Lower Automation – Maps

You have seen those scenes in movies where people are strapped in front of a screen and bombarded with rapid brainwashing images; finally succumbing to the kaleidoscope of ravenous suggestiveness. Listening to Maps, the debut EP from US experimental punks Lower Automation, is like a sonic version of that; a proposition gripping the psyche with its quick fire and voracious onslaught of mathcore and noise rock trespasses. The difference is that Maps is a welcome infestation of ears and imagination which with every listen becomes more and more tenaciously seductive.

Hailing from Chicago, the seeds of Lower Automation begin with experimental/post-rock band Counterfeit I and Derek Allen who came from the band to form the new “kinetic frenzy” posing as Lower Automation  that is about to invade the rock scene. His former project found potent success which, from Maps alone, it is easy to suggest the threesome of Brian Sutton, Matt Walen, and Derek has the potential to eclipse.

Recorded with Sanford Parker (Pelican, Wovenhand), Maps instantly entangles the senses and a quickly eager appetite in the discord fuelled enterprise and sonic dissonance of opener Ring. It is a striking web of imagination which flirts and picks at ears with unpredictable and incessantly hungry dynamics; a creative dilemma for the senses  which plays like the mutated offspring of a liaison between At The Drive In, Devo, Wire, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Fair to say though that the song quickly breeds its own unique character and devilment as frenetic bursts align with, and become tempered by, ‘mellower’ flirtatious passages as song and band reveals new sides to their rebellious adventure. It is when the creative ‘psychosis’ breaks loose though that lustful passions are especially sparked and further the track’s attempts to steal the whole show.

The excellent start though is more than matched by the band’s new single Decorated; the song swiftly showing itself another invasive tapestry of rhythmic agitation and raw sonic virulence. There is a much catchier almost pop element to the song too, the likes of Baddies and We Are The Physics coming to mind at times, though again as it warps into distorted spatial atmospherics Lower Automation show the fullness of their imagination and an invention which is all their own.

Break Room Curators offers a more noise rock sculpted venture; its body and features slightly more fluid in their infectious flow than certainly the first song but still casts a dark and sinister, not forgetting infectiously flowing, tirade of off-kilter and intrusive discordance in voice and melodic toxicity amidst scything rhythms. The track does lack a certain spark that its predecessors irresistibly carries but it still leaves enjoyment high and ears eager to devour more, which the following caustic maelstrom of The Cartographer feeds impressively. The track is a maze of sonic paradoxes and melodic toxins with an emotive angst to match as it rummages through the psyche, blisters on the senses, and fascinates the imagination.

Closing with the initially hellacious exploits of Scissor Lapses, the EP offers a final glimpse into the creative craft and aberrant imagination of Lower Automation. The song proceeds to explore a cacophonous and demandingly addictive landscape of sweeping hooks and inviting grooves within an ever evolving exploration of rabid sound and unpredictability; finally leaving on a senses invading sonic clamour.

It is a fine end to a thrilling debut from Lower Automation; a release which has certain familiar and welcome traits but is a whole new psychotic frenzy of invention ready to infect an as yet unsuspecting rock world.

Maps is released April 1^st @ https://lowerautomation.bandcamp.com

Upcoming US Tour Dates:

3/5 – Skeletunes Lounge | Fort Wayne, IN

3/12 – The Oasis | Grayslake, IL

4/8 – The Refuge | Pana, IL

4/10 – Bremen Cafe | Milwaukee, WI

4/13 – The Rockery | Wyandotte, MI

4/14 – Buzzbin | Canton, OH

4/15 – Spacebar | Columbus, OH

4/16 – Crofoot | Pontiac, MI

https://www.facebook.com/lowerautomation
Pete RingMaster 28/03/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

Desert Storm/ Suns of Thunder Split 7”

 

As well as releasing the Raging Speedhorn/Monster Magnet ( TheDesertFest London vol. 2) Split this coming April, H42 Records will be uncaging another union of mighty sounds in the shape of the Desert Storm/Suns of Thunder Split. Featuring two of the UK’s most compelling riff and groove exponents, the 7” will be launched at DesertFest Berlin where Desert Storm will be playing, with a special edition of the release in store for the event.

Desert Storm

Still riding the acclaim of last album Omniscient, released at the beginning of 2015, Oxford hailing Desert Storm offer up brand new song Signals From Beyond for the upcoming split. Formed in 2007, the quintet of vocalist Matt Ryan, guitarists Chris White and Ryan Cole, bassist Chris Benoist, and drummer Elliot Cole have increasingly whipped up attention and support across their thunderous live presence and a quartet of albums. As their ferocious and contagious blues metal sound has grown, matured, and evolved so their reputation has intensified, something Signals From Beyond will only back up in all aspects.

From its first touch, a winy groove wraps ears as beats taps attention with open zeal; the song soon expanding as riffs and muscular rhythms collude with the familiar growling tones of Ryan. Like an irritable bear, vocals and sounds badger and intimidatingly entice but are tempered by the sizzling flavour and character of the addictive enterprise of guitars and their flaming grooves. The track is prime Desert Storm; a slab of the band’s familiar rock ‘n’ roll and inescapably addictively compelling.

Suns of Thunder

Their conspirators in rousing the spirit on the 7” are equally as magnetic. The Swansea bred Suns of Thunder offer up the mean and moody Earn Your Stripes, a track from their latest album Start As You Mean To Get Down, released last November. It too is a web of grooves and hungry riffs bound in melodic tendrils. Fuelled further by the twin anthemic vocal attack of guitarists Greg Bombroffe and Matt Williams, the song soon bristles with tenaciously fiery textures as the robust rhythms of bassist Chris James and drummer Sam Loring drive its seemingly familiar, if without any obvious reason, but ultimately individual persuasion.

Rumbling and grumbling with a virulent infectiousness to its swinging body and tempting creative voice, the track is a sinew spun slice of heavy rock ‘n’ roll to get flirtatious with, and alone a potent reason to check out the 1999 formed quartet’s recent album and highly praised live presence.

Bottom-line is that the Desert Storm/ Suns of Thunder Split 7” is another meaty and irresistible split from the German label showcasing two of Britain’s most voracious rock ‘n’ rollers.

The Desert Storm/ Suns of Thunder Split 7” is released by H42 Records at DesertFest Berlin 28^th-30^th April with presales available from March 29th at http://www.h42records.8merch.com/services/store and available across four vinyl colours.

Upcoming Desert Storm/ Suns of Thunder shows to launch the split in the UK:

Fri 6th May – Swansea, The Scene,  w/ Suns of Thunder

Sat 7th May – Oxford, The Bullingdon, w/ Suns of Thunder

Sun 8th May – London, The Unicorn, w/ Suns of Thunder

https://www.facebook.com/desertstormuk/   http://www.desertstormband.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sunsofthunder   https://sunsofthunder.bandcamp.com/

Pete RingMaster 28/03/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/

Bernaccia – Awake

British neo-psych rockers Bernaccia has perpetually caught ears and expectations by surprise with their insistently magnetic fusion of psychedelic mystery and desert blues atmospherics driven by tribalistic rhythms. Indeed across EPs and singles, the Newcastle band has grown into one of the UK’s most compelling propositions, beguiling and seducing with their dark and often cinematic rock ‘n’ roll. New single Awake though has arguably provided the biggest and admittedly most flavoursome twist yet with the ear catching addition of vocalist Ellen Chetcuti to the band’s ranks.

From their 2014 released Cinema EP, the foursome of vocalist/guitarist Jonny Noble, synthist Stew Falkous, bassist Kieran Healy, and drummer Chris Cox has persistently and increasingly lured attention and acclaim with their fascinating darkly lit psych/melodic rock explorations. Equally their live presence has only reinforced the potency of their emergence as shows with the likes of Royal Blood, Lola Colt, Alabama 3, The Fall, Twisted Wheel, CUD, and Wolf People have come and successfully passed alongside the release of impressive proposals like the heftily acclaimed Light//-//Dark EP and last single Power To The Hills. The well-received track was the band’s most intense and dark tapestry of sound and imagination yet and now more than matched by the brighter lit but just as rousing and immersive Awake.

Keys caress ears initially as a percussive shuffle dances with the imagination. Swiftly the unexpected and quickly embraced voice of Chetcuti slips in. Listening to a release before doing research, especially in regard to a band already well known, can often catch expectations out, and here the presence of the band’s newest member certainly provided a rewarding surprise. In no time, Noble’s familiar dark tones step forwards alongside Chetcuti’s, synths rising with suggestive and exotic flames around their alternating and merging persuasions as ears and thoughts are quickly entangled in the song’s thick and shadowed drama. Drenched in similarly immersive atmospheric smog, the track reveals great blues and at times eighties new wave enterprise, playing like a mix of My Baby, Jingo, and King Trigger whilst emerging as another unique Bernaccia adventure.

Increasingly anthemic and spirit rousing with each one of its inciting minutes, Awake is a new step in the gripping rise of Bernaccia. Why the band’s dark and often sinister romances of body and imagination have not made then a name on the lips of multitudes it is hard to understand but maybe Awake will be the spark to tempt the broadest spotlights that the band deserves.

Awake is released April 8^th via iTunes and other stores.

Upcoming Live Shows:

April 8^th Club Fandango Presents – The Old Blue Last – London

April 28^th TS ONE – Middlesbrough

April 30^th Sawmill Sessions – Darlington

May 7^th The Polar Bear – Hull

May 21^st The Mining Institute – Newcastle

https://www.facebook.com/BernacciaMusic    http://twitter.com/bernaccia

Pete RingMaster 28/03/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/