemoan wealth inequality and social division. Being told from childhood that your country is the global standard of opportunity, by the very figures who benefit to see people suffocating and want you pushed to a state of total immobility. I just wanted to lash out at any of the topically blatant, violent contradictions of American culture, rather than myself."

L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST is Cronies' second full-length, following a self-titled 2021 album and three EPs. Like its predecessors, the album was recorded by "Toppy," the father of Cronies members Sam and Jack Carillo.

The band kicks off a US tour on Friday, October 13th, including a stop at the nation's preeminent noise rock fest, No Coast Fest.

Tour:
Oct 13 - Baltimore, MD - Holy Frijoles
Oct 15 - Harrisonburg, VA - Crayola House
Oct 16 - Charlotte, NC - Milestone Club
Oct 17 - Atlanta, GA - Innerspace
Oct 18 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa

Oct 20 - Denton, TX - No Coast Fest (RECORD RELEASE SHOW)
Oct 21 - Austin, TX - Swandive
Oct 23 - Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
Oct 24 - Kansas City, MO - Farewell
Oct 25 - Chicago, IL - Fallen Log
Oct 26 - Columbus, OH - Half Baked

Tracklist:
1) 400 Blows
2) Ice Pop (Tastes Like Love)
3) Hose in the Sand
4) Rentboy
5) Hot Test Sour Mash
6) A Simple Case of a Wrenched Back
7) Come Down and Dig
8) Acid Western from the Heart

Lineup:
Brad Hoyt - vocals, guitar, electronics
Shea Glasheen - vocals, bass, samples
Sam Carillo - guitar, bass
Jack Carillo - drums, percussion, samples

Links:
https://instagram.com/croniesny/
https://croniesny.bandcamp.com/