Australian label Art As Catharsis has released a new 2018 Label Sampler, featuring some of the best new music from the Australian underground. Give it a spin for a delightful mix of prog, post-rock, world music, polyrhythmic jazz, cinematic noise, experimental pop, doom, drone, hardcore and more!
Buffalo, NY shoegazin’ grungy emo alt rockers PREVIOUS LOVE release new song “Optical Illusion”:
Brutal Assault premiered a new live footage of BEHEMOTH performing live at this year’s edition of the festival. Watch and experience an amazing audio mix below!
BLAST Magazine has unveiled a sick old live video of Seattle metalcore act HIMSA performing live in Bangkok 18 years ago!
Madrid sad emo rockers LOSS LEADER have released an excellent new record via a number of great DIY labels La Agonía de Vivir (Spain), Pifia Records (Spain/Germany), Waterslide Records (Japan), Existencia Records (Spain), Discos Flora (Spain), and Discos Finu (Spain). Honest, fluid and meaningful, the record presents a richness to the songs, and for all the organic and relatively simple sounds, it’s meticulously arranged, with genuine heart. Great listen.
Audiotree Sessions has shared a new live session featuring GOUGE AWAY! The band’s acclaimed 2nd LP Burnt Sugar is out now via Deathwish Inc.
Gouge Away is a special kind of hardcore band. They create seething, aggressive music as melodic and catchy as it is cathartic and brutal. Vocalist Christina Michelle’s careful, focused voice thrives in this dynamic chaos; her cloaked, introspective stories exist as the cornerstone of Gouge Away’s revelatory sound.
THE SOUND OF ANIMALS FIGHTING (rock supergroup feat. members of Chiodos, Rx Bandits, Circa Survive, Finch, The Autumns, Days Away, Good Old War, Portugal. The Man, Dredg, Sunn O)))) are back with a tour kicking off in February! Get tickets HERE and follow their new incarnation HERE.
Feb 22 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern*
Feb 24 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield*
Mar 01 Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory^
Mar 02 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade-Heaven^
Mar 03 Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live^
Mar 08 New York, NY @ Terminal 5^*
Mar 09 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues*
Mar 10 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre*
*Planes Mistaken For Stars
^The Saddest Landscape
Lorelei K – All Shows
Jeremy Bolm of TOUCHE AMORE shared his favorite tunes of the year. GO HERE to check it out and don;t miss out on our End Of The Year Mega Series – developing at this location.
Moscow mathy instruentalists WEARY EYES released an acoustic version of “Your Battles Are Over’, off their latest record TRUE NORTH. Check out out recent interview HERE.
After three seven-inches and roughly 200 shows, the Boston 5-piece ANEURYSM has finally immortalized its sound and spirit in full-length fashion. Recorded at GodCity Studio in Salem, MA, by Chris Johnson (bassist of Deafheaven and Doomriders), Awareness (Tor Johnson Records, Constant Disappointment Records) is ten tracks’ worth of swaggering, melodic, noise-rock that charges forward through the same sewers as Nirvana, Unsane, and Turbonegro. Stream the band’s new single “St. E’s” at No Echo and below.
Burly drums and distorted bass pound out frantic punk rock rhythms, as dual guitars weave ragged blankets of noisy melody. Vocalist Michael McGee (who spent much of the ’00s fronting noise-core blasters the_Network) snarls, screams and croons, with lyrics that are raw and poetic – world-weary reflections on sex, drugs, cops, death, and rock n’ roll.
A 2015 review in SPIN accurately declared Aneurysm’s sound to be “a solid approximation of the Jesus Lizard’s seediness, but with a muscular locomotion that’d make the Toronto scuzz-punks in Metz proud… But what separates them from their heavy forebears and cleaned-up contemporaries is the delicate balance they strike between melody and chaos.” Aneurysm have perfected that balance on Awareness, an album that rages wildly with a sneer on its face, yet also melts the heart.
Awareness was mastered by Will Killingsworth (The Body, Magrudergrind). The artwork and layout were created by Mark McCoy, whose work has graced the covers of albums by Pig Destroyer and Full of Hell.
The album’s release is a joint effort between Tor Johnson Records (vinyl), Constant Disappointment Records (vinyl and CD), and Suspended Soul Records (cassette).
ANEURYSM on tour:
Feb 1 – Florence, MA @ 13th Floor Lounge
Feb 4 – Asheville, NC @ Static Age
Feb 5 – Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr
Feb 8 – Austin, TX @ Beerland
Feb 9 – Houston, TX @ Insomnia Gallery
Feb 10 – Arlington, TX @ Division Brewery
Feb 11 – Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone
Feb 12 – Atlanta, GA @ 529
Feb 13 – Raleigh, NC @ Slim’s
Feb 16 – Waterbury, CT @ Brooklyn Cafe
Feb 17 – Providence, RI @ The Dusk
Michigan emotive rockers CITIZEN have recently unveiled their new old tune called “Open Your Heart”, a b-side from the As You Please Sessions. The single just landed on Bandcamp below. Listen and check out their upcoming Australian and Japanese dates.
“Open Your Heart was left on the cutting room floor because we thought it was a little disruptive to the album as a whole. But looking back and listening now, it’s such a nice little curiosity in the Citizen catalogue.” – guitarist Nick Hamm
Audiotree has shared 3 live videos of BASEMENT performing live at Audiotree Festival on September 22, 2018 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Basement is an alternative, emo, and post-hardcore influenced rock band who write genuinely emotional music with dense, thunderous riffs. They’ve been steadily evolving a heavily melodic sound since a return from hiatus in 2014; crafting their most salient material on 2018’s “Beside Myself”. Check out the rad performance from ATMF 2018!
Metal/Punk/Alternative artist SKULK, THE HULKING has released a video for his song “Grind (Money Crotch)” over at Moshville Times. The song is from his album Afterbirth Of A Nation which will be released this Friday.
The artist commented “We all slave away at the grindstone trying to make ends meet. Some of us just can’t help and get aroused by it. Check out the new video and get a taste of what it is like to be enveloped in this ogre’s world.”
No longer a lone monster and his synth, indefinable songwriter and satirist Skulk, The Hulking returns to the scene with friends for a third offering: Afterbirth Of A Nation, due out December 14th, 2018. Now joined by grindcore veterans Ashley Levine(guitar), Fernando Morales(drums), and avant-garde rocker Vern Woodhead(bass), Skulk is ready to take New York City — and the rest of the world — by storm.
Says the artist behind Skulk:
A young man and not yet a beast, Skulk first began to form in college when he was torn apart by Nietzsche and Hume. God was dead, there was no free will, and actual truth could never be perceived. Drowning himself in music, he looked to it for answers. Post Hardcore was thriving in the Midwest and a young ogre engaged the scene learning all he could about time signatures, aggression, and the idea that art is communication.
Eventually the young monster made his way to New York, where he found himself surrounded by like-minded creators. Several years later, Skulk has evolved from a one-man operation to a full band that blends punk, metal, and hip-hop with intensely incisive lyrics, fitting for a world that is so close to crumbling.
Afterbirth Of A Nation was recorded with jazz drummer,Rob Mitzner, and mixed by Scot Moriarty at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, New Jersey. Featuring updated versions of the ogre’s past work presented in an aggressively mature new light, Afterbirth elicits both terror and laughter. And with music videos and a podcast of Skulk’s lore on the horizon, Skulk, The Hulking is making not just music but mythology.
Andrew ‘KOJI‘ Shiraki, an American born artist and activist, has announced a full schedule of UK and EU tour dates through January and February 2019. The tour, which hits 10 countries over 25 shows, will see KOJI share the stage with Such Gold and Ducking Punches through the UK and Ireland as full band performances, before heading to mainland Europe for solo headline shows.
17 JAN – Broadcast, Glasgow UK #
18 JAN – Palm House, Belfast UK #
19 JAN – Fibber Magee’s, Dublin IRL #
20 JAN – Redrum, Stafford UK #
21 JAN – The Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes UK #
22 JAN – Corporation, Sheffield UK #
23 JAN – The Flapper, Birmingham UK #
24 JAN – Anvil, Bournemouth UK #
25 JAN – Frog & Fiddle, Cheltenham UK #
26 JAN – Hobo’s, Bridgend UK #
27 JAN – Cobblestones, Bridgwater UK #
28 JAN – UCA, Canterbury UK #
29 JAN – Komedia, Brighton UK #
30 JAN – Boston Music Rooms, London UK #
31 JAN – JC Kavka Antwerp B *
02 FEB – Baracke Münster DE *
03 FEB – Astra Stube Hamburg DE *
04 FEB – Venue TBA Saarbrücken DE *
07 FEB – Kulturak Klub Bratislava SK *
08 FEB – Robot Budapest HU *
09 FEB – 1906 Schaan FL *
11 FEB – Freakout Bologna IT *
12 FEB – JUHA West Stuttgart DE *
13 FEB – Druckluft Oberhausen DE *
14 FEB – Monster Records Hannover DE *# = Full band show w/ Such Gold & Ducking Punches
* = Solo showSpeaking on the upcoming dates Andrew ‘Koji’ Shiraki stated “I have been playing shows in the UK and Europe since 2007. I’ve toured there with Into It. Over It., Geoff Rickly of Thursday, and Bob Nanna of Braid/Hey Mercedes, but now, I’m absolutely thrilled to be coming back to the UK with some of my best friends in music, Such Gold, before heading to the mainland again for my headline shows.”
Having emerged from the same Pennsylvania DIY punk and hardcore scene that gave birth to Title Fight, Code Orange, and Balance and Composure, KOJI is best known for his splits with mid-west post-hardcore and emo favorites, La Dispute and Into It. Over It.
KOJI’s critically acclaimed first and only full length, Crooked In My Mind, was produced by Will Yip and released in 2013 on Run For Cover Records. The album saw KOJI enlist Brad Vander Lugt of La Dispute on drums, as well as both Ned Stark of Title Fight and Matt Warner of Balance And Composure on bass duties. In 2015, KOJI signed to No Sleep Records and released the ‘Fury’ EP ahead of his appearance on Vans Warped Tour.
Having taken a break from touring for the past few years, aside from four shows in Japan with The Movielife this past spring, 2019 will see a reinvigorated KOJI. “I’ve been writing, climbing, and operating a bar and community space I own in Brooklyn called, June.” mentions Shiraki. “It was really important for me to take some time out, after spending my entire 20s on the road. It’s nice to finally live in one place.”
“I initially came off the road to do some spiritual and emotional repair. The decision to slow down came during the rise of both Black Lives Matter and Trump. I knew that I wanted to participate, better educate myself, and grow in certain ways I could only do in very localized community. Taking the time for myself has grounded me and I know that I’ll be singing from a deeper, stronger place in 2019. I’m ready for the year ahead.”
Activism has always been an important part of KOJI’s artistic practice. His work on prison abolition, hunger, literacy, labour and many other human rights issues has inspired a new generation of young DIY artists to approach music with a community-first mindset for which KOJI has become known.
Speaking on his activism work, KOJI said “I have regularly taken book and food drives on the road and held lots of events with direct action steps such as letter writing to government or incarcerated people.
“Now that I own a bar in Brooklyn, we regularly host fundraisers and awareness events for groups who work on prison abolition, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, and anything else affecting the neighborhood or the world at large.
“It will always be important to me to use my platform to uplift others.”
