All LPs in Gatefold w/ 12-page book + DLC. Digipak CD.
Chelsea Wolfe has always been a conduit for a powerful energy, and while she has demonstrated a capacity to channel that somber beauty into a variety of forms, her gift as a songwriter is never more apparent than when she strips her songs down to a few key components. As a result, her solemn majesty and ominous elegance are more potent than ever on Birth of Violence.
There is a core element to Chelsea Wolfe's music'a kind of urgent spin on America's desolation blues'that's existed throughout the entirety of her career. At the center, there has always been Wolfe's woeful longing and beguiling gravity, though the framework for compositions has continuously evolved based on whatever resources were available. Her austere beginnings were gradually bolstered by electronics and filled out with full-band arrangements. The music became increasingly dense and more centered around live performances. Her latest album, Birth of Violence, is a return to the reclusive nature of her earlier recordings
'I've been in a state of constant motion for the past eight years or so; touring, moving, playing new stages, exploring new places and meeting new people'an incredible time of learning and growing as a musician and performer,' Wolfe says of the era leading up to Birth of Violence.
'But after a while, I was beginning to lose a part of myself. I needed to take some time away from the road to get my head straight, to learn to take better care of myself, and to write and record as much as I can while I have Mercury in my hands,'as a wise friend put it.'
Birth of Violence is the result of this step out of the limelight. The songs stem from humble beginnings'little more than Wolfe's voice and her Taylor acoustic guitar. Her longtime musical collaborator Ben Chisholm recorded the songs on a makeshift studio and helped fill them out with his modern production treatments and the occasional auxiliary flourish from ongoing contributors Jess Gowrie (drums) and Ezra Buchla (viola).
The album opens with 'The Mother Road,' a harrowing ode to Route 66 that immediately addresses Wolfe's metaphoric white line fever. It explains the nature of the record'the impact of countless miles and perpetual exhaustion'and the desire to find the road back home, back to one's roots. Songs like 'Deranged for Rock & Roll' and 'Highway' offers parallel examinations on the trials and tribulations of her journeys while the ghostly 'When Anger Turns to Honey' serves as a rebuttal to self-appointed judges.
While the record touches upon tradition, it also exists in the present, addressing modern tragedies such as school shootings in the minor-key lullaby 'Little Grave' and the poisoning of the planet on the dark wind-swept ballad 'Erde.'
But the record is at its most poignant when Wolfe withdraws into her own world of enigmatic and elusive autobiography. Much like Alan Ginsberg's hallucinatory long-form poem Howl, the tracks 'Dirt Universe' and 'Birth of Violence' weave together specific references from her past into an esoteric overview of the state of mankind. Though the lyrical minutiae remain secret, the overall power of the language and delivery is bound to haunt the listener with both its grace and tension.
'These songs came to me in a whirlwind and I knew I needed to record them soon, and also really needed a break from the road,' Wolfe says. 'I've spent the past few years looking for the feeling of home; looking for places that felt like home. The result of that humble approach yields Wolfe's most devastating work to date.
Tracklisting: 1. The Mother Road 2. American Darkness 3. Birth of Violence 4. Deranged for Rock & Roll 5. Be All Things 6. Erde 7. When Anger Turns to Honey 8. Dirt Universe 9. Little Grave 10. Preface to a Dream Play 11. Highway 12. The Storm
This was the debut vinyl release of Leeds' Hookworms. The 12” featured 4 songs and clocked in at around 27 minutes. The release was previously only available on tape via Sun Araw's Sun Ark label and that sold out in a matter of weeks.
This CD issue comes with additional early and rare recordings - the drone heavy initial version of Form and Function, which would appear on a split 7" alongside Nottingham-based peers Kogumaza, plus the swaggering rumbles of The Correspondent – which appeared on 2012 Sonic Cathedral compilation Psych For Sore Eyes.
Most of Hookworms’ songs are around the six minute mark, which isn’t long at all, and each one is constantly doing something. The singer and keyboard player delivers his vocals like The Gun Club’s Jeffery Lee Pierce on Fire of Love - frantic and impassioned. The guitars colour in and around the lines, informed just as much by Flipper’s Ted Falconi as ‘Sister Ray’.
Bass grooves lead the way, sage in their wisdom over which path to take. This is tidy stuff, a purposeful and fully conscious journey into the realms of Zoss. It’s also a journey taking place on increasingly large stages, where they’re just as confident at filling the sonic space as at the small venues where they started out.
“Hookworms fling themselves headlong into classic 80’s/90’s psych-rock like they’re trying to break something. Hailing from Leeds and cramming themselves giddily within the well established formal properties of the genre, they walk the scorched road behind Loop, Spectrum, and any other titan of two-chord songs who’s ever slowly wah-ed a chord until they saw colors. Most excellent burners!” Cameron Stallones, Sun Ark / Sun Araw
“A relatively new five piece psychedelic rock group in the vein of Spacemen 3. Dense Wooden Shjips-esque grooves play repetitious host to echo drenched spiritual wailing and astral synth drone.” Jonathan Nash, Norman Records.
Tracklisting: 1. Medicine Cabinet 2. Teen Dreams 3. I Have Some Business Out West 4. Resolution 5. Form & Function 6. Deu 02:10, 7. The Correspondent
Poison Point is the trancey body music solo project operated by Paris-based producer and live artist, Timothée Gainet. Started off in 2016, he shared the stage with bands such as Drab Majesty, Xeno & Oakland, Adult, Rendez-Vous and Silent Servant, shared remixes with Qual, Sydney Valette, Blind Delon, all this while running his other industrial techno outfit IV Horsemen.
You can tell Timothée is a busy guy and yet he managed to grow Poison Point since his debut album on Third Coming, getting releases out on Aufnahme + Wiedergabe and Young And Cold. Over the years, his sound gradually shifted from the motorik post-punk of the early recordings to one much more dancefloor-oriented dark electronics with some sort of nice military pop Je ne sais quoi.
If one could see this coming with 2022’s album Poisoned Gloves, his new full-length is a major step-up in Poison Point game. Skilfully produced by Gainet himself and mastered once again by Mr Baggio for the best groove, Wandering Echoes drops nine new floor fillers for the romantic and the nostalgic at heart.
Just click Play on the first track Blue Idol and you will be hurled into a crystal world of imaginary memories while floating on the scales drawn by the synth arpeggios. Rude awake to the lead single Mysteries In Fire and his intoxicating body music and start wandering the room around you. Keep up the pace with further bangers loaded with electricity, romance and angularity like Flowers & Surrender, Echoes Of Dreams, Slow Kill, Fast Love.
Get sweaty as you reach the end of this music journey: final track Les Meurtrières de LʼAube, properly sung in Timothée's native tongue French, will show you the way to the rest of the just.If your favourite vibes dwell somewhere between Phase Fatale and Lust For Youth, Wandering Echoes is the record for you.
Tracklisting: 1. Blue Idol 2. Mysteries In Fire 3. Flowers & Surrender 4. Echoes Of Dreams 5. Slow Kill, Fast Love 6. The Naked Sun 7. The Wanderer 8. A Thousands Birds 9. Les Meurtrières de LʼAube
Portland based act Dancing Plague has been a steady presence in the dark/cold electronic music scene for quite a few years now. Since 2016 Conor Knowles’ solo project has been putting out one constant flow of independent releases on multiple formats such as vinyl LPs, EPs, tapes and CDs, creating one sonic palette rich with Ebm, goth, industrial and synth influences.
On their 5th studio album, Dancing Plague continues to flesh out and perfect their unique brand of crushing darkwave. Elogium explores themes of loss, regret, rebirth and growth coupled with throbbing basslines, rave synths, and pounding drums.
Knowles balances aggressive waves of electronics with enough pop sensibilities and catchy hooks to be inviting to those new to the genre. His skills can be clearly appreciated on tracks like the first single Fading Forms which explores the somber feeling of the years passing you by.
Knowles’ emotive baritone crooning paints a melancholic picture of the slow fading of time as you feel like you’re fading with it. The words fall like snow onto cold fields of pulsing 80s synths and pounding drum machine rhythms that bring forth nostalgic familiarity but feel fresh at the same time.
Fans of classic icons such as Depeche Mode, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails as well as contemporary torchbearers Cold Cave and Kontravoid do not sleep on this.
Plenty of disturbing beauty to be found in the depths of the underground.
Tracklisting: 1. Dreamless 2. Fading Forms 3. Shadow Self 4. Rot With Me 5. Elogium 6. Suffer the Senses 7. Cold Fire 8. Echoes of the Void
THE BAND It’s still: Steve Albini - Guitar. Todd Trainer - Drums. Bob Weston - Bass.
DATA This is Shellac’s sixth studio LP. Recording & Mixing took place at Electrical Audio in Chicago over a bunch of long weekends in November, 2017; October, 2019; September, 2021; and March, 2022. The record was mas-tered by Bob & Steve at Chicago Mastering Service.
PACKAGING LP and CD packaging and artwork are identical (the CD is just smaller). Bob took all the photos; some with a fancy camera and some with a telephone.
QC Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LPs are being manufactured by Green Vinyl Records using an injection molding process. This new process uses 100% recyclable PET (like soda bottles) and is environmentally friendly, containing no PVC or Phthalates. The process also uses 79% less CO2 than conventional hydraulic PVC vinyl presses. The records weigh 180 grams.
Tracklisting: Side A 1. WSOD 2. Girl From Outside 3. Chick New Wave 4. Tattoos 5. Wednesday
Side B 1. Scrappers 2. Days Are Dogs 3. How I Wrote How I Wrote Elastic Man (cock & bull) 4. Scabby the Rat 5. I Don’t Fear Hell