For just a three-man group who don’t bother with a bass, Cortez kick up a hell of a ruckus. I wrote about this Swiss trio in a MISCELLANY post last December (here), about a month before release of their latest album Phœbus. It will be out on vinyl come January 25 via by Throatruiner Records (with CD releases coming from Basement Apes & Lost Pilgrims), but it’s already streaming and downloadable on Bandcamp now.
A few days ago Cortez premiered an official video for one of the new album’s songs, “arrogants que nous sommes”. The music itself is definitely worth hearing, but the video is even more exceptional.
The song is a burst of hardcore intensity. It seethes with fury and it’s loaded with head-bashing riffs and very cool (non-blasting) drumwork. I don’t miss the sound of the bass — the song makes up for its absence by drawing heaviness from emotional intensity.
The video amplifies the swarming, ass-kicking intensity of the song by whipping the point of view around the band and darting both below and even above them, and through really excellent editing. The contrast between dark and light is filmed in such a way that the lights seem to explode.
When a performance is captured on film this well, you really don’t need or want a narrative story line interleaved with what the band are doing. Just watching them is enough. Kudos to director Sml Vny for a job really well done. Check it out; I’ve included links after the video.
http://cortez.bandcamp.com/album/phoebus
http://www.cortez.ch
http://www.facebook.com/cortezrocks
http://throatruinerrecords.com/
http://basementapesind.com
http://lostpilgrimsrecords.tumblr.com
http://getaliferecords.com
This is insanely good music.