Poltergeists: Week of June 1, 2015

A day late, but we promise, we have all of our dollars! Poltergeists is a biweekly feature in which Michael and Wes share tracks that they have had on repeat over the past two weeks.

Michael

FLESH - “SKIN”

I can’t get enough of the new FLESH (Audiotrauma) song, “SKIN,” from the forthcoming album of the same name. It is a nice mix of dance electronics and noise. There are a lot of interesting sounds in there and it gets me moving in my seat - which, these days, is a must for this style of music. If you are an avid reader, you already know that I buy pretty much anything that Audiotrauma puts out, but it is for a good reason! The pre-order for this album is up now on their bandcamp, and if the tracks from the “Black Walk EP” are any indicator, it is going to be a great album. If you have a minute definitely jump over to their facebook page for some videos from the recent live performances. You will not be sorry! Not many bands of this ilk go out of their way to put on a full live performance, with interactive elements and stage performers, and it pays off in the creepiest way.

MOSH - “McQueen”

While I have my dancing shoes on already, I may as well throw on some MOSH and get fucking going on that floor. With the rise of outrun and the evolution of electronic music in recent years, it is nice to hear someone who keeps to that nice and dirty dance sound. I like this song because it keeps a nice pumping bass line that is pretty funky, and subtle, but has a lot of brief glimpses into noisy moments. This is another song that I found recently and have been grooving to all day. It is from 2012’s “Monarchy” full length.

Wes

Barrow - “Old Timer”

It took me a minute to get fully into Barrow. Their sound is fairly raw, and at first, I thought that it felt a little underproduced rather than intentional. The more I listen to it though, the more the raw sounds of the bass grumbling under melancholic guitar riffs creeped into my skull.

I think this particular song highlights how, even with a fairly raw sound, Barrow manages to weld together post-hardcore influences with the largeness of sound brought by post-rock influences. They move expertly between emotional, hammering riffs, and slow, almost ambient guitar riffs that open up into this lulling swells. It gets into you, and it doesn’t let go.

L'Enfant De La Forêt - “Flowers Of Flesh And Bones”

I’ve written about L'Enfant De La Forêt before, and now that the full length is out I’ve been bumping it so often it would be entirely breaking the spirit to not write about it. This album is great. Really great. James Kent (also known for his outrun project Perturbator) has a serious talent for building these amazing atmospheres in his music. In “Flowers of Flesh and Bones” you get these wonderful sense of some impending darkness right away; the slowly plucking synth and ambient soundscapes starts to build a sense of curious dread. These sounds are joined by music boxes, then deep bass and wonderfully programmed drums. You go from this image of a shadow in the dark, to seeing full on what the darkness has in store for you. Go check out the full album; it’s well worth the listen.

Poltergeists: Week of May 19, 2015

Poltergeists is a biweekly feature in which Michael and Wes share tracks that they have had on repeat over the past two weeks.

Michael

FLESH - “In Der Nacht Von Freitag zu Donnerstag”

FLESH, from Germany, is a great witch house project that I came across a few weeks ago in my bandcamp search for the French band, also called FLESH. The album art for their newest EP, “Nachtangst” is what sucked me in initially, but the second I pressed play I knew that I was in for the long haul. There is a great sense of longing and darkness to the tracks on this EP. A lot of really subtle layers come in and out of a morose background and I just can’t get enough. It is definitely worth checking out if you are feeling nice and gloomy.

100blumen - “Time Loop”

Don’t be fooled by the long, ambient intro, “Time Loop” is pure aggression. This is definitely not the 100blumen that I am familiar with, but a pleasant surprise! I enjoyed the ant-zen “Surveillance” era 100blumen, which had a lot of great noise textures and a wonderful message to every track. This new electro-punk version is a great change and I embrace it equally, if not more than that era! There are still full electronic elements beneath the acoustic drums and distorted guitars, which make each of the tracks on “Under Siege” unique. This is the kind of genre bending and changing that I look for in new music, and it should be no surprise that the brilliant minds behind 100blumen are at the wheel.

Wes

Lié - “Sorry”

I’ve seen Lié twice in about a month, so I figured it was about time that we wrote about them. Lié is a cold punk/dark wave/whatever you want to call this particular mix of influences band from Vancouver, B.C. I think the cold punk label is particularly apt, as they mix the drive and energy of punk music with the dark vibes of your gothier jams. In this particular song, I feel like these energies are especially present. While some of their songs veer more punk than others, “Sorry” in particular balances the dark tones with the fast driving energy that you’d expect from punk. If you haven’t listened to Lié, and you have the chance to see them live, make sure you take advantage of the opportunity.

estates - “Stuck”

When I was in high school, I considered myself a purist when it came to punk music. I didn’t believe in emotional music unless that emotion was angry as fuck and let’s destroy everything. These days, however, I am finding myself engaging more and more in music like estates; music that high school me would have wanted to punch me in the face for listening to. Either way, it reminds me of the days I spend in tiny venues pogoing to whatever local punk band was playing, regardless of how street it was.