Month: April 2024

Artist: Halma
Title: Driving By Numbers
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Kapitän Platte
Distribution: D/AT: Cargo Records, Benelux: Sonic Rendezvous FR: Differ-Ant, CH: Irascible, IT: Goodfellas, USA: A Thousand Arms
Genre: Instrumental Rock
Release Date: 24/05/2024

Driving By Numbers is already the eighth album by the Hamburg band HALMA.

The four musicians Fiona McKenzie (drums), Andreas Voss (baritone guitar), Gundi Voigt (bass) and Thorsten Carstens (guitar) get straight down to business on the first track of this instrumental longplayer: The sound structure grinds and flies – it’s impossible to immediately find your way through this surging abundance of the audible and the conceivable: You have to start again, begin again, in order to grasp the complex construction and artistic wit of this music.

Sounds and rhythm play hare and hedgehog with each other: catapult starts, accelerations, delays, fades in and out. The variety makes it clear that the band’s focus lies in the unknown: What can be heard works like the breadcrumbs in Hansel and Gretel’s forest – the associatively assembled improvisations lead through ups and downs and ravines and valleys to the goal after all: and back to the beginning – like the pins with which insects are fixed in the display case – escaped from time…

Tracklist
01. Phlegraean Fields      
02. By The Way                    
03. Slow Song                      
04. Driving By Number

Links
Official: www.halma-music.com
Bandcamp: https://halma.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/halma.music
Label: https://kapitaen-platte.de

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Artist: Meanwhile Project Ltd
Title: Sir Mandrill
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Kapitän Platte
Distribution: D/AT: Cargo Records, Benelux: Sonic Rendezvous FR: Differ-Ant, CH: Irascible, IT: Goodfellas, USA: A Thousand Arms
Genre: Alternative
Release Date: 17/05/2024

The Meanwhile Project Ltd is back – almost four years after Marseille, a new long player titled Sir Mandrill will released on Kapitän Platte. The duo around Marcell Birrek and Marcus Adam has now grown into a five-piece band, which presents the new album in the usual opulent and complex way with the support of other guest musicians. 

Sir Mandrill once again offers a lush palette of different styles that skilfully mix with each other. Here too, chansons, folk, post pop, indie rock, alternative, ambient and much more merge into a big whole that seems absolutely harmonious all together. Influences from bands as diverse as dEUS, Motorpsycho, the Villagers and Calexico flash here and there. And the impressive voice of singer Marcell alternately wraps everything in a warm coat, admonishing, pleading, shaking up and calming from one moment to the next. 

The band has created a great album that invites you to embark on an intensive musical journey and immerse yourself in it with every listen. With Sir Mandrill, Meanwhile Project Ltd seamlessly follows on from its much-praised predecessor and creates images in the mind that continually alternate without losing sight of the direction. 

According to the band, the philosophy behind Sir Mandrill can be summed up as follows: “The album was created at a time in which humanity seems increasingly divided, opinions are drifting further and further apart and most views are perceived categorically as either black or white . For us, the focus is on the question of what essentially defines us as humans and how we are always similar despite all our differences. Sir Mandrill is the wild monkey that lies within each of us and tries, with supposedly civilized behavior, to conceal how thoughtlessly and impetuously we actually think and act.”

Tracklist
1. Concerning Dawn
2. Overbalanced
3. Bumps and Bruises
4. Different Lenses
5. Catch-22
6. Refilled
7. Bob Ross
8. Without any Diving Suite
9. Mr Singh
10. Sir Mandrill
11. Substitute (Bonustrack)

Links
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/meanwhileprojectltd
Bandcamp: https://meanwhileprojectltd.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/meanwhileprojectltd
Facebook: https://facebook.com/meanwhileproject.ltd
Label: https://kapitaen-platte.de

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Artist: Enablers
Title: Almost To Who Knows Where
Format: CD, Digital 
Labels: Atypeek Music
Genre: Post-Rock/ Spoken Word
Release Date: 03/05/2023

With 21 years of existence and 7 albums under their belt, the Californian band Enablers continues to dominate the music scene with an unparalleled fusion of post-rock, noise rock, indie rock, post-punk, and spoken word, clearly inspired by the pioneers of the Beat Generation. After a career marked by successes, it was inevitable that the band would offer us a retrospective of their journey. This is now accomplished with the release of Almost To Who Knows Where, a double album of 31 tracks available on Atypeek Music. 

In this opus, the raw power of the beginnings blends with a constant exploration of difference, drawing inspiration from iconic figures of the Beat Generation such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. The lyrics by Pete Simonelli, a worthy heir of this revolutionary literary movement, transport us between ecstasy, anger, and sadness, while the compositions by Joe Goldring (Swans, Toiling Midgets, Touched By A Janitor), Kevin Thomson (Nice Strong Arm, Timco, Touched By a Janitor), and Sam Ospovat (Ava Mendoza, Tune Yards…) enhance this sensory experience. Almost To Who Knows Where is a work to (re)discover in its entirety, an invitation to delve into the fascinating and profoundly original universe of Enablers, nourished by the most radical and innovative influences of the Beat Generation.

Links 
Stream: https://orcd.co/bngbxvp
Facebook: https://facebook.com/enablerstunes
Bandcamp: https://enablers.bandcamp.com
Label: https://www.atypeekmusic.com

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Artist: The Rogues
Title: Songs Of Praise
Format: CD, Digital 
Label: Atypeek Music
Genre: Pop-Punk
Release Date: 03/05/2024

Originating from Ballymun, a lively district of Dublin, the members of The Rogues carry on their shoulders a musical heritage deeply rooted in the history of their city. Their name, a bold homage to their inspirations, speaks to the profound respect they hold for the iconic group that ignited the spark within them: The Pogues. The Rogues have taken up the torch with an intensity and fervor worthy of the legends who preceded them, while combining a strong taste for US Pop Punk, as well as the chaotic and disorderly spirit of a certain Japanese scene.

However, for The Rogues, their name goes beyond a mere musical reference. It also evokes the tumultuous journeys of its members, recounting stories that would make even 50 Cent pale. These fearless musicians stop at nothing, and their rebellious attitude is reflected not only in their music but also in their way of life.

In 2024, akin to The Clash‘s Sandinista!, The Rogues released a triptych of three interconnected albums. The first, Songs Of Praise (out now), followed by D.U.B.L.I.N. on May 31, 2024, and then We Are The Rogues on September 6, 2024.

Together, these four young men form a musical hurricane sweeping through Dublin and beyond. Their onstage performances are explosions of pure energy, capturing the rebellious spirit of Irish youth. With lyrics that echo the realities of everyday life and melodies blending the urgency of punk rock with the soul of folk music and Irish humor, The Rogues are destined to become an undeniable force in Dublin’s emerging music scene. Brace yourselves, because The Rogues are here to shake the foundations of Irish rock and spread their “rebellion” beyond borders.

Tracklist
1. Amuse-bouche
2. Raise Your Glass and Raise Your Fist
3. Drunk   
4. Your Choice   
5. Dullahan  
6. Brexit
7. Bonnie & Clyde   
8. The Ghost of Christmas Past   
9. Unicorn   
10. Spiaggiarri    
11. Latex   
12. Joy   
13. Ghost   
14. Gabhnán   
15. Fracasse

Links 
Streaming: https://orcd.co/k7dpa0y
Label: https://www.atypeekmusic.com/therogues

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Artist: Watertank
Title: Liminal Status
Format: LP, CD, Digital 
Label: Atypeek Music
Genre: Indie/ Alternative Rock/ Post-Hardcore
Release Date: 19/04/2024

With Liminal Status, the new album from French Rock band Watertank, the quartet is exploring “liminal spaces” – those familiar places devoid of any human presence. Watertank continues to push the boundaries of its musical universe. A new record with a stable lineup and a new form of group composition.

Watertank will turn 20 in 2024, with 3 albums and 1 EP to their name, along with nearly as many lineup changes.

Operating in the background of the French music scene, the group found stability by late 2020, centered around Thomas Boutet (Vocals/Guitar and the sole founding member), with the addition of Romain Donet (Guitar, formerly of Chaviré, A Red Season Shade), Willy Etié (Bass, ex-Weak), and Matthieu Bellemere (Drums, Moozoonsii). The quartet from Nantes then began writing their fourth album “Liminal Status” in 2022, which is set to be released in April 2024.

This new record, still deeply rooted in the 90s, continues to blend post-hardcore influences (Hum, Quicksand), alternative rock (Failure, Sugar), and shoegaze (Autolux, Nothing), while also exploring sonic territories close to pop.

Recorded and mixed by Christophe Hogommat (Mad Foxes, 20s Falling Man…) across 3 sessions between October 2022 and April 2023, Liminal Status took shape gradually. A new approach for the band, the 9 tracks were largely composed as a group and recorded live in studio sessions.

The album explores “liminal situations,” inspired by familiar places suddenly made eerie by the absence of human presence. It’s a way of describing confinement within the mundane, a form of “uncanny” or “strange familiar.” The recent health crisis has shown us how this liminal state can become our Kafkaesque reality, particularly through the cold lens of administrative handling.

More political and less focused on science fiction than their previous album Silent Running, the songs on Liminal Status address current concerns in subtle undertones. Clean Shot touches on information manipulation and its impact on the masses. Centurydelves into industrial excesses disguised as progress. Dreams Logic explores the rejection of reality and societal aspirations. On The Long Face there’s a collective apathy towards democratic issues.

Tracklist
1. Sneeze Season  
2. Cut Gum   
3. The Long Face   
4. Liminal Status   
5. Skyward    
6. Solely Mine   
7. Dreams Logic   
8. Century
9. Clean Shot

Links 
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/watertank
Instagram: https://instagram.com/watertankband
Facebook: https://facebook.com/wtrtnk
Bandcamp: https://watertank.bandcamp.com
Label: https://atypeekmusic.com

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