Category: New Releases

Artist: Silverships
Title: Kingdom Of Decay
Format: 10″, Digital
Label: Tonzonen Records
Distribution: Cargo 
Genre: Desert/ Stoner Rock, Grunge
Release Date: 22/11/2024

The four songs of Silverships’ debut EP Kingdom Of Decay encompass all musical styles from which the Hamburg-based band draws their inspiration. The desert rock of the 90s and 2000s forms the foundation of the trio. Many traces of Queens Of The Stone Age can be found in the songs. The heavy passages also conjure up associations to Kyuss. Soundscapes from 70s Pink Floyd also appear again and again. Light psych-pop moments of early Tame Impala are followed by dense and dark atmosphere capturing the vibe of The Doors – and would also work well as the soundtrack for a movie yet to be made.

In addition to opulent arrangements and varied songwriting, what characterizes the band is their love of B parts, always ending their songs on an exclamation point. Hauke Albrecht is the man behind the powerful production. With Mountain Witch, he produced the last bigger stoner export from Hamburg. The band was able to get BEWITCHED Graphics’ Benjamin Nickel for the artwork, whose psychedelic works have also been featured by the Reeperbahn Festival, for example.

The opener Kingdom Of Decay starts off softly. Bassist Jan Gehrmann’s hypnotic bassline floats over drummer Tim Schröter’s fluffy groove carpet, then Nils Kock’s hooky lead guitar joins in. His velvety singing tells a story of transitoriness. “And I never ever ever, never ever ever saw her again”, goes the chorus. Boy meets girl? A one unique rush experience? After the second chorus, the song’s heaviness increases: Huge fuzz guitars pick up the bassline and encourage subtle headbanging. After the lead fanfares and the bluesy solo have faded away, a mellotron lights up the song and the base riff returns, revolving, accelerating, taking off. The hook from the intro glides through the room one last time before a stoner rock bulldozer rips through the outro.

The second song is called Beast – and that’s what it sounds like. Heavy staccato beat meets dystopian-oriental guitar lines, Josh Homme meets Ennio Morricone. The lyrics deal with the “beast mode” as a protective shield against everlasting fear. “Take the wheel and drive / Get me out of here alive“, the chorus implores. Halfway through the song the B part explodes into the song. A doomy, dark riff in a back and forth with almost metal guitars. Screams, hisses and murmurs. Suddenly everything turns very quiet, before an angry solo cuts through the silence and the band launches into the final demolition.

Track number 3 Nevermore starts as a classic, almost conventional stoner rock song. Rhythm guitars and bass in unison push a simple, effective riff over a rolling beat. The chorus excites with strong contrasts: On the one hand the hymnic melody, on the other an apocalyptically aggressive drum beat. The lyrics deal with the demon that is fear, who experiences an initially marching, then explosive exorcism. The outro brings the song to an epic conclusion that resonates and reverberates for a long time.

The fourth and final song is programmatically called War Os Over. It begins with a dreamy, psychedelic intro until the band happily settles into a groove reminiscent of 70s Pink Floyd. The vocals show another color in the Silverships universe. Very softly, almost whispered, the verses paint introspective, hopeful imagery. The chorus features big choirs and elegiac melodies. As the last chorus fades away, the basic musical theme of the song is built up bit by bit, repeat by repeat, into an ever- growing wall. Everything culminates in rushing space rock, with two solo guitars intertwining and finally ending the EP with a grand gesture of prog-like cascades.

Overall, Silverships‘ Kingdom Of Decay is a surprisingly fleshed out debut record. No wheels are reinvented, but many different influences and references are interweaved into a very harmonious and surprising combination. The result is a varied, yet homogeneous debut EP that leaves the listener curious about what’s to come next.

Tracklist
1. Kingdom of Decay   
2. Beast   
3. Nevermore   
4. War Is Over

Links
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/silvershipsband
Bandcamp: https://silvershipsband.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/silvershipsband
Facebook: https://facebook.com/SilvershipsBand
Label: https://www.tonzonen.de  

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Artist: Julius Lind
Title: Lights
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: Psychedelic/ Kraut
Release Date: 25/10/2024

Psych, space, kraut and drones from songwriter Julius Lind and his trio with members from Action & Tension & Space, The Megaphonic Thrift and Gold Celeste.

Arising from the Norwegian alternative scene they experiment with a vibrant mix of genres and refer to many golden eras on the history of pop and rock music!

The album was recorded in Studio Paradiso with Christian Engfelt (Cato Salsa Experience) as technician and co-producer in 2023. It’s being released worldwide by the German label Kapitän Platte on October 25th 2024 and distributed internationally by Cargo Records.

Julius Lind – guitar & vocals 
Richard Myklebust – bass & vocals 
Eirik Kirkemyr – drums 

Tracklist
1. Empty Bottles
2. Ancient Word
3. Sunrise
4. Free                                                                                                                              
5. Every Time
6. Late For Work                                                                                                              
7. Stupid Lies                                                                                                                   
8. Lights

Links
Instagram: https://instagram.com/julius_lind
Facebook: https://facebook.com/people/Julius-Lind/61564661354050/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/3mh4GJqGJUUc9jkuokK4S8?si=DM6Gf0MbQGuY0Dhi_o0CgQ
Label: https://kapitaen-platte.de

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Artist: Yoo Doo Right
Title: From The Heights Of Our Pastureland
Format: LP, Digital
Label: Mothland
Distribution: The Orchard
Genre: Experimental Rock
Release Date: 08/11/2024

From The Heights Of Our Pastureland is an expanding succession of highly dynamic musical epics intertwined with emotionally-charged sonic explorations. Whether carefully harvesting melodic soundscapes, repeating mantra-like arrangements with mechanical precision, digging unfathomably deep amidst abyssal electrical signals, or simply saturating reels with raucous abandon, Yoo Doo Right set out to further develop ideas they previously started exploring, in turn offering a third full-length that is darker, heavier, even more ominous than their previous works.

The band comments: “We aimed for something cinematic, but not in the way of a score, rather something more experiential. We wanted to create music that could ignite drive in oneself, hopefully something of significance in and of itself. While we’re really not here to force understanding on people, for us the predominant themes are anxiety and patience, the storm of colonialism, the collapse of capitalism and the massive undertaking it is to rebuild with past mistakes taken into deep consideration. It draws a parallel between natural disaster and social disaster, the experience of watching an impending destructive storm roll in and watching an impending societal disaster unfold under our current colonial, capitalistic frameworks. Hopefully, folks can give themselves time to make some sensible thoughts of the album on their own.“

Yoo Doo Right began writing From The Heights Of Our Pastureland while visiting a remote cabin near Saguenay, QC in the Winter of 2023. Snowed in, Cober, Masson and Talbot simply played for three days straight, archiving anything and everything, musing about “the storm of colonialism, the collapse of capitalism and the massive undertaking it is to rebuild with past mistakes taken into deep consideration”, and ultimately laying the groundwork for their third opus. Thus, the album draws deep inspiration from parallels drawn between natural phenomena ranging from bad weather to environmental disasters and the equally overwhelming force of our socio-political frameworks. Also compelled by the commodification of art, AI and algorithmic art, the trio later revisited the pieces, altering their initial compositions by way of element juxtaposition and extensive sound design. In embracing their penchant for sonic manipulation in all of its forms, the experimentalists achieved an uncanny equilibrium between unresolved tensions and soothing resolutions.

To commit the album to tape, Yoo Doo Right chose producer Seth Manchester (Battles, Lightning Bolt, Lingua Ignota) at Machines with Magnets (Pawtucket, RI), before turning to Amar Lal (YlangYlang, Patio, Washer) at Macro Sound (Oakland, CA) for mastering duties, poised to unearth their best work to date. The resulting 42 minutes of experimental rock found on From The Heights Of Our Pastureland feel like a beautiful yet sinister sonic tempest, aptly showcasing the Montrealers’ artistic resolve and eerie creativity. Highly recommended for fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Big|Brave or METZ.

From The Heights Of Our Pastureland  will be out November 8th, 2024 via Mothland on vinyl/ digital.

Tracklist
1. Spirit’s Heavy, But Not Overthrown, Part 1
2. Spirit’s Heavy, But Not Overthrown, Part 2
3. Eager Glacier
4. Ponders End
5. Lost in the Overcast
6. From the Heights of Our Pastureland

Links  
Pre-save/ order: https://orcd.co/from-the-heights-of-our-pastureland
Official: https://yoodoowrong.com
Bandcamp: https://yoodooright.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/yoodoowrong   
Instagram: https://instagram.com/yoodoowrong
Label: https://mothland.com

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Artist: Anubis
Title: The Unforgivable
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Bird’s Robe Records
Distribution: MGM
Genre: Cinematic Progressive Rock
Release Date: 20/09/2024

Australian Cinematic Progressive Rock band Anubis are back – and celebrate their twentieth anniversary with new concept album The Unforgivable! 

The Unforgivable finds the band revisiting the narrative-based concept album format that characterised the seminal 230503 (2009) and A Tower Of Silence (2011). Says keyboardist David Eaton “during the Covid lockdowns, Rob and I were left marooned with about two hours of multitracked jams. During that period, we were busy reworking the first two Anubis records for remixing, watching way too many Netflix documentaries about weird religious cults and had all of these great fragments of music which we tentatively slotted together into this long 45 minute piece. It just seemed logical that all of these things would line up – and when we got together after lockdown, we showed the band what we’d done and everyone got behind the idea immediately.“

The album tells the story of a young man’s falling into – and escape from a religious cult in the American midwest known as The Legion of Angels. A dark, moody story that is told over the course of the two sides of vinyl – with one epic length piece split into ten parts.

“It calls to mind the 230503 album, especially, to me. Lots of atmosphere, and a very clear, linear story. But it manages to tell this story in almost half the time! Like every album we’ve done, it represents a progression in our ability to make records and is rather a reaction to our last album which was much more accessible. This one really needs the time to reveal itself – but is all the more rewarding for it.”

The eighth part of the suite – Back –  has been edited out of the album’s flow as a single release.

David Eaton: “Back has got a big chorus with the Anubis vocal harmonies very much front and centre. Rob really channeled Adrian Belew on the lead vocal, and it works well as a stand alone track that is melodic and moving, and not too confusing lyrically out of the album’s context.”

On working with Bird’s Robe Records for the new album, David continues “Bird’s Robe Records was our original home and we were one of the original stable of artists. Mike has been a friend of the band’s for over 15 years, and we’re thrilled to be back home and working with him for this album.”

Tracklist
Part I – A Legion of Angels   
Part II – The Mark of Cain   
Part III – Alone   
Part IV – The Chains 
Part V – One Last Thing   
Part VI – All Because of You   
Part VII – The End of the Age   
Part VIII – Back   
Part IX – Shadows Cloak the Gospel   
Part X – The Unforgivable

Links
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/anubisaustralia
Official: https://anubismusic.com
Bandcamp: https://anubismusic.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/Anubisband
Facebook: https://facebook.com/anubismusic
Label: https://birdsrobe.com  

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Artist: Verstärker
Title: V
Format: LP, Digital
Label: Finaltune Records
Distribution: recordJet
Genre: Postrock
Release Date: 11/10/2024

In October 2024, after more than 20 years of band history, Verstärker will release their 5th studio album titled V. It consists of 5 new tracks recorded live (38 min) and will be released on Finaltune Records, label of Collapse Under The Empire. While the songs on the predecessor Themes & Variations (2020) were real instrumental monoliths between post- and kraut-rock, the new songs are more compact and catchy, but still instrumental post-rock sculptures that trigger exuberant, long-lasting feelings of happiness: dynamics and melancholy, sometimes energetic and euphoric, then again wide areas and lush sound sculptures.

Three instruments, rumbling, meandering, floating basses (Alexander Gilli), bell-like hymnic, then again rough guitars (Roberto Cruccolini), unadorned, driving, decomposing, oscillating drums (Wolfgang Walter). V is post-rock: massively euphoric walls of sound piled up into infinite spheres with an intense, multi-faceted instrumental flow. Here, Mogwai‘s intensity and Motorpsycho‘s playfulness meet Russian Circles‘ anthems and Maserati‘s musical playfulness.

Tracklist
1. Gadd
2. Fliegender Fluss
3. Echoes in Motion
4. Elephants
5. Hazarai

Links  
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/meinverstaerker
Bandcamp: https://meinverstaerker.bandcamp.com  
Instagram: https://instagram.com/meinverstaerker
Facebook: https://facebook.com/meinverstaerker

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Artist: Traum
Title: s/t
Format: LP, Digital
Label: Tonzonen Records
Distribution: Believe 
Genre: Psychedelic, Acid Rock, Freakbeat
Release Date: 27/09/2024

Irretrievably subscribed to the credo “born too late”, Traum explore the technical limits of time travel with their music, creating a naive alternative to the here and now in oscillating technicolor. The trio’s sound sparks reminiscences of the origins of psychedelia, acid rockand glam, carried by an escapist tunnel vision of decades of mind-expanding hedonism long gone.

The band’s first recordings promptly aroused the interest of the Californian, Los Angeles-based psychedelic connoisseur label Hynpotic Bridge, which released two of Traum‘s songs on 7″ vinyl in early 2024, writing: “Traum present an ode to the mystified daze of a Technicolor dream. Supercharged by vintage tape echoes and bursts of fuzz guitar, their songs are made to spiral deep into the double-helix matrix of multi-mirrored minds.”

The renowned English music magazine Shindig! wrote: “German three-piece Traum’s inaugural release leaves no doubt as to where their hearts lie. (…) The vocals are dreamy and distant; the guitars snaky and sinuous.” and drew numerous comparisons to obscure representatives of psychedelic pop from the late 1960s in Great Britain.

In spring 2024, the band went back into their own studio to record four more tracks, which were mixed completely analogue by frontman Helen Lichter and seamlessly continue the vibe of the first release with their purist, dreamy sound. This bundle of songs will be published by the Tonzonen Records label in September 2024 in the form of an EP. It will be released as a limited edition 12″ record on white vinyl as well as digitally and via streaming. The band comments: “We are delighted to have found a label in Tonzonen that understands, supports and appreciates our music and is willing to make it accessible to a wider audience. The artistic freedom that we are granted here is not necessarily a given and we really appreciate that.“

As far as their future is concerned, Traum are relaxed: “We are sitting on a huge mountain of musical ideas and demos with which, if you were to break them down to the best ones, you could fill several more records. In this respect, however, we don’t feel the pressure to deliver and are taking a relaxed approach in the name of quality and inner peace. The world is already turning fast enough and hardly anyone can complain about a lack of music these days.” Nevertheless, it has been announced that further recordings are already being planned: “After this EP, our priority is to present Traum live for the first time. Experience has shown each of us that the drive and tightness of a few live shows makes it easier to play in the studio. We would like to fully capture as much of this energy as possible for our next release in early 2025.“

The self-titled EP will be released on 27 September 2024 by Tonzonen Records, distributed by Believe.

Tracklist
1. Shoeshine
2. Tuesday’s Lover 
3. Electric Blue 
4. Illusion

Links
Official: https://traum.band
Bandcamp: https://traumtraum.bandcamp.com 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/traum.official
Label: https://www.tonzonen.de  

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Artist: Mt. Oriander/ Amid The Old Wounds 
Title: s/t
Format: Split 7″ EP
Labels: Time As A Color (GER), Sncl (UK), Shove Records (IT), Friendly Otter (USA), Civic Duty (AUS), New Knee Records (USA), Rufen Publishings (JAP), Slow Down Records (NO), Count Your Lucky Stars (USA)
Distribution: Sonic Rendezvous (EU)
Genre: Emo/ Indierock/ Singer-Songwriter
Release Date: 19/09/2024

I’m not going to waltz around facts here, this is a sad record, and once Mt. Oriander’s sole but lengthy song You Chip Away Everything That Isn’t An Elephant starts twinkling multiple clean guitars through your speakers or pods, you will be swept away by its melancholy. Before you know it Keith Latinen, well known from his former, genre defining band Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) jumps head first into an instrumental, soaring upbeat part of Mineral-esque or Penfold-ish intensity that sets the stage for a partly twinkly, partly head-nodding and beautifully told story of childhood nostalgia, as if JD Salinger and Douglas Coupland had a love child, a short story, so vivid, you can almost grasp it. The seemingly everyday setting lulls you in, only to break your heart with its final sentence, fully revealing this is about more than nostalgia.

On the flipside Daniel Becker takes over the narrative of loss and abandonment and turns loss into letting go, and nostalgia into sad acceptance. His first song Field Of View is a brooding, slow paced testimony of a man who is beginning to make peace with ending a fight that can’t be won, for the sake of staying healthy, staying alive, but aware of what made him who he is, for better or worse. The short sophomore song Hypothetically Speaking I serves as a passage into Amid The Old Wounds’ contribution to last year’s split 7” with Australia’s No Action, picking up sentiments of not being accepted and expressing awareness that the life settings we grow up with are ok – potentially required – to be questioned, in order to provide peace for your inner child. This may not be your perfect soundtrack to this summer’s open window ride to the beach, but let’s be honest, life isn’t always a ride to the beach, is it? Within many of us lies sadness, lies anger, and very often these are symptoms of trauma response caused by loss or negligence, among others. So if you find yourself dealing with sadness, this record might provide one thought that could be most instrumental in getting through: You are not alone. 

Rounded off with remarkably detailed artwork, specifically handdrawn by Tommy Lester aka Diddums Doodles (most prominently known for his work for Chalk Hands) this 7“ will be available summer 2024 on two vinyl variants (deep blue sea and shallow waters), housed in sand-colored paper with a shaped sticker on front, including a lyrics insert and download code.

Tracklist
1. You Chip Away Everything That Isn’t An Elephant
2. Field Of View
3. Hypothetically Speaking I

Links  
Order: https://timeasacolor.com/product/mt-oriander-amid-the-old-wounds-split-7
Mt. Oriander Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mtoriander
Mt. Oriander Bandcamp: https://mtoriander.bandcamp.com
Mt. Oriander Instagram: https://instagram.com/mtoriander
Mt. Oriander Facebook: https://facebook.com/MtOriander
Amid The Old Wounds Website: https://timeasacolor.com/amidtheoldwounds
Amid The Old Wounds Instagram: https://instagram.com/amidtheoldwounds
Amid The Old Wounds Facebook: https://facebook.com/amidtheoldwounds
Label Bandcamp: https://timeasacolor.bandcamp.com

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Artist: Black Aleph
Title: Apsides 
Format: LP, Digital
Label: Art As Carthasis, dunk!records
Genre: Post-Metal/ Doom
Release Date: 25/10/2024

Black Aleph are a Sydney/Melbourne based experimental ensemble featuring Lachlan Dale (guitar/effects), Peter Hollo (cello/effects) and Timothy Johannessen (percussion).

On their debut album, the trio draw inspiration from diverse sources ranging from post-metal to middle-eastern modal music. Apsides features both composed and improvised pieces that involve the players layering live-loops, ritualistic-beats and doom-metal style musical variations that progressively unfold and build in intensity throughout the performance.

Black Aleph’s style has been compared to Justin Broderick, Neurosis, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor – though there is a borderline spiritual quality to the music that comes from the unique instrumentation: guitar, cello, and Iranian daf drum.

The sound is tectonic – apt for a record centred around concepts of orbital mechanics, like the notion of ‘apsis’, which is the points of extreme and least distance between a celestial and a primary body (sun-earth-moon) in an elliptical orbit. A second theme concerns the relationship between light and dark, or more specifically the difference between bodies that emit versus those that merely reflect light – and in-between those that obstruct it.

Apsides was recorded over a number of years by Tim Carr (We Lost The Sea) and mastered by Mell Dettmer (Earth, Sunn O))). Jessika Kenney lends her sublime voice to a number of tracks, as does Natalya Bing her violin.

The album cover artwork was created by Melbourne-based artist Darren Tanny Tan, whose process involves ‘destroying’ a solid surface using various materials and techniques, while the single artwork was produced by the Syrian artist Salah Alkhal.

Black Aleph‘s debut album Apsides is out 25 October on Art As Catharsis and dunk!records.

Tracklist
1. Descent
2. Ambit I (Ascension)
3. Ambit II (Aphelion)
4. Separation
5. Precession
6. Return
7. Occultation

Links  
Bandcamp: https://blackaleph.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/blackaleph
Art As Catharsis: http://www.artascatharsis.com

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