Backing up the potent presence of their new single Still Life, British duo Living Dead Girl has just released a Deluxe Edition of the magnetically haunting encounter. Now a six track seduction, the single continues to captivate as richly as on its first introduction, showing itself one of those encounters which seems to reveal new shades and nuances in its emotion and character listen by listen.
Hailing from Guildford, Living Dead Girl consists of Jessica English (lead vocals, synth, piano, and programming) and Jonno Lloyd (guitar, bass, synth, programming, and backing vocals), the latter also guitarist for Ventenner who themselves have provided 2017 with some striking moments. The pair cast a dark electronic pop sound embracing inspirations of artists such as Massive Attack and Portishead but as the single alone shows, influences which are mere hues in the band’s own individual siren-esque explorations.
Instantly Still Life calls to the imagination, the collusion of wistful keys, skittish rhythms, and an upright bass like stroll gripping ears and attention before the elegant crystalline voice of English warmly wraps sound and senses. Note by note the song evolves and rises up, its atmospheric climate and haunting beauty fuelled by an infectiousness which swiftly gets under the skin. There is a synthpop breeze reminding of German outfit Propaganda to the song too as it glistens and melodically swarms over the senses with gentle but masterful intent. Noir lit drama lines every subsequent note and vocal kiss of a proposition which leaves the imagination basking and appetite hungry for more.
Killing Time provides that sustenance. The song is a beguiling gothic lit shroud of sound, its wrap as bright as it is shadowed. A darksome throb groans as agitated rhythms again court the serenade of English. It is a sombre pulse though which is as welcoming as it is portentous, Lloyd weaving an atmospheric theatre of suggestion with guitar and bass, the colour of the drama provided by the equally compelling portrayal of emotional espionage from keys and voice. With every venture into its obscure scenery the song escalates in intimation and flavours, bewitchment growing to fascination and ultimately lust.
The single is completed by a quartet of alternative versions. Still Life undergoes a Weebl Remix and subsequently PreCog Remix before closing up the release with its Quiet Version while among them there is the Little Death Machine Remix of Killing Time. Each song offers a fresh shade in their respective songs with the final track of the single managing to be even more haunting than its original with its minimalistic yet almost invasive supernatural breath.
An ethereal reflection grounded by a dark questioning within jazzy suggestiveness Still life is pure manna to ears and imagination, their awakening further stirred by the emotional examination brewed by Killing Time. Both tracks alone suggest that Living Dead Girl is a bright light within the British electronic scene which is only going to glow brighter and brighter.
Potently introducing itself as well as the artist behind one of its first releases, UK label Syndicol Music has just unveiled the New Moon EP from singer songwriter Moi Saint. The four track encounter is a haunting and bewitching embrace of dark electronic music, an intriguing fusion of various electronically bred atmospheres and textures as intimate as it is surreal and perpetually fascinating.
Hailing from Manchester and now Liverpool based, Moi Saint emerged in 2015 intent to bring a sound to her deep thoughts and emotions. Embracing the inspirations of artists such as Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Coil, and Enigma, Saint explored her emotional escape in ambient and electronica adventure with the first explorations making up New Moon on the Charlie Dawe, of British alternative rockers Ventenner, founded Syndicol.
The release opens with Lost in Time (Kind) and an initial melody with an inviting Visage like feel to it. Saint’s voice swiftly wraps around the potent lead, her tones charming and seductive as more industrial nurtured essences crawl into the mix. Shadowy and alluring in equal measure, the song immerses ears in electronic noir pop, its air as suggestively visceral as its heart is melodically poetic and sheer mesmerism from start to finish.
The catchiness of the first is replicated in the even thicker shadowed Reptile though it too is a beguiling fusion of light and dark as gothic overtones lie romantically across the imagination enveloping soundscape. Once more intimacy aligns with a broader ambience as the track boldly simmers in ears, each second a dramatic and smoulderingly erotic suggestion and every note and syllable an ethereal incitement to devour.
Void comes next with the EP’s most transcendent exploration, synths and vocal chords embroiled in a gaseous trespass grabbing ears and imagination like celestial smog. There is that ever present intimacy to the tide of suggestiveness too, melodic venture lighting its melancholic yet rhapsodic heart. Saint in voice is gossamer on the senses while her sounds caress the senses with a matching addictive gentleness which simply haunts thought and emotions.
The release closes with Faded, an arguably more defined proposition in individual textures as an ever present eighties synth pop influence across the EP keenly teases from within melodies and hooks. The track is equally enticingly spiritual in tone and breath with Saint again pure magnetism in voice alone.
It is a kiss on the senses bringing the fine release to a memorable close, each song living up to that description in their various explorations. New Moon is an increasingly striking introduction to artist and label and the first step in the rise of both we suspect and eagerly anticipate.
The New Moon EP is available now across most stores.
Ensuring 2017 gets off to a powerful start, UK’s Ventenner are poised to release their new album; an encounter which from start to finish rapaciously devours ears and imagination. Increasingly irresistible with every passing slice of alternative metal, rock, and industrially infused electronic involvement, Invidia is the natural yet inventively bold offspring of the band’s previous successes across. When giving us the heads up last year about the forthcoming encounter, band founder Charlie Dawe (vocals/synth) suggested that “This one is set to be a lot heavier, more powerful and a superior record!” It needs little time and barely one listen to confirm his hopes and assessment are right on the money.
Variety and imagination has never been lacking in the Ventenner sound as evidenced by previous albums This Is The Reason of 2012 and the acclaimed Distorture two years later. Power and forceful enterprise has never been absent in the band’s music either since emerging initially as a solo project for Dawe in 2007. Ventenner’s last album alone was an encounter leaving “the senses beleaguered and imagination ablaze from start to finish”, its emotionally raw dystopian soundscapes seductive and compelling but indeed Invidia while embracing similar qualities taps into an almost primal yet involved intensity and abrasive energy which consumes the listener.
Produced by Esoteric vocalist/guitarist Greg Chandler, Invidia also unveils the most intricate tapestries of sound from the London based outfit yet starting with opener The Start Is The End. A synth resonates in ears first, it’s coaxing swiftly joined by the prowling tones of Dawe with restrained but striking rhythms alongside. As riffs and hooks bring their invention to the mix, the song breeds a Nine Inch Nails scented predation; exotic hues lining an emerging melodic suggestiveness within a controlled yet tempestuous proposal. Throughout, the song’s character is intrusive and raw yet magnetically infectious, traits blossoming throughout the album.
Break In Two reinforces the release’s impressive start, its resourceful entrance calmer yet just as instinctively invasive as its predecessor’s as a Gravity Kills meets Celldweller air grows and colludes with Ventenner’s openly distinct imagination. A gorgeous melodic hook caps off a mighty temptation, its prowess and potency matched by the sinister charm and emotive fire of next up Saligia. Almost devious in its weave of flirtatious melodies and sonic causticity, the song is pure addiction as industrial metal and electro punk merge for a hauntingly irritable raid on the senses.
A superb and masterfully woven conflict of textures makes up Enemy next, an outpouring of beauty and the beast sound and creativity lined not for the first or last time within Invidia by a Pitchshifter like essence while next up Be Still brings fresh crabbiness to ears as Ventenner again confirm their expertise at aligning melodic elegance and bordering on hostile emotional and musical tetchiness.
The former of the essences is embraced primarily by the bewitching Only The Empty Remain, though it too has a disgruntled undercurrent which erupts throughout before Circle while carrying a touch of Society One to itself, roars commandingly, making its mere two minutes another of the most powerful and essential moments within Invidia.
Dividing Seed just as enjoyably hits the spot, its web of guitar and synth intrusiveness as disarmingly seductive as it is cholerically bracing; essences further inventively twisted by successor Bruxism. A bear of a song with bone shuddering beats and senses binding vines of sonic invention around the emotional challenge of Dawe’s vocals and words, the track is sheer power but tempered by the disarming flow of melodic grace and harmonic beauty which breaks through the October File spiced tempest.
A predatory air is cast by Anamnesis, a trespass captivatingly countered by the reflective melodies and warm textures blossoming in voice and sound. Like two souls in dispute yet eager union, the track adds to the pinnacles of the release before being instantly matched by the imagination gripping landscape of closing track Omega. Its melancholic beauty immerses ears and thoughts in a haunting almost spatial flight accentuated by Dawe’s transfixing tones in a temptation which alone urges a swift return to the roar of the album.
Distorture impressed two years ago but has been easily eclipsed by Invidia, already one of this year’s important highlights. In many ways the Ventenner sound has come of age yet it is easy to still feel there is plenty more for they and us to discover.
Invidia is released via Hibernacula Records 20th January on CD and also digitally and on vinyl through http://www.ventenner.com/store
The turn of 2014 saw the unleashing of the debut album from UK rock band 7stbaby. Control swiftly announced a band to keep close attention on with their gripping blend of varied styles into a riveting stoner and grunge veined blast of heavy melodic rock. Garnering strong support and acclaim, the band’s album was a potent statement for 7stbaby and their emerging presence in the UK rock scene. Ahead of the band’s new single Horses, we grabbed the chance to talk with one of the band’s founders and vocalist/guitarist Kyle MacKenzie. Looking at the origins of the band, Control and the new single as well as his and his band members other project, Kyle led us to the heart of 7stbaby.
Hey Kyle welcome to the site and thanks for taking time to talk with us.
Thanks for having us
For those yet to discover the delights of your sound, introduce 7stbBaby to the readers for us.
7stbaby is a project Ben and I (Kyle) had decided we wanted to do several years ago while writing for the first Static Plan EP. There were lots of riffs and song ideas which were not fitting with SP’s style, but that we still really liked and wanted to use. In August 2013 we finally got round to doing something about it, Ben basically moved into my place for a couple of weeks and we wrote and recorded Control. We then asked Greg to join us on drums for the album, and he was happy to be involved. Although we didn’t want to pigeon-hole ourselves genre-wise, we are a project that is definitely coming from a stoner rock viewpoint, just with anything we like thrown in!
Can you give further background to the band too, exploits before and alongside the band for its members.
Hilariously, line up wise 7stbaby is basically Static Plan, so 7stbaby’s background for the members is pretty much exactly the same. Ben and I met years ago while we were studying at university, when I answered an advert for a rock band looking for a vocalist. That then became Static Plan with Jonno on guitar duties, and after several drummer changes we finally ended up with Greg, who changed the dynamic of the band for the better. We gigged our balls off for a couple of years while writing and recording as many demos as possible.
7stbaby then came to the forefront as Static Plan began to wane a bit. Member changes, money issues and health and personal problems stopped us from carrying on the great momentum we had built, but we still wanted to make music and get it out there. So Control was about creating without the pressures we had experienced over the last couple of years.
Your music as evidenced by debut album Control earlier this year, is unafraid to employ a wealth of styles and flavours in its roaring recipe. How would you describe your musical canvas?
7stbaby is about doing whatever we want to do musically. If people love it that’s great, but if people hate it, then so be it. We created a concept album in a very short space of time with the tools that were available to us at the time, and because there was an ‘anything goes’ attitude, we approached it with no fear. 7stbaby’s musical canvas is anything that we want it to be.
It suggests you guys have a wide range of inspirations personally too, what are some of the more potent influences on your sound and ideas?c
Yeah we have quite a diverse range between us I think. I love artists and bands such as Martin Grech, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, Karnivool, QOTSA, Alice In Chains etc. Honestly there are just too many to list! I am inspired by great songwriting and great musicianship. Ben has a slightly more ‘alternative’ influence list than I have, loving bands like Gorgoroth, Mortiis, Mayhem, Mondo Generator, Sonic Youth etc. By no means are we limited to these bands or genres, I think we both have a healthy appreciation of music and its influence over us.
I read that Control was written in just three weeks, was that the reality or were some songs already around in some form or idea before that?
There were some riffs and parts floating about from writing the SP EP a while before, but the vast majority of the album was written in three weeks
Control deservedly garnered eager praise and acclaim upon release, did that surprise you in some way the vocal support and enthusiasm it received?
Ha-ha it did a bit! I think I was expecting it to either get distinctly average reviews or none at all, I didn’t think anyone would understand what we were trying to do! But the reviews were great to read and made me realise that people did understand what the album was about. Some of the reviews were just emphatic, and really brought some joy to me after a difficult couple of years making music.
Give us some insight to its creation and how you fitted it in with your other projects like Static Plan.
Static Plan at the time had ground to a complete halt after a couple of line-up changes. Ben and I had some free time during the school holidays and we just decided to get it done. It was incredibly fun and made us really want to start work on the Static Plan album.
September 26th sees the release of your new single, Horses. Taken from Control, it is one of the album’s biggest highlights for us. Was it an obvious choice for a single?
I think it’s a heavy song on the album, and probably the kind of song that most people can respond to without hating it ha-ha! We debated for a while which song was going to be released actually, and Horses at first didn’t seem like the obvious choice to me, I thought Leave Me To Bleed would be the better single after releasing Somebody’s Bitch. After a while of debating I realised that Ben was absolutely right, Horses is just the right single; it’s much more immediate!
Have you tinkered with it for the single release?
We have not; it’s as pure as it was
Horses, as the album, is out on Got Wrong Records; your own label?
Yes it will be a pay what you want digital only release on my label Got Wrong Records on September 26th. Available at https://gotwrongrecords.bandcamp.com
Can you give us some insight to the inspiration and theme of the song?
Horses is about conquering the power someone can have over you, and breaking out of the cage you confine yourself to when you let them control you. It’s the climax of the album for me
Horses sparked thoughts of Life of Agony for us, its provocative nature and intimate energy reminding of the great US band. Is that something you can feel?
Yeah I can see that. They’re aggressive and melodic, and that’s what Horses is in its simplest form. We really wanted to get the emotion across in the vocals, so hopefully we have done that if you’re comparing Horses to Life of Agony 🙂
The song is accompanied by a great video, who was that filmed by?
The video was filmed with a lovely chap called Sam Sheridan. Ben and I wrote some music for a short film he made several years ago, and we lost contact afterwards. As we were hunting for a director to make the video for Somebody’s Bitch we got chatting and got him involved. He has done an amazing job with incredibly little budget and filming was an absolute riot. Our lead man Alex Netting absolutely smashed it as well, bringing some intensity and humour to the whole thing.
It looked like a fun day out ha-ha; I am imagining that the central character (Alex) drew plenty of attention from the passing throng during filming?
It was a hilarious day for sure! Amazingly every person that interacted with us on the day was very positive; they loved the idea, loved the make-up and loved the character. We definitely got a lot of attention that day.
You guys are in two bands to my knowledge 😉 It is hard for any band to make an impression in the current state of music, so how have you found it juggling and driving forward with your projects?
Yep it’s hard, that’s just the way it is. I think it’s always been hard though. The key is to keep going and enjoy the small victories I think. It’s definitely possible to juggle everything and find the time if you are committed enough; you just have to want it bad enough.
How do you see the current state of music especially the catch 22 effect of the internet with its usefulness and detriment for bands.
I think that even though there are always things we can complain about, bands and artists are in a much better position nowadays for people to hear their music than say 20 years ago. It’s incredibly difficult to earn a living from it, but there’s no change there really. Hopefully in the years to come, with organisations like the Musicians Union working on behalf of musicians, fairer deals can be made on behalf of musicians on the likes of streaming royalties.
Is it hard to hold your enthusiasm at times, or does the music always hold sway over the emotions?
Personally I go through high and lows on a daily basis. Sometime I can struggle to bring myself to pick up a guitar and other times I can’t tear myself away to go to bed.
What is ahead for 7stbaby?
Not a clue! We’ll have to have to have a chat about that at some point ha-ha
…And from your other projects?
I’m currently working on albums for Static Plan and Outpost Zeta, and Ben is working with Ventenner and Exquisite Ending.
Thanks again for sharing time with us. Any last words you wish to share?
Thanks very much Pete, we really appreciate the support! My last word shall be check out www.gotwrong.com for a free EP/Album from Static Plan, Outpost Zeta and 7stbaby, and spread the word 😉
Sculpting a collection of startling and emotionally stark yet seductive soundscapes which combine for one immersive and compelling dystopian landscape, UK band Ventenner has unleashed one of the year’s most compelling incitements with new album Distorture. A release and experience which leaves the senses beleaguered and imagination ablaze from start to finish, it is a mouth-watering intrusion of aural drama taking the listener on a gripping and invasive journey into not only the heart of the album’s own narrative but their own shadows. It is an extraordinary proposition which persistently crafts and frees intimidating seductions and contagiously raw rages with every imposing twist and evocative turn, and simply gets better and more emotionally vocal over time,
The successor to the well-received This Is The Reason album of 2012, Distorture arrives after a movement in not only sound but the shape of the 2007 formed London band; Ventenner once the solo project of Charlie Dawe (vocals/synth) growing into a quartet with Jonno Lloyd (guitar), Ben Martin (bass), and Luke Jacobs (drums) now alongside him. The move has resulted in the new album exploring a more guitar driven investigation against the previous predominantly synth and electronics fuelled approach of the project. Released via Sonic Fire Records, Distorture presents a cacophony of industrial and post punk seeded noise aligned to chilled textures and melodic invention against barren yet mesmeric atmospheres. That though is still only a glimpse of the creative shadows and colouring presented by the sonic paintings confronting ears and thoughts.
The adventure opens with Rise, a raw and portentous ambience bringing the track into view before the instrumental casts a rhythmic enticement which is as challenging as the atmosphere brewing up around it. The electronic starkness is gently corrosive bait but tempered by the intrigue clad riffs which soon line-up to ignite the imagination. It is a dramatic introduction to the dark creative emprise ahead but just a teaser as swiftly shown by the outstanding Six Blood. A predatory stroll breaks out from the song’s first seconds, its gait cloaked in mellow and slightly monotonic vocals as well as grouchy riffs which cast a grizzled hue over the gripping scenery of the track. Nine Inch Nails meets early Pitchshifter, the song is a fascinating entanglement of textures and tones, a kaleidoscope of erosive sonic hues, compelling monotony, and emotional turmoil twisted into an addictively captivating tempest.
The following Wave is just as enslaving for ears and passions. Again a chilled terrain is walked by seemingly disinterested yet persistent riffs and vocals before exploding into incendiary roars which sear the senses and inflame the imagination. It is a demanding suasion of Gravity Kills like temptation and Die Krupps bred fury yet something wholly unique and pressingly bewitching. Its oppressive angst and fiery climate is followed by the openly different yet magnetically similar Unaffected, another abrasing furnace of sound and intent which takes the listener gently by the hand before throwing them into a turbulent pit of sonic rage and passion. There is an underlying tempting though, melodic and rhythmic, which nags throughout the tempestuous offering and has its loudest say in the passage of restrained emotion and sound which provokes before a climactic finale.
The instrumental title track gnaws on the senses next, its cavernous shadows and tones drawing on Killing joke and Wire seeding as a sonic haze haunts and provokes the emotions. It is an intimidating web of noise and intent which continues into the hidden depths and dark corners of Skin Ritual. Again Wire springs to mind, its bleak breath and enticing slithers of melodic coaxing engrossing, especially with the additional female vocals aligning to those of Dawe. It is a strenuously mesmeric encounter which smoulders and ripples with emotional temptation and electronic incitement like a hope fuelled dream within a suffocating sleep.
From that somnambulistic flight, Begin Again offers a raw and corrosive embrace which is ignited by the virulently infectious military exercise of the drums. Simultaneously crawling over the senses and exposing body and thoughts to a dervish like assault of inescapable rhythmic captivation, the predominantly instrumental track is a mystique lit fall into a bedlamic state of sonic and emotional antagonism. It is an uncompromising and exhaustive yet reassuringly rewarding seduction which is surpassed by the outstanding Metacell whose rhythmic temptation is also driven by an irresistible virulence. A rolling swagger of drums jabs is soon joined by a predatory voracity of riffs and vocals, their charm carnivorous and touch hostile yet courted by a magnetic stride of beats. It makes for a deep rooted addiction, much like the album, and provides another pinnacle of what in many ways is a resourcefully psychotic release.
Both Fallout and Cast assault and transfix ears with a creative voracity within deceptively minimalistic structures and temptations. The first is a seductive croon prone to sonic outbursts crossed with passion drenched rages and its successor a haunting caress of the senses brought by an emotional causticity. Both tracks test and spark reflective reactions with their absorbing ingenuity. Neither though can match the glorious deep shadows and intimate provocation of Undone, a song soaked in melodic beauty, classically seeded keys, and seductive elegance. It is a sonic sunset which engulfs the imagination before making way for the similarly enthralling closing track Shade, its title telling you all you need to know about its tone and emotions, if not the sweeping beauty and melodic majesty within its temptation.
It is a mighty end to an album which enslaves the imagination and passions from start to finish. Reaping the seeds of old school post punk austerity with a more modern industrial rapacity, Ventenner twist them into something scintillating and emotionally epic verging on disturbing as evidenced by the brilliant Distorture.
Killing Time provides that sustenance. The song is a beguiling gothic lit shroud of sound, its wrap as bright as it is shadowed. A darksome throb groans as agitated rhythms again court the serenade of English. It is a sombre pulse though which is as welcoming as it is portentous, Lloyd weaving an atmospheric theatre of suggestion with guitar and bass, the colour of the drama provided by the equally compelling portrayal of emotional espionage from keys and voice. With every venture into its obscure scenery the song escalates in intimation and flavours, bewitchment growing to fascination and ultimately lust.
The catchiness of the first is replicated in the even thicker shadowed Reptile though it too is a beguiling fusion of light and dark as gothic overtones lie romantically across the imagination enveloping soundscape. Once more intimacy aligns with a broader ambience as the track boldly simmers in ears, each second a dramatic and smoulderingly erotic suggestion and every note and syllable an ethereal incitement to devour.
Break In Two reinforces the release’s impressive start, its resourceful entrance calmer yet just as instinctively invasive as its predecessor’s as a Gravity Kills meets Celldweller air grows and colludes with Ventenner’s openly distinct imagination. A gorgeous melodic hook caps off a mighty temptation, its prowess and potency matched by the sinister charm and emotive fire of next up Saligia. Almost devious in its weave of flirtatious melodies and sonic causticity, the song is pure addiction as industrial metal and electro punk merge for a hauntingly irritable raid on the senses.
Is it hard to hold your enthusiasm at times, or does the music always hold sway over the emotions?
