FEARING, a post-punk band from California, is gearing up to release their second album, titled "Destroyer," on September 29th, following their debut LP, "Shadow," which came out in 2020. With this new record, the core trio continues to evolve their sound, exploring sonic territories that strike a delicate balance between somber, austere, vigorous, and vibrant elements.
"Destroyer" presents a distinct and captivating theme of profound maritime desolation, evoking a sense of abyssal depths. The band showcases a more energetic side by adopting a stripped-down three-piece lineup and embracing a minimalistic sound. The album gracefully blurs the lines between dark and pop music, infusing it with a heightened sense of urgency compared to their previous releases.
The album opener, "I Was So Alive," (posted below) stands out with its dynamic and melodic progression, departing from the more familiar shoegaze repetitions that FEARING is known for. While some tracks on "Destroyer" bring back the subtle darkwave influence from the band's earlier work, the first single, with its multi-faceted, brooding yet glimmery qualities, sets the tone for what's to come. This single premieres today, building anticipation for the full album release.
NYC-based electronica duo TEMPERS have announced their signing to Dais Records, marking the occasion with a new album titled Private Life. Fusing flecks of dark indie, electronica and synth pop, Tempers’ past three albums’ worth of output and new single “Capital Pains” run the gamut of electronic music’s infinite possibilities.
Arising at the forefront of contemporary underground pop, Chicago-based duo GRÜN WASSER shapes the course of minimal electronic music and blurs the boundaries of art, songwriting and performance on their latest full-length Not Ok with Things out October 4, 2019. Vocalist Keely Dowd and producer Essej Pollock artfully bend and reconfigure popular trends in dance music into unconventionally catchy songs and a powerful live show. Their unique mix of hardware, software and sampling coalesce into irresistible rhythms and driving sequences that fuse perfectly with Dowd’s distinctive alto voice, forming music that is as instantly appealing as it is fascinating. With lyrics inspired by personal struggles and social inequality, GRÜN WASSER raises the bar on innovation in modern pop as they arrive on the national stage with Not Ok with Things.
As longtime friends, Dowd and Pollock formed GRÜN WASSER in 2015 out of the rich cultural hub of Chicago. Both had backgrounds in punk and electronic music and together crafted a dynamic live act that fit within a variety of niche genres and scenes. Amidst the hype of GRÜN WASSER’s first album Nein/9 in 2016, Dowd’s alluring stage persona blossomed, while offstage her personal life began to unravel due to alcoholism and resulting depression. Nevertheless, the two began touring the country while writing new material and by late 2017, Dowd was able to get sober just ahead of their self-released follow-up album. On 2018’s Predator/Prey, Dowd candidly spoke out against hyper-masculinity and challenged misogynistic cultural norms. The lyrics of her songs became woven into the live performance, with Dowd often venturing into the crowd and confronting audience members with an intensely honest portrayal of feminine empowerment. Perfectly paired, Pollock’s thumping, experimental beats complement Dowd’s hypnotic vocals and gripping stage presence, making GRÜN WASSER a potent combination of pop and art.
On Not Ok with Things, Dowd deconstructs her alcoholism and protests the gross imbalance of gender roles. This complex mixture of emotions provides a palpable overcast to Pollock’s cold bass lines and brooding synth tones. The lyrics on songs like “Translator” and “Tried Spitting at The Sun” depict a turbulent mind bracing the ups and downs of relapse and recovery, while “Worm” and “Gray/Grey” grapple with the social casualties of addiction. The heavy subject matter is delivered within organic arrangements that often deviate from a typical verse-chorus format, representing the revolving tides of raw emotional expression. GRÜN WASSER’s use of textural samples gives an environmental context, enhancing the composition and revealing influences from hip-hop, house and industrial music. Pollock’s abstract percussion techniques incorporate real-world sounds with high-hat rolls and thick sub bass, adding a gritty undertone to their polished sound design. Swells of backing vocals add highlights of nuanced melody that swirl in and around Pollock’s dense synthwork and precise drum programming. Not Ok with Things is a bold exposition and an inspiring symbol of female resilience in the modern world, giving GRÜN WASSER’s work dimensions beyond the audible.
GRÜN WASSER fully realizes their singular talent on Not Ok with Things, crafting meaningful pop music with unmistakable passion and evocative style.
Drab Majesty has crash landed from the astral plane to bring us a new transmission: This time, a video for “Oxytocin.” This news follows up the announcement of massive North American and European tours, featuring accompaniment from Xeno & Oaklander, SRSQ, Body of Light, and HIDE. A full tour itinerary can be found below.
Directed by Leigh Violet, the “Oxytocin” video is elegantly stylized and features Drab Majesty’s Deb Demure and Mona D and cameos from Kennedy Ashlyn (SRSQ), Jackie Dunn Smith, Dan Phillips (True Widow) and others. The director comments: “We're invited subtly inward, beyond the persona into a vulnerable zone, calling to the surface subtle insights about the alternate environs Drab Majesty seem to inhabit. A mood piece eschewing narrative in favor of aesthetic intuition, the video captures a fleeting space between dimensions that disappears again just when we begin to latch hold.”
Drab Majesty's Mona D commented on "Oxytocin," saying: "The music was written on a demo rig by Deb while in the backstage of a Warsaw venue waiting to soundcheck. We were on tour with Kaelan Mikla and they were soundchecking while Deb offered this 2-chord repetitive idea that he later expounded upon to create to music for the song. Lyrically the track points to the salad days of a relationship and it’s fleeting energy - The games that are played to maintain the magic. Oxytocin is this fleeting energy of the initial love bond - that seminal semi-permanent spark of enlightenment and obsession only to expire over the course of time and experience."
On their new album Modern Mirror, Drab Majesty continue to dig their heels into modern paranoia, hypnotic melodies, and mystical lyricism. Inspired by their travels to Athens, Greece, Drab Majesty blow the dust off the antiquarian myth of Ovid’s “Narcissus” and craft a modern retelling anchored by meandering guitar, dreamscaping vocals, and glimmering synth. Each song tells a piece of the story, in which the listener’s own self-identity has become warped and dissociated through rapidly expanding technology, losing touch with the origins of their own personalities.
A journey of self-reflection, nostalgia, love, beauty, and heartbreak told across eight addictive and emotional synth pop anthems, Modern Mirror reinvents classic musical tropes one post-modern tale at a time. Each song tells a piece of the story, in which the listener’s own self-identity has become warped and dissociated through rapidly expanding technology, losing touch with the origins of their own personalities.
Pooling efforts from a top-tier gang of collaborators, Modern Mirror was produced by Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv) and mastered by Dave Cooley, with appearances by Jasamine White-Gluz (No Joy) and Justin Meldal-Johnson (NIN, Beck, M83, Air). The record will be released on July 12 via Dais Records and is available for pre-order here.
