ISSUE #3
Dreams Are Not Enough - Telefon Tel Aviv
If it’s been a while since you last had a solid cry, Joshua Eustis aka Telefon Tel Aviv delivers with his latest album, Dreams Are Not Enough via Ghostly International.
It’s been 10 years since Telefon Tel Aviv’s last studio album, Immolate Yourself, was released. It’s also been 10 years since the tragic (and accidental) death of Charles Cooper — the former member of the Chicago-based electronic duo. Fast forward to 2019, and Joshua Eustis is taking a step away from his prolific contributions to the music scene to keep the memory of his former bandmate alive with this release.
A peek into this album reveals a heady dreamscape filled with both ambient fantasies and nightmarishly industrial tones and rhythms. It’s an eerily beautiful contemplation of nostalgia and death. A profound wave of emotion that generates tears and lumps in your throat.
If the tracks themselves weren’t enough to conjure up thoughts both heavenly and foreboding, the album’s tracklist reveals some dark poetry:
01. ‘I dream of it often:’
02. ‘a younger version of myself,’
03. ‘standing at the bottom of the ocean;’
04. ‘arms aloft,’
05. ‘mouth agape,’
06. ‘eyes glaring,’
07. ‘not seeing,’
08. ‘not breathing,’
09. ‘still as stone in a watery fane.’
Take a listen. I’d recommend listening to this on a cold day with the windows open while wearing your favorite sweater.
We’ll be seeing Telefon Tel Aviv tomorrow night in San Francisco as a part of Ghostly 20. Stay tuned for our coverage in the coming days!
Listen to Dreams Are Not Enough and let us know what you think!
♥ Mando
Obverse - Trentemøller
This NMF, Bump takes you on a track-by-track through what we consider the greatest release ever to come from our favorite Danish producer.
Anders Trentemøller once again cements himself as one of the greatest modern talents at composing cinematic electronic music, crafting dark, emotional and driving pieces that fit as snugly into a feature film as they do a nightclub. A master at textural layering and synth manipulation, Trentemøller doesn’t stop at forging deeply affective beats - he regularly collaborates with a spectrum of female vocal talent to produce something truly unique, haunting and ephemeral.
Cold Comfort - A grungy, reverbed out slow burn with crashing symbols and driving fuzzy guitars - this sounds like the track Burning Church from Johan Johansson’s incredible soundtrack to Mandy. The sound of a bowed cello or stand up bass creates a thick, warm backdrop for the delicate vocals of Rachel Goswell, encapsulating a quiet moment amidst overdriven chaos - a teardrop in a thunderstorm.
Church of Trees - A psychedelic ambient journey through soft forests and rippling ponds. A simple, warm synth slowly swells with overlapping waves of sound, blooming sonically for a brief moment, then fading. In the second half, a delicately complex arpeggio in swing time wilts and stiffens as it dances to and fro. A masterpiece of minimal synth orchestration. Our second favorite track on the album.
In the Garden - A mournful winter anthem reminiscent of classic Trentemøller, complete with staccato plucked bass and cold, austere vocals from Lina Tullgren.
Foggy Figures - A curious and bending pattern of exploratory melodies probe a snowy sky for signs of life. A frenetic drumbeat and galloping bass breaks through the wandering ambience suddenly, building into a hectic analog synth frenzy over filtered breakbeats. Basslines and treble pitches scatter in unison and fade into the mist at the 7 minute mark, leaving us sweaty and disoriented.
Blue September - Ghostly vox layers from Lisbet Fritze accompanied by a synth arpeggio straight out of Stranger Things, or an actual graveyard. The climax centers on overlapping and decaying synths calling to each other like the ghosts of songbirds across a foggy Danish lake. A ponderous echoing bassline fades into a howling analog tape effect, and we are left awed and in tears. Our favorite track on the album.
Trnt - Heavily affected staccato synth hits crawl like many spiders across a plane of shifting mercury. A fog horn-esque drone settles heavily before layered male vocal textures drift in and out. A kaleidoscopic sound like a didgeridoo reminds us of Fever Ray, and is accompanied by a pulsing heartbeat of a bassline. All the pieces come back together at the end of the track. This could easily be out of a Trent Reznor soundtrack on ketamine.
One Last Kiss to Remember - A smoldering grunge intro with waves of distortion, sliced through by a Bladerunner-esque synth melody. Driving, stuttering drums underly Lisbet Fritze’s haunting vocals for the second time on the album.
Sleeper (early release single) - True to the name, the atmosphere of this track is dreamy, somnolent and meditative. The simple synth lead bounces quickly between two notes, a filter slowly increasing and decreasing the intensity of what sounds like a distant lighthouse or interstellar beacon as clouds of nebulous sound drift lazily between you and it.
Try a Little - A collaboration with jennylee of Warpaint, this track stands out from the rest as Anders shares the reigns for the first time on the album. A driving tom beat accompanied by diffracted guitars easily harkens to Warpaint’s sound, jennylee's hypnotic vocals breaking into a surprisingly bright chorus. This is easily the poppiest moment on the record (which is still far from pop), but is still very solid.
Giants - A majestic ending to an incredible record, this swelling march sounds like it could herald the discovery of a herd of brontosaurus or the death of a planet. Minimal percussion keeps time under what sounds like an organ overlaid with a plethora of electronic textures - at times mournful and others graceful. Hans Zimmer would be proud.
Let us know what your favorite tracks were! Happy NMF!
♥ Zach
French Djent group Kadinja bring the early 2000’s back to life with nu metal cover album DNA.
If you ever blasted Linkin Park through your Skullcandy headphones while struggling with a sticky padlock on your locker, took solace in Korn after a rough day of hormonal rollercoaster riding or felt sophisticated for knowing about A Perfect Circle when everyone else just knew Tool, chances are you were a nu metal kid.
And Bump has excellent news - 10 of the most m1sund3rst00d anthems of the millennial generation have now been reborn with all the shine and technical prowess of one of 2019’s most promising metal acts.
Now you too can resurrect your long-buried angst to the sounds of Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Marilyn Manson, POD, Papa Roach, Slipknot, System of a Down, Linkin Park, Korn and A Perfect Circle - and be horrified by how many lyrics you know by heart.
Go on, give it a listen. You know you want to.
♥ Zach
