last tracks of the year, feat. BRUIT ≤, DEAD NEANDERTHALS, LAIBACH, THE LORD & DAVID PAJO, THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET and ZEAL & ARDOR

Ok, since in a couple of hours from now the world will have changed drastically - and I will have to come up with a new title for this blog after sticking to 20 + 22 = 42 for a whole year -, lets go to Bandcamp and grab some recent digital only singles and EPs!

BRUIT ≤ - Parasite (The Boycott Manifesto)

My first download is weirdly meta. A normally instrumental Post Metal band with Modern Classical influences teams up with a narrator to explain why this track is the only music from them you'll ever find on Spotify. Luckily what could have turned to a preachy embarrasment actually is quite a poignant powerful statement. And most importantly the epic music on "Parasite (The Boycott Manifesto)" is just great!

LAIBACH - The Future

From the exploitation of artists in the present to... The Future! Laibach's version of Leonard Cohen's stark and brutal prophecy has been out for a while, but somehow I missed the Bandcamp release, which features the seven minutes long track sung by Milan Fras and Donna Marina Mårtensson in three different mixes, of which I shockingly dig the 1990's Euro Dance style Blast from the Past Remix the most. Laibach - Cohen. It's a match!
(Video can't be embedded and is only available directly on YouTube.)

THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET - Seekers Who Are Lovers (Tribute to Cocteau Twins)

There are probably songs of them I would recognize without knowing the artist, but otherwise the Cocteau Twins are one of those gaping holes in my Eighties/Nineties popcultural knowledge. Luckily familiarity isn't required to enjoy Jason Köhnen's tribute to the dreamy guitar pop band, because his half hour long odyssey of a cover version takes you on a journey of everything The Lovecraft Sextet stands for (so far): meandering Ambient, spooky Doomjazz Opera, saxophony Gothic Synthpop and misty Black Metal - "Seekers Who Are Lovers" has it all! What an amazing mammoth track!






ZEAL & ARDOR - Firewake

Let's enjoy something shorter now! "Firewake" is a typically all over the place Soul/Blues/Prog/Black Metal mashup with English and German vocals and some particularly awesome bass lines, which somehow didn't fit on the self-titled album, but is just as great as everything on there. The second track "Cinq" is one of those soothing lullaby instrumentals which Manuel Gagneux has also made part of Zeal & Ardor's DNA from the beginning. The quality stuff you expect from this project. Short and sweet.






THE LORD & DAVID PAJO - Nazarite

Let's keep the beauty of the last Z&A track, but fuck it up with some of Sunn O))) guitarist Greg Anderson's signature drone! The Lord had quite a prolific year with one solo album, one collaborative album with Petra Haden and three standalone cooperative singles with Robin Wattie, William Duvall and now David Pajo from Slint. And just like all those previous releases this spoken words over increasing drone arrangements track just hits that exactly right spot again. Intriguing!






DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Click

Click. Load Kokke-Bot. Click. Heat up Aquarius machine. Click. Melting IXXO with Metal. Click. Start engines. Click. Engage! Click. Brutal synth kraut monotony ensues. Click. Brain fried. Click. Mind freed. Click. Ride through space and time... Click. ...'till you die. Click. Never die. Click. You knew this one was coming! Click. The Dead Neanderthalgorithm never misses New Year's Eve. Click. Great artwork btw. Click. Click. Click. Click. The button is stuck! Click. Click. Clickclickcklick. Click! Cli. Cl. Clllllll. Cccc.