Pure Acid Hell by Grimbeard

Grimbeard ‘Pure Acid Hell’ is out now via Bandcamp and Spotify

Glitchy, funky and drenched in 80s’ corporate culture kitsch, ‘On the Telephone’ will have you dancing then drooling all over the living room floor as your friends call for an ambulance. Chasing down the sounds of that sweet after-work drink gone off the rails, ‘Preferred Stock’ feels like a dosed-up trip across the city night, lit by the ambulance warning lights flaring across the neon-paved landscape.

Tagged onto the release is the announcement of an upcoming EP and Album for the coming year, and we couldn’t be more chuffed to hear what Nmesh has in store for us.

On The Telephone / Preferred Stock by Nmesh

Nmesh ‘On the Telephone/Preferred Stock’ is out now on bandcamp.

Sensational is the weird kids’ favorite rapper. He is the most unknown, sort of well-known, but not really, abstract experimental vagabond you’ve never heard of. He’s written numerous albums, E.P.’s and features that can be found all over bandcamp.

With “The Pearl”, Sensational delivers his signature brand of stream of thought wordplay and his gruff-gravely delivery layered over Planteaterz’ otherworldly productions.  This is more free-verse than what you’d typically expect from an underground Hip-Hop album. Experimental landscapes and textures layered very well with Chuck O’Bliss’ rhyme patterns. Some of these tracks including the few remixes is mystic circuitry; easily going from garage band Dan the Automator into lush and beautiful weirdness.

Listen to the whole album here
https://naffrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-pearl 

Sensational according to wikipedia:
“His style is often about weed intake or sci-fi based themes. He is known more for his often eclectic collaboration work, having played with the likes of Cardopusher, Kid 606, Handsome Boy Modeling School, DJ Scotch Bonnet, Kouhei Matsunaga, and Spectre. Often quite prolific, but known for brief spells of homelessness, it is not known how much of Sensational’s discography there actually is, as he can often be found selling his music on the streets of New York.”

Also included in this review is the most recent documentary about Sensational

THE RISE & FALL & RISE of SENSATIONAL
https://youtu.be/_qMQ96Bvz18

Every track weighs heavy with a distinct withered ambience and flows so naturally from one soundscape to the next that one simply can’t believe the whole album was improvised.

Take your time with this release and feel your mind wash away with the tides on the gentle shores of quiddity. I promise you won’t regret it.

Burial Grid ‘Shores of Quiddity’ is out now via Bandcamp and Spotify

Could AV’s Synth-blackgaze be on the verge of a new trend that further binds the ties between metal and retrowave? One thing is for sure; the mere idea would sound utterly ridiculous had we not heard what this producer is capable of.

Favorite tracks : Forward to the past, Impermanence

Abstract Void ‘Wishdream’ is out now on Bandcamp and Spotify!

DavZ is an Australian synth artist with a large variety of influences, and that is fantastically reflected in this sophomore release. Although the album is underpinned by chillsynth, it’s easy to understand why it might be named “Exotic Spaces,” as the tracks swing through various genres with ease. It’s a very unique album that clocks in at over 60 minutes long, and could be “…more accurately described as a collection of sonic experiences.'” A good example of this are the tracks “Goose Bass” and “Road of Embers (w. Brinch),” which are an incredibly interesting mix of chillsynth steeped in progressive house. At other times, “Exotic Spaces” leans more towards the ambient side too.

It would be easy for an album like this to feel disjointed, but here DavZ has really nailed it. “Exotic Spaces” manages to retain a cohesive feeling even through its genre experimentation – and that is a true feat!

DavZ’s first album, “DAVE,” had a similar genreless feeling, with DavZ even directing listeners of specific genres to certain tracks. Although it contained some great cuts – it did end up feeling a bit jumbled and unconnected. “Exotic Spaces” certainly marks an evolution in DavZ’s unique style, as it contains multiple genre mixs but doesn’t get jumbled like its predecessor. We’re really excited to hear this progression as it just works so well.

It’s also great to hear more genre experimentation within the chillsynth community in general. Most chillsynth artists started off sounding a lot like the progenitor HOME, but now the genre seems to be branching out and evolving as a whole as well, with individual artists carving out their own niche. The founder of Stratford Ct. even recently mentioned this progression during our interview about this new chillsynth microgenre. The importance of albums like “Exotic Spaces” really cannot be understated, because it’s artists like DavZ experimenting with different influences that act to push entire genres forward into new territory.

Grab you copy of “Exotic Spaces” here while there’s still a few left!

The devilish duo Dance With The Dead are being resurrected back into the spotlight with the release of “B-Sides: Volume 1.” Although this album is comprised of various unreleased and compilation tracks, it is quickly shaping up to be a truly fiendish fan favorite.  

On a twitter post, the Orange County based producers simply promoted the album as “Tons of music that never made it onto our records!” However, “B-Sides” is transcending it’s own title. B-sides are usually known for content not good enough to make the A-side cut, but here we have a collection of excellent tracks blended expertly together to form a cohesive whole – something not usually seen in a collection of unreleased material. Were talking grade A premium zombie killing music folks!

In spite of the album’s cohesiveness, the mix of songs still leans towards eclectic. “B-Sides: Volume 1” ranges from tracks comprised of an odd mix of power and speed metal (sans the big hair) to the more familiar mix of diabolic, always surprisingly danceable synthwave. 

“B-Sides: Volume 1” feels like it’s melodies were ripped straight from the head spinning original Exorcist and piped through a duo of synthesizer and electric guitar. Tracks like this would be just as fit as the soundtrack to Castlevania as to a dancefloor – an odd combination where it’s easy to miss the mark, and Dance With The Dead nails it. The crisp production on this album will have metalheads and darksynth fans rising from their graves to rave together.

The standout tracks on this album seem to be “Banshee,” “Entity,” “Blood Moon,” “Venom,” “The Man Who Made A Monster” and of course the bangin’ climax at the end of “The Awakening.” That’s over a third of the album that are must-listens for any fans of darkwave. With tracks like this hiding in the attic, we can only wonder with excitement whats coming next from Dance With The Dead!

COMMUNITY RATINGS

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]]> https://newretrowave.com/2017/01/30/dance-with-the-dead-b-sides-vol-1/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2016/05/23/fixions-migration-2019/ https://newretrowave.com/2016/05/23/fixions-migration-2019/#respond Mon, 23 May 2016 16:32:35 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2016/05/23/2016523fixions-migration-2019/

A few months ago, while on the phone with T.S., the founder of NRW, I was talking about certain trends in avant-garde styles of pop developing in London, and how it would be interesting to see these aggressively experimental musical choices manifest in the synthwave scene. With Migration 2019, Fixions has managed to craft an album that not only answers that call, but that also delights me to the point that it feels specifically made for me.

While I’m not certain if Fixions was inspired by the idiosyncrasies found in PC Music releases, some of the stylistic choices are similar, as is the sheer commitment to strangeness. The first track, “2019”, captures much of what I love on this album. The experimentation is most obvious in the chopped and pitched vocal samples, adding something in between melody and percussive textures to an already funky and catchy song. There is a playfulness in the beats in the song that is carried over into much of the rest of the album. “They Live” follows, and pulses with Daft Punk-inspired groove. Even on the darker, moodier tracks, like “Grégoire & Nathan” or “Blasterion”, Fixions manages to keep the energy to the point where the track feels like it could explode at any moment, all of which is laced with the experimentation found on the rest of the futurist android music festival that is Migration 2019.

Fixions fixation with IDM becomes more prominent as the album progresses. “Anathar”, one of the album highlights, is littered with an intricate sort of randomness, feeling at times like a synthwave Aphex Twin. There’s a spontaneity to every sound and every synth, but it all fits together seamlessly, with catchy passages connected and layered. “Entity” is a similar track, in the sense that it is composed of unexpected moments. When the song lulls you into calm moments, it builds anticipation through mesmeric lines and some of the most interesting percussive sounds I’ve ever heard in the genre – one of which resembles a blacksmith hammering an anvil. The inventive nature of the album isn’t limited to one or two production tricks being repeated. Fixions’ ability to push the album sonically in so many different directions while also giving it a distinct and unifying sound is impressive.

There really aren’t dull moments in the 14 tracks of the album. Each song has a commitment to evolution, leading you to places that you might not expect the songs to go. 2016 has been a year with a lot of interesting growth and change in the genre, and this makes me excited. Migration 2019 is one of the least generic, most original sounding releases in the genre, and is a record that feels fresh after multiple spins. Each listen has different highlights throughout the run of the entire album, but also throughout individual songs.  

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