(((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain)))))

Friday, 22 June 2018

JENNIFER

Band: JENNIFER

Genres: Punk / Hardcore / Screamo / Skramz / Noise / Sludge
Related artists: ?.
Country: Philadelphia, PA U.S.A.
Years Active: 2017-present
Song: "A Deer in the Corner Store at Night"
Album: "Love Message for the Void"
Year: 2017
For fans of: Moxiebeat, Straight No Chaser, Barrow, Channel, Majority Rule, Rats Into Robots, Old Guard, The Catalyst, (early) Vaux and Council Of Rats aka PROPER SCREAMO.

Label(s): Self Released

This post's artist is from the May 2018 Mix. This is track #12.

You can download: the June 2018 Mix#6 right here or get the new July 2018 Mix#7 here.

Review by Tom Schlatter:

I believe JENNIFER started out as a solo project by artist Nao Demand. The songs posted on the JENNIFER bandcamp feature all music and vocals done by Nao. It's a perfect balance of big guitar riffing with technical chaos. The reverb on the vocals adds a feeling of darkness, as they stick mostly to all out screams but delve slightly into eerie melodies once in a while.

With fast and frantic phrasing and songs that typically don't break a minute you have to pay attention to catch all the magic here. There's some precise musicianship here that goes above and beyond.

The band is now playing live shows with a full five person lineup. I caught them in Philadelphia a couple months ago and was happy to see that these songs translated excellent in a live setting. The musicians that Nao has recruited are top notch and definitely give these songs the treatment they deserve.

________________________________________

DISCOGRAPHY

2017 - Love Message for the Void digitalEP (stream/donate/download here)

________________________________________

(2017) JENNIFER - "Meeting in the Moonlight When You are There" (from 'Love Message for the Void')

(2017) JENNIFER - "Mirror My Skull" (from 'Love Message for the Void')

________________________________________

JENNIFER additional links

Bandcamp

________________________________________

Wednesday, 20 June 2018

KOMUSŌ exclusive premiere

Band: KOMUSŌ

Genres: Punk / Hardcore / Screamo / Skramz / Emo-violence
Related artists: 5000, Cape Light, Bug, Tree, Zov, Careless, No Omega, Time To Heal, Mystery Language, Dagdrömmarna and Det är därför vi bygger städer.
Country: Tokyo JAPAN
Years Active: 2017-present
Song: "輪姦"
Album: "Komusō"
Year: 2018
For fans of: Sans Visage, Yage, (early) Loma Prieta, Cassus, Yarmulke, Blue Friend, Cape Light, Youth Novel, Bethari, Tunes For Bears To Dance To, D'Amore, One Dying Wish, Louise Cyphre and Deers! aka PROPER SCREAMO.

Label(s): Zegema Beach Records / Damn Fine Tapes

This post's artist is from the May 2018 Mix. This is track #2.

You can download: the June 2018 Mix#6 right here or get the new July 2018 Mix#7 here.

KOMUSŌ is a new band from Tokyo featuring members of 5000, Cape Light, Mystery Language, Careless, No Omega and Det är därför vi bygger städer, to name a few. They play an incredibly engaging style of screamo/emo-violence and this is the exclusive premiere for their new 'Komusō' cassette EP. Grab said cassette here.

First, let's start with an exclusive introduction by my friend Gabriel. Gabriel plays drums in KOMUSŌ but I've known them since the earlier days in Sweden as a member of Careless and Det är därför vi bygger städer.

"Since I’m kinda the outsider coming from Sweden I’ll give you my perspective. So our paths kinda crossed on the No Omega Japanese tour in 2015, but we didn’t really get in touch until the Careless/Sans Visage Japanese tour in 2016 where we played a few shows with 5000. Hiro, the guitar player/singer of KOMUSŌ, is in 5000 and they're seriously one of the best live bands I’ve seen. Following that, I met Makito (guitar/vocals) and Takuya (bass). The Time To Heal Japanese tour in 2017 made room for more time to hang out, and by then I knew I was moving there later that year, so we kinda loosely started planning on doing a band when I got there. I moved to Japan in September 2017 and we basically started jamming immediately.

The first stuff we wrote doesn’t at all sound like what we actually recorded, and ended up being scrapped. The next three songs we’re recording soon, won’t really sound like this cassette either. These new songs are gonna end up on a split with a Tokyo-based band we all like a lot!

We’re all super happy that the cassette is available in North America through you and in Europe through Damn Fine Tapes. We’re making a bunch here as well, so we’re really happy about the coverage."

Now it's my turn to gush about KOMUSŌ's self titled 'Komusō' EP, whilst premiering it to you in full.

"暗宿" opens with a slow, twinkly riff that sounds so much like Yage that I've been crapping my pants ever since hearing it. There's an incredible mixture of styles that encompass the sounds of a few bands, but Yage crossed with Sans Visage would be pretty goddamned apt if I may say so myself...and I believe I just did. The riff is met with a dueling guitar, drums and bass, as well as half yelled half sung vocals that build the intro into a swirling breeze that shifts violently at 45 seconds, but still retains the swaying, groovy melody. After switching back to the opening and moving into the second section again, the song slows considerably, relying on an entrancing bass loop and sporadic guitars that have a Saetia/Off Minor vibe. Jesus fucks christ what an debut track.

Next up is the first of two shorter, faster and much screamier tracks, titled "輪姦". This has strong ties to the sound Loma Prieta had on their early records as well as the stuff Youth Novel was doing back with their demo EP. It was after hearing this beaut online that I contacted Gabriel pleading for the band to let me make some tapes for them in North America. In only a minute and a half the band lays waste to the listener with thick, venomous screaming, lightning drums with a ridiculous amount of fills, booming bass and guitars that are the epitome of emo-violence. Hmmmm, so I guess this kinda sounds like Cassus, then.

KOMUSŌ move back into moodier, swelling, screamy hardcore for the third track "一斉蜂起". Not unlike the first track, this thing relies on mood and textures to create an eerie yet tranquil atmosphere. The vocals begin with the yell/sing/scream thing that bring the German legends Yage to mind every time. And those drums, good lord, Gabriel keeps a mean beat and is a pleasure to listen to. It pops at 36 seconds and drops a sick guitar lick that might be the most memorable thing on the EP...and then it jazzes out like a screamo version of Primus before returning to that chorus perfection. By two minutes the song shifts into its second phase, pumping out constant bass notes and weaving beautiful, intricate guitars in a way that fellow Japanese math-rock band Hue did a few years back.

The finale and outright scorcher "約束" ends the EP in a 44-second blast of dizzying emo-violence that contains at least five different sections and boasts unreal dual screaming. There's no point in saying more about it because it's so short and awesome that you should just go listen to it, especially if you like Louise Cyphre and Bethari.

So there are the songs on this debut cassette release. There was a European pressing of the tape on Damn Fine Tapes released a week or two ago on white with white covers which you can purchase here. Below are the cassette details for the Zegema Beach Records edition:

KOMUSŌ - Komusō cassetteEP (ZBR119)

***60 copies with four tape variants and five cover variants
*tape variants:
- 20 clear w/blue+gold glitter
- 20 rubine red
- 10 gold plated (painted)
- 10 silver plated (painted)
*cover variants (made to order):
- venus violet (cardstock)
- lunar blue (cardstock)
- solar yellow (cardstock)
- gamma green (cardstock)
- re-entry red (cardstock)
***4 songs, 2 per side
***8 minutes in length
***orders come w/free Komusō sticker + ZBR sticker

ORDER from Zegema Beach Records here

ORDER European version from Damn Fine Tapes here

________________________________________

DISCOGRAPHY

2018 - Komusō cassetteEP (stream/donate/download here) [order tape from ZBR here]

________________________________________

(2018) KOMUSŌ - "暗宿" (from 'Komusō')

(2018) KOMUSŌ - "輪姦" (from 'Komusō')

(2018) KOMUSŌ - "一斉蜂起" (from 'Komusō')

(2018) KOMUSŌ - "約束" (from 'Komusō')

________________________________________

KOMUSŌ additional links

Bandcamp

Facebook

OMSB Podcast #26 (aka KOMUSŌ song premiere)

________________________________________

Tuesday, 19 June 2018

ZVLETA

Band: ZVLETA

Genres: Punk / Metallic Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Post-Metal / Screamo / Skramz / Mathcore
Related artists: ?.
Country: Pueblo MEXICO
Years Active: 2017-present
Song: "Altar"
Album: "Melancolía"
Year: 2018
For fans of: Joliette, The Bled, Lyed, Left Astray, (early) This Day Forward, Converge, Envy, Belladone, Folly and Versus The Mirror aka PROPER SCREAMO.

Label(s): Emocat Records

This post's artist is from the May 2018 Mix. This is track #4.

You can download: the June 2018 Mix#6 right here or get the new July 2018 Mix#7 here.

With the release of 'Melancolía' by Mexico's two-piece ZVLETA came a submission that I checked out and was immediately impressed by, as their debut 7-song EP (released on tape from Vancouver's own Emocat Records) is pretty goddamned sweet. Their Joliette influence is worn on their sleeve, but the band opts for the heavier, sludgier and darker elements and somehow do so with only a drummer and guitarist/vocalist.

Their EP opens with "Ciudad asesina", a certified banger. This thing is larger in scale and incorporates more post-hardcore elements than most tracks on the release. "Vagaundo" follows and is less than half of the length, 1:54 in this instance. It blazes through with some ridiculous drumming and brings The Bled to mind. "Altar" is another short song which builds a subdued intro that erupts at 30 seconds and inserts a killer metal riff at 1:17. "Despertar" begins like it's gonna be chill, but instead it balances the perfect amount of melody with aggression, making it one of the highlights and reminding me of early This Day Forward. "Concreto" probably takes the cake as my favourite ZVLETA song thus far as it absolutely crushes and collapses under its own metalcore weight after just 1:27, sounding very much like a mixture of The Bled and Joliette. "Blvrd" boasts some nicely layered singing amidst the bellowing screams and closer "Silencio" sums up the album perfectly, making the 18-minute record not too long or too short.

I know the band has some songs that'll likely be recorded soon and hopefully see the light of day in late 2018 or early 2019, but I'd wager on the former.

________________________________________

DISCOGRAPHY

2017 - ZVLETA & OVEJA PROJECT digital single (stream/donate/download here)

2018 - Melancolía cassetteEP (stream/donate/download/buy tape here)

________________________________________

(2018) ZVLETA - "Concreto" (from 'Melancolía')