(written by Islander)
It’s unhealthy to live on red meat and potatoes alone, or so the health experts tell us, and even in the case of the bloody red and fungally infested music that’s often our daily fare around here, it’s sometimes wise to diversify our diet. And so today we present Digital Negative.
That name will already be known to some of our more musically diversified patrons, perhaps especially because the resume of one of its two members (Richard Johnson) includes work with Drugs Of Faith, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and Enemy Soil. The other member, Daniel Euphrat, has been involved in Person918x, Timmy Sells His Soul, and Bodied. Together they’ve released two EPs and now a third one named Intersect is on the way.
Digital Negative is one of those silver linings on the pandemic cloud. Pre-pandemic, Johnson and Euphrat had begun the process of forming a metal band together, but the covid lockdown threw obstacles in their way and unexpectedly led to a change in musical course, and thus the birth of Digital Negative.
Where their musical explorations have now led them in the case of Intersect is further down a path of indulging electronic and industrial influences while continuing to focus on socio-political and dystopian themes. As you’ll discover from the video premiere for “The Blanks” that we’re hosting today, the new EP’s name is apt.
It’s apt because the music itself is an intersection of styles — an intersection with no stop signs or stop lights to regulate the flow of traffic, and yet the result, while bizarre and bewildering, isn’t a big pileup of mangled and smoking wreckage. Or, to change the metaphor, the figure in the video with fingers flying has seen something in the screen of shapeless static, and the song reflects a kind of discovery as well.
Even at the beginning the song has a groove, and not just the big bursting electronic growls in the low end. Even the freakishly pinging collage of electronics has a rhythmic hook. As Johnson begins declaiming the words, the electronics morph, mutating in multiple ways as drums clatter and the low end causes the floor to bounce.
The vocals change too, a grittier and more hostile rap. Without warning, a futuristic keyboard melody starts darting above low-frequency contortions, and then the song really does compulsively bounce, though the pulsating electronics around the big jumps maintain the feeling of alien dementia that’s been there since the beginning (though now it sounds more hostile).
Well, those are the reactions of this one listener. We also want to share comments about this track from Digital Negative‘s two members:
Daniel Euphrat: “‘The Blanks‘ was based on repurposing a noise rock riff we had jammed on and ended up with Ministry and Mille Plateaux influences on top of Digital Negative‘s usual dub undercurrents.
Richard Johnson: “This track is an example of me trying to place the lyrics on the song in a different way than I did on the other two Digital Negative EPs. Daniel pushed me out of my comfort zone on creating the video and I think it paid off.”
The vocals and field samples for Intersect were performed and recorded by Johnson, with the guitars, electronics, and samples performed/recorded by Euphrat, who also mixed the record, after which it was mastered by Angel Marcloid at Angel Hair Studio.
Intersect will be released on July 11th, and it’s recommended for fans of Godflesh, Skinny Puppy, Pitch Shifter, Front Line Assembly, Revolting Cocks, Pigface, Throbbing Gristle, and Einstürzende Neubauten.
Below you’ll find a pre-order link and a stream of the new EP’s opening song, “Extensions“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://digitalnegative.bandcamp.com/album/intersect