San Francisco post-punk outfit, Octavian Winters, recently put out their latest release, Nebula / Velveteen, remixed by Mark Pistel (Consolidated, Meat Beat Manifesto). They have now dropped a video for the American electronic/EDM trailblazer’s reworking of “Velveteen” via Stratis Capta Records, created by filmmaker David Kruschke. Check it out below.
Stream/buy Nebula / Velveteen here: https://octavianwinters.bandcamp.com/album/nebula-velveteen-mark-pistel-remix
Pistel explains, “Randy Gzebb called me about remixing one of the tracks off The Line or the Curve EP. I was excited to do so, as we’d recorded some of these vocals at my Room 5 Studio in San Francisco. I chose to do “Velveteen” as I already loved the track with its fantastic vocal melody and Stephan’s unstoppable guitar hook! I took on the track with pulsing analog synths and a slamming dance floor beat for the clubs.”
The A-side to this 2-track release, called “Nebula,” underscores the inevitable impermanence of all that is seen and unseen, known and unknown.
“Nebula” began as an experiment… I kept envisioning a sort of “last day at the end of the world” — what would the sky look like? Would we know and understand what was happening? There is this broadly Gnostic idea of the universe as unfolding and unfolding through what are called Aeons, essentially levels of manifestation, until we get this world we live in here. I imagined this world reaching the fullness of its life, that whole cycle ending — and then everything reversing, refolding back to the start to make way for the next universe.” says Octavian Winters vocalist/keyboardist Ria Aursjoen.
The band’s debut EP The Line or Curve (released in late 2023) was mostly recorded at Pistel’s Room 5 Recording before being mixed and mastered it at 13 Studio in Chicago, and co-produced by the band and William Faith (The Bellwether Syndicate, Faith & the Muse, Christian Death).
Octavian Winters’ members have a rich history of collaborating and touring with notable artists, including Nine Inch Nails, Killing Joke, Lords of the New Church, Savage Republic, Christian Death, The Frozen Autumn, Everything Goes Cold and Black Tape for a Blue Girl. The band’s next headlining concert is on Friday, July 26 at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge with support from Halou and Sword Tongue.
A producer, engineer, programmer, remixer and songwriter active since the 80s, Mark Pistel founded the band Consolidated and has been with Meat Beat Manifesto since 1997. From his Room 5 studio, he has worked with The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Grace Jones, Therapy?, MC 900 Foot Jesus, Machines of Loving Grace, Hector Zazou, Mark Stewart, Lee Scratch Perry, Cabaret Voltaire‘s Stephen Mallinder and Fishbone‘s Angelo Moore.
Formed in 2022, Octavian Winters is guitarist Stephan Salit (Thrill of The Pull), drummer Randy Gzebb (Thrill of The Pull, Love Club), bassist Jay Denton and Ria (Amenti) Aursjoen on vocals and keyboards. Together, they weave their visceral and ethereal sound into a texture all its own – of stories once told but half-remembered, under a dusk of shadows and stars, in an abandoned city under the winter moon.
Follow Octavian Winters:
https://octavianwinters.com/
https://octavianwinters.bandcamp.com/
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https://www.instagram.com/octavianwinters/
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https://youtube.com/@octavianwinters
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3wPTYvBCrBaGcCu6DqJLtU
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/octavian-winters/1677412657