ISSUE #19
Reminiscence of a Jewel
by David August
David August's latest single, Reminiscence of a Jewel is a crash landing on a dark world where the sun never rises, its inhabitants never sleep, and the only way to nourish oneself is to dance.
Taking a step away from the soulful, down-tempo psychedelia of David August's 2018 LP, D'ANGELO (which, if you haven't listened to, we strongly recommend doing so, immediately) , Reminiscence of a Jewel plays with sounds stemming from synth wave, trance, and even hints of post-punk. We love a good mash-up of genres!
The nearly 8-minute long track, nay journey, starts off with lush, textured ambient tones before breaking into an intoxicating combination of beat and arpeggiated synths that commandeer your body and make you dance like a marionette. Punctuated by episodes of ambience and drone (as if giving the listener a chance to catch a breath), the track, at its core, is a sonic pile-driver that deserves to be listened to on your best set of cans or speakers. Extra bass, please.
Courtesty of David August
We can't wait to hear what else David August has up his sleeves in the coming days, but we can't fucking wait to hear more. We'll be catching him in San Francisco on February 13 (get tickets here!) and we’ll also be sure to keep you posted about any news from this musical genius.
Illusions of Shameless Abundance
by Against All Logic
Out of fucking nowhere, Nicolas Jaar (under his side-project alias Against All Logic) has released a two-tracks: Illusions of Shameless Abundance, and Alucinao. Simply put: stop everything you're doing and throw this on immediately.
Featuring artists Lydia Lunch, Estado Unido and the iconic FKA twigs, these two tracks epitomize what we love so much about Nicolas Jaar's methods of sound manipulation and experimentation. The first track, Illusions of Shameless Abundance, is a hypnotic piece of music full of decontextualized tones, drum loops and layered vocal that work together to fill your head with the unknown.
The second of the two tracks, Alucinao, is the perfect lovechild of Nicolas Jaar, Estado Unido, and FKA twigs. It's a 9-minute track that is gritty, heavy, and needs to be played at every club tonight or I am rioting. You're just going to have to take my word for it, but I've got to get back to my day job while somehow resisting the urge to throw my body all over the office.
Have a dope weekend everyone!
❤️ Mando
Immortal
by Lorna Shore
Erupting from smoldering Earth at the nexus of symphonic nerd metal and sleeveless bro-y deathcore, Lorna Shore’s second LP Immortal showcases a surprising dynamism and technicality that is all the more impressive for how well they pulled off a “why not both” move rarely seen in the genre.
If you’ve been a fan of Lorna Shore, congratulations! You’re probably the only one reading this blog, and I appreciate you. If you’re new to the technical deathcore act, hooo boy. You’re either going to love them or really really not love them.
Bloody pentagrams, twisting daggers and black-horned rams with ember-like eyes don’t even do this metal band justice, so aggressive and ominous is their sound. Blastbeats approach blending into a single note, consistently inhuman drumming alternating between gatling-gun fast and leviathan massive, punishingly slow and heavy breakdowns cratering the landscape the whole record through. Guitar and bass are mixed into one all-consuming instrument that slashes discordant tones in time with the blasting percussion, evolving violently into hyper technical riffs that are often accompanied by string sections as delicate as their counterparts are abrasive.
The songwriting oscillates from grand movements with huge chords and atmosphere to breach the sky - implying Gods or titans sunk deep into grief, fury or exaltation - and tectonic, muscular passages where all melody sinks beneath a roiling surface of start-and-stop breakdowns and textural string playing. Incredibly, transitions between these dichotomous segments are fluid, dragging skeletal violence back into the grandeur of a chorus or vice versa.
And then there are the vocals.
Replacing their old screamer with new talent has served Lorna Shore incredibly well on Immortal, and I’m filled with mirth at the disgusting sounds that claw their way from the man. The classic metal vocal fry often leads screams sounding dry and sometimes flat, almost a screech if not so deep - but I struggle to accurately describe the textures and registers in which the lyrics are gurgled, wretched, bellowed and howled. Goblinoid is a term I keep coming back to, although this leaves much to the interpretation of the reader. There’s a wet, meaty quality to these screams that dangles perfectly between animalistic hunger and visceral emotion, and low growls are mostly overlaid with shrill witch-like screams that create an unearthly cacophony that draws the mind into Lovecraftian realms. Disgustingly textural and startlingly diverse, this vocalist is one of a very small handful that are pushing the boundaries of metal vox. Lorna Shore has now joined Infant Annihilator and Ovid’s Withering in an elite hall of “Wow, that’s fucking nasty.”
Lorna Shore. Image courtesy of The Prelude Press.
King Ov Deception is a perfect example of the vocal witchcraft I’m writing of here - even if you’re not into metal, I implore you to learn something new today about the capabilities of the human vocal cords by giving this song a spin. It’s evil in all the right ways.
Other favorites from Immortal include Misery System, a crushing dirge that features atmospheric droning guitars and a slowly stalking breakdown that takes up the entire latter half of the song, the vocals degenerating from man to beast as they prowl relentlessly forth from the night. Darkest Spawn features flesh melting solos and an unexpectedly melodic backbone of piano and strings that lends substance and emotion, even to the slightly goofy deathcore breakdown complete with rhythmic grunting. The song ends suddenly with a breakneck snarl, a nice touch on an album with so little room.
If you’re looking for a complex listen that features the elegance of classical music and the adrenaline pumping aggression of metal, this album is a delightful smorgasbord of haunting overtures, incendiary guitarwork and of course goblin mucus. I highly recommend this album alongside Lorna Shore’s earlier music - they’re really doing the Dark Lord’s work.
Thanks for reading!
<3 Zach
