Industrial band, The Royal Ritual addresses organized religion ethics with debut LP, /Martyrs/
UK industrial band, The Royal Ritual has just unveiled their highly anticipated debut, full length LP, Martyrs.
Martyrs is a thematic exploration into organised religion, and how it can negatively influence our most basic ethical choices.
"Within a short time after moving to the USA my hostility towards organised religion grew. I saw ordinarily good people doing undoubtedly wicked things in the name of religion, and it got to the point where I felt I needed to address it in the only way I knew how – through music.” - David Michael Lawrie
The first song on the album, “Pews In A Pandemic", is a direct response to the hypocrisy of the megachurch culture in the USA during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the album progresses further, topics spanning from faith based, institutionalized scandals, to the absolving of responsibility in the name of holy war, to the acceptance of the finite nature of life are explored. The album climaxes with the raucous pulse of “Finally Free,” which explores the blame shifting nature of those in power.
Blending harsh synthetic tones; dark, percussive sound design and traditional world instruments, a new industrial landscape is being forged in The Royal Ritual, created by award winning sound designer and music producer, English born David Lawrie.
After a series of singles and a successful crowdfunding campaign, the first major, full length release, Martyrs is available NOW in digital, CD and limited vinyl LP formats!
Drawing from Lawrie’s work in film as a sound designer, Martyrs contains rich soundscapes as well as foley elements that combine to replace the function of typical elements. For example, instead of a snare drum, Lawrie uses an intriguing blend of gunshots mixed with steel barrels and hydrophonic recordings. This layered approach, combined with live performances of traditional and vintage instruments (such as the Hammered Dulcimer and Marxophone), as well as retro synthesis techniques akin to Vangelis’ work on the iconic Blade Runner, makes for a unique and memorable listening experience. Its roots are industrial but its branches are organic, even ethereal.
“"One" is the first EP to be released from Progress Productions brand new signing TELESKOP. In one way it´s wrong to say it´s a brand new signing as both members (Jarmo Ollila and Jouni Ollila) have released material on Progress before. They were both part of the praised Swedish electropop act Mr Jones Machine that released three albums on Progress and Jarmo Ollila was the lead vocalist in the duo Daily Planet. After Mr Jones Machine Jouni Ollila continued his musical adventures under his popular techno/ambient moniker BURG. Together they now form the strong new electro-pop formation TELESKOP.
Teleskop is synthpop/electropop at it´s absolute peak. Production/melodies/vocals are all among the best we have ever encountered in the scene. People who have been fans of both Mr Jones Machine and Daily Planet will not be disappointed but with TELESKOP they are sure to build a brand new following as well.”
After a long wait and lots of anticipation, Toxikk Deception is releasing his new album with DSBP Records, ''License to Murder''.
This release is more of an "Industrial Metal" themed record. The album starts off sinister and bleak then sprouts into aggressive insanity. Guitars and an analog feel run throughout the album. This album is essence of what makes Toxikk Deception great. Aggressive sequences, pulsating drum lines and chaotic breakbeats, sampling, a mix of distorted vocals and melodic vocals fuse together to create a dark, heavy, and abrasive album. Consistent with his last albums, ''Lucid Visions,'' blended with heavy aspects of ''New Organ'', this new album brings new creative additions to Toxikk Deception's music without compromising their original "sound."
This album explores multiple genres between breakcore, EBM, Industrial Metal and noise.
On DSBP Records release date 10th June 2022.
Recorded and mixed by Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Unsane), NULL is KEN mode's eighth full-length album. The follow up to 2018's acclaimed Loved, it is the band's first release for Artoffact.
Frontman Jesse Matthewson proclaims NULL to be "a direct psychological reaction to the collective experience of the last two and a half years... a documentation of trying to not fall apart." In Matthewson's words, "the album exposes the emotional core of combating mental illness when one’s fine-tuned coping mechanisms have been involuntarily stripped away."
As the COVID pandemic threatened the essential, stabilizing forces in his life – including the ability to create, tour, and connect with the world, via KEN mode – Matthewson says he sunk to new depths. "I've built my adult life around communities and activities that have both given it meaning and helped me manage my own mental health," he states. "In 1999 I didn't know why I needed to create, I just wanted to. In 2022, it's one of the only acts I have left that keeps away crippling depression. I need this act to concentrate and neutralize the poison in my brain."
From the pitch black of the pandemic came a sliver of light. With his means of fulfillment and survival in jeopardy, Matthewson was instilled with a newfound urgency to make the most authentic and courageous art possible. New album NULL is the result. "We tried to experiment more with our sound than we ever have before. We felt like there was really no reason to do anything at all unless we were trying to push this into something new."
NULL is the first KEN mode release to feature collaborator Kathryn Kerr as a full-fledged member of the band. With Kerr on saxophone, synth, piano, percussion and backing vocals, the album features a new palette of No Wave and industrial tinged sounds, infiltrating some of its tracks. The band's well honed attack – "defined by the Venn diagram of adventurous hardcore (Converge, Deadguy) and noise rock (Today Is the Day, Brainbombs)," as a Revolver write up once put it – is strengthened now by shades of Swans and Einsturzende Neubauten.
First single "A Love Letter" bursts out of the gate with Kerr's discordant sax wailing over the machine like walloping of Matthewson, his brother Shane Matthewson on drums and longtime bassist Skot Hamilton. Not unlike John Zorn collaborating with Napalm Death, the sour synergy of the contrasting elements results in a song that writhes and screams with wild-eyed desperation. "Something is broken, something is fucked," goes the refrain.
More than 20 years deep now, founded in 1999 by the Matthewson brothers, KEN mode has come to define the intensity and dedication inherent in its name – an acronym for "Kill Everyone Now," coined by Henry Rollins to describe Black Flag's approach to performance. Past KEN mode tourmates include Russian Circles, Torche, Deafheaven, Full of Hell and many more. Past releases include seven full length albums and one EP, produced by the likes of Steve Albini, Kurt Ballou, and Matt Bayles. NULL sees this warhorse of a band emerge from the darkest of times with new energy, ready to carry on into its next chapter, ready to evolve into its next form.
NULL is the first part of what Matthewson describes as a two album arc, with the second part coming soon, also on Artoffact: "The two album arc was written with the intention of being two separate works that could be coupled together to make one full album with a cohesive flow and feeling, with every song holding a specific place and feeling within the overarching theme."
KEN mode is scheduled to headline No Coast Fest in Dallas, TX in October 2022, alongside Metz and Young Widows. Stand by for news of more live shows.
On this day, 31 years ago, Kraftwerk released their remix album The Mix. It was released on 11 June 1991 and featured re-recorded and, in some cases, re-arranged versions of a selection of songs which were released on their previous albums.
Ralf Hütter stated in interviews that he regarded The Mix as a type of live album, as it captured the results of the band's continual digital improvisations in their Kling Klang studio. The band had made a return to the stage in 1990, after a nine-year hiatus from touring, and since then the band's live setlist has used arrangements drawn from The Mix rather than the original recordings. As the band didn't want to release a traditional "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" collection they opted for 'The Mix'.
At the time, the band were in the process of reconfiguring their Kling Klang studio from analog to digital recording technology; integrating MIDI into their setup and creating sound archives from their original master tapes that were stored onto computers. This proved to be an ongoing task, as new upgrades and equipment were continually made available in the years following the album project. Despite no new, original recorded material or live tours outside of Europe, Ralf Hütter did not want Kraftwerk to appear defunct to the public.
The album's production is credited to Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, and Fritz Hilpert, the latter of whom had replaced percussionist and stage set designer Wolfgang Flür after Flür left the group in 1987. Karl Bartos also left the band in 1991 and was replaced by Fernando Abrantes. Bartos claimed in later interviews that much of his programming work was still featured on The Mix, uncredited.
The album received rather mixed reception on its release. Although many music magazines and citric rated the album from good to very good, many fans were disappointed at the lack of new compositions and, moreover, the production values of the re-recorded tracks did not strike many listeners as particularly cutting edge, something which Kraftwerk had previously been renowned for. The Mix was created entirely digitally, albeit during a period when the technology had yet to reach its maturity, and thus featured a sound which many listeners tend to find somewhat "sterile" compared to the analogue electronics employed on most of Kraftwerk's previous recordings of these songs. Nevertheless, The Mix placed first in The Wire's year-end poll, the first time the magazine—previously known for its focus on jazz—opened up an all-genre category.
The album has been released in both an English and German sung version and on various different formats like double 12" vinyl, Cassette and CD and was officially re-released in 2009.
The Mix - Tracklist
1. The Robots / Die Roboter 8:56
2. Computer Love / Computerliebe 6:35
3. Pocket Calculator / Taschenrechner 4:32
4. Dentaku / Calculator 3:27
5. Autobahn 9:27
6. Radioactivity / Radioaktivität 6:53
7. Trans-Europe Express 3:20
8. Abzug 2:18
9. Metal on Metal / Metall auf Metall 4:58
10.Home Computer / Heimcomputer") 8:02
11.Music Non Stop / Musik Non-Stop 6:38
