Tag Archives: post-pop

Kontinuum – No Need to Reason

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Formed 2010 in Reykjavik, Kontinuum set out to release hypnotic and spiritual musical noise, and over the course of the last two albums, they’ve largely succeeded. However with third album No Need to Reason (Season of Mist) they’ve set out to tone down the noise part and have come back with a much more refined sound. From the first album Earth Blood Magic (Candlelight) and an upbeat and eclectic mix of post-rock and dreamwave influences to the more epic sounding, Sólstafir worship of Kyrr (Candlelight) they’ve clearly been a band not afraid to experiment with their sound.Continue reading →


Myrkur – Mareridt

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In three short years, Danish singer-songwriter Amelie Bruun has already achieved what many fail to do across a lengthy career, and that is to create art that is interesting and distinctive. With Mareridt (Relapse Records), under the banner of her Myrkur project, she is releasing an album where there is genuine curiosity as to both how it will sound, but also whether she will be able to stride further into a more “mainstream” conscience (the use of the term mainstream being applied quite liberally here… this is unusual and uncompromising music, lest we forget). Continue reading →


Team Sleep Nears Completion Of New EP

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Team Sleep band photo 2015

Team Sleep‘s next EP of new material is currently being mixed. The band checked in with the following update online:

 

 

“Listening to mixes of songs from our first e.p. of new studio tracks. Our dudes at Applehead are killing it. Sounds great! Lots of new music in progress.”

 

 

Team Sleep’s Rick Verret in a recent interview with Ghost Cult for an upcoming feature on the band remarked recently:

 

“We are working on a lot of new stuff. There will be new (original) music sooner than later. Hopefully we will tour again too, next year.”

 

team sleep woodstock sessions album cover 2015

Following the recent release of Team Sleep’s live Woodstock Sessions: Vol. 4 EP, the next release of music from the band will be their first significant new music since their debut album, a decade ago.

Team Sleep is:
Chino Moreno
Todd Wilkinson
Crook Molina
Zach Hill
Rick Verret
Chuck X

Team Sleep – Woodstock Sessions, Vol. 4

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team sleep woodstock sessions album cover 2015

There is a funny thing about cult bands; they rarely ever follow the script you want them to. Team Sleep, notable for a strong group of players led by Chino Moreno (Deftones, Crosses) busted out 10 years ago with a debut album that was long on quality shoegaze, electronica and dreamy synth-pop. Like a weird post-pop rock, Team Sleep made pretty music that just stuck with you. Pulled apart again by other commitments after a brief tour and only coming together in bits and pieces over the year, the band rumbled back to life earlier this year. With a successful Pledge Music campaign to reignite the fans and the promise of new music in the future, the result was the quirky and special live performance of Woodstock Sessions, Vol. 4.

It seems odd that a band that has been more or less dormant for a decade would take the trouble to reunite, only to do a small performance in front of an intimate audience. What has been born out of these Woodstock Sessions recordings at Applehead Studios (Coheed & Cambria, Bad Brains) in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, seems to be special. Perhaps it is the setting, but I tend to think the artists themselves bring something to the table too. For Team Sleep, that something is a cinematic vision and that a song is never truly finished after recording, rather just beginning. The band deconstructed many of the their original tracks and explored new ways to present them. ‘OP’, ‘Live From The Stage’, ‘Death By Plane’, ‘Blvd. Nights’, and ‘Princeton Review’, all taking on some new hues and shapes that surprise and refresh your memory of those first demos.

 

Team Sleep band photo 2015

 

Another great convention breaker is some of the players have swapped positions. Chino, DJ Crook, Todd Wilkinson hold their own, while Chuck Doom has moved over to bass, allowing Rick Verrett to man the keys and synths full-time. Joining on drums is Gil Sharone (Stolen Babies, Marilyn Manson Dillinger Escape Plan). Moreno, like his contemporaries Mike Patton and Maynard James Keenan, won’t be painted into a corner artistically. The idea that Team Sleep in this incarnation will make a new album is exciting news.

8.0/10

KEITH CHACHKES