Light Creates Shadow share inspiring mini-documentary about both recording album at Stone Gossard's studio & abuse recovery psychology of album

"Light Creates Shadow goes full prog... Like a lighter version of Tool." -- Metal Injection

"A deeply powerful and intellectually moving album." -- Big Takeover

'Has me hearing metal in a new way. An inspired and transformative album… Serious contender for Album of The Year. 10/10.” -- Musipedia of Metal

Portland, OR post-metal trio Light Creates Shadow share an intimate and groundbreaking mini-documentary about the making of their new album today via Toxic Metal. The documentary showcases both the recording of the album at Stone Gossard's (Pearl Jam) Studio Litho with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Deftones) and the narcissistic/psychopathic abuse that led to the conceptual philosophy that influences the music. It's a breathtakingly revealing and honest video, watch & share HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

Hear and share Ghosts pass through, running from the body album via Bandcamp and Spotify.

Artistic post-metal band Light Creates Shadow release their 3rd full length, Ghosts pass through, running from the body on 07/01/2022. Recorded at Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s Studio Litho in Seattle WA, it was produced, engineered, and mixed by Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Russian Circles, Deftones). Mastered by Ed Brooks (Mastodon, Caspian, Isis).

Ghosts… is an album borne from the organic and intuitive connection between guitarist/vocalist Marc Changnon, bassist Jered Johnson and drummer Adam Young. After releasing a lo-fi acoustic album, 2 Windows in 2011 and 2015’s post rock/shoegaze leaning Emerge From The Illusion, LCS reformed with a new lineup and progressed into an artistic and stylistic rebirth with Ghosts… Combining progressive dynamics, uniquely delivered vocals, channeled lyrics, intricately woven passages that power through unorthodox arrangements culminating into epic walls of sound. This leads to the construction of a profound emotional and psychological journey. The alchemy was enough to catch the attention of famed producer Matt Bayles. Completed in 10 intensely focused 12-hour days in May of 2021, the rigor pushed everyone involved to exhaustion, but the belief that they were creating something special was the intrinsic motivation needed to complete the record.

Light Creates Shadow utilize conceptual frameworks to take the listener on an interior journey into the creative process, psyche, and a confrontation with the Shadow, buried deep in the unconscious mind. This alchemical mixture offers the audience a blank canvas to paint their own rendering of interpretation upon. LCS have positioned themselves to have breakthrough potential with an innovative concept, genre defining sound, and enigmatic live performance that engages the audience in a new way. 

“We believe music that explores the depths of what is possible between audience and artist, should be transparent about its intentions,” explains Changnon. “To provide context, I’m inferring that if a band are conduits for channeled meaning, healing and collective synchronicity, then that same transference is innately present in the connection with the listener. We are going to explore this synchronistic relationship through a companion interactive web experience that will intrigue even the most hardened skeptics.”

Light Creates Shadow draw influences from artists such as; TOOL, Pink Floyd, Mastodon, Isis, Emma Ruth Rundle, The Smashing Pumpkins and Sunny Day Real Estate to name a few. But LCS believe they are establishing their own path and feel their sound is authentically their own. “We are looking to create a following predicated on re-introducing heavy music to the depths of intellect, emotion, and soul, as an experiential necessity. I believe that art is at its peak when you are forced to be an active participant in the exchange.”

Ghosts pass through, running from the body is available on LP, CD and download, released on July 1st, 2022.

Artist: Light Creates Shadow

Album: Ghosts pass through, running from the body

Record Label:  self-released 

Release Date: July 1, 2022

01. Sensed Presence

02. Post Truth

03. Dark Triad

04. Causal Horizon

05. Outlier

On The Web:

lightcreatesshadow.com

lightcreatesshadow.bandcamp.com

Blackwater Holylight's Sunny Faris & Night Heron's Cam Spies' dark synth-doom band WHIMZ shares new single from upcoming debut album

“A bleak, synthy good time.” — Metal Injection

"A doomed dreamscape... The synth-driven doom-pop songs on PM226 are heavy and wistful, featuring vintage drum machines, thumping basslines and distorted synthesizer soundscapes." -- Metal Sucks

Portland, OR synth-doom duo WHIMZ share a new single from their forthcoming debut album PM226 today via Metal Sucks. Hear and share "PM2" HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

Metal Injection previously launched first single "AM2" HERE. 

Sunny Faris (vocalist/bassist and founder of Blackwater Holylight) and Cam Spies (Night Heron) have been friends for years. Cam recorded the first BWHL record several years ago and they hadn’t had a chance to collaborate again, until 2021 when they decided to spend a day in the studio to see what emerged. The result was a seamless blending of their two projects: dark, synth heavy, austere doom-pop, with hauntingly beautiful vocal harmonies, and sexy bass lines. 

Sunny’s characteristic voice is immediately recognizable from opening track “AM1”. Although it may at first seem confusing to hear her singing over low-end rich, heavy synthesizer and vintage drum machines, it quickly becomes apparent how perfectly suited her voice is for these songs. While the music evokes the icy, consumer excess bliss of mid- to late-80s synth pop, Sunny’s melancholic voice permeates like the angelic harmonies of Julie Cruise and Cocteau Twins. 

The emotionally intense, melodically lush shoegazey doom of Blackwater Holylight’s widely hailed 2021 album Silence/Motion provides a good touchstone for WHIMZ, but Night Heron’s pawn shop deep collection of carefully curated retro synth instrumentation and Cam’s tasteful production also gives the album both its skeleton and a wealth of subtle and clever tones tucked neatly into each song. 

Upon completing the 5-song, 26-minute album they decided to release it on Portland label Literal Gold Records, and assembled a live band which includes members of YOB and Spoon Benders joining Faris and Spies. 

PM226 will be available on LP, CD and download on October 28th, 2022 via Literal Gold Records. Pre-orders are available HERE. 

WHIMZ LIVE 2022:

Nov 10 - Portland - Doug Fir Lounge

Nov 12 - Seattle - Freakout Fest - Sunset Tavern 

Artist: WHIMZ

Album: PM226

Label: Literal Gold

Release Date: October 28th, 2022

01. AM1

02. AM2

03. I WANNA

04. PM1

05. PM2

instagram.com/whimzmusic

whimzmusic.bandcamp.com

www.literal.gold

Carlton Melton trio's Microwavelengths album out today on DSPs (Broken Clover Records), read this interview...

 

"A game of two halves. May be their most interesting record yet... Arguably their most compelling and original work yet." -- The Quietus

Bay Area experimental psych trio Carlton Melton release their new album Microwavelengths today on all DSPs -- 6 months after being issued on vinyl. This is part of an initiative of SF label Broken Clover Records to reward buyers of physical media with music before it reaches streaming services. Hear and share Microwavelengths alongside an intriguing interview with the band via It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine HERE. (Direct Bandcamp and Spotify.)

Labor Day Weekend 2017: A heatwave beat down on Point Arena, California gifting Mendocino County with one of the hottest weekends on record. Somewhere nestled in the wooded landscape of Redwoods that touch the clouds with ease sat a geodesic dome where psych rockers Carlton Melton created their hazy "dome rock". And on that oppressively hot Labor Day weekend Andy Duvall, Rich Millman, and Clint Golden said the hell with the heat and commenced to expand their minds and plug in, turn up, and freak-out. 

Recorded after the band's mostly ambient Hidden Lights EP and a year before the next proper full-length Mind Minerals, the fellas got together for a smoldering Northern California jam session and to celebrate Andy's 50th rotation on the third rock from the sun. Letting the dome guide them where it may Carlton Melton did what they do best, get loud and expand their minds via buzzing guitars, slinky bass lines, tribal rhythms, and far out synths.

The results of that rock and roll heatwave can now be heard on Microwavelengths, a 5-track excursion into free form psych, hazy drones, and all out fuzz freakouts that sound as if Hendrix' Experience were hipped to Krautrock in some kind time/space conundrum before Krautrock was a thing.

Eschewing the studio sheen of their last few album releases, Microwavelengths is a gritty lo-fi record that locks into the band's early releases; set up a couple mics in the dome, make sure there's plenty of beer iced down, and hit record. Duvall, Millman, and Golden, along with help on the drums from Brian McDougall on a couple tracks, set controls for the heart of the sun. There's barn burners like "Lion's Roar" and "Alien Argument", while "Hazel Heat" finds the band in a calm pocket of contemplation.

Of course this wouldn't be a proper Carlton Melton sound excursion without one epic jam, which is here in the form of the nearly 20-minute journey "Microwavelength". A groove of epic proportions, the CM crew drive this dream machine from Point Arena to the far reaches of the galaxy and back on a single tank of gas. It's a hell of a trip, man.

We're coming up on nearly 15 years since the Melton came to fruition. The band has expanded their sound both sonically and aesthetically; starting out with these fuzzy, gauzy psych/stoner jams, then taking their sound from Super 8 to Widescreen Technicolor. With Microwavelengths we get a glimpse of the band from where they started, but with the advantage of time, age, and a few more rotations around the sun under their belts.

Microwavelengths is available on LP and download/streaming on September 22nd via Broken Clover Records HERE.

CARLTON MELTON LIVE:

10/15 San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill 

Artist: Carton Melton

Album: Microwavelengths

Record Label: Broken Clover Records

Release Date: September 23rd, 2022

01. Lion's Roar

02. Hazel Heat

03. Alien Argument

04. Now Boarding

05. Microwavelengths

On The Web:

carltonmeltonmusic.com

brokenclover.com

Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol announce SXSW shows, Shaky Knees & Thin Line Festivals + more Texas dates

“Fuzzed-out, speaker-exploding groove that's both sonically excruciating and intoxicatingly alluring. Rock'n'roll to the core, the Austin-based band has clearly taken notes from noise rock and doom on how to achieve this kind of duality, and then dialed up the formula to new absurd levels… They find a weird sweet spot of harshness and catchiness that goes down like a greasy, gut-busting bad decision.” — Invisible Oranges

“Very little pretense but a whole dollop of kick, conjuring the sounds of early Red Fang or Dead Quiet.” — Heavy Blog Is Heavy

“Oozes originality from their vocal delivery to their sleazy brand of stoner, doom and rock n roll and Doom Wop is no exception. You can put on this album and get absolutely crushed by fuzz, but all the while with a big smile on your face.” – Doom Charts 

"Epically catchy... Imagine the ear-wormy fuzz-rock riffage of Dinosaur Jr. if it was played on an eight-string guitar with super heavy low-end." -- Revolver Magazine

Austin trio Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol announce a set of upcoming shows, including four SXSW appearances, Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta and Thin Line Festival in Denton, as well as a handful of Texas area dates. Please see all dates below. 

RBBP released their new album Doom Wop in September 2022. Hear Doom Wop on your favorite streaming service HERE. Revolver Magazine recently premiered the official video for "Heel" HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

With their 5th studio release, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is putting a name to the style of fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. In 9 concise, no bullshit songs, RBBP demonstrates their ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-String guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumwork. Lydon and Metzdorf’s vocal melodies cut through the high frequencies to deliver fresh layers to the hooks that RBBP fans have come to love.

As the name implies, Doom Wop is a heavy, melody-driven, party metal album. With riffs as big and dumb as ever, and lyrics that stab at the worst members of society and ourselves (while keeping tongue firmly in cheek), listeners will find all the elements that make up the soul of RBBP on this record. 

Doom Wop is available on CD and download, released on September 23rd, 2022. Vinyl LP coming in late Spring 2023. 

RBBP LIVE 2023:

02/26 Austin, TX - White Horse

03/02 Dallas, TX - Three Links

03/13 Austin, TX - (SXSW) Hotel Vegas

03/16 Austin, TX - (SXSW) Kinda Tropical

03/17 Austin, TX - (SXSW) St. Elmo Brewery

03/19 Austin, TX - (SXSW) White Horse

04/21 Houston, TX - Black Magic Social Club

04/22 San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger

04/29 Denton, TX - Thin Line Fest 

05/06 Atlanta, GA - Shaky Knees Festival 

Artist: Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol

Album: Doom Wop

Label: Self-released 

Release Date: September 23rd, 2022

www.rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.com

rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com

Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Jochen Arbeit streams upcoming solo album 'Animal Makes Sounds' ahead of release via Side-Line Magazine

“A venturous and whimsical ride which makes great use of its expansiveness.” – Destroy//Exist

Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Jochen Arbeit is streaming his forthcoming solo album Tier Macht Toene (in English: Animal Makes Sounds) today ahead of release via Side-Line Magazine. The album was made with homemade instruments and others built by Sonic Youth guitar builder Yuri Landman. Arbeit is joined on the album by Sonja Kosche. Hear and share the album HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

About the album, Arbeit writes:

"A long while ago one day in forced Isolation, detached from time and space, something broke free that was asleep before. Reduced to the minimum vital functions of life a Tier awoke from which all Schmerz and Lust broke free, in which old Trauma were hidden inside way too long. It spoke in Toene the stories it had to tell of loneliness but also from interactions that led to reactions that not always were agreed upon, rarely harmonic, but that found themselves in a We with special value.

"Old images broke free like a suppressed madness from a thicket and showed an exhaustion but also a force and strength that was vividly perceptible.

"How can one describe what is not describable when two meet. The one who was inside the Berlin Music Scene for decades with knowledge that seemed obvious and the other who made music a long time ago but lost herself for decades and did not trust to express herself from fear what could come up with it and emerge. It stays hard to describe. 

"Nothing was planned or predictable. The forced isolation because of the pandemic gave urgently needed time to develop something special and precious. The music expresses emotions that were hidden in the dark and finally broke free and told not only from old despair and not overcome trauma but also brought strength, satisfaction, peace and calm that you can try to feel inside the screeching-oppressive and nearly screaming tones.

"When we could we sat down to generate sound with self made instruments, developed a dialog that words could not tell.This was finally a motor which kept us alive, a dynamic that functions in the moment, spontaneously without thinking."

Tier Macht Toene will be available for download and streaming on September 23rd via Dymaxion Groove Records. Pre-orders are available HERE. 

Artist: Jochen Arbeit + Sonja Kosche

Album: Tier Macht Toene

Record Label: Dymaxion Groove

Release Date: September 23rd, 2022

01. Trauma

02. Isolation

03. Schmerz

Pink Frost releases long awaited album 'Until The Summer Comes' today

"Crunchy alt rock and just a bit of shoegaze." -- Brooklyn Vegan

"Off-kilter, yearning rock music that strives for a populism that's considered a bit declassé by most of their peers and, as such, badly missed." -- Pitchfork

Chicago band Pink Frost release Until The Summer Comes today, their first new album in 5 years. Hear and share Until The Summer Comes via Spotify, Bandcamp and Apple Music. Purchase/save album via Linktree.

Brooklyn Vegan recently premiered the video for album title track "Until The Summer Comes" HERE. (Direct YouTube.) 

“It was a new torture, the waiting,” says Pink Frost vocalist/guitarist Adam Lukas. 

When life suddenly froze for all of us, it wasn’t the downtime that was unbearable, it was the growing uncertainty as time dragged on that all of our loose threads would ever be connected. 

The Chicago band had just completed recording their fourth album — splitting the studio time with sister band Touched By Ghoul (whose 2020 Cancel The World album title proved prophetic) — when plans to reconvene in France with longtime engineer Gregoire Yeche to mix in April 2020 became impossible. 

When Gregoire eventually returned to Chicago in 2021, life in limbo seemed the new normal. Yet, the band felt somehow liberated. “We were like ‘F**k it, let's make our dream record,’” Lukas says. “We went in depth in a way we never have before. There are no compromises on this album. No cringeworthy oversights. We almost lost our minds doing it, but I'm happy we did.”

Indeed, the 9-song album is a feast of hooks and subtle transformations that shows both a slight return to the band’s previous indie-punk take on Smashing Pumpkins style oversized alt-rock, and their ever-growing palette of shoegaze, drone and anthemic rock. There’s even an almost peak NIN, Wax Trax industrial vibe to some tracks that underscores how the band continues to wield new ideas. 

“We lost (guitarist) Paige Sandlin during the pandemic,” Lukas says. “But gained Angela from Touched By Ghoul, who now plays guitar and contributed some vocals on the LP, and brings a whole new excitement to the live show.” 

Until The Summer Comes was recorded in Chicago at Steve Albini’s legendary Electrical Audio with longtime engineer Gregoire Yeche, just as the band has done on New Minds (2017), Sundowning (2013) and the Traitors EP (2014). “Electrical Audio is almost like another member of the band at this point,” Lukas says. “There is a purity to their method that captures the essence of the performance and preserves it in this magical 3-D way.”

The album opens with the title track’s thumping toms in a marching rhythm, soon joined by buzzing fuzz guitars before the whole song erupts in a huge chorus with chunky guitars reminiscent of peak Downward Spiral era NIN. “Two Faces” is an explosive diatribe driven home by bassist Alex Shumard’s lunging 4-string. “On A Clear Day (You Can See The End of The World)” sets a Beatles-esque acoustic guitar led melody atop psychedelic haze and rollicking drums. “Halo” serves up a lush shoegaze ballad in which drummer Nate Furstenau nods to My Bloody Valentine’s hybrid of drum machines and live drums for powerful effect. “Feed The Hungry Bee” closes the album with a repetitively building tension that leads into a dramatic finish that’s certain to be a live favorite. 

Pink Frost’s previous albums received an onslaught of praise from such revered outlets as Pitchfork, SPIN, Noisey, Brooklyn Vegan, Magnet Magazine and Chicago Reader, as well as song placements in a feature film ("The Lookalike"), TV's Shameless, The Rookie, The Vampire Diaries, CSI: Miami and more. In December 2015, Pink Frost released a completely remixed, rethought and remastered version of their debut album Gargoyle Days, originally issued under the band’s former name Apteka. 

Until The Summer Comes is available on LP, CD and download, released on September 16th, 2022 via Under Road Records. Orders are available HERE.

PINK FROST LIVE 2022:

10/29 Chicago, IL - Liar's Club

Midwest dates in October, East Coast to follow in November. Dates TBA.

Artist: Pink Frost

Album: Until The Summer Comes

Record Label: Under Road Records

Release date: September 16th, 2022

01. Until The Summer Comes

02. Two Faces

03. Halo

04. On The Way Down

05. The Skink

06. Ask The Dust

07. Detroit Mercy

08. On A Clear Day (You Can See The End of The World)

09. Feed The Hungry Bee

On The Web:

pinkfrost.bandcamp.com

underroad.com

instagram.com/thepinkfrost

N8NOFACE drops official video for "Doesn't Count Here" from new album

"Has the short and sweet hookiness of the Ramones or the Descendents, the rigid minimalism of Suicide, the playful, gooey synths of chiptune and a splash of hip-hop delivery in the vocals, which are deceptively catchy and full of character." -- Revolver Magazine

"Imagine if Atari Teenage Riot, Wu-Tang Clan, Devo, and Joy Division decided to create a group together the outcome might sound like N8NOFACE.” — CvltNation

"His abrasive melding of everything from synthpop to industrial to new wave to other points in between can probably best described as 'synthpunk,' but whatever you call it, it's catching on." -- No Echo

"Homicide finds him pulling equally from hip hop, Suicide, and shouty post-punk, and fusing it all together seamlessly." -- Brooklyn Vegan

L.A. via Tucson singer N8NOFACE shares the official video for "Doesn't Count Here" from his latest album Homicide today. Watch and share "Doesn't Count Here" via YouTube. 

Hear and share Homicide on all DSPs via Linktree HERE.

The intense, hypercranked aggression of Homicide, the new full length by N8NOFACE is a stark contrast to the introspective and almost indie rock leanings of his 2021 album Bound To Let You Down. Although the two were written and recorded in close succession, the screaming hardcore synthpunk of album opener “Burn This MF” aptly sets the tone for this album’s about-face and brutal catharsis. 

“While my previous album Bound To Let You Down was mostly about me coming to grips with my addiction, Homicide is me in the ‘ready to face the fight’ mode,” N8 says. “Once I was getting clean and no longer in a state of regret (as Bound To Let You Down was really about) I was no longer feeling sorry for myself. So it’s like: homicide time, ready to kill it! I do feel this is part two to my last album being they were all songs I made during that time of my life.”

N8NOFACE has been described as a Chicano Flannery O’Connor playing chiptune Ministry, the Sleaford Mods of the American Southwest, Suicide for the 21st Century and Ghostmane meets darkwave synthpunk dashed with early Ween’s glue-huffing pop. Lyrically, his sometimes romantic, oftentimes violent storytelling tunes lean toward Narcocorrido, the bloody ballads of Mexican drug cartels. It sounds dark on the surface, but really N8NOFACE’s music is a lot of fun, and as exciting as the birth of punk rock and hiphop. 

He’s been making and posting glitchy synthpunk since the days of MySpace, when he first gained attention in chiptune duo Crimekillz. Even before the demise of that band, however, N8NOFACE was disseminating his dadaist lo-fi rants online, recording them on the cheap on his home computer setup. “Even to this day, everything I do is recorded in my closet,” he says. “I’ve never recorded at a studio.”

N8NOFACE has to date released 4 proper albums (available on vinyl) — Bound To Let You Down (2021), Just Here To Die (2020), Synth Up The Punks (2019) and True Story (2018) — and a slew of singles, mixtapes and collaborations, many of them with sprawling double-digit track listings. Before relocating to Long Beach, CA around a decade ago, he owned a graffiti & record store in his hometown of Tucson, AZ. It was here that he developed his vast musical taste from grimy hiphop beats to seminal aggressive synth punks The Screamers. 

“I grew up around some guys living outside the lines of the law,” N8 explains. “When I first started doing this I called it Narco Punk. I’m not glorifying it, I’m giving both sides of the story. Telling the heartbreaking side of the dark side.” Coming from a hiphop and border town culture, he found it difficult to share his esoteric tastes with friends. “How do I make my friends enjoy this music?” he wondered. “I’ll take some Suicide music and twist it to get my friends to listen to this.” 

Homicide is available on LP, CD, cassette and download, released on April 29th, 2022 via Blackhouse Records. Purchase physical HERE, digital HERE. 

N8NOFACE LIVE 2022:

10/20 Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records Roadhouse

10/29 Los Angeles, CA - The Palladium (w/ Cypress Hill)

11/19 Oakland, CA - Eli's Mile High Club

Artist: N8NOFACE

Album: Homicide

Record Label: Blackhouse Records

Release Date: April 29th, 2022

01. Burn This MF

02. Fala

03. Kill The Killer

04. F U N U N U

05. Doesn’t Count Here

06. Down One

07. A Joy in Death

08. Pushing The Line

09. Poor Dom

10. No Dead Found

11. Yea

12. Hate Me When I’m High

13. I Was Aye Aye Aye

14. lfflugcvj (Ain’t No In Between)

15. Lost That Found This

16. On My Side

On The Web:

linktr.ee/n8noface

n8noface.bandcamp.com