London five-piece The Murder Act are set to release their debut EP Traum this week. Sounding like a marriage between The Birthday Party and NEU! gone wrong, the Murder Act create a very dark, almost sinister wall of noise. Think distant vocals, drones and hypnotic synths. The band started out because they were getting bored with the music they were hearing and wanted to create something new. I must admit they accomplished that goal. The Murder Act do not allow themselves to be labelled and put in a box. Rather, they seem to bring an exciting mixture of krautrock, post-punk, minimal and no-wave.
The EP will be released on April 25th, on hand numbered limited edition 12″ vinyl and digital download. The Murder Act are also having a launch party on April 20th, at The Victory. They will be playing alongside Old Forest and Dogfeet (ex Stavin’ Chains), while ECC and Dee Sada will be spinning some records. Make sure you come down! This is a free party, which will allow you to spend the money you saved on Traum, a must-have vinyl for everyone who likes their music flooded with feedback and distortion.
You can stream the album and pre-order your copy here, while a free download of R.A.P.E. can be found here.
Experimental post-punkers Table Manners are very much in the minimalist Prinzhorn Dance School vein, with an authentic early 80s feel despite having only formed a year ago. Always impressive live, they’ve recorded a fantastic set of tracks and released it all as a free download album! Click on the picture above for the Rapidshare link.
Write Record Release, run by the band members themselves, is a burgeoning club night happening monthly at The George Tavern. With the likes of Dignan Porch, Micron 63, Islington Boys Club, and Cotton Club coming up, it’s well worth a night out. The next night is on 26th Feb, and hit read more for full lineups and dates for the next couple months.
Also, we’ve picked a personal fave track from the download album below, as a taster. ‘Sharp 1200′ kicks the collection off with a compelling sample before the ominous drum line leads into this fantastic cold drone track. “Midnight has never been so sharp”, indeed. Grab it below and if you like it, grab the full album via Rapidshare.
Industrial post-punkers Killing Joke feature on the excellent ‘Bustin’ Out, The Post Punk Era 1979-1981‘ compilation and we’re pleased to have their contribution available for download. The comp is perfectly done, with almighty tracks from Bush Tetras, Josef K and 23 Skidoo alongside this great track and the excellent Lizzy Mercier Descloux, among others. From 1979 to today Killing Joke remain an incredibly influential group. Indeed, if you think you haven’t heard them, you almost certainly have - James Murphy used their ‘Change’ as the bass and drum hook for LCD Soundsystem’s killer ‘Losing My Edge’ and Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’ was just as much an “homage” to Killing Joke’s ‘Eighties’ as ‘…Teen Spirit’ was to Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’. Anyway, the track is pretty much mindblowing as is, without all the history etc, so download below and check out videos for ‘Change’ and ‘Eighties’ after the jump.
A fair bunch of releases that may well interest you’s this week - and a few from last week which we shamefully missed. New stuff from Hatcham Social, Dananananaykroyd, Underground Railroad, BLK JKS, This Town Needs Guns + a few more very interesting bits & pieces.
Modernaire have remixed MGMT’s Of Moons, Birds & Monsters and it sounds great. Click here for the free download and if you like what you hear, read on for live dates.
Physical releases from Offset Fest faves Kasms and Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, as well as awesome stuff from These Are Powers, Disconcerts, Dan Deacon, Tilly & The Wall, Asobi Seksu + much much more.
This week is a pretty good one for new shit. We’ve got some exceptionally awesome stuff from The Joy Formidable, Aidan Moffat, Fever Ray, Marina & The Diamonds, Choir of Young Believers, a bit more, and hopefully we’ve given you a chance to listen to each before you shell out your hard-earned… Marina’s single is above - read on for the full selection.
Seeing as our last post was some Brooklyn dream pop, we thought we’d redress the balance with some No Wave genius. Action Beat are a noise/improv band with a strong DIY ethic, they tour pretty much constantly and have recently released their second album, ‘The Noise Band From Bletchley‘, on Truth Cult, an imprint of Southern Records. Points of reference for many have included early Sonic Youth, Boredoms and Fugazi as well as Besnard Lakes and Crystal Antlers. Read on to check out their tour dates (they sure love gigging) and grab yourself an mp3 for further listening. A few copies of the album are still available here.
