Category: New Releases

Artist: Ni
Title: Fol Naïs
Format: 2xLP, CD, Digital
Label: Dur & Doux
Distribution: Broken Silence
Genre: Experimental Noise Metal
Release Date: 01/12/2023

For anyone already familiar with Ni, the title of their third album is bound to raise a smile. Fol Naïs, literally “born mad” in Old French, is the name given to the fools and jesters of history’s great rulers. This symbol of impertinence couldn’t be more appropriate for this new release from the most unclassifiable of Rhône-Alpes quartets. Renowned for their “silly and bouncy” (sic) sound, Ni tried their hand at darker, heavier music on Pantophobie (2019), reflecting the period the band was going through. The bells of Fol Naïs sound the hour for a return to faster tempos, but not without affirming an instrumental renewal:

“This is the great dilemma for any band: how to successfully carry a legacy from the past while renewing itself? With Fol Naïs, we consider it a success in this sense, as it’s an album that doesn’t feel like a rehash of Pantophobie. Pantophobie had run its course, and it was time to react. Re-accelerating the tempo could be the breaking point. We wanted to open even more doors. We wanted to tap into the energy of metal, without having the color of it since we also dipped into old formulas that unify our sound.”

Math Rock? Noise? Metal? Jazz? On these 10 new tracks, Ni delights more than ever in blurring the lines and confusing their audience, remaining true to their desire to go further in experimentation. A call to modernity, guitarists Anthony Béard and François Mignot exploit new pedals, driven by a desire for synthesizer-like sounds, deepening their alchemy with the anarchic rhythm section of Benoit Lecomte (bass) and Nicolas Bernollin (drums).

From “Zerkon”, as chaotic as it is jovial, we know that the ears we’re addressing are preferably the most seasoned. The tension is palpable on the following tracks, which are hybrids of Don Caballero and Meshuggah (“Chicot”, “Dagonet”), when they aren’t sprinkled with the breakcore of Igorrr (“Brusquet”) or the all-out rage of Botch (“Rigoletto”). Fortunately, Ni easily manages to incorporate relative breaths (“Berdic”, the triptych “Triboulet”), culminating in the slow, ambient “Cathelot”, with its hurdy-gurdy conveying a certain elevation. Pirouettes and nose-thumbing at musical convention follow one another. Which only adds to the meaning of each track on this new album, all named after real-life jesters:

“Historically, the jester’s spectacles were the moments when the masks fell off. The rulers and their courts accepted all frontal and openly declamatory criticism, mixed with art, mime, something that was lived. As artists and musicians, this is how we fit in. Our own buffoonery leads us to go against the grain of what’s expected of us. You want Ni to be a jazzy noise band? Well, we’ve failed!”

It’s all there, Ni is always complex, dissonant and shaggy. But their formidable inventiveness and unexpected danceability make them a leading light in the French musical niche. With Fol Naïs, Ni takes another step in their quest for the Holy Grail, displaying as much mischief as wrath. Demonstration on December 1, 2023!

Tracklist
1. Zerkon   
2. Dagonet   
3. Brusquet   
4. Berdic   
5. Chicot   
6. Rigoletto   
7. Triboulet (Part. I)   
8. Triboulet (Part. II)
9. Triboulet (Part. III)   
10. Cathelot

Links 
Official: http://ni-music.com
Bandcamp: https://niiii.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ni_officiel
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ni.ni.ni.music
Label: https://duretdoux.com

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Artist: Sébastien Guérive
Title: Obscure Clarity
Format: LP, Digital 
Labels: Atypeek Music
Genre: Ambient/ Neoclassical
Release Date: 10/11/2023

Sébastien Guérive is a composer and sound engineer based in Nantes, France. After studying the cello, he quickly turned to musical creation using computer music, which opened up infinite possibilities for mixing and transforming sound material. Close to the work of a plastic artist, he is as much concerned with the textural aspect of the sound as he is with the melody. 

Since 2001 and his first album La Pense Érrante composed from collages of samples and “field recording”, he continues to develop his personal work (Io’n, Da Sweep …) and to collaborate on projects for the theater, dance, music composition for image. 

His first album as a self-titled artist, Omega Point, was released in 2020 to great acclaim from the public and the international press. The video clip for Omega II, a track taken from this album, has won numerous awards at international festivals and now boasts over 850 K views on Vimeo. 

Sébastien Guérive‘s new album Obscure Clarity blends electronic acoustics, sonic textures and more intimate piano felt moments in the spirit of neoclassical writing. 

Chorales and onomatopoeic voices run through the album, creating a universal dialogue with the listener. At times akin to religious music writing, it is the spiritual dimension that is important in this album, this sense of elevation in contrast with darker, rougher soundscapes and textures. 

There are musical climbs in the spirit of progressive rock, given by the power and thickness of the electronic sounds and the breadth of the orchestration of the acoustic instruments. With Obscure Clarity, Sébastien Guérive continues to compose the soundtrack for a film about the essential role of light in the development of life. 

Tracklist
01. On The Inside    
02.Prana    
03. Devi   
04. Daydream   
05. Obscure Clarity I   
06. Obscure Clarity II   
07. Deva  08. Dukkha   
09. Obscure Clarity IV   
10. Shanti

Links 
Official: www.sebastienguerive.com
Bandcamp: https://sebastienguerive.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/sebastien_guerive
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Sebastiengueriveoff
Atypeek Music: https://atypeekmusic.com

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Artist: 100 Guitares Sur Un Bateau Ivre
Title: Bateau Ivre
Format: CD, Digital 
Label: Daaganda Records
Genre: Experimental 
Release Date: 29/09/2023

100 Guitares Sur Un Bateau Ivre (100 guitars on a drunken boat) is an evolutionary project created by Gilles Laval in 2017, composed for 100 electric guitars. The particularity of the project is to propose to each new “stopover” in a new city, a re-creation by calling on musicians and local structures. It is a co-construction and learning project for an “eco-poetic” creation on the theme of the ocean. Based on the french poem of Arthur Rimbaud, electric guitars – popular instrument – are used in all possible forms, to explore a contemporary writing dedicated to this creation.

Gilles Laval, from solo to writing for 100 electric guitars, from small to large groups, orchestras, not forgetting the augmented guitar with movement sensors, Gilles Laval explores new forms, researches new writings, initiates singular artistic adventures. He is the artistic director of the CM production association (creation and training). He created the GSUBI structure around his latest project 100 Guitares Sur Un Bateau Ivre to promote unusual and extraordinary musical projects.

Gilles Laval started in underground groups in Lyon (punk new wave, hardcore, experimental…) in the 80′, with parallel studies of electroacoustic music with Denis Dufour. Today, he navigates between experimental music, creation and improvisation, multi-arts encounters, digital arts, always in search of new experiences, claiming gender equality between scholarly or secular music, traditional music, popular music and contemporary music.

He teaches electric guitar and free improvisation at the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Villeurbanne, where he is in charge of the amplified music department. He also created the department and curriculum of popular music at Cefedem Rhône Alpes in 2000 (higher education). He is an active and founding member of PaaLabRes (Artistic Practices in Action, Research Laboratory).

Innovation, creation, concert, transmission, experience, research, pedagogy, are fundamental elements of its environment. With always this question: what is the role of the artist in today’s society?

Tracklist
1. De Ses Longs Cheveux Bleus   
2. Embellie   
3. Roches   
4. Chaloupes   
5. Bateau Ivre   
6. Cachalots Hugs          
7. Unsaved

Links 
Smartlink: https://orcd.co/a9eoelm
GSUBI: https://gsubi.com/fr/100-guitares-sur-un-bateau-ivre-fr
Daaganda Records: https://www.daaganda.com

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Artist: The Spacelords
Title: Nectar Of The Gods
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Tonzonen Records
Distribution: Soulfood Music/ GoodToGo
Genre: Psychedelic, Space Rock
Release Date: 20/10/2023

With new album Nectar Of The Gods, The Spacelords lift their distinctive sound to new, astral heights. The time has come!

The Spacelords – the galactic grooving space rockers in the stoner space-time continuum – honor our sun sound system with their latest album Nectar Of The Gods. Its entry into the Earth’s atmosphere was calculated for the end of October!

Nectar Of The Gods is the 6th studio album on the Tonzonen Records label. The exceptional formation was founded in 2008 and is since May 2014 in their classic, perfect line-up, which inspires an ever-growing fan base worldwide.

After effusive reactions to the first five studio albums, The Spacelords open with Nectar Of The Gods another, so far unheard-of chapter in their original, magical space-atlas.

The trio’s constantly reinventing, deeply interwoven interplay is increasingly captivating the stoner, space and kraut rock community with its devotional joy of playing, as only true friends can muster.

On one of the four epic new tracks on Nectar Of The Gods the gigantic attraction of the massive Spacelords star has once again attracted a sympathetic emissary from the neighboring keyboard universe: Lost Sound Of Lemuria is enhanced by friend Guest Lord, namely Jens Eberhard of Jewelled Moon, with brilliant Fender Rhodes and organ sounds.

Four impressive new songs were created in the home studio, which have both a high recognition value, and know how to convince atmospherically.

Nectar Of The Gods is released on Digipack CD, limited label edition LP (yellow vinyl) and regular LP (black vinyl), as well as a digital release.

Tracklist
1. Nectar Of The Gods 
2. Endorphine High
3. Mindscapes
4. Lost Sounds Of Lemuria

Links
Official: https://thespacelords.com 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thespacelordsgermany
Facebook: https://facebook.com/the.spacelords
Bandcamp: https://thespacelords1.bandcamp.com  
Label: https://www.tonzonen.de 

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Artist: Thierry Arnal
Title: The Occult Sources 
Format: CD, Digital 
Labels: Atypeek Music
Genre: Dark Experimental/ Ambient/ Drone
Release Date: 15/09/2023

Thierry Arnal (musician/ visual artist) is a french based composer (Lyon, France) active since 2006 and principally working with field recordings, sound collage and computers since 2018.

Audio works by Thierry Arnal of Fragment., AMANTRA, HAST, TH-A & SEPL aliases) have been published on labels including: Justin Broadrick’s label Avalanche Recordings, Denovali, Kvitnu, Thisco Records, Peacock Window Recordings, Pharmafabrick, Mahorka, Annihilvs Power Electronix, EndTitles… as well as numerous compilation appearances and remixes.

One of his major projects, Fragment., was initiated in 2005. Later, in 2015, Fragment. transformed into a duo with Pascal Bertier on bass, resulting in their album Nothing Will Ever Be The Same. The band’s unique blend of post-rock, drone, shoegaze, doom, post-metal, and slow-core defies traditional categorization. Their compositions focus on creating dreamlike atmospheres, balancing shadows and lights, and delivering strong melodic moments and memorable themes. 

In 2019, he collaborated with filmmaker and author Laurent Courau on the ambitious project The Occult Sources: Deep Inside the Abode of Chaos. The project encompassed a film and web-series centered around La Demeure du Chaos / Musée L’Organe by Thierry Ehrmann. Thierry Arnal contributed significantly to the film’s soundtrack.The Occult Sources took the form of a twelve-episode web-series and a feature film, blending artistry and esotericism, showcasing a new underground cinema crafted for the 21st century.

The world premiere of The Occult Sources occurred in September 2019 during the L’Étrange Festival anniversary celebration in Paris. Despite pandemic-related challenges, the film was screened at select international festivals, leaving audiences captivated.

Fans of electronic music, fantasy cinema, and enchanting adventures eagerly await the release of the album The Occult Sources which is scheduled for September 15, 2023. The first excerpts from the album will be available at the beginning of the season. Stay connected to be among the first to embark on this unprecedented sonic journey to a parallel world where the magic of music transports you to uncharted territories.

Links 
Stream: https://orcd.co/wzo3ve4
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/SEPL_OFFICIAL_and_projects 
Bandcamp: https://thierry-arnal-music.bandcamp.com/album/the-occult-sources-ost
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_sepl_lab_
Atypeek Music: https://atypeekmusic.com

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Artist: CRABE
Title: Visite Du Temple Inné
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Les Disques Dure Vie
Distribution: Cargo
Genre: Art/ Noise- Punk
Release Date: 13/10/2023

CRABE’s (Montreal, QC) special brand of “présent-punk” blends complex structures and surreal melodies. Comprised of Mertin Hoëk (Télégraphe Jungle, IDALG, Jesuslesfilles, Leamers, etc.) and Gabriel Lapierre (Après l’Asphalte, Varger, etc.), the odd duo is known for the chaos that ensues during their live performances as well as their abandon on stage, making them a must-see artist in the Quebecexperimental music scene for over a decade.

After 15 years of scouting the mist of a still unexplored way to make music, CRABE clad itself in a multi-colored mantle made of art-punk, controlled chaos, and sonic surrealism. From their experimentations came a word that sums up their universe with accuracy and simplicity: Crabism.

Crabism is a visit within the inner temple of CRABE, a ride through a storm of ideas that build the strangest, most terrifying and attractive musical beast of Quebec’s musical spectrum.

After the release of Sentients in 2021, the whimsical duo is set to re-map a territory that only CRABE knows how to occupy as it does.

With the advent of the year 2023, CRABE draws from the depths of their being to release an new album September 29th, Visite Du Temple Inné. A series of reflections pushes the group to question the concept of rock ensembles. Embarrassed by pastiches, guitars, percussion and drums, the group tries to bring something fresh and dynamic to this porridge of ghosts from the past. On Visite Du Temple Inné, it is with great honors of sharing and vulnerability that the music is created.

Tracklist
1. Conscience universelle
2. LEB DOGGO
3. Politique Dracula 22
4. Faire de la musique        
5. Je ne peux pas te dire je t’aime   
6. Nightmom        
7. 2020                     
8. Limp de quoi    
9. Nos pères se meurent    
10. Pourquoi         
11. Personne proximité

Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crabecrabe 
Bandcamp: https://crabe.bandcamp.com 
Label: https://www.durevie.ca

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Artist: Closure In Moscow
Title: Soft Hell
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Bird’s Robe Records 
Distribution: MGM
Genre: Alternative Rock
Release Date: 27/10/2023

Closure in Moscow. They’re back.  It’s been 9 years since the sprawling prog rock concept record Pink Lemonade – 13 years since the feisty up tempo prog punk of First Temple and 14 years since the earnest post-hardcore of their debut albumette The Penance And The Patience.

In the years hence, those milestones have been etched in fans minds as tent poles of the band’s career, which has seemingly lurched on a wide spectrum from post to pillar. But to insiders, the band’s evolution has been a natural process, borne of their desire to express every element of their creativity. Now, in a further extension of that evolution, 12 new songs comprising the album Soft Hell will finally be released in 2023. Where First Temple yearned and Pink Lemonade churned, Soft Hell settles in as perhaps the most mature and studiously crafted album of their career.

Whilst the singles Better Way and Primal Sinister are nods to the sounds and attitudes band’s previous records, once you hit the jungle of sounds on the groove-laden Absolute Terror Field  the down tempo ballad Keeper Of The Lake, the Prince-soul-rock of Holy Rush and the industrial soul of Don Juan Triumphant – you realise, this is entirely new territory for Closure In Moscow. The hooks, lyricism and songcraft take the forefront, whilst the bombast and technical proficiency are channelled into impossibly tasty grooves, guitar & bass solos dripping with juicy goodness and drum fills presented as morsels on an album size degustation menu. The understated musicianship on this material reveals itself on repeated listens.

Don’t get it wrong though – there’s plenty of shred on display. Whether it’s Michael Barrett’s guitar fire vs Salvatore Aidone’s octopus drumming in Better Way or the game of ‘where the 1?’ in the chorus of Holy Rush or the polyrhythmic maelstrom of album opener Jaeger Bomb. Do yourself a favour and keep your finger on the replay button once you hear Barrett’s inspired playing at the end of Lovelash.

It’s not a concept album. Or is it? Frontman Christopher de Cinque is as cryptic as ever on tracks like Primal Sinister. But overall, it’s their most honest and transparent album to date. If you know the story of these songs, it hits even harder. But it’s not hard to be drawn in on just the first listen.

The band comments: “It’s the last 9 years distilled down to 50 minutes. We’ve put blood, sweat and years into this, and fully believe when you hear these tracks, the wait will have been worth it. We know you have to take our word on that for the time being, but the wait is almost over. The new album is called Soft Hell.Getting comfortable with chronic discomfort caused by the choices that fears and trauma lead you to make. This is life in a soft hell. There are enough distractions to stave off facing up to it, you can keep yourself in denial to avoid it, and things can just keep ticking along. Life becomes a fever dream of creature comforts and time killers, floating further into a lake of fire. People come along to pull you out, but they too get burned when you feel too stuck to climb with them.”

It’s been a long wait for fans and a long period of introspection and evolution for Closure in Moscow. But the next phase of the band promises to be one of their most enthralling, as they make plans to share the record, revisit fans around the world and – hopefully – take less than 9 years until the next new music comes around. What’s next? Does it matter? We’re all going to die eventually anyway. Just dive into Soft Hell and let yourself wallow there for a while.

Tracklist
1. Jaeger Bomb    
2. Primal Sinister   
3. Absolute Terror Field   
4. Better Way   
5. Holy Rush   
6. Keeper Of The Lake   
7. Lock & Key   
8. Don Juan Triumphant   
9. Soft Hell   
10. Fine   
11. Lovelash   
12. My Dearest Kate

Links
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/closureinmoscow 
Order: https://closureinmoscow.bandcamp.com/album/soft-hell
Official: www.closureinmoscow.com 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/closureinmoscow 
Facebook: https://facebook.com/closureinmoscow 
Label: https://birdsrobe.com

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Artist: Collapse Under The Empire
Title: Recurring
Format: Digital, CD, 11xLP Box
Label: Finaltune Records
Distribution: Broken Silence
Genre: Post-Rock/ Electronic
Release Date: 29/09/2023

Collapse Under The Empire are back! The band releases a new album titled Recurring as well as a strictly limited retrospective vinyl box with 11 LPs called Works 08-23. 

For the past 15 years Chris Burda and Martin Grimm have been presenting a genre mix of post-rock, soundtrack, shoegazing, ambient to ice-cold electronica. Their music is now used in Hollywood trailers, such as Brightburn by James Gunn and in many documentaries. Their soundtrack-like compositions have always been perfect for cinematic soundtracks. With the new album, the duo has released an impressive number of nine studio albums, three EPs and various singles to date. Collapse Under The Empire have established themselves internationally in the post-rock scene.

Their new album Recurring can be described as an orchestral post-rock epic, which raises the sound and complexity of the band to a new level. Thematically, the album revolves around the perpetual cycle of life, in which everything on our planet is constantly repeated. After destruction and death-purification, peace and redemption follows. The album is somber, melancholic and hopeful at the same time. Recurring creates a powerful sound that combines ethereal soundscapes with their signature guitar-driven post-rock sound. 

The strictly limited 11x LP Box Works 08-23 will also be released in the fall of 2023. The new album Recurring will only be available as vinyl in this LP box. The LP box can only be purchased on the band’s website and can already be pre-ordered. The box contains the complete back catalog of the band from 2008-2023 including all albums, eps, split ep, b-sides, rarities, non-album tracks as well as singles, in a vinyl box with 11 vinyls. With this box 5 albums and 4 EP`s from the years 2008- 2014 appear for the first time on vinyl. This is a must have and collector’s item for every true fan of the band.

Tracklist
1. Genesis   
2. Revelation   
3. Mercy   
4. Absolution   
5. Requiem   
6. Forgiveness   
7. Salvation   
8. Apocalypse   
9. Creation

Links 
Order: https://collapseundertheempire.com/preorder  
Offical: https://collapseundertheempire.com 
Facebook: https://facebook.com/collapseundertheempire 
Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/collapseempire
Label: https://finaltune.com

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Artist: Hidden Orchestra
Title: To Dream Is To Forget
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Lone Figures
Genre: Experimental
Release Date: 22/09/2023

Since its inception, producer and composer Joe Acheson has carefully developed Hidden Orchestra from a simple initial project concept of ‘an imagined orchestra’ into something that has flourished into a widespan musical universe of its own, that is truly unlike anything else. 

After multiple albums with respected independent label Tru Thoughts, continued support from the likes of The Guardian, BBC6Music, FIP, JazzFM, several awards for innovative soundtrack work intertwined with AI and consistent global touring of an energetic and intriguing live show featuring two duelling drummers, their reach and influence has swollen to make them one of the highest regarded names in independent music today and has even led to collaborations beyond the world of music, with The British Library, Kew Gardens and National Trust all enlisting Acheson for unique installation projects. Yet regardless of the current brief in front of him, the initial mission statement to ‘create electronic music with acoustic means’ remains.  

Acheson achieves this task with aplomb, conjuring intricate yet expansive worlds of sound, built in collaboration with a select core of talented musicians, combined with Acheson’s bespoke samples, field recordings, and carefully honed composition and arrangement sensibilities. Detail and craftsmanship are at the core of everything he does, even musically directing a diverse array of instrumentalists to capture unique samples of both improvised and scored nature. This ingenious approach really sets his work apart from the crowd and allows Acheson’s artistic vision to come to life exactly as intended.

While new album To Dream Is To Forget certainly maintains this mission statement, it does also bring about a sea change for the project on a few fronts. Released via Acheson’s own newly formed Lone Figures imprint, the musical direction for the record involved a concerted effort to condense musical themes and ideas into more immediate arrangements, with less utilisation of field recordings than previously released material. 

Predominantly sticking to this ethos has indeed meant an average track length reduction throughout, however there is still the same high level of musicality and no shortage of ideas within this rich collection of 10 original tracks. 

A familiar cast of contributors return – with long term members Jamie Graham (drums), Tim Lane (drums), and Poppy Ackroyd (violin) all present, alongside newer personnel – Jack McNeill (clarinet) and Rebecca Knight (cello) all helping to realise Acheson’s musical vision. 

The album title is taken from a line by Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa – “No one tires of dreaming, because to dream is to forget, and forgetting does not weigh on us, it is a dreamless sleep throughout which we remain awake.”

And this seems an apt calling card for a collection that draws influence from a fantastic and diverse array of places. Musically at any given point you are as likely to hear sounds akin to Max Cooper or Four Tet as you are Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel. 

With the idea of ‘reimagining’ playing a key role in the creation of the project, the title track leans into the overarching concept and nature of dreams reworking everyday experience into new subconscious stories… 

Pulling inspiration from almost everywhere Acheson explains: “I’m influenced by everything I’ve ever heard, a lot of these sounds aren’t inherently musical, but I’ll try to find something with a musical quality within it. I also like the intentions of a lot of sacred choral music, creations that look upwards, this has a big aesthetic influence on the way I try to create.” 

Tracklist
1. Hammered   
2. Little Buddy Move    
3. Skylarks   
4. Nightfall   
5. Scatter   
6. Ripple   
7. Broken   
8. Cage Then Brick   
9. Reverse Learning    
10. To Dream Is To Forget

Links
Official: www.hiddenorchestra.com 
Bandcamp: https://hiddenorchestra.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/hidden_orchestra 
Facebook: https://facebook.com/HiddenOrchestra 

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