On Monday, Chicago’s annual Lollapalooza Music Festival announced their stellar lineup for the August 1-3 event which will take place at the city’s Grant Park. This year looks to be unbelievable, with three of the 90s greatest acts (Radiohead, NIN, Rage Against the Machine) headlining and some excellent Canadian groups joining in as well.
Advance tickets are going for $190 US. They’ll go up to $205 once those are gone.
As regular readers of this blog already know, I have been infatuated with an album called Deathconsciousness from Connecticut’s mysterious Have a Nice Life. Despite having no mainstream press coverage, no Wikipedia page or any mention on Pitchfork, this duo has generated a sizable cult following their debut double disc album which is receiving accolades all across the Internet.
For those of us wanting to know a little more about this band and their strange blend of post punk and shoegaze styles, Scene Point Blank recently interviewed the guys to learn a little more about their ambitions, their writing process and their future.
The most striking parts of the interview for me was the duo’s personal and insular approach to crafting their sound, as they wrote the record for themselves, with little attention payed to how others would receive their work.
Scene Point Blank: Was it a conscious decision to release the album yourself? If so, why?
Dan: We always knew we would release the record ourselves. Outside of those closest to us, hardly anyone was even aware that we were writing music. It’s just something we do, and have done consistently since we met. There is never a point when we aren’t writing or recording music…releasing the record was, and always has been, secondary to the act of writing it in the first place. To be honest, I’m surprised anyone likes it but us.
…
Scene Point Blank: What do you hope people take away from the whole Deathconsciousness release?
Dan: We would’ve written the exact same record if we were the last two people on Earth. It was recorded assuming that no one would ever hear it. If anyone does and they enjoy it, that’s great. I hope that happens. But that’s about as far as it goes.
I found this approach and attitude rather inspiring, as it lends to a creative process that is honest and uncompromising. Leaving the pressures of industry expectations and recognition aside allowed Have a Nice Life to truly explore their own thoughts and feelings without inhibition, leading to work of great conceptual sophistication. Its refreshing to see more bands taking up the DIY ethos, taking up self release strategies to maintain their artistic independence. Hopefully I can take some of these ideals with me when I go back to recording my own demos.
Anyways, in case you haven’t heard anything from these guys yet, I found one of their songs on YouTube.
While I have already written at length about black metal bands here, including a Top 10 list for the genre, I felt compelled to return to Paysage D’Hiver, the one man project of Switzerland’s reclusive Tobias “Wintherr” Möckl. A prolific but incredibly obscure artist, PDH has released numerous albums over the past decade, usually labeled as demos and released sparingly as limited edition vinyls and CDs. The rarity of these works only adds to the mysterious and isolated nature of their sound, so thick and dense with atmosphere that the mainstream would choke if they listened to it. While metal circles on the Internet may be familiar with PDH’s acclaimed self titled record (which was featured on my list), I personally feel that Schattengang is the darkest gem of the collection, with its powerful and sinister riffs complementing the rustic and weathered aesthetics.
An epic and emotional album that defies classification, Blessed are the Bonds reveals the potential and aspirations of a young and compelling band. Crafting a diverse and majestic sound, The Pax Cecilia borrow elements from neoclassical, emo, ambient and post-rock genres and spins them together in a surprisingly lucid package.
Texas’ The Sword are back with another furious stoner-rock album, bringing their own brand of Black Sabbath worship the forefront of the genre. The band’s 2006 debut The Age of Winters was one of my favorite releases of that year so naturally I was fairly excited to hear their follow up. The Sword live up to expectations with Gods of the Earth, with some speedy riffs and powerful drumming, but never manage to fully push their sound in a new direction. While the album is incredibly fun and fluid, it ultimately leaves you wanting a little more.
The Sword’s second full length album The Gods of the Earth came out yesterday and this video is for its first single. I’m hoping to pick the disc up today so I can write a full review soon. In the meantime, check out their post-apocalyptic video. It has a very trippy look to it, with a colorization scheme reminiscent of the sci-fi film A Scanner Darkly. Check it out.
Gregor Samsa’s latest offering is a gentle post rock album that carefully lures the listener into a somnambulist daze. Taking a page from the otherwordly Sigur Ros, Gregor Samsa’s second full length is an abstract affair, with minimalistic compositions consisting of quiet piano lines, subtle drones, strings and whispering vocals, coming together in sparse, low key arrangements, rather than the climbing bombast often associated with the genre.
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