Dark Pop Artist Lia Hide Addresses Emotional Struggle With Plato-Inspired LP
Greek dark pop artist, Lia Hide has just unveiled her highly-anticipated full-length LP, The Missing Fourth Guest.
The Missing Fourth Guest borrows its title from Plato's 'Timeaus' dialogue opening line. The songs talk about the emotional struggles of the recent Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, human mortality, and the place of the modern man in the universe.
In 'Timaeus' Plato presents an elaborately wrought account of the formation of the universe and an explanation of its impressive order and beauty. The universe as a whole as well as its various parts are so arranged as to produce a vast array of good effects.
Lia Hide's songwriting is clean, pop, structured and lyrical, yet bears progressive music elements. Glitch and jazz fragments and orchestral layers, electronic sub drones and industrial noises, that all dress up the clarity of the piano trio:
Lia Hide's influences of Kate Bush and Tori Amos are strongly portrayed, meddling with scents of Massive Attack, Nick Cave, Cocteau Twins and Radiohead. Her classical music training is evident and blends evenly with Aki'Base's dark post-wave style and George Rados' laid-back naturalness.
The Missing Fourth Guest has eight tracks and is available in digital and CD formats.
Canadian singer-songwriter AYRIA is bringing her expertly blended beats to fans everywhere this Summer with her upcoming album and Artoffact Records debut, This is my Battle Cry. After dropping the first single, "No One Asked You" in May, Irreplaceable, the second serving from the record, is out today.
"Irreplaceable” is one of the more sombre and introspective tracks on the record and a fascinating choice for the second single. Explains Jennifer Parkin (Ayria), " I wrote this song as a message to myself and also to a few others I know out there who are struggling. The message is that no matter how much you are hurting, even if no one knows how to fix it, there is always someone out there that wants to try. And no matter what, don’t give up, because no matter how you feel right now, you’re important to this world. The song musically shifts into an epic ballad in the chorus as I really wanted it to feel uplifting and powerful, despite the lyrics and tone being dark."
Showcasing a slick, more mature sound, This is my Battle Cry features 10 new tracks including the addictively catchy songs “Stranger Danger” and “No One Asked You”. Although the album is a nod to AYRIA’s previous ear-candy laced works, it’s also a reflection on the past few years of experiences, giving the album a darker tone. Inspired by her personal struggles and rage, the album title track “Battle Cry”, and “Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?” spotlight Parkin’s, “tongue in cheek sassy attitude,” showcasing that not everything made with sugar and spice is always as nice as it seems. Infectious, anthemic and harrowingly therapeutic, This is my Battle Cry is one for the ages.
The Conditioning is the second EP by Pennsylvania-based dark electronic band, The Number H.
The Conditioning explores feelings of loss, frustration and regret. The first song of the album, “Nothing”, opens with a thunderstorm and hits hard with the feelings of frustration: “Nothing will come of Nothing” references inaction begetting no progress and thus no change in condition.
After frustration we move to “Grief” depicting the feeling through the imagery of the words cherry-picked from Constance’s monologue in Shakespeare's King John and the atmosphere created by the layered soundscapes throughout the track. Confusion of self and purpose is then explored in “Tell Me” referencing King Lear’s “who is it that can tell me who I am”, an echoing question of existential confusion to which there isn’t an answer.
The EP concludes with “Undone” referencing “what’s done, cannot be undone” wherein the burden of regret should be dispelled and focus shifted to that which can be impacted. It is a reminder to the listener here at the end of the EP to not dwell on regret and to give themselves the space for growth and forward motion.
The Conditioning stays true to the first EP in that it uses a mixture of found and original spoken phrases, harvested sounds and layered dark electronics beats and soundscapes. The found phrases originate exclusively from Shakespeare plays – with their timeless and flawless description of raw emotions.
The harvested sounds are all that which are encountered and recorded in day-to-day life – the sound of running footsteps, a passing train, a thunderstorm, a leaky faucet – manipulated and creatively incorporated into beats and soundscapes to enhance the feeling of the tracks.
44 years ago, on June 16, 1978, Suicide performed their legendary 23 minutes lasting show at the renowned Brussels music club Ancienne Belgique, as support for Elvis Costello. The live audience recording, originally taped by a friend of the band, Howard Thompson, is not so much a registration of the quality of their actual live performance but it gives an indication of the general public's reaction to this confrontational electronic duo during their early days.
Before Suicide even starts playing booing can be heard from the crowd, indicating that they only wanted to hear the main act, Elvis Costello. Between every song the booing seems to become more intense. After roughly 10 minutes the crowd can be heard chanting "ELVIS! ELVIS!”. Then, after the band has been almost 20 minutes on stage, a loud applause can be heard; someone stole Alan Vega's microphone …
After receiving the microphone back he continues to sing "Frankie Teardrop" a cappella. After even more booing Vega shouts "SHUT THE FUCK UP! THIS IS ABOUT FRANKIE!". A few moments later the band leaves the stage.
That night Elvis Costello played a very short and angry set in which he made no secret of his outrage over Suicide's treatment by the crowd. This incited a riot. The show was cancelled and Vega's nose was broken.
The recording was first released only as a promo in 1978 until it was remastered and released as a bonus track on the band’s 1998 reissue of their self-titled debut album.
21½ Minutes In Berlin / 23 Minutes In Brussels (1978 LP tracklist)
| A 21½ Minutes In Berlin | ||
| A1 | Ghost Rider | |
| A2 | Rocket USA | |
| A3 | Cheree | |
| A4 | Harlem | |
| A5 | 96 Tears | |
| B | 23 Minutes In Brussels | |
| B1 | Ghost Rider | |
| B2 | Rocket USA | |
| B3 | Cheree | |
| B4 | Dance | |
| B5 | Frankie Teardrop | |
Out on 8th June is "Midnight Express", a brand new single by an up and coming post-punk / new wave project Roobanok, recently signed to SkyQode.
Born in the depth of the Ural Mountains as a one-man project, Roobanok manages to create his own kind of danceable post-punk music with the air of a light melancholy, reminiscent of Kino, Molchat Doma, Motorama and the like.
In addition to the title track, the single features another track "Where", as well as their instrumental versions.
