digital delirium with BONG-RA, RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON x TWIN SISTER, TDK / ТДК and many many other various artists

Did I freeload new promos again? Am I too poor to buy proper records/CDs/cassettes again? No and no. Or well, yes too actually, but it doesn't apply to this post here. These are actually all recent digital-only releases of... mildly varying length. The first one is a reminder that Christmas Roadburn is only one month away:

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON x TWIN SISTER - Mirrors For Discharge (2025)

The finale of Roadburn Sunday 2022: A spontanous jam of Kanaan and RRRags led me to miss this comissioned cooperation of Dutch Heavy Psych machine Radar Men From The Moon and the trio Twin Sister, which itself includes René and Otto from Dead Neanderthals. Surely one of the toughest clashes of that extremely strong festival edition. I'm glad that at least I finally get the chance to hear what I missed now!

In total there were nine people on stage, including two bass players and three drummers. And they did pretty much what you would expect from knowing the featured bands - and probably even the best version of that. "Mirrors For Discharge" is a stomping work of hypnotic Industrial Sludge Noise with Punk vocals on top. This rumbling beast of five mighty repetitive steamrollers must have been completely obliberating to behold. Since there's no physical release planned at the time this is as must-have as a download can be!

BONG-RA - Cold World (2025)

We're not moving into too different territory with this new single from Bong-Ra, who have recently turned from a Drone Doom Metal trio with Jazz influences to an Industrial Metal trio with electronic drums. As one does. Or as Jason Köhnen's mood wants it. The title sounds very familiar and indeed this is a cover version of one of the greatest Godflesh songs of all time. Can it be as great as the original? Probably impossible. But great still this is. And surely a banger to perform during their shows. Would love to see that!

And yes, I will review the recent new album of Bong-Ra. But not today.

TDK / ТДК - ZHVK (2025)

This new three-track EP from Bulgaria continues right where "Nemesta" left off - with an absolutely bonkers clusterfuck of Post Punk, Mr. Bungle Avantgarde, Disharmonic Extreme Metal, Jazz, Noise and manic spoken words vocal performances. TDK are all over the place - and they are the landlords of this particular, delightfully paranoid place. This quintet plays in the top league of whatthefuckishappeninghere. Wish this was longer than just thirteen minutes!

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Who Is The Dreamer? - A Tribute to David Lynch (2025)

This release is unreviewable. I probably haven't even listened to half of it and sure as hell will never play the whole thing. So does it suck so bad?

No, but let's just say that 383 (three-hundred eighty-three) tracks with individual lengths between one and forty minutes are quite a task, even if the devoted listener burns the complete rest of his/her music collection. There might be record-horrible stinkers on this compilation or the best song of all times - and I haven't even noticed either while shuffling through it. However what I can say for sure is that the overall atmosphere feels very adequate for a tribute for the great late David Lynch.

It's pointless to list even a fragment of all the artists and bands involved in this mammoth collection. Naturally it includes a lot of Experimental music, but you'll also find bits of Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, Jazz, Country, Modern Classical and who knows what else in the depths of this lodge. There are variations on soundtrack pieces like the legendary Angelo Badalamenti themes from "Twin Peaks" or Ambient textures with interview snippets from Lynch over it. Some artists are only featured with one small track, others provide a whole album's worth of material.

This is the water and this is the well. Props to The Church of Noisy Goat for curating this endless surreal odyssey!

 

cassette craze chronicles XXXVI feat. CHAT PILE, MIDWIFE, MIDWIFE & VYVA MELINKOLYA, NADJA, RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON, TEMPLE FANG, TEUFELSKELLER, THE NAUSEA and TORU & CR3C3II3

I must admit that I procrastinated this edition of my tape series for a while, because my tape deck (a modified Sony from the 90's) has gotten a bit erratic, just refusing to play one cassette - or just one side of a cassette - while allowing others without any discernable logic behind it. And sometimes trying back and forth multiple times until the desired music finally plays takes me out of the mood to listen to it... so yeah, I'm caught between that annoyed frustration and not wanting to look for a replacement player yet again.

Meanwhile the new tapes are beginning to pile up and I don't want to wait until I have to review a double-digit number of reviews at a time, so here we go:

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON - Vomitorium (2024)

Let's begin this with a raging banger! But wait, I already used the Rage Against The Machine comparison with the phrase "Radar Men Against The Machine" when I talked about the Dutch Psych/Drone/Noise/whatevertheywanttodonow collective RMFTM's previous album "The Bestial Light". "Vomitorium" pushes into a similar direction and reprises the line-up with two guitars, bass and two drummers, yet introducing a new vocalist with Niels Koster.

Radar Men From The Moon live

It's hard to ultinately pin down references which apply to all eight tracks, but most of them are definitely on the aggressive side, mixing influences from Industrial Metal, Heavy Psych and Post Punk, which in the case of the second track "Psychic Warfare Now!" can lead to some strong Voivod vibes or on the title track takes us back to Temple Ov BBV, the fantastic collaborative project with Gnod.
Overall however a lot of this album takes me back to classic Ministry. Especially "Altered States" with its shift to more Electronic sounds instead of guitar walls has some delicious "The Land Of Rape And Honey" flavours.

The whole album feels like Radar Men From The Moon have descended onto Earth and are rampaging through a dystopian scenery, aggressively waking people up and screaming into their faces. Undoubtly a proper soundtrack to our times!

The cassette edition comes in the familiar Tartarus Records cardboard sleeve.

THE NAUSEA - Requiem (2024)

This album I picked up after a show onboard the MS Stubnitz in September. The Nausea is a solo project of the Canadian violin/viola/cello player Anju Sing, who mixes powerful haunting Neoclassical string loops with Dark Ambient and Harsh Noise sounds and occasional evil vocals.

The Nausea live

Do you know Laibach's "Kinderreich"? If not: Drop everything right now, get your hands on the album "Kapital" and then return here! If yes: Well, you already know the general mood of "Requiem".

I called it "Pharmakon with violin" in my live review, and it's hard to come up with a better short description, even though the music feels more layered and nuanced in the studio recording. Most of all the atmosphere The Nausea is creating here is incredibly strong. If you want an album to reach its arm out of the morass, grab you and pull you down to be completely engulfed by a Dantean purgatory - this is for you!

NADJA - Querétaro (2024)

On the night I saw The Nausea I could have also grabbed this tape from the merch table. Unfortunately I had already ordered it from Zona Watusa before, so that meant waiting a couple of weeks longer.

Nadja live

There isn't much to say about this one. "Querétaro" is a recent live recording (February 2024 in Mexico) of the Doomgaze / Drone Metal duo Nadja. Four songs including the "Luminous Rot" title track and "Blurred" from "Labyrithine", all in completely instrumental rendititions. A crushing wall of rumbling bass, distortion and levitating feedback, driven by a surprisingly elaborate drum machine. The special kind of Godflesh/Jesu worship we know and love from Aidan Baker and Leah Bukareff. Over fifty minutes of hypnotic slow heaviness. What's not to like?

Maybe that the tape misses a clear indication of side A and B side, yeah. On the other hand I really dig the photo on the front, which might really be one of my favorite cover artworks of this year. 

TEMPLE FANG - Live at Krach am Bach (2024)

We're staying in the realm of live music with a tape I bought at the Lazy Bones Festival in October. And it's a really good one. How can it not be, when it's coming from the Dutch premium epic long format Psychedelic Rock masters Temple Fang. The two track setlist of their performance at the rainy Krach am Bach Festival looks pretty familiar, because it consists of the two pieces "Gemini" and "Not The Skull" from their 2020 debut "Live at Merleyn". 

Temple Fang live

But already the latter being ten minutes longer tells you that this is far from being a mere rehash. The new drummer, reworked arrangement and the band's general approach of making each show its own unique beast with all the space for varying improvisations make sure of this.

I've seen them from up close five times now and from that experience alone I can assure you that Temple Fang are one of the most amazing pure, all centered around the music itself Rock'n'Roll experiences out there today. And this is a recording of a show which felt special even to their standards. I've already said it: It's a really good one!

MIDWIFE - No Depression In Heaven (2024)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

I could be lazy and just point to my previous review in my last Veil of Stuff roundup about the last four albums I have reviewed over on Veil of Sound. Unfortunaly I had already been lazy there and pointed to the next issue of cassette craze chronicles. Damn. Well, I could still just tell you to read my VoS review, right?

Midwife live

Once again Madeline Johnston brings us a mesmerizing collection of minimalist Ambient Shoegaze. Slow clean guitars, subtle noises, far-away washed-out ethereal vocals. Beautiful songs from the road, watching America pass by through a Lynchian haze of melancholic longing. Despite being made of simple parts Midwife's Heaven Metal, as she calls it herself, occupies a unique sonic space. And it's a place you want to linger and float in for eternity. Eery, peaceful, sad and dreamy at the same time. A sound like clouds of breath forming on a cold winter day.

The artwork suits the cassette format, so it's a nice companion to "Luminol". 

MIDWIFE & VYVA MELINKOLYA - Orbweaving (2023)

On the occasion of ordering the new Midwife album I also finally caught up with her last release from the previous year, which is a collaboration with Shoegaze artist Angel Diaz aka Vyva Melinkolya. Since both artists are on very similar musical wavelengths, "Orbweaving" actually doesn't sound radically different than regular Midwife albums, especially the first two songs, which were written by Madeline Johnston. The spare quiete arrangements and dreamy atmosphere are both definitely there. There are a couple more soft layers of synths, guitar and vocals though. And of course there is the title track, which stands out as a twelve minutes long excercise in pure textural Ambient music.

All in all this doesn't feel as different as I would have expected, but it still is a beautiful, soothing and captivating mini album. The artwork / layout of the tape is also a plus.

TEUFELSKELLER  / TORU & CR3C3II3 - Split (2024)

But now let's get to some good old - or rather new - senseless destruction!

"Tour de Force" is quiet an apt title for the ride the exile Russian trio Teufelskeller has us saddling up for. Demon-excercising drums, relentlessly pumping bass, rumbling electronic Noise and one of the glitchiest saxophone performances in the history of instrument abuse give us thirteen minutes of raw improvisation. It's actually not as harsh as Anton Ponomarev's other project P/O Massacre, yet a bit more naturalistic somehow. Ultimately however it plays in a similar ballpark of cathartic aural assault.

Side B of this beautiful split EP belongs to the French experimental trio Toru in collaboration with Noise artist CR3C3II3. And their two tracks "Rattles Are Out" and "Rattles Are Back" are actually even wilder and more erratic, giving us their own spin of Mr. Bungle's "Disco Volante" mindset. Or they just tapped into the overheating brain of a robot on a psychotropics overdose. Very sick shit, and astonishingly rewarding, especially on headphones. 

CHAT PILE - Cool World (2024)

And last but probably biggest and most-awaited... Chat Pile! This new heap of bleak misery and frustration is definetly hard to judge in comparison to its predecessor "God's Country", since the new album certainly cannot have a second "Why" or another insane bad trip like "grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg".
But then "Cool World" is exclusively made out of bangers, too. Beginning with the opener "I Am Dog Now", "Camcorder", "Tape", "Masc", "Milk Of Human Kindness"... so much killers, I already know that I'll have to miss great tracks for a lack of time when I'll hopefully see them live again.

Chat Pile live

I also think that on this album it's even more appearant that probably no other band has internalized the raw sound and brutal precision of Godflesh's rhythm section as much as Chat Pile - with a very real drummer instead of a machine, mind you. Yet while the Oklahomans carry this influence openly on their sleeves, it never comes of as a copy, because it's applied too creatively and always combined with all those Post Punk, Hardcore, Grunge and Noise Rock influences which form Chat Pile's distinct sound.
And on top of that there's of course Raygun Busch's no fuck's given narrative vocal performance, which pulls it off to be so resigned yet fascinating at the same time.

Chat Pile are bleak and bitter, but also just brutal fun. Their "Cool World" feels old school, but actually offers a sound of our time. And echo of rage and anger from the Eighties and Ninetines, still perservering and even amplified by the  ongoing shitshow of the present. The hype remains deserved!

ESBEN AND THE WITCH, FÅGELLE und RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON live im Hafenklang, Hamburg (23. Mai 2023)

 

Schnell noch ein Einzelkonzert zwischen die Festivals geschoben? (Morgen geht's für mich schon wieder nach Dänemark.) Nein, das kann man so nicht sagen. Das Ticket für Esben And The Witch im Hafenklang hatte ich tatsächlich schon, bevor die Band fürs Roadburn Festival bestätigt wurde. Dazu noch eine Künstlerin die ich auf der letztjährigen Ausgabe crashbedingt nicht sehen konnte und obendrauf aufs Tourpackage exklusiv in Hamburg noch die Radar Men From The Moon - das versprach auf jeden Fall einen interessanten Abend an der Elbe.

Er begann nur ein wenig holprig, da sich der Laden in der Ankündigung partout nicht festlegen wollte, ob nun um neunzehn oder zwanzig Uhr Einlass sein sollte. Es war dann die gewohntere späte Variante. Schade dass es mich unnötige Parkgebühren gekostet hat dies rauszufinden. Sozialmediale Kommunikation ausbesserungsfähig.

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON

Die niederländischen Mondmänner befinden sich jetzt schon eine ganze Weile im Heavygitarrenmodus mit Shouter und zwei Drummern, in dem ich sie letztes Jahr bereits einmal gesehen hatte. Das ist nicht schlecht, aber es wäre gelogen, wenn ich bestreiten würde, insgeheim doch gerne mit einer neuen Besetzung und musikalischen Ausrichtung überrascht worden zu sein. Vielleicht auch einfach die Rückkehr zu ein wenig mehr psychedelischen Space- und Synthiesounds. Aber wer weiß, was der nächste Albumzyklus bringen wird?

Bis dahin ist der Hardcorestampfhammer natürlich immer noch geil, auch wenn ich mir mehr Gitarrenwumms im Mix gewünscht hätte. Die beiden im Oldschool-Ministry-Stil synchronkloppenden Drummer haben das Geschehen klanglich mehr dominiert als notwendig. Trotzdem geil - und als profanste, ungefühligste Show des Abends auch ein spannender Gegensatz zum Rest.

FÅGELLE

Also wenn das nicht experimentell war, dann gibt es keine experimentelle Musik!

Leider zum Teil auch einem Sound geschuldet, der es schwer machte, in die entrückteren Facetten der Musik und vor allem auch ihres Gesangs einzutauchen, war die Solo-Performance der schwedischen Künstlerin Fågelle sicherlich nicht leicht zu fassen. Zwischen minimalistischem Ambient Folk und Drone/Noise, erzeugt von Gitarre, Loops, Effekten und Geigenbogen und unter Zuhilfenahme verschiedener Gesangsmikrofone, zu denen auch - ähnlich wie vor sechs Jahren mal bei Author & Punisher gesehen - ein um den Kehlkopf geschnürtes Exemplar gehörte, war es schon ein merkwürdig sperriges und dennoch faszinierendes Schauspiel, welches sich hier darbot.

Ein wenig unangenehm war die Stille zwischendurch. Da zwischen den Stücken immer noch irgendwelche Geräusche weiterknarzten, zirpten und waberten, wagte es bis zum Ende der Show niemand, mit Applaus zu stören. Ist schon komisch manchmal... Definitiv ein interessanter, sehr emotionaler - und ebenso verwirrend enigmatischer Auftritt.

ESBEN AND THE WITCH

Wer Esben And The Witch auf ihrem letzten hamburger Gastspiel im Molotow gesehen hatte, der war mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit auch diesmal wieder dabei - und durfte eine nicht gänzlich, aber doch spürbar andere Seite des Trios um Sängerin / Bassistin Rachel Davies kennenlernen. Und dürfte beim nächsten Mal dann wohl auch wiederkommen.

Mit dem neuen, ruhigen und schlagzeuglosen Album "Hold Sacred" im Gepäck, war zunächst natürlich die Frage, wie die Bühne bestückt sein würde. Neulich in Tilburg, als man das Album komplett vorstellte, stand die Band ja quasi in einer Reihe vorne an der Bühne. Heute jedoch war ein Drumkit im Gepäck. Zwar bildeten die sparsamen wunderbaren Ambientstücke, bei denen Daniel Copeman Keyboards und Elektropads bediente, auch hier den größten Teil der Show, doch diese wurden sehr wirkungsvoll durch ältere Songs ergänzt.
So stand gleich an zweiter Stelle der "Marching Song", welcher sehr pointiert klar machte, dass das Schlagzeug nicht nur Dekoration war, und im Zentrum des Sets, vor dem größten Block an neuen Liedern, wurde der epochale "Older Terrors"-Opener "The Reverist" platziert. Was für ein Postrock-Traum!

Nach dem Triple aus "Heathen", "In Ecstasy" und "Petals of Ash" verrieten der zur Spoilervermeidung leer gelassene Raum auf der vor mir liegenden Setlist - und natürlich auch die Begeisterung des Publikums -, dass die Band für eine Zugabe auf die Bühne zurückkehren würde. Und ich verdenke Esben And The Witch es nicht im geringsten, dass sie hier komplett auf Nummer sicher gegangen sind und das Ende der Nacht mit ihrem deutlich raueren Postpunk-Greatest-Hit "No Dog" eingeläutet haben. Das Ding kann man ja auch nicht oft genug hören!
Noch viel mehr gilt dies allerdings für das superdramatische viertelstündige "The Jungle". Besser kann man ein Konzert kaum abschließen. Nichts als Liebe für diese Band!

Und so schön XY play their album Z in its entirety-Shows auch sind. Mit einer gleichwertigen Sound- und Lichttechnik hätte das gemischtere reguläre Programm die exklusive Roadburn-Performance in diesem Fall klar geschlagen. Da das Hafenklang in diesen Kategorien aber natürlich nicht ans 013 heranreichen kann, einigen wir uns hier einfach mal auf ein diplomatisches "Beide magisches Seelenfutter!"