ESSENTIAL ENTRIES: MAY 2015

 Listmania, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Jun 162015
 

 

(In this post Dan Barkasi continues his monthly series recommending music from the previous month.)

Here we go again! With May long behind us, there was a lot of material to sift through, along with a hell of a time at Maryland Deathfest to remember. All good things!

Overall, May wasn’t the best month this year, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some gems to uncover. Quite a good amount, actually, with the selections coming from a broad spectrum. Hey, that’s why I’m here – to give you the goods from all over! I try to deliver. Maybe not as exciting as the pizza delivery guy bringing carb-loaded goodies, but I do what I can!

Onward! Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: BLOOD MUSIC EDITION (GOST, CORPO MENTE, ÖXXÖ XÖÖX)

 Interviews  3 Responses »
Jun 082015
 

 

(In this new installment of KevinP’s short-interview series, he beings us a trio of conversations with three bands on the Blood Music label.)

 Back in April I did mini reviews on three of Blood Music’s 2015 releases over at MetalBandcamp (here).  But I wanted to delve into more about each band and find out the “method behind the madness”, as you would say.  *Note*  All three releases are available for NAME YOUR OWN PRICE download.  Here is my conversation with each of the bands:

GosT

K:  So are you surprised at the interest from metal fans/websites in your horror synthcore?

G:  Being a metalhead myself, I feel like some of my tracks reflect that, so not totally surprised.  Also being associated with Blood Music helps. Continue reading »

KEVINP’S ALBUMS OF THE MONTH — MAY 2015

 Listmania  16 Responses »
Jun 012015
 

 

(Another months is in the history books, and so it’s time for KevinP to name the releases from last month that most impressed him.) 

May has been the most ecletic month of the year so far.  Interesting and all over the map (as you’ll see below).  I guess that’s why it took me more time than usual to decide on the final pecking order.   I went back and forth a few times, even shuffled albums in and out.  Damn you metal for making me THINK 😉

Anyways, here we go… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ÖXXÖ XÖÖX — “ÄBŸM”

 Premieres  12 Responses »
Mar 112015
 

 

Öxxö Xööx are a French band whose members are Laurent Lunoir (music, lead vocals, visual design), Rïcïnn (Laure Le Prunenec) (vocals, live bass), and Isarnos (Thomas Jacquelin) (drums), with studio engineering by Igorrr (Gautier Serre) of the band Whourkr. I first came across them in 2011 in one of my irregular MISCELLANY excursions and wrote about their unique debut album Rëvëürt. On May 26, Finland’s Blood Music label, which seems to have a knack for signing bands whose music is well off the usual beaten paths, will be releasing the second Öxxö Xööx album, Nämïdäë. In this post we’re premiering the seventh track from the album — “Äbÿm” — and I predict you haven’t heard anything like it, unless perhaps you’ve heard Rëvëürt.

Some things haven’t changed since that first release: The band still have an affection for umlauts. The band are still speaking their own language (their name is a binary representation of the number 69 [in binary code, 0110=6 and 1001=9], which (among other things) relates to flipping life on its head, to turn bleakness into light). They still have an extravagant talent for combining visual with musical art (as you’ll soon see), and their music is still avant-garde, with a capital A and a capital G. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 38: THE 11TH HOUR, SACRAMENT OV IMPURITY, AND ÖXXÖ XÖÖX

 Exceptions to the Rule, MISCELLANY  3 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

I know regular readers must get tired of me explaining what this MISCELLANY game is about, but amazingly, the traffic on our site continues to increase, providing further proof that there are many confused people in the world. For the benefit of new readers, therefore, I continue to explain:

We keep an ever-growing list of bands whose music we’ve never heard. The names come from many sources, including the bands themselves. Every now and then, when time permits, I randomly grab some names off the list and listen to a song or two from each one. I then babble about what I heard in these MISCELLANY posts and play the songs for you, because no one could possibly be so confused that they would just take my word for something without listening for themselves.

For this post, the names I chose were The 11th Hour (The Netherlands), Sacrament Ov Impurity (U.S.-Washington), and Öxxö Xööx (France).  Here we go:

THE 11TH HOUR

I heard about this band via an e-mail from NCS curmudgeon reader Kevin. This wasn’t quite the stab in the dark that most of my MISCELLANY picks are, because every tip Kevin has given me so far has turned out to be a winner. Also, this band has an impressive pedigree. The main man is Ed Warby, whose name you may recognize from Hail of Bullets, Demiurge, Gorefest, and many other past projects. He handles all the instruments on the recorded songs, as well as clean vox. Harsh vocals were provided on the band’s sole album by Rogga Johansson (Demiurge, Bone Gnawer, Ribspreader, and many more). So, I figured the odds were good that I was going to warm up to this music.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »