Month: August 2025

Artist: SEIMS
Title: V
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Bird’s Robe Records/ dunk!records
Distribution: MGM
Genre: Cinematic Experimental Rock
Release Date: 10/10/2025

The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Simeon Bartholomew, SEIMS has evolved into an explorational and formidable band over the course of several records, including their most recent release Four which saw them pick up a sizeable underground audience and launched them on tours around the world, including performances at ArcTanGent (UK), Dunk! Festival (Belgium) and supports for And So I Watch You From Afar (Northern Ireland), sleepmakeswaves (Australia) & Delta Sleep (UK).

The new record V expanded on themes explored on Four with exquisitely crafted arrangements of tracks ranging from complex odd-meter timing to standard rhythmic feels. Preoccupations picks up where Showdown Without A Victim left off, evoking 65daysofstatic’s Wild Light era mixed with Stranger Things. Chaos Within A Construct continues a similar vein, infused with the relentless energy of contemporaries like And So I Watch You From Afar, but blended with the clean tones and beguiling precision of a mid-west emo math rock band (or Delta Sleep, if you’re more that way inclined). But then you have tracks like the Rush-meets-Oasis-with-a-hint-of-Mobymelodic pop-prog of Forever The Optimist which maintains SEIMS unique ability to straddle parallel universes. It’s the perfection of the experimental side that is most appealing with SEIMS. These are sonic explorations, but conducted with compositional mastery by monster players and performers. 

The album was written & produced by Simeon Bartholomew himself, engineered by Tim Carr (We Lost The Sea), mixed by Alex Wilson (sleepmakeswaves) & mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering, Boston. As well as Simeon performing bass, guitars, synths, piano & vocals himself, it also features blistering performances from Plini drummer Chris Allison, Sam Sheumack (Fangz) on slide guitar, Mark Owen (We Lost The Sea) on guitar, Nataliya Lukich on violins, Monique Turner on violas, Tangents/FourPlay member Peter Hollo on cellos, Tom Botting (Scoredatura) on double basses, Paul Murchison on trumpet & flugelhorn & Luke Bartley on tuba and sousaphone.

For the release of V SEIMS have again partnered with Australian label Bird’s Robe and European vinyl label dunk!records.

Tracklist
1. Double Standards
2. Chaos Within A Construct             
3. Forever The Optimist    
4. Flowing Upstream          
5. Preoccupations                
6. Abandonment Is Expected           
7. My Memories Retain Nothing     
8. Ends Tether
9. A Moment Never Returned          

Links
Official: https://seims.net
Bandcamp: https://seims.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/SEIMSmusic
Facebook: https://facebook.com/seimsmusic
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@SEIMSmusic
Label: https://birdsrobe.com     

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Artist: Vibravoid
Title: Remove The Ties
Format: LP, Digital
Label: Tonzonen Records
Distribution: Cargo
Genre: Neo Psychedelic Rock
Release Date: 26/09/2025

After the album We Cannot Awake (2024), which was highly praised by press and fans, Vibravoid manage to top this masterpiece in their 35th year of existence. Although the band has for years steered clear of the terms they themselves popularized and which have become inflationary today, such as Psychedelic and Kraut Rock, Remove The Ties is probably the best Neo Psychedelic album of the last 25 years.

With ease and free of any signs of wear and tear, the Düsseldorf band has succeeded in creating a album that, between short pop songs and psychedelic escapades, shows that real neo Kraut Rock is not just the same old copy of Düsseldorf’s Motorik sound.

“Computer Dreams” leads the listener straight onto the wrong track – anyone who suspects this song to be a mere copy of Kraftwerk will soon be proven wrong. It is the sound of Vibravoid genetics and proves that this kind of music can only come from Düsseldorf.

“Neustart” delivers the typical Vibravoid sound; driving and rhythmic but still catchy and psychedelic like an LSD trip. The essence of the “New Düsseldorf Sound” immerses every large discotheque in a sonic stroboscope of colors from another dimension.

“The Power Of Dreams” comes from the depths of the Vibravoid universe. Pure psychedelic pop with hit potential as it was otherwise only made in the 1960s, is combined with epic melodies and imaginative effects. Everything is just right here.

“Follow Me Follow You” exudes the spirit of the Düsseldorf school even more strongly. Between experimental structures and poppy sounds, Vibravoid create a maelstrom that robs you of your senses, sending the listener on a journey into the inner cosmos.

“Increasing The Pain” is another demonstration of what psychedelic rock should sound like in the year 2025. These sounds seem to emerge directly from the band’s subconscious and so the arrangement is unique. The song’s grand finale can easily be prescribed as teaching material for any psych rock student.

With “A State Of Mind”, Vibravoid already indicate in the title that the acidic journey will be even more intense. Cannaboid fuzz effects and vocal lines that drill straight into the brain raise the bar for modern psychedelic rock to a new level. Everything sounds like the 1960s never ended and Timothy Leary is still President of the United States of Existence.

The title track “Remove The Ties” not only closes a phenomenal album but also the circle. We must remove the ties in order to free our minds. This song is a manifesto in its entirety. A repitative riff creates a meditative hypnosis that merges time and space into an unreal fever dream, transforming the cosmos into a transcendental cathedral of psychoactive sounds. The new Düsseldorf sound has never been as effective as it is here.

Remove The Ties is not only a new masterpiece from an extraordinary band, this album sets new standards for modern psychedelic rock and cements Vibravoid as the most important and influential representatives of their generation. This will probably only be recognized – similar to their debut album “2001” – after 25 years.

Tracklist
1. Computer Dreams   
2. Neustart   
3. The Power Of Dreams   
4. Follow Me Follow You   
5. Your Revolution Is Dead   
6. Increasing The Pain   
7. A State Of Mind   
8. Remove The Ties

Links
Instagram: https://instagram.com/vibravoid_official
Facebook: https://facebook.com/vibravoidofficial
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@VibravoidOfficial
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5qXFseejEDd3JvZqap38os?si=p80o7SP4ReKjHnvYIl9YPw
Label: https://tonzonen.de

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