Tag Archives: post punk

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Sei Still (Fuzz Club Records) announce new LP ‘El Refugio’ and share single ‘Extrarradio’!

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Ahead of their first UK tour-dates kicking off this month, Mexican five-piece Sei Still are today announcing their second album ‘El Refugio’ and sharing the first single and video, ‘Extrarradio’. Due out November 26th on Fuzz Club Records, the new album – which arrives following their self-titled debut LP released in April 2020 and already on its second vinyl pressing after selling out extremely quick first time around – marks a number of changes for the band. Not only have they upped sticks and moved from Mexico City to Berlin, but their sound has undergone a process of evolution too.

Where the debut LP was an exercise in mesmerising Krautrock channeling the likes of Neu! and Can, ‘El Refugio’ keeps hold of that motorik pulse but trades the debut’s more expansive and hypnotic tendencies for a collection of dark, wiry post-punk vignettes.

Talking about the newly announced ‘El Refugio’ LP, the band said: “The biggest influence on this record was the fact that our personal lives had a radical change and we felt the need to do something different, to dig deeper into the possibilities of what the band was about. We never wanted to make the same record twice.” The move from Mexico to Germany was enough of an upheaval in and of itself, but considering they did so mere weeks before entering lockdown gives one possible explanation as to why the new material feels more emotive and visceral than before.

Expressionist rather than psychedelic in intent, they say that ‘El Refugio’ “alludes to childhood, dreams, desire, loneliness, paranoia and hope. A longing for a different reality that breaks the monotony of daily life. It’s more about sensations than something you can describe in words. I think what makes music great is that it has to be experienced so we try to part from a specific mood or emotion, which is something very abstract that people can interpret in their own way.”

Sei Still is composed of Sebastián Rojas (Organ / Synths), Mateo Sánchez Galán (Guitar), Jerónimo Martín (Drums / Percussion) and Lucas Martín (Vocals / Guitar). The band was born when they decided to take a random trip to some desolate woodlands outside of Mexico City to work on a couple of songs that would end up leading them to start a fully-fledged band. With just a couple of singles behind them (2017’s ‘Oto’ and 2019’s ‘Tácticas de Guerilla Urbana’), they soon picked up a fast-growing reputation in Mexico – sharing the stage with the likes of Stereolab, Kikagaku Moyo, Institute & Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – before signing to the London-based label Fuzz Club Records for their 2020 self-titled debut album, which quickly solidified a  new European fan-base for the band.

Now based in Berlin, the forthcoming ‘El Refugio’ LP is undoubtedly set to expand on that; preceded as it is by UK tour-dates, headline dates in Berlin and shared bills with the likes of Faust, Beak, The KVB, A Place To Bury Strangers and label-mates The Underground Youth.

UPCOMING SHOWS
28/09 – Brest (FR) – Cabaret Vauban
29/09 – Paris (FR) – Supersonic (FR)
30/09 – Brighton (UK) – Exchange
01/10 – London (UK) – The Victoria
02/10 – Chelmsford (UK) – Hot Box
03/10 – Manchester (UK) – The Peer Hat
04/10 – Glasgow (UK) – The 13th Note
05/10 – Leeds (UK) – Magbate Beach
06/10 – Birmingham (UK) – Nortons Digbeth
07/10 – Penryn (UK) – The Fish Factory
08/10 – Bristol (UK) – Exchange
09/10 – Hastings (UK) – The Piper
19-20/11 – Berlin (DE) – Synästhesie Festival

‘SEI STILL’ LINKS Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

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UK post punk Vukovar to release The Great Immurement!

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All Vukovar’s hooks are here. They still smoothly waltz out of time, out of genres. As usual, the music is filled to the limit with quotes, like Cortazar’s novels, making listening to an unforgettable experience of magical realism. So we weren’t too surprised to find a cover version of the Current 93 song (originally named Rome For Douglas P.) on the new album. 
Most likely this music is not for club dance floors and noisy stadiums (although it is quite suitable for slow drunk dancing in the rain). Vukovar’s songs are gentle and multi-layered and slowly unfold into beautiful whimsical flowers to a patient listener.

OTHER VOICES RECORDS, a label to match the group’s ambition, bring out this second CD in a planned series of releases in collaboration with world-renowned artist Andrzej Klimowski.
‘THE GREAT IMMUREMENT’ is out on the 25th May 2021. 

— Limited edition of 200 copies —

https://othervoicesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-immurement-vox-65-cd

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Graduation Speech (mem. of Aspiga) released new music video!

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In November of 2019, Kevin Day released his second solo EP under the moniker Graduation Speech. The project has been a vehicle to explore more acoustic and indie-rock soundscapes as opposed to the punk leanings of his band Aspiga. Maintenance Required expanded on the ideas found on Quiet and Calm by introducing layers of instrumentation and stepping further out of earlier comfort zones. “Small Apartment” might be the best example of this exploration. The chorus pulses with pounding toms and glinting accents, but each verse creates open space for acoustic chords and harmonic notes to breathe and bend into infinity. Now the song has an accompanying music video filmed by Brian Mietz and you can view it now at The Key (XPN). Maintenance Required is available both physically and digitally from Black Numbers. You can expect a new EP from Graduation Speech this April on Jetsam-Flotsam. 

Bio: 

Most solo projects seem to fall into one of two categories. First, there are those that resemble a simpler, stripped down version of the artist’s primary band—think John K. Samson, whose solo albums could be mistaken for Weakerthans records despite lacking the tell-tale guitar leads. Conversely, there are those projects that allow the artist to express a separate side of their musical identity than they can with their primary band—like Stephen Brodsky, who’s quirky solo songs contain mere shades of Cave In and Mutoid Man.

Graduation Speech, the solo endeavor of Kevin Day (who leads pop-punk grumblers Aspiga), some how fits both categories. On the project’s second EP Maintenance Required, Day takes his band’s songwriting approach and extends it in a more dynamic, more tender direction.

On 2017’s Quiet and Calm, Graduation Speech’s debut took the form of a quiet project that showcased Day’s saccharine vocals over simple, shuffling chords. But the first few beats of “Your Heart. My Lungs” suggests Maintenance Required will be more than another acoustic endeavor. Indeed, distorted electric guitar winds between Day’s scratching acoustic chords on this opening track and throughout the record, and light percussion punctuates each almost every measure. Drums thump on “Ourselves,” a song whose momentum bridges the gap between both of Day’s projects; likewise, both “Love and Patience” and “Shedding Myself” features a full drum set alongside a steady bass, a flickering electric guitar, even chiming piano, bringing these beautiful song to life.

Day succeeds at expanding Graduation Speech’s sound by adding, but also by taking away. The chorus on “Small Apartment” pulses with pounding toms and glinting accents, but each verse creates open space for acoustic chords and harmonic notes to breathe and bend into infinity. “Straighten me out when I lean into you / Straighten me out in the frames of your eyes,” Day sings, his acoustic snapping against the throbbing beat, a meandering piano melting into the sizzling guitar lead.

Maintenance Required shows a solo musician doing what he has never done before and what he can’t really do with his other band. More importantly, though, Graduation Speech manages to do what most solo projects cannot—that is, appeal to Aspiga’s fans while letting Day explore a more sentimental side of his songwriting.

Graduation Speech: IG | Bandcamp