Tag: noise rock

10 Recommended Covers Songs

Post author By Rodolfo Ciuffo
Post date 18 May 2021
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Tributing other bands through covers has been always a tradition in rock and pop music since the early years, and there have always been basically two ways to approach to it:

There are copy-cut bands who cover their favourite artist’s track making it sound exactly as it was and there are others who completely changes the song’s formula and make their own one. Personally i usually prefer the second category, which is sometimes also the same case of a band that covers an unexpected song from an artist we didn’t even image they could like.

In this list there are some of my absolute favourite covers ever, usually different versions of songs i already use to enjoy very much.

Chris Brokaw “Drink the Poetry of the Celtic Disciple (Vlad Tepes cover)” (2008 – original 1994)

Deconstucting and tributing an already existing musical piece may be a hard challenge sometimes and, above all, a non certain success, but this is for sure an impressive case.

Chris Brokaw is well known as the founder of cult band Codeine, a band that during 90’s contributed to create the foundamental elements that compose slowcore and early post-rock; as a solo artist he released different types of music from slowcore/indie rock to acoustic and experimental music. This cover is taken from his album Canaris and it is an acoustic guitar instrumental version of a long epic song by raw black metal band Vlad Tepes, an act part of Les Legiones Noires collective, which was a cricle of very underground french dark ambient and raw black metal projects that released only limited demo tapes.

The original version is of course one of the most lo-fi things you could ever hear (and it’s the same for the rest of the demo where it comes from), but in the same time it shows a very impressive songwriting and use of melody taking inspiration from classic heavy metal and the most interesting black metal around at the time. The demo is also a very rare cult release for people into underground black metal, and it is a very good surprise to see someone apparently with a completely different musical background making a such interesting version.

The cover is basically the opposite of the original: minimal, soft, elegant, but even if it’s totally revolutioned, it preserve its mysterious and magic vibes showing a very impressive and beautiful take on a track that was already inspiring.

Green Day “Working Class Hero (John Lennon cover)” (2007 – original 1970)

Back in 2007 a John Lennon tribute album entitled Instant Karma: The Amnesty Internation Campaign to Save Darfur was released, with the goal of supporting the cause of the aforementioned Sudan’s region devasted by conflicts, poverty and lack of resources. A lot of very famous acts partecipated (U2, R.E.M., Christing Aguilera and Duran Duran are just a few names), providing several good tributes to Lennon; this version of Working Class Hero in particular has been considerably boosted by the band showing a very strong interest for the cause.

Beside their punk roots Green Day have never hided their passion for classic rock, by showing some strong influences in some albums such as American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown and by playing various covers during their shows.

Working Class Hero is a difficult song to cover in a memorable way, on first because the original is played with just vocals and guitar and moreover because tons of famous artists have already covered it (Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson are just a few example), but beside that Green Day provided a massive and well crafted full band version of this classic, giving it even more passion and anger while showing also a strong respect and inspiration for the original version. There are some evident american folk vibes that are absolutely lovely and also the addition of some stunning lead guitar parts and solos that fits perfectly with the song. An excellent take on a classic.

Marc Ribot & Tom Waits “Bella Ciao (Italian folk song cover)” (2018)

As an italian i can’t be more happy to listen to this cover of a folk song from my country played by two magnificent artists like Marc Ribot and Tom Waits together.

This is also a very particular and delicate chant since it has been created during the struggle between partisans and nazi-fascist oppressors in Italy; it is a song about freedom, love and it stands against the brutality and tyranny of fascism.

This fantastic duo re-interpreted this song adding some english verses and making a beautiful music video that shows images from american manifestations against Donald Trump’s recently ended government and his nationalist propaganda.

This version of the song is absolutely fantastic, with a strong emotional component and a very intimate vibe; the perfect soundtrack for a personal reflection about a certain type of modern politics, that even if have certainly left behind the atrocities of the past, sometimes still endangers the personal freedom of several communities through the weapon of ignorance.

This track is part of Marc Ribot’s album Songs of Resistance 1942-2018, which as the titles says, is a record composed by covers of protest songs.

The White Stripes “Jolene (Dolly Parton cover)” (2000 – original 1974)

Guitar player, singer and multi instrumentalist Jack White is certainly one of the greatest musicians active nowadays with its unique blend of blues rock inspirations and psychedelic explosions perfectly transposed in a modern rock context.

The White Stripes is probably the most famous of his bands and this cover, released by now more than 20 years ago, is still remembered as one of the highest live moments of the band’s shows.

This cover is actually pretty different from the original, especially beacue of a few choices that makes this version incredibly good, like the slower tempo change and the more melancholic and intimate mood that can be felt here. it’s also alwyas nice to see how Jack White’s style is influenced by american country (and of course the original version of the song was as well), without losing the ability of tranforming a very beautiful folk song into a rock ballad with a Led Zeppelin flavour. So, Mr White never disappoints, also his voice seems to be made for singing this song. Even if this cover has been originally released in 2000 as a b-side of the single Hello Operator, the live version released as a single in 2004 is probably more famous.

A Perfect Circle “Imagine (John Lennon cover)” (2004 – original 1971)

Yes, John Lennon again, and, spoiler, this is not even his last apparition on this list.

Well, i suppose we all know Imagine and it dosen’t need a particular introduction, i mean, maybe there are people living on this world that dosen’t, but it’s almost impossible to find them on a blog like this.

The main point that makes this cover so interesting is the overall atmosphere, which is completely opposite than the original version. I’m not only refering to the major chords transposed into minor chords, but to the fact that this is the perfect 30 years later counterpart of a song released in 1970 with a strong message of hope for humanity’s awareness on the evil made by war, diversity acceptance and the danger of the exploitation of our world. This version’s shows no hope, 30 years have passed and humanity is even worse compared to then, people are still doing the same brutal things and showing no respect for the others and for the world they live in. There’s also a very suggestive music video that shows all human’s cruelty and frivolity with many reflective and shocking images, most of them taken from real reportages.

Lantlôs/Lìam “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Ryuchi Sakamoto cover)” (2012 – original 1983)

Like the Chris Brokaw case this is another cover that completely revolutioned the sound of the original, but since the Brokaw one was a guitar only version of a full band track, this is the opposite case (with piano instead of guitar).

From the homonime Nagisa Oshima movie (also known as Furyo), the original piece by Ryuchi Sakamoto is an incredibly beautiful and famous piano only track, written with the unique style of the multi awarded japanese composer, made of classical music references, japanese traditional music and contemporary composition. This cover have never been officially released, but only posted on Soundcloud back in 2012 (now it is available on YouTube only) and it is performed by members of both Lantlôs and Lìam. It’s incredible to see how certain beautiful melodies can perfectly arrive to the heart in the same emotional way, even if they are playd with a completely different style. Of course Markus Siegenhort and the others have an incredible taste in writing music and the heavy and slow post-rock of this musical piece has for sure an incredibly brethtaking impact. If you guys may ever read this article, please, consider to release this as an official single, it’s something the world definitely needs. Fantastic.

Meeks “Norwegian Wood (The Beatles cover)” (2013 – original 1965)

The Beatles’ music and shoegaze are not apparently two very distant universes, of course they are part of different periods, but they both have a certain songwriting sensitivity and come from the UK; even if this band, called Meeks, is actually a side project of members from Broken Little Sister from Yokohama, Japan.

Under this name, the ensemble have only released an album of The Beatles covers in shoegaze variant (entitled Beatless, as tribute to My Bloody Valentine’s Lovess already entirely covered on several compilations), which is par se a very original and interesting idea. The curiosity generated by the album’s idea is definitely worth to satisfy and all the 10 songs choosen by the band are perfectly re-arranged in a dreamy and ethereal way that fits so well to The Beatles’ classics.

Norwegian Wood is in particular one of the best episodes, preserving the psychedelic vibes of the original song, drowning the main melody in an ocean of reverbered guitars walls. It sounds like listening the actual song, but into a dream.

Ulver “Magic Hollow (The Beau Brummels cover)” (2012 – original 1967)

The norwegian experimental ensemble is certainly not new to covers; their version of Black Sabbath’s Solitude from their 2007 brillant album Shadow of the Sun is already a classic. But it’s with their 2012 album Childhood’s End entirely composed of covers that they have reached their best.

The record contains only songs from the 60’s psychedelic rock period and beside this stunning version of The Beau Brummels’ Magic Hollow, there are also other tributes of amazing bands such as 13th Floor Elevator, Electric Prunes, The Byrds and many more. Every song is played with the band’s own style and the whole album is an absolutely recommended experience.

Sticking to this cover in particular that’s incredible how the folk vibes and the intensity of such beautiful melodies are completely preserved even if reproposed in a modern context. Kristoffer Rygg’s vocals are so intense and the overall mood is absolutely magic and mysterious; after all the original version was already an incredible piece of music and Ulver is an amazing band, it seems to be the perfect formula for an excellent result.

Nadja “No Cure for the Lonely (Swans cover)” (2009 – original 1992)

Like the case of Ulver and Meeks this is another song taken from an album entirely made of covers. This time the band is Nadja, true experimental drone/fuzzy rock masters from Canada and then relocated to Germany, with an interesting album made of very bizzare choices revolutioned in their personal style; My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, Codeine Slayer and Elliot Smith are just some example of the tributes you’ll find on When i See the Sun Always Shines on TV. The Swans song i picked up is one of my favourite songs ever, so it’s been pretty natural to me to think about it when the idea of a cover list came to my mind, but i have to admit that there are several equally interesting others off this record i could pick up. Here Nadja explores their most heavy, fuzzy and sludgy side, that on this song is also fused with some very intense ethereal and dreamy vibes, creating a super massive guitar wall of sounds enriched by reverbered chants, melodic ambient loops and a slow repetitive drum machine pattern.

The original version is a brief beautiful song with just vocals and acoustic guitars, one of the highest points of Michael Gira’s poetry, and indeed i’ll never understand why it’s been used as a bonus track only present on some versions of Love of Life. This is a pretty good example of a song revolutioned with a completely different approach that mantains its emotional mood. it’s also actually surprising to see Nadja choosing this song in particular from Swans’ discography, since there’s plenty of songs that are already pretty close to their noisy style, but they probably wanted to be more creative and definitely did the right choice. There is also a live version of this cover from the previously released live album Trembled (2006), which is even more ethereal and intense.

Deafheaven “Punk Rock/Cody (Mogwai cover)” (2012 – original 1999)

I have to admit i usually dislike a lot metal versions of non metal songs. Using abrasive distorted guitars and harsh vocals on classic or soft songs makes really no sense to me, and i’ll never understand why it is so common among metal bands, but this is one of the cases where i really enjoyed the operation.

Of course this is a sort of anomalous case, since Deafheaven is already a very borderline band with a style made of many different genres where metal is just one of them and their music is also probably closer to Mogwai than any traditional metal band around.

Indeed the use of guitars is definitely heavy but in a very shoegaze-y way, with a super intense loud tone and powerful noisy distortions, there are also piano, post-rock liquid arpeggios and effected loops, making screams the probably only metal element of the song.

This is actually a cover of two songs, respectively the intro and the first full track from Mogwai’s 1997 masterpiece Come on Die Young. On Punk Rock Deafheaven replaced the spoken word from Iggy Pop’s interview with William Faulkner’s nobel price aceptance while on Cody, that was a very calm song with tender vocals, they added distortions, powerful drumming and screams, but maintained perfecly the melancholic aura of the musical piece. After a short interlude with piano, clean guitar and shrieks in the background, the song explodes into an extremely emotional ending, with violent blast beats and post-rock tremolo euphoria. Even if covering any song from a masterpiece like Come on Die Young is a hard operation, Deafheaven definitely did it in the best way possible, creating an incredibly beautiful tribute, full of desperate sadness, deeply emotions and outstanding atmospheres. Impressive.

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10 Records with Giuseppe Emanuele Frisone (ITA / ENG)

Post author By Rodolfo Ciuffo
Post date 27 Jan 2021
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First article from this new format which consist in 10 influential/important records lists made by guests.

This time is the turn of vocalist and songwriter Giuseppe Emanuele Frisone, also known as Heliogabalus or G.E.F., known among the italian underground to be mastermind of several projects with a very strong and particular conceptual imaginery, which is a trademark of his musical creations and artistic awareness.

If you don’t know his bands i can’t forget to mention Thecodontion and their pretty good album Supercontinent released last summer, which is a very original and unique project with a concept based on prehistoric geology, palenthology and jurassic creatures; and i don’t even already mentioned the musical side, which is extreme metal with only bass and drums and no guitars at all, with a few strong and inspiring atmospheric passages (i don’t remember to have ever heard bass guitars to sound so spacey and melodic).

In this list you’ll find 10 Records that had a particular significance on him both as artist and as person, that, mentioning his words, don’t necessarily correspond with his absolute favourite records of all time.

A last thing to add about this article is the fact that i was initially planning to write it in Italian (my first language), but since this artist is making music for an international audience, i will keep both italian and english versions; next times for personalities known in Italy only i will probably keep the whole article in italian.

Franco Battiato “Patriots” (1980)

Ho sempre amato Franco Battiato e i suoi brani li ricollego alla mia infanzia e ai viaggi per andare dai parenti. Di lui mi piace sia il periodo sperimentale sia quello più pop, ma ho scelto in particolare l’album Patriots perché è pieno di citazioni e riferimenti a posti reali, fatti storici, elementi culturali, e penso che questa cosa mi abbia influenzato particolarmente. Oltretutto pur essendo un disco già del periodo pop l’ho sempre trovato molto sperimentale e innovativo.

I’ve always loved Franco Battiato and i usually link his songs to my childhood and the travels i used to do to reach my relatives in that period. I like both experimental and pop period from Battiato, but i’ve chose the album Patriots in particular beacuse it’s full of quotes and reference of real places, historical events and cultural elements; i think this component influences me in a solid way. Moreover, even if this record is already part of his pop period, i’ve always considered it a very experimental and innovative album.

Fabrizio De André “Non al Denaro Non All’Amore Nè al Cielo” (1971)

Per De André vale un po’ lo stesso discorso fatto per Battiato, dal momento che anche lui lo collego alla mia infanzia. Scelgo Non Al Denaro Non All’Amore Nè Al Cielo perché contiene le canzoni di De André che mi sono rimaste più impresse e in cui secondo me la sua espressività narrativa è al culmine.

For De André is basically the same of Battiato, since i link him as well to my childhood. I’ve chosen the album Non Al Denaro Non All’Amore Nè Al Cielo because it contains his songs that have been stucked with me the most; i also consider them the highest point of his narrative expression.

Bathory “Hammerheart” (1990)

Hammerheart è il disco che mi ha fatto capire che amo il metal, mi ha sempre fatto emozionare come un bambino e ricordo ancora oggi la prima volta che l’ho ascoltato. Da quel momento ho anche avuto una fascinazione per i vichinghi che negli anni è andata un po’ scemando, ma nonostante questo riesce sempre ad esercitare la stessa magia su di me.

Hammerheart is the album that made me realize i love metal, it has always been able to move me like a child and i still remember the first time i’ve listened to it. Since that moment i also started to have a fascination for vikings, which has been fading through the years, but beside that i still always feel the same magic.

Sonic Youth “Dirty” (1992)

Ho conosciuto i Sonic Youth dopo i 20 anni, quindi non ero proprio piccolissimo. Con Dirty mi si è aperto un mondo, perché è stato il primo disco dei Sonic Youth che ho ascoltato e da lì sono diventati rapidamente una delle mie band preferite. Tra l’altro su Dirty c’è Theresa’s Sound World che è praticamente un brano antesignano del post-black metal (e sì, è del 1992) e questa cosa mi ha sempre affascinato.

I’ve discovered Sonic Youth after i turned 20, so i wasn’t that young. Dirty was the first album from them i’ve ever listened, it really blew my mind and they started to become fastly one of my favourite bands. Among other things on this record there’s the song Theresa’s Sound World which is basically a precursor track of the post-black metal genre (yes, it’s from 1992) and i’ve always been fascinated by this fact.

Portal “Outre” (2007)

Quando ho iniziato ad ascoltare metal estremo, amavo il black metal ma non il death metal. Se oggi ho cambiato idea una buona parte del merito è di Outre dei Portal, perché mi ha offerto un’idea differente su come concepire il genere. Da lì in poi ho riapprofondito il genere e sono riuscito a capirne meglio le fondamenta, tanto che oggi preferisco il death al black metal.

When i initially started to get into extreme metal, i was in love with black metal, but not with death metal. If today i’ve changed my perspectives it’s because of Outre by Portal, that gaves me a different approach to the genre. Since then i started to get more into it and i started to understand its form of expression, so much that now i prefer death metal than black metal.

Cocteau Twins “Treasure” (1984)

Quando ho ascoltato per la prima volta i Cocteau Twins mi sono innamorato della voce della cantante Elisabeth Fraser e delle loro atmosfere eteree. Sono stati loro a dare il la per farmi conoscere meglio il dreampop e lo shoegaze, proprio con Treasure.

When i’ve listened for the first time to Cocteau Twins i immediately fell in love with Elisabeth Fraser’s voice and their ethereal atmospheres. It’s because of them and their album Treasure that i started to know more about the dream pop and shoegaze genres.

Primus “Pork Soda” (1993)

Come strumento mi ha sempre affascinato il basso. Quando ho ascoltato i Primus per la prima volta non avevo mai sentito il basso venire utilizzato in questo modo, con un ruolo così da protagonista. Ma non è tutto qui perché Pork soda mi ha saputo trascinare con le sue canzoni che ho sempre avvertito come strane, diverse in tutto e per tutto.

I’ve always been fascinated by bass guitar. When i’ve listened to Primus for the first time i had never heard before a bass guitar used in such a lead way. But there’s more, since Pork Soda has been able to fascinate me with its songs that i’ve always considered weird and different than everything else.

Ved Buens Ende “Written in Waters” (1995)

Sin dai miei primi approcci con il black metal mi piaceva l’idea di andare oltre, di capire se un genere così estremo ed oltranzista potesse essere fuso con altri elementi. Written in waters è stata la prima risposta che ho ricevuto, che mi ha fatto avvicinare al cosiddetto avantgarde black metal, con le sue forti venature progressive amalgamate con la violenza del black metal.

Since my first approaches with the black metal genre i was fascinated by the idea of going over and mixing such an extreme and uncompromising genre with diverse musical elements. Written in Waters has been my first answer regarding that and it started to drag me into the so called avantgarde black metal, with its strong progressive vibes perfectly merged into the brutality of black metal.

Big Black “Songs About Fucking” (1987)

Discorso simile a quanto fatto per i Sonic Youth. Ho conosciuto le varie band di Steve Albini solo negli ultimi dieci anni, e tra queste i Big Black mi sono rimasti impressi soprattutto per Songs About Fucking. Mi ha stupito il connubio di noise e punk e le tracce intrise di nichilismo fino al midollo, insieme a un’interpretazione singolare di The Model dei Kraftwerk.

With Big Black my approach has been similiar to Sonic Youth. I’ve discovered Steve Albini’s bands only during the last ten years, and among them, Big Black impressed me in particular with their album Songs About Fucking. I was astonished to hear this mix of noise and punk and this tracks totally steeped in nihilism, there’s also a very singular interpretation of The Model originally by Kraftwerk.

Behemoth “Demigod” (2004)

Non ascolto più i Behemoth da diversi anni, ma con Demigod c’è stato il mio primo incontro con il metal estremo. All’epoca non ritenevo possibile che potesse esistere della musica così “malvagia”. Questo mi sconvolse e mi mise quasi paura ma al tempo stesso anche fascino: fu proprio da quel momento che decisi di approfondire quel tipo di musica, per cui a distanza di anni rimane un album indimenticabile.

It’s several years i haven’t listened to Behemoth now, but with Demigod i got in touch for the first with extreme metal. At the time for me was impossible that such “evil” music could exist. This shocked me and i was almost scared, but fascinated at the same time: It was in that moment that i’ve decided to get more into this type of music, for this reason after many years this is still an unforgettable record.

Album Lists

10 Great records of 2019

2019 has been a year full of interesting albums and longtime comebacks from bands and artists of every kind.

This is my very first article written fot this new personal blog, said that, i think it’s important to point out that this list (and all the others that i’ll post in the future) is not intended to be a chart with a first and a last position, it’s just a selection of 10 really good 2019 albums accompanied by a short description i’d like to recommend to everyone who opens this page.

Alcest “Spiritual Instinct”

Follower of Kodama (2016), this new record is a really good comeback for the french duo leaded by Neige and it’s the first one released by the colossal metal label Nuclear Blast; But beside that it dosen’t show big changes in the band’s sound and the fewest new things are all well managed like the heavy distortions that recalls a really massive post-metal sound in the vein of Neurosis and Russian Circles balanced with super rock Emma Ruth Rundle-like moments (Sapphire is the best example and it shows an almost perfect and genuine songwriting).

It’s always good to see projects that started from the very underground like Alcest getting always bigger and mainting a very honest and coherent artistic identity.

American Football “LP3”

With a strong excitement from the band’s die hard fans, the new American Football’s wait has been undoubtely worth. Anticipated by the hypnotic Unconfortably Numb with the special contribution of Hayley Williams from Paramore, the album gives the same relaxed, sleepy and emotional atmosphere of this single track for its whole duration. Beautiful, thirlling, quite and very intense, perfect to enjoy during a train/car/whatever travel when it’s dark outside.

Blanck Mass “Animated Violence Mind”

With its weird aesthetic, the new Black Mass’ album is a disturbing travel across very catchy tunes and more aggressive outbursts. Love is Parasite’s videoclip is a true gem of weirdness and its scenes seems taken from David Lynch or David Cronenberg’s movies accompanied by perfectly crafted melodies.

Giving a listen to this albums means diving into a very eclectic electronic sound that switches from EBM moments with harsh screams to piano driven cinematic soundscapes with overwhelming singing (listen to House vs House if you want a proof of what i’m saying).

Blood Incantation “Hidden History of the Human Race”

If the previous Starspawn was one of the most well realized extreme metal albums of the last 5 years (and believe me it was), with this new one the four piece band from Denver has been able to reach a higher level with impeccable songwriting and hypnotic passages. The heavy parts still shows a massive and almost perfect approach to guitar driven outburst, but with a totally unique taste for experimentation. The whole album sounds like a cosmic trip across astral planes in a semiconscious state.

A special mention goes also to the cover art by 70’s painter Bruce Pennington that gives the album a sci-fi and Philip K.Dick-esque aesthetic (interesting fact – there are two other albums around using this cover: Agony’s Apocalyptic Dawing and Alec Empire’s Hypermodern Jazz 2000.5, both released in 1995).

Elizabeth Colour Wheel “Nocebo”

After a series of really interesting minor releases, the US based 5 piece band has finally released their debut album Nocebo, one of the most interesting rock albums of the outgoing year.

Elizabeth Colour Wheel is with no doubt one of that bands that sounds like nothing else already existing with a unique formula made of shoegaze sparks, noise rock outbursts, metal oriented parts with fast drumming, slow heavy passages and cinematic epicity. If you want to hear explosive guitar distortion accompanied by a unique and super flexible female vocal work you’re going to discover one of your next favourite bands and albums.

Liturgy “H.A.Q.Q.”

Here we go, it’s been 4 years from The Ark Work’s release and the quartet from Brooklyn leaded by Hunter Hunt-Hendrix is finally back with another impressive record. Even if a first listen will suggest a comeback to the roots this is not entirely true, for sure black metal screams are back and many atmospheres from the Aesthetica/Renihlation period can be felt, but the fine use of electronica made of glitches and MIDI sounds started with the Ark Work is still present and it’s perfectly matched with the rest.

Also the massive use of classical instruments such as harp, strings and piano (there are even some exotic instruments like hichiriki and ryuteki) takes Liturgy’s music to another level of high quality composition exploring new musical horizons and strange a-rhythmic sections accompanied by the usual philosophical tables and concepts that makes the “Liturgy experience” so characteristic.

DIIV “Deceiver”

After two almost perfect albums was not so easy to make a new record on the same level, but the new Deceiver is without any doubt a strong confirmation of the band’s ability to write impeccable songs.

Following the usual direction halfway between shoegaze and post-punk this release is a pure concentration of 90’s alternative rock euphoria, from the harsh pop lines of Skin Game to the beautiful melodies sorrounded by fuzzy soundscapes of Lorelei. DIIV also confirms their impressive ability to switch from massive bass driven fast parts to slow and dreamy moments full of chrystalline guitars and ambient backgrounds.

If you don’t know this band and you’re into My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth or The Cure you should definitely take a listen to all their three albums.

Ştiu Nu Ştiu “Sick Sad Love”

Dark, sad, hypnotic and gloom are just a few ways to describe the incredible experience offered by this album entitled Sick Sad Love which is an overwhelming experience across the sound of madness and melancholy.

The band, Ştiu Nu Ştiu, is an obscure and underrated project from Sweden crafting a very original sound that takes inspiration from post-punk, darkwave, gothic rock and a few metal moments taken on a very high level. The album is a true hidden gem and it’s full of very various but always impressive songs, check the incredibly beautiful post-rock melodies of Sick Sad Love, the hypnotic heaviness of Sibirien or the massive experimentation of Slack Fyrarna to get an anticipation of the whole experience, you’ll find some of the most intense and well made songs recorded in 2019 you could listen to.

Of course also the rest of the discography is highly recommended to check, there are two other impressive album on the same level of this new one out there.

Sadistik “Haunted Gardens”

With his very unique experimental hip-hop, Sadistik (stage name of Cody Foster) has always been one of the most interesting and talented outputs offered by the genre.
This new Haunted Gardens is a beautiful mix of dreamy and depressing atmospheres with poetical lyrics, fast rapping and aggressive beats.

The instrumental work is nearly perfect, confirming this album as one of the most intense things released this year you could find out (try 8/12 or Pet Sematary if you wanna drown into synth layers), and if you listen to it with lights off and calm around it will swallow your heart.

Lyrics are also incredibly well made offering very emotional, reflective and mindblowing verses:

“A thousand people surround us inside of me’s only lonely
The fireflies used to visit to sit on my skin I miss it
When mystery dissipated you drifted into the distance” (taken from the song Eden)

Drab Majesty “Modern Mirror”

The previous The Demonstration has been my absolute favourite album released in 2017 and impressed me with its synthwave perfection; well, the new Modern Mirror is another masterpiece, confirming the direction of the previous record adding a distinctive dramatic emphasis to the slower moments (Oxtocyn, Noise of the Void) and addictive vocal lines impossible to forget in a very 80’s way (The Other Side, Elipsis).

The Los Angeles-based duo is showing album by album an unbelievable ability to create with its music a dreamy place where guitar and synth lines are perfectly merged as one, combining flanger arpeggios and spacey catchy melodies as a unique breathaking and chilling experience.