In Virgo - Self Titled

Band / Artist: In Virgo
Year: 2015
Genre: Alternative Metal, Industrial Rock, Electronic Rock

My Review:
Back in college I used to make music with one of the members of the band. We liked making noises in the sound booth, and worked together the first half of a cover of Death by Skinny Puppy. I wish we had finished that. It was a lot of fun.

So here is the band lineup, super minimal.
Vocals: Chris Hodges
Guitar and Synth: Chris Egert (Yo!)

So, the album has reeeealy good studio quality. Overall, it has a good presence. I do find while listening to it though,.  I can't shake this feeling of hearing parts of it in songs before on the radio. I mean, its a great debut album. I would love to hear how they grow into themselves. It just has this 2000-ish Industrial-rock radio setup. Evanescence-like in parts, Linkin Park-ish others. They piece a lot of differrent references into one album, but i cant put my finger on the names of a lot of the artists i keep hearing in it.

I'll keep an eye open for where they go, because its really solid for a start up. The fact that they are building up this much sound with 2 guys, I'd like to see how they do that live.

In Virgo - Self Titled

-{:(.SINGLES.):}- Low Leaf, Pig vs. Primitive Race, Out of System Transfer, Branko x JSTJR x Twerk Queen Louise

(Low leaf) Diwata Mantraz - Purification
http://www.creatordiy.com/blog/ is her blog, just so I don't leave anything out.



20 minutes of meditative soundscapes by Low Leaf. It's very interesting and pleasant. I don't know what to say for it, other than it reminds me of her other work, but more as a broken apart, experimental jam session of them. Its a little more Cocteau Twins, and a little less Little Dragon.

Pig vs. Primitive Race - Long In The Tooth (Joe Haze Mix)

I needed some industrial, and so it came to me. If you ever listened to KMFDM, then you'll have already heard some work by PIG, so give it a shot, Here's their promo.

Band features current and ex members of KMFDM, Prong, Ministry, Pop Will Eat Itself,The Mission, Peter Murphy, Combichrist, Revolting Cocks and more! As a special thank you to our fans for your loyalty, support, and patience we are also giving away a FREE remix of Long In The Tooth (Joe Haze Mix). You can't get this track anywhere else. 

Out of System Transfer - Slant Rhymes and Eye Rhymes

This was the email sent to me to talk about the track, which is a really great punky acoustic track with great horn lines along the background of the whole song. I'm digging it.

 Out of System Transfer release single “Slant Rhymes and Eye Rhymes”, playing  Palisades tonight with Brook Pridemore and Pat the Bunny


New York NY— "Slant Rhymes and Eye Rhymes", the latest single from Brooklyn based folk punk act Out of System Transfer, proves that oft-repeated saw that traveling the road changes you.
The band, mostly native New Yorkers, have spent a substantial amount of time over the past several months on the road supporting their debut EP “Same Rat Different Hat”,  tightening their live show, and building a dedicated following throughout the Northeast.
On one such trip the band spent a day at Hiwatts Studio in Providence, RI and recorded 3 new tracks, which they will be releasing over the next few months as free downloads.
"Slant Rhymes," the first release, is a marked departure for the band, explains front man Jesse Sternberg: “I love geography in songs. We have a whole bunch of songs about New York City, and this was my shot at getting some of the rest of the country in the mix. It's an unusually personal and unusually optimistic and non-angry song, for me.”
The song—with lyrics like “Let’s start a song, on this side of the Verrazano, get the tune down by the other side,” tells a particularly personal but relatable story for the band--but more broadly is about the joy of art and music. “Traveling can inspire songwriting, songwriting can lead to touring, and so on in a creative virtuous cycle. Mostly it's about how lucky and excited I feel to have the chance to travel and play music with such a great group of musicians and friends,” explains Sternberg.
You can see them tonight at Palisades in Brooklyn with Pat the Bunny, Brook Pridemore, and Prewar Yardsale, following which they’ll be living out this song as they hit the road again over the weekend.

If you liked that one, then enjoy a much more live sounding EP from them, Good for 2 Hours

Real Booty Music
Branko x JSTJR x Twerk Queen Louise - Cascavel

This one is really fun. They used a dancer (Twerk Queen Louise), hooked sensors to her hips, thighs, and butt, and let her bounce out all of the beats and rhythms into a sampler. Afterward, they worked all of them together into a dance track. Novel usage, and dat booty makes some music.

Branko

Straight outta Lisbon, Joao Barbosa AKA Branko is currently operating at the forefront of the tropical bass movement with his world-conquering band, Buraka Som Sistema. An innovative producer and DJ whose proclivity for digging deep into the world’s musical blind spots and finding inspiration where others don’t, the Portuguese beatmaker has been instrumental in giving voice to marginalized genres that might not otherwise have found the audience they deserve.

Branko’s solo outings have, of course, been equally tight with collaborations ranging from Zebra Kats to ELOQ, making him a formidable dance music force to be reckoned with.

Check him out on Facebook. 

 

I'll let you read the rest of their profiles from the web link. Enjoy!

2014 VDAY MIXTAPE - LUST

Band / Artist: 
DMX Krew,
Nine Inch Nails,
Andy Iona,
Die Warzau,
Wobbly,
AVAN LAVA,
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult,
Robotanists,
Crystal Waters,
Scooter and Lavelle,
Plumtree,
Snake River Conspiracy,
Hiroyuki Namba,
ST,
White Flashes,
Tobacco,
NEVADA BASE,
Cosby Sweater,
Paper Weights

Year: 1934-2013
Genre: Industrial Rock, Electronica, IDM, Jazz, Synthpop, Indie, Electro, Chillout, Alternative, Hip-hip

My Review:
LONG AWAITED, WITH MANY REQUESTS. I mean.. I think people like these? Whatever, if you dig them, leave a comment to let me know so I'm not just wasting my time. I made this one last year and the next I finished up this year.

Jam on!

Password; Howdy


Ser.aph - LUST (2014 Mixtape)

Free Singles - Golden Gardens, Judda Vs Pig, Degeneración Debraye, Brutally Honest, Sockweb

Golden Gardens - Only the Lonely

My Review:
Dreampop, Shoegaze,.. Dreamgaze?

A long while ago, I made friends with a guy named Gregg in Tampa. He was friends with Dan, the one who I talked about in the On An Ocean Amp post. Gregg and I hung out whenever I was in town, and even had a few jam sessions. For a while we were working on some kind of harsh noise, ambient, and power electronic, and that kinda got left on the side while I was in college. He's since moved to Seattle, and started the Golden Gardens project, which I'm loving. Its soft, dreamy, droney stuff with just enough new wave and just enough gothy sensibility to make it great. Quoting the writeup on the track..     We Are Golden Gardens and We Love You. xx.

Judda - Bark & Omen (Pig Remixes)

These came from some old version of "The Swining", the blog run by Pig, or Raymond Watts. Its Industrial Rock.

I never listened to a whole lot of the Pig albums repeatedly, but mostly because I really loved "Wrecked" so much that it kinda covered for the rest. I caught these one day while working through a backlog of bloggy things, and thought that they would be perfect, since I don't often find a lot of free industrial to share. 

Degeneración Debraye - Body & Simphony (single mix)

This was a teaser release for the upcoming debut on the Engraved Ritual record label. Their facebook page is here.

https://www.facebook.com/engravedritual

Its mostly Aggrotech for the first half, then turns EBM with this entertaining baroque sounding synth playing. I chuckled the second it started up. Good track though

Brutally Honest - Deck of 54

A short, swift, jazzy hiphop track, the the creepiest fucking picture i could have imagined. Seriously. that thing makes me kind of uncomfortable, and it makes the song seem like it should be super dark, but it isnt at all.



Sadly, my intended share of Sockweb was paywalled before I could share it, but I'll link to it, because a six year old in a grindcore band is hilarious and awesome. Sockweb -  I want pancakes

Free Singles - How To Destroy Angels - Keep It together

So I just wanted to share this listening chance, as well as a link to a free download of the first track off the new EP from How To Destroy Angels. The album sounds really good, and if you haven't got a clue what that is all about, it's the band that Trent Reznor paused Nine Inch Nails for. The other members are, his wife Mariqueen Maandig, his common partner in crime, Atticus Ross, and ever faithful art director, Rob Sheridan.


An omen EP_ (2012) by howtodestroyangels
 
Well hopefully that played properly for you. I'm really enjoying the direction that they are going, although I am a fairly die-hard fan of NIN, and most of the creative ventures connected to them.

Heres a link to the opening track, which you can get for free.

How To Destroy Angels - Keep It Together

As well as 2 remix versions.

How To Destroy Angels - Keep It Together (Dave Sitek Remix)
How To Destroy Angels - Keep It Together (Factory Floor Remix)

If you never got a chance to hear their debut EP, then go ahead and download it for free at the bottom of their store page here. It's worth hearing.

http://store.destroyangels.com/

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Band/Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Year: 2008
Genre: Industrial rock, Alternative rock, Electronica

My Review:
You might have heard of this band before just a little bit. This was farly and widely publicized, and probably shouldn't be something I go out of my way to post, but it was well worth a review and download. After being around for 20 years, and managing to be incredibly popular, Nine Inch nails released this album as a gift to the fans that had given so much money and love throughout all of those two decades.

This is one of those rare albums that is free, not a promo, and you would hear a song from it on the radio. There was a feel to this album that seems like since Trent Reznor had no monetary incentive behind it and the release, he took liberties and just explored it in whatever way he wanted to. Some big NIN fans were a little harsh on this, especially closer to the end, but I personally enjoy something that shows a growth and a personal touch, especially with what this album represented. It even comes with a collection of artworks, all minimal, ominous, and gritty, representing each track on the album.

The sound is similar in ways to with teeth, using some really strong, hard hitting rockstar sounds, and warping them with a mindblowing expanse of synth hookups, circuit bending mods, post processing edits, and god knows what else. There are a few tracks that harken to the rare "Still" EP that was released with the "And All That Could Have Been" tour video and album, as well as some tracks harkening to the "Ghosts" project released earlier the same year. It isn't the longest album, or maybe the best of their track history, but it really holds its own, especially with the slow down and fade out that it has, and how far it steps from (and around, and within) the rest of the NIN discography.

If you are a fan of Nine Inch Nails, enjoy the gift, and hopefully the band will come out of their retirement and make another album in the future.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Barnum - Devices

Band/Artist: Barnum
Year: 2012
Genre: Metal, Nu Metal, Industrial

My Review:
Do you like METAL? Good. Then check out this band from Costa Rica that my friend Diego from college started up. Diego works as vocalist, and maybe guitarist (EDIT: He's just vocalist. His buddy Frank Mayorga is the guitarist, and started the band). He's an awesome guy though, and I'm glad to hear he has something going on. here's their facebook page. I haven't seen any other pages from them yet.

https://www.facebook.com/barnumband

Some nicely fleshed sound coming out of those speakers. I'd say its one part heavy metal, one part industrial, and served over some frosty Nu Metal in a cold mug. It isn't the longest EP I've ever heard, but the band is apparently fairly new, so I'd guess they are hoping to release a larger album in the near future. I know I'm looking forward to it.

Give 'er a listen.

 Barnum - Devices