Friday, January 30, 2015

Mixtape 17: Ladies Night




Here is the 17th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview I did with Nenett of XRDM and "Djent" Jia of Naratu and Perimeter Breach. I conducted the interview at the end of 2014 while Chaos in Rumah Api 2 was going on, but the idea for this podcast has been germinating since I saw Exkoriator at my very first visit to Rumah Api. Since then I've seen more female-fronted bands, both local and foreign, in that space than anywhere else I've lived. It seemed like a subject worth its own episode even if some of these bands have appeared on the podcast multiple times before. [Coincidentally, an issue of Shock & Awe with the exact same theme came out the same week-end as our interview...what are you going to do?]

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Bandcamp Picks: Fvnerals, King Woman, Muscle and Marrow, Menace Ruine




Is "doom folk" a thing? FVNERALS deliver somber, droning not-quite-metal. The spelling of their name is apt: There's no "fun" anywhere on The Light, just bleakness and a peculiar sense of weightlessness. The city of Brighton must be a pretty grim place to spawn bands like this and Glissando. [£6]



King Woman play a haunting and heavy amalgam of dream pop and doom drone. [Doom pop? Dream drone?] Doubt sounds like Mazzy Star woke up in bed with Nadja, and the two decided to stay together. My only gripe with this four song EP is the length. Always leave them wanting more, I guess. [$3.95]



If you've ever imagined what a collaboration between Earth and PJ Harvey would sound like (and be honest, you have not - no one has), the result would probably sound like Portland's Muscle and Marrow. The Human Cry combines morose drone with the kind of theatrical warbling that presumably made Nick Cave's knees weak. Surprisingly dark, occasionally crushing, definitely intriguing. [$7]



Any doom metal fan looking for a bridge to the wider world of dark ambient could do worse than Menace Ruine. On their third album Venus Armata, keyboards, "martial" drums, and sparse guitar lines/noise, serve as a backdrop to Genevieve Beaulieu's forlorn vocals. A triumph of minimalism. [$8]