Necro Deathmort - Music of Bleak Origin

Necro Deathmort return with a second album Newcastle’s finest label, Distraction Records.

Music of Bleak Origin is released on July 4th 2011.  The CD release comes in a heavy duty plastic sleeve containing a double-sided 18-panel poster on woodfree stock by Dominic Hailstone, the man responsible for Mogwai’s Batcat & Isis’ Holy Tears promo videos and the unsettling creature effects in Aphex Twin’s Come To Daddy video.

Two years on from their debut album, This Beat Is Necrotronic, Necro Deathmort are still fusing industrial noise and death metal strands of gothic proportions with drone rock and electronica acid squelches.

The result is dark, gloomy, foreboding and definitely not for anyone looking for a sing-a-long chorus to accompany a pleasant journey from a to b.

The album opens with Jaffanaut, all crunchy fuzz, cathedral buzz and a slice of dubstep squelch thrown in for good measure.  The album then kicks into gear with In Binary with its walls of wails and stadium drone and vocals, low down and echoing in the mix as if fighting to be heard at all..  Temple Of Juno and Űberlord continue the pace with strong, solid beats and subwoofer-baiting hooks, before the machine-gun pulse and loud crackle-and-hum of For Your Own Good pushes on and pulls you in.

With Devastating Vector the album moves onwards and upwards with a livelier dance drumbeat. The bass still throbbing, guitar still churning and industrial noises still present, it comes to life with robotic and acid bleeps.  These extra layers open up a lighter, more accessible channel for the music. Three-and-a-half minutes pass before the music drops completely and Devastating Vector takes on an amazing dubstep industrial drone.  I love this track.

The acid theme continues as Devastating Vector seamlessly drifts into the Joey Beltram-esque Blizzard. This is the most accessible and ‘dance’ oriented track on the album as the death metal element is nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by heavy use of a phaser and more acid bleeps. Enjoying Blizzard as much as Devastating Vector and possibly falling into a false sense of security I’m thinking the final two tracks are going to keep the industrial monster at bay.

Track 8 - The Heat Death Of Everything is a very apt title as acid whimpers are finally put to sleep and the slow death metal monster awakes with a migraine! Listening to this drone paints a clear picture of everything falling into eternal death.  Slow pending drumbeat, throbbing bass chords, gutter screams and nihilistic doom.  Purgatory from Dante’s Inferno is put to music!

Moon is the final track on the album.  A slow, warm burning track that completes a soundtrack that started at the beginning, before something was awoken and disturbed from slumber.  Like a classic film narrative, Moon, with its slowly creeping drone-infused overtones returns the story to equilibrium, bring the album to a close and silence.

Music of Bleak Origin is not going to appeal to the masses.  The album is powerful, a nightmare of the darkest and geandest scale and plays like a filmscore or a death metal opera.

Necro Deathmort – Music of Bleak Origin tracklisting:
1.    Jaffanaut
2.    In Binary
3.    Temple Of Juno
4.    Űberlord
5.    For Your Own Good
6.    Devastating Vector
7.    Blizzard
8.    The Heat Death Of Everything
9.    Moon

Necro Deathmort is Matthew Rozeik and AJ Cookson.

Music of Bleak Origin by Necro Deathmort is released as a limited CD album (1000 only) and digital download on Distraction Records.

For more information visit Necro Deathmort’s Facebook page.

page or Distraction Records website.

10th Harmonic - Truth = Lie EP

Truth = Lie EP – 10th Harmonic Release 10th March

Buzzin Media are delighted to review 10th Harmonic aka Sondre Saetaberget a 15 year old from Norway who has just released his very first EP ‘Truth = Lie’ including two other tracks ‘Awakening’ and ‘Paranoia’ – out now on cdbaby. 10th Harmonic describes himself quite simply as someone who loves creating, performing and producing music.

10th Harmonic began writing songs back in October 2009 however, he had attempted song writing before that in the genre of Alternative Rock, but had not actually completed a song. 10th Harmonics main influence at that time was the band Muse.

Since then he has found himself getting inspired by more and more music, with many influences. This young man is without doubt a very talented and gifted young musician, especially as he works alone and creates his music from Songwriting, Performing, Recording, Producing, Mixing and Mastering, which is a huge achievement any musician would be proud of, let alone that of  a 15 year old, which you can hear in this track ‘Truth=Lie’. 

Awakening | Truth=Lie EP is out! Buy link in the description! by 10th Harmonic

I first heard 10th Harmonics music on Soundcloud earlier last year and was extremely impressed, especially with his guitar playing and I can recall being very surprised when I discovered he was only 14 years of age. Here is another track ‘Eternal Sleep’ from his Soundcloud profile, that clearly exhibits 10th Harmonic’s skills as a young musician.

Eternal sleep by 10th Harmonic

10th Harmonic Live

10th Harmonic has an eclectic range of positive influences including Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Muse, Genesis, Van Der Graaf, Röyksopp,  Beethoven , Chopin Rachmaninoff, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Dream Theater, Susanne Sundfør, Moddi, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Thom Yorke, along with other Soundcloud artists who have been offering him support and guidance including, DySFUNCTIONAL RoTARY EnCODER, GEM/ecopro, Electricfusion, Archimedes, The Association, Pete “Peachy” Watson, Kibeja, Literate Wolves, Eyebrowz, Moodwing and Jase Munn amongst many others.

I am sure you will agree that this young musician has a gift and Buzzin Media are without doubt he will continue to write and produce music successfully for many years to come.  We will definitely continue to watch out for his progress and continue supporting this talented young artist in the future and would recommend a purchase of this brilliant EP.

You can buy 10th Harmonic Truth = Lie EP here:http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/10thharmonic

You can hear more of 10th Harmonic here on Soundcloud:http://soundcloud.com/10th-harmonic

Buzzin Media on Soundcloud:http://soundcloud.com/buzzin-media

Bill Nelson photo: Martin Bostock

On March 26th ITV films a special concert at Metropolis Studios in London, featuring guitar legend Bill Nelson, leader of pop art bands Be-Bop Deluxe and Red Noise.

Bill Nelson left high profile music some years back, due to his dislike of the music industry machine.  However, his influence is immense.  Admired by Paul McCartney, Brian May, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Eno, Prince, The Foo Fighters, The Darkness, My Chemical Romance among others.

Through conversations with Bill I’ve put this beginners’ guide to the enigma that is Bill Nelson together, as a prelude to this unique concert which still has a few seats available.

Bill Nelson’s celebrity career started with 1970’s Art School band Be-Bop Deluxe, where he had considerable success with classic albums like Futurama, Sunburst Finish and Drastic Plastic.  By the mid 1970’s Be-Bop Deluxe were conquering America although Bill’s dislike for the Rock’n’Roll lifestyle was revealed in his lyrics:

“This jet age life is getting worse, I feel I’m half a universe away…, I left my home some time ago, To fight the creatures of the U.S.A…, You tell me that this neon world is free…, You say this is the place I ought to be…, The time has come for me to go…, You say it’s fast but it’s feeling slow today…”
(Lost in the Neon World – from the album Modern Music).

It was time for a change and Bill disbanded Be-Bop Deluxe and formed Red Noise, a synth / new age band that was considered way ahead of its time, paving the way for 1980’s acts like Gary Numan, A Flock of Seagulls and many others.

Red Noise’s music was jagged and edgy and EMI dropped Bill Nelson at this point since he refused to perform ‘more of the same’.  It was shortly after this time that Bill was a pioneer in what we would now call Indie music, releasing albums made in his own studio on his own ‘Cocteau’ record label.  Many of these home-made creations were of superior quality to what others have created in the most professional of recording studios.

At various points since this, Nelson has dabbled with the music industry, having had recording deals with Mercury and CBS, but his heart is more within the inventor’s domain, locked in his home studio.   He has produced a more or less continuous stream of music in several different genres over the last twenty years.  Much of it can be accessed through Bill Nelson’s website ‘Dreamsville’.

His latest works are mostly lush ambient soundscapes although he is still not averse to churning out a 3 minute pop classic that would leave any of the X Factor great pretenders in the shade.  He will be mixing old with new at the ITV Legends concert in London on Saturday March 26th, performing a set which includes a wide range of Be-Bop Deluxe material, Red Noise and his later collaborations with the late Mick Karn of Japan, plus a few hedonistic sonic soundscapes from his more recent work.

Check out the concert details if you want to be a part of this once in a lifetime experience.  I wrote a personal cameo about Bill Nelson in the book Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll, as he is a master of continuous creativity and reinvention.

For more information about Peter Cook:  The Rock’n’Roll Business Guru, visit The Academy Of Rock.

When Will I Be Queen - Bearsuit

A dramatic new line up and fierce new electronic sounds are promised from Bearsuit with the release of their eagerly awaited album The Phantom Forest which will be released on March 14th.

As a taster of what to now expect from the Norwich based five piece can be heard on the latest single When Will I Be Queen? which will be available through Fortuna POP! on February 28th as 7″ vinyl or digital download.

Quirky schizophrenic vocals, coupled with killer beats, filthy bass and synths, When Will I Be Queen? finds Bearsuit in superb form with what could easily be construed as a topical song that is definitely not aimed at Kate Middleton!

The album Phantom Forest promises a fierce new sound from the band who have swapped violins, flutes and horns for dirty synths, urgent guitars and infectious beats in the light of a dramatic line-up change.

New recruits are Charlene Katuwawala on bass and keyboards and Joe Naylor on drums, they join existing members Iain Ross, Lisa Horton and Jan Robertson, effectively giving the band an option of five vocalists to compliment the new musical direction.

Bearsuit – When Will I Be Queen?

The disco-synth debut single Please Don’t Take Him Back was playlisted on BBC 6Music in October, as well as being hotly tipped in the music press including Artrocker. Weeks later and their second release A Train Wreck was rated an NME Top 10 Download and Track of the Day at Clash Magazine.

Bearsuit lead into 2011 having secured a profile spot on the upcoming SXSW Festival in Texas for Huw Stephens Radio 1 showcase. The band have previously supported the likes of Crystal Castles, You Say Party! and Hot Chip, but will headline their own UK tour in March.

Bearsuit live dates:

Feb 25 – The Labour Club, Northampton

Feb 26 – 100 Club, London (London Indie-Pop Fest featuring Monochrome Set) SOLD OUT

Feb 27 – The Hope, Brighton

March 4 – Head of Steam, Newcastle Upon Tyne

March 5 – The Tunnels, Aberdeen

March 6 – Glasgow, King Tuts Wah Wah Hut

March 7 – Norwich Arts Centre

March 8 – The Well, Leeds

March 9 – The Haymakers, Cambridge

March 10 – Boileroom, Guildford

March 11 – The Railway Inn, Winchester

March 12 – The Cavern, Exeter

March 13 – The Harley, Sheffield

March 15 – SXSW Festival, Austin Texas

March 16 – SXSW Festival, Austin Texas

March 17 – SXSW Festival, Austin Texas

March 18 – SXSW Festival, Austin Texas

March 19 – SXSW Festival, Austin Texas

April 2 – The Windmill, London

K-X-P @ The Lexington, London

K-X-P come from Finland, the land of snow, reindeer, very attractive friendly people and Father Christmas.  They are led on and off stage by the enigmatic Timo Kaukolampi.  As a focal point he holds a microphone in one hand and plays synthesizers and twiddles a bank of knobs with the other.  Occasionally he stuffs the microphone down the front of his sleeveless t-shirt to stab at his instruments with more jagged vigour while rocking to and fro almost in an insane way to the mesmerising rhythms.  Timo controls the stage with his wayward, flopping fringe and occasional yelps drowned in echo while Tuomo Puranen stands motionless picking at his bass guitar giving every track a throbbing underbelly; and the drummer Anssi Nykänen dressed tonight as a druid or the grim reaper blends his tribal floor tom heavy beats with digital sequenced rhythms.

It reminds me of Add N to X, early Kraftwerk before they had dispensed of their instruments, and also Neu!, Zombie Zombie, and a less frantic and more enjoyable Suicide.

Together K-X-P make deep and intense live music embodying the ingredients of all things krautrock but with a sprinkling of lighter sounds reminiscent of analogue-driven synth pop and a more contemporary sound that has been touched by 25 years of electronic dance music and particularly IDM.

Timo Kaukolampi of K-X-P

The most commercial sounding track on the album was a live favourite with the mainly male audience. Pockets is structured more like a traditional pop song with Timo Kaukolampi’s singing verse, chorus, verse, chorus.  I could see people around me dancing away while singing along… “what’s in my pocket!” While the effervescent darker mood was replaced with a lighter, uplifting beat, Pockets even includes a middle eight!

But for me it was the darker, more intense moments that made the live show one to remember.  A personal favourite is the wonderful 18 Hours Of Love which starts with a throbbing sequencer reminiscent to a slower burning Fanfare For The Common Man by Emerson, Lake & Palmer or Goldfrapp’s catchy Ooh La La.  But 18 Hours Of Love drives on like a diesel truck ploughing its way through a dark, dense night.

In good rock n roll tradition K-X-P made their audience wait for the show to begin.  But when it did those that had gathered on this cold January evening in north London were treated to a great show, and one that will stick in my memory for some time to come.  If krautrock is going to make a comeback in 2011 I have no doubt K-X-P will be at its spearhead.

K-X-P UK & Ireland Tour Dates:

20 Jan DUBLIN, Button Factory
21 Jan KILKENNY, Cleere’s Theatre
22 Jan CORK, Pine Lodge
23 Jan CORK, Crane Lane Theatre
24 Jan GLASGOW, Captains Rest
26 Jan LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club

K-X-P’s debut album is to be released in the UK on 21st March on the excellent Norway-based, Smalltown Supersound label.

The seventeen tracks are a tribute to the creativity of Smith, whose beautiful music inspired a generation of underground musicians to pick up an instrument to create something that they wanted to hear rather than settle for what was being played to them on the radio.

Smith’s experimental and cryptic songwriting style has influenced many of the current British new wave of alternative music artists and it is hoped the tribute album will continue the trend, showing potential artists that you don’t always have to paint inside the lines to be creative.

Organised by ex-Cardiacs Bic Hayes and Mark Cawthra, Cardiacs’ guitarist Kavus Torabi and Spratley’s Japs singer Jo Spratley, Leader Of The Starry Skies features contributions from Oceansize, Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) Andy Partridge (of XTC), Max Tundra, Knifeworld, North Sea Radio Orchestra and many more.

Each track has very much been a labour of love for the artists involved, impeccably recreating the signature sound that made Cardiacs stand head and shoulders above their contemporaries.

Leader of the Starry Skies creates an atmosphere that’s almost carnival like in nature, plunging the listener into a world of psychedelia, soaked in progressive punk.

All profits from the sale of this album will go directly to Tim Smith.

You can download “The Stench of Honey” – covered by Kavus Torabi’s band, Knifeworld, below:

Knifeworld - The Stench of Honey by abadgeoffriendship

Leader of the Starry Skies is available to pre-order now from the Genepool website. This pre-order will entitle fans to a free exclusive limited edition album of Tim’s songs covered by friends and family. This will only be available to pre-order customers.

The tribute album will be released on Believers Roast on December 6th.

Shield Your Eyes third album, Theme From Kindness

Anyone who likes their music to be challenging and err towards under, rather than, over-produced sonic power, then seek out the wonderful mesmorising sound of Shield Your Eyes.

Theme From Kindness starts with a pleasant meandering track, more than a song, consisting of mandolin, acoustic guitar, harmonica, organ and a cat.  The short instrumental tune I Took My Lead From You and Your Kindness acts drops the unexpecting listener into a comfortable place and acts as a an intro to allow you to buy your popcorn, sit down, get comfortable and get ready for the on-coming juggernaut of mesmeric sound of Theme From Kindness, London-based Shield Your Eyes third studio album following the self-titled debut and Shield Em.

With each track Shield Your Eyes begin to burn a hole into your consciousness.  Pneulope bleeds into Baby You Made A KX250 Out Of Me, by which time the sometimes poetic, part chaotic garage sound of Shield Your Eyes is totally exposed for what it is – a well refined, highly polished DIY aesthetic mess of discords and awkward, sometimes difficult anti-pop.

Guitar leads in and out of tune, reminiscent in a strange way to the anti-tunes of Keith Levin’s distinctive meandering guitar sounds in songs on Public Image’s wonderful ground-breaking first two albums, purposively assaulting simple notions of chord structures and how music is for many people only heard on one shallow level.

Think of the complexity and multi-rhythms of a Captain Beefheart song.  Think the Screaming Blue Messiahs on bad acid.  Then it’s over. Drop from ringing ears with a crash landing as the noise stops as if someone has forgotten to feed the meter and all you are left with is something akin to an Ooh La La Faces tune armed only with a beautiful mandolin, ukele and croaky vocal from a man who has been shouting too much!

Following what can only be described as a short interlude allowing the listener time and space for a quick intake of breathe and a moment to consider how brilliant the first of this wonderful album actually was, its onward and upward with the rough-edges of start, stop, start, stop and one of my favourite track on the album, Olivers Wharf.  If Radiohead would not make it through to the X Factor boot camp, Shield Your Eyes would simply be escorting from the building.  That’s how good they are!

Tracks like I don’t Know How You Do The Things You Do, with its ever-changing tempo, as if its meaning to do so is some kind of stance against metronomes and digital timing seems to go on forever.  But as I was happy and content listening to the offbeat music and throaty growls of I don’t Know How You Do The Things You Do takes a turn and, lead by a mandolin switches completely into a different place and time.  It sounds like a drunken shambolic Chinese New Year Day street parade – wonderful!

If you make it through all ten songs you may well be hiding behind the settee, in the kitchen looking for Nurofen or quite possibly trying to figure out quite how much you love what you have just heard.

Shield Your Eyes can be hard, uncompromising and at peaks, difficult but the songs also carry a warmth and even at their most fucked up the songs compel you to listen intently to their utter brilliance and song crafting. In an age of over produced crystal clear digital recordings, Shield Your Eyes stick out with their thorny and challenging avant-garde rock.  And to reinforce that live anti-production, Shield Your Eyes recorded the ten track album over one weekend in January 2010 in bass player Nick Bavin’s living room. The sheer energy, intimacy and rawness are perfectly captured on Theme From Kindness.

Shield Your Eyes have produced one of the best albums of 2010 with their third album, Theme From Kindness.  Now I need to play this again, very loud so my neighbours can stop whatever they are doing and take notice of a truly inspirational album that sticks out like a perfect storm from an otherwise mundane , calm sea of blandness.

Shield Your Eyes are: Stef Ketteringham (guitar, mandolin, harmonica and vocals), Henri Grimes (drums, ukele, organ, backing vocals and drums) and Nick Bavin (bass, acoustic guitar and backing vocals).

Theme From Kindness by Shield Your Eyes is released on Function Records on CD, vinyl and digital download.

For more information visit the Shield Your Eyes MySpace page.

lower dens

Baltimore’s excellent new wave, post-punk drone pop band Lower Dens release their debut full length album Twin-Hand Movement this week, containing eleven tracks of eerily perfect and beautiful songs that will swim around your head while grinning like a sectioned mental patient.

Swarming guitar fuzz, bass waves and insistent drum throbs accompany the charred intimate ghost-heavy vocals of Jana Hunter, creating a distinctive and original sound that will either mesmerise or infuriate the listener.

Their is no in-between ground, you will either love or hate Lower Dens and personally I fall into the former category.

TWIN HAND MOVEMENT TRACK LISTING: 1. Blue & Silver 2. Tea Lights 3. A Dog’s Dick 4. Holy Water 5. I Get Nervous 6. Completely Golden 7. Plastic & Powder 8. Rosie 9. Truss Me 10. Hospice Gates 11. Two Cocks

LOWER DENS @ CMJ
20-Oct Brooklyn NY  Bruar Falls  (CMJ Chouette)
20-Oct Brooklyn NY  Don Pedros  (CMJ Impose)
20-Oct New York NY  Santos  (CMJ Stereogum)
21-Oct Brooklyn NY  Union Pool  (CMJ Sinister Foxy)
21-Oct Brooklyn NY  Knitting Factory (CMJ Mexican Summer)
22-Oct Brooklyn NY  Rockwood Music Hall (CMJ Windish)
23-Oct Brooklyn NY  Southpaw  (CMJ Rooftop Films)
23-Oct New York NY  Arlene’s Grocery (CMJ Windish)
23-Oct New York NY  Bowery Ballroom (CMJ VFW)

UK DATES
18-Nov UK London  The Lock Tavern ++HEADLINE++
19-Nov UK Manchester  Manchester Cathedral (with Beach House)
20-Nov UK Glasgow  Oran Mor  (with Beach House)
11-Nov IRE Dublin  Crawdaddy  ++HEADLINE++
22-Nov IRE Dublin  Vicar Street  (with Beach House)
23-Nov UK London  Shepherds Bush Empire (with Beach House)
24-Nov UK Bristol  Trinity  (with Beach House)
25-Nov UK Brighton  Concorde 2  (with Beach House)

dead confederate - sugar

To celebrate the release of their latest album Sugar, the psychedelic rockers Dead Confederate are offering a free download of the lead single Giving It All Away on their official website for a limited time. Sugar is released in the UK on September 6th.

Giving It All Away is probably the most instant and commercial of the tracks on Sugar and the obvious single from the album. It also features the guitar playing of Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis, which is no bad thing.

Dead Confederate have learned a thing or two by supporting the likes of Dinosaur Jr and Meat Puppets on tour and their appreciation of the pioneering 80’s/90’s masters can be heard throughout this latest offering.

While retaining the psychedelic nature of their previous efforts, Sugar finds Dead Confederate tidying up their production with tighter songs, without abandoning the driving guitar work and unbridled emotion that has so far set them apart from others.

Controlled fuzzy guitars and trippy distorted vocals feature throughout this album, the intentionally warped vocals adding to the warm feeling, but the production by John Agnello also weighs in with a dark alt-grunge flavour adding overall depth and bringing to mind Smashing Pumpkins at their best.

The tone is set from the excellent first track In The Dark and the album simply draws the listener in from there on, growing in presence as it goes . Sugar is an almost perfect collection of experimental alternative and psychedelic rock music and if you enjoy Giving It All away, check out the album at Dead Confederate My Space.

Dead Confederate – Giving It All Away

For more information or to download the track Giving It All Away, visit the Dead Confederate website.

The Invasion Of…is a five piece band completed by Andre Bayuni, Julian Bayuni, Neil Montier and vocalist Robin Coombes of acclaimed British hip hop group Taskforce, they are set to release their debut mini-album ‘373’ through 25 Hour Convenience Records on October 4^th.

With The Invasion Of... Powell takes on the roll of main contributing composer of the music, with Coombes contributing his unique approach to lyric writing. Fans of Powell’s previous bands are sure to be pleasantly surprised by their ever more eclectic style of rock ‘n’ roll, prog and krautrock as Gary explains;

“Starting The Invasion Of… was a real leap of faith not only in myself, but the soon to be members of the band.  It would have been easier for me to set it up with other musicians from other bands and follow their lead, but instead I decided to get things going with friends, regardless of their musical background. It has worked out better than I could have ever imagined as the musicians I play and work with have surpassed my wildest expectations.
It has been a big ask to expect the guys to take their own leap of faith in me, but they’ve done it and brought along their own ideas, emotions and overall dynamic determination into the mix which has really helped shape the mad ideas we have  into something cohesive Imagine if Chuck Berry in his youth had started making music in today’s day and age, he would be making music like us.”

The Invasion Of… will be appearing live at Proud, Camden on August 3^rd, here is an interesting clip of what to expect from the band, taken from their debut live performance at The Water Rats.

‘373′ mini album track listing:

1)      The Invasion Of Venice

2)      Delusional

3)      Memories

4)      In Like Voodoo

5)      Pedantic Romantic

6)      Devilish Ways