Post-Mr Bungle’s dissolution in the early 2000s, Clinton “Bär” McKinnon relocated to Melbourne, Australia with stacks of material he’d written originally for the Eureka, California eccentrics. Thereafter, the formation of Umlaut followed, and a line-up that currently reads as the aforementioned McKinnon – Tenor Sax/Flute/ Clarinet/Keyboards/Guitar/Lead Vocals, Angus Leslie – Guitar/Backing Vocals/Keyboards, Bassist Shane Lieber, and recent addition Danny Heifetz (ex-Bungle) on Drums.
Tag Archives: Experimental
ALBUM REVIEW: Puppe Magnetik – Laudans Deum
Puppe Magnetik has existed since 2022 as the brainchild of Finnish musician Aina Virtanen. Laudans Deum (Rune Serpent Europa) is the project’s debut record, and it promises to blend elements of Neofolk, Dark Ambient, Death-Industrial, and Avant-Garde music.Continue reading
David Lynn Thomas, Lead Singer and Co-Founder of Pere Ubu and Rocket From The Tombs, Has Died
David Lynn Thomas, lead singer of Pere Ubu, Rocket From The Tombs, solo artist, and actor, has died after a long illness. He was 72 years old. A highly influential artist and personality in American music, Thomas formed the proto-Punk and pre-Alternative band Rocket From The Tombs (other members went on Dead Boys and The Saucers) and later formed Pere Ubu in 1975. Making an immediate impact, but highly volatile, Pere Ubu which first broke up in 1979, but reformed and recorded and toured for four more decades. Spanning genres from Art punk, post-Punk, avant-garde, musique concrète, New Wave, proto-punk, industrial rock, and alt-Rock, experimental, the band played their brand of music self-described as “avant-gaage”, and Thomas personally disliked Pere Ubu being lumped in with punk-rock as a rule. A great lyricst, vocalist, and frontman, he will be missed. RIP. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Little Annie – With
Since the late seventies, Annie Bandez (known as Little Annie) has carved out a singular path as a singer, painter, and performance artist. Over the years she has collaborated with many luminaries of the Alternative music scene. With (Cold Spring) is a compilation that brings together many of Annie’s key collaborations on one record for the first time.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Lord Sin – Confessions
Black metal is to thank for bringing the mystique back to music. This duo from Portugal cloaks themselves in black shrouds, we can assume they are not playing in, but instead of blast beats Lord Sin hits you with some creepy dirges on their sophomore album Confessions (Larvae Records). The graveyard stomp of the riffs allows darkness to possess their sound organically, rather than having to pull out all the Halloween decorations to convince the listener. Halfway into the first song, it’s easy to hear where they fall in the middle ground between doom and black metal. For a duo, they are cranking out a great deal of sound and care about writing songs, rather than just bashing out riffs. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Dunn With Lords And Lady Kevin – Last Days at Hot Slit
Since 1987 Kevin Rutmanis has been involved in the production of a steady stream of records with bands such as Minneapolis Noise-Rock legends Cows, Sludge Grunge titans Melvins, supergroup Tomahawk, Hepa/Titus, and now Lord and Lady Kevin.
ALBUM REVIEW: Veilburner – The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom
Veilburner (the mysterious, otherworldly duo of Mephisto Deleterio and Chrisom Infernium, are never shy of tying lore and mythology into their releases. Seven albums, seven tracks, and each of them seven minutes long. On The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom (Transcending Obscurity Records) the pair pick up where they left off (both musically and conceptually) with 2022’s almost-eponymous VLBRNR. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Amerta – Nodus Tollens
As a result of years of persistence and hard work in exploring the immense depths of their own resonances, Jakarta-based post/sludge/power metal collective Amerta embarks on a new profound milestone through the release of their first full-length entitled Nodus Tollens (Self-Released). Through this release, this Indonesian multi-genre unit invites their listeners to venture on an enigmatic journey fueled by existential dread, contemplations, and the inner conflicts that mankind collectively faces against the banality of everyday chaos and mayhem in the form of an in-depth listening experience. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Bunuel – Mansuetude
mansuetude (noun) man·sue·tude ˈman(t)-swi-ˌtüd man-ˈsü-ə- -ˌtyüd :
the quality or state of being gentle : meekness, tameness
Have you ever met Eugene S. Robinson (vocalist and frontman for the thunderous Rock force that is Buñuel)? Have you indeed ever listened to Buñuel? Neither experience will likely have “meekness” being the first (or indeed within the first hundred) descriptives that come to mind. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Leila Abdul-Rauf – Calls From a Seething Edge
Leila Abdul-Rauf is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and singer who has been part of various bands (Vastum, Hammers of Misfortune, Saros, Amber Asylum) since the 1990s. Calls From a Seething Edge (Cyclic Law Music / Syrup Moose Records) is her fifth solo album.Continue reading